The best or the worst of your life?
Harry’s P.O.V.
It was three in the afternoon. The sun was shining and the heat was stifling. September 20. It was a few weeks for the winter and I was glad because I couldn’t stand the heat. I took out the keys from my back pocket, opened the door of the driver's seat and got in the car. I looked at my phone on the leather seat. I had left my phone in the car.
I pressed the button and the screen turned on. Thirty-six missed calls and ten text messages. I was in trouble. The calls were almost all from Emma. Some were from Emma's mom, my mom, Eleanor, Perrie and a couple of calls from Derek. I banged my head against the steering wheel.
I called mom. At least she will not scream at me... so much. After the second tone she answered.
“Where the hell are you? Why don’t you answer the phone?” She said angrily, but maintaining her tone low.
“I just got out of the studio... I didn’t answer because I left my phone in the car.”
“For God’s sake, Harry. You better come to the hospital immediately.”
“What? Why?”
“Emma began to feel discomfort and we called Dr. Sullivan. She told us to bring her to the hospital. They injected this hormone about ten minutes ago.”
“But Ethan would not be born for another two weeks,” I turn on the car and start driving.
“Yeah, I know. But the doctor said almost all babies aren’t born on the indicated time. They’re most often born early.”
“At which hospital are you?” I ask. I stop at a red light and the seconds seem eternal to me.
“Emma said you had talked about this hospital. Is that one that has a strange name in German. The one near your apartment,” she says. The light turns green and I go full throttle. I do not care if I get a ticket. I'm not in the mood for that shit.
I hear voices in the background.
“What’s happening?” I ask mom.
“Nothing. Hurry up.”
The call ends. I put the phone aside. I bite my lip as I drive quickly through the streets. My fingers move impatiently on the steering wheel. God, help me. A part of me wanted to run and hide like a little kid. But the other part wanted to be brave and affront my fears.
When I see the hospital I feel relieved and I know that tomorrow they will called my phone so I go to pay fines for speeding and pass several red lights. I parked the car, grabbed my phone and entered to the hospital. The nurse looked up when she noticed the glass doors had been opened. I approached the front desk and she looked at me. She was about forty, and you could tell she wasn’t in the mood, but I was neither.
“Emma Smith,” I said rushed.
“It is not time to visit yet,” she tells me with a frown.
“I’m... I’m her husband,” I said.
She looked me up and down with a frown. She rolled her eyes and began typing on the computer.
“Room 315, maternity ward on the second floor.”
“Thanks,” I gave her a fake smile before heading to the elevator.
I pressed the button several times. The doors opened. They were several doctors and nurses that left the elevator. I went in and pressed the button with the number 2. The doors closed. I hit my foot against the metal floor and the seconds were eternal for me. The doors opened and I sighed with relief.
I walked down the hall; I could hear the moans of all women. A shiver ran down my back. The walls were painted in pastel colors. I passed in front of nursery and through the window I could see all the babies that slept peacefully in plastic cribs. All were using a bracelet with the name of their mothers in their right hands.
I walked down the hall until I saw the number 315 on a door. I knocked on the door a couple of times and walked in.
Mom was the only one in the room accompanying Emma. The air conditioning was on. Emma was curled up, with her eyes closed and wearing a light blue hospital gown with small blue dots.
“How is she?” I asked mom while I sat in the edge of the bed.
“The doctor told her that she should rest while she could. She'll wake up when the injection takes effect and the contractions begin.”
I stroke Emma’s cheek.
“I’m terrified,” I whisper.
“Well, do not show it. She's scared and you’ll just make things worse. When you didn’t answer she thought that you had left.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“She still feels insecure about all this that’s going on between you.”
“I know, but I won’t leave her.”
I settle better in bed and took Emma in my arms. I snuggled her against me. She hides her face in my chest and continues sleeping.
“Did she eat something?” I question.
“No.”
“When she wakes up I’ll send someone to bring her food.”
“Someone?”
“I hired a couple of bodyguards for anyone bothers Emma. When we get out I don’t want all the paparazzi to come over us. I don’t want something to happen to Emma or Ethan.”
Mom nods.
I kiss Emma's forehead and stroked her hair. It will be hard for me to see her go through this...
An hour later Marie, Emma’s mother, has brought a bag with Emma’s thing and the other with Ethan’s. Emma woke up complaining about feeling the first contractions.
“How do you feel?” I asked her, still holding her in my arms.
“Contractions make my back hurt,” she murmurs against my chest.
I begin to caress her back, trying to give her some relief. In a few hours I won’t be able to remove her pain and I’ll only be able to stay by her side holding her hand.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“I left it on my car by accident.”
“You weren’t here when they put me the injection.”
“I’m sorry babe. But now I won’t leave.”
“I can’t believe that the day came.”
“Me neither, but in a couple of hours we will embrace him,” I smiled.
Someone knock on the door and then open it. Marcus and Daniel, the bodyguards I hired, enter the room.
“Good afternoon,” they say.
“They are Marcus and Daniel,” I present them. “Your bodyguards.”
Emma looks at me with wide eyes. She snuggles more against me.
