All Of Me

Chapter 47

(In the media bar is the link to "All Of Me" by John Legend feat. Jennifer Nettles. It's the theme song for this whole book. Give it a listen. Also don't forget to vote and share with your friends please. Don't hesitate to comment either. I love to hear feedback and your feelings on how the book is going. Love you all! :))

Tripp's POV

I paced the waiting room for what seemed like hours.

They wheeled her back forty-five minutes before, and I still hadn't heard anything. I texted Carol's phone twelve times, but still, nothing.

Running my hands through my hair that needed a trim, kneeling by the door, and by 1am, I was starting to see spots I was so tired. Dangerous amounts of adrenaline surging through my system all day long had worn me out.

I walked to the vending machine to get a snack, and the walk was quiet. The hospital emergency room was was mostly deserted, leaving my thoughts to run wild.

I never should've caused that scene with Pretty Boy in front of her, it stressed her, and possibly was what pushed her over the edge. And the longer I sat alone in a quiet waiting room, the more frustrated I became. At myself, the whole situation, and it crossed my mind a few times to go to Clint Harper's fancy house, drag him from his bed, and beat him senseless. But I knew it wouldn't do any good. In fact, it would probably make things worse.

The my mind went to Luke. Early labor? I knew that meant she would have the baby before she was supposed to. And I gathered that that was bad, but I didn't know anything about babies, or birth. What I did know was vague. I didn't need to know about it. It didn't apply to me.

But now, I wish I knew. I picked up my phone to Google...something. I wasn't sure what, when the door leading back to the door they'd rolled Brooke through opened, and Carol walked out. "You can come back." Her face was pale, and she wasn't her usual bubbly self. My heart sank to my toes.

"When will you be back?" I coughed to avoid crying, again. "I've got to go to her apartment and get her some clothes and things. They're pretty sure they're going to keep her for observation tonight." She jingled Brooke's keys in her hand.

I nodded and rubbed the back of my neck. Carol walked past me, giving me a pat on my shoulder, and I walked through the wide set of doors, to where Carol had just came from.

"Brooke Greenburg?" I stopped a passing nurse and she gestured to the elevator, telling me to go to the second floor, room 772. Labor and Delivery. I gulped and thanked her. I rubbed the sweaty palms of my hands against my jeans, and pressed 2.

The floor was decorated with tans and browns. Pictures of teddy bears and storks decorated the walls, and all the nurses wore scrubs covered in cartoons I didn't recognize as I approached the nurses station. They directed me down the long hallway, and I followed their directions.

I knocked lightly on the door and when she didn't say anything, I slowly entered. All the lights were off, except one over the small sink beside her bed, and she was asleep; monitors wrapped around her belly, her hand on top of them. Her chest rose and fell softly, her hair was pulled into a messy little ponytail, and her eyelashes fluttered in her sleep.

I walked quietly around the bed and pulled the rolling doctor's chair up beside her bed. I sat for a while, just watching her. Listening to her slow in-and-out breaths, and silently praying that that motion would never stop. I gently wrapped my hand around hers, and brought it to my lips, kissing it.

She stirred, and her blue eyes popped open, focusing on me after a few moments. Neither of us said anything, just looked at each other. She squeezed my hand, and I returned it, kissing her hand again.

"Is he moving?" I finally asked. She nodded. "A couple times. The doctor hasn't been in recently. He...checked me. And then a nurse put me on these monitor things." She looked down at the two straps going across her belly. Their cords lead to a machine that continuously printed her vitals, and... "That one prints contractions. If I have any." She answered before I asked.

"You're not hurting anymore?" I didn't mean to sound worried, but my voice wasn't coming out as calm as I intended it. "Some. But it's not as strong. They gave me some stuff to calm me down." She closed her eyes and a small smile pulled at the side of her lips. She reminded me then of how she was before her life was flipped upside down. Because of me and my irresponsible actions.

My anxiety was getting the best of me, so I stood up. Brushing her loose hairs back away from her forehead. She opened her eyes and smiled up at me. I bent and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, and she sighed a little. I felt helpless. If something were to happen, there would be nothing I could do. In high-school, I protected Brooke. No one said anything to her because she was always with me. And if they did say something to her, they answered to me.

But now, in this situation, there was nothing I could do to help her. Make her feel better. Ease her mind. Finally, there was a tap on the door as it opened, and the doctor walked in. He was a man in his late forties, neat salt and pepper hair, and glasses. He walked over and shook Brooke's hand, and then mine. "I'm doctor Billard. Nice to meet you." He propped against the counter and took a deep breath, examining the file in his hand.

He asked Brooke some questions, and she answered them all. "Miss. Greenburg, you're very young. It says here that you're 18, 19 next month, correct?" She nodded. "What you experienced tonight was very close to becoming pre-term labor. We gave you some medicine to calm you down, and you seem to stabilizing again. You did have some fairly strong contractions, but you weren't dilating or thinning when I checked you." He paused for a second,

"Are you under any extreme stress Miss. Greenburg?" He stuck the file under his arm and studied Brooke's face. She slowly nodded, looking at her hands.

My heart tightened, this whole situation had been stressing her since it all began. Her mother, Paige, the pregnancy, me, the judgmental people that had made their stance on the issue clear.

"You have to cut back your stress level. It can effect your baby greatly. He can develop major emotional disorders. It can cause early labor, obviously, and, at his size, there would be nothing we could do at this point." Brooke's breath hitched, but she nodded.

The news hit me hard, and I could feel my throat constricting. Earlier, I thought Brooke would never recover if we lost Luke. And I was right, she wouldn't. But neither would I. Brooke had every last piece of me in her hands. And if at any moment, if she decided to throw them all into the wind, I would be gone.

Brooke agreed to try to stress less, and the doctor wrote her a prescription for a muscle relaxer, and banned her from any strenuous activities or situations for a while. They would still keep her overnight to make sure Luke was okay, and the doctor left the room to us.

Brooke POV

I don't think I've ever been more relieved to hear the words 'you're not dilating'. Although I've never been in a situation where I could dilate. So I guess you could say it was the best thing I ever heard.

Tripp sat staring at the door the doctor has just left through, motionless. "Tripp?" I said softly, running my thumb over his hand. His head snapped in my direction and he gave me a soft smile. "Do you want to go stay at Uncle Todd's? I know they'd love to see you." He offered.

I thought about his words for a moment, and remembered how stress-free it had been before. "I'll think about it. Carol is having me a baby shower next week." Tripp nodded, studying my face. "What?" I laughed a little. He reached up and tucked some hair behind my ear, just as he had that morning so long ago in his truck. The morning I first felt that spark between us. Now, it was a full-on blaze that no one, not even us, could extinguish.

"Every bit of me is laying in a hospital bed right now. The two of you are all of me. All the parts of me that matter." Tripp spoke softly, as if it were just a thought that was never meant to leave his lips. It took me by surprise, since Tripp had always been so cool and collected in highschool. He was the funny jock, and I was the quiet dork that followed him around.

Now, I was Luke's mom. And what I first thought was the worst thing that ever happened to me, ended up being the best.

All of me was sitting in a chair beside a hospital bed.