Nick had stayed by Kelly’s bedside for the past three hours. He had left momentarily to walk by the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit where the twins were being kept. As Dr. Robbins had mentioned, they were in incubators, and were on I.V. fluids, but other than that needed no other life support. Nick was thankful the twins were doing so well, but was terrified by his wife’s condition.
Her heartbeat had been irregular, due to the loss of blood, but had stabilized around 1:00 in the morning. When Nick had went back to her room, his wife’s heartbeat had reverted back to its low—-dangerously low, heart rate.
“C’mon, baby girl,” Nick rubbed his wife’s limp hand between his own. “There are two beautiful babies, our babies, in the other room that are waiting to meet their mommy.” Nick paused to stabilize his voice, then continued, “To be honest, I really need you. I’ll always need you. I can’t raise these twins by myself…I don’t even want to think about that!” A tear slid down Nick’s cheek and he saw it fall and dampen the sheets on the hospital bed. “Sweetheart, I know you can hear me. You did a wonderful job delivering our children, and you’re going to do a wonderful job helping me raise them. I really wish you would wake up… I want you here with me to celebrate their first word, their first steps, their first birthday, their first Christmas, their first day of school, their first date…” Nick’s voice trailed off as he broke down into tears. After a few moments, he wiped the tears away from his eyes and looked back up at his wife. “Do you remember our first date, Kel?” Nick laughed a bit to himself. “I’m sure you do…but you don’t know how I remember it, do ya? Well, I’ll tell ya…” Nick ran his hand along his wife’s pale, cool cheek and brushed a few pieces of her hair away from her face. “Well…I was driving to your house when I realized that I hadn't bought flowers. I’m not big on buying flowers—you know that now—but, you looked like a flower person, so I stopped to buy some. The thing was, a fan was in the floral shop, and I had to stop to sign autographs and take pictures. That, of course, threw me about 20 minutes late, so you were upset when I finally got to your house. I never did tell ya why I was late for our first date, until now.” Nick smiled to himself, remembering every vivid detail of their date.
“So…that’s why you were late?” Kelly replied as she opened her eyes, grinning weakly up at her husband.
“Kelly! Honey, you’re awake!” Nick yelled ecstatically, leaning over to hug and kiss her.
Kelly smiled and kissed him back. “I wouldn’t even think of not waking up. We’ve got a family to raise now and I wouldn’t miss that for the world.”
“Kel, our babies are precious. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful…” he smiled at her, his blue eyes filled with wonder.
“I can’t wait to see them!” Kelly exclaimed, raising herself up a bit. “Have you named them?”
Nick stared at her for a second and started to laugh. “Ya know…I forgot about that! What do you think we shoud name them?”
“I think we should name our son partly after AJ, because if it wasn’t for him…I don’t know what would’ve happened. He was there when I went into labor, so I think we owe that to him,” Kelly suggested, searching her husband’s face for a response.
“Mmmhmm, I agree. How about…Nickolas Alexander Carter?” Nick suggested.
“Yeah, that’s good and for the girl?” Kelly asked.
“Umm…Alana Nicole Carter?” Nick smiled broadly.
“Why Alana?” Kelly asked suspciously.
“Oh, you don’t like it?” Nick questioned, his frown almost turning into a pout.
“Yes, I do…it’s very pretty, but you didn’t just get Alana off the top of your head. Where did it come from?”
“Well…” Nick bit his lip, halfway smiling, “It’s the name of a car.”
“A car?!” Kelly began laughing, then rolled her eyes since this was typical of her husband.
“No, no…let me explain. Besides following behind the ambulance to the hospital, this car got in front of me, and it was an Alana. It just fit…perfectly. Is that okay with you?” Nick looked at his wife with pleading, puppy dog eyes.
“Yes. Nickolas Alexander Carter and Alana Nicole Carter it is. Now go tell the doctor’s so our children will have names!” Kelly smiled, shooing her husband out of the room.
He was on his way out the door, but paused and turned back around. “Kel?”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you,” Nick said genuinely.
“What for?” Kelly asked, wrinkling her brow.
“For making me a daddy,” Nick grinned.
Kelly smiled at her husband’s sweetness, “And thank you for making me a mommy.”
