Daddy's Miracle

Brian laughed as Zacky tried to pull down his shirt over his now 9-month pregnant belly. No matter how much he pulled down on the shirt, there was always a portion of his tummy sticking out from underneath.

“Damn it! I accidently got the wrong size!” Zacky yelled, giving up on trying to get the shirt to cover his whole stomach.

“Aw but Zacky, your tummy’s so cute!” Brian bent down and pressed his lips to the part of Zacky’s belly that was exposed. Zacky blushed.

“Brian, cut it out!” Zacky giggled and tried to push Brian away playfully, but Brian wouldn’t leave. He pressed his lips against Zacky’s tummy again.

“Zacky! Callie kicked! I felt it!” Zacky smiled at his excitement and ran a hand through Brian’s hair as he pressed his ear against Zacky’s stomach. Brian eventually stood up and kissed Zacky’s lips. He felt Zacky’s swollen belly brush up against his flat one. He placed both hands on Zacky’s tummy. Their lips parted Brian whispered, “I love you so much, Zacky.”

“I love you too.” Zacky replied. Brian lingered but he eventually had to pull away from Zacky and Callie. Zacky looked up at him with a questioning glance.

“Sorry, babe, I gotta go to the grocery store again because someone always eats all of our food and we never have any.” Brian joked.

“Hey! It’s not my fault! I’m eating for two people here!” Zacky shot back, both hands on his stomach. Brian smirked and kissed the top of Zacky’s head.

“I was just joking. I gotta run now. Try not to give birth while I’m gone.” Zacky giggled but Brian kept a straight face. “No, I’m serious. Your due date is literally in three days, and if you have the kid without me being there, I’ll never forgive you.”

“Okay, Brian, I’ll try my hardest.” Brian smirked again and left. Zacky sighed and glanced around the room, looking for something to do to pass the time. He eventually just laid himself down on the couch and turned on the TV. He began to feel discomfort in his stomach, but he just shook it off, thinking that the baby was just kicking and moving around a bit. He gently ran his hand up and down his belly, trying to comfort his baby, but the uneasiness didn’t lessen. He tried desperately to get his mind off his aching stomach by focusing on the television screen but the discomfort suddenly turned to pain.

He quickly sat up, gripped his stomach with both hands, and arched over in agony. He took quick, deep breaths, hoping that the pain would eventually disappear. That hope quickly vanished when his anguish increased greatly. This sudden pain caused him to drop to his knees, still gripping his stomach in his hands.

“No!” He half-shouted. “It’s not time! Brian’s not back yet!” Despite his yells, the growing pain in his stomach caused him to scream and squeeze his eyes shut as tears threatened to fall. The shots of agonizing pain kept coming; Zacky looked up to the ceiling with his wet eyes and prayed that Brian would come back soon.

“Oh God!” Zacky screamed again and, answering his prayer, Brian came bursting through the door. He dropped the grocery bags he was carrying and rushed over to Zacky. He bent down next to Zacky and took him in his arms.

“Zacky, are you okay?” Brian asked worriedly. Zacky looked at Brain through his streams of tears and shook his head violently. “Is it the baby? Is she coming?” Brian’s question was answered by another scream from Zacky. Wasting no time, Brian picked Zacky up and carried him bridal-style down out of their apartment and into the hallway. He struggled a bit, the weight of both Zacky and his 9-month pregnant belly being almost too heavy for Brian to carry, but he eventually made it to their car. He carefully placed Zacky in the passenger seat and buckled him in.

“It’s okay, Zacky, I’m gonna get you to the hospital.” Zacky screamed in pain again and Brian rushed over to the other side of the car and got inside. He sped down the highway, not caring if there were any police cars on patrol. He just wanted to get Zacky to the hospital and get him out of his misery. Every groan and scream that came out of Zacky made Brian speed up even more.

“Brian,” Zacky said painfully in between groans. “It hurts so much!” Brian glanced at Zacky out of the corner of his eye. He was hunched over in pain, gripping his stomach in his hands with tracks of tears running down his face.

“I know, baby, I know. I wish I could make it stop!” Brian held out his hand to Zacky, to comfort him. Zacky took it and squeezed hard enough to make Brian cry out in pain. Zacky breathed out a ‘sorry’ but Brian could barely hear it over the next scream of pain that followed.

Brian drove significantly faster as they neared the hospital. The tires screamed as he turned into the parking lot without slowing down and crookedly parked in the closest spot to the front entrance. He shut off the engine, opened his door, and rushed to the other side of the car.

“Zacky do you need me to carry you in or can you walk?” Zacky just screamed in response from the immense pain. Brian grunted as he hurriedly picked him up and rushed into the building.

“Help! We need help!” Brian called to anyone that would listen. Almost immediately, a nurse brought over a wheelchair for Zacky. Brian exhaled in relief after setting him down in it gently.

“Who’s your doctor?” The nurse asked hastily.

“Dr. Cooper.” Brian said. Zacky screamed again and the nurse whisked him off in the other direction, down the hallway. Not knowing what else to do, Brian quickly followed. While they were running, Brian heard a voice over the PA system call for Dr. Cooper to go to the delivery room he supposed they were headed to. She was already standing there with multiple tools and equipment when they arrived. The nurse quickly left but Brian stayed.

“Help me lift Zacky onto the operating table.” Dr. Cooper yelled sternly at Brian. Wasting no time, he and the doctor got the still-groaning Zacky onto the table. “Okay, now you need to leave.”

“What? Why?” Brian asked shocked.

“Because he is having the baby and I’ve told you before, to get it out, we need to perform a C-section. We can’t have anyone that’s not certified in the operating room while we are performing the surgery.” Brian tried to protest, but the small room began to fill with more doctors and nurses. Brian tried to push past them to get to Zacky but there was too many of them. He had to stand on his tip-toes to even catch a glimpse of him. Zacky’s screams and groans were finally silenced when they knocked him out with anesthesia.

Though everyone seemed to forget Brian’s presence, he had to leave the small operating room due to his claustrophobia. All he could do was walk back and forth the long hallway in front of the hospital room and wait for his daughter to be born.