“Daniel, go to the first floor and look for Dr. Sullivan. Ask her what can Emma eat and go buy her something. And please buy pasta for us,” I tell him.
He nods and leaves the room. Marcus leaves behind Daniel and I know he will stand still by the door.
“Why did you hire them?” Emma asks me somewhat upset.
“Because we need them.”
“No, we don’t.”
“When we get out of the hospital you will realize that I am right.”
She snorts and rolls her eyes.
“I do not want them to hear me giving birth,” she says, her cheeks turn red.
“They won’t. When the time comes they will be across the hall dealing with other things.”
She crosses her arms.
“As you want, Harry,” she says looking away.
“I want it like this, Emma,” I smile at her just to tease her.
She gives me a punch in the arm and then screams in pain.
“I'm not supposed to be the one feeling the pain after the punch?” I ask her mockingly.
“Ah... Shut up... Ah, ah... Dam it.”
She threaded her nails in my arms as she closes her eyes tightly and clenches her teeth. I stand the pain of her nails digging into my skin. After a few seconds she releases me and lay down on the bed breathing heavily.
“What was that?” I question.
“A contraction,” mom replies to me.
I run my fingers through Emma’s hair as she calms down. I won’t bear to have to see it every five minutes. I hug Emma and she snuggles against me.
Half an hour later Daniel enters with the bags containing packed dishes. He opens the bag and gives each of us our plate. He approaches the movable table to Emma and opens the plate by removing the plastic lid. He gives Emma the cutlery and serves her a glass of water.
“The doctor said she should eat carbs and protein... So I also brought her pasta with chicken. And she said she should drink lots of water.”
“Thanks,” Emma mutters and Daniel exits the room.
Our mothers chatted while they ate. I watched Emma while I took the fork to my mouth. She barely ate and moved the fork from side to side of the plate.
“It’s something wrong?” I ask her and she shakes her head no.
“I’m not hungry.”
“Babe, you have to eat something.”
“Ialready ate something,” she says referring to the piece of chicken she had eaten.
I rolled my eyes.
“Emma, please eat.”
“I’m really not hungry.”
“What about we put it away and in a little while you eat?”
She nods and I put the lid to the dish. I keep the plate and cutlery in the bag. Emma drinks all the water. I sit next to her to finish my lunch and she rests her head on my shoulder.
At seven o'clock, the sky is dark and the stars lit up the sky. The boys with their girlfriends, Emma’s brothers, Rose, Annabelle, Logan, Jessie, Gemma... All were in the room laughing and chatting.
“How does it feel?” Niall asked and they all turned around to see him.
“Like if you were splitting in a half from the inside,” Emma answers and Niall makes a face.
I've been all this time with her, one arm around her shoulders. They knock the door and Dr. Sullivan enters the room.
“I see that you have quite a party here,” she says writing on paper in her hands. “But I have to check you.”
The girls get up and start walking towards the door. All men in the room stay there sitting, watching the girls like if they were mad.
“Where are you going?” Louis asks.
“She will check Emma,” Eleanor responds to him rolling her eyes.
They do not yet understand. Dr. Sullivan put on the latex gloves. I put a hand on my forehead. Of all them the only one who has understood is Jessie...
“She’ll check Emma down there,” I say and when they finally understood they exit quickly the room.
Emma lies on the stretcher and I sit in the chair right next to her. I take her hand and she looks at me while the doctor is checking her.
“Are you nervous?” I asked her in a whisper.
“Yeah. I’m glad you are here.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it,” I kiss the tips of her fingers she smiles at me.
Dr. Sullivan removes the gloves and throws them away.
“Have only one inch of dilation... You have a long wait time.”
Emma smiles to her and the doctor leaves the room. All reenter as visiting time is almost over they say goodbye to Emma promising to come tomorrow to meet Ethan. The guys wish me good luck, as if I was about to throw myself off a cliff and Perrie scolds them before everyone leaves.
It's ten o'clock. Emma and I are alone in the room. She is having more and more strong contractions. It's been seven hours since the injection was given to Emma. She is only two inches dilated. We still have half way to go until the time comes. Emma writhes in bed every time she haves a contraction and I cannot do anything but hold her.
“Mr. Styles,” Marcus enters. I have Emma between my arms. She is breathing hard and I stroked her back to decrease the pain.
“What’s up?” I ask him.
“I brought more water,” he says showing me the water bottles.
He leaves them on the table and then leaves the room.
“We never choose a middle name,” Emma tells me against my neck.
“It’s not necessary.”
“I'd like him to have two names,” she closes her eyes and clenches her fists when another contraction invades her.
“What about Matthew?” I suggest and she shakes her head.
“What about Cole?”
“I like those names, but not with Ethan,” she says.
“And James?” I ask her. “I don’t think this is the best moment to discuss the middle name of our baby.”
“Ethan James,” she says as savoring the letters. “EJ Styles. I like it.”
“I cannot wait to hug him,” I kiss her on the forehead.
“I want him out to stop feeling this infernal pain,” she says and I smile. “It would be so funny if you were in my place.”
“I know... Give e a kiss,” I tell her leaning toward her.
“No,” she move away laughing.
