Dylan
"AYAYAY ME VUELVES LOCO!"
"¿CÓMO TE ESTOY VOLVIENDO LOCO?"
"TODO!"
"SOLO ESTOY AYUDANDO! ¿NO ME QUIERES POR AQUÍ?"
"POR SUPUESTO QUE TE QUIERO CERCA, TE QUIERO! SOLO CREO QUE NECESITÁIS RELAJAROS!"
"PODRÍAS DAR DE PARTO EN CUALQUIER MOMENTO, NO PUEDO RELAJARME!"
"¡SOLO PORQUE ESTÉ TENIENDO CONTRACCIONES NO SIGNIFICA QUE TODO EL MUNDO TENGA QUE ASUSTARSE!"
"Espera. ¿Estás teniendo contracciones?"
"7 minutos de diferencia. ¿Por qué?"
"DO YOU NOT REALIZE WHAT THIS MEANS DYLAN?!"
"WHAT WHAT TELL ME!!"
"IT MEANS KIARA IS COMING!"
"LIKE SHE'S ABOUT TO FALL ONTO THE FLOOR?!?"
"NO AS IN YOU'RE IN LABOR RIGHT NOW! WHY THE HELL DO I KNOW THIS AND YOU DON'T I'M NOT THE ONE WHO'S ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH!"
"I'M ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH?!"
"RYDER STOP TALKING!" Maddy and Axel both yell. He pinches the bridge of his nose and I cross my arms. We haven't had an argument this big in a long time. I end up just walking out of the room. I get the jar of pickles and eat like three before walking back to the living room.
I lean against the wall as a contraction hits me. Deep breaths deep breaths. In and out. JUST FUCKING BREATHE!
I push off the wall and sit on the pouch. It's like a giant 70 pound bean bag, except not a bean bag. It has fiberglass stuffing in it or something. I don't know. We bought three of them. One for the living room, one for Kiara's room, and one for Danny because he begged me.
"Guys can Dylan and I talk alone for a minute?"
Everyone goes upstairs, presumably trying to listen to our conversation. Ryder crouches in front of me.
"I'm sorry I got mad," I blurt. "It was unfair and I just didn't want you to worry because the contractions hurt. I know how much you hate it when I'm hurting and I thought I was helping. I'm sorry."
He takes the multiple hair ties off of my wrist and sits behind me to braid my hair loosely.
"I shouldn't have yelled at you for not telling me this stuff. And I can see how we've been a little over the top with everything. I'm sorry princess."
"I love you Ryder," I lean back to kiss him.
"I love you Dylan," he kisses me again and finishes my hair. A few minutes go by and then I feel another contraction.
"Start a timer," I say through gritted teeth. He starts a stopwatch on his phone as soon as the contraction is over. We sit in silence for a bit. We should've been paying attention to how far apart they are when they started this morning.
"How close are they?" Mom asks as she comes downstairs with the hospital bag. We say we started timing it, blah blah blah.
"Owww," I groan and shut my eyes. "Fuck this one is bad." Ryder wraps his arms around me and holds me until it's over. Then he looks at his phone.
"Five minutes apart," he grins. "Time to go." I try to protest but my mom shushes me and Ryder puts me in the Range Rover. We figured we should take that to the hospital.
"KIDS!" My mom shouts. "WE'RE HEADING TO THE HOSPITAL! IF MY HUSBAND COMES HOME TELL HIM WHERE WE ARE AND THEN YOU CAN FOLLOW!"
"WAIT!" I yell. "I WANT DANNY TO COME!" He walks to the car with a smug look on his face and it takes all my energy to not smack it off of him.
"Mom can you drive any faster?" I whine as another contraction hits. "I'm being eaten alive from the inside out bruh."
I see Ryder start something on his phone but I don't think anything of it. Then Danny turns around.
"Ok Dyl. What do you wanna say to the camera?" He giggles.
"Who is this getting sent to Danny?" I breathe as another one hits. "Ow holy fuck you are killing me kid."
"We are here with Ryder Lynch and his pregnant girlfriend, my little sister, Dylan Caldwell!" Danny narrates.
"I'M YOUNGER BY TEN MINUTES!" I exclaim.
"Ok kids we're here!" Mom jumps out of the car and runs into the hospital as Ryder and Danny walk me in. Immediately I'm in a wheelchair going to a room. They put me in a hospital gown and on the bed.
I clench my hands as a contraction hits.
"Ok you are about six centimeters dilated. Not baby time yet," a nurse tells me. Then she turns to Ryder. "It might make her feel better if you get her some ice chips. I can show you where they-"
"Are you hitting on my daughter's boyfriend while she's in labor?" My mom asks. The nurse gulps. "How unprofessional are you? Firstly, you should be doing your job, which is to make sure my daughter and my granddaughter are healthy. Secondly, this is the father of the baby. These two have been together for two fucking years. There is no reason why he would have any interest in you whatsoever. I want a different nurse to take care of my daughter and if I ever see you doing that again I will report you to your manager. Understood?" She scurries out of the room and I look at Ryder.
We both burst into laughter.
"She deserved it!" Mom defends.
"Damn straight!" I laugh. "That was beautifully executed Mo-mmm," I sit up a little as another one hits me. Ryder rubs my back a bit and I thank him.
"I'm sorry," he mumbles when my mom leaves to get me some soda.
"For what love?" I ask with a smile.
