Jen's POV
"I know I said and did things in the past year that are unforgivable, but please just give me a chance to apologise," Bella begged as she stood at my door.
She looked sincere in wanting to work things out, but I still couldn't trust her after everything that she did. "Have a forgiving heart" played over in my mind, and something told me I should let her in.
"Fine," I moved out of the way to let her in.
"Where do you want this?" She asked as she held the gift out to me.
"Just put it on the coffee table," I gestured towards the lounge, and followed her in so we could get this talk over and done with.
"So...talk..." I encouraged her.
"Wow, I've rehearsed this over in my head so many times, but now that I'm in front of you I can't think of a single thing to say...I can't believe how big you've gotten it's crazy. How much longer do you have to go?"
"Two weeks," I answered bluntly. I hadn't forgotten her wishing bad upon my pregnancy, so I didn't know why she was so interested now.
"How have you been? Has the pregnancy been okay?"
"Yeah it's been fine...are you still sleeping with my ex boyfriend?" I blurted out, my mouth was moving quicker than my brain was right now.
"Jen it's not like that..."
"Not like what? Jake is my ex, you two are dating, that's exactly what it's like?" I was working myself up, making my heart race and my stomach twist in knots.
I was still feeling the cramping from this morning, and they were starting to happen more frequently and more dominantly. I hoped this baby wasn't coming now, it was too early and I wasn't ready.
"It's not like I intentionally went out of my way to date your ex Jenelle, it just happened and we fell in love. You of all people should know you can't help who you fall in love with...Harry hurt you so badly yet you still took him back. People make mistakes, but you can't hold it against them forever.
Yes Jake messed up in the past, what he did to you was inexcusable and I told him that, but he's a good guy now, he's changed since he's been with me. I just want to put the past behind us and try to be friends again, if you're willing to."
Jake changed? I highly doubt that would ever happen, and even if he did, he cut me too deep to ever want to give him the time of day again. I would never accept their relationship, and if she ever thought I would she was dreaming. How could she even expect that of me?
"Bella, you ruined this friendship not me. You walked out on it, you stopped contacting me, you moved out and chose him over me! I hate him, I will never forgive him, so as long as you are dating him I can't be your friend."
"Why? I am my own person, I'm still the same Bella you've known all these years. I lost myself for a bit, but I know in my heart who I am, and that is your best friend. We've been through too much together to just throw it all away over a boy and stupid argument."
"It's not stupid to me, don't belittle this like it's nothing! I can't look at you and not see him, and I can't ever expect you to never talk about him to me. That's not friendship, it's not fair that you should keep a part of your life quiet just to please me.
I don't want to look at him, I don't want to hear about him, I don't want him anywhere near me, Harry or my baby, he is disgusting and I want nothing to do with him. So I can't put this behind us, because I can't pretend like I'm okay with what you're doing."
I was an emotional wreck right now, my crying was making it hard for me to breathe properly, the sharp pains in my stomach were getting worse, this whole conversation was emotionally draining and I couldn't do it anymore, I wasn't ready to forgive her.
"We can make this work Jen, I miss you, besides dating Jake what is it I did so horrible that's unforgivable?" She pleaded with me.
"You told the media about my pregnancy! You knew what kind of a shit storm that would create. You knew how big Harry was, and how something like this would affect his reputation, and my reputation for that matter.
This was private Bella, it was something only we had to know about for now, we hadn't even told his management yet or his band mates, you ruined that for us! The whole world was speculating, I was under a microscope constantly, all because you wanted to make a quick buck," I screamed.
She just looked back at me in complete shock and disbelief, like she had no idea what I was talking about.
"Jen I did not tell the media anything I..."
"Cut the shit Bella, you were the only one who knew about the pregnancy besides my family, and they wouldn't have leaked it to the press."
"It wasn't me I swear," she pleaded. Her eyes were genuine, but I wasn't going to fall for her bullshit lies anymore. She was trying to cover herself to make me seem crazy, like I had hated her all this time for no reason.
"What are you doing here?" Harry had walked through the door and stopped in the archway of the lounge, staring at Bella.
"I just wanted to talk to her and sort things out," she retaliated.
"Get out!" He shouted at her.
"I'll go when she asks me to go, we're not finished talking, you don't control her or me," she shouted back at him.
"Guys stop," I tried to say but the pain coming from my stomach was so excruciating it came out as more of a cry than plea for silence.
"Jen?" He ran over to my hunched body, clutching my stomach.
"Harry it hurts so bad, I don't know what's happening," I cried out in pain.
"I'll get her mum," Bella suggested.
"No, I just want you to get the f*ck out of my house!"
"Bella please just go, we'll talk another time," I told her, just wanting their argument to stop so I could have the peace I craved right now.
"Okay, but please read the letter I wrote that was inside the gift," she asked of me before leaving.
