Sometimes It's Better to Give In

The phone woke me up in the middle of the night. Alex groaned and rolled over while shoving his face under a pillow. I sat up holding the covers to my chest and picked up the phone.
“Hello?” I asked sleepily.
“Hey Emmy. Sorry it’s so late.” Zack said from the other side of the phone.
His phone call in the middle of the night, make that two in the morning could only mean one thing. Courtney was having her baby.
“Is she?” I asked.
“They just took her in. She told me to call you and that I wasn’t allowed in until I called you and Alex.”
“Okay, we’re on our way.” I said.
“See you in a few hours.” Zack said.
“Bye.” I hung up.
When I flipped on the light Alex groaned again. He pulled himself out from under the pillows and looked at me confused. I started to get out of bed and he rolled so he was on top of me.
“You’re not going anywhere.” He said sleepily.
“Alex, we have to go.” I said pushing him off me.
“Why?” He whined.
“Courtney is having her baby.”
“Oh… OH!” Alex got out of bed.
He went across the room faster than I’d ever seen him go before. He opened the door and ran down the hall in the direction that would take him to Rian’s room. I laughed to myself thinking of what Rian’s reaction would be when he saw that Alex was naked.
“Dude! Go put pants on!” I heard Rian yell.
Alex came running back into our room and went into the closet while still shouting at Rian that we all had to leave and get on a plane to go see Courtney and Zack. He was throwing clothes on and running back to the phone to call Jack and Stephie when I went to get dressed.
I got dressed and threw some clothes for the both of us into a suitcase and then put Sebastian’s things together. Baz came into the closet and looked at me sleepily. I picked him up and cuddled him for a moment while he closed his eyes and fell asleep in my arms.
“Come on! There’s no time for puppy cuddling!” Alex said running back into the closet.
“Jeeze Alex, I never thought you’d be this excited.” I mumbled getting up.
“It’s our best friends having their first child!” He whined when I didn’t get up fast enough.
He took the suitcase that I had put together and went out of the room. I grabbed Sebastian’s crate and carried him out to the front of the house. Good thing it was the middle of August so it wasn’t so cold at night as it would have been if it were winter.
Rian and Kara wandered out of the house and put their suitcases into the truck before climbing in the back.
I got on the phone and started making arrangements to catch the next flight to LAX. Alex was driving to the airport where Stephie and Jack were supposed to meet us. After I’d made all the arrangements and reserved seats on the plane for the six of us and Sebastian I leaned against the seat and let to warm bundle of fur lull me to sleep.
Alex woke me up by simply taking Sebastian out of my arms. I woke up as soon as the warmth was gone and Alex was standing on my side of the truck with the door open and a slightly angry but sleepy Sebastian in his arms. The poor puppy was probably just starting to sleep well.
I got out of the truck and opened up the crate for Sebastian. He walked into it with his tail down. He really hated the crate but understood that he had to get in it if he wanted to go with us. I carried him while Alex carried our suitcase. Rian and Kara found Jack and Stephie in the parking lot while we were getting Baz squared away.
We all went into the airport and I finished working out all the details for the flight at the desk. Everyone paid for their tickets and we were just in time to board the plane. I was able to take Sebastian on the plane with us, which was good because if he had to go in the cargo hold there was no way I was going. I couldn’t put my baby in the bottom of the plane and hope he didn’t die.
When the plane was in the air I pulled Sebastian out of his crate under the seat and he curled up in my arms. I fell asleep against Alex’s shoulder and he put his head on top of mine. We slept the whole five-hour plane ride to California.
As the plane touched down I woke up. Sebastian was still asleep. Alex woke up after I did. He kissed me and the looked out the widow. It was still dark out. I checked the time on the plane clock; it was four in the morning in California.
We all got off the plane together and got into a van that took us to the nearest hotel where we made reservations and dropped our things off in the rooms. I had to leave Sebastian in the room because he couldn’t go to the hospital. He just curled up on the bed and went to sleep not caring if we were there or not.
The six of us got into another van taxi and went to the hospital. Alex called Zack to let him know where we were. Courtney was still in labor but her contractions were getting way closer. I couldn’t wait to see her baby. She knew if it was a boy or a girl and she hadn’t told me. She liked to make me squirm for the details.
We arrived at the hospital and Zack met us outside. He told us that they were going to start the whole process soon so we got into the hospital and went to the third floor where Courtney was. We had to wait in the waiting room while Zack went back into Courtney’s room. He came out one more time to let us know that the baby was on its way and then he ran back to the room to hold Courtney’s hand.
I curled up next to Alex and gave him a few kisses. He snuggled me into his arms and told me that one day we’d be in Zack and Courtney’s situation. We had a while longer to go since we couldn’t get married for another year and three months but I wanted to be here with him. Kids were something that I wanted badly with Alex. It just seemed right.
