(about seven months later)
Mike was sleeping comfortably until the telephone intruded and awakened him. He moaned and put the pillow over his head, trying to drown out the noise. The phone continued to ring. He finally rolled over and picked up the phone. He glanced toward the clock but was unable to read it in the dark.
"Hello?" he mumbled, half asleep, into the phone.
"Mike?" the voice on the other end asked.
"Peter? Where are you? What time is it?" Peter glanced at his watch for a moment before answering. "It's two in the morning," he answered and paused while Mike moaned into the phone. "I'm at the hospital," he said, and waited for the response he knew was coming.
"What? Why are you at the hospital? Is something wrong?" Mike asked, jolted to full awakness. He began to panic.
"No, nothing's wrong," Peter said, and Mike could hear the smile in his voice. "It's just that she's having the baby."
Peter paused to let the words sink in and Mike sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Is she okay? Is everything alright?" he asked.
"Yeah, everything's fine, Mike," Peter said. "It's just she wants you to come down here. We..um....kinda forgot about Thomas, too," he added sheepishly.
Mike nodded at the phone. "We'll be over soon," he said. "And we'll bring Thomas." He hung up the phone and went to find Micky.
At the hospital, Nicole was discovering what labor pains really felt like. Peter had gone to call Mike and they'd started. The moment he returned, she looked at him hopefully.
"Oh, Peter, it hurts," she moaned. He looked at her in concern. Then he relaxed and smiled his mischievous half smile and laughed a little.
"It's supposed to hurt, silly," he said, smiling. He sat down in the chair next to the bed.
"Peter, take the pain away," she said, trying for the straightforward approach. His eyes softened and smiled lightly and sympathetically.
"I wish I could, love," he replied.
"But Peter, you..." she began. He looked deep in to her eyes. She sighed and looked away. "Of course you can't," she said. "I just wish you could." But somewhere in the back of her brain told her otherwise.
Mike and Micky had, after much pleading, managed to convince Thomas to get out of bed and come down to the hospital. It wasn't easy to lure a five year old boy out of a deep sleep to go to a hospital and sit in a waiting room, but they managed.
Now, in the waiting room, Mike discovered that he was the only one awake. Thomas had fallen asleep again and was using his lap as a pillow. On the other side of him, Micky had also drifted off and was using his shoulder as a pillow. Mike sighed. He was having trouble staying awake himself.
Suddenly he was jolted out of near sleep by the doors to the maternity ward bursting wide open and a nurse running through them.
He watched as the woman ran down the hall and turned around a corner. He watched, wondering, but then shrugged and tried to fall asleep.
Only to be jolted awake by the doors bursting open again.
"Excuse me?" the nurse asked. "Are you the friends of the woman giving birth?" She looked down at the clipboard and read Nicole's name.
Mike nodded. "She's m'sister," he said. "Why? What's going on?"
"Oh, it's nothing to worry about. Have you seen her husband come through here?" she asked. She ran a hand nervously through her red curls.
Mike shook his head, and she rushed back through the doors.
As it turned out, Mike was asked this question four more times that night. Each time he had not seen Peter, and each time he got even more nervous. He sat there for four long hours. He was beginning to get a cramp in his leg and his shoulder because Micky and Thomas still were asleep. And he had to go to the bathroom. He was tired of waiting. Carefully, he moved Thomas off of his leg and stood up. He placed his head on Micky's lap. Then he stretched. He was very stiff after sitting in the same position for four hours straight.
After he found the bathroom and used it, Mike decided he could wait no more and headed off to find his sister. How hard could it be, he thought to himself as he pushed open the doors to the maternity ward.
He walked down a long hallway with many doors. Inside most of them were mothers sleeping. Most of the doors were open. Then he heard something faint and stopped to listen. Mike stopped. Yes, that was crying he heard. Memories flooded through his brain, and after a while he connected it. That was definitely his sister who was crying.
Using his hearing as a guide, he followed the noise down the hallway and around a turn. He stopped outside of the door and looked in.
Nicole was lying on a bed and sobbing. Not crying but sobbing. She was obviously upset. Peter was nowhere to be seen. Mike wondered where he could be.
Slowly he pushed open the door and took a step inside. She didn't notice that he came in. He sat down on the chair next to the bed.
"Nicole?" he asked quietly. "What happened?" She sniffled a few more times and wiped her eyes before turning around.
"He's gone," she said simply.
"Who's gone?" he asked. "Peter?"
She nodded and threw herself into his arms.
"What about the baby?" he asked.
"He took it."