"Why was she here?" Harry asked me, rubbing my back to try and relieve some of the pain from it.
"To apologi...ahhhh" another shot of pain ripped away at my insides. This wasn't just cramping, these were contractions, I was sure of it.
"I'll get your mum," he quickly ran outside, and I could hear him calling for my mum to hurry and come inside.
"Honey what's wrong?" She ran over to me in a panic.
"I think the baby's coming! Isn't it too early? I'm only thirty eight weeks, what if it's not ready? Mum I'm so scared," I cried.
"Sweetheart it's perfectly fine for the baby to come any time now, are you sure you're in labour though? It could be a false alarm? I had those with you too," she tried to assure me.
But I could feel moister between my legs, and from what I had been told about labour, it was a safe bet I was either bleeding or my water had just broken. I was too scared to look.
"Why am I wet? Am I bleeding?" I asked mum as Harry lifted my dress to assess what was going on.
"I don't see blood," he said.
"Your water has broken, and now I am pretty certain you are in labour oh my God," she stood up in disbelief.
"I have to call your father, I have to cancel work tomorrow, I have to send everyone home," she started pacing up and down the room.
"Mum, in case you've forgotten I am in labour, how about helping me out first," I tried to get her attention back.
"Harry get her in the car and to the hospital, I'll call Nate and organise everything else and we'll meet you at the hospital, just go," she helped us both up and pushed us out of the door.
"Harry I'm not ready for this," I waddled to the car, taking a seat inside.
"You are ready Jen, you're going to be incredible through this I know you will be. This is the last time we're leaving the house with just us two, when we return we're going to have a baby," he teared up as he reversed out of the driveway in a rush.
"We can do this right?"
"We can baby, and we will."
...
Harry's POV
I couldn't believe the day was here to meet my child. I didn't think she would be going into labour this early, but besides being scared shitless and nervous for the baby to arrive, I was excited to finally hold our them in my arms.
I could tell she was scared, and I could see she was in pain, but she was being brave. I had to be brave for her and show no fear, I still had the paranoid thoughts something horrible was going to go wrong, but I had to try and put those thoughts aside for her, and help her get through this as best I could.
"What the f*ck is the hold up?" I beeped my horn impatiently. There was some kind of traffic jam on the way to the hospital, the cars were bumper to bumper at a stand still. This was ridiculous, at this rate she would be having the baby in the back seat of the car.
"Is there a way you can get out of this street and go around or something?" Jen suggested, looking panicked at how long we'd be stuck here.
"I don't know, I don't know what's happening but we're starting to move slowly," I moved the car forward a metre every few seconds.
By the time we had gotten to the front of the jam, we could see that someone had been in a car accident. The two cars involved were in a pretty bad way, one was completely smashed up, and the other flipped upside down. Paramedics and police patrolled the area, so we couldn't see any of the injured people.
"Shit that looks bad," I commented.
"I hope it's no one I know," she looked out the window at the mess in front of us.
The traffic director had finally let us through to a side street, and we were back on our way to the hospital. I saw the big emergency sign and parked the car as close as I could, then helped Jen out as she cried in pain as she went through another contraction.
"Breathe baby, you have to breathe," I held onto her, trying to help her through the pain.
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" She snapped. I didn't take it personally, I'd read enough father blogs to know her behaviour was perfectly normal for a woman in labour. I'd even read one about the wife punching the husband in the face for putting her in the situation in the first place.
We'd made it inside and Jen was hooked up to all sorts of monitors and machines immediately, since I had a room booked and on hold. She insisted we didn't need it booked so soon, but my intuition had told me this had to be done, so I went ahead and did it myself weeks ago.
It was a large suite in the corner of the ward away from everyone, I loved the privacy of it. Her parents and my mum had come rushing in as soon as they got to the hospital. Her mum fussed over her, making sure she was comfortable, while her dad and my mum fussed over me.
"Are you ready for this sweetheart?" Mum asked, rubbing my back.
"I have to be, for her," I told her.
"Son remember, everything she says during this labour she doesn't actually mean, it's the pain talking. Lauren called me every name under the sun during both her labours, you can't take it to heart. It's all worth it when you hold your son or daughter for the first time," he squeezed my shoulder, trying to calm my nerves.
"How's mum doing?" Dr Thomas had walked into the room next, walking straight towards Jen analysing her monitors.
"Painful," Jen cried, riding out another contraction.
"You're doing so good baby," I ran to her letting her squeeze my hand as hard as she wanted to. Her nails were digging into my skin, but I didn't care, this pain was nothing compared to what she was going through right now.
"I'm just going to have a look at how you're coming along," he put some gloves on, then spread her legs open to analyse what was happening.