"For getting you pregnant. I mean, I'm so so excited for this baby, don't get me wrong. But it's fucking killing me to see you in pain. I hate it." I put my hand against his cheek and he leans into my touch. We stare at each other for a few moments until the door bursts open.
"DYLAN!" My dad rushes over and my jaw drops.
"D-Dad? Dad? WHAT THE HELL??" I shriek and throw my arms around him. "How...how the fuck are you here?"
"I was already coming home on your jet when I got a call from a very worried Danny that you were quote, 'whining about unbearable pain in your belly' and that he 'didn't know if you and Kiki were okay' because he 'felt horrible pain in his stomach'. I told the pilots to do whatever necessary to get me here asap."
I look to my brother. "Daniel Sorelli. I'm fine. Kiara is fine. She's going to be born. This is called labor."
"Ohhh," he nods. "That makes so much more sense now!" I shake my head and then groan as yet another contraction begins.
"Three minutes apart," Ryder announces to no one in particular. "Danny, are the others in the waiting room?" Danny nods as he exhales sharply and I sigh happily.
"Two minutes," I grit my teeth as I scrunch the blanket in my hand. "Someone go get a doctor or something and tell me when this kid is gonna be born."
Dad and Danny run out of the room, Danny going a bit slower. I forgot that he and Dante must be in excruciating pain as well. At least I'm not suffering alone.
"How far apart are contractions?" A nurse asks as she walks in.
"Two minutes," Ryder says. "It's time to do this right? Like, my girlfriend can stop being in pain now?"
"Firstly, she's about nine centimeters dilated. Secondly, kid, giving birth to this kid is gonna hurt a hell of a lot more than the contractions. I've done this three times, I should know."
I let out an involuntary noise of pain and she starts to get the stuff ready for me to give birth. A midwife comes in, as well as my mom and the doctor.
"Okay, we are ready to start but there are too many people in here," Dr. Sheila states.
"Mom and Ryder stay," I say immediately. My dad and Danny leave quite happily, clearly grossed out by this process. The doctor and midwife adjust the bed I'm on.
"Ok kiddo," Dr. Sheila looks at me. "Start pushing."
• • •
I don't think I've ever tried so hard in anything. I'm yelling as I'm trying to push this goddamn human out of me. Jesus fucking christ this hurts like a bitch.
"I can't," I cry out of breath. "I can't do this."
"Yes you can princess come on just push." I glare at him.
"If it's that easy then you do it!" I snap as I start pushing again. Suddenly, wails fill the room and I stop. The nurse brings something over and then I have a tiny baby on my chest.
I feel Ryder wipe my tears and he sits in front of me on the bed.
"Hi Kiara," I smile at her. "God you are just the most beautiful baby I've ever seen."
My mom brings a chair next to me. "She looks like you Ryder. Dyl she has your eyes."
Ryder shakes his head, smiling. "Nah. She's all Dylan." The nurse comes over and tells me they have to give Kiara a bath.
"Let Ryder help," I say immediately.
"Miss-"
"I'm Dylan Caldwell. I donated about 4 million dollars to this hospital. Let. Him. Help."
The nurse starts nodding, obviously scared now. Ryder just laughs and kisses me before going to bathe our daughter.
Our daughter.
After I nurse her, they weigh her. 7 pounds 14 ounces. Then, they let Ryder hold her while my mom goes to the waiting room to get the others. I lean my head back and close my eyes.
"WHERE'S MY NIECE-"
"Luke shut the hell up!" My dad hisses.
I look around at everyone, talking quietly and holding Kiara. I feel Ryder's arm go around me and I look up at him sleepily.
"We did it," I mumble. "We're parents."
I feel him kiss the top of my head as I drift off to sleep.
• • •
It's been a few hours now, and everyone went home but Ryder. Kiara is in my arms, just staring at me with her beautiful blue eyes.
"The day we met," I sing softly. "Frozen, I held my breath. Right from the start, I knew that I found a home for my heart. Beats fast. Colors and promises. How to be brave. How can I love, when I'm afraid. To fall. But watching you stand alone. All of my doubt, suddenly goes away somehow. One step closer."
Ryder is sitting behind me, keeping us in an upright sitting position and he starts singing with me to our daughter.
"I have died every day waiting for you," we sing quietly. "Darling don't be afraid I have loved you for a thousand years. I'll love you for a thousand more."
We sing the whole song to her, and others, until she finally falls asleep in my arms.
"I can't believe it," I whisper as Ryder puts her in the little thingy for babies they have next to the bed. "She's so tiny."
"I know," he chuckles softly. "We made that. That's us right there."
"Y'know, if you think about it, children are partial clones of their parents. They get DNA from both parents, making them 50% of each parent. Kiara is a clone of us," I finish with wide eyes. Ryder rakes a hand over his face.
"You've been spending too much time with Axel haven't you?"
"Probably," I giggle. "But the man has a valid point Ry."
"I love you Dylan."
I look at him, startled. "I love you too Ry. Where did that come from?"
"No where. I just wanted to tell you that I love you."
I grab his shirt and kiss him.
"I love you too." I love him so fucking much.
I can't wait to marry Ryder one day.
Kiara Rose Caldwell
welp. that's the end of this book! there will be a third book, don't worry. it'll be from Shawn's perspective, and it'll be a short novella. i may take some time to work on my other projects atm bc i have like 4-5 other books in the works, but this series will def be continuing