Everything Happens For A Reason (Emblem3 FanFic)

3 Months Later...

TORI POV

As my eyes flutter open, a bright shine of light, coming from the window, hits me smack dab in the face. I feel a dull piece of metal stabbing into my lower back and when I move to escape the pain, I get an even worse pain in my neck. As uncomfortable as all of this is, I’ve become immune to it. Sleeping on this lumpy, old couch has become my nighttime routine. The only thing that makes it feel better is being able to look to the right of me and see my baby girl lying peacefully in her incubator.

She’s been in this hospital for 3 months and to sum it all up, it’s been a long 12 weeks of pure chaos. Once we got the Wes and Hailey situation cleared up, everything changed- but not in a bad way; in the way that everything needed to. Only a few days later, the boys started their XFactor experience and it’s been incredibly bittersweet. Even though I know they are following their dreams and I get to watch it happen every week on the show, it sucks being alone. From the second I found out I was pregnant I had someone there with me- at first it was Wes, but then it was Drew. Now, having to take care of Chloe, especially under these circumstances, by myself is rough. Drew does his best to run away from the contestants’ mansion, during what little downtime he has, to come and see us. But it’s every night while I’m trying to get comfortable on this couch that I think about my day and long for Drew to come back. To be honest, I never even realized how much I needed him until he left. And more importantly, I never realized how much I truly cared about him.

Thankfully, Drew, Wes and Keaton will be coming home soon because they got voted off the show last night. After I watched their hopes of winning the 5 million dollar contact shatter to pieces, Drew called me almost a second after the screen went black. The disappointment in his voice broke my heart. So, since he had just gotten bad news, it only felt right to give him the good news that I received earlier in the day. When I said that I have something to tell him, he immediately thought the worst and asked if Chloe was okay. But when he did, I responded with, “She’s better than okay. She gets to come home tomorrow.”

Instead of the over excited gasp or even laugh of relief I expected to hear on the other end of the phone, all I got was complete silence. When I asked if Drew was there, he gave a short yeah and quickly threw in the fact that he might not be able to come home tomorrow due to the countless “just got eliminated” interviews he would have to do. And before I got to say anything, he said he had to go and the line went dead.

I know it might seem like I’m over exaggerating. It’s not like he said he was never coming back home but this day is the one I’ve been waiting for throughout these three crazy months. Is it a crime to really want to share the experience of bringing Chloe home for the first time with Drew? This marks a huge change in not only her life, but ours as well. She finally gets to come home after months of fighting for her life and Drew and I are going to have to work at being parents without any help from doctors and nurses. But if we don’t get the chance to get through today together, I guess I’ll be fine.

As I slowly get myself off of the couch, I check on Chloe who is still sound asleep and then grab my phone on the nearby table… nothing. No call, not even a text, from Drew. Great. Before going to get some coffee, I take a quick shower in the tiny bathroom of the hospital room. Almost the exact moment after I’m completely dressed and I look decent, there’s a knock on the door. Someone coming to the room this early isn’t exactly routine.

Not thinking much of anything, I swing the door open without any clue who’s behind it. But of course, it’s just one of Chloe’s nurses. She does her normal checkup and continues with the idea of her going home today. Before leaving, she says that she will begin her release forms and that the doctor will be in to finalize everything shortly.

To try and speed up the day, I go to the café to grab some coffee. Meanwhile, I decide to google Emblem3 to read up on the after-elimination drama. The first thing that pops up is an interview where the boys are standing there all dressed in black and I can’t help but watch it. The first thing I notice is the look on all of their faces. They all look so lost. I can tell from the shake in their voices and their body language that they think this is it for them; that they are never going to have a chance at becoming stars again. I almost turn off the video because I can’t stand to see them like this for much longer but before I do, I hear an interesting question coming from the skinny, blonde woman next to them. She asks them with a sophisticated yet sort of flirtatious voice if they are all single.