This Masterpiece Will Fall Apart

I woke up to a hard smack in the arm at around 3:30 in the morning. I sputtered, sitting upright. I looked over at Josline who was sitting up. “Why'd you do that?” I asked, rubbing my arm.

“Josh...” her voice sounded strained. I moved over closer to her.

“What's wrong?” I asked as she looked me in the eyes.

“We need to go to the hospital. Right now.” she said. I looked at her a moment, before my eyes grew twice their size.

“You mean...” I started to say, and Josline nodded. I flung the blanket off me and started to ramble off things to her.

“Alright, I'll go wake up you're parents, call El so she can watch Finley...” I continued to ramble until Josline chucked a pillow at me.

“Josh, calm down.” She said.

“How can I be calm?” I huffed.

“By taking deep breaths. Christ, I'm more calm than you are.”

“You know what's going on with you. I have no clue!” I exclaimed.

“Well, as of now, I'm in labour.” Josline said, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.

“I know that much!” I said. I walked over to Josline and kneeled down in front of her, placing one hand on her knee. “Everything will be okay, though.” I smiled at her.

Once Eloisa arrived (which was mere minutes after I called her), Josline, her parents, and myself went to the hospital. I was in charge of calling people to let them know what was going on. Zack and the girl that I had only seen the once were the first ones there. They caught me out in the hallway when I was talking to Mariah, one of Josline's friends who I met a few times. I said goodbye to her and shoved my phone in my pocket. Zack was the first to speak.

“How's everything going?” he asked.

“Everything's fine right now.” I said. Zack smiled. “You can go in and see her.” Zack nodded and went into the room. The girl started to follow, but I stopped her. “I'm sorry, I never properly introduced myself the other day. I'm Josh.”

“Oh, I know who you are, but it's still nice to meet you. I'm Stephanie.” she smiled. “You're looking a little bit rough.” Stephanie observed.

“Having children will do that to you.” I yawned.

“I wouldn't know.” Stephanie grinned.

“Oh, just you wait.” I threatened. Just then, Matt came around the corner, his hair sticking up in every direction. Matt noticed us and walked over towards us. “What, did you just roll out of bed or something?” I joked.

“I could say the same about you.” Matt replied. He then looked over at Stephanie, who smiled at him. “Oh, hello.”

“Hi.” Stephanie greeted. Matt seemed to stare at her for a few seconds before he finally snapped out of his trance.

“Sorry, I'm Matt.” he said, sticking out his hand.

“Stephanie.” she smiled at him.

“Stephanie...I like that name.” Matt said. “It's pretty, like you.”

Stephanie chuckled. “Thank you.”

“Okay you two lovebirds, stop planning your wedding for one second.” Zack said, his head popping out from the room. He looked at me. “Josline wants you.” I nodded and told Matt and Stephanie to follow me. When I got into the room, Josline didn't seem to be in much pain, but I knew it was only going to get worse. She was playing with the remote for the bed, and I rolled my eyes at her. I walked over to the bed, kissed her forehead and she smiled a tired smile.

“How are you feeling?” I asked her.

“I'm okay.” she said. Matt then walked over to her and gave her a small hug. “Hi Matt.” she sleepily said, and then noticed Stephanie. “Oh, hello Stephanie!”

“Hello Josline. How is everything going so far?” she asked her.

“Fine, at the moment. We've only been here about an hour, so we don't know much.” Josline explained. Stephanie only nodded. “Do you think you could give Josh, Matt and I a minute though guys?” she asked. Stephanie nodded and gave her a smile. Zack and Stephanie both left the room and Zack closed it behind him. Matt looked over at me.

“What is it?” he questioned.

“How much do you love Finley?” Josline asked him. I knew exactly what she was going to ask.

“What kind of question is that? I love the kid. He's the only one that makes sense in your family.” It was true. Finley was fairly logical, for a five-year-old. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, Josh and I were talking a few days ago.” She smiled at me and I took her hand in mine. “I really don't think it would be fair if you were just Finley's Godfather.”

“What...what are you getting at?” Matt asked.

“I know it's a lot to comprehend at this hour, but we were hoping that you'd like to be the Godfather to the twins as well.” I said. Matt looked confused.

“Really? Why do you guys keep picking me for these things?” Matt asked.

“Because we trust you. And you're great with Finley.” Josline said. “If you don't want to, that's fine...”

“Did I say that I didn't want to?” Matt smiled. He walked over to Josline and gave her a hug.

A few more hours went by, and Josline progressively started to feel more and more pain. I really hated seeing her like that. The doctor, Adam Masterson, had come in around 7 in the morning, when Josline was just starting to feel the pain, and told us that because of Josline's high stress and anxiety levels, that there was a high possibility of having to have a Cesarian section because it could effect the babies heart rates. I think that scared Josline slightly, because she was quiet after the doctor had said that. He also told us that if she tried to relax and take things easy that everything would be alright.

It was around 10 o'clock when Airin and Marque showed up. I was taking a walk, trying to get rid of the restless legs. But when I came back, the two of them, including Chloe and Jon (Zack, Stephanie and Matt had gone for a short walk), were sitting around Josline's bed. Marque looked over at me. “How are you feeling Josh?” he asked.

“I'm fine. I'm feeling a little restless to be honest.” I admitted.

“Oh, you should have seen Jonathan when Josline and Erica were born. He was up and down all day.” Chloe said, and Jon nudged her lightly. “I think he paced the room about 50 times in an hour.”

“I'm pretty sure I've walked up and down that hall 50 times already.” I said.

“I think Josline is managing this nervousness better than you are.” Airin said.

“No, I'm just drugged up so I can't tell what I feel.” Josline said, causing laughter.”I'm feeling nervous though.”

“You'll be just fine sweetie.” Chloe told her.

“That's easy for you to say.” Josline said.

“Hey, I've had to push four of you kids out. I know about this kind of pain!” Chloe said. Airin smacked both of his hands to his forehead, not believing his mom had just said that. He was almost in his thirties, and was still embarrassed by his 46 year old mother.

Josline started laughing, “Please don't make me laugh. It hurts to laugh.” she said while still laughing. I couldn't help but laugh at her, but it came out as more of a snort. Josline kind of pouted and glared (if that was possible) at me, but then smiled.

Eventually Mariah did show up, and Matt, Zack and Stephanie came back. I was outside having a smoke, and then Airin came barrelling out of the front doors of the hospital. I looked at him as he nearly bailed onto the sidewalk. “Airin, what's wrong?” I asked.

“You need to come quickly! There's a problem.” Airin gasped.

“What? Everything was fine when I left two minutes ago!” I replied. I dropped my cigarette on the ground and both Airin and I booked it into the hospital. We burst into the hospital room, and I saw what appeared to be a shaken up Josline, and Chloe trying her best to comfort her. I rushed over to the bed, and Josline's face was twisted in anguish. “What is it? What's going on?” I asked. Josline couldn't answer me. I looked to Chloe with desperation.

“The twins' heartbeats started to drop. They need to take Josline into an operating room right away.” Chloe said, her voice cracking. I had never seen that from Chloe. She was always very level-headed and calm in situations, but not this one. I looked back down at Josline, who had tears rolling down her face.

I turned her face towards me, keeping one hand on her cheek. I leaned forwards and kissed her forehead. “You'll be okay. Everything's going to be just fine.” I tried to reassure her. I started to feel extremely nervous. I placed both my hands on her cheeks and pressed my lips against hers. “I promise you, okay?” I said, looking in her bloodshot eyes. She whimpered slightly before nodding. I really hoped everything would be okay.