A/N: Thanks for the nice reviews! Hope you enjoy the next part!
It took Derek a little less than an hour to reach the hospital from the time he left his home. This gave him time to speculate the millions of horrifying reasons his Baby Girl could be in the hospital.
Was she sick? Did she get in a car accident? Did someone attack her? Thoughts continually raced through his head. As he approached the hospital, he found the closest parking spot in the visitor's parking lot and jogged to the main entrance.
He gave his name and Penelope's to the main nurses station and they directed him to the station on the third floor.
Upon reaching the third floor, Derek immediately spotted the nurses station and relayed the same information he gave downstairs to a nurse in pink polka dotted scrubs.
"Oh yes! I remember speaking to you on the phone," the nurse replied. "I'm Sandra. Please take a seat in the visitor area in the room across from here. The doctor is looking her over now and will update you in a few minutes," Sandra pointed to an area behind Derek filled with chairs and a few people mingling around.
"Thanks, but can you tell me anything at all?" Derek asked.
"I'm sorry but you will have to wait for the doctor to update you. I'll make sure that he knows you are here," Sandra shrugged with a sympathetic smile.
Derek gave a half smile back in appreciation and headed over to the visitor's waiting room where he sunk down into an extremely uncomfortable chair.
About 10 minutes later, Derek saw a doctor approach Sandra at the nurses station. They spoke briefly and he saw Sandra nod over to his direction. Derek rose out of his seat at the doctor headed towards him.
"Mr. Morgan? I'm Dr. Chase. You're here for Penelope Garcia correct?" the doctor questioned as they met in the hallway space between the station and the waiting room.
"Yes. How is she? What happened?" Derek felt his heart start to race hoping for the best but expecting the worse all at the same time. Derek was all too familiar with these feelings that come with the territory of his chosen profession.
"It seems that Ms. Garcia collapsed when she was grocery shopping earlier today. She was unresponsive at first, but came to by the time the EMTs arrived. We ran a couple tests to rule out any common causes or health risks including pre-eclampsia, which is good ne-"
"Pre-eclampsia?" Derek interrupted. He knew that word sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"Pregnancy induced hypertension," Dr. Chase explained.
This stunned Derek into silence. Dr. Chase, took Derek's silence as understanding and continued: "Everyone is fine. We did an ultrasound and the baby seems perfectly fine. Growth and development is right on target for 7 months in utero."
7 months! Derek thought as he did the quick math in his head. That means…
Derek's thoughts were interrupted by the doctor again: "While everything looks good I am worried about Ms. Garcia and keeping away any unnecessary stress for the rest of her pregnancy. I think this fainting spell could be caused by stress. I am going to suggest bed rest until she comes to full term. It is my understanding that she can work from home. I also want for Ms. Garcia to not do any strenuous work and to keep off of her feet as much as possible. She is stable and resting now, but if you would like, you can go and see her."
Derek, unable to find his voice, just nodded.
"Come with me". Dr. Chase led Derek down the hall talking as they walked. "Feel free to stay until visiting hours end at 6. I do want to keep Ms. Garcia overnight for observations just to make sure everything is ok and then I'll discharge her in the morning." Dr. Chase paused in front of room 312. "She's in here. I'll be around in a few hours to check on her. You can let the nurses know if you need anything."
"Thank you," Derek managed to utter as he shook Dr. Chase's hand.
"No problem," the doctor replied as he walked back to the nurses station.
Derek took a deep breath before turning to face room 312. As he opened the door slowly, Derek was greeted with the sight of his Baby Girl peacefully asleep in the hospital bed. The first thing he noticed was the rather large bump protruding under the covers.