Bundle Of Nerves

Don’t tell Zack but I broke a few speed laws as I drove into town that night. As I drove I tried to tell myself I was freaking out over nothing. Jordan is fine, I told myself. Mike called because Amy is having the baby, that’s all. I smiled, I knew that’s what it had to be, Amy was as big as a house and Nick did mention before that she was due the first part of July. She’s having the baby, you are going to be a godmother and Jordan…I frowned, why didn’t Jordan call me?

By the time I had arrived at the hospital, I had talked myself into and out of near panic attacks. Parking my car in the nearly full parking lot, I ran towards the front doors. Please let it be Amy and the baby, I pleaded repeatedly in my head as I went.

“Anna!” I was just about through the doors, when I heard a familiar voice call out to me. Spinning around, I saw Adam crush out a cigarette before he walked towards me. “It’s exciting, isn’t it?”

“What?” I stared at him. “Amy? The Baby?”

“Yes,” he smiled. “It seems that we danced that little one down last night.” The front doors opened and he motioned me forward. “I brought Amy and Nick in, Nick wasn’t up to driving at all, and you’d think he was the one having the baby the way he’s freaking out. Amy though, she’s so calm, it’s funny.”

“Well, Amy had nine months to get use to the idea, Nick probably only realized tonight what’s going on.”

Adam looked at me funny. “What do you mean?”

I laughed, “I mean he knows that they baby is coming and all that but I don’t think he realized until she went into labor, just want that meant.” He was still looking at me funny. “Oh forget about it,” I sighed and thought that Jordan would understand, he always understood me when no one else did.

“Ok,” he replied as he led me down a long corridor. “I guess I can understand Nick being all freaked but Jordan? What’s up with that?”

“Jordan?” I frowned.

“Yeah,” Adam stopped long enough to shake his head. “He’s freaking out almost as much as Nick is. I had to leave the waiting room because he was making me nervous with the pacing and the jumping when someone speaks to him.”

“Well –”

“And Jenna crying doesn’t help matters at all.”

“Jenna?” I thought I heard wrong, it was Sunday evening, Jenna would be back with Heather now.

Adam glanced at me, “Can’t you hear her?” He paused and sure enough, I did hear someone crying. “She’s been like that ever since they got here; you’d think she would’ve cried herself quiet by now.”

For some reason Adam’s comments about Jordan, and especially Jenna, irritated me. Didn’t he understand the connection between Jordan and Nick? The guys didn’t like to admit it, but they were supersensitive to each other’s emotions. Amy, the love of Nick’s life was in labor about to have his baby, it’s understandable that he would be really excited, scared and nervous all rolled into one and Jordan, through the whole ‘twin link’ was on edge because of Nick’s overpowering emotions.

And Jenna? Well she was just a little baby still, she knew there was something going on and if Jordan was half as on edge as I imagined he was, he was probably scaring her because she didn’t understand what was happening. “I have to go,” I tossed over my shoulder as I blew pass Adam.

I followed the crying, that’s how I managed to find them. I turned to walk into the waiting room but stopped in the entrance, taking in the scene in front of me. Sure enough, like I thought and like Adam mentioned, Jordan was on his feet, pacing back and forth with Jenna as he tried to calm her down. His head was bowed, his mouth against her ear as he whispered to her while walking and bouncing her gently but it wasn’t helping, you could see that just from the look on his face and the screams from her. I glanced around at the people waiting – Jordan’s parents, Amy’s parents, Mike and Eric – I wondered why neither one of them bothered to help him out. Jenna needed to be up with someone else, Jordan needed to relax and they were all just sitting there cringing every single time Jenna cried. I was probably a little more pissed than I should’ve been.

“Hey,” I said to everyone but I wasn’t really paying much attention to anyone but Jordan and Jenna as I walked towards them. At the sound of my voice, Jordan stopped in his tracks to look up at me; a look of sheer desperation on his face. My hand curled around his arm, “You’re ok,” I stated, partly to calm the part of me that had been freaking out since Mike called me.

“She won’t stop crying,” he said helplessly as his eyes met mine.

“It’s ok,” I reassured him as Jenna took a deep shuddering breathe and sobbed even louder. “She’ll be ok.”

His mouth opened but no words came out as he shook his head.

“Of course she will,” I smiled up at him. “She just doesn’t know what’s going on and,” my hand slipped up to his shoulder. “Babe you are really tense, which isn’t helping.”

“I can’t…” he motioned towards the hallway and I knew he was trying to tell me about Nick’s emotions.

“I know,” I chuckled. “I’ve been around the two of you long enough to understand but Jordy, you have to try to relax, even just a little.” Once again, he told me he couldn’t. “Ok,” I glanced down at Jenna, whose tiny face was planted against Jordan’s chest as her fist clutched at his shirt. “Where’s her Dora doll?” I asked, looking around.

“Mom has it,” he told me as I noticed it sitting on Harriet’s lap.

Telling him I would be right back, I went over to Harriet and asked for the doll. “Jenna doesn’t want it,” Harriet informed me. “We’ve tried to give it to her but she batted it away.” Then she leaned in as I took it, “If we couldn’t get her to calm down, what makes you think you can?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know if I can, but I’m going to try,” I told her but inside I was screaming ‘because I can calm your son down.’

Returning to Jordan, I held the Dora doll in my right hand, behind Jordan’s back as I leaned in and gently rubbed Jenna’s back. Jordan whispered something to her and she tilted her head back to stare up at him. “See?” he turned her towards me, “I told you Anna would come JellyRoll.”

