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Surely enough, Pete removed the blanket, reavealing a tiny head with a tuft of black hair, and a pair of big brown eyes staring back.

"Oh my God Patrick, it's a baby." He managed to say.





Though he had no paternal skills, he held the tiny child close as he could, sheilding it from the cold.

"Who would leave a baby out here?" Patrick asked, saddened at the fact.

"I don't know, but we have to get it to a hospital. Now." Pete said, getting down from the dumpster. "Go flag down a cab, McDonalds will have to wait." He ordered Patrick.

Patrick did as he was told and got a cab. He, Pete, and the newborn baby all got in, and Patrick demanded the cabby to get them to the nearst hospital as soon as possible.

The speed of the cab and the feeling of movement, caused a cry to erupt from the tiny child in Pete's arms, then the baby began to squeal and bawl like crazy. Pete did his best to calm the baby down, but not being used to children, he had no idea what he was doing.

"Can you hurry, please?" Pete begged the cabby, rocking the baby in his arms.

A few more minutes of driving and crying, the cab stopped at the Northwesten Memorial Hosptial.

Pete jumped out of the car as quickly as possible, careful not to hurt the small child he was holding and Patrick tossed a few bucks into the cabbie's open window.

Quickly, Pete and Patrick ran into the hospital's entrance and up to the front desk. A red headed woman behind the counter looked at the two men, then noticed the baby.

"We need help right away," Pete said, his breathing irregular.

The woman nodded in response and picked up a phone and dialed a number. Pete heard her say, "We need a doctor from NICU down at the front desk immediately."

"Sir, what is your name?" She asked, coming out from behind the counter.

"Uh, Pete. Pete Wentz."

Suddenly, a doctor came up to Pete and took the baby away.

"Wait, where's he taking the baby?" Pete demanded, looking at the lady.

"Mr. Wentz, your baby is being taken to the NICU. If you follow me, I'll lead you to the waiting room alright?" the lady reassured Pete.

"Yeah, okay. Come on Patrick." Pete said to his dazed friend, sounding worried.

"Come," the woman told the two.





It seemed like they'd been here for hours. Waiting in the small, cramped room on the unaturally uncomfortable little couches.

Pete rubbed the sweat from his head and glanced over at Patrick, who was standing near a vending machine, talking on his cell phone.

Pete managed to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Yes, were at Northwestern Memorial Hospital." Patrick talked into his phone.

"No, Pete and I are fine. It's just really complicated. Could you two come down?"

Pete immediately knew that Patrick was on the phone with either Joe or Andy.

"Yeah, okay. We'll see you in a few."

Patrick snapped his phone shut and walked back toward Pete, sitting down next to him.

"That was Andy, in case you were wondering. He'll be here with Joe in a while." Patrick explained.

"I wonder what's taking the doctors so long?" Pete said.

"What I wanna know is why we're still here. I mean, we got the baby to the hospital, why don't we just go?"

"We can't Patrick. We just can't." Pete whispered.

Suddenly, an older doctor emerged from the door near the waiting room and approached Pete.

Pete noticed and stood up.

"Mr. Wentz, Im Dr. Reaves, NICU." The man held out his hand and Pete shook it.

"The baby? Is it okay?" Pete asked desperately.

"Which one of you is the father?" Dr. Reaves asked.

"Neit-"

"I am" Pete said.

Patrick looked at Pete like he was out of his mind. Why on earth did he just say that?

"Well, Mr. Wentz, since you are the father, I have to ask you why this occured."

"Doctor, wait, we found the baby-" Patrick started to say, but Pete interupted once again.

"On my front porch. We found the baby on my front porch."

"Do you know any reason why?"

"It was my ex-girlfriend," Pete lied. "She never told me she was pregnant, and Im assuming she gave birth, and was freaked out, so she left the baby on my doorstep with a note, telling me that it was my problem. I wanted to find her, to get her to the hospital, but when I tried calling, her phone was disconnected. So my friend and I," Pete gestured to Patrick who stood dumbfounded, "we went to her apartment, but it was empty."

"I see. Such a tragic thing Mr. Wentz." the doctor admitted, holding his head in his hand.

