Surrogates (completed)

23

I smile as Alex holds her new daughter in her arms. The twins are both girls, but there are no names picked out just yet. Alex really had her heart set on a boy.

"Alex?"

"Hmm?"

"Justin is dead huh?" I ask. Deep down I already knew the answer.

"He died just minutes before you woke up. He just stopped breathing." She sighs and wipes a tear from eye.

"Did he have a twin?"

"How did you know that?" She wonders.

"Before I woke up I had a dream and Justin was in it. His twin was too and so where my parents."

"You need to rest and so do the twins." She sighs and places the baby back inside the bassinet.

"Goodnight, Alex."

"Night, Nara."

****

I sigh as the doctor explains everything about how the accident affected me and the twins. The twins were born about a month early and the eldest is fine, but the younger twin is in the incubator because of her discoloration and inability to properly breathe on her own. It's so scary to see her hooked up to machines.

"What do we do?" Alex asks as she holds the eldest twin in her arms. She has become so attached to her. The only time she lets her go is when I am breastfeeding. I really hate breastfeeding, but Alex put it in her contract that I have to.

"We wait." The doctor says. "Her skin color is still has a pale bluish tint to it, but she has improved a great deal from last night. We are just going to keep her in the incubator until her color looks normal and then we will check to see if she can breathe on her own."

"What if she can't?" I panic. "What if she just can't breathe on her own? Are we going to have to unhook her? She's just a baby."

"Calm down, Nara." Alex tells me. "Don't think about the worst and just hope for the best."

I nod and rest my head against the pillow. I really want to leave the hospital, but apparently I fell into a coma after giving birth and the doctors say they need to keep an eye on me.

"Alex, you will be the primary care giver of the twins and Nara, correct?" The doctor asks.

"Yes, sir." Alex nods.

"Do you mind if our nurses talk to you?"

"About what? I can take care of myself." I demand.

"Here, Nara." Alex says as she hands me the baby. "I'll be just in the hall." She smiles and walks out with the doctor. She must be tired of me.

I look down at my daughter and smile. She had my eyes, but everything else was Justin. If she was a boy I would name her Justin.

"She's so beautiful." Justin's mom says as she walks into the room. She was here yesterday with Alex, but she started to cry once she saw the youngest twin in the incubator, so she left.

"Hi Debbie." I smile.

"Can I hold her?" She asks.

"Sure."

She picks up the baby and sits down on the edge of my bed. "You know she actually looks like Joseph. I know Joey and Justin were twins, but Joey had a slightly bigger nose and she has that nose." Debbie smiles as tears start to stream down her face.

"I'm so sorry Debbie."

"You just don't think it will happen when you have kids. You never think anything bad will happen to them. You watch the grow up and you love them with everything in you. They were first born kids and they were both so successful and they die in the same damn way."

"Joseph died in a car crash too?"

"Not exactly. He was just sixteen at the time and he was walking my daughter to school because it was so close to our house. He walked her across the street and then walked back, but a drunk driver ran him down. My daughter seen it all. Megan, hasn't been the same since."

I didn't know what to say. Debbie has just lost two of her three kids. Both of her sons were dead and I feel so guilty. My dream or whatever it was felt so real. I should have gone with my parents.

"I just want you to know that I'm here for you and these girls. I want to be their grandmother and I need to be apart of their lives."

"You are always welcome to see them." I assure her even though it was actually Alex's place to say it.

"I have to go, but please keep me posted on the youngest twin's status." She smiles before handing me the baby and heading out of the room. I feel so sorry for her.