3:

3:

Needing some way to occupy their minds, the group of friends crowded first around the nursery window and then into Heather’s hospital room. It had been too long since they had heard anything. They all knew Joey had been taken out of the delivery room. He was slumped against the wall by the door, staring into space.

"I can’t believe he did this," Amanda said softly.

"Not like you wouldn’t, given the opportunity," JC had muttered in return. Amanda turned an angry red, slapped him, and stormed out. The others gave JC some rather strange looks but he just shrugged in return. "She’ll be back," he said before turning to stare out the window. "Probably, anyway," he added, sounding almost disappointed.

"I really thought he had changed this time," Justin said. Lance nodded his agreement. They were all still a little too stunned to do much but talk about it. That on top of their worry about Gina and the baby made for quite a bit of nervous energy. Justin was rolling his wheelchair back and forth, only moving about and inch in either direction. Sugar leaned against the wall, arms crossed across her chest in an attempt to remain still. Z was twisting her hair around her finger while Lance tapped his foot on the floor. Heather was biting her nails while Chris drummed his fingers on the metal bed frame. JC chomped a piece of gum as if his life depended on it. Steve was sitting on the floor by the doorway, periodically rubbing his face. It was against hospital policy to have so many visitors in a room at once, especially at such a late hour, but under the circumstances, the hospital staff wasn’t too concerned about it.

 

The delivery room door swung open and a nurse leaned out, nearly tripping over Joey in the process. "Mr. Fatone? You can come in now." He nodded weakly and stood to follow her.

The doctor caught him just before he reached his wife. "It looks like your wife and child are going to be just fine, Mr. Fatone. Of course we’ll be keeping a close eye on them both for a few days, but there were no further complications."

Joey didn’t even try to stop the tears from running down his cheeks. The nurse handed him a warm, wriggling bundle. Gina opened her eyes and offered him a soft, wistful smile. "Congratulations, Dad, it’s a boy." Joey leaned down and pressed a soft kiss against his son’s forehead before gently placing the baby in his wife’s waiting arms. He lowered himself to his knees and pressed his face to her shoulder. She didn’t hold him or offer any words of forgiveness and understanding, but she didn’t push him away, either. For the moment, that was enough.

 

An orderly and two nurses came into the hospital room. The orderly was wheeling a very pale and tired Gina in on a gurney. The nurses pushed two bassinets, one with a pink-blanketed bundle and the other a blue. They parked the small carts next to Heather’s bed before shooing the others out of the room. Joey was waiting outside the room for his friends. "The baby’s in the nursery," he said softly, never looking up from the gleaming tile. One by one, they made their way down the hall. At first they didn’t see the baby, but then the nurse on duty pointed them to the corner, where the incubators stood. Only one was occupied, and the hastily written name card attached to it read simply "Fatone boy."

4:

 

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