"Pop
Life"
Chapter 100
"I feel so bad missing your first show," I say, almost in tears.
"Heyyyy, none of that. Your mom and the baby are more important right now. Stay there, I'm sure she needs your help taking care of Ashleigh," Brad says.
"Yeah, like Ashleigh's so hard to take care of." I sigh. "I mean I know I need to be here but there's a part of me that still wishes I was there to support you."
I can hear the smile in his voice when he answers. "I know you'll be here as soon as you can. I uh...I've got to get going. Keep me up-to-date on your mom, okay? Tell her I'll say a prayer for her. I'll call my mom, she'll say one too."
"Okay...I will. I love you."
"I love you too."
I hang up the phone and glance over at mama. I blush when I see that she's watching me.
"I didn't know you were awake," I say bowing my head slightly.
She gives me a weak smile. "I just woke up. I'm assuming that was Brad you were talking too."
"Yeah. He sends his best and he's going to call his mom to add another prayer to our list."
She holds out her hand and I put my hand in hers. "How are you doing?"
My eyes get a little bigger. "Mama, you're the one in the hospital, not me."
"But the doctor says I'm going to be fine and so is the baby. I'm worried about you...you look tired."
"I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I was a little worried about someone," I say playfully glaring at her.
She crinkles her nose. "You need to go home, I'll be fine."
"No, I promised daddy that I'd stay here while he went and checked on Ashleigh and Cody."
She scratches her protruding belly with her other hand. "How are they doing?"
"Fine. Grandma just told Ashleigh you came here for tests...she didn't want to upset her needlessly."
Mama nods and I yawn.
She starts to scoot over.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"Here, there's plenty of room. Come lay by me."
"Mama."
"Now Adriana."
I look around and then slide into the bed next to her, making sure I don't pull any IV's out of her. She wraps an arm around me and I snuggle into her side.
~*~
Justin walks into room 527. He's carrying a bouquet of a dozen red roses but stops abruptly when he sees the sight before him. There's a nurse in the room, checking the fluid levels of the IV's and she looks up and smiles at him.
"Now that's a beautiful picture," he says.
The nurse nods. "It's sweet. Have a good night," she says before leaving the room.
"Thanks, you too," he says, never taking his eyes from his wife and daughter.
He walks over to the side that Britney is sleeping on and puts the roses down on the table next to the bed. He begins to rub her hip and lean over her, nuzzling her neck with his nose. She's on her side, facing Justin and when she feels him, her eyes flutter open.
"Mmmm, hey," she says.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asks in a whisper.
"Good."
"Yeah?"
She nods.
He pulls a chair up and sits down. Their fingers entwine as the continue to stare at each other.
"How are the kids?" she asks.
"They're good. I mainly wanted to make sure they weren't upset. I mean we left kind of abruptly in the middle of the night so I needed to make sure they understood that everything was fine. So, did the doctor say when she was going to release you?"
"She wants to make sure my blood pressure gets back to normal before she lets me leave. It was still high this evening. Then she mentioned something about complete bed rest until the baby is born."
He could see the tears in her eyes starting to well up.
"Heyyyy, it won't be that bad. There's only a few more weeks left, right?"
She nods as a tear falls down her cheek and lands on the pillow.
"Did I do something wrong? I mean why is this happening? I thought I was taking care of myself."
When he leans over and gently kisses her lips, he can taste the salt on them from her tears.
"You did everything the doctor told you to do. She said it was something that could happen, remember? We just need to be extra aware of what you eat and how much stress you're under. Don't worry baby, we're going to have a healthy son in a few weeks." He starts stroking her cheek with his thumb.
"You're right...we are."
Britney's eyes get big.
"What?" Justin asks, trying not to sound alarmed.
"Adriana just kicked me...I forgot she was in the bed with me," she giggles quietly. "I was wondering why we were whispering."
Justin laughs softly.
"Tonight was Brad's first show," she says.
Justin's eyes close and then he opens them. "I had totally forgot."
"I heard her on the phone with him...she thought I was asleep."
"We'll make sure she sees him in the new couple of days," he says.
"There's something else," she says as quietly as she can.
He leans over to her. "What's that?"
"They're at the 'I love you' stage now."
Justin swallowed hard.
"Really." It was more of a statement than a question.
