More Than Friends

Never Take Your Family For Granted

Barri's POV
December quickly came. We decided to head back to California, to prepare for our second baby. We decided to go to our second house because Michael still had to finish the tour. So we went to our second house and put up our things. Michael's family kept on calling him and talking about how much they wanted to see us. So we went to Hayvenhurst. We went through the door. "Surprise!" Everyone was there. We said hi to everyone and enjoyed our welcome home party. "And who is this?" Everyone turned there attention to my mother. "Everyone, this is my mother, our nanny." "Yes I'm Mrs. Williams." Everyone said hello to my mother. Everyone took turns rubbing my belly and holding Isabella. "How long before the baby is born?" "Any day now Janet." Soon it was time for us to go. "Well, we would love to stay longer, but I have a concert tonight. Goodbye everyone." "Bye everyone." Everyone said there goodbyes. "Wait.Can I look after Isabella for you?" "That's okay. I got her and if she gets to much for me then we got a nanny, so we're good." I smiled and headed for the door. "Wait." So we stopped again. "I just wanted to apologize for trying to kill you Barri. That was wrong of me." "All is forgiven. Bye." "Wait. Please. I don't get to see her very often. Can I please watch her. I won't let anything happen to her. I promise." I looked at Michael. "Fine." He gave Mrs. Jackson the diaper bag. Then he kissed Isabella's cheek. "Goodbye. Be good for your grandma. Okay? Take good care of her mom." "I will." I kissed Isabella. "Goodbye Isabella. Goodbye everyone." "Bye." We walked out the door. I turn around. "I miss her already." Tears fell down my face. "Me too. Come on. It'll be alright."
Michael's POV
My family threw me and my wife and my daughter, a wonderful, surprise welcome home party. Then my mom begged for Isabella, so I gave Isabella to her. I went to the place where I was to perform. I sat in the chair so Karen could do some light make up. "I couldn't help, but notice that you're missing a little someone." "Yeah she's with her grandmother." "She's always with her grandma, at your show." "No her other grandma, my mother." "Oh I see." She then started styling my hair. "Okay, you're all set. Do good." I got up and walked to my place. "I know you're going to do great, but how about a good luck kiss?" "Of course, baby." I kissed Barri. She went to her seat on the side of the stage. The platform begin to rise and I see the smoke from the smoke machine. It's time to start the show. I sing and dance as I rehearsed. Before long, it was the middle of the show. I exit the stage. "You're doing fantastic as always." "Thanks, baby." I have a smile on my face as I go and do whatever I needed to do for the next 15 minutes. Time goes by. As I walk back to the stage I get this awful feeling that something is just not right. I look at Barri, who gave a smile and a wave. She looked fine. I shrugged off the feeling and go to my place. I finished the rest of the concert. I get in the car and we headed over to Hayvenhurst. We finally arrived. I hoped out the car and went in the house. "Mom we're home. Joseph? Janet?!" I looked around. No one was there. "Honey, come look at this." Barri was holding a note. It said:
Hey Michael and Barri. You are probably wondering where we are. We are at the emergency room. The one closest to here.