"Well, Mr. Wentz, your child is currently in our NICU or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She's fine. Actually, she's stablizing. She came in with hypoxia and hypothermia, which means that the oxygen in her blood was low and her temperature was low as well, but we've got her in a warming incubator, due to her low temperature, and an oxygen tent to help her breathing." Dr. Reaves explained.

"We determined that she's at least a month and a half premature, thought that we can see, there are no complications. She's underweight about five pounds, so we'll watch her closely. I've decided it's not best to take her home immediately, so we'll keep her here overnight, and hopefully she'll pull through."

"Her?" Pete asked.

"Yes, you have a daughter Mr. Wentz. That is, unless you decide not to keep her."

"What?!?"

"Well, your girlfriend has obviously given up custody, so you can as well." Dr. Reaves said.

"NO!" Pete hissed, seeming quite furious about the thought of it.

"Then you accept custody?"

"Of course." Pete replied.

"Fantasic. Well, I'll just be back later with your daughter's birth certificate. And later on you can visit her if you wish."

"Alright."

Dr. Reaves left through the door he came and Pete rubbed his forehead and sat back down.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!?" Patrick immediately yelled.

"Patrick, I could tell him I wasn't the father. If he found out I wasn't of any relation he wouldn't tell me how the baby was." Pete tried to explain.

"Why do you care anyway? She's not your child!"

"Patrick, I saved that baby's life. I can't just leave her now."

"Have you gone off the reservation, Pete? Did you even think about the consequences before you opened you big fat mouth?!?"

"No," Pete replied plainly.

"Do you even realize what you've got yourself into, what you've got all of us into?" Patrick continued.

"Patrick, please."

Patrick looked at Pete, confused and sympathetic. Pete seemed absolutely set on this. There was no changing his mind now.

He sat down next to his friend and sighed deeply. If only he would have just eaten before that God damn meeting. They would never have landed in this mess.

The two sat in silence for awhile, but it was broken when Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman walked into the waiting room.

Andy looked freaked and Joe looked like a zombie. But I guess anyone would when they were woken up at one in the morning and told they needed to get to the hospital immediately.

"What the hell is going on here?" Joe questioned, looking back and forth from the both of them.

"Pete," Patrick said, "would you care to explain?"

Pete inhaled deeply, closing his eyes, then looking at his feet, he thought about the best way to explain the situation.

Quickly and quietly, he blurted out, "I have a kid now?"

Joe replied with a "What?" because he didn't even hear what Pete said.

But Andy, who was more receptive anyway, lost all emotion and muttered, "What the hell do you mean?"

Pete looked up at his confused friends.

"Patrick and I found a baby in a dumpster. I felt like we couldn't leave her, so we brought her here,"

"What's the big deal about that?" Joe questioned.

"I told the doctor I was the father....and I claimed custody."

Andy, who is usually a very quiet person, had just blow a gasket. He burst out yelling at Pete.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PETE?!?!?"

"If you're going to give me the whole talk on how Im an idiot and how I need to learn to think before I open my mouth, you can save your breath, because Patrick already did it." Pete replied calmly.

"Pete, this is crazy. Do you even begin to wonder about all the controversy this is going to start? This is the worst image for our band right now, you with a child. One, the paparazzi will be all over this. Two, all our fans will wonder who the mother is. You know people Pete, they'll blow this way out of proportion." Andy pointed out.

"I don't care Andy. The minute I saw that baby lying there, something just clicked. I saved her life Andy.....me. I didn't abandon her then, and I won't do it now." Pete explained.

Andy exhaled, thinking things through.

"So, are we gonna keep it?" Joe asked, completely clueless.

"It's a baby, Joe. Not a puppy." Patrick scolded.

"What about our tour? Four guys. On tour. With an infant." Andy thought.

"Andy, I swear to you we'll figure this out, but please, right now, I'd just like to sleep. The doctor said he'd be back with her birth certificate later, so Im just going to rest for now." Pete said, yawning.

Andy looked at Joe, who nodded and took a seat. Patrick tipped his trucker hat over his face and leaned back in his chair. And Pete sunk low in his chair, and almost instantly, he fell asleep.