Sleep to Dream - Part 18
Aug. 21st, 2008 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jyl22075“She's... Ashlee is... what do you mean she's...” Coop couldn't seem to get his mind to form a complete thought.
“Pregnant?” Doris cried in shock. Apparently she was a bit better under pressure than he was. He flopped down on one of the waiting room chairs, because in that moment it was either sit down or fall down.
Dr. Young glanced at the chart again and back at them. “Yes, I'm sorry, I thought you already knew, but considering how early it is, I'm not surprised that you weren't aware of it. Ashlee may not even know yet.”
“How far along is she?” Doris asked before turning to Coop with a disapproving glare.
“Five weeks.” Coop responded before the doctor could. He knew because they had only been together once since she'd been home. The night he had brought her home from the center. Then everything had happened with Tara, and Ashlee had been staying with his dad and Doris so they had not really had many opportunities to be alone.
“That's exactly right.” The doctor smiled at Coop. “You must be the father...?” Coop's heart stopped for a moment. The father. He was going to be a father.
“Um... I... uh...” His mind once again lost the ability to form words. All he could think was that Ashlee was pregnant. His Ashlee was pregnant with their baby. He was going to have a baby with Ashlee. He still couldn't quite wrap his mind around it. Finally one thought formed in his head. “Is the baby okay? Ashlee has been on so many medications and...”
Dr. Young touched his arm in a clinical yet oddly comforting gesture. “Right now everything seems fine. We'll run some more tests once Ashlee is herself again. I don't want you to worry until we have something to worry about.” She smiled at the rest of them and headed back through the double doors.
Once she left Doris turned to Coop. “I can't believe you did this to my daughter!”
“Now, Doris, Ashlee is an adult...” His dad had that tone that he only used with Doris. It was reasonable, calming and it creeped Coop out a little.
“She isn't an adult, she's my baby. Now she's having a baby... how is she going to deal with a baby... being a single mother is so hard...” She had turned back to Buzz during her tirade and was shaking him as if to knock some sense in to him.
“Ashlee ISN'T going to be a single mother.” He hadn't even realized he was speaking the words until they were already out of his mouth.
“Of course, she isn't.” His dad said, switching from placating his wife to placating his son. “Coop... I know you must be surprised... are you okay?”
“Pop... I'm amazing. Ashlee and I are going to have a baby.” For the first time since the doctor had said the words he felt a euphoria come over him. He and Ashlee were going to have a family. He knew it wasn't the right time and it was completely unplanned, but something about it felt right. His dad hugged him.
“Congratulations, you're going to be a daddy.” He said with a smile. Coop returned the smile, still feeling a little lightheaded.
“I can't believe you two are happy about this.” Doris was clearly exasperated. “Ashlee doesn't have any idea how to be a mother... this is terrible.”
“Ashlee has more love in her than any person I've ever met.” Coop hadn't meant to raise his voice. “She's going to be an amazing mother... no thanks to your example!”
Doris raised her hand as if to slap him but Buzz caught her wrist. “Coop, that was out of line.” He pulled her away and in to his arms.
Coop sat back down dropping his head in to his hands. He did feel genuinely bad about what he had said to Doris, but a part of him, the part that knew what he said was true, was rebelling at the thought of apologizing. Doris had tried to be a better person, a better mother, even before Ashlee's accident. Coop tried to remember that most of the time. Sometimes, though, he remembered when he'd first met Ashlee. She had felt so alone and lost with nobody that really cared about her and she had been hurt so many times, more than once by Doris. Somehow despite all of that Ashlee had been able to trust him and she had loved him. To this day he didn't know how he could possibly be worthy of that love and trust, but he was so thankful for it.
Despite the fact that Doris had tried to be a better person, sometimes she fell back in to her old ways. Coop knew it was concern for Ashlee, but it definitely wasn't expressed the right way. He knew that all the amazing qualities that Ashlee had were in spite of Doris not because of her.
A nurse tapped him on the shoulder pulling him out of his reverie. “Are you Mr. Bradshaw?”
“Yeah...”
“Miss Wolfe is asking for you and the doctor said she can have a visitor now.”
“How is she?”
“She's doing much better.” The nurse was one of those perky people that normally he would find pleasant but after the day he had, she was grating on his nerves.
Doris noticed that he was speaking with the nurse and rushed over. “I want to see my daughter.”
“I'm sorry, she's only allowed to have one visitor at a time.” The nurse replied in that same overly sweet tone she'd used with Coop.
“Well, then I'm going to be her one visitor. I'm her mother.”
“I'm sorry, but Miss Wolfe specifically asked for Mr. Bradshaw...” The nurse suddenly seemed nervous as if she didn't know what to do.
“Doris, she needs to see Coop right now.” Buzz said in that “Doris-tone” again.
“Fine.” She stalked away.
Coop followed the nurse back to a corner room, where thankfully Ashlee was the only occupant. Seeing her in a hospital bed made his stomach lurch and brought back way too many painful memories. Luckily this time she was awake, she looked tired but when she spotted him in the doorway, she grinned.
Coop walked over to her, sitting on the edge of her bed and placing a kiss on her forehead, then her lips. When he pulled away and looked in to her eyes, he felt his own fill with tears. Not tears of despair or relief, but tears of happiness because they were about to share a miracle.
Her blue eyes studied his and her forehead wrinkled for a moment. “Coop, I'm okay.”
“I know.” He said, bringing his forehead to hers, still gazing in to her eyes.
“So, why are you upset?” She asked, using her hand to brush away a tear that had fallen on to his cheek.
“I'm not upset... I'm happy.” He said kissing her again. Ashlee kissed him back, but when he pulled back, there was still a puzzled look in her eyes.
“Coop, did something happen?”
“Yeah, something amazing happened. Ashlee... we're going to have a baby.”
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 01:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 02:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 01:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 02:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 02:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 02:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 10:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 02:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 11:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 02:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 04:12 pm (UTC)Can't wait to see what Ashlee's reaction to the news is! Keep it coming! *hugs*
~Emm
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 04:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 05:15 pm (UTC)The chapter was fantastic so all negative feelings toward it should be shoo'd *grin*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 05:37 pm (UTC)And thanks again, girlie! I wanted to kick this chapter. *grin*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-23 12:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-23 01:21 am (UTC)