“JellyRoll?” I chuckled, “What is your daddy saying Sweetie?” Jenna dropped her head against Jordan’s chest but her red eyes remained focused on me as she continued to cry; her little cheeks streaked with tears. “Oh Sweetie,” I sighed. “It’s been a long day for you hasn’t it? You aren’t used to this much excitement when you visit daddy are you?” Her eyelids dropped a little as she took another deep shuddering breathe.

To be honest, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing but I figured that since she was looking at me with those big green eyes, I was doing something right. I continued to rub her back as I spoke softly to her. I told her why she was here, what was going on and why daddy was so on edge. At some point, as I was talking, her cries turning into sobs and then into sad little whines. “I have something,” I told her. “It belongs to you and I think, if you want, we could play with her over there,” I motioned to the empty spot, a couch that only Mike was sitting on. “How does that sound?” I asked her as I pulled Dora out from behind Jordan’s back. “Do you want to play with Dora and me?”

Jenna turned her face up to her daddy, “Go on J-Roll, daddy will just be here wearing the floor out.” He laughed which Jenna copied as her little fists let go of his shirt. Jordan handed her off to me, his eyes meeting mine over the top of her little blonde head, “Thank you,” he mouthed as he flashed me a smile.

With Jenna in my arms, I made my way over to the couch and plopped down next to Mike, leaving enough room for Jordan to join us.

“I don’t know how you do it,” Mike whispered once Jenna was happily playing with her doll. “We tried everything.”

I smiled up at him. “Did you try calming Jordan down?” The whole time I held Dora behind Jordan’s back, I was stroking the small of his back as well, he had relaxed a little which helped but he was still pretty wound up.

Mike laughed, “I don’t think he loves me enough to let me stand that close and rub his back.”

“Shut up,” I laughed as my eyes traveled back to Jordan, who had resumed his pacing. “I guess it didn’t work that well on him.”

“Maybe,” Mike glanced at his youngest brother. “Maybe he needs a little more hands on treatment from you? Maybe a kiss or two? I’m sure that would take his mind off Nick and the baby.”

“Well, go for it,” I joked, turning my attention to Jenna so that Mike wouldn’t see my cheeks burning at the thought of kissing Jordan.

I played with Jenna for about twenty minutes, keeping an eye on Jordan as well. Not that it was hard, he was pretty impatiently pacing the floor and when he wasn’t doing that, he was out pacing the hallways hoping for some information or for the connection to be broken. There were a few times I swear he said, ‘just have the baby already’, in frustration.

Jenna shifted in my arms, she was trying to crawl over onto Mike’s lap, so I let her. “I’m just going go…” I nodded towards Jordan, who had just returned from his hallway pacing.

“Yes, please,” Mike pleaded as he scooped Jenna up in his arms. “I’ll try to entertain her.”

Sliding of the couch, I stood with purpose. I was bound and determined to get Jordan to stop pacing, at the least. Walking up to him, I grabbed his hand and without bothering to stop, I pulled him towards the waiting room door. “Anna!” He exclaimed. “What are you doing?”

“We are going outside,” I threw over my shoulder.

“But the –”

“I’m sure someone else come for us if they hear anything.”

Walking quickly, I led Jordan down the hallway, pass the nurses station – the nurses looked a relieved when I pulled him on by without stopping – and down to the sliding back doors of the hospital. The cool night breeze coming from the lake opposite the hospital surrounded us as I continued to lead him down the walkway. “Where are we going?” He demanded as I pulled him across the patient pickup point. “I don’t want to leave –”

“Just…” I tugged on his arm as he stopped. “Jordan!” I spun around. “Come on! You are driving me crazy!”

“Yeah, well now you know how I feel!” He snapped, his meaning having nothing to do with the situation at hand and everything to do with his feelings for me.

I stared up at him for a moment and then I just started to chuckle, “Come on Jordan,” I tugged gently on his hand. “Just over there.” There was the grassy hill on the other side of the patient pick up that dropped off to more parking. Beyond that was the road and the lake.

“Why are we here?” He asked once we were standing side by side staring out at the moon over the lake.

With a smile, I turned towards him and slipped my arm around his back. “We are going to be God parents Jordy!” I squealed as I laughed.

Under my hand, I felt him relax finally. “It’s exciting, isn’t it?” He asked as he pulled me against his chest, his arms snaking around my waist, holding me tight.

Closing my eyes, I rested my head against his chest. I sighed happily as I listened to his heart beating. “It’s very exciting,” I murmured, not really sure if I was still talking about the baby or being with him.

We stayed outside until the cool breeze was a little too cool for us. When we returned to the waiting room, we received curious looks from his family. Maybe it was the fact that Jordan seemed more relaxed. Maybe it was the smile our faces. Or maybe, just maybe it had something to do with the fact that he joined me on the couch and when I turned back from getting the sleeping Jenna from her Uncle Mike, he wrapped his arms around the two of us. I don’t really know and to be honest I didn’t care why they were giving us looks.

At some point, I ended up falling asleep in his arms. I’m not sure how long I was sleeping but I do know that I was woken up by Jordan jumping next to me. “Amy had the baby,” he said in disbelief as I stared up at him.

It would take a half hour before we received confirmation that he was right. Nick came running into the room, the biggest grin on his face. “I’m a daddy!” He exclaimed. His eyes locking with Jordan’s as he jumped off the couch to join him, “You’re an uncle!” He jumped at Jordan, almost knocking him over. “I’m a daddy, you’re an uncle and we have a little boy!"