A/N: So far so good. Doing well with this experiment.

Well, I’m still researching and for creative reasons, also making up stuff as I go along. I know nothing of Louie’s and Danny’s childhood nor how their parents are with them.

So I hope you like this next part. A star will be born.

DANNYDANNYDANNYDANNY

There was one hospital in the area that is somewhat under the Tanglewood’s thumb. A member, especially a big boss was always given special treatment at a special price. Not that I could not afford it – heck, I can afford the best for my family. Rosa began to bleed when we loaded her to the wheelchair. Louie began to cry and scream saying that he wanted to ride on the ‘wheels’ too. As bad as it might sound, I ignored him, carried him caveman-style and followed the nurses into the ER. Right now, I just want my wife and my coming baby to be all right.

It was particularly quiet in the ER, only filled with doctor terms, my wife’s moaning and Louie’s irritating screams. I swear, if he doesn’t stop… “Louie, baby,” I heard my Rosa calmly say to our little boy, “could you keep silent for a while, honey? We’ll get a chance to ride the wheels a little later.” It was incredible how she managed to keep calm amid the pain and shock. “Or maybe you can go back to sleep, si? Then maybe when you wake up, you’ll have your little brother to play with. Is that good?”

Louie stopped crying and looked at his mother with wide eyes. There were tears running down his cheeks and something from his nose. He wiped them callously with the sleeve of his shirt and mumbled, “Yesh, Mommy.” I looked at Rosa and her pained smile; I knew she was hiding the pain. She stayed brave.

The moment didn’t last because the doctor attending to her – Dr. Melendez or something like that tapped me on the shoulder. A nurse took Louie away to one of the spare rooms. “Non capisco! This is too early, doctor,” I began to babble. I tend to do that if I’m in a tight spot and when I don’t know what to do. It’s like a panic attack. “She’s only eight months along and the baby… we’ve – she’s been careful. Can you do something… make them safe.” I didn’t know how long I went on over the screaming of my Rosa and the continued “CBC and saline. Okay, she’s dilated. And losing blood fast…” of the doctors and nurses around her.

“Mr. Messer,” Dr. Melendez said, “we have to deliver now or we risk both the lives of your wife and baby.” I hate it when they have to be that straight forward. In my world, we have a hundred different lingoes on dying… just not to make it look obvious. But this doctor was telling me that my wife and unborn kid could die. “I’m giving her ten more minutes or else we have to do a C-section,” she said serenely as if my wife wasn’t begging for anything to alleviate the pain.

My lips started moving but no sound came out. I licked them erratically and pointed to Rosa. “Can… can you give her anything? She’s in pain, damn it!” I babbled again. “What in hell’s name are you putting into her? Is that safe for the baby?”

I felt sweat trickle down my back and forehead. I wrung my hands and I felt tears sting my eyes. “Sir, ten minutes,” she said again, stilling me. “If nothing changes, then we operate.” I glanced warily at my wife and back at the doctor. “Ten minutes.”

I was about to concede when Rosa screamed something unintelligible either in Italian or English. Tears were running freely down her beautiful face and she was asking for help. I snapped and said, “That’s it! Those ten minutes can fuck themselves. Do that operation now.” With that, Dr. Melendez instructed her team to prepare the delivery room and a solo room for later.

As they wheeled Rosa to the OR, she grasped my hand and said, “Spiacente, mi Franco. Spiacente…” My heart broke when she apologized. That’s when my own tears came out.

“Mi amore, you don’t have to be sorry about anything,” I said, kissing her knuckles. “You’re incredible and we’ll see this through.” We stopped in front of a pair of doors and they said I couldn’t go in. “Be safe, my love. Ti amo.”

Even in that situation, she found the strength to laugh. “Those are my lines, Franco,” and she was taken in. The nurse told me that I can stay with Louie in the room they put him in and he was indeed back to sleeping. But I’d rather stay here… in case anything happens.

I sat on the benches by the corridor. There was relative silence in the delivery room. After fifteen minutes, a nurse came up to me with the bag I packed and Louie in tow. He was rubbing sleep off his eyes and asked about his mother. I told him that she’s okay and he went back to sleep, his head on my lap.

I kept my ears open, in case I hear a baby’s cry. Through the years, my hearing had been my best sense. Years of being told to ‘shut the fuck up and listen’ paid off. Thirty minutes since she was brought in there, and still nothing. I caressed my son’s hair and prepared myself for the worst. I could see how disappointed Louie would be if anything bad would happen to his little brother. He loved him from the moment we told him that his mother’s pregnant.

A few moments later, seven nurses rushed out of the delivery room wheeling a box-like crib with them. When I stood up and asked what’s going on, they just ignored me and stormed off somewhere. In the crib, I managed to see a red blob wrapped in a white sheet with tubes coming from the bundle. My blood ran cold. It wasn’t good.

Then Dr. Melendez went out of the room to meet me. “What in God’s holy name is going on?” I demanded, my voice echoing in the empty hallway. “Where’s my wife and where is my baby boy?”

She placed a hand on my shoulder, leading me away from Louie who was fully awake and sitting up straight. “Maybe we shouldn’t let your son hear this,” she whispered. I nodded weakly and followed her. “Your wife is okay. She was stable all throughout the procedure and she’s resting right now.”

I wasn’t a religious person but I sighed a prayer to the Lord above when I heard that. “And my baby? Is he all right?”

The doctor chewed on her lip and began hesitantly. “Your son… he wasn’t breathing when we pulled him out. He had bluish lips and his limbs were unresponsive,” she took another deep breath. “The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. We got him out just in the nick of time.”

“Is he…” I gulped down my own saliva and sickness. I thought I was this big brave man but I couldn’t even get the words out. “Is my boy… dead?” A single tear dropped down on my clasped hands. Please, God.

Dr. Melendez’s features softened a bit. “No, sir. He started breathing when we hooked him on a respirator. I’ve sent him to the neonatal ICU, receiving the best care.” I let go a sigh of sheer relief and collapsed on the floor with a thud. My wife and child are safe. “Are you okay, sir?”

I nodded and chuckled. “Now I know how Rosa must feel,” I said to myself, standing back up and thanking the good doctor. I walked over to a waiting Louie.

He welcomed me with a wide smile and asked, “Baby brother?” I just gave him a tight hug.

DANNYDANNYDANNYDANNY

Italian translation:

Non capisco! -- I don’t understand!

Spiacente – sorry