Rhapsody in Blue: Part Seventeen
Part Sixteen
Part Seventeen
(Hey Soul Sister/ I Don’t Want to Miss a Single thing you do)
Robert was sitting in a meeting when his phone starting ringing. His phone was on the silent setting, but he felt it vibrating in the inside pocket of his suit jacket. For a moment he thought about ignoring the call, then, his mind turned to Ariadne. He wondered if it was her that was calling. Quickly, he pulled his phone out and looked to the screen. Sure enough Ariadne was the one calling him at such an odd time. He looked at his watch. It was just after one PM there in New York.
Robert quickly held up his hands, trying to tell everyone that he was pausing the meeting. He stood up. “I need to take this…. I’ll be right back.”
He answered the phone as he stepped out of the conference room and closed the door behind him.
“Ari,” he said. He didn’t bother to say hello. He didn’t want to waste time. He knew that whatever Ariadne was calling to tell him must be important. She wouldn’t call him during the work day if it wasn’t.
Ariadne’s voice met Robert’s ears and he sighed at the simple sound of it. “Robert,” she said. Her voice sounded slightly on edge but calm enough. “I’m sorry for calling you and everything but…”
“No, no,” Robert interrupted her. “It’s alright. Is everything okay?”
Ariadne sighed. Robert tensed. “Well,” Ariadne said, “I don’t want you to freak out because everything is fine right now but…. My water broke about an hour ago…”
Robert froze. He couldn’t believe it. Ariadne was having the baby. She was having the baby and he wasn’t there, he was an almost six hour plane flight away from her. “You’re having the baby!? Now!? You’re having the baby…? Are you okay!? How do you feel, how long will it be!? Is anyone with you!? Did you call the hospital!? What did the doctor say!?”
Ariadne sighed. “Robert, it’s okay, alright? Take a deep breath, please okay? Everything is going to be okay, okay?” Robert inhaled slowly. Ariadne continued to speak. “I probably won’t have the baby for a while. I’m not even having contractions yet…. There’s time, okay? There’s time for you to get here. Arthur and Eames are with me. I called them before I called the doctor. The doctor said that I should wait until the contractions are noticeable and somewhat painful before I come in.”
“Okay, okay,” Robert was speaking more to himself than Ariadne. Hundreds of thoughts pumped around in his head. He took another deep breath and willed the thoughts to go away so that he could think properly. “I’m in the middle of a meeting right now. But, I’m going to leave as soon as I get off the phone with you, and I’m going to catch a cab and I’m going to take it to the airport and get on the soonest flight and come to you. Okay?”
Robert was well aware of the fact that he was freaking out. He didn’t even necessarily try to disguise it. His face felt hot, and he realized he should probably sit down. He didn’t, instead he fanned himself with the hand that wasn’t clutching his cell phone.
“Okay, that sounds good. Call me when you get to the airport…?”
Robert nodded and realized quickly enough that Ariadne couldn’t see him nodding. “Yeah, yes, I will…” He smiled slowly but sadly. He would hate himself for forever if he missed the birth of his child. Missing it was not an option. He could not let it happen and was determined not to. “Listen,” he said quietly, his voice getting a little scratchy and soft at the thought, “if for some reason I don’t make it I want you to know that I love you. I know you already know that I love you, but, I need to say it as much as possible. I love you and even though I haven’t met it yet, I love that little person that you have been carrying around inside you. I’m going to try my hardest to make it for both of you. Wait as long as you can…”
“I will…” Ariadne spoke with a voice that matched Robert’s in volume.
Robert smiled a determined smile and wished he could kiss Ariadne’s cheek or touch the corner of her lips with his thumbs to let her know how much he cared. He knew that she could probably tell through his voice, but that didn’t really cut it for him in his mind. “I love you…”
“I love you too, Robert.”
With that, Robert hung up his phone and paced back into the meeting room.
