Chapter 136 Mine

Chapter 136 Mine
Gemma's POV

"Mommy, I'm hungry."

Ryan's voice carried from the living room, followed by the soft thud of his toy cars being abandoned on the rug. I glanced over from the kitchen counter, watching him climb up onto the couch, his little legs swinging as he waited.
"Give me two minutes, baby," I called back, already reaching for the bread and the peanut butter he'd been begging for all morning. "Almost done."

"Okay!" He went back to his cars, spreading them across the rug and making up his own little races. Every few minutes, one of them would crash into the leg of the sofa and he would giggle before starting all over again.
I smiled to myself, spreading the peanut butter slowly, half-listening to him narrate whatever chaos was happening between his toy vehicles.
Three years old and he still talked to himself more than he talked to anyone else, lost in whatever world he'd built in his head.

I cut the sandwich into triangles, the way he liked it and had just turned to grab a cup for his juice when his voice changed.
"Mommy?"
Something in his tone made me pause, the cup still in my hand. "Yeah, baby?"
“Mommy!” he called out again.

I hurried out of the kitchen, crossing to him.
"Mommy, I feel dizzy."
I held him. He was still sitting on the couch, but he'd gone still, one small hand pressed against the side of his head, his face scrunched up in a way I didn't like at all.
"Dizzy how?" I crouched in front of him, my hands going to his shoulders. "What do you mean, baby, look at me."

He blinked up at me, his bottom lip starting to tremble and his eyes glassy. "My head feels funny….It's loud."
"Loud?" My heart had already started racing, my mind spinning through every possibility, none of them good. "What's loud, sweetheart? Is something hurting?"
"My ears." He pressed both hands over them now, his small face crumpling. "It won't stop, Mommy."

"Okay." I kept my voice as steady as I could manage, though panic was climbing fast in my chest. "Okay, it's okay, I've got you." I pulled him into my arms, feeling how tense his little body was. He kept blinking like he was trying to focus on something that wouldn't hold still. "Does your head hurt? Do you feel like you're going to fall?"
"Kind of." He pressed his face into my shoulder. "Make it stop, Mommy."

I carried him to the kitchen counter, grabbing my phone with one hand while keeping him balanced against my hip with the other, dialing our family doctor's number. "Come on, come on, pick up," I muttered, pacing the kitchen floor, rubbing slow circles against Ryan's back while he stayed curled against me.
The line connected on the fourth ring. "Dr. Manning's office."

"I need to speak to the doctor, it's urgent, it's about my son." I tried to keep my voice from shaking. "He's saying he's dizzy, and there's ringing in his ears, and he won't stop pressing on his head…"
"Okay, ma'am, I'm going to put you through right now."
There was a click, a brief pause and then the doctor's familiar voice came on the line. "Mrs Gemma? What's going on?"

"It's Ryan." I explained it as clearly as I could, my words tumbling over each other, describing the dizziness, the ringing, how frightened he'd looked, how none of it had come with any warning at all.
Dr. Manning listened without interrupting, and when I finally paused for breath, his voice stayed steady. "Bring him in this afternoon and I'll take a proper look at him but from what you're describing, it sounds like it could be something called tinnitus."

"Tinnitus?" I repeated the word slowly, unfamiliar with it. "What is that? Is it serious?"

"It's essentially a ringing or buzzing sensation in the ears that isn't caused by any outside sound," he explained. "It's fairly uncommon in children this young, but it can happen, especially in cases involving early complications at birth. Given his history in the NICU and the breathing support he needed, it's possible there's some connection there."

I closed my eyes, pressing my lips against the top of Ryan's head, feeling him finally start to relax against me now that the panic in the room had eased. "Is there anything we can do for it?"
"There's no simple cure, unfortunately," the doctor said gently. "But there are ways to manage it. Right now, the most important thing is bringing him in so I can examine him properly and rule out anything else. Try to keep him calm and in a quiet space until then."

"Okay." I exhaled slowly, holding Ryan a little tighter. "Okay, we'll be there."
I ended the call, looking down at him, his small face still pressed against my shoulder, his fingers curling around my shirt.
"Is it gone?" I asked softly, smoothing his hair back from his forehead. "The loud feeling?"
He nodded slowly, though his eyes still looked tired. "A little."

I kissed the top of his head, holding him closer. "We're going to figure this out," I whispered, more to myself than to him. "I promise, baby. We're going to figure it out.”

\------

We'd been standing outside that door for almost three hours.

Ryan sat on the bench beside me, swinging his legs, mostly quiet except for the occasional question about how much longer.
Louis paced the same stretch of hallway he'd been pacing since we arrived, his hands raking through his hair every few minutes.
After three miscarriages in three years, I knew how he felt. I remembered each of those calls from Jade, her voice breaking apart on the other end of the phone.
Please, I thought, my hand tightening a little on Ryan's shoulder. Please let this one be okay.

The door finally opened and the doctor stepped out, pulling off his gloves.
He looked up with a smile. "Louis." He reached out, shaking his hand firmly. "Congratulations. Your wife just gave birth to a healthy baby girl."
Louis made a sound I'd never heard him make before, both his hands coming up to cover his face. "She's okay? They're both okay?"
"Both are doing wonderfully," the doctor said. "You can go in now."
Louis didn't wait for anything else, he disappeared through the door.

I laughed, finally relaxing. Jade would finally get what she deserved.
"Mommy." Ryan tugged at my sleeve. "Can we go see the baby now?"
"In a minute, baby." I wiped quickly at my eyes, laughing softly at myself. "Let your Uncle Louis have his moment first."

We waited a little longer before the nurse finally waved us in. I took Ryan's small hand in mine as we stepped into the room.
Jade looked exhausted, her hair was damp against her forehead and her face pale but glowing all at the same time.
In her arms, wrapped in a soft pink blanket, was the smallest, most perfect little girl I had ever seen.
"Gemma." Jade smiled, tears slipping down her cheeks. "Come here, come meet her."

I crossed the room, my own eyes blurring as I looked down at the baby in her arms.
"Jade." I pressed a hand over my mouth. "She's beautiful, I'm so proud of you."
"We almost didn't get here." Jade's voice wavered but she kept smiling. "But she's here, she's actually here."
I reached out, brushing my fingers gently over the baby's tiny hand, her fingers curling instinctively around mine.

Beside me, Ryan tugged on my sleeve again, standing on his toes to see better. "Baby," he said, pointing one small finger toward her.
"That's right," I said softly, crouching down so he could see her better. "That's Auntie Jade and Uncle Louis's baby girl."
He stared at her for a long moment, his brow furrowing.

"Do you want to hold her?" Jade asked gently, shifting the baby carefully.
I took her first, cradling her small weight against my chest. I knelt down beside Ryan, adjusting my arms so he could see her properly.
"Careful," I murmured. "Just look for now, okay?"
He nodded, his small hand reaching out to touch her tiny fingers the way I had.
"What do you want to call her?" I asked, turning to Jade.
She smiled."I was thinking Skyler."

“Mine.” Ryan looked up at me, his small hand still resting against the baby's fingers.
I chuckled. “Ryan, that's not a name.”
He shook his head. "She's mine."
I laughed, brushing his hair back. "She's your friend, baby. This is Auntie Jade and Uncle Louis's daughter."

"No." He didn't look up from her. “Mine."
"Okay." I smiled, glancing at Jade, who was grinning down at the two of them, already reaching for her phone to take a picture. "She's yours."
Jade laughed. "Well, that settles it, then. Ryan's claimed her before she's even a day old."

He didn't say anything else, just kept his hand where it was, watching her with the same focus he gave his toy cars when he was building something out of them.