A light || Ricky and Nini

Chapter 186

Ricky POV

My heart pounds as I walk into my mom's hospital room. The sight of her, laying in the bed with tubes and wires connected across her body prompts tears to spring to my eyes. This wasn't fair. I barely notice Todd and Jason in the corner of the room as I walk closer to her and I watch as her eyes pop open. "Baby..." she reaches out to touch my arm and I let her. "Hi mom." I manage to get out and her facial expression holds so much. "How are you?" I ask and she gives me a small smile. "Just fine honey. Everything's going to be just fine." She squeezes my arm and I feel a hand on my back, Nini's silent assurance that she was there for me. "What happened?" I ask her and she frowns before collecting herself. "After you left, your dad called. We got into an argument... and I got a little stressed. I started to feel some cramping and some pain. They're running tests and checking on me though baby. I'm gonna be fine." I shift my weight and choke down the lump in my throat. "What is all of this then? Why are you connected to all of this?" She seems to look at herself, recognizing the monitors and the bandages holding wires in place. "It's to monitor my heart, and my breathing. This..." She points to a tube that's resting on her chest. "Is for oxygen, but between me and you, I don't need it." I laugh despite myself, knowing how much she hates having medical assistance. "Okay." I say and she smiles. "And hello there Nini, thanks for being here." She says, looking past me towards my girlfriend. Nini smiles genuinely and nods. "Of course. Let me know if I can do anything." I can see in her facial expression that she's biting something back, possibly anger but she hides it well and looks at the ground. "So-" I'm cut off by the door to her room opening and I step back when I see it's a doctor. "Family?" The man asks, gesturing to us and I nod, clutching Nini to my side. "Actually she's-" Jason speaks up for the first time since I walked in the room and Nini whips her head around, glaring so hard that I swear she'd hurt him with her stare. He raises his hands up in defense and gives us a small nod, turning his attention to the doctor. "Yeah all family." He says and the doctor nods. "Alright Lynne. We did some tests, and we need to do another full examination. It seems you could be going into labor induced by extreme stress. Your records prove that you are easily susceptible to anxiety-induced issues so right now we can't be too careful, because another human is involved. We need to see if you are dilated, and if so... how much." The doctor finishes and Nini squeezes my hand. "I- OW." My mom exclaims, clutching her stomach and everyone turns their attention to her in fear. "Oh my god, honey." Todd says in fear and Jason moves forward as if he could do something. "Okay we have to speed this up. Everyone out." The doctor says and I frown. "No wait, please-" I don't even recognize my own voice as I plead for the doctor to let us stay. "Baby go out with Todd, Jason and Nini. I'll be okay." My mom assures me as she winces in pain and at the moment I wish I could do anything to stay. I had to make sure she was okay. But her facial expression was calm despite the scary situation and I give into Nini's slight pull on my hand. I follow the group out of the room.

Nini POV

"Come here babe." I pull on Ricky's hand gently, leading him to a row of chairs in the waiting room, further away from where Lynne is, so that he can take a breather. I pull him down into a chair next to me carefully. As we sit, our hands detach and he places both of his on his knees, rubbing them against the fabric of his jeans. His leg starts to bounce again and his lips are parted, almost as if he's in silent shock. "Hey." I run my fingers across the back of his hand and he turns, to meet my eyes. His are reddened, as if he's holding back his emotion and I scoot close to him, wrapping my arms around the side of his body. "Hey." I repeat, rubbing my thumb across his forearm and holding his bicep a little tighter. "Hey." He says to me, and he presses his nose into my hair. "Everything's okay." I remind him and he takes a deep breath, turning further into me. "Yeah I know. It's just a lot." He says and I smile softly. "You've got this." I say and he chuckles. "God I hope so. I-" Ricky's cut off by a tap on his shoulder and he turns without breaking away from me. "Oh hi." I turn to see Todd wearing a sympathetic look. "Um, I don't mean to interrupt you two... I'm sorry it's just-" Ricky cuts him off. "It's fine what's up?" He half asks, half snaps, and Todd looks down the hallway towards Lynne's room before looking back at Ricky. "Lynne... uh your mom... she's dilated so she's uh, she's in labor." Ricky's mouth opens and I rub his back so that he won't flip out on the already-nervous man in front of him. "I... oh my god."