The guys freaked when you finally told them. You figured that soon the stretching stomach would give them a bit of a clue. And even though it'd only been a little bit over a month and The Scorch Trials had ended, including the premier (which you were still upset Thomas hadn't woken up in time to go to), Dylan and Ki still hadn't left. Will had gone back to London, taking Daisy with him. He's taken a liking to her and kind of took her everywhere he went. But before he went back to London, he stopped by Harvard. Almost the day he and the other guys had gotten back, Will had asked Sidney to be his girlfriend. Of course she'd said yes and everyone was happy for them. But, anyway, the point is he wanted to visit her before he went back.
You didn't mind the guys staying in the area at first. That is until they moved in with you. Oh, yeah. You heard right. Moved in with you. Dylan had been very over protective ever since the accident. He'd told you the reason why, too. Although, it almost killed you to hear it.
He'd explained how right after Thomas was shot, Dylan ran over and tried to keep him conscious.
*flashback*
I hit the dirt.
Crap!
What the heck was that?
I stagger up as I hear the car squeal off. My ears still ring and my vision blurs. I actually think maybe no one got hit. Until I hear the agonizing scream. I look to my right and find Thomas on the ground, his back arched as he claws at his side. Two crimson stains begin to grow above his hip and on his leg.
"Oh, no." I mumble as I run over.
I collapse in front of him. Blood steadily flows from his leg. Will rushes next to me, "Sh*t!"
I ignore him and his worried panting.
"Thomas, stay with me, man. Look at me. Focus on me. You're going to go into shock, but you've got to fight it. Come on, Tommy. You're a fighter!"
Thomas takes a shuddering breath and nods, quickly.
"SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE!" You hear Ki yell.
Chris pushes his way forward, "Forget the police. Get a d*nm ambulance! He's loosing a lot of blood!"
I pat Thomas's cheek, trying to keep him awake. Thomas pants and groans, his eyes screwed closed in pain.
"Thomas, look at me. You're going to be fine, man. You're going to be-" I start.
Thomas's hand flies up and grabs my arm, "Dylan...." He grunts, taking deep breaths, "Dylan, you've got to promise me....that you'll take c-care of her." His eyes plead, "Of Iris."
I blink, tears rimming my eyes, "Thomas, Iris is fine. You-"
"Promise me!" He says, desperately.
I blink, feeling a tear fall, "I promise, Thomas. I'll take care of her. You don't worry about a thing."
Thomas takes deep breaths and coughs, blood flying out of his mouth, "Good. Thank you.....thank you."
His eyes start to close and he whispers, "Take care of my flower."
His eyes shut and I start to panic, "Tommy! Tommy! Stay awake, Thomas! Don't you go anywhere! We're getting help....we're getting-"
I feel Wills hand on my shoulder, "Dylan, you need to call Iris. Now."
I look up at him. A scared determination seeping into me.
I look back at the limp figure of Thomas.
"I'm on it."
*present*
His last words.
"Take care of my flower."
Every time you thought of it, tears burned your eyes, threatening to fall. You had to push those feelings away now. For your child. You couldn't let anything happen to this child. It was like having a living breathing part of Thomas with you at all times.
But there was a downside.
Morning sickness.
"Morning" sickness.
More like comes whenever it freaking wants sickness.
The other night at about eleven, you'd felt this insane pain in your stomach, and at first you thought it was the baby. But when you jumped out of bed, you could feel the liquid running up your throat and you just managed to grab the garbage can in time.
To make a long story short, you threw up until there was nothing left to throw up. After you threw up, you'd get back in bed, doze for about an hour and then get back up and then you dry heaved until eight o'clock in the morning.
Fun, right?
Wrong.
Then, this morning, you woke up feeling dizzy. You ate something and then fell asleep on the couch. That forced Dylan and Ki to be quiet for a little while. After you woke up, Ki came over and felt your forehead, and said he thought you had a fever. You took your temperature and it turns out you did. Because your life is just awesome like that.
And then this afternoon it was gone.
