Her mind was foggy at best when she opened her eyes. She saw Josh sitting next to her, with his head against the bedrail. He was sleeping. She tried to speak, but her mouth would not work. She moved her hand in his, squeezing it tightly. He stirred, and she squeezed his hand tightly again.  He opened his eyes and looked at her. Her eyes were open. She could not say anything because of the breathing tube in her throat.

He smiled, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.  “You came back to me. Thank God,” he said, kissing her forehead, careful not to touch anything on her bandaged head. He picked up the call light and turned it on.

A nurse came into the room and was happy to see that she was finally awake. “Well, good morning. It’s good to see you finally decided to join us. I’m gonna go call Dr. Black. I think he is on the floor doing rounds now.”

“Can you take out the tube?”  JC asked.

“As soon as the doctor sees her,” she answered and went to call the doctor.

Half an hour later, she was extubated, breathing on her own, and seen by Dr. Black, who was happy with her progress so far. 

She still had yet to utter a word to him, but her eyelids grew heavy and he kissed her on the forehead. “Go ahead and sleep. It’s OK.”

She opened her eyes sometime later, and saw JC next to her bed, sleeping in the chair. He was still holding onto her hand.

“Josh?” she said, the word slurred, surprising her.

He sat up at the sound of her voice. He smiled. “Hey baby.”

“MMMM…” She tried to say something, but could not get the words to come out of her mouth. Her mind raced. He could see the fear in her eyes. 

What the hell is wrong with me? She thought. He could see her frustration, and squeezed her hand.  “Baby, it’s ok. Dr. Black said that this could happen.  It’s not permanent.” 

She moved her free hand down to her belly, and tried again. “Baaby?” Her words were still slurred.  Her frustration grew, and tears sprang to her eyes. 

He rested his hand on top of hers. “He’s fine. You kept him safe, Mama.” 

She looked up to the ceiling and then back at him. Tears started to slide down her cheeks. 

“Jenna, do you hurt?” JC asked her, wiping her tears away.

She shook her head no. Thank God our baby is ok, she thought in her mind.

Sarah was standing in the doorway watching the exchange between her daughter and her boyfriend. She was confused by what he meant to say the least.

“Why can't she speak normally?” she said, breaking the moment between the two.

“The doctor said it’s called expressive aphasia. It will go away with time," JC said, preparing for the onslaught of questions she was about to ask him.

“What were you talking about? She kept who safe? She is obviously hallucinating, you both are,” she said, walking into the room and going on the other side of Jenna’s bed. 

“No, she isn’t," JC said, staring Sarah down already. He was in no mood for her bullshit.

“What?”

“You might as well know now. She’s pregnant. That’s why the tumor got as big as it did as fast as it did. The pregnancy hormones made it grow to two times the size in six weeks.”

 Sarah looked from Jenna to JC and back to Jenna. “My daughter is not pregnant,” she stammered.

“Yes, she is. We found out on Monday when I brought her in for having a headache that made her unable to walk after we got back from San Francisco. They found it in the pre op labs. Almost 5 weeks.”

“And you allowed them to do brain surgery on my pregnant daughter?” she screeched. Jenna closed her eyes and  more tears flowed down her cheeks. 

JC dragged Sarah out into the hallway.  Far enough away that Jenna would not hear their conversation. 

“First off, if all you are gonna do is scream at either one of us, then just leave. She does not need your bullshit right now. Second of all, yes. I let them do the surgery because it was the only treatment available at the time. She was having debilitating headaches, throwing up from the pain. I brought her here, and they did another set of scans and the tumor had grown twice the size that it was 6 weeks ago. “

“She consented to this?” Sarah asked, a little more calm than before.

JC shook his head yes. “They had an OB come in and go over all the risks involved. They examined her. Dr. Matthews and Dr. Black both went into great detail about the risks involved. She knew what she was doing when she signed the consents. The seizures that she would have from a tumor this size would have killed her. This was the best option.”

“Look at her. She can't even talk," Sarah said.

Kelly walked in on their conversation. “All of which is normal, considering how big her tumor was and where it was located.  It was the only treatment available, and so she took it. She refused to terminate the pregnancy.”

“This is what she wanted, Sarah.”  JC said, Trying not to lose it completely with this woman.  “Dr. Black says that she is progressing nicely, given all the stress her body had been under for the last 6 weeks.”

“She needs to terminate this pregnancy,” Sarah said, pacing back and forth.

“No, that is not what she wants, Sarah.”

“She is not in her right mind. She needs to terminate this pregnancy and get the proper treatment. “

“No. That’s not going to happen.” 

“What the hell do you mean, NO?” Sarah screamed at him.

That was it, he had all he could stand of her for one day already.  "I mean NO. This is my child, too. I have a say in this. And I agree with your daughter. She wants this baby as much as I do,” JC said, standing his ground.

“Not this time, Joshua. I will take you to court.”

“Will you stop with the court thing, Sarah? She made a decision that you don’t like and you have to live with it, and it burns your ass.  I suggest that you learn how to live with her choice, if you want to be around your grandson.” He tried his best to keep his temper in check, wondering how the woman he loved could be related to this vile creature.

“My grandson? How the hell do you even know that this baby will even make it to term?” she wailed.

“Because I have faith in your daughter, and in my son,” he said, walking away, leaving her alone in the hallway.

“You know this could kill her. I know you do, Josh.”  Sarah’s words hung like ice in the air.