The other people seated around the table gave Robert alarmed eyes. It was quite clear that they had heard Robert’s more than enthusiastic remarks to Ariadne’s announcement. “Mr. Fischer,” one of his many secretaries, said, “is everything okay? We heard you shouting, we couldn’t hear what about…?”
Robert nodded as he packed his paperwork into his briefcase and pulled off his suit jacket to throw it over his shoulder. “Everything is fine.” He spoke shortly and looked to everyone. They all had curious looks plastered onto their faces. Quickly, he sighed and corrected himself, hoping not to seem like a total jerk. “Listen, I need to go right now. I’m leaving, I’m sorry I wish I could stay, but I can’t.” He pointed to his secretary. “You are in charge. Document the rest of the meetings. Have the manuscript on my desk on Monday, please.”
After nodding to everyone Robert picked up his things and paced back to the door. He threw the door open and stepped out. As he walked down the hall he heard the click of dress shoes behind him. He turned. Sure enough his secretary was chasing him down the hallway. She had a panicked look on her face and took about two steps for every one of his.
“Mr. Fischer!” She shouted as she pranced to him. “Mr. Fischer! What are you doing? You can’t just leave! We were getting ready to go over our quarterly profits. You’ll be pleased I’m sure, we’re in the green, not that we aren’t always, but sir I think this is highly uncalled for! The meetings with Bentime Mutual were going so well…. I really think we should try to patch things up with them, don’t you…?”
Robert rolled his eyes and kept walking. The secretary, who went by the name of Cynthia, went so far as to follow Robert into the elevator. When the doors to the elevator closed and they were enveloped in silence, Robert sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I know that these meetings are important Cynthia, I do, I do…. But things back home are just a little more important.”
Cynthia gasped and held a hand to her mouth. “Was I insensitive? Was there a death in the family? I’m sorry Mr. Fischer, I didn’t know…”
Robert shook his head. He smirked a little. “No, no,” he said as he jabbed at the button for the first floor. “Actually, quite the opposite.”
“Oh,” Cynthia cocked her head to the side.
The elevator doors opened and Fischer walked out quickly enough. He nodded his head and whispered into Cynthia’s ear as to not attract unwanted attention. “Yes. I’m stuck here in New York and Ariadne is having the baby in L.A.…”
Cynthia got the exact look on her face that Robert assumed she would. She smirked knowingly at him and exclaimed excitedly. “Ariadne’s having the baby!”
Robert looked down at his feet. He could feel the back of his neck getting red where everyone else in the lobby of the large business building was staring at him. He tried to regain his composure and smiled grimly with a nod. “Yes,” he said, “so I really need to go…”
Cynthia nodded quickly and all but pushed him out the doors. “Yes, go! Good luck to you, and congratulations!”
Robert sighed as he shuffled out onto the busy sidewalk. Chaos was going left and right left and right as he walked right into it. He stepped to the curb and held out a hand. He prayed that it wouldn’t be forever before a cab decided to pick him up.
Thankfully, within seconds a cab pulled over and he got inside.
“The nearest airport, please, and quickly, if you don’t mind.”
Robert wanted to claw his face off. He was standing in a line of people that he swore held at least a hundred people. He kept having to remind himself to take deep breaths. He’d just gotten to the airport and had gotten off the phone with Ariadne. She’d said that things weren’t changing that much and that she’d spent the last thirty minutes playing ‘go fish’ with Arthur and Eames while discussing the effect of architecture on subcultures.
His freshly purchased plane ticket was firmly tucked into his wallet. Robert was sure his hair looked disgraceful by this time. He’d run his hands over it too many times to count. He practically hopped up and down as he watched the line before him move at a snail’s pace. The anxious energy that was running around inside of him felt like electricity that was repeatedly shocking him. He felt that if he didn’t get up and run he might fall into insane panicked fits.
He closed his eyes. He had to make it, had to make it. There was no other choice. He was going to make it. He had his ticket, he had his briefcase, he had his phone and his identification. He had everything he needed to be able to make it in time. He was just nervous, that’s all. Robert tried to calm himself down as he stepped up a little in the line. He was just nervous. He was going to make it. He swallowed; he hoped he was going to make it.
