Writing Prompt #6 - Six Months Gone
30 weeks. Just 10 to go. 2 and a half moths. That's nothing. Come on, Rose, you can do this. Swollen ankles, aching breasts and some pain in your lower back is nothing compared to what you'll gain. Just think about it. A baby. A real, cuddly, incredibly adorable baby. Ugh. Screw this. Pregnancy sucks. Next time I'm ordering one online. She groans, rolling over on the bed to rest on her back.
Startled by the noise, the man sleeping beside her jolts awake immediately and turns on the bedside lamp, fumbling for a moment as he tries to find the switch. His voice is gravelly with sleep but the undertone of fear is unmistakable. "Rose? What's wrong? Is it the baby?"
She looks up at him, brain foggy with the last stages of pregnancy. Eventually, she manages to shake her head and turn toward him, burying her face in his shoulder. He sighs and she feels the tension slowly leave his body. He wraps his arms around her, encompassing the entirety of her body as he leans over to rub circles into her lower back. She hums with pleasure, but her stomach growls angrily. Rose rolls her eyes and moans again in protest, unwilling to leave her bed in the middle of the night again.
Paul's chest shakes with laughter, and he kisses her cheek before throwing off the blankets off his body. He doesn't even bother to put on decent clothes before he's out the door, a promise of Chinese food on his lips as he leaves their comfortable two bedroom apartment on the 22nd floor. Rose drifts back to sleep, dreaming of fried rice and tiny little socks, one blue and one pink, as always.
Harsh ringing wakes her up. She picks up the phone, eyes blinking against the bright light coming in through the windows. The sun had just risen, and a glance to her bedside clock told her it was just past 6 o'clock in the morning.
"Hello?" She asks, wondering who in the world would call her at 9AM on a Sunday. Rose was 4 weeks away from getting her leave, no one she knew would wake her up at this hour, especially knowing how cranky she could get. Paul wasn't beside her, but the note beside the lamp he'd nearly knocked over the night before told her he was at the hospital and that there was Chinese in the fridge.
"Mrs. Benedict? It's Fred Littleton." She frowns, recognizing the name of one of the orderlies of the first floor. Trauma. "You need to come in. There's been an accident and we're short on staff."
Rose nods, unaware that the man cannot see her, and quickly presses the 'End' button. She throws the covers off and puts on some acceptable clothes, planning on changing into her scrubs at the hospital. She takes the elevator down to the subterranean garage where her car was waiting for her. She knew she wasn't supposed to drive during the third trimester, but there was no way in hell she was going to wait for a cab and potentially harm someone's chance for survival.
Upon arriving at the hospital, Rose enters through the front door and immediately walks toward the locker room. The two people inside glance at her before blushing and looking away. She furrows her brow, but thinks nothing of it. Once she's in her uniform, the woman makes her way to the nurse's station and asks where she's needed. The nurse there directs her to a room not far from the emergency room. Breathless from walking as fast as she could and the being pressing against her lungs, she opens the door, but the lights are all off. The room is pitch black, and for a moment she thinks the woman had given her the wrong room number until she hears a faint chuckle. Narrowing her eyes, she turns on the light.
"Surprise!" About twenty faces stare back at her with wide smiles stretching their lips and crinkling their eyes. Almost instantly, she goes red in the face and covers it with her hands. From what she had been able to see before closing her eyes, the staff was throwing her a surprise baby shower. Tears spill down her cheeks and she tries to sniff them away. Several hands pat her back in comfort. They were already used to seeing her cry at anything and everything.
She raises her head, laughing through the tears. "You guys me get up early." Soon everyone is smiling again and there's no more crying, except for when she opens a package to reveal a pair of blue socks and a pair of pink socks, small enough to barely fit two of her fingers.
