Crossroads of Life

~POV: Madison~
“Hey,” Matt said gently as he walked into the bedroom.

“Hi,” I muttered in reply, staring at the wall. He sat down in the chair beside me and grabbed my hand. I didn’t fight him off, I didn’t have the will. Tears flowed from my eyes as my hand went to my flat stomach.

“What happened?” I asked, my voice strained. “What did I do wrong?”

“You did nothing wrong,” Matt said, but I just rolled my eyes.

“How the hell would you know? You wasn’t around for most of it, so for all you know I could of done drugs or drank while I was pregnant.”

“I know you Maddy, you won’t do that. You would of done everything you could to make sure the baby came into the world perfectly healthy. You can’t blame yourself, this was the way it was supposed to be.”

“No,” I said, silent tears escaping my eyes. “It’s not supposed to be like this. None of it is supposed to be like this. We should have been married and expecting our son. You should have been here for the entire thing, not just part of it. We should be celebrating the birth of our son, not waiting around worrying about him.”

“So let’s celebrate it,” Matt said, throwing his hands in the air and sitting forward in the chair. “He still doesn’t have a name yet, let’s work on that.”

“I can’t,” I replied, my voice cracking. “I can’t Matt, have you seen him? He’s so tiny, so small. He’s so fragile,”

“All babies are when they’re first born,” Matt pointed out. “Just calm down okay. Brian talked to me, he said the doctors said he’s healthy. He just needs to get his lungs developed more, get some more weight on him, and he’ll need to be under observation, but he’s perfectly healthy.”

I knew what Matt was saying was true, but it was still hurtful to think of how my little boy still had such a long way to go, when really we should have been able to get out of here within a couple of days.

“Maddy, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” Matt said suddenly, staring at the ground. “I was going to call you to tell you this, but Brian called and told me what was going on, so I didn’t get a chance.”

“What?” I asked wearily.

“I’ve been thinking, a lot, and I was just going to say that, what you and Brian have been saying all this time is true. We’re not ready to be parents, I’m still stuck in Missouri when I’m not on tour. I, I think it would be best if the baby was adopted by Matt and Valary. I know they’ll be great parents, and that’s all I want for our son.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along,” I replied, grabbing his hand and squeezing it. Sitting back in the bed, I sighed, remembering why we were fighting in the first place.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered after a long pause. “I’m sorry for what I said that day. I shouldn’t of said it, it was wrong and I was just irritated and pissed off, and it was wrong for me to take it out on you.”

“I deserved it, I was being an asshole that day, your brother and father didn’t deserve that. None of you deserved it, I was just frustrated and I couldn’t hide it.”

“I didn’t help,” I started, but he cut me off by placing his fingers to my lips.

“Let’s just forget that day ever happened and start fresh,” he suggested. I smiled, my first true smile in a long time, and nodded.

“There’s the smile I’ve missed,” Dad’s voice said from the door. “Matthew, you have nothing to apologize for,” he said to Matt, who had stiffened when Dad walked in. “These last few months have been hell on everyone, and you was just dealing with it the way you knew how.”

“I’m sorry sir,” Matt started, but Dad held up and hand to stop him.

“All is forgiven, and all is forgotten. What matters now is that little boy down the hall. He needs his parents, whether biological or chosen, he needs you.”

“I just though of a name for him,” I informed Matt as Brian, Big Matty and Val walked into the room.

“A name for our little boy? We’d love to hear it, we’re stumped,” Val admitted.

“Owen Matthew,” I said.

“Don’t you think we have enough Matthews in this group?” Big Matty asked.

“I guess so,” I replied, looking up at the father of my son. I sighed, defeated.

“Hey, what about Owen Michael?” Matt spoke up suddenly.

“I like that,” Val replied, looking up at her husband. He nodded and looked down at me.

“Owen Michael Sanders, I love it.” I replied with a nod.

“Sanders?” Val asked, arching her eyebrow at me. “I thought that was all on hold for right now.”

“I finally realized that I was being a selfish asshole, and that Maddy and I really are not ready to raise a kid.” Matt said, staring at his feet.

“About damn time,” Big Matty muttered. Val smacked his arm playfully and walked up to Matt.