An hour later after going through security and trying to bargain with the woman who was forcing him to take his shoes off, Robert was seated in the appropriate terminal. He was exactly where he needed to be, but yet, he wasn’t happy. He wasn’t happy in the least.
As it turned out, due to weather in L.A. his flight had been delayed. He had no idea how long it would be delayed for but knew one thing for sure. There weren’t going to be any planes landing in L.A. until the weather lifted.
Robert had almost started screaming at the news. Thunderstorms. Thunderstorms were keeping him from getting to Ariadne. They were keeping him from being there for her in her time of need. They were trying to keep him from witnessing the birth of his child. He knew, as he sulked on a hard bench at the airport, there had been a reason he’d never liked rain.
The flight ended up being delayed by three hours. By the time Robert was boarding the plane with the rest of the passengers Ariadne had called to tell him that she and the boys were going to the hospital. This had sent Robert’s brain full of nervous chit-chatter again as he tried to make sense of everything he was trying to think.
“Do you think we should call Cobb?” Ariadne asked quietly as she settled herself into her hospital bed. She wasn’t in an extreme amount of pain, but it had certainly begun. Her doctor had checked her out while Arthur and Eames had waited outside. Ariadne had been glad to find that she was only three centimeters dilated. This meant that she had seven more before she actually had to have the baby. She sincerely hoped that that would give Robert enough time to get to her.
Eames shrugged his shoulders. “What do you want to do, darling?”
Ariadne smiled at Arthur and Eames. Their faces were pale. Since they’d reached the hospital they’d changed. Both of them had different demeanors. It was as if being away from their element in the ‘world of the unknown’ made them try harder and say less. Ari was happy that they were being calm and gentle with her. She was extremely glad that she’d chosen for them to come and be with her. If Robert couldn’t be with her, they were the next best thing.
“I think we should at least let him know what’s going on.” Arthur offered up his opinion and Ariadne nodded right away to it.
She accepted the phone from Eames and quickly dialed Cobb’s number. The phone rang four times before anyone picked up. The person that picked up was Phillipa. She answered quickly and with gusto. “Cobb residence,” she said.
“Phillipa,” Ari answered quickly. “Hey, it’s me, Aunt Ari. Is your daddy around, can I talk to him? It’s really important.”
“Yeah!” Ariadne heard what she could only assume was the sound of Phillipa skipping to wherever her father was in the house. “Daddy! Auntie Ari’s on the phone, she says it’s important…”
With that there was a silence and Ariadne could hear Cobb thanking his daughter for bringing him the phone. “Hello?” Cobb questioned.
Ariadne smiled at the familiar voice. “Cobb,” she replied quickly, “hey, no need to be concerned but I thought I should call you to tell you that I’m at the hospital right now with Arthur and Eames.”
Cobb sucked in a giant breath. “What?!” he shouted almost too quickly.
“I’m at the hospital, Cobb. I’m in labor.”
“You’re in labor?! But Ariadne, Robert isn’t there! You’re at the hospital with Arthur and Eames? Why are you trusting them to be there with you? Do they even know what’s going on?”
Ariadne laughed at Cobb’s response. She knew it would be this way. She knew the next thing Cobb would do is tell her that he should come to the hospital straight away just in case Robert didn’t get back in time.
Ariadne ran a hand through her hair. “Cobb, I called them because I trust them and because they don’t have two children to look after.”
“I could come,” Cobb argued to the sound of Ariadne laughing, “I could call Miles to come and watch them and then be over, if you need me…”
She wanted to let him down easy enough. “No Cobb, please. You don’t need to come, I have everything under control okay? I’ve got this, and Arthur and Eames are here. They’re taking really good care of me. Robert’s on his way. He just got on his plane. He’ll make it, I’m sure of it. If I need you, I will call. I promise.”
Part Eight (a)