Teen Dad Series

Didn't Make It (Luke & Asher)

The phone rang for what felt like hours. Luke sat outside the room, curled up on the floor. He felt numb. His mind wasn't able to wrap around what had just happened. His mind seemed to refuse to let him think straight. And the phone just kept ringing and ringing and--

"Hello? Luke?" He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and squeezed his eyes shut. The sound of his mom's voice was the only thing keeping him from losing the little bit of sanity he had left.

"So the baby's here." He mumbled, rubbing a hand across his face. "Two whole months early." 

There was a beat of silence. "How is he?"

"They said he would be fine." Luke sounded so strained, even to himself. "But..."

"But?" There was suddenly a lot of urgency in his mom's voice.

"She didn't--" Luke stopped himself, sucking in a shaky breath and letting it out slowly. He couldn't break down yet. Not on the phone. "Zoey didn't make it?" Without meaning to, his voice rose just slightly at the end of the sentence. As if asking for confirmation from his mom. As if she'd know better than he did about how Zoey hadn't woken up after the strain. 

His mom stayed silent, listening to him breathe in and out and try to calm himself down. He couldn't break down on the phone. He just needed to remind himself of that.

"We're on our way. Is anyone there with you?"

"Calum drove us here. He's in the room now."  Luke ran a hand through his hair out of distress. He couldn't help it, he broke down. He could hear his mom trying to soothe him, but he couldn't comprehend anything she said. 

Without fully noticing, Calum took the phone from him and gave his mom directions to the hospital and the room number they were in. 

"The baby's in an incubator for now, but everything looks okay." Calum explained. He hung up a minute later and handed the phone back to Luke. "They're on their way." 

"Yeah." Luke's voice sounded hollow. He felt hollow. "Okay."

"I'm going to get something to eat." Calum tilted his head in the direction of the elevator. "Want me to bring anything up?" Luke shook his head. "Well, I'm going to anyway. You okay with a ham sandwich?" 

"Sure." Calum reached down and patted his shoulder, mumbling something of reassurances before walking down the hall towards the elevator.

Luke heard the small cries of the baby boy inside the room. The baby must have noticed no one was with him and had felt scared and alone. Luke felt like he could relate.