Seriously, you think this kid is enjoying screwing around with your body and your hormones.
But the sickness and, um....how should one put this....let's say girl stress, of the situation, isn't even the most awkward part.
Let's go back to the fact that Dylan and Ki have crashed your house for the past month. Ki isn't so bad. He keeps things neat and he helps around the house. He kind of keeps Dylan in check. Or he eggs him on. Whatever kind of mood he is in.
Dylan isn't terrible either. He's kind of become your personal care taker. He helps you when you're sick and he pretty much does what you ask him to. You try not to make too many demands and let them have a little freedom. They are helping you. At least they're not as terrible as one would expect. Your house has escaped with minor injury. In fact, in the past month, Dylan has only broken about twelve things! Which is so much less than you expected!
But sharing a house with two bachelors is....traumatic. First of all, they walk around in their underwear. Or naked. Their excuse, "You know what men parts look like."
"THAT DOES NOT MEAN I WANT TO SEE THEM!"
At the beginning of the first month, Dylan went out of town for a few days. And that was awkward. You'd never really been alone with Ki. Much less while you were living with him. It was like having a new adopted older brother that felt like a younger brother due to his maturity level. You could tell Ki felt awkward too, because he was really quiet and he kind of tip toed around, watching you like you were a man eating bear or something.
But, of course, Dylan had come back. And with him he brought a Wii, an Xbox, and a butt load of video games. You didn't mind. As long as the video games weren't too violent and scary. And it turns out you're pretty good at Halo and Mario Kart.
Dylan and Ki play video games right now. That's kind of their thing. You don't have much in the way of "manly stuff" around here, so this is their go-to entertainment.
Video game Dylan pushes forward with a gun in hand.
"Let's do this, bro. You got me covered, Ki?" Dylan sings.
Ki nods, his video game character right behind Dylan's, "You know it."
"Alright, here we go....and- KILL THAT HOE! GET BACK HERE YOU SON OF A GUN! I'LL KILL YOU!" Dylan yells.
You chuckle quietly, "You realize that the video game can't hear you right?"
"It makes me feel better to yell at it." Dylan sniffs, pompously.
You roll your eyes, and shake your head, smirking, "Okay."
Ki clicks his tongue and looks at you scornfully, "Don't crush his dreams. Let him be himself!"
Dylan joins in, "Gosh! People these days! Never know how to accept others. It's really throwing off my groove."
"Like Emperor Kuzco." You mumble.
Dylan blinks, "You did not just go there -- Oh, hey! DIE CLOWN!"
You ignore Dylan's man fit and continue, "I did. That movie was freaking awesome."
Dylan rolls his eyes, "It was freaking stupid."
You fire back, "You're stupid too, but I still hang around you."
Ki laughs, "Burn."
Then video game Dylan and Ki round a corner and are blown up with a grenade.
"Oh, come on!"
"Really? That's ridiculous!"
Dylan turns around to you, "Hey, Iris, you're going to name your kid after me, right?"
"No way, dude! She's naming it after me!" Ki says.
"Um, you're both wrong." You say sarcastically.
"Well, you've gotta name it after someone!" Dylan says.
"No, I don't. And if I did, I would name it after Thomas." You say, looking at a picture you hung on the far wall. You and Thomas doing jazz hands at a concert of Percy's.
You sigh as Dylan grumbles, "But Dylan is a much better name than Thomas."
You smile, "Yeah, well. Take it up with the man in the coma."
- - - -
You hold his hand in both of yours. His hand is warm, but both of yours are cold. Somehow, seems kind of backwards. He's the one in the hospital bed, after all.
Dylan and Ki aren't here. No one is. It's just you and Thomas. You've decided to call it a date, because it makes you feel like it's normal. Like it's how it used to be. You brought a radio to the hospital, because you know how much Thomas liked music. So you play it every time you come here, just in case he can hear the music. It might make him happy.
Then the song The Climb, by Miley Cyrus comes on. You remember listening to this song when you were a teenager. Before Miley went openly crazy. You still remember the lyrics. And you listen to them as she sings.
