Medical Center
"Where's the phone?" Dr. Montgomery pressed.
How are we supposed to contact anyone without a phone?
"It's on my phone…" the pregnant woman, Noor, groaned through her pain.
"No need to look for it," Adam said with a wry smile, mentally kicking himself. "I know him. I'll call him."
"You know him?" Dr. Montgomery and Noor both turned to him at the same time.
"He's my friend," Adam said, flashing an awkward grin. He pulled out his phone, dialed Joey, explained the situation, and told him to haul ass over here ASAP.
Yep, you heard that right! The father of this baby girl—born six weeks apart from her sibling of a different skin tone—was none other than the infamous Joey Tribbiani! 😅
"Joey's on his way. Relax, just relax," Adam reassured.
"Damn it, she's going into premature labor," Dr. Montgomery said. "We need to do an emergency C-section right now and stop the other delivery."
"What?!" Noor cried out, her voice trembling with fear.
"Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine," Adam said, looking at her gently. "We need to operate now, though—we can't wait for Joey. But I promise, when you open your eyes, Joey will be right there."
"You promise?" Noor shouted, desperation in her voice.
"I promise!" Adam said firmly.
This whole mess was Joey's doing, so he'd better crawl over here if he had to.
"Okay," Noor nodded, wincing in pain.
"Get her to the OR immediately," Dr. Montgomery ordered.
This ultra-rare surgery drew a crowd of doctors to observe. As Adam and the team scrubbed in downstairs, the viewing gallery upstairs was already packed.
"Damn it!" Cristina muttered, glaring down at Adam with envy. "Gynecology, pediatrics—this kind of rare case just falls into Adam's lap. I should've gotten closer to Dr. Montgomery."
"No point," George said bluntly. "You're Meredith's bestie. She'd never warm up to you."
"This is all your fault," Cristina grumbled, nudging Meredith with her shoulder. "You owe me for this—several surgeries' worth!"
Meredith just rolled her eyes, not in the mood to talk. Ever since she'd painfully turned down sweet Finn and gone back to being single, Dr. Shepherd—who should've come after her—hadn't made a move. It felt like she'd lost billions, leaving her hollow and bitter.
Surgery in Progress
When they opened Noor's abdomen, revealing two connected uteruses, the doctors in the upstairs gallery couldn't help but lean forward in awe. Even the anesthesiologist and nurses in the OR mirrored the motion.
"This is incredible," Adam said, genuinely amazed.
"Yeah," Dr. Montgomery replied, having only seen this once before. "I'm going to cut now, Adam. Move the top uterus aside so I can reach the one below."
"Got it," Adam nodded.
"We all know you're good," Dr. Montgomery added, "but I've got to say it: when you're holding uterus number two, I'll have exactly 120 seconds to get baby number one out of uterus number one. If you so much as hiccup and move, it could tear the uterine wall and kill the kid."
"I know, don't worry," Adam said confidently.
"Okay, I trust you," Dr. Montgomery said, giving him a quick look.
The surgery continued. The premature boy was delivered smoothly.
"Adam, I'm going to make an incision in uterus number two. Make sure it doesn't move," Dr. Montgomery instructed.
"Alright… wait," Adam said, suddenly feeling the second uterus trembling in his hands. "It's shaking."
"I need it still," Dr. Montgomery shot him a glance.
"Hang on," Adam said. He didn't want to grip it too hard and risk hurting it, so he tried talking instead. "Hey, little one, I'm your Uncle Adam—your dad's best buddy. Crazy that we're meeting like this, huh? 😊 I know you're scared, but don't be. Uncle Adam's here with you, keeping you safe. No one's gonna hurt you. You can just relax and sleep…"
As Adam spoke, the trembling second uterus gradually calmed down. He gave Dr. Montgomery a nod.
"Nice work, Dr. Duncan," Dr. Montgomery said with a half-laugh, half-cry as she finished the final stitches.
"Pfft!" Up in the gallery, a bunch of people burst out laughing at the sight.
Weird stuff always seemed to happen around Dr. Duncan! 😂
Surgery Over
When Adam stepped out of the OR, there was Joey, standing there looking totally lost.
"How'd it go, Adam?" he asked.
"Went great," Adam said, his face darkening. "We not only delivered your son smoothly, but we also calmed down your terrified daughter who was trying to come out early."
"Son… daughter…" Joey mumbled, his face scrunching up. "What the hell's going on?"
Over the phone, Adam had kept it short and sweet, just telling Joey to get over here to see his kid.
"You don't know the mess you made?" Adam said with a cold laugh. "Chandler and Monica are about to have a baby, Ross and Rachel's kid is almost walking, Phoebe and Mike are getting married soon, and you're still the same old Joey?"
"It's not my fault!" Joey whined. "This was six months ago—I wasn't in the right headspace back then. Noor said she was pregnant and it was totally safe, no need for protection. How was I supposed to know this would happen? You sure there's no mistake?"
"You got lucky," Adam said, softening a bit. Joey had changed a lot in the last six months, so it didn't feel fair to keep harping on old mistakes. He chuckled. "You've got a daughter now. I was just talking to her in there."
"…" Joey blinked, confused. "My daughter hasn't been born yet, right?"
"Not yet," Adam grinned. "But she could feel what I was saying, and she listened. She's gonna be a sweet little angel, I bet. You really lucked out, man."
"Yeah?" Joey's face lit up with a goofy smile.
Last time he'd met those sisters who used his "gold," he'd felt a weird connection to their twins. If they hadn't been so far from his type, he might've pursued one of them just to give the kids a full family. Honestly, watching his friends settle down and have kids—plus that whole Barney poisoning scare—had him rethinking his player days as he neared forty. But finding "the one" wasn't exactly something you could just snap your fingers and do.
"I'm gonna propose to Noor," Joey suddenly declared.
"You sure about that?" Adam frowned. "Noor's not like Monica, Rachel, or Phoebe. Maybe think it over. Being a dad doesn't mean you have to marry her."
This Noor had rejected her boyfriend's proposal, then hooked up with Joey while pregnant—risking the baby—then went back to her ex and accepted his proposal. She didn't exactly scream "reliable."
"I'm sure," Joey said, caught up in his own sentimentality. "I want to give my daughter a real family!"
"Hold up, don't rush into it," Adam said, skeptical about him and Noor. "Talk it over with everyone first. Plus, what if Noor's fiancé comes around and wants her back? That boy's his, you know. You don't want happiness knocking on your door just to mess it up, right?"
Joey: "…"
(Chapter End)