Chapter Text
Dinner is not normally quiet between the two of them. Laurie’s a chatterbox, her husband chiming in every once in a while as she talks and talks about her day and all of its events, mundane or not. Her husband’s a great listener, offering a witty comment here and there.
But she’s quiet this evening. She’s barely touching her dinner. Something’s up.
As she smiles warily, she pushes herself away from the table and heaves herself upright to scrape her plate off into the garbage and sets her dishes into the sink. She gasps. A warm dampness begins to run down her legs. She stands, her legs splayed out beneath her, clutching the marble countertop in a panic.
“Darrel!”
He’s up from his seat in half a second, rushing to her side. “Are you alright?”
“I think we ought to get goin’.”
Childbirth had not been easy for Laurie. Not that it ever was for anyone. After five hours in labor, the doctors had rushed her off for an emergency c-section, leaving her husband stranded in the waiting room.
Darry had not done himself the liberty of sitting down since she had gone away. He paced back and forth, stared impatiently at the fish in their tank – swimming so peacefully, blissfully unaware that the place they viewed outside of the glass was full of life and death, hope and sorrow, and everything in between. One man berated him on several occasions, demanding he sit down or go outside. The rain had not subsided much since their drive to the hospital that night. He ignored him, continuing to wear an indent in the carpet where he walked.
“Mr. Curtis?” It was near midnight. The old man had long since left, as had everyone except for the few staff members roaming around behind the desk, taking turns staring at their twitchy visitor.
His eyes shot up at the sound of someone calling for him. He’d never get used to Mr. Curtis. That title was reserved for his father, and him alone.
“She’s asking for you.” The young nurse, dressed in sage green scrubs, her brunette hair tied back into a bun, smiled at him softly. She reminded him of Laurie in her younger days. When they’d been nothing but an unlikely couple, walking about the streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and catching most everyone’s eye. He was far from there now, in Coral Gables, Florida, living a luxury of a life in stark comparison.
The nurse seemed to be a little bit scared by his urgency to see his wife, trying her best to lead him there as fast as she could walk. Laurie had expected the door to fly open, a heavily breathing Darry bracing it with one palm, but instead, the nurse gently opened it, moving out of the way quickly as he leapt for the bedside and reunited with her.
“Honey, look…” She holds up the baby in her arms, smiling tiredly, “Our little boy.”
The boy is quiet, so small and squishy and red. Darry’s sure he would have fit in one of his palms, “Our little boy…”
Laurie does her best to slide over, pressing herself against the side of the bed, allowing Darry to sit down next to her. He stares at the child, grinning, “What are we calling him?” They had wanted to wait until they met him to choose his name.
Laurie knew exactly what she wanted to name him. “Patrick.”
Darry looks up at her, touched and surprised. Sodapop had not survived his tour in Vietnam all those years ago. Not a day went by where Darry wasn’t mourning the loss of all but one of his immediate family members. Laurie had always liked the name Patrick, but it was special now, more than it had been. And she figured Sodapop was too unique and obvious to name him.
“Patrick.” Darry repeats, gently taking the bundled up baby from his wife as she hands him over, “I think we’ve got ourselves a name.” He coos, smiling at his son.
“Great.” She leans against him, kissing him softly on the shoulder, “Fair warning, I don’t know how to go about the whole birth certificate thing.”
“That’s okay,” Darry says, “You should sleep first. We can take care of it later.”
She listens to him quite well, asleep up against him before he’d even finished his sentence. He can’t stop looking at the little boy in his arms. A new beginning to a life he’d never imagined he’d get a chance to have.