- mom
"They're at the hospital, come on!" I grabbed Barri's hand. I remembered that Barri was pregnant. So I slowed down. I helped Barri into the limo. Then I got in the limo. Barri's mom was already in the limo. "Where's Isabella?" "Nobody's home. They're at the hospital." "What happened?" "I don't know." "Okay, let's head out to the hospital closest to here." The driver started the limo. We arrived at the hospital. We got out the limo. After we asked several people if they seen my mother, and after walking around for awhile, we finally found my parents and siblings. "Mom!" "Hey, Michael." She looked a little uneasy. "What happened?" I looked around, but I didn't see Isabella. "Where's Isabella?" "Okay son. You should sit down for this, you too Barri." So I helped Barri sit down. Then I sat down. "Okay. Joseph insisted on giving Isabella a bath and then he was going to put her to bed. So I said Okay fine. He took her in the bathroom and then awhile later I hear him screaming to call an ambulance." "So..." "If you have any questions, you might want to ask Joe." "I don't normally hold a conversation with him." "I can't say anymore because I'm going to cry." The tears started falling down her face. "Oh mom. It's alright." I gave my mom a hug. "No, I need to pull myself together for you." She wiped her eyes. "No you don't." "I don't think you understand. Go talk to Joe." So I walked over to Joseph. "Hello Joseph." "Hi." "What's going on?" "I'm so sorry. It all happened so fast." "What happened?" "Well, it was getting late. So you're mother and I decided that we were going to give her bath and put her to bed. She already ate dinner. Anyways, I wanted to give her a bath. So I put some water in the tub and then I put her in there. That's when I realized that I needed a towel for her. So I turned around and looked in the cabinet. It was only for a few minutes, but when I turned around she was under the water. I pulled her out and someone called 911 immediately. It was an accident. I didn't mean for it to happen. I'm sorry." One lonely tear fell from his eye. " She's going to be okay right? Right?!" That's when Janet came over. "We don't know. The doctor hasn't come out yet." Everything froze. "How long has she been back there." "About an hour and a half." An hour and a half ago was when I went on stage for the second half of the show and I had that terrible feeling. It felt like my whole world was shattered. I buried my head in my hands. The tears fell. I looked at Barri she was crying to. I sat down next to her and wrapped my arm around her. She cried into my shoulder. We waited for what seemed like forever. I glanced at a clock. It said that it was 12:30 am. "Hey Baby it is officially December 30th." "So?" "It's your birthday." "Well I don't feel like celebrating." "Yeah me neither." "Oh, no!" We looked at Janet. Her eyes were wide open. "What is it Janet?" I followed her eyes. Barri's dress was covered in Blood below the waist. "What?" Barri looked down. "No. Please!" Suddenly, Barri gave a loud shriek. "I'm begging you. Please tell me that was a contraction." "It might have been." She screamed some more. "The baby's coming!" I ran to the receptionist. "My wife is going into labor." "Okay sir." I went back to my wife. "They're going to get you some help." "They better hurry. I feel the baby coming out!" "No, maybe it's just you're imagination." I took a quick peek. "Okay, so it's not you're imagination." The doctors came over and took Barri to a delivery room. "Here put this on if you're coming." I put on the things he handed me and followed behind them. Barri was still screaming. They hooked her up to equipment. "Her heart rate looks unusually high. We need to do a C-section." The doctor looked down. "The baby is almost out now. So you're going to have to push." She gave one push. The baby was out. "It's a girl." The baby didn't cry. "Why isn't she crying? Oh God!" Barri started crying. "Calm down ma'am." Her heart rate continued to increase. Then she flat lined. "Baby!" "Sir you're going to have to leave." I left. I was so angry. I went straight to Joseph, ignoring all my other family members that were present. "Is this what you wanted, huh?! Are you happy now?!" "What are you talking about?" "Barri gave birth to a girl, who didn't start crying! Do you know what that means?! She isn't breathing! That means she was probably a still birth! Barri flat lined! Isabella's probably dead too! Are you happy now." "I..." Before, he could finished that sentenced I swung my fist at him. My family pulled me away. "Michael!" I rested my head on Janet's shoulder. I cried like I've never cried before. Soon a doctor came out. "You're the father of Isabella right?" "Yeah." "Well it was a struggle. It was a long fight for her life." Tears fell down my face. "Why the long face? We got a heartbeat." "You did?" "It's a weak one. So here's the possible outcomes, the heartbeat is so weak that we could