Yellow Dress//Bill Denbrough

E i g h t e e n

I can't even tell you how much I cried while writing this chapter. EVERY RIGHT IN THE WORLD 🥰🥰

"Keep drinking water, hon, that's supposed to prevent contractions," Beverly reads from a pregnancy book found in Carn's room.

Ben hands her a glass of water while rubbing her back. In the corner of the room, Bill is on the phone, urgently trying to get a hold of Doctor B.

"Anything else?" Ben asks his girlfriend desperately.

"I'm trying to find other stuff!" she responds hysterically, struggling to turn the pages because her hands are shaking.

"Here Bev, I got it," Mike lifts the book from her hands and skimmed through the pages. "Um... lay on your left side Carn, that should slow things down."

She shifts from a seated position to a side one. "I don't want to slow it down! I want it to stop!"

"Shhh, it's going to be okay," Stan grabs her hands in an effort to calm her down. He tells her what Eddie always does when he breaks down. "It's going to be okay. Just take deep breaths."

She nods, inhaling slowly. Her breathing is cut short, however, when a sharp, squeezing pain shoots through her uterus.

"Agh!! Contraction!"

"Hey, they're ten minutes apart, you have plenty of time," Mike assures her, reading the book like it's his bible.

"Dr. B!"

The room falls silent when Bill exclaims that into the phone, holding a thumbs-up to the group. He, unlike Carn, Bev, and Eddie, is staying impressively level-headed.

"Yeah, i-it's m-m-me. Mhm. C-Carn's g-going into luh-labor... " He waits for a response. "Okay. Thank you s-s-so much."

The second Bill hangs up, he explains that he needs to take Carn to the hospital as soon as possible and runs outside to get the car, which is parked far behind the barn, so Carn wouldn't see it or the other cars and have the surprise ruined. That all seems hm so stupid and trivial now.

When Bill is gone, Richie takes initiative. "Okay. Ben and Bev, could you please help Carn up and walk her to the door? Clara, you go through Carn's room and pack her a hospital bag. I'll run to Bill's house and pack him one, too. And the rest of you three, could you please go to the grocery store to buy them food? Hospital food sucks."

Everyone obeys, for once taking him seriously. Soon enough, Carn is safely in Bill's car, and he speeds eight miles over the limit to get to the hospital (he heard that if you drove one to eight miles over, you won't get pulled over or charged).

"Bill, I'm so scared," Carn confesses at a red light. "I'm so terrified. I don't want to lose our baby, Bill. We can't lose it. I love it so much, and I want more than anything in the world right now for it to live."

"Come on, C-C-Carnation. Our buh-buh-baby is g-g-going to m-make it. And th-this could mean any-anythuh-thing. It c-c-could be a f-false al-alarm. W-we can't think like th-that."

Unconvinced, she winces in pain. "The contractions are getting worse."

"How far a-a-apart?"

"Nine minutes. But they hurt like hell," she whimpers. Bill reaches for her tummy and gives it a gentle, languid rub.

When the light turns green, Bill decides to screw it all and floor the next couple blocks to the hospital. He parks in front of the building, not giving a damn if he'll get ticketed or not. Helping his sweetheart inside, Bill gets struck with shock too. This is it.