An hour later Zack came out with the biggest smile I’d seen on his face since the day he got married. He told us that two at a time we could come in and see the baby. He was sticking with Courtney and not telling us if it was a boy or a girl. Zack said Courtney wanted Alex and I to come in first.
Alex got up and took my hand. We followed Zack into Courtney’s room. She was sitting up on the bed with a tiny little bundle in her arms. I squeezed Alex’s hand when I saw there was a pink blanket around the baby.
“A girl!” I said.
Courtney’s face lit up. “Yea.”
“What’s her name?” Alex asked peering down at the tiny little girl.
“Mikaela Nicole Merrick.”
“Awe that’s cute. MNM.” I laughed.
“Yea, Zack thought we should make her initials MNM and then it all fell into place.”
Alex asked if he could hold the little girl. Courtney handed her over to Alex and showed him where to put his hands so he could support her properly. He looked down at the little girl in his arms and smiled at her. I watched Alex hold her and talk to her. It only made me want to have a baby with him more.
He looked up at me and asked if I wanted to hold her. I held my arms out towards him and he carefully placed her in my arms. I pulled her close to me and looked down at her. She had a tiny bit of curly hair from Zack on the top of her head that was Courtney’s color. When I looked at her face I saw Courtney and Zack in her all over. She had Zack’s eyes and Courtney’s nose but a combination of both their mouths. She was the cutest baby I’d seen yet.
I handed her back to Courtney and she curled back up with her. Alex stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I leaned into him.
“You guys need to get married already! I want to see what your kids will look like!” Courtney said.
“Not for a little more than a year.”
“It sucks that you guys have to wait so long.” Zack said.
“It’s not bad. We want to have the wedding we have been planning so we’ve got to schedule where touring hasn’t been scheduled.” Alex shrugged. “When we started, two years was where we had to go because of our touring schedule.”
“Still it’s a long time.” Courtney said.
“It’s passed by quick. The first year has gone by rather fast. We only have a year and three months until our wedding day.” I said.
“Plus,” Alex said, “Then little Mikaela will be old enough to go to England and be there for the wedding.”
“Yea, she’ll be just over a year.” I said.
We talked for a little more. I turned the conversation back to Courtney, Zack, and their new baby girl. When we were leaving to give someone else a chance Courtney made us swear not to say a word. She wanted everyone to be surprised. We gave her our word and went out.
Stephie and Jack were up next. Jack was excited to see if it was a boy or a girl. Stephie said she thought it was going to be a girl. Jack said it was going to be a boy. Alex and I laughed and sat down. Rian and Kara tried to get details from us but we didn’t say anything.
Fifteen minutes later Jack and Stephie came out. Rian and Kara got up and went to see Courtney and the baby. Stephie and I started talking about babies and if we wanted boys or girls. Jack and Alex went into some conversation that had nothing to do with babies but I wasn’t listening.
Rian and Kara came out after a while. I could see that Kara was all melted inside and wanted a baby. I wondered if that was what I looked like when I came out. That was how I felt.
Zack came out to say good-bye to us. We were all tired and headed back to the hotel to sleep. I wanted to go see my Sebastian. He was all alone in the hotel room and I was worried about him. He was probably fine and still sleeping but he was my baby.
As soon as we got back I took Sebastian out to see if he had to go potty and then brought him back in. Alex was curled up in bed when I made it back to our room. I put Sebastian down and slipped off clothes until I was as I had been before Zack had called me. Alex rolled when I got into bed with him.
“Hi.” He said kissing me.
“Hey.” I kissed back.
“I want a baby.” Alex said.
“Me too, but not until we’re married.”
Alex made a face.
“I know, but that doesn’t change the fact that I want one.”
“I want one just as bad as you want a baby.”
“Boy or girl?” He asked.
“Boy.” I said.
“Why boy?”
“I don’t know.”
“You have to know.”
“No, that just seems like what I’d want.” I said shrugging.
“A boy would be good. I would be happy as long as it’s human though.” Alex smiled.
“I think you’d love it even if it was an alien.”
“True, because it would be my alien.”
“Our alien.”
“Whose the alien then?” Alex asked.
“You.” I giggled.
“Why me? You’re the alien!”
“Boys are from Mars.” I said.
“Girls are from Venus!”
We continued on with our little fight for a while before I curled up next to Alex and closed my eyes. He curled himself around me and closed his eyes.
“I love you.” I said.
“I love you too.” Alex mumbled into my hair.
I laid there and played with my engagement ring for a little before going to sleep.

When we woke up in the middle of the day we went back to the hospital to see everyone again. We spent the whole day there and just hung out like the friends that we were. I could see that Courtney was still tired and I didn’t blame her.
She had made Zack get into the narrow hospital bed with her and she was turned into him with little Mikaela between the two of them. They both couldn’t keep their eyes off her for long and had to glance at her to make sure that she was happy and sleeping.
I was quietly imagining myself and Alex curled up in a hospital bed like that with a little baby between us. A year did feel like a long time away for me now. I wished it could come sooner.