lose the heartbeat. So she could die. Or she could live, but never wake up. She could wake up, but she's gone so long without oxygen that there might be brain damage, or there is a chance that she could wake up and be just fine. Okay? So we're going to do our best to try to get that last outcome." "Okay. Can I see her?" "Sure, whenever you get ready. Um, pardon me, but would you happen to know where that blood came from?" "My wife." "Okay, I'll get somebody to clean that up" The doctor walked away. Some one came and cleaned up the blood. Just then I heard a baby cry. That baby had some strong lungs. A few minutes later a doctor came out. "Mr. Jackson it is absolutely a miracle. Turns out the baby's lungs were filled with blood. Once we clean out the lungs the baby was fine, let out a great sounding cry." "So she's going to be fine?" "Absolutely, also she's seven pounds. Anyways, we were trying to resuscitate your wife. When she heard the baby crying her heart started beating. We gave her the baby and she calmed down." "So Barri is going to be okay?" "She is going to be fine." "Can I see them?" "Absolutely." "Thank you." I turned to my family. "Did you hear that? My family is alive." My family smiled at me. "We heard." I went in to see my wife, who was holding the baby. "She cried. She's okay." "I know." "What about Isabella?" "Baby she is alive. Now you just get some rest." "First we have to talk about what to name the baby. How about Violet?" "Violet?" "Yeah, I like purple and violet is a shade of purple." "Violet it is. The middle name should be Anna, maybe? You know I just tried to find something close to Alina." "That is not close, but I like it. Violet Anna Jackson." The nurse came in. We gave her the information she needed to fill out the birth certificate and I signed it. "Hey nurse, do you think I could see my daughter?" "Well, you're looking at her, but right now you need some rest, so we're going to put her with the other babies." "No, I mean, my other daughter Isabella." "Oh, I'm sorry. You really need your rest." "Please, just for a little while?" "I'll tell you what, I'll go ask my superiors and then I'll tell you what they say." "Thank you. See you later Violet." "Yeah, see you violet." After a few minutes a doctor came in. He checked Barri. "Alright I'll let you see your other daughter, but only for a little bit." "Oh thank you." They put Barri in a wheel chair and wheeled her to Isabella's room. I went with them. Barri grabbed Isabella's hand. "Hey Isabella. It's mommy. I need you to get better okay? Don't you want to meet your sister? Goodnight." "Hey Isabella it's daddy. Please get better. Goodnight." "Okay it's time to go back to your room." Barri was wheeled back to her room. I stayed with her. I kissed Barri's lips. "Happy Birthday Baby." "It's not as good as I would have liked it to be." Barri smiled. ",but thanks honey." A few days later, Barri and Violet came home. Isabella hadn't woke up yet. One month passed. I finished the tour. I went to the hospital with Barri and Violet. We went to Isabella's room. "Hey Isabella. I have your sister here. If you want to meet her, you have to wake up. Please?" There was still nothing. Then the doctor came in. "Hello." "Hi." "Whatever you have been doing, keep doing it. I mean her heart is getting stronger everyday." "Are you sure it's not something the hospital is doing?" "Could be. The point is she just keeps getting better and better. Okay, if you need anything, let me know." "Okay." The doctor left. "Hey Isabella it's me daddy. I miss you. Please wake up." I looked at Isabella. Her eyes slowly opened up. She looked right at me. "Dada." "Yeah, that's me, I'm dada. Did you here that? She said her first words." I was amazed. "Yes honey. I heard her." Then she started crying. A doctor ran in. After checking her out he turned to Barri and me. "We want to keep her one more night, just to make sure that she is okay." "Okay." The next day Isabella was released from the hospital. We went to Neverland. My wife and my daughters were in the living room. "I almost lost you all. I'm so glad I didn't. I love you all and I will never take you for granted." "We love you too. Isn't that right girls." "Love dada." "Look at you. You're growing up so fast." "Mama." "Yes?" "Mama." We laughed. Then the phone rang. It was my family asking to come over. I told them they could come over. They all came over. "I'm so sorry." I ignored Joseph. "Boy don't you hear me talking to you? I didn't mean for that to happen. I'm sorry." "Okay." I walked away. "Baby." "Yeah, that's you're baby sister." Isabella looked at me with a huge smile. "Dada!" "Yeah." "I can't believe that she is starting to talk." "Me neither Janet." My parents and siblings left. I'm so glad my family didn't die.

------------------------------------------------------ Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed. Stay tuned for more updates. As always HEAL THE WORLD.