The paramedics were quickly rolling Kelly down the halls of the hospital upstairs to the maternity floor as Nick and AJ both entered the hospital at the same time.
“What’s going on?” Nick yelled to AJ, even though he was only inches away from him. The two quickly raced up to Kelly, while AJ explained what had happened.
“Kel, baby, are you okay?” Nick was running alongside the stretcher, holding his wife’s hand.
“Nick!!!” Kelly squealed delightly, through her tears and pain. She smiled up at him and squeezed his hand tighter. Although Nick was deeply concerned about his wife, the bright sparkle that was always in her eyes reflected when she smiled weakly at him.
The stretcher turned the corner and Kelly’s obstetrician, Dr. Robbins, was right there waiting to greet her. “Put her in Room 43, down the hall, please,” Dr. Robbins directed, noting Kelly’s condition.
Kelly was moved from the stretcher to a bed on the maternity ward, in her own separate, secluded room. Nick had never let go of her hand the entire time, and was standing then beside of her. He brushed the wet strands of hair from her face, and tried to talk soothingly to her, to calm his wife down.
“There you two are!” AJ called, almost jogging past the room. “Y’all lost me back at the corner!” he laughed jokingly.
“Sorry ‘bout that,” Nick said as AJ walked around to the other side of Kelly.
“How you doin’ baby girl?” AJ said, looking down at his close friend.
Kelly struggled and finally spoke, “Not so good.” She clenched her teeth and wrinkled her brow as the pain increased. “Nick make it stop!!” she whined, as tears stained her fair cheeks. “It hurts! Please please make it stop!”
Nick squeezed her hand tighter as he and AJ both tried to comfort her. He wanted more than anything in the world to be able to take away her pain, but there was nothing he could do, except to just be there with her.
Dr. Robbins approached the bed, and asked the two men to step outside for a minute so that she could figure out what was going on with Kelly. A few minutes later, the doctor opened the door and reappeared in front of Nick. AJ had gone down to the lobby to call Ang and Brian to let them know what was going on.
“What’s wrong? Is she going to be all right? What’s going on?” the questions flowed from Nick’s mouth as he stood impatiently and expectantly in front of the doctor.
“Your wife is in labor, Mr. Carter,” the doctor stated simply, jotting something down on her clipboard.
“Labor?! But, she’s not due for another 9 weeks!!!” Nick practically screamed.
“I realize that and that’s okay. I’ve delivered many premature babies, and yours should be no different. Everything should be just fine. Kelly’s looking really good right now and the pain she’s having goes with giving birth…it’s called contractions. Help her with her breathing and I’ll check back in periodically to see how she’s doing okay?” the doctor looked into Nick’s wide, terrified, blue eyes.
Nick nodded silently as he stared in a daze ahead of him.
“Mr. Carter,” Dr. Robbins placed her hand on his shoulder. “Everything’s going to be fine. Remember, the important thing is for you not to panic, so that Kelly will stay calm.”
The doctor left Nick with that piece of advice as AJ came bounding around the corner.
“Hey man, I just called Brian, Ang, and Lis. They’re on their way up here. I’m gonna go meet them in the lobby, ok?” AJ told Nick, almost out of breath from running up the stairs.
“Kel’s in labor,” Nick informed AJ, looking at him with wide eyes.
“What?! Now??! She can’t be! She’s not due until like January, right?” AJ exclaimed, getting just as panicky as Nick had been.
“Yeah, but it’s okay. We have to be calm. Everything will be fine, the doctor said. I’m going to go stay with Kel,” Nick said, walking back into the room.
She wasn’t having a contraction at the moment, so Kelly wasn’t in any immense amout of pain at the particular moment.
“How you feelin’?” Nick asked quietly.
“As expected, I guess…” Kelly half smiled at her husband.
“Do you want me to get you anything? Need anything?” Nick asked, pulling up a chair beside her.
“Could you get me some water? That would be really nice,” Kelly said, looking out the window into the starry sky.
“Here ya go,” Nick said handing Kelly her water that he had poured from a pitcher sitting on the table.
“Thanks,” she said, taking a sip.
“What were you thinking about?” Nick asked, studying Kelly’s countenance.
“Huh?” Kelly turned her head abrubtly to look into his blue eyes.
“When you were looking outside…what were you thinking about?” Nick asked.
“Why the sky is blue…” Kelly replied seriously.
“And why is that?” Nick questioned, intrigued by her random thoughts.
“Just because… You know? It was just meant to be like that. The grass was meant to be green, you and I were meant to be together, and well, these twins were meant to be born tonight, I suppose,” Kelly turned to look outside the window again. She winced in pain as a contraction started, but tried to be strong and not show the pain quite as much.
“Kel, it’s okay. Just take my hand,” Nick smiled at his wife.
“Thank you,” Kelly smiled, placing her right hand on his cheek to kiss him.
“What for?” Nick asked, returning her kiss.
“For loving me so much and being such a wonderful husband. I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
