Publicity • mgc

EPILOGUE II (final)

Doctors and nurses rushed over to Karina who was currently being carried by a freaked out Michael and a chilled out Ashton.

"Help! She's in labor! Somebody! She's giving birth!" Michael panicked, sweat threatening to trickle down his forehead. "Michael, baby, I'm only having contractions I'm gonna be fi-oh! Fuck!" She crouched over with another contraction. "She'll take the epidural." Ashton told the nurse who was wheeling her into a more private room.

"Is Dakota Jr. here yet?!" Dakota yelled, running into the waiting room with her heels in her hand.

"I have a feeling it's going to take the whole night." Calum moaned, feeling sorry for Karina but also for himself. He was a little buzzed. "Dakota Jr?" Michael asked, wiping his forehead. He suddenly remembered he was supposed to follow the nurse, then sprinted into that direction calling out to her and asking her to wait.

Ashton crossed his arms and leaned against a wall. Sometimes he'd look at her and wish he'd fallen in love with such a wonderful person, but he was incapable of feeling that way towards her. She was a great human being and he knew she would an incredible mother. "What do you think she'll name her?" He asked the group.

"Well, I'm hoping it's not Dakota Jr." Luciana joked, rolling her eyes. "Has she even mentioned a name?" She wondered, everyone shrugging their shoulders. "Maybe we should ask her beforehand, in case she's all drugged up and tells the nurse to name her Dusty or something." Luke suggested, earning nods of agreement from everyone.

"I think the name Anastasia is pretty." Jenny chimed in, taking a seat on a chair. "Like the makeup brand."

Ashton shook his head. "No, I think Meredith is nice."

Calum scoffed. "Isn't that a name for a cat?" He drunkenly said.

"How about, Kylie?" Luke added, taking a set next to Jenny.

"Jenner? No fûcking way." Jenny disagreed. "No offense because she's pretty and all, but she's overrated, thinks she's better than everyone else, and she's rude to her mom, baby Kari will be a wonderful daughter."

"Besides, she needs her own name to make a legacy out of, she'll be one of a kind." Ashton said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

In Karina's room, Michael finally settled down and was reading a stupid magazine, sitting on the bed next to the woman in labor. "Look at how dumb this headline is." He chuckled, showing the page to Kari.

Calum Hood - The Father To Karina De La Paz's Child?

Karina breathed deeply in discomfort and sighed. She read the article out loud, "The two are always out together, grabbing lunch or dinner. They seem pretty comfortable with each other, we wonder why? We've never seen them this close in public. Is it because they're bonding over the fact that they're going to have a child together?" Michael and Karina laughed. "Why haven't you or Casey said anything?" Michael asked, closing the magazine and softly rubbing her aching belly.

Karina sighed. "He doesn't want it to seem like he got me pregnant for fame. Speaking of Casey, has anyone called him?" She felt another contraction and she squeezed Michael's arm. Michael and Ashton offered to go to those stupid pregnancy classes with Karina so this is where he had to coach her to breathe. "How many people are allowed in the room when I give birth?" Karina panted, wiping sweat off her forehead.

"One. I already asked." Michael shrugged, placing his hand on her forehead and pushing away strands of hair. "Well, I doubt Casey will be here by that time, but I want Lucy to be in there, too."

Michael nodded. "If Casey isn't here, do you want Ashton in the room?" Karina nodded, closing her eyes and sighing again. She was feeling heavy. "I would have you in the room, but I want to save that for when I have your child."

Michael smiled and squeezed her hand. "Anything else you need?" He asked, kissing her head. "Yeah, get a doctor, I need to push." She whispered, clenching her eyes shut and groaning. Michael, who set into panic again, ran outside and yelled for someone to help.

A female doctor ran in with Michael right behind her. She stood in front of Karina's legs and stuck her right hand right between her thighs, checking for the child's head. The doctor widened her eyes and shook her head. "Karina, I need you to not push honey. Do. Not. Push."

Karina threw her head back and moaned. "Why not?!" She panted. She was in pain.

"She's coming out feet first." The doctor announced, making Michael panic even more. "What does that mean?!" Michael yelled. The doctor kept her hand down Karina's thighs and turned her head toward Michael. "Get me a nurse!" She yelled, "tell her we need an emergency C!"

Karina was sweating her entire body weight. "What?! C section? You mean to tell me I'm having a breech birth?!" She shouted, groaning in pain.

A nurse and a second doctor ran in, prepping Karina for her emergency C section. She silently cursed at God for doing this to her. Right before they wheeled her into the hallway, Ashton and Lucy ran in with panic. "I'll be fine! Just please follow." Karina sighed. A nurse grabbed a towel and lightly wiped her face of all the sweat. "It's a simple procedure." The nurse reassured, squeezing her hand.

They rushed her into an OR room and began to prep her, as well as Ashton and Lucy who had argued with all the nurses to let both of them in. Lucy was like a little sister to Karina and Ashton became the most protective person ever towards her. They didn't want to say they felt like siblings as well, considering everything that happened between them. But Ashton would be by her side for everything.

"This will be very easy, Karina." The doctor assured. "I could let a first year intern do this, which I won't. But I promise you, everything will be perfectly fine." She smiled at her and Karina tried to smile, but it was more of a painful grimace. Ashton gave her a kiss on the forehead and squeezed her hand. Lucy did the same. Surgery is always something to be scared of no matter what.

-

Karina sat in her room and sighed, staring at the little girl in the plastic incubator beside her. She frowned at herself and sniffled. She was excited for her, but...this wasn't how she imagined this scenario. She saw herself married. With her husband beside her, and she would be ecstatic. Instead...she felt empty.

She rolled over and grabbed the child out of the incubator and held her close. She always loved infants, so small, innocent, adorable. She held her close and breathed in her sent. She was hers and she was a mother now. Thankfully, not a single mother at all. She had an entire army of family and hopefully two dads when the time comes. She will be loved and that's all that mattered.

The whole room suddenly began to fill up with flowers and balloons and people. Everyone was in the room slowly passing the baby around and smiling. Michael sat on the bed and hugged Karina, who really just wanted to fix her relationship with him so she wouldn't feel so out of touch and lonely. She missed him a lot and just wanted to go back to being happily in love.

"So what's her name?" Calum asked.

Karina sat back and smiled. "Ashley."

-

tell me I'm terrible rn for playing with yalls feelings

like legit I'm an uglie liar I am a disappointment

anyway I still love myself

so thank you guys for reading this shitty ass book I can't believe many people actually liked it because I suck really bad but I'm thankful that people were really active and appreciated my writing and stuff that's the best feeling ever.

anyway, considering how much I suck, I think this is my last book on Wattpad. I'm ending my writing here. I enjoyed being here for 5 years and providing content over and over, but it might be time to stop?

I continue to write in my drafts though, maybe one day I'll have a full book ready to publish and I'll come back, whether it be a 5sos book or anything else, I don't know but my drafts forever hold my ideas. until then, this is farewell! I love you guys, thank you for supporting and I'm sorry I uploaded really late.

happy new year and I hope your futures remain bright.

with love,

~Mari