Chapter 40

"Lauren!" Mom caught my attention as we ran into the hospital. "Dad!" I shouted and pulled him towards them. "Where are they?" I asked. "They have a semi-private room. They're both in there." "Cara's parents ar-" "They're on holiday in Canada." Mom interrupted Dad. "Oh. Okay." He looked down.

"Can I go to see them?" I wondered. "Yes. They're just down the hall and to the left. Can you take these ice chips to Cara?" "Mhm." I took them off her. "Will you two be alright?" I asked before leaving. "We will be fine." Mom nodded and let me go.

I walked down the hall and saw them in the room so I went in. Cara was in a bed and Trey was stood next to her. There was another bed but it was empty. "How are you feeling?" I asked while handing her the ice chips. "Thank you, sweetie. I'm in pain but I'm doing okay." She nodded. "But as for Trey," She looked at him.

He smiled at me before running his fingers through his hair. "I'm good." He assured me. "Are you sure?" I laughed at him. "Mhm. Totally." He nodded. "He's freaking out." Cara explained. "In a few hours I'm gonna have this child handed to me and it's going to be my child and it's going to be down to me to father that child." He paced back and forth.

"Trey, we spoke about this earlier. It's going to be okay." I walked around the bed. "It wasn't happening then. It's all real no-" "Oh my gosh!" Cara shouted in pain. Trey and I reacted by grabbing her hands. "It hurts. It hurts. It hurts." She repeated as she gripped us tighter than ever.

"It's okay, breathe.." Trey comforted. They took breaths together which made me smile. "Okay.." She let go of us. Cara sighed and rested her head back on the pillow. "Oh wow." She sighed again. "This is going to be hard." "It's gonna be okay. And as Trey said, when it's all over you're going to have a child." "That's my motivation." She smiled.

"It's so real now, it's getting closer and closer. How do I make this child like me?" "Trey, this child is going to love you more than anything. You're gonna be it's daddy!" "I've never had someone or something depend on me like this before." "I depend on you." "That's different." He shook his head.

"Oh no! Ouch!" Cara grabbed hold of Trey's bicep. "Nails!" He cringed. I laughed at them as Cara dug her nails into his muscle. The nurse came in to make sure that Cara was doing okay. She said that Cara was dialated 8cm but the contractions were a minute apart. "We're bringing in another couple now though, sweetie. Do you want me to close the curtains?" The nurse asked.

Cara and Trey looked at each other before looking back to the nurse. "We're okay." Trey smiled politely. "Is Angie here yet?" Trey asked me. "I don't think so. Why is she coming?" "Because I need my moms." He ran his fingers through his hair again. "Baby, calm down." Cara took his hand and stroked the back of his hand with her thumb.

"Do you want me to go see if they're here?" I offered as the new people came in. "Yes please." He nodded. "Do you want anything?" I asked Cara. "More ice chips." "On their way." I smiled and walked to the door.

"That's her, I swear." I heard the people say as I left. I ignored it and walked down the hall. "Hey, Lon!" Angie wrapped her arms around me. "Hi." I hugged her back. "Where's everyone?" "Your mom went to the bathroom and the men have gone to get some food." "Okay. I'm getting ice chips. Trey needs you in there." I pointed.

"He does?" "He's really panicking." I nodded. "Bless him." "He said he needs his moms." I giggled. "Where is he?" "Down the hall, they're in the last room." I said and went to get the ice chips. I went back to the room where they were with the ice chips. "Here you go." I handed the cup to Cara. "Thanks."

"Where's Trey and Ang?" I asked while looking around the room. "Angie took him away for a few minutes. He's freaking out and he needs to breathe." She said. "Are you doing okay? You don't wanna freak out right now?" "I'm just worried about the pai- Oh damn!" She grabbed onto my hand and squeezed me. "It's alright. Breathe like you did with Trey, come on." I helped her.

"I'm not ready for this." She sighed and rested. "You have to be ready. You don't have a choice." I kissed her forehead. "Excuse me?" I heard a voice behind me. Cara and I both looked over. "I'm sorry to interrupt," A man spoke. "But are you Lauren Miller?" "I am." I smiled. "Our daughter loves you!" I laughed a little. "Thank you."

"Would you mind taking a picture with us?" He asked. I let go of Cara's hand and took a picture with the man. Angie, Mom and Trey all came into the room. Trey laughed and shook his head. "Their daughter's a fan." I explained and sat down. After a few minutes the nurse came back in. She said that Cara was ready to deliver and took her to the delivery room.

Mom, Angie, Dad and Brad were all sat in the waiting room with anticipation. "It's been half an hour! She must of had it by now! Lilly took like ten minutes!" I paced back and forth. "My children are such panickers." Mom laughed with Angie. "Well?" "When I had Cody it took me forty-five minutes to deliver him." "Really?" "Yes. It's always longer with the first child." She comforted.

"Where is Cody?" I tapped my foot on the floor. "He's gonna be here." Angie said. "He knows that you're probably panicking right now and that you're more than excited. He's gonna be here when he can be." "Good." I stared at the hall leading to the delivery rooms.

