Disclaimer: All characters you recognize belong to Janet Evanovich.
A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews and kind words. I forgot to thank a few people in the last chapter. Margaret Fowler and Stephfan6511 were kind enough to look over early drafts of this story and offer much needed comments, suggestions and encouragement. Thank you both so much. My dear friend and incomparable super-beta, FairTaxGirl, has spent months hashing over this story with me and keeping me going when I wanted to drop it. You're the best, Babe!
HELLP Chapter 2
When we got home, Steph changed into a loose fitting t-shirt and shorts and climbed into bed, with a look of miserable resignation on her face. A few minutes later, Ella brought lunch and several movies in. Tank and Lester were behind her with a flat screen T.V. that they set up on the dresser in the bedroom. Lester sat on the bed and talked quietly with Steph for a while. The two of them had gotten closer over the years and Tank and I had dubbed them the "Terrible Two" behind their backs because they seemed to have so much fun getting into trouble together. They were ten times worse than she and Lula had ever been, mainly because Lester was much more devious and sneaky. Lester handed Steph a plastic bag, kissed her on the forehead and walked over to me. He gave me a worried look and said, "Call me if I can do anything, even if she just needs entertaining for a while." I nodded and bumped fists with him as he and Tank left.
I took Steph her specially requested smoked turkey sandwich from Ella, along with a bottle of water and a small fruit salad. Normally, she would have had a few pickles and some chips with her lunch, but Bobby had reminded us that with her blood pressure rising, she needed to limit the salt intake. I sat down next to her and said, "What's in the bag Lester left?"
She grinned and opened the bag, pulling out about 20 assorted comic books, including Batman, Wonder Woman and The Justice League. "Lester thought I should start reading Batman Jr. more appropriate material."
We sat quietly and ate. Steph ate about half of her sandwich, but ate all of her fruit and drank all of her water. She looked over at me and said, "I'm scared."
My arm was around her shoulders, so I pulled her to me and said, "Me too, Babe. But you've got a great doctor and once we get the lab results back we'll know more and can plan a course of action."
She smiled and said, "This is a baby, Carlos, not a recon mission to Columbia."
I gave her a smile and said, "I realize that, but a good plan is always helpful."
She shook her head and yawned.
"Babe, do you want me to put on a movie for you?" She shook her head and said, "No, I think I just want to take a little nap." I gave her a kiss and bundled her under the covers, telling her to call for me if she needed anything.
I walked into the nursery that we had decorated last month. It was painted a soft, baby boy blue. The furniture was a deep mahogany with a glider with beige fabric in the corner. The bedding and accents in the room were of different types of animals; elephants, giraffes, lions and tigers. Stephanie and I had painted large block letters that spelled out Luca and now hung on the wall. A large family baby shower had supplied all the diapers, wipes and clothes we could possibly need for the first year of his life. It was a beautiful room for a baby and I couldn't wait to see Luca in it.
I was in my home office and had been working on the schedule for about an hour when I heard moaning coming from the bedroom. I walked in to find Stephanie tossing around in her sleep. I put a hand on her shoulder to wake her and when she opened her eyes, tears poured down her cheeks.
"Babe, what's wrong?" I asked, startled.
"My back. My back is killing me." She said.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Around my left shoulder blade. It feels like it's on fire."
I put my hand on her back and started to rub the area that was aching, but she cried out and told me to stop. "Don't touch it, it hurts."
"Would a heating pad help?" I asked.
She nodded and I went to the bathroom to get the heating pad. I set it up and wedged a pillow behind her back to keep it in place. When I looked back down at her face, she was still crying silently.
"I'm going to call the doctor." I said. This wasn't normal.
She shook her head and said, "We just saw her a few hours ago and I told her about this pain then. It's worse now, but she said she'd call when she gets the lab results back."
"What about something for pain?" I asked.
She said, "Carlos, I can't take anything while I'm pregnant."
I replied, "Babe, you can take Tylenol."
She glared at me and said, "The only thing I've taken through this whole pregnancy is pre-natal vitamins. I have no intention of changing that until I go into labor."
"Stephanie, I understand that you don't want to take anything, but pain can make your blood pressure rise. It's safer to go ahead and take Tylenol than to let this raise your blood pressure any further."
She gave in and took the Tylenol, but she wasn't happy about it. About 45 minutes later, she had relaxed enough to drift back off to sleep and I stepped out and called Bobby.
He answered after one ring and without a greeting I said, "Bobby, she's in a lot of pain. It's in her back around the shoulder blade. Is this normal?"
Bobby hesitated for a moment before saying, "No, it's not normal, but I don't know exactly what it means. I don't exactly have a lot of experience with pregnancy."
I sighed and said, "I told Steph I would call Dr. Foster, but she wants to wait until the lab results come in. Do you think that's wise?"
Bobby responded, "I know you don't want to wait, but Dr. Foster won't know anything else until she gets the results in. If Steph is in severe pain, she can take Lortab. It's been proven to be safe in pregnancies."
I replied, "She won't take it. I barely got her to take the Tylenol."
Bobby said, "Just keep her as comfortable as you can. Next time she's awake, give me a call and I'll come up and check her blood pressure."
I thanked Bobby and hung up. I worked for the rest of the afternoon, checking in on Steph periodically. She was sleeping a lot, but obviously needed the rest.
About 5:00 I heard her get out of bed and go into the bathroom. All was quiet for a few minutes and then I heard her retching. I waited outside the bathroom door, trying to give her some privacy until she was finished, but she never got finished. After about 10 minutes, I went into the bathroom and saw her kneeling on the floor. I felt my heart jump into my throat as I saw blood trickling down from her mouth.
I rushed over to her and knelt beside her. She was pale and shaking and didn't notice me until I brushed her hair out of her face and said, "Babe, what happened?" After all our years together, I'd never seen Stephanie so sick or so weak. I would never voice it aloud, but I was terrified.
She sat there for a moment, seemingly too exhausted to speak, but finally croaked out, "Carlos, I don't ever remember being this sick in my life. I don't understand what's wrong. I'm throwing up blood and my back has started hurting again and now I'm hurting here, too." She placed her hand between her breasts, at the bottom of her sternum.
I stood up and got a warm, wet washcloth and helped her clean up. "Babe, I'm going to get Bobby up here and then we're calling Dr. Foster. There's no reason for you to have to suffer like this." I picked her up and carried her back to the bed. I went back to the bathroom and got a cool, damp cloth for her head. She felt feverish.
When Bobby got there he checked her vital signs, noting that her blood pressure was rising and she did have a slight fever. He and I called the doctor together, using the speakerphone in my office. The doctor answered herself and I explained who I was.
"Mr. Manoso, I was just about to call you. I got the lab results a few minutes ago and I need you to bring Stephanie to the hospital right away."
A/N: Thanks for all the wonderful reviews for the first chapter. If you didn't get a personal response from me, then your PM's are turned off, but please know I appreciate the time you took to leave a review.
