Ups and Downs

Alex.

I groaned as I woke up to my alarm going off. I opened my eyes to see the same thing I did every day, the ultrasound picture of Brooklynn. I had yet to tell my parents about Tay's pregnancy, even though they already knew. Everyone in town seemed to know. Everyone also seemed to know that I was the douche who knocked her up and left. My parents haven't acknowledged it yet. I knew they're waiting for my explanation. I got dressed and went downstairs to find my parents sitting at the table. Mornings had gotten a lot calmer after Daniel's death. There wasn't any sibling bickering.

"Morning, Alexander," my dad said over his newspaper. My mom was fixing breakfast.

"Can we talk?" I asked, not quite sure what was possessing me to do this right now.

"Of course son," my mom answered, not bothering to take her eyes off the bacon she was cooking.

"I got Tay pregnant," I blurted out. My dad looked at me curiously from across the table and my mom sighed in disappointment.

"Then why did you break up with her?" my dad asked.

"I want her to give the baby up for adoption," I responded.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" my mom asked.

"A girl. Tay is naming her Brooklynn Rae."

"I don't want her to give the baby up," my mom decided.

"Why? This is a lot of responsibility and life changing and I'm not ready," I told her.

"Alex, that's my granddaughter. You think with all both families have lost we should just hand a new blessing over to some strangers? I don't. We would help. Obviously Tay's mother is going to help. You can't just make this go away. You got a fifteen year old pregnant. You need to take responsibility for it," my mom lectured me.

"Sixteen. Tay turns sixteen today," I remembered. Tay's birthday had completely escaped my mind.

"Go to school. You're going to be late," my dad said suddenly. I nodded and hurried out the door. My drive to school was uneventful. I went in and went to the senior hallway to find all the guys.

"Hey man," Jack greeted me.

"Hey. How is she?" I asked.

"Sierra said she's doing fine. Her and Lindsey and Devin went to get their licenses this morning," Zack answered. I nodded and started to switch out things in my backpack with things from my locker.

"That's good. Band practice at Rian's right?" Everyone nodded. We went to our first class of the day. The day went by quickly. I knew tonight was Tay's birthday party and baby shower, but her siblings party would be this Saturday. I caught sight of Tay during lunch. She had gotten huge. She also looked like she was in pain. I shook the image of her pain stricken face from my mind before starting to sing. We were at practice at Rian's house. We were also tossing around ideas for new songs so we would have material prepared for recording.

"Hey babe," Zack answered his phone about half way through practice. We all rolled our eyes. Whenever Zack got a call from Sierra he talked to her for at least an hour. "What? You're kidding. Isn't it early?" he asked. I looked at him confused and worried. "Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Bye," he said before hanging up the phone. "Alex, Tay's in labor," he told me and I was immediately out the door.

Tay.

"Tay, sweetie, wake up. Happy birthday," my mom said gently as she woke me up. I smiled at her as I opened my eyes. Finally sixteen. Like any other sixteen year old, my siblings and I were starting our day at the DMV for our licenses. Our mom had bought two new cars. One Lindsey and Devin would share and own for me. She figured I would be driving more than they would because of work and Brooklynn, who was being very active today and causing some pain.

"Mom, make her stop," I whined after I got my picture made for my license.

"I'm sure she'll stop soon," she sighed for the millionth time.

"This really hurts," I kept complaining.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing," she reassured me as Devin came back from his test. Lindsey returned a few minutes later and once we all had our licenses our mom dropped us off at school. We got there right as lunch started.

"How'd it go?" Cass asked as I approached our lunch table.

"Well. I got my license!" I squealed but was quickly taken over by pain from Brooklynn.

"Are you okay?" Sierra asked.

"Yeah, Brooklynn is just moving funny and adding extra pressure. It's nothing," I answered.

"How far along are you?"

"Almost thirty six weeks. I'm almost there," I smiled. Everyone nodded. The bigger I got, the more real this became to everyone. I couldn't believe my pregnancy was almost over.

"Are you excited for tonight?" Rian asked. I nodded at him.

"It's gonna be fun. It's all girls," I reminded them.

