ffta20

...bryan...
...6 months later...
We were sitting on the sofa one night, watching some old film, when the phone rang. "I'll get it." Ally said, and stood up. "Oh, hi Derek." It was Derek, again. He seemed to call almost everyday, I mean, does he not trust us to look after his son. Maybe he had forgotten that Ally was my girlfriend, not his. It bothered me that he called so often, and I think it bothered her too, she was upset after the last phone call, but wouldn't say why. This was just one of the few odd things over the past few months. Something was changed between her and Mark. I don't know what, maybe they had had an argument that I didn't know about. Sometimes he would go quiet anytime I would mention the baby, or plans we had for the future. Ro acted funny sometimes too, but not as bad as Mark. I decided to listen on the other phone to what they were saying, I know I shouldn't have, but I wanted to know if Derek was upsetting her.
"I'm just gonna check on Dylan." I whispered to her, and she nodded her head, then started talking to him again. I walked upstairs, looked in on Dylan and he was sleeping, I then walked into the bedroom, and carefully picked up the phone. "Look, please stop calling so much Derek, Bry's going to get suspicious." Ally said quietly. "Is it a crime to phone and ask how my son is?!" He sounded a bit annoyed. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself saying something. "No - but." She started. "And checking on what could be my baby too..." He said, angrily. 'WHAT?!' I thought to myself, 'HIS baby?' "Look, Derek, just forget about it, ok?! Stop calling every single day! I told you we wont know until the baby's born, and thats not for 2 whole months, so calling everyday wont help!" She said, nearly shouting. I put down the phone, after all I had found out all I needed to know. She's been having an affair with him.
I walked downstairs again, just as she was hanging up the phone. "He ok?" She asked, then noticed that something was wrong. "Bryan?" "Is it true Ally?" I asked her, "is the baby Derek's?" "What?" "Answer me!" I shouted. "IS IT??" I was really angry. "I heard you and him on the phone! Don't lie!" "Bryan..." She started, and started crying. "I-I-" The lack of an answer was my answer, there was a chance it was his. "I can't stay here." I said, quietly, and walked upstairs. I walked into the bedroom ,still shocked. I grabbed a bag and some clothes and walked back down. "Bryan, don't go." "Why stay Ally?" I asked her, and went to the front door, "you've been lying to me." "No, it's not like that." She cried, "if anyone should go, it should be me, I'm the bad one here." "Don't be stupid. See you later." I said, and walked out to the car. I had no idea where to go. Nicky was in Sligo with G, along with Mark, Michelle, Nat and Ki. It couldn't go to Ro's, it was kinda late at night. I couldn't go to Mum and Dads.
I started the car and drove to Shanes house. I got to his house, and knocked the door. "Bryan?" Shane said, surprised as he opened the door, "come in." "Thanks. I didn't know where else to go." I said. He noticed my bag. "What's going on?" "I left Ally, Shane." I explained. "We had a massive fight," "What? Bryan, it can't be that bad." I just nodded my head, this was bad. I explained all that had happened, while Shane just sat there, unable to speak, for about an hour or so. I was just finished explaining, when Shane's phone rang. He spoke for a few minutes, from what I heard, it was Ro, and it was serious. He handed me the phone. "Bryan?" I heard him say. "Yeah?" I said, "what is it?" "I'm calling about Ally." I just sighed. "Look, Ro, I don't want to talk about this just now, ok?"
"Will you listen?!" He sounded angry, "we're at the hospital." "And?" What, he wanted me to go and see her, after all that happened? "For God's sake Bryan! Just come to the hospital." He sounded serious, much as I was angry and hurt, I realised I still cared too. "Ok." I said, "Dublin General?" "Yeah. The baby's early Bryan." He explained. "Oh God." I said and hung up. "Shane, we've got to go to the hospital." "Bryan? What's happened?" He asked, as he grabbed his jacket. "The baby." Was all I could say, and we left.
...shane...
I drove like a bat out of hell to get to the hospital as quick as we could. Once we got there, we ran inside, and through the halls. We got there and saw Yvonne sitting with Jack and Dylan, both asleep. "Bryan! Thank goodness you're here!" She cried. "What happened?" Bryan asked, shocked and worried. "Are they ok?" "Ally called about a half hour ago, really upset, said you two had had a fight, then, when she was talking to Ro on the phone, the baby started...." She explained. "Ro's in there with her." "They'll be ok Bryan." I said. "I can't go in there, not after everything, might not even be mine." He said, angrily.
"Bryan, what if it is yours? Do you really want to miss it?" I tried to reason with him. "What if it's not Shane. She was having an affair!" "No, she wasn't. It was a one night thing." Yvonne interrupted, "just like you on that tour Bryan." She added quietly. "You knew?!" "No, Ronan told me tonight after she called." At this, Bryan seemed to calm down a bit, things weren't as bad as they had seemed at first. He sat down and thought about things for a few minutes, then stood up. "I'm going to go in there." He said, quietly, and walked in.
A few minutes later, Ro walked out, and sat down beside us. "How's things going?" I asked him. "Ok, so far." He sighed, "but, it's really early, the doctor said there could be problems with the baby. I'm glad Bryan showed up." We all sat in silence, hoping things would be ok. After what seemed like forever, Bryan walked out again. "Well?" I asked him. "It's a girl." He said, quietly. I walked over and gave him a hug, then he lost it, and started to sob. "Shane, she, she wasn't breathing." "Oh God, is she ok?" I whispered. "She can't breathe on her own, they're going to put her in the intensive care unit upstairs, they wouldn't let us see her. She's so small Shane." He started to sob quietly, I gave him another hug, as Ro and Yvonne watched helplessly.
I guided him over to a chair, just as we heard raised voices coming from Ally's room. "Leave me alone! I'm fine! I want to go upstairs!" Ally shouted. "You can't, you've got to rest." A nurse was trying to calm her down. We watched for Bryan's reaction, to see if he was still angry at her I guess. He stood up and walked back into the room. "Leave her alone!" We heard him shouting. "But Mr Mcfadden -" the nurse started, but didn't continue, as she knew it wouldn't help. A few minutes later, Bryan and Ally walked out and sat on the chairs outside the room, waiting until they could go upstairs. "I'm going to call mum and dad, let them know they have a grand daughter." Bryan said quietly. Ally never said anything. Bryan walked over to the payphone and I went with him, to check he was ok.
"Mum?" He said. "Yeah, it's me. I'm at the hospital. It's a girl. Oh, umm, 3lb 5oz. I know mum." He started to cry a little and I took the phone from him and explained the situation to his mum, and convinced her not to come to the hospital tonight, because she couldn't do anything. I offered to call the others, but Bryan insisted on calling himself, I left him to it, and went to sit down again. After a few minutes, he came back and sat down. It seemed as though things were ok between them just now, because Bryan had his arm around her, and they both didn't say anything, well, there was nothing to say was there? Just then a doctor came walking down the hall. "Ally? Bryan?" They both looked up, "you can come with me now." They both stood up, and followed the doctor upstairs, to see the baby, who was fighting for its life.