She nods and then smiles. "It's sweet."
"Yeah, I guess," he says as he sits back down. Britney giggles because his voice cracked when he said it.
"Ow," I say.
Slowly I sit up and rub my wrist, which I just whacked on the railing of the bed. "Stupid thing."
"Hey sleepy head."
I look over mama and see daddy sitting there. "Hi. How long have you been here?"
"Just a few minutes."
I nod and scratch my head. "Everything okay at home?"
Mama rolls over so she's on her back. I throw my legs over the side of the bed and slide down until they hit the floor.
"Yeah, everyone's fine. Just a little shaken up at first but it's all good now. I let Ashleigh fall asleep on my lap...I couldn't help myself."
"That's good. Do you need me to go back home so I'm with them?" I lean my elbows against the bed.
Mama looks up at the wall. "It's two in the morning. You both need to go back home. I need my sleep."
Daddy sits up straighter. "But...but, I just got here."
"Take Adriana home and come see me in the morning. I'll be fine. We'll be fine," she says rubbing her stomach.
Daddy places his hand on top of mama's which is still resting on her stomach.
"Oh all right. I'm doing this under protest though."
Mama smiles at him. "I know."
I lean over until she looks at me and I give her a quick kiss.
"I love you mama."
"I love you too sweetie. Get some rest okay?"
I nod.
"I'll be out in a minute," daddy says as I walk into the hallway.
"I'll go home but you know I can't sleep unless you're by my side," Justin says as he sits on the edge of the bed.
"Try...for me. Will you be okay driving home?"
He nods and takes her hand in his. "Don't scare me like that again."
"I'll try not to. I don't want to go through that again. Thank you for being there by my side."
He cocks an eyebrow. "Where else would I be?"
She shakes her head. "I don't know, I just feel the need to thank you once in awhile."
He leans in closer to her. "You never have to thank me for loving you. It's my honor."
He kisses her deeply. She touches his face and he pulls away. He turns his head and kisses the palm of her hand.
"Go," she says softly.
"I love you."
"I love you," she replies before he quickly kisses her again.
He gets up off the bed, and holds on to her hand until he can't touch it anymore as he walks to the door.
"You ready?" daddy asks me.
"Yep."
We start walking down the hall to the elevator and he puts his arm around my shoulder. He pulls me closer and kisses the top of my head.
~*~
"I'm sorry you missed Brad's show tonight," daddy says as we're driving home.
I thought they had forgotten.
"That's okay...it wasn't anyone's fault. There will be other shows."
"Where is he tomorrow?"
I look over at him. "I'll have to check the schedule."
"Why don't you go see him tomorrow, wherever he's at."
"I don't want to leave..." I start to say.
"Your mom and the baby are fine...you should go."
"I guess I can see if I can make arrangements."
It got quiet again.
"Daddy?"
"Hmm?"
"Were you scared?"
He keeps staring straight ahead. "To death," he says softly.
"Me too. You looked so calm I was wondering if I was overreacting."
He shakes his head. "I was trying to stay like that for your mom and you. I think it helped me believe everything was going to be okay."
I smile at him. "Well, it did help me...I'm sure it helped mama."
A slight smile forms on his lips and without removing his eyes from the road he holds his hand out and I take it in mine.
I sneak down the hallway of the venue toward the door that the security guy told me was the opening acts dressing room. Sure enough there's a sign on the door "Acoustic Harmonies". I smile as I reach up to knock, but the door opens so I quickly step aside.
Sasha comes out of the room, laughing. She closes the door and then sees me.
"Oh. Hi Ana. Brad told me about your mom...I'm glad to hear that she's doing better."
"Thanks, Sasha. He told me how good your set was. I look forward to seeing it tonight."
She smiles. "Well, he is a sweetie."
She starts to turn and then stops and looks over her shoulder at me. "Does Brad even know you're here because we just made plans to go clubbing after the show tonight?"
Don't hit her, don't hit her.
"No, it's a surprise, so you might want to change your plans now." I give her a fake smile.
She shrugs. "We'll see. Maybe you can come along."
When she walks away I pinch the bridge of my nose and try to breath slowly. I don't even notice the door opening up.
"Adriana?"
I look up and see Brad's smiling face.
"Surprise," I say.