"Don't worry. We have band practice," Jack told me. "When's your next practice?" he added.

"Friday, I think." Yes, I had joined a band. Although right now it was just a little studio project on the side. My mother was not supportive of the idea of me trying to make a commitment to a band and raise a child and balance work. I had gotten a job as a hostess at our Olive Garden.

~

"Happy birthday!" my cousin said as she came into my house. My mother seemed to have invited every female relative I had plus Sierra and Cass.

"Thanks!" I answered as I walked back into the living room. I sat on the couch and rubbed my stomach. The pains I had all day seemed to be getting worse and more consistent. We played generic baby shower games and just hung out. "Mom," I whined as we were in between some game and opening presents.

"What Tay?" she called from the kitchen as she brought out more food.

"It still hurts," I answered, moaning. She sighed and sat next to me and handed me some presents.

"It's probably false contractions. You're in the final stretch. Just open some presents and get your mind off of it," she said. I started opening presents which were a mix of birthday and baby gifts. I had gotten clothes for me(for once I return to my normal petite frame) and clothes for Brooklynn. I was about five presents in when I felt a gush of liquid between my legs followed by a sharp pain.

"Mom what is that?" I asked in horror.

"That would be your water breaking. We need to go to the hospital," she responded calmly and helped me up. We went out to the car with everyone following us.

"Call Alex," I called to Sierra and Cass. They gave me a thumbs up as they watched us drive away. My contractions got worse as we drove. "Why does this hurt so bad?" I moaned in pain. I was in a hospital bed and it felt like I had been here forever.

"Did I miss it?" Alex asked panicked as he burst into my room. I responded with a loud moan and he came to my bedside. "Baby I'm so sorry," he mumbled to me before kissing my sweat matted hair.

"It hurts," I whispered. He sighed and gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.

"You can do this. I'm here for you," he promised.

"You need to wait until tomorrow to have her because I can't handle having four of you with the same birthday," my mom told me as she watched my contractions get closer.

"You need to discuss that with your granddaughter because I can't control that." She smiled at me and patted my hand.

"It'll be alright," she said. I nodded as a contraction passed and I gripped Alex's hand. It had taken about six hours from the time we got to the hospital until the time I was finally delivering Brooklynn. And it hurt like hell.

"Push, push, push" Dr. Smith said to me. I followed his instructions until I heard a sharp cry fill the room. I looked up to see Alex crying. "Congratulations. It's a girl. Born at 12:01 AM."

"There you go mom. Different birthday," I teased. She hugged me and took a picture as Alex cut the cord. Dr. Smith handed her to me and I smiled at the fragile little thing in my arms.

"Wow Tay," Alex said as he touched Brooklynn's face softly.

"This is our daughter Alex," I told him. He nodded and kissed both of our foreheads.

"Hi Brooklynn," he cooed at her. I smiled. The nurses took her away to clean and examine her and my mom went to tell everyone in the waiting room the news.

"Her name?" one nurse asked before leaving.

"Brooklynn, with two n's, Rae... Gaskarth," I answered as I looked at Alex with uncertainty.

"You sure?" he asked. I nodded. "My mom thinks you should keep her. She said she and my dad would help," he told me.

"What about you Alex?"

"What about me?"

"Are you going to help?"

"Tay, I leave after graduation. I just, I can't," he sighed. A nurse brought Brooklynn back and placed her in my arms. I looked at my new daughter as tears formed in my eyes. Alex looked at her with uncertainty in his eyes.

"Please Alex, that's still a couple of months away. I need you. I've fallen apart without you. She needs you. Please Alex, please," I begged as the tears started to fall. "Hold her," I suddenly commanded. He took her into her arms and his face lit up before he sighed.

"I need you to wait for me Tay," Alex said.

"What?" I asked confused.

"Wait for me, okay? It won't be long I promise, but I need you to wait. I just have some stuff I need to figure out, okay?" I nodded, unsure of what he was saying. He pressed a sweet kiss to my lips before handing back Brooklynn. "You just gotta wait," he mumbled against my lips before kissing me again.