Forgetting Charlotte

Blue the humongous stuffed bear

Jolene let out a squeal of delight as two burly and very handsome firemen lifted me and placed me on the gurney.

An ambulance worker walked over with a bag full of clear liquid in his hand and placed a blanket over me. "My name is Sean."

"I'm Charlie." I gave him a weak smile as the realization of my situation hit me.

"You are going to be okay Charlie; we are going to transport you to the hospital." Sean tapped the clear bag as he gave me a reassuring smile. "How far apart are your contractions?"

"Um, far?" I didn't know how to answer that. I looked over at Jolene who usually provided me with all my pregnancy answers but she was busy chatting up one of the firemen who had lifted me up.

"How far along are you Charlie?" Sean was prepping a needle and attaching a clear tube to the clear bag.

"7 Months. Excuse me Sean?" I was staring at the shiny mini saber as he grabbed my arm and began tapping inside my elbow.

"Yes Charlie?" He looked at his watch as his walkie talkie began sputtering out noise.

"What is that for?" I stared wide eyed at the needle as he raised it high.

"Don't worry Charlie, this is nothing compared to the contractions." Sean smiled and stabbed me right in the arm.

"JOLENE!!!!" I screamed as they began to wheel me out and I realized my lie may have gone too far.

I was in room 230 at Birch Hospital. I had been in this room with a view of only the next building for six hours now. The doctors had checked me thoroughly, even after I had informed them I no longer felt like I was going into labor. They ran blood tests and attached me to a loud beeping monitor. I laid there as they discussed different possibilities and finally came to the conclusion that it had probably been heartburn.

"Just to be safe we are going to keep you overnight." My nurse informed me with a smile. "Don't want anything to happen to that little bundle of joy."

My coworkers had stopped by in small packs after work, curious to see the end of the spectacle I had created at work.

Jolene had rode in the ambulance with me and kept giving me a thumbs up the whole time. She told me all about Larry the Fireman while the doctors poked and prodded me and finally after nearly dying from laughter over the idea of me having heartburn, she decided to go downstairs and get food from the cafeteria.

So I sat staring out the window at the brick wall across from me as the monitor beeped continuously, signaling my babies strong heartbeat. I went over all the drama of the day in my head, ashamed that I let myself think such dirty thoughts and frustrated that I had to lie to get away from it.

A knock at the door brought me back to reality.

"No more visitors please." I yelled at the door. The person knocked again.

"Please go away!" I watched angrily as the door knob began to turn. How blunt did I have to be?

"Jolene, if this is a joke..." My sentence broke just as David's head poked out around the door.

"Can you stomach just one more visitor?" He was hiding behind the door, smiling his crooked smile at me.

"Um, yeah. Sorry David, I thought you were more of my curious coworkers." I could feel myself blushing.

David popped out from behind the door holding an enormous blue bear and a bouquet of yellow daisies. He placed the daisies next to the window and pulled up a chair, still clutching the blue bear.

"So are you okay?" his face was wrought with concern and it made me feel even more awful for lying.

"Yeah, the doctors think..." I stopped and cleared my throat as I saw him roll up his sleeves and expose his fantastically tone arms. "Um, they think it's heartburn."

"Heartburn?" David let out a hearty laugh. "Thank goodness! Jeez Charlie, I mean that's bad for you, I'm sure it was painful, but at least nothing's wrong with the baby." He gave the bear a slight hug.

"Yeah, well." I turned towards the door trying to avoid looking at David. "Where's Alicia?"

"Oh, she stayed at the office; she said she had something to do." David's tone changed and I looked back in time to see him looking down guiltily at the blue bear.

"What's that for?" I pointed at the bear.

"I bought this for you! Well actually for the baby." He held it up and wagged it cheerfully at me. "I bought it after the ultrasound." He blushed and placed it gently at the foot of my hospital bed.

"You did? Why?"

"It's a weird tradition we have in my family, first bear thing." David mumbled the last part as stared at his feet.

"What tradition?" I was staring at his face and couldn't help smiling at how attractive he looked when he blushed.

"I don't want you to think anything weird; don't get freaked out or anything. It's just, when a baby is born in our family, the dad buys him his first teddy bear, like a promise that he will always be there to protect him." David was staring out the window wringing his hands nervously. "It's ridiculous I know."

"No, it's not weird. But why did you bring it?"

David turned and stared at me hard before his shoulders dropped and he released a loud sigh.

"I know I'm not him Charlie, I know I didn't make this baby. But, well, what I'm trying to say." His blue eyes softened and began to sheen as he struggled to speak. "When I came back from lunch and heard what happened to you I went crazy scared! Scared for you, scared for the baby. I kept thinking back to that day when I first saw him, that day of the ultrasound. I just can't imagine..." David words trailed off as he sadly stared at me.

"I meant why did you bring it today? I didn't have the baby yet." I smiled timidly.

"Oh!" David blushed bright red and looked back at his hands. "I didn't know if you had had the baby, I tried calling Jolene but I couldn't get through. So I came here as soon as could, and I brought Blue in case."

I looked over at the humongous bear and back at David. The hormonal dirty thoughts that had set fire to my mind melted away and suddenly a new emotion lit my heart. I stared at his handsome face and saw something so different in his striking blue eyes; so much more that I suddenly became overwhelmed.

"David, you don't have to do this, I'm okay, and I can do this on my own. Please don't try to make up for him. You don't have to be what he isn't." Tears were streaming down my face as I succumbed to all the emotion of the day.

"I'm not doing it to make up for him Charlie!" David stood up angrily and crossed his arms.

"I'm pregnant and alone, he left me and now you're here being great and I don't know what to do..."I was sobbing as David's face softened and he leaned in close to me.

"Charlie?"

"And you're dating Alicia, and we have a pact, and she's a horrible person, but I feel bad because I threw up on her shoes..."

"Charlie?"

"And I should be a better person; I can't help all my dirty thoughts. Plus I'm so fat and bloated I don't even have feet anymore, they are just one big cankle..."

"Oh fuck it!" David threw up his arms, leaned down, and gave me the most incredible kiss I have ever had.