You Might Have Noticed

I wasn’t supposed to travel. I wasn’t supposed to be walking around. I was supposed to be on bed rest. I was supposed to keep myself comfortable to make the last few months as comfortable as possible.
I was traveling constantly. I was walking abound but only when The Academy Is… was playing. Other than that I was on the bus resting like I was supposed to be. Sometimes I even sat down on the side of the stage to watch rather than stand. My back was so sore. I was keeping myself comfortable as well. When I had to I went to other busses that I knew were really cold, like Cobra’s, and hung out with them to cool off.
Everyone pretty much just called me “That Pregnant Lady.” It’s become my name basically over these first two months of warped. I was pretty big now that I only had two weeks left. Mike was trying to convince me to just stay on the bus while they played since it was so hard for me to walk to the stage but I refused. I was going to see my husband play no matter what. Since I had decided upon that he came over to me between songs to make sure I was okay. He even had Tony shadowing my every move incase I went into labor or something like that.
Due to the consistent presence of Tony when I was out and about, people began thinking that I was Tony’s wife and that it was his baby. I got a kick out of it, however, the little one did not. It seemed that whenever it was mentioned that people thought I was Tony’s wife she kicked. It could have been coincidence since it didn’t happen every time, or she was insanely smart and could hear though the walls of my tummy. The fist was the most likely, though I’d love to believe my baby was a genius.
We let people think what they wanted. It wasn’t like we were correcting them or telling them that I was married to Mike. it didn’t bother any of us that anyone thought I was married to Tony. In Mike’s mind it was awesome. He was so quiet about his life that if fans thought I was married to anyone else that would be the best thing possible. We’d been though the whole charade of William Beckett and his imaginary baby. People still think he has one that he’s not telling anyone about. So the less people that knew the truth the better for Mike and I.
When Tony knew that Mike and I were fine with people thinking it was his baby he took it to the next level. Whenever Tony walked me somewhere he held my hand our put his arm around my back. I particularly like his arm around my back because it gave me more support. I changed my name to “The Pregnant Lady” on myspace when I was put into their top friends right next to Tony.
Now we were just egging the fans on so they thought I was with Tony. The fans couldn’t tell for some reason from my profile picture that since I was cuddling with Mike and we were curled up in bed together that I was his wife. They all just thought it was so sweet that I was such good friends with everyone in the band. Of course the pictures I didn’t want any of them to see that would reveal our secret were hidden to fans and only people who I had on a list could see them. I never thought this whole myspace thing was worth anything until William made me one a while back. Now it’s my tool.
The girls, Katy and Vicky T, had a lot of fun with me. They always wanted to just hang out with me and talk about babies. I knew that Katy was bothering Travis about babies, but she didn’t want one right that second, she just had fun with it. Vicky T on the other hand just like to hang around with me and make sure I was okay. She liked to feel when the little girl was kicking around, but then again so did everyone.
It was so weird going from an environment where I was quiet and kept to myself, only opening up to my closest friends to an environment where everyone wanted to hang out with me or talk to me or do something with me. Fans of The Academy Is… were recognizing me as Tony’s wife and then wanting pictures. It was so weird. I was having fun but at the same time I was happy that I was going to have the little one in about two weeks.
It was fun being the center of attention for a while, but I just wanted to get back to Mike and I. However, I knew that it was never going to be just us ever again; there was a new addition coming. I was so happy that she was coming too. That was one of my last real big goal that I wanted to achieve. I had told Mike how I’d felt about him and that was the biggest goal, I don’t work for anyone but myself but I do work with friends which has come out well, and now I was having a baby.

