forever // m.c (book 3)

10 - i'll be there every time

song for the chapter: something beautiful by josh clutter (he's a minnesota artist and his music is amazing so y'all should check him out)

Summer's POV

I could tell Michael was hesitant, which was scaring me. Could it be something linked to the aneurysm? I hadn't had any problems with anything related to it in over two years.

Michael grabbed onto my hand. "Ok, so the doctor would tell you even if I didn't, but I want to because keeping secrets from each other always ends badly," he started.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself. He seemed so worried, that whatever was wrong with me was severe. "That is true," I said, hoping he would just tell me and end the suspense.

"Well, you fainted because of exhaustion and dehydration. They took-"

"That's not that bad," I said, ignoring the fact that he was going to keep talking. It was true that I had become quite busy with rehearsals and all of Hope's activities. I was also finding it hard to sleep lately, but I hadn't put much thought into it.

"That's not it, Winter. You're-" he started, but the door to my room opened. A man not much older than me entered wearing dark blue scrubs with a lab coat over, a stethoscope hanging around his neck. He was quite handsome, dark brown hair cut close to his head and icy blue eyes behind a pair of glasses.

"Hello, Summer," he said, his voice deep. "How are you feeling now?"

"Good," I said, "although a bit tired."

"Very well. The nurse will come in and check your vitals again in a moment, but I would like to discuss what's going on. Is it fine if Michael stays in the room?" he asked, gesturing to him.

I nodded. "That's fine," I answered because it seemed as though he already knew what was going on. I took a deep breath, scared that he was going to tell me something other than Michael did. I was scared that there was something seriously wrong with me.

"Alright. Michael brought you in because you fainted. We found that you were dehydrated, so we gave you some fluids through IV. It also seems that you were going through exhaustion, which could be because of many things. We decided to take a blood sample to see if anything was seriously wrong because of your history and the previous aneurysm. The lab got back to me with the results and it was mostly normal."

"Mostly normal? What does that mean? What's wrong?" I panicked.

"It's nothing bad," the doctor said. He was standing at the end of the hospital bed and looked right into my eyes. His gaze was hypnotizing and it made me trust him. "Your blood work revealed that you're pregnant, Summer."

My eyes grew wide in shock at the doctor's words. This, I was not expecting. I had only had sex once recently, which was with Michael a few weeks ago. I couldn't believe this was happening to me again, that I had an unplanned pregnancy for the second time. If someone had told my younger self that I would have become pregnant unplanned not once but twice, I would laugh in their face. I couldn't believe this was my reality. I supposed that I would be happy if I was in a stable relationship, if I had my life together, but I didn't. I was lost and confused, about to have my second child. Hope was a handful by herself and I didn't know how I was going to do it.

"Summer, are you alright?" the doctor asked gently. He walked over to my side and placed his hand on my arm. "Do you need anything?" I shook my head because what I needed he couldn't give me. I needed to feel ok, I needed to feel like my life wasn't falling apart even more. "Ok, well. I'll let you and Michael have some time alone before the nurse comes to check your vitals."

"Was that what you were going to tell me?" I asked Michael once the doctor had left.

He nodded. "Yeah," he breathed out. "I feel like this is my fault. I thought you were still on the pill and I shouldn't have forced you into sleeping with me." He ran his hands through his hair, which was now a faded red.

"I was on the pill, but that doesn't prevent pregnancy 100% of the time, obviously," I said. "It's not your fault though and you didn't force me into anything. As much as I didn't think we should have had sex, I don't regret it."

"Even though you're pregnant?" Michael asked softly.

"Yeah," I assured him. I didn't regret it. We had been missing each other and I was convinced that he was going to be the only man I would ever love. No one could compare to him in my eyes. "But what am I going to do, Michael? Hope is so much for me to handle right now with rehearsals and everything. I don't know if I can do this."

Michael scooted closer to me in his chair, making a screeching noise on the tile floor. He grabbed onto my hand with both of his and found my blue eyes with his green ones. "You don't have to do this alone, Winter. I'm going to be here every step of the way, even if we aren't together in a relationship. I am going to be here for you and Hope and this new baby." He hesitantly placed one of his hands on my hospital gown covered stomach. I flinched at his touch, but then placed my hands on my stomach as well. I didn't think that it had hit me yet, that I had a child growing inside of me again.

Michael's POV

Summer took the news better than I thought she would have. She seemed shocked and scared, which was understandable. The ER wanted her to stay overnight so that she could finish out her IV fluids. I stopped at her apartment to grab some of Hope's things so she could stay the night at mine.

"Daddy!" she yelled, hopping off the couch and running to me upon my arrival. I picked her up and squeezed her tight.
"Hey, darling. How was your night with uncle Luke and Rachel?" I asked and set her down.

"Good. We got ice cream and then we went to the store to get movies because uncle Luke says your collection is crap."

"Hey, don't say that word!" I said, but I had to agree with her. I only owned like two DVDs.

"Sorry," she shrugged. "So we got like five of them and we're in the middle of Monster's Inc. because he says it's a classic and that I have to see it. You wanna come watch?"

I laughed at her rambling. "Sure, baby. I'm just gonna go put your bag in your room, ok?" She followed me unexpectedly, scaring me when I turned around. "Hope!" I gasped, placing a hand on my chest.

"Where's mommy? How come she didn't pick me up?"

"Mommy is fine, ok? She wasn't feeling well so I took her to the doctor and they wanted her to stay overnight. That means we get to have a sleepover," I said, hoping that would cheer her up.

My daughter nodded and we walked back into the living room. I took a seat on the couch and Hope climbed onto my lap. Luke hit play on the movie and soon, Hope was asleep, her head resting on my chest. I could get used to this, spending more time with her. I loved her more than anything and I was starting to think that I was looking forward to having another child.

ugh, i feel like i'm not sneaky or good at surprises or whatever since everyone guessed she was pregnant.

but anyway, please vote and comment(: xx zoe

p.s. please please please check out my ashton fic called leave him? i really like it, so i hope you do too (sorry for the self promo)