Page 58 of When It’s All Said And Done

“Nessa!” Nas yelled as he ran over to me. I was so stunned I couldn’t even find the words to express to him how happy I was he’d found me. He wiped my lip and I noticed that blood was on his thumb. “They made you bleed. I’ma kill those fuck niggas.”

“Nas,” my voice trembled as it fully registered that I was safe. “Nas, you found me?”

“Of course. I’d burn the world down to find you, Nessa. I told you I got you always, and I meant that shit.”

“Where’s Desmond?” I questioned as we made our way out of the rundown house.

“He was shot, but he’s not dead. We got him so we can find out who he was workin’ with.”

“Slick.”

“Huh?”

“He was workin’ with some nigga named Slick. You gotta find him! He wants to kill you and me because of something you did to his hands?”

“To his hands huh? Ok, I’ll worry ‘bout him after we get you and the baby checked out.”

“Ok.”

“Everything seems to be just fine,” the doctor expressed as she moved the probe of the ultrasound machine over my stomach. “The fall you had didn’t effect baby boy at all.”

“Boy?!” Nas jumped up from his spot next to me. “Doc, you just said she pregnant with my baby boy?!”

“Yes sir. Wait, did y’all not know?”

“Nope, we just found out she was pregnant.”

“Oh yeah she fifteen weeks and six days. And he’s as healthy as an ox. Let me print these pictures before I go get you some samples of prenatal vitamins.”

She handed me a strip of the pictures she took of the baby. My mind was still registering that I was not only having another baby but a baby boy at that. Boys don’t play when it comes to their mama, and if he’s anything like Nas he was gonna be a force to be reckoned with. I rubbed my belly as I thought of the fact that we had too much going on for shit like what just happened to be going on. My kids deserved a safe life and that meant their dad had to handle any and all threats to our family.

“We’re havin’ a fuckin’ boy!” Nas cheered as he helped me sit up.

“I can’t believe it,” I chuckled in disbelief.

“Well, believe it baby. Nas Jr. is on the fuckin’ way!”

“My son won’t be a junior, sir.”

“If he not gonna be a junior then you better have a fye ass name.”

“I do, well, technically it was one Mama Eva had when she wanted Nyla to be a boy.”

“Really? What is it?”

“Nash.”

“Hell yeah. I’m fuckin’ with it.”

“Good, now hear me when I say this, you need to handle any threat against this family, Nas. Me, Nyla and Nash deserve to feel safe with you. You got me always, right?”

“Right.”

“So, handle that ASAP.”

The doctor came back in with the samples before we left the hospital. We’d lied and said that I had a fall so we wouldn’t raise any suspicion. That spot where they had the shootout was hotter than on a hot day in Florida. We did that so we would have an alibi if it ever came to that, but knowing Nas them niggas would be handled sooner rather than later. On the way home, Nas rubbed my stomach the whole way.

My mind was still stuck on the fact that Slick was still out there lurking. With no sense of safety, I don’t know how I could move forward like normal. The waiting made me anxious and unable to really be in the moment about everything. Although I was with Nas I still felt as if I were still tied to the chair feeling helpless in every way. This was the last thing I needed to be concerned with, but until Slick’s ass was captured this would be my reality.