Hola. Been a while... I'll just get on with it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, yada yada, sue me if you want... you won't get far with this bad boy in every chapter.
(Hermione pov)
Chapter Two - Something Small
January 21, 2005 - 5:17 a.m.
"Draco," I moaned, pushing him gently where he lay in the bed beside me. "Draco."
I bit down on my knuckles as tears started flowing from my eyes, my voice cracking as I tried not to scream.
"Draco!" I said louder, my hands clutching my stomach. "Draco, please! Wake up!"
"Huh?" He mumbled groggily, turning over and looking at me with