It was a little awkward and uncomfortable watching another man look between her legs, but I reminded myself this was her doctor, and I was being an idiot for even thinking the situation was anything less than normal.
"Everything looks good so far, you still have a while to go you're only at four centimetres, you don't push until ten," he removed his gloves.
"So how much longer is this going to take?" She looked at him with eyes filled with impatience.
"We could be here for hours, it's hard to tell, everyone is different. My only question right now is did we decide on the epidural?"
We didn't have it down in the birth plan, she said she wanted to do everything the natural way, but I didn't know if she had changed her mind now that she was experiencing the pain.
"No, no epidural I want to do this without any drugs," she dismissed the idea.
"Are you sure? It will help with the pain," I explained to her.
"I don't want it Harry, I want to do this naturally."
"Okay, you can change your mind, I'll be back to check on you regularly," Dr Thomas left the room.
"We're going to head out to the waiting room, your sisters and Angus are out there waiting to know what's happening," Lauren told us.
"If you need anything call me back in straight away, but I'll be back soon anyway," she turned and said to me, and they all left the room.
"How's the pain? Can I get your anything? Do anything? I feel so helpless just standing here while you're in all this pain," I wiped the sweat from her face, dabbing her with the wet end to cool her down.
"You're doing as much as you can by just being here Harry," she reached up and swiped my cheek with her thumb.
"There's no where else I would rather be," I bent down to kiss her as she went through another contraction.
I hoped this night wasn't too long for her sake, nothing hurt more than seeing her in this pain.
...
We'd been here for four hours now, and the contractions were becoming more frequent and more punishing from what I could tell. I'd never heard her cry out in pain like that before, the whole thing was honestly intimidating.
"Breathe, breathe," I mimicked her deep inhales and exhales, squeezing her hand to try and help her through this.
"I think we should be just about ready to go," Dr Thomas re entered the room, having another check on how things were going.
He was taking his time to tell us what was happening, and the facial expression he was wearing wasn't an enthusiastic one. He mumbled something to the midwife next to him, and I panicked as she ran out of the room.
"What's happening?" I asked him.
"Jen you are ten centimetres, but it doesn't look like the baby is coming, we need to prepare you for a c-section," he told us.
"No, I want to push, just let me push," she begged him.
"I know you do Jen, but the baby's heart rate is dropping and we need to get it out now, this is what is best for both you and the baby, I promise you everything will be fine."
She looked at me hesitantly, and I nodded my head to let her know this is what had to happen. She gave him the all clear, and he prepared to take her to the delivery room.
I quickly ran out to the waiting room to see everyone and tell them what was happening while they prepared her for surgery.
A woman I hadn't seen before was sitting with Lauren in tears. I didn't have time to ask what was happening, and who she was though.
"What's happening? Does she need me?" Lauren jumped up.
"They have to give her a c-section because the baby's heart rate was dropping, they're taking her in now," I told her.
"What are you doing out here? Get in there," my mum pushed me back to the double doors that lead back to the maternity ward again.
"Good luck baby, you're about to become a dad, I'm so proud of you," she hugged me as she cried into my chest.
"I have to go mum, I'll see you soon," I kissed the top of her head and ran to the surgery room where Jen was. The doctors scrubbed me up, and I took a seat next to where she laid, squeezing her hand.
They had given her morphine to relax her and numb her up as they prepared to begin. A screen was put up so she couldn't see what was happening, not that I think she wanted to anyway.
"Harry this is it," she smiled at me.
"Okay we're going to begin, you might feel a little pressure when we cut and tug, if you feel any sort of pain let us know," Dr Thomas instructed, and we both nodded. Not that I had any reason to be agreeing to it.
"You're doing so good Jen, I'm so proud of you, you've done amazing today. You're going to be the best mum our baby could ask for," I whispered to her.
"I love you, sorry for being a pain in the arse all those times, and I'm sorry for yelling at you today, I didn't mean any of it," she whispered back.
"It's okay," I kissed her, then a few moments later the room filled with the sound of our baby's cry.
"Harry..." she started to tear up.
"Congratulations you two, meet your baby girl," the doctor held our daughter up for us to see her for the first time.
She was covered in blood, and she was tiny, but she was still the most perfect browned haired little baby I had seen.
"We did it baby, we created that beautiful little girl," I began to cry as I looked at our daughter.
The doctors cleaned her up a little and wrapped her in a blanket before handing her to me for the first time.
All my emotions took over me as I looked down at my baby girl. I created her, Jen and I created her together. She was amazing, my biggest accomplishment in life.
"Baby, meet our daughter," I sat back down next to Jen, placing the baby next to her face so she could see her.
"Hi Mia," she whispered.
"Mia?" I questioned her, making sure this was still the name she wanted.
"Mia," she nodded, and I watched my girlfriend kiss the side of our daughters head for the first time.