It’s three days to my due date and Mike really wants me to just stay on the bus today. He feels like today it the day for some reason and wants me near where I can get help. I’m ignoring him because I want to see the show. I have not missed a show yet and I’m not going to start now. I do get what’s he feels about today being the day but it feels like it’s going to be later. For that reason I’m ignoring him and going to the show.
The compromise we came to was that I could go to the show if Tony did nothing but stay at my side the whole time. Mike had been relying on Tony to say he couldn’t stay with me the whole time because he had other things to do but Tony agreed right off the bat without thinking about it at all. I believe his exact words were, “Anything for my pretend wife.”
So I was sitting on the side of the stage because it had gotten to hard for me to stand after walking to the stage. I had Mike and Tony on either side of me for support as I was walking so that it wouldn’t take me half an hour to get to the stage. I knew Mike really didn’t like my idea since we were pretty far away from the first aid tent. However the medical people had been notified that I was going to be due soon so no matter where we stopped there was a place set up that was sectioned off from everyone else that was ready for me if the baby decided to come. It had been sterilized and set up every day now for a week just incase, which made Mike feel much better.
I was sure that I was right and that the baby was going to come later on in the night. I wasn’t having contractions yet and there was no gut feeling. Of course my gut feeling could be messed up because I have a full size baby in it but who knows.
The set that the boys played was going amazingly. They were all having a lot of fun and the crowd was having a good time as well. Every once in a while William would come over between songs to make sure I was feeling good and nothing was wrong. Mike came between every song to ask me how I was feeling and if he caught a weird expression on my face he would come right over in the middle of a song still playing and ask me if I was okay. It got to the point that when I saw him coming towards me I just nodded my head yes so he would go back into view and keep playing.
Turns out Mike was right. I felt what I thought was a kick at first that was really painful. As I thought about it, it seemed more like pain in my muscles than being kicked. When it happened again it was much more painful than any kick I had experienced. Mike caught the look on my face and I nodded to him that I was fine but he knew better. The song had ended conveniently as he was walking over to me. I felt another pain and knew it was a contraction.
“How are you feeling?” He asked planting a kiss on my forehead.
“Fine.” I said as another one hit.
“You’re lying. Contractions started, huh?” It sounded more like a statement than a question.
“Yea, how long until the set’s over?”
“Two songs. You need to go now though.”
“No, I can wait. I don’t want to go with out you.”
“You need to go.” He looked over to Tony. “Tony call someone with a golf cart and tell them to get over here as soon as they can and take her to the place they have set up.”
“Sure thing.”
Mike walked back out on stage and told William who then looked at me. I waved him on and tried not to show the pain in my face. I was strong and I could handle this. I wasn’t going to scream from it; I was just going to get it over with.
I told Tony to wait until they were on their last song to call. I wanted to see the whole set and if he had to call a golf cart it would take about a song to get here. I knew that if Tony waited then the golf cart would get here as soon as they were done and then Mike could go with me. That’s all I wanted was Mike to be there and not be left behind. He was important in this. I needed him there.
The set ended. Mike put his guitar down and jogged to my side. He was looking for the golf cart as well as trying to assess me and see how I was feeling versus how I would say I was. The golf cart pulled up and Tony and Mike helped me into it. Mike rode next to me and held onto me while giving me kisses. Stayed behind since I didn’t want this to turn into a whole show. I just wanted the necessary people there.

It took a while but it was over with and I was so tired. I basically fell asleep right after I’d held my little girl and knew she was alright. The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was that Mike was with her and she was fine.
When I was awake I was on the bus and it was moving. I guess we had to keep going on to the next stop. I rolled and then regretted it because pain shot through my lower half. I groaned and rolled back to my original position.
“You awake?” Mike asked.
“Yea, how long have I been out? Where is she? Where are we going?” All my questions ran together.
“Slow down. We’re heading to a hospital right now to just have you checked out and her as well, you’ve only been out an hour, and she’s right here asleep.” Mike said standing up and coming closer to me.
I saw a little bundle in his arms and I immediately wanted to see her. Mike gently handed the little one to me and I sat up, ignoring the pain, to cuddle her more comfortably. Mike sat on the edge of the couch and his hand absentmindedly ran over my stomach.
“Is it weird that my tummy is flatter now?” I asked.
“Yea, a little. I was so sued to this giant thing that I could rub that would kick at me and now it’s gone. She’s here now.” He smiled.
“What are we going to name her?”
“Well I was waiting for you to come around but I sort of already have a name.” He admitted sheepishly.
“What?” I asked wanting to hear it.
“Natalie Anne Carden. It uses both names that we liked and it just sounds pretty.”
“I like that.” I agreed.
“So Natalie Anne Carden it is then?” He smiled excitedly.
“Natalie Anne Carden.” I agreed looking down at her.
She did look like that name fit her perfectly. As Mike kissed my cheek I turned my head to meet his lips. This was the best moment in my life ever. It was more than I could have ever asked for.