Soon enough Trey came running into the room. Without saying anything he wrapped his arms around me and held me tighter than he's ever held me before. "You've got a little niece." He whispered in my ear. "Oh my gosh." I gripped onto his shirt as I felt myself start to cry.

"Has she had it, Trey?" Mom caught his attention. He eventually let go of me as he nodded. Mom and Angie instantly hugged him. He hugged them back. "It's a girl." He announced while shaking hands with Dad and then Brad. "She's 6 pounds, 3 ounces." Mom wiped a tear from his cheek. "So small." Angie cooed.

"Can we see her?" "Yes. They're just doing some routine checks on her and Cara right now but you can see her in a small while." He said. Mom was glued to him like a proud mother. "Am I too late?" I heard Cody's voice. "I've got a baby girl, man." Trey said. Cody smiled and shook his hand before doing that 'bro hug' thing.

"Proud of you, mate." He patted his back. "Do we have a name?" Brad asked. "Not yet. We have our middle name though." "What is it?" I became interested. "Lauren." He smiled at me. "Seriously?" "That way she'll definately grow up to be a beautiful person." He pulled me into his body.

After a while we were allowed to go in and meet the new baby. I wanted to meet her alone so I stayed outside while everyone else went in. "What are you doing sat out here?" Trey came out. "I wanna go in when everyone else isn't in there." I watched him sit next to me. "You doing okay?" He asked.

"I'm really good." "Me too." "You've calmed down now then?" "You know when you got into the car accident?" "Yeah.." "Well, I experienced a love that I didn't even believe was true. It seemed so surreal to me, I never knew I could love something as much as I loved your little, lifeless, motionless, defenceless body. But then the docter handed me my daughter and those feelings came rushing back to me but so much more. Lauren, you gotta hold her. She's the most beautiful baby you'll ever see. Trust me, I've never fallen in love so fast since the day our baby sister was handed to me but with her it's so much more. She's mine. That little baby in there, I made that! I love her, Lauren. I don't know what I was so scared about. I really don't. Because I'm in love with that little girl."

"That's never going to fade, Trey." I wiped another tear off my cheek. "I can't get enough of her. Right now, I actually miss her." I laughed at him a litle. "How's Cara doing?" "She's okay. She's healthy and everything. But the baby won't breast feed." "She won't?" "Doctor says it's fine and she'll learn but it's worrying Cara." He said. I smiled and nodded.

Cody came out of the room after a few minutes. Trey got up and went inside. "She's beautiful." "She is?" "So beautiful. Why aren't you in there?" "I don't think I'm ready to meet her yet." I took a deep breath. "You wanna do it alone, huh?" He sat next to me. "That too." I laughed a little.

"While we're alone, I got something to tell you." I turned to look at him. "What's up?" "Okay, so, today something really bad happened." "Well Cara had a baby, that was pretty good." "Before that. Trey left me alone because Cara needed him so then I asked Marcus to come over." I stopped to see if he reacted but he didn't.

"We were talking and he kept saying about how it's unfair that you get me and he doesn't and then he was like pulling me close to him and telling me to kiss him. I refused and tried to move away but he's really strong." "You kissed him?" "He kissed me! I didn't want to and I pushed him away as soon as I could and I made him leave straight away." "Mhm. Seems about right." He shrugged and sat back against the chair.

"So you're not mad at me?" "I'll be back in an hour." He got up and started walking away. "Cody!" I shouted. "Do you want me to get mad at you or hit him?" "Cody, please don't!" I begged. He came back over to me. He was stood right in front of me and lowered his head as if he were about to kiss me. Our lips were almost touching when he stopped moving. "I don't care what's fair in his mind. He kissed my girlfriend and she told me that she didn't want to kiss him back so if you don't mind I'm going to go and show him what I think's unfair." He said before turning and walking away again.

I sighed and rested against the wall. The door to Cara's room opened and everyone came out. "Lauren, do you wanna come get some food with us?" Mom asked. "Nah." I shook my head. "Where did Cody go?" "I dunno." I shrugged and walked to the door.

I slowly pushed it open and walked in. Cara looked up from the tiny body in her arms. "Hey.." She whispered. "Hi." I whispered back. "How are you?" I sat on the end of the bed. "So many emotions to feel. It's so tiring." She blinked slowly. "Why don't you sleep?" "Baby." She looked down at the baby.

"I'll hold her. Get some sleep." I got up. "Here," She gently handed me the small baby who opened her eyes. "Hey," I spoke softly. She opened up her hand and yawned before closing her eyes again. "She's so beautiful." I smiled at Cara. "I know." She agreed.

"You get some rest. I'll sit in this chair and watch your baby sleep." I said and sat in the chair. "Thank you so much." She smiled and got comfortable in the bed. I smiled at her and then looked down at the baby. "Hi, beautiful." I looked at her. Her gorgeous eyes stared back into mine.

Cara didn't take long to fall asleep but then Trey came in with some food for her. "Baby, wake up." He shook her gently. I smiled at them and then looked back at the baby, I completely blanked what they were talking about or doing. I just watched the baby as she dozed in and out of sleep. Her skin was so soft. She had big, blue eyes and a cute button nose along with perfectly shaped lips. They were the same shape as Trey and I had.