Sound Effects and Overdramatics

Monitors beeped around me, bringing me to a place I really didn’t want to be. I hadn’t stepped foot in a hospital since Finn brought me to get stitched up after he shot me. Before that was after the rape and the beating and before that a broken wrist. The list was endless, and none of the moments were happy.

Today would change that, though. Today, Ali and Christian were having their baby. Christian had flown to London to pick up me and Kai and on the plane, he asked us to be the baby’s Godparents. Happily, we both agreed.

Just hours after we landed, Kai and I were trailing behind Christian pushing Ali in a wheelchair into the emergency room. The baby wasn’t due for another week, but it had other plans. Ali’s water had broken when we were in mid-flight. Christian had only decided to pick us up for the final preparations of the baby’s room and give us time to plan for the arrival.

Great timing, that baby of theirs.

Christian filled out paperwork, Kai was on sustenance duty. My job was keeping my best friend calm.

We sat, waiting for a nurse to wheel us back to a room. I held her hand and looked around at the non-emergency state of the emergency room.

We were the only ones here aside from a guy who was bleeding from his head and a female who could have been his girlfriend or his mother, and yet we were stuck waiting. I didn’t get it.

“God, this fucking hurts.” She moaned, tensing up. I was completely out of my element. I had no idea what to do, except let her squeeze my hand while she gritted through the pain.

“Why the hell do they wanna know your last menstrual cycle? You’re in fucking labor for crying out loud!” Christian panicked. Ali and I couldn’t help it. Through her contraction, we giggled. He did not do well under pressure.

He was a new husband, and now he was on the verge of becoming a dad. Panicked and nervous was an understatement and it was adorable.

A nurse came through a set of double doors and took over Ali’s wheelchair. The three of us followed her stream of cursing, Christian still perplexed at the clipboard. As we reached the room, my phone started ringing.

“Hold on.” I told them, staying out in the hall to answer.

“Hey baby,” I greeted.

“You’re awake? Like, really awake. Why are you awake? It’s like three in the morning over there.”

“Well,” I started, slowly walking down the hall. “Why are you calling me at three in the morning?”

“I asked you first.”

“I’m not home. I’m actually at the hospital.”

“What? Why? What’s wrong?” The panic in Brian’s voice was totally justified. I realized my mistake as soon as I had said it.

“Everything’s fine. I’m fine. I didn’t mean to worry you. I’m in your neck of the woods, actually. Ali is having her baby.”

“Wow. That’s...awesome.” He deadpanned. I smirked and arrived back at the door to Ali’s room. Even through the door, I could hear her cussing and trying not to cuss at the same time.

“So, uh...were you planning on telling me you were coming stateside?”

“Brian, of course I was. I was gonna call you first thing tomorrow, after I had a chance to settle in, but then Ali went into labor early so we had to immediately get to the hospital. We just got to a room.”

I could see him in my mind clear as day. Smoking a cigarette, a beer in his hand, probably hanging in the basement with the guys, catching shit for calling me. He’d made it known without saying anything that none of them were exactly thrilled with the idea of their lead guitarist being distracted by his long-distance love affair.

“I miss you.”

“I miss you too. I promise I was going to call.”

“I want to believe you.”

“Come on, Bri. Where’s this coming from? You called me at three a.m. I'd be sleeping if I were home. So, why’d you call?”

“Give me a break. I miss you. I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t realize what time it was until Johnny said something."

“Yeah.” I muttered. I peeked through the little window in the door. Ali was lying in a bed, flipping through channels on the TV. Christian sat next to her, holding her hand, helping the only way he could. Kai sat on the couch, scrolling on his phone.

In the last few weeks, we’d Skyped every other day, called each other twice a day, and texted consistently. For the last four days, I hadn’t been able to make our video chats and I’d been pretty MIA from my phone and my computer. Not exactly intentional, but it didn’t bother me.

This was my first visit back to California since I’d suggested a long distance relationship. Brian hadn’t been able to get away from the studio and I didn’t want to take him away from it. They’d decided to bring in a new drummer, one they all admired and who Jimmy looked up to, to finish the album that Jimmy had spent so much time working on. From what I understood, over half of it was him, and he’d finished recording a song right before he died.

"Lor," he breathed. Serious voice. He was coming around to calling me Beth, except when he was frustrated with me.

"Bri," I countered.

He huffed. I heard the flick of a lighter and then coughing. I couldn't fault him for getting high, given the circumstances, but it wasn't the time or place to talk about it.

"Tell you what. Let me get everything settled here, make sure Ali isn't aerobicizing the baby out, and then we can get together for dinner?"

"Seriously?"

"Only if you want to get the exclusive, up close, unshowered, under-caffeinated, totally exhausted but still fabulous me."

"I wouldn't miss it. See you soon."

"Bye love."

I entered the room, a sigh and a smile on my lips. I sat down next to Kai and curled into him. Automatically, he put his arm around me and kissed the top of my head.

"He's on his way isn't he?" Ali asked with a smile.

"Yeah. We're gonna grab some dinner."

"You don't have to stay, you know." Christian offered. "I can call you with updates. You can go back to the house, get some rest."

"I want to be here the minute that thing comes out. I'm not going anywhere." Even as I spoke, my eyelids fluttered. I didn't catch any sleep on the plane, and slept shitty the night before. I needed rest, but being here was more important.

I texted Brian with information about what hospital we were at. I helped Christian with the rest of the forms and listened to Ali power through another contraction. I was nervous about seeing Brian and I hadn't had a cigarette since our ride to the airport twelve hours ago.

I guess it was as good a time as any to sneak out and get one in before he got here.

The saving grace was that, for being the end of February, it was a blissful sixty degrees and wasn't raining. I didn't have to pull a stunt maneuver just to get my cigarette to light.

Sweet, sweet nicotine. I enjoyed the first half in peace. The second half was interrupted when I heard footsteps approaching and I looked up to see him.

"Hey stranger." I greeted. He held his arms out. I gave him a hug and melted into him, exhaustion the furthest thing from my mind.