"I can almost see it. That dream I'm dreaming, but there's a voice inside my head saying, you'll never reach it. Every step i'm taking, every move I make feels, lost with no direction. My faith is shaking."
And all of a sudden that song is about you. You relate to it more than any thing. And as the song continues you sing along to it.
"But I, I got to keep trying. Got to keep my head held high. There's always going to be another mountain. I'm always gonna want to make it move. Always gonna be an uphill battle. Sometimes I'm gonna have to loose. It ain't about how fast I get there. It aint about what's waiting on the other side. It's the climb."
You continue singing the song, thinking about you and Toms climb. Every day you spent together, every hour. All the struggles and every laugh. Every kiss and every scowl. Every smirk and every frown.
You sing, "I may not know it, but these are the moments that I'm gonna remember most, yeah. Just gotta keep going. And I, I gotta be strong. Just keep pushing on."
You keep singing, your eyes closed. But you still feel drops of moisture escape your eyes as you sing. You sing the whole song. Until the last line.
"Keep the faith. Whoa-oh-oh."
You open your eyes again and look down at Thomas. His sleeping figure. His steady breaths. You've remembered that even though right now is hard, every moment you had with him was precious and wonderful.
You look up at the ceiling and say a grateful prayer. You don't know of there really is a God in heaven, but you feel like you should express gratitude to someone.
"Dear God, thank you for this wonderful life i've been given. Forgive me if I don't love it enough."
You look back at Thomas. His chest rises and falls. You stand up and kiss his forehead, "Hang in there, Tommy. We'll get through this. Just you watch. You'll wake up soon."
Then, having been put through enough emotional trauma for the day, you walk out of the room. You look back as you close the door, "I'll be back soon, Tom. I promise."
- - - -
(Three and a half months pregnant - two months later)
You hear your phone ring from across the room. You sigh as you get up, your stretching belly aches. Your feet pad against the floor as you reach your phone.
Willa.
She's been calling and texting you everyday, checking up on you. She took a deep concern over you once she found out you were pregnant. Or....even more concerned than she already was. She calls and talks to you. Just about whatever you want, or need, to talk about. It's been nice having a shoulder to cry on and someone to laugh with. It's almost like being in high school again.
You answer, "Hey, girl. What's up?"
You hear her, "I was just about to ask the same thing!"
You laugh, "Sorry. I beat you to it. So, tell me. What is new?"
Willa sighs, "Not too much. Exams. Bleh. I can't believe I have to take two more YEARS of this class. Why is becoming a doctor so difficult?"
"Because people don't want an inexperienced loonie trying to figure out what's wrong with them." You say.
She clicks her tongue, "Picky, picky. I could've become a phycologist and just be paid to tell people they're crazy."
You smirk, "Yeah, you would've had fun with that."
"It really is a shame." She says, "Anyway, how's the kid doing? How are you doing?"
You shrug, even though she can't see you, "Kid's fine, I guess. I'm okay.... This kid is causing all kinds of problems though. There has not been a day yet that I haven't felt like crap."
Willa hums, "Part of it is the stress with Thomas. But most of it, yeah, it's probably the kid. At this point, that kid should be the size of an orange!"
You frown, "I just mentally compared my future child to an orange. It wasn't pretty."
Willa laughs, "The perks to having your best friend be a future doctor, huh?"
You roll your eyes, "Oh, yeah. Too great in number to count."
Willa laughs, but says nothing. For once in her life, she's speechless.
The two of you sit quietly. The silence isn't even awkward. That was one of the things you liked about Willa. Neither of you felt any pressure to keep the conversation going. And if you weren't talking, that was fine too. It was just the fact that her presence was there. That was enough.
You let your worry speak, and whisper, "Do you think Thomas will wake up soon?"
Willa is quiet for a minute, "I think he will."
You sigh and suddenly, Dylan walks through the living room, "Hey, Iris, I'm going to- oh, sorry. I didn't know you were on the phone."
