Love's Not A Competion

Naming

I woke up to sunlight trying to come through a vertical blind in the window. It made stripes across my legs under a blanket. Wait, what window, what bed? Where? Then in the half light I saw Ricky asleep in a chair next to me, wearing the same clothes as he'd worn on stage. I remembered it now. Pain, blood, more pain, no pain, babies and then crying.

"Rick?" I croaked.

Oh god, my mouth was so dry.

"Rick!" I said a little louder.

He jolted awake with a grunt and wiped drool off his mouth. He looked around, yawning and blinking.

"Oh hi." he smiled sleepily.

"Where are they?" I asked.

"They're in a special room." he replied.

He got up and went to a table. He returned with two paper cups of water and handed one to me. I took a gulp.

"Can we see them?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. They're safe though. I went to see them last night." he smiled as he talked about them. A blissful smile. "I wasn't allowed in but I could see them. They're amazing! They're all small and pink and wriggly. I cried while I watched them. The midwives on the other side of the window must have thought I was crazy. I was standing there with my face and hands against the glass just crying."

A few nurses came in to check me. I was put on a drip to feed me things and given a bag of blood to top up what I lost. I squinted up at it. I didn't want someone else's blood in my body. I felt a bit violated.

"That's mine." Ricky gestured to the blood I was looking at.

"What?" I asked.

"I knew you would get a bit frightened about someone else's blood. When they said you're the same type as me I stuck out my arm and told them to stick a tap in." he explained.

"Ew. We share everything now." I said, slightly amused, slightly disgusted.

He chuckled at my reaction. "I like to think of it as more proof that we're a perfect match." he smiled.

"True." I nodded.

Later that day I got the best news. The babies were finally all clear to come back to us. I was unhooked from the drips and allowed to sit up. I was sore so accepted the help. I cleaned off the rest of the make up that Ricky had missed. He confessed that he'd been trying to clean me up while I slept but hadn't wanted to wake me or poke me in the eye. I let him brush my hair and try to plait it. He made some kind of knotted mess instead. I'd teach him properly when I taught our daughter.

"They're nearly here!" he called from the door.

He'd taken look out just outside the door while I tried to sort out the mess he'd made of my hair. He almost skipped back to the seat next to the bed. Then two midwives came in each with a bundle of blankets in their arms. I was handed our my little girl, wrapped up snugly like a tortilla in the pink blanket.

"Hello my little tortilla!" I greeted her. "You're so gorgeous!"

She didn't have any hair yet but a tiny little rosey pink mouth, tiny kissable nose and sleepy little eyes. She had her eyes closed at the moment. I didn't blame her, it was quite bright in the room. I could have been gazing at her for hours when she yawned so adorably I nearly burst into tears and then opened her eyes. Woah! There was no doubt who's eyes she had! Great big blue eyes just like her daddy.

"She's got your blue eyes, Rick!" I told him.

He looked up from our little boy, grinning like an idiot. "What?" he asked.