Mine (General Hospital)

Chapter 4: Labor

September 20th 2019
A Little Later

     Sonny sticks his hands in his pockets and continues through the cemetery, pausing briefly, an off feeling overtaking him. He turns into one of the smaller sites, the feeling's origins revealing themself. He runs to Ava's side, lifting her head up. "Ava. Ava, can you hear me?"
     When she doesn't even flinch, he checks for a pulse, honestly relieved to find one. He looks down at the pool of blood around her legs, and the tiny shape between her legs. "If you wake up, you're going to kill me." He says, lifting her dress just enough to uncover the lump. "Oh, God, no." He lifts the baby into his hands, pressing on the tiny, unmoving chest.
     "Siri! Call 911!" He screams, moving the baby to one hand while he gets his phone out, pressing speaker. "Don't die on me, little one." He lays the baby down and starts to press again on the little chest. "Please don't die. You too, Ava. You've got two more in there that need to get out safely."

A Few Hours Later

     Julian leans back in the rocking chair, holding his littlest nephew against his chest. The newborn protests at the new position, pushing at the tube in his nose. "No, no." Julian whispers, holding his nephew's hand with two fingers. "None of that funny business. You are a persistent little boy, Wyatt. You're definitely Ava's."
     A gentle knock at the door threatens to upset Wyatt, luckily for everyone in the maternity ward, he's too occupied by trying to fit Julian's whole thumb in his mouth. "Who is it?"
     "Sonny Corinthos."
     Julian looks down at Wyatt, gently tapping his chest, the bruises already starting to form. He smiles at him. "Come in."
     Sonny comes in, tiptoeing over to the chair across from Julian. "How is he?"
     "You cracked a rib, bruised two others, and almost crushed his heart, but you kept him alive long enough for EMT to get there. You saved his life."
     "What about Ava and the other two?"
     "C-section. She was awake but fell back asleep and is still out, but will be okay. They're both fine, much stronger and bigger than their brother. You saved all their lives." Julian admits, never letting his eyes move from his nephew.
     There's a long pause, the void filled with an echoing silence. Finally, Sonny takes a deep breath. "Can we put our pasts behind us. Everything we've done to each other, I mean. Can we try and forget what we were and just go our separate ways?"
     "Are you having a stroke?"
     Sonny laughs. "Just a mid-life crisis. How's he really? Long term, I mean."
     "He'll make it, he just needs some love and attention."
     "What are the other ones? What are their names?"
     "All boys. This is Wyatt, the other two are Jayce and Hudson. They're identical. Wyatt's the odd man out. He's the smallest, most at risk. It's just bad luck that he was the first to come out. He was just small enough to slide right out of Ava. I mean, she still had to push, but not voluntarily. And he managed to dislocate his shoulder in delivery, so he really did just squeeze his own way out, little shit."
     "Ava didn't want any boys." Sonny realizes.
     "She just didn't want to know what she was having because she was afraid if she knew for a fact there were any boys she would love them less, if at all." Julian admits. "You should've heard the way she screamed when they said they couldn't being Wyatt to come see her or her to go see him. It was horrific. I had to promise I wouldn't leave his side. We'll, he won't leave mine."
     "Her wanting to protect them from herself just shows that she loves them."
     "Yeah, it really does. Oh, she was talking about their middle names and for Jayce, she was hoping to do Morgan. Jayce Morgan Jerome. Would that be a problem for you? It's a memorial for Morgan and Kiki. She loved them both and they loved each other."
     Sonny nods. "Kiki would've like that, Morgan too. I don't like it, but he would've." He closes his eyes. "How's Carly?"
     "As can be expected. She's two days past her due date so she's a little on edge, and she hates me. I'm getting full custody but she'll get visitation. She's not too happy about that."
     "I know Jason shot you a couple months ago. Why didn't you ever report him?"
     "I couldn't pull him away from Sam and Danny, not when I was starting to get good with them. And, you know, leverage. If I said anything they'd lock Carly up too and I don't want my kid born in prison. That's how I got full custody. Don't freak out or anything, I'm gonna be really nice. I'm gonna give her a lot of time with the kid, it'll be like 50/5p custody only I'm in control."
     "I would've done the same thing." Sonny admits. "So, I know it's not my place to ask, but when you and Carly were together, what special thing was it that she couldn't come to me for?"
     Julian motions for Sonny to get closer, then whispers to him. Sonny pulls away, his mouth hanging open. "That's so bizarre and, I don't know. I feel like that's got to be wrong. You took a bullet for me."
     "It's not that bad. It's a little awkward, but it's actually really hot."
     "I don't want to think about that anymore." Sonny rubs his face. "What are the other two's middle names?"
     "This is Wyatt Julian Jerome and the youngest, but the biggest, is Hudson Scott Jerome."
     "Well, I'll leave you and little Wyatt alone for some uncle/nephew bonding time. Call me and let me know when Ava's up for a visit from Avery. Oh, can I take a picture for Avery?"
     "Sure." Julian turns Wyatt so his face can be seen by Sonny's camera. He pulls his arms and legs towards his body, whimpering about the exposer. Julian brings him back to his chest. "You're fine. Calm down."
     "Bye, Julian. Goodbye, Wyatt." Sonny touches Wyatt's hand, which he quickly tucks between him and Julian. Sonny heads out.
     "He definitely had a stroke." Julian comments, starting to rock Wyatt. Feeling his nephew get relaxed, he knows he's finally gotten him to sleep. He settles into the chair.
     Another knock on the door, a few minutes later, snaps his out of his half asleep state. "Be quiet."
     A nurse pokes her head in. "Mr. Jerome, there's a Carly Spencer here in labor, she said she's legally obligated to contact Julian Jerome. Room six."
     "Oh my God. Here, you take Wyatt. Careful, he's fussy." Julian passes his nephew over and starts to run, limping a few feet while he wakes his leg up. About halfway down the hall his injuries catch up to him and he starts to wall, occasionally using the wall as balance. He makes it to room six and knocks on the door, catching his breath.
     Kim opens it. "You're just in time, to wait six to sixteen hours. This baby is coming, but not for a long while."
     "I wanna make a good impression on them." He jokes, walking over to Carly's bed. Michael narrows his eyes at him. "How's my kid doing?"
     "Asshole. You and the baby. They have their foot on my bladder and I think they punched my cervix earlier."
     "That's nice." Julian remarks, going back into the hall. He takes out his phone, putting it to his ear. "Hey, Lex. I'm not coming home tonight. Carly's in labor. Ava's boys are fine. Carly's gonna be all night so I'm gonna spend a little longer with Wyatt, then I'm gonna sit with Ava and the other two for a while, then come back and wait out labor with Carly. Call me when you get this. I love you, babe."