Why ~Zach Herron~

10

Iris's P. O. V.

It's been nineteen days since Wes was born. Zach's family and Kayla had visited and met Wes, but they all had to leave. I had been up at the hospital all day and night, except for the night of Zach's concert. Wes was doing much better. The phototherapy really helped. His skin wasn't sticky and he was looking much healthier.

He was still tiny, but he had gained about a pound. The doctors said it's a miracle how fast he's developing.

Zach and I slept in the hospital room last night. It was the most uncomfortable couch I had ever been on, but I didn't care. I was with Wes and that's all I cared about.

We woke up when the nurses came in to check on Wes. We sat up, stretched, and went over to see Wes. Zach stuck his hand in and caressed his head. We both had huge smiles when he had opened his eyes for the first time.

"His eyes are open!" I exclaimed. Zach and I both were amazed.

"Look at that, he's smiling too," the nurse said drawing our attention back to Wes.

He was right. Wes was holding Zach's finger, looking up at us, with a big toothless smile.

We immediately called up the guys. We wanted them to be the first people Wes saw after Zach and I.

They rushed up to the hospital and each took turns coming in. They talked to Wes and even made silly faces, making his smile even bigger.

"He's really doing great. This is a really good sign," Wes's doctor said when he came in for his daily check up.

"I'm so glad."

"There's nothing new, he's growing and doing great. Do you have any questions?"

"When will we be able to hold him?" Zach asked.

"Probably in a few days. Tomorrow let's test it, you won't have to wear the gloves when you touch him. Then a day or two after that, if he hasn't reacted negatively, we'll take him out for you."

"Thank you so much," I said wiping the stray tear that had fallen. Zach gave me a huge hug and kissed me.

"Thank you." Zach shook hands with the doctor before we removed our scrubs and left the hospital with the other guys.

We all had a meeting with Meghan and David. Usually when they were meeting us together, it meant we had a show or some publicity thing with each other. I would have loved that, but with the given situation I didn't want to have anything going on until after Wes's original due date.

"We have a surprise for you," Meghan started.

"You're both performing in this years Jingle Ball!" David exclaimed.

The guys started celebrating, but Zach and I had empty expressions.

"What's wrong? Aren't you excited?" Meghan asked.

"Of course we are, it's an amazing opportunity for me and I'm glad the guys get to experience it again..."

"But?"

"Wes. I don't want to go out of state for a few months and leave him in that hospital!" I said. I thought it was pretty obvious, but I guess they didn't understand how difficult it was for Zach and I.

"You won't have to stay in the state that the show is in. You can fly out for the show, then leave immediately," David suggested.

"Are you not thinking about their health?" Corbyn started. "They're going to be flying back and forth all over the country, and have the stress of Wes's health on their minds. They could collapse at any moment."

"Do you not want to do this?" David asked.

"Of course we do. I just wish that it wasn't right when all or this stuff is going on."

"So what do you want to do?" Meghan asked.

"What if instead of going to all Jingle Ball shows, we just went to a few? Spread them out so it's one show every other week or something," Jack suggested.

"Would you be okay with that?"

"I guess so. But you have to understand that if I get any phone calls from the hospital, I'm missing the show."

"But fans pay for you-"

"They'll understand," Jonah cut in.

"I'll talk to the producers and everything. See if we can work this out." David sighed.

                                    ***

"Zach," I whispered turning over in our bed. It was the first night in four days that I had come home. It felt nice being out of the miserable hospital, but I felt unsure about not being with Wes.

"You okay babe?" He asked turning over.

"I just..." I sighed. "Yeah I'm fine."

I turned back around and tried to go back to sleep. Zach started rubbing my back, trying to soothe me. After probably two minutes, I turned back around.

"What's wrong?" He asked. I shook my head, sitting up, and burst into tears.

"Iris, what's wrong?" He asked sitting up and placing his hand on my thigh.

"I don't know. I just...I feel like something's gonna happen to Wes."

"What do you mean?"

"I have a gut feeling that something bad is gonna happen."

"Iris, he's fine. We saw him just two hours ago and he was healthy. Everything is going well. We'll even be able to hold him in a few days. He's gonna be just fine," he said softly.

"How do you know that? Anything could happen at anytime."

"We have to have faith in the doctors, and have faith in Wes. He's strong, he'll get through this."

"I'm just scared," I sobbed, my voice cracking at the end.

"I know baby." He pulled me closer and I put my head on his chest. He lay back on the bed, and I fell asleep crying into his chest.

Zach and I woke up and began to get dressed. After last night, I was anxious to get to the hospital. Zach and I quickly drove to the hospital. There weren't many people there when we arrived.

We went up the elevator and to the NICU. We put on our scrubs and gloves before going into the hospital room.

I walked over to the incubator, beginning to say hi to him, but what I saw made me cry.

"Zach go get the doctors!" I shouted ad I watched in horror as Wes started twitching. I knew it wasn't normal so I made Zach get help.

He came back seconds later with three doctors. They pushed me out of the way and rushed to Wes.

"What's going on?" Zach asked seeing the tears in my eyes.

"I don't know!" I cried, falling into his chest.

"He's having a seizure," a nurse who had stepped away said.

                                    *****