True Colors

Heading For The Hospital

Apollo’s heart was beating out of his chest as he double-checked the suitcases he and Leila had packed in preparation for a stay at the hospital. He’d known this would come. He should have expected it much sooner, considering Leila was a week past her due date. Still, he felt wildly unprepared for what was to come. 

Leila had only been having contractions for two and a half hours, and though they had started out brief, manageable, and fairly spread out, they consistently became longer, more intense, and closer together. Leila had spent quite a bit of time throughout her pregnancy with the doctor who would deliver the baby and had wanted to call, just to talk to her and get her opinions on what to do. Dr. Lewis had suggested that, at the rate things were progressing, Leila’s water could break within the next hour or two. She had also recommended heading for the hospital and letting the rest of the family know that the new baby girl could possibly be born within twenty-four hours. 

As he hauled the suitcases towards the entrance of the house, he heard Leila wrapping up a phone conversation with her grandmother. He could tell that she was pacing, holding the phone to her ear with one hand and rubbing her large stomach with the other. After he set the suitcases by the door, he returned to where Leila was trying to convince Grandma Sophie not to rush to the hospital right that second.

“I still have hours left, Grandma. Don’t worry about heading to the hospital just yet,” Leila insisted. “We haven’t even left the house yet.” She listened for a moment before sighing lightly and smiling. “Love you too, Grandma. See you later, alright? Bye.” 

She hung up and turned her attention to Apollo. “She’s excited to be a great-grandma, I’m assuming?” he quipped. 

Rolling her eyes, Leila responded with a chuckle. “Over the moon. She was half-way to convincing her caretaker to drive her down to the hospital right now.” 

“She’d have us beat by at least fifteen minutes.” 

“And then she’d have to sit in the waiting room for hours, possibly all night. Grandma Sophie can do a lot, especially considering she just turned ninety-one, but I don’t know that she could sleep in a wheelchair, and I wouldn’t want her to try,” she said. She sounded concerned, and Apollo couldn’t blame her. Grandma Sophie wasn’t exactly young. 

“But you convinced her to stay put until the baby’s actually here?” he asked. 

His wife nodded. “I told her Jaycee will call as soon as she hears. Her caretaker will drive her over once they get the okay.” 

Apollo took her hand. “Who else have you called?”

“Jaycee, of course, because I had to make sure she was okay with the plan before I told Grandma Sophie. And then I called Grandma Sophie, of course. Jaycee promised to call Nadia, and Nadia will let Mal know. Cece already knows, but Renee texted to tell her we’re heading to the hospital, and Eugene called James, so…” She shrugged. “Pretty much everyone knows or will know soon.” 

“Perfect.” Then he bent his head to press a quick kiss to her lips. “Have I told you how much I love you?” 

“Only forty-seven times today,” she laughed. 

“Then let’s make it forty-eight,” Apollo whispered, intertwining his fingers with hers. He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it. 

She rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face showed no annoyance. He assumed she was merely amused by his antics. 

“Did you have any more contractions?” 

“Nine minutes from the one before it, forty-eight seconds long, and more intense than any cramps I have ever had,” she listed off. “I’ve got about three minutes before the next one, so I need to either get in the car right now or wait until after. There is no way I’m climbing in a vehicle during a contraction, especially considering the last one made me sit down.” 

Luckily, Renee poked her head around the corner at that moment. “The car is all packed and ready to go. We just need you two.” 

“Thank goodness. Let’s just hope the next contraction doesn’t come early,” Leila expressed with wide eyes. 

Of course, probably because she’d said that, the next contraction came a minute and a half earlier than expected. Apollo was standing next to her, both of them half-way between the entrance to the house and the vehicle, as the contraction hit. With her being forced to stand, her hand shot out and seized his, squeezing tightly. He dropped to his left knee on the concrete, and Renee, appearing at Leila’s side, helped her ease down onto his right thigh. Though sitting helped, she breathed deeply through the contraction. Both Leila’s breathing and her grip on Apollo’s hand eventually lightened, and she allowed Renee to pull her back to her feet. 

“I jinxed it,” she joked. “That was the worst one yet.” 

Renee tipped her head sympathetically. “I hate to say this, but it’s only going to get worse.” 

“Yeah, I know,” she sighed. Apollo stood and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She leaned back into him and closed her eyes briefly. “Thank you,” she whispered to him. 

He kissed the top of her head. “Anything for you.” 

The honk of a car horn brought them back to reality. “Are we heading out or are we just going to stand here all day?” Eugene asked with a smirk. 

Apollo loosened his grip on Leila, taking her left hand in his and resting his right hand against the small of her back, and she started to take slow steps toward the waiting vehicle. “Well, considering I’d prefer not to give birth standing on a sidewalk – that sounds both uncomfortable and dangerous – I’d say we should probably get out of here.” 

She took the passenger seat, which had been slightly reclined to make it more comfortable for her. Apollo jumped in the back seat of the car, and despite the limited leg room, he encouraged his wife to move her seat back and recline it more, if it would help. Leila declined the offer, saying that she would be just fine, but that didn’t stop him from worrying. 

Renee locked the front door and climbed into the back seat as well, sitting behind her husband. “We’re good to go?” 

“Should be.” Apollo sent a questioning glance in Leila’s direction. 

She nodded in confirmation. “If we get there and we’re missing anything, at least eight people know the passcode for the front door, so I’m not too worried.”

With the okay to take off, Eugene put the car in drive and… well, drove. Renee tried for conversation. “You said you had a name picked out already?” 

“Yep,” Leila said simply. 

“Are you two going to tell us what it is?” she pressed. 

Apollo shrugged. “Sure. Once the baby is born, we’ll let you know.” 

Renee rolled her eyes, though she clearly hadn’t expected them to actually tell her. “I meant, like, now.” 

He chuckled. “Yeah, I know.” 

“I’m not going to hear it, am I?” she sulked. 

“Oh, you will,” Leila assures her. “Just not until it’s written on her birth certificate.”

A/N: Someone tell me why I had so much fun writing this chapter? I literally wrote the whole thing, start to finish, in half an afternoon. I hope you all enjoy reading these chapters as much as I enjoy writing them. Thanks for your support and I will see you next week!