You look up at him, "Hey, Dylan. Nah, it's fine. I'm just talking to Willa."
Dylan blinks, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink as he takes sudden interest, "Oh, Willa? Um....tell her....I said hi."
You smirk at his embarrassment. You know that Dylan and Willa were as thick as thrives at your wedding. They managed to cause a TON of trouble. You're highly certain they were both meant to be blonde. But lately they'd been getting close. And you think maybe Dylan is developing feelings for Willa.
"Okay." You say, winking at him, "Dylan says hi." You say into the phone.
"Hi to Dylan." Willa says.
"She says hi." You tell Dylan.
"Kay." Dylan says, slowly, "Anyway, I'm going to the store. I'll be back in a bit."
"Okay. Have fun." You say as he walks out the front door.
When he's left you grin into the phone, "Well, that was awkward."
She chuckles, "Yeah."
You whisper into the phone, "I think he likes you."
You can feel her smile, "I KNOW he does."
You furrow your eyebrows, "How do you know?"
"He told me."
You blink in surprise, "He TOLD you? When?"
She chuckles, "When I was visiting you at the beginning of your pregnancy. A couple days after you told us you were pregnant."
"And you didn't tell me!?" You wish you were right in front of her so you could shake her shoulders.
"I just did tell you." You can feel the smugness in her tone.
"Ha. You're hilarious." You say, sarcastically, " What happened? Did he ask you out?"
"No. He just said he liked me. Like, that was it. He just kinda blurted it out, turned red in the face and rushed out of the room. It was kind of....creepy? Cute? I dunno. I mean, has he MET ME? I am like the least likable person in existence! I'm not even that pretty." She grumbles.
Here she goes again, with her self consciousness.
"Willa!" You shout scoldingly into the phone, "You are to pretty! Have you seen your hair? It's red and gorgeous! And you're....likable on occasion. When you aren't being a shy introvert. Or....openly judging people."
She scoffs, "And I'm only being both of those things when I'm BREATHING."
"Whatever." You roll your eyes, "How do YOU feel about him?"
She pauses, "Well....he's cute. And he's funny. He's nice enough. Seems very talented."
"You should ask him out!" You smile.
Willa laughs, "Yeah. You're funny."
"Seriously! You should!"
"Did you completely forget the entire conversation we just had about me being a shy introvert? And let's bring in the fact that I have no idea how to act around guys." She says.
"Just be yourself." You say.
"Myself is a judgment not-very-nice-word." She says.
You groan, "But you both like each other and I don't understand why you don't ask him out!"
"Maybe I will. Just not yet." She says.
"I'm going to tell him you're madly on love with him." You tease.
"If you do-" She starts.
"And that you think he's totes ma gotes hot!"
"Iris, I'll kill you."
"You wouldn't kill a pregnant woman." You grin.
She pauses and thinks, "I'll wait until you give birth and make me the god mother. Then I'll take your child. And I'll love it more than you would."
You laugh, "You and your lies!"
"Oh, yeah? Just-"
You hear the door to her dorm room open.
"Hey, Willa. Who ya talking to? Dylan again?"
"No. Iris. Anyway, um, Iris, I'm going to go. I've got a ton of studying to do. And it won't be any easier with miss athlete over here."
You hear Vanessa, "Oh, you're just jealous of my soccer skills."
"Whatever." Willa says.
You laugh, "Okay, bye."
"Talk to you later."
You hand up the phone and sigh.
You really are grateful for your friends.
Then you remember.
You leave for Thanksgiving in a few days.
Time to go pack.
Author:
BEFORE I GET MORE DEATH THREATS-
He will wake up soon!
Take a chill pill!
Also, I know I've gotten requets to update Hundreds of Reasons to be Happy, but like I said, I'm focusing on Jumping on the Train right now. So better double up on that doseage of chill pills.
That's really all I have to say. So yup.
Bye! <3
Lots of love!
AND A HAPPY EARLY CHRISTMAS! OR MERRY CHRISTMAS. WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT! :-)
-Sunny