ALIVE | GOJOU SATORU

chapter sixteen

Today you woke up feeling terrible. You've been lying in bed ever since. You can barely even make it into the kitchen without your legs giving out on you.

Naoya saw you crying at one point and called you dramatic.

"Something is wrong with the baby." You say as he walks into the room. "I don't think I'm supposed to feel this way."

He rolls his eyes, pulls his shirt off, and walks to the walk-in closet to grab another shirt. "I have to go to work in an hour. I don't have time to deal with this."

And now you feel like you're about to puke, turning over and puking into the trash can.

"Fine, I'll take you."

He doesn't even help you out of bed, instead, he leaves the room and heads out to the car to wait on you.

It takes you a good 8 minutes before you can even make it. The whole time you were crying in pain. Just doing that made you want to pass out. You're out of breath.

The whole ride to the hospital, it's silent. You keep yourself from making any noise so that he doesn't get bothered by it and drop you off on the side of the road.

Naoya pulls around to the door. "There." Is all he says and you glare at him, opening the door and getting out.

The pain hasn't gone away, but you're not that far from being able to get that help.

As you enter the hospital, a nurse behind the desk sees you and once your eyes meet hers, you fall to your knees, clutching your stomach.

"Get me a doctor immediately!" The nurse shouts as she rushes to you, another one heading to grab a wheelchair for you.

You made it.

—

You've been staring at the ceiling since you've been here.

They've given you lots of medication to help the pain and run some tests on you.

Ieiri has been in and out occasionally to check on you. You haven't said much to her though.

You're worried that something happened to the baby, but even if something has happened, it would be for the best considering you'd never be happy. Not only that, there's no telling what Naoya would do if the baby made him mad. If he even kept you alive.

The door opens and your eyes shift, Ieiri walks in with a clipboard. "Everything seems okay with the baby. You just must be under a lot of stress at home?"

"Are you sure? I felt like I was dying...and I'd still feel that way without the medication." You raise up a bit, looking at her.

"I can run the tests myself but it's going to take a while." She puts the clipboard down, looking at the computer screen. "But here...lie down for a moment."

You obey and lay back, glancing at her as she grabs her equipment. Ieiri lifts your shirt and squeezes a bit of cold gel onto your stomach before placing the wand against it, and rubbing it in.

Her eyes shift to the screen and then she turns the screen toward you. "There's your baby."

It feels like your heart stopped for a moment as you lay eyes upon the child that is in your stomach. You're going to be a mother.

The door opens and you look over, eyes widening at the white-haired man. His eyes are on the screen and he grins ear to ear at the sight of his unborn child.

"Come here, Dad." Ieiri says to Satoru who is almost crying. "I'll give you two some time alone."

He walks over and she allows him to take over the wand before leaving you two alone in the room.

Immediately you start crying and he pulls the chair up to the bed. "Don't cry." He says softly. "Look at our baby."

Satoru glides the wand around, seeing the different angles of the baby. He smiles as he remembers Ieiri telling him earlier that in just a few weeks, you two will be able to know the gender of the baby.

You look at the screen, smiling as the tears stream down your cheeks.

He glances at you and puts the wand away, grabbing a clean rag and wiping the gel off your stomach. Then he leans down, admiring your stomach. "I bet you're going to be a girl..." Satoru is glowing. "Things are complicated between me and your mom right now, but we will work it out. We have to."

Growing up, he has never really thought about having children. But just because it's with you and he knows that the love he has for you is strong, he is enthusiastic about being a father. "I bet you're going to look just like your mother. She's beautiful...and that's how I know that you will be too. And you'll grow up with two amazing parents who will do anything for you. Hell, you're not even born yet and we'd do anything for you." His head is resting against your thigh as he speaks to the baby. "We love you with everything in our hearts."

Another tear slips from your eye as you look down at him. You love him.

"Satoru..." You say softly.

He barely moves as he looks up at you. "Yes?"

"If anything happens to me after she's born..." You can't continue, breaking down.

Satoru is squeezing your hand comfortably. "Nothing is going to happen to you, okay? I promise that. We're in this together."

You nod and scoot over and he sends you a look before climbing up there to lay beside you. His arms wrap around you tightly. He doesn't ever want to let go.

"I'm sorry that I left the way I did." You apologize and he kisses the top of your head.

For a moment, he's silent. You're not sure if he's trying to think of what to say or if he doesn't have anything to say at all.

"It hurt a lot...but I know that things will get better." Satoru is holding onto hope that you two will be able to go back to normal.

You close your eyes. "I just don't know what to do right now. And I can't explain anything... It's too much."

He doesn't say anything.

"But it's not because I don't care about you or the kids. Things are just difficult right now and I'd rather deal with it on my own without dragging you two in it with me. I'd never forgive myself and I hope that you can understand that." You explain.

Satoru moves so that he can get a good look at you. "I've told you before I'd do anything for you. And I mean that. Even if you may think that it's impossible...it's not."

You stare into his eyes and a smile appears on his face, taking you by surprise.

"I love you." He says.

Your lips part and your throat closes up for a moment before you gather the courage to actually say it aloud to him. "I love you."

-

I loved this chapter.

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