“We’ll let you see him, whenever you want,” she said gently. “We’ll keep you updated weekly if you want, and send you tons of pictures.”

“Make it Bi-weekly and you have a deal,” Matt replied, smiling at her. She nodded her head and turned back to her husband, who had a new brightened look about him. I watched as they left the room, letting Brian and my father to move closer to us.

“He would have been honored,” Brian said, grabbing my hand with his larger one.

“I know he would be,” I replied, smiling toward the ceiling, toward heaven and the afterlife.

“Who?” Matt asked, looking confused.

“James Owen Sullivan,” Dad answered him. “Drummer, best friend, son, brother, and the craziest son of a bitch you could of met.”

“I really wish he could be around for this.” I said, sighing as I felt my throat clog with more tears.

“He’s here sis, in spirit.” Brian replied, kissing my forehead.

“He was a special guy wasn’t he?” Matt asked suddenly.

“He was the first one of Brian’s friends to see me as more than Brian’s little sister,” I said. “Even Big Matty was that way when we first met, but Jimmy changed everyone’s mind on that by treating my like a best friend and not just an annoying teenage girl.”

“Didn’t Jimmy try to get you drunk one night?” Brian asked, smiling.

“Yeah he did, right before I went to Ohio Valley,” I said, suddenly remembering that night. It was while I was planning on leaving to go to Ohio Valley Wrestling to start training. They knew they wouldn’t be able to get me out for my 21 birthday, so Jimmy tried to get me to take shots of Jack Daniels with him and Zack. I refused to, and my father came in before I could be convinced and told them point blank no alcohol since I was extremely underage. Jimmy was disappointed, but he still found ways to make the most of the time we had left.
We barely saw each other after I left. I went straight from Gateway to joining the WWE, coming home only when I was on break, and most of the time they were on tour as a band, and our schedules never had us ending up in the same city or state.

“I remember that,” Dad’s voice cut through my thoughts. “I walked in on them trying to convince her.”

“Yeah, and you told them no alcohol for kids under eighteen.” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Was I wrong?” Dad asked, looking around at Matt and Brian.

“No Dad, you wasn’t,” Brian said, rolling his eyes behind our father’s back. “Oh sis, there’s a surprise coming for you.”

“What?” I asked as a knock came from the door. Brian turned to open it, revealing Mike Hickenbottom.

“Well, hello, long time no see,” Mike said, walking up to me. “What’s this you making me a grandfather before my time?”

“I’m sorry?” I asked rather than stated.

“I’m picking on you,” he said, winking at me with a smile.

“Want to go see him?” Matt asked him. Mike nodded and they left the room.

~POV: Mike~
“How’s she doing?” I asked Matt as we walked down the hall.

“We were just finally able to convince her that he has a chance,” Matt replied, stopping at a window. I looked in and saw the bassinette labeled with the last name Haner.

“We just decided a name when you showed up,” Matt said. “Owen Michael Sanders.”

“Sanders, why Sanders?” I asked, confused.

“That’s the couple that’s going to adopt him,” was the answer I received. “Matthew and Valary Sanders. They’re friends of Maddy’s and I can tell they’ll be great parents.”

“I’m proud of you,” I said. I knew I shocked him because of the look he gave me. “You finally realize it doesn’t matter what you want, what matters is what’s right for your son.” I looked at the baby, amazed at how small he was.

“Two pounds,” Matt said as if reading my mind.

“He has to be what, six before he’ll be allowed home?” I asked. Matt nodded, watching the baby sleeping.

“They’re saying he’s perfectly healthy, he just needs to develop more and get his weight up.”

“Once he gets the hang of eating the weight will build up on him,” I said, rubbing a hand over my forehead. “It could be a while for him to develop more though.” A thought entered my head, and I had to ask it. “Did something happen to cause this, or did it just happen?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did she just go into sudden labor or what?”

“As far as I understand it was just sudden.”

“It was,” a voice behind us said. I knew it was Brian, her older brother. I recognized the voice anywhere.

“She was just sitting on the couch and she was having pains. She knew something was wrong so we rushed here.”

“So, nothing provoked her labor? You do know that is possible to do.”

“We do realize that, and nothing provoked it. It just happened,” Brian replied curtly.

“Okay, I was just asking,” I muttered, not being able to hold back the slight smile of amusement.