2 months later, Cerise, now 8 months pregnant, was spending the afternoon with her mom. She was laying down on the couch trying to rest when she felt pain. "Ow..." she said as she sat up. "Mama?" She asked
Ericha poked her head in from the kitchen. "Yes sweetheart?" She replied. Cerise looked at her. Her face was pale and she was weak. "Um..... how do you know when you're in labor?"
Ericha quickly sat next to her. "Why? What are you feeling?" She asked. "It hurts mama." Cerise said.
"What hurts baby?" Adam asked as he came out of his office. Cerise made a pained face. "Everything." She said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Has your water broke yet?" Ericha asked. Cerise started breathing heavily. "I don't know!" She cried.
Ericha looked at Adam. "Will you please get her hospital bag? Cerise, where's Judson?" She asked as Adam ran around getting everything.
Cerise cried as the pain got worse. She was panicking. "He's with his dad. Mama please call him! Oh god it hurts!"
Ericha and Adam rushed Cerise to the car and quickly let Judson know they were on their way to the hospital.
Cerise's water broke on the way there. "Mama!!!!! I'm so scared! We don't even have the nursery fully done yet! Owie, it hurts!" She yelled and broke down sobbing.
Ericha squeezed her hand. "I know baby. I know. Believe me. I know. It's gonna hurt but the doctor will help you. Your babies are coming. You're gonna be a mama."
——
At the hospital, Judson paced the waiting room as Cerise was getting set up in the maternity ward. "Judson? Go see her. She needs you." Adam said.
Judson looked at him. "I'm scared. What if I mess up this whole being a dad thing? What if I'm not a good dad?" He asked.
Adam shook his head "Do you hear yourself? You'll be an amazing dad. I wouldn't have let you propose to my daughter if I knew you wouldn't be the best man there is for her and for those babies. These are your nerves talking. No one is ever truly ready to be a parent. You learn things along the way. Now, get the hell in there."
Judson nodded and walked in to the room. He smiled softly as Cerise laid in the bed.
She tried her best to smile at him despite the pain she was feeling. She had an oxygen mask on her face to make breathing a little less difficult for her.
Judson sat next to her and stroked her hair. "So this is it. We're gonna finally meet our babies. A month early but finally."
Cerise nodded. A few hours later, Cerise started pushing. After a few hard pushes and no babies; the doctor did a sonogram.
"Well, your babies are breeched. We're gonna need to do a C-Section.... and fast." He said.
Cerise and Judson, both nervous wrecks, just nodded. The doctor smiled softly. "You can choose two people to come with you into the OR, Cerise."
Cerise looked around and selected the two people she needed most.
Judson and Ericha got into hospital scrubs, caps, gloves, and masks before entering the freezing operation room.
Ericha smiled down at her daughter as the doctor began the surgery. "Here we go." She said.
Cerise looked from her mom to her fiancé as the doctor pulled the babies out.
Soon enough, both babies were crying.
At last, when Cerise finally got to see her babies, she was crying once again. This time, they were not tears of pain, but tears of joy.
"Hello my babies. We've waited so long for you." She said as she looked at them.
Judson smiled. "Lincoln Archer and Lorelei Juliette Brown. Welcome to our world."