“Why not?” I say trying to steal her kiss.
“Because we aren’t a couple.”
“We are parents. Give me a kiss. I deserve it.”
“And I deserve a trip to Hawaii,” she says rolling her eyes.
“Okay, as you like.”
“It was a joke,” she informs me.
“It doesn’t seem like that to me. It would be nice to go with Ethan.”
“You are crazy, Harry,” she pushes me gently.
“Kiss me,” I try to kiss her again.
“We are behaving like kids.”
“Then be and adult and kiss me.”
Then she let me kiss her. It took her lips between mine and I wrap her with my arms. She laughs against my lips.
“Harry,” she whispers.
“What?” I say against her lips.
“I have to pee.”
“You're an expert in ruining good moments,” I say pulling away from her.
Helped her get up and push the IV pole as she walks with difficulty to the bathroom. I helped her to sit and stay standing there.
“What?” I ask her, she’s staring at me.
“Get out.”
“Oh, for God’s sake Emma. I have lived with you for three years...”
“Get out,” she repeated.
I rolled my eyes and walked out closing the door. After a few minutes I open the door. She is washing her hands. She looks at me through the small mirror and then she dries her hands with a towel.
“You could tell me that to help you stand up,” I tell her.
“I’m okay.”
She leaves the bathroom and puts her arms around my neck. She rests her head on my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her waist and stroked her back.
“Can we just stand? Like this my back doesn’t hurt.”
I nod and she gives a kiss on my chest. We walked with slow steps still embraced along the room. Emma sighs against my neck when her back pain diminishes.
“Love,” I call her. I called her love without realizing it, but she isn’t angry.
“Mmm...”
“You own me a kiss.”
She laughs and separated a bit from me. I leaned over and took her lips between mines.
It's almost three in the morning. Emma has been in labor for twelve hours and Ethan still doesn’t want to come out. She squirms in bed and whimpers in pain. I cannot do anything. I'm just sitting in a chair, holding her hands and kissing her knuckles. I can’t do anything and it hurts me to look at her like this.
Dr. Sullivan said that we should thought in plan B: A caesarean birth. Emma's forehead is covered by a thin layer of sweat.
“Emma twelve hours had passed... Let’s think of a cesarean.”
We were all tired her parents, my parents, me and especially her.
“I really want... Uh... To do this on my own,” a scream escaped her lips and turned to writhe in bed again.
“If you haven’t given birth in a couple of hours or you accept the cease or I’ll call your grandmother,” Emma's mother said desperately.
“Okay,” Emma said and hid her face in the pillow.
“What if you take a bath? Your muscles will relax...” Mom proposed and Emma nods.
I head to the bathroom. I turn on the hot water faucet and let the tub fill. The tub is not very big hospital it will useful for us. I return to the room and helped Emma to get out of bed. She relies on me as we walked to the bathroom. I helped her to take off the gown and she gets in the tub. She rests her head on the edge and closes her eyes while caressing her belly.
“How does it feel?”
“Good,” she mutters.
I put down the toilet and I seat to watch her. She breathes slowly and I smiled. After a while I take the shampoo and I put it on her hair. The foam filled the tub and her hair. After having put soap all over her body and that she was a few more minutes in the water I helped her out.
“You look beautiful like this,” I told her as I handed her a towel.
“You’re a pervert.”
“Now you will not even accept my compliments?”
She rolled her eyes. I pass her a clean hospital gown. She put it on and I tied the straps. We left the bathroom. She sits on the bed and I brushed her hair and then make her a braid. She lies down on the stretcher again.
“How do you feel?” mom asked her.
“Better, thanks.”
“Emma, I called your grandmother. She will come in a couple of hours.”
“She gives me one of those nasty teas,” she said wrinkling her nose.
“Well, you'll take the nasty tea if that will help you. You've been more than twelve hours in labor. So you're going to drink tea or I'll make you drink it,” she said warned her.
Emma crosses her arms and dropped herself onto the pillows.
Fifteen hours. Emma takes fifteen hours of labor. We are all desperate and tired. Emma can no longer stand the pain and every time I try to touch her she tells me to go to hell. My mother and Marie laugh at me after every insult from Emma and I just stayed sitting beside the bed waiting for all this to end.
I thank God when Emma's grandmother arrives. None of us can stand another minute of this. She pulls out a thermos bottle from her bag and gives it to Emma.
“You have to take everything” she indicates.
Emma makes a face of disgust but drinks it anyway.
“How long will it take to work?” I ask as I caress Emma’s hair.
“Like five minutes. You better call the doctor.”
It's six in the morning and the sun starts to appear when the time comes. Emma breathes with difficulty and I forced her to look at me while everything happens. She holds my hand firmly.
“You have all the blame,” she says between heavy breaths.
She had said that to me so many times in the past hour that I don’t care anymore.
“C’mon pretty girl, once again and that's it.” says Dr. Sullivan.
Emma closed her eyes and frowns. She squeezes my hand tightly and we all hope to hear Ethan crying...
But when all ends there is only silence in the room. Everything has stopped for a second. Ethan doesn’t cry... Ethan is not breathing.
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