“This is our baby, Sarah, your grandchild. Something that you have both wanted for a long time. Who am I to take that away from her?”

"It could kill the only child I have. That’s how.”

“Or it could be ok, and you will be a grandmother. “

“She can't even talk, how is she gonna be a mother?”

He had had enough by then. “Please just go, Sarah. If you can't support your daughter, she does not need you here.”  He walked away and went back to Jenna’s room. There he found her looking at the picture frame he had put on the tray table. 

She tapped on the table. He smiled, and said, “This is him. They took this picture while you were sleeping.”  She held the picture close, and took a deep sigh of relief. 

Her eyelids were getting heavy again and she said, “tired.” 

“Sleep baby," he said, settling back in for the morning. He was exhausted as well, and he fell asleep right along with her. 

…

 Later the next day, JC had been shooed out of the room by PT and OT.  After her sessions with them, she had speech therapy, who had given her a white board and a marker.

Around noon he walked back into her room, and she looked exhausted. She tapped on her board and  he looked down at the message on it.

Did my mom come back?

“No. I’m sorry, I sent her packing after she screamed at me yesterday,” he said, feeling guilty for doing it.

She doesn’t know how to deal with this. She thinks that I don’t know what is going on around me. 

“I know that and you know that. But she is so pig headed , that I don’t know if she will ever know that,” 

There was a knock on the door.  It was William, Jenna’s dad.

Jenna smiled, and JC said, “I’ll give you guys some privacy.”

William was not sure how to approach her. Her head was bandaged tightly. She tapped on her whiteboard. She wrote feverishly on her board. ‘

Hi Daddy.

“Hi baby girl. How do you feel?” he asked, sitting down next to her in the chair that JC had vacated.

Better, my words aren’t coming as fast as I’d like. But I can tell people what I need . I got up and walked five feet this morning.

“That’s great,” he said. “You are getting better everyday.”

I have something to tell you.

“What’s that?”

Josh and I are having a baby. You are gonna be a grandpa.

He sat there looking at her for a moment. Then a wide grin cracked his face.

“That is the most wonderful thing I’ve ever heard.”

I wish Mom thought so. She told Josh that I need to get an abortion.

“Your mother is terrified of losing you, Jenna. She would do anything to keep you safe.”

Just like I would with this baby.

“Exactly,” he said, squeezing his daughter’s hand.

…

JC saw Sarah outside Jenna’s room.

“He’s in there with her now.”

“I know. I’m still not happy about this, Josh. She should have told me. “

“We literally just found out about the baby the same day she had the surgery. There was no time, Sarah. '' JC sighed. “She is 72 hours post op from major brain surgery. Dr Black and her OB Dr. Matthews said that she is doing better than either one of them expected this soon after surgery. The speech is just a setback. She is already saying more words than she did all day yesterday, She is communicating with her white board. Sarah, please see the good in this. That is what she needs from you right now, not you dictating to her. This baby is the one thing that she is holding on to right now. If you go in there and she knows you aren’t supportive, I don't know what will happen. Please, Sarah, just be her mom. Be happy for her.  Stop trying to control everything,” JC said, walking away from her before she could reply to him.

She turned and walked back to her daughter’s room. Putting on a smile, she walked into the room. Seeing her baby smiling at her dad, writing her answers on a white board, both laughing. She could see the sparkle in her baby’s eyes. 

William looked up at his wife and said, “I’m gonna be a grandpa.”

“ I know. I’m gonna be a grandma, or Grammy or MiMi.,” Sarah gushed, sitting on the edge of her daughter’s bed.  “Are you happy?” Sarah asked Jenna.

Yes. The happiest I’ve ever been.

“Then I’m happy, too,” she said , smiling down at her daughter. “I can’t wait to hold my grandson in my arms.”

“What?” WIlliam asked, surprised. “ Grandson, isn’t it too early to know that yet?” 

“Let’s just say that a mother knows. Right, Jenna?” Sarah winked at her daughter and smiled.

Jenna looked at her dad and said, “Liam.”

“Liam? Is that his name? You named him after me?” 

She smiled and tapped her whiteboard, her hand flying as she wrote her dad a message.

I had a dream about this baby. It’s a boy and we decided to name him after two of the most important men in our lives. Our dads. William Roy Chasez.

“Roy?” William wondered out loud.  

As JC walked into the room, noting the smiling faces in the room. He felt a wave of relief hit him. “That’s my dad’s name. We wanted to have our dad’s names, and call him Liam for short.  Wanna see a picture?”

“Do you have a picture so soon?” Sarah asked, surprised. JC picked up the picture frame up off of the tray table and handed it to her. He pointed out the small blip on the picture.

“They are doing daily scans because of her situation. This one was done yesterday for 5 weeks and 1 day. Dr Matthews is happy with her and the baby’s progress and Jenna gets to see her favorite person everyday.” JC beamed, happy that Sarah finally seemed to get it. 

Jenna tapped on her white board getting their attention. What do you think?

Sarah looked from her daughter to JC and then back to Jenna. “I think that this is the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen.” 

Really?

Sarah smiled at her daughter, and picked up her hand and said. “Really, this is wonderful.”

Jenna looked down at her blankets and then back up at  her mother. 

“Thank you,” she said without slurring her words, shocking all of them. She was proud of herself for being able to say the words. Knowing that every word that she said meant improvement.  And improvement meant that she would go to rehab and then home. Something that she wanted desperately.