Glee: Race to the Finish (the fifth book in the Glee series)

Chapter 32: Baby Mine

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!" Julie exclaimed. "Motherfucking shit that one hurt!"

John stepped out of Julie's hospital room with his nose scrunched up. When he reached the waiting room area, everyone who was already there—which currently included Alex, Ryder, Marley and Bree—stood up. 

"How is she?" asked Bree. 

"You should go see for yourself," he said. "I can't be there any longer. It's been two hours and nothing's happening. Just a lot of screaming and gross things coming out of her that no man should ever have to see from a woman he is not having sex with."

"You're awful," Marley rolled her eyes.

"I'm also not a nurse," John told her. "I'm not prepared for this."

"How is she?" asked Dan as he rushed into the room with Luna behind him.

"Aww, you two are inseparable now, aren't you?" Alex asked them.

Luna blushed but Dan ignored him. "Has she given birth yet? Did it happen?"

"Of course not," Bree told him.

"Labor lasts an average of 8 hours for first-time moms," Marley explained. "It could be less or it could be more. But since she's having twins it'll probably be more."

"Her grandmother was a twin," Dan told them. "And from what her dad told me, it was a rough birthing process."

He cringed as Ryder asked him, "Did you alert the family?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Cory's overseas on business and our parents are several states away with my grandma but they're going to come as soon as possible. But wait, why aren't you with her?"

"She, uh, got kind of mad at me," said Ryder sheepishly. "Besides, I have Ben here so I... I can't go anywhere."

Marley stood up and said, "My break is over so I have to go. But please, don't hesitate to ask if you need anything. Or if one of the nurses you have is a bitch or something."

She smiled, gave her son a kiss, and dashed off back to complete her shift. Bree turned to Ryder and asked, "Do you need me to watch Ben so you can go be with her?"

"Uh... no..." he shook his head. "No. No, thank you."

"Fine," she sighed. "Then I'm going to go be with her." As Bree walked away, she turned the hallway and ran right into Kitty and Jake. 

"Oh," said Kitty. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"That's fine," Bree responded. "I have to go be with my best friend now." Bree walked away from them and kept on her way while Kitty watched her with her jaw dropped. 

"Did you hear her?" Kitty asked Jake. "She called Julie her best friend. They never call each other that! I'm their mutual!"

Jake gave her a 'it's not about you' look to which she responded with a sigh. They walked into the waiting room together and when Ryder saw her, he immediately stood up, put Ben in his stroller, and said, "I think I'm going to take Ben on a little walk."

But Kitty wasn't going to let him get away that easily, so she said, "I'm coming with you," and followed him. They had made it to the next hallway when she said, "Can we talk for a second?"

"About what?" Ryder said, stopping. "You going to yell at me again? Humiliate me with your vitriol?"

"No, of course not," Kitty rolled her eyes. "I've learned my lesson. Actually, I wanted a chance to apologize to you. I know that what I said to you hurt you and I was wrong. You were just being a good friend to Julie, feelings for her aside, and I appreciate that. God knows she's needed someone like you considering what a terrible friend I've been. I'm actually surprised you're not in there with her but hey, I'm not either so... I'm not really one to judge on relationships to Julie when what I have with her is so complicated."