Chapter 14

The night after Jessica and Ashley returned home at about 8 p.m., Emily and Benji were sitting on the couch watching Frozen.

"This is such a great movie," Benji said.

"I know, right? Every time Elsa sings 'Let it Go,' I am tempted to turn the volume up," Emily said.

"And hearing 'Love is an Open Door' reminds me of the time we got engaged," Benji reminisced.

"Except we turned out better than Anna and Hans did," Emily said.

"By a long shot. Just know that I will never do to you what he did to her," Benji promised.

"No need to worry. Because if I thought there was any chance of that, you and I would've never married each other," Emily said.

"Just think, our son could be born any day now," Benji mused.

Minutes later, Emily suddenly began feeling contractions.

"Benji honey...oh!" Emily said, clutching her belly. "I think that was a contraction!"

Benji's mouth dropped open. He froze for a moment with his eyes widened in a blur of motion as he ran to her side. "Oh my God! A contraction? Are you sure? Is the baby coming? Do we need to go? Where's your bag? Did you pack a bag for the hospital?"

He didn't know what to do with his hands.

"I don't know - let's see how far apart they are," Emily said.

Benji went to the kitchen and found a stopwatch, then timed the contractions. Then they called Emily's doctor, who told them to go ahead to the hospital since first babies sometimes come quickly.

Benji helped Emily into the car, then ran around the house in a frenzy gathering things - Emily's overnight bag, bottles of water, an MP3 player so Emily could listen to music to help her stay calm. Once everything was in the car, he leapt in, and they drove to the hospital, arriving about 20 minutes later. When they arrived, Benji made a call to his parents and Emily's mom that their son was about to be born.

Five hours later, it was nearly 1:30 in the morning. Emily was exhausted, but she had reached the pushing stage, and she knew it wouldn't be much longer. She gathered her strength for the last few pushes, held tightly to Benji's hand, and four minutes later, the baby was born.

"Aww, look at him. He's so sweet," Emily said.

"Yeah, he is," Benji agreed as the two welcomed their new son to the world.

"Here, Emily. How about you hold him while I take a pic," he suggested; she agreed.

After Benji took a pic of Emily holding their new son, he texted his parents and the other Bellas about their son's birth.

The text read, "Russell Eugene Applebaum was born on October 1st, 2022."

Before the couple fell asleep, they received numerous replies from the Bellas congratulating them.

Benji received a reply from his dad the following morning stating, "Congratulations, son. Your mom and I would like to fly in from Phoenix to come meet him. Would this be okay with you?"

Benji replied, "Of course. Just let us know when you're coming."

Benji's dad replied, "We'll be flying in on Christmas Eve. See you then."

"Well, Emily...looks like Russell will get to meet his grandparents this Christmas," Benji said brightly.

"That is so awesome. I can already imagine Russell's first Christmas being one of his best ones," Emily said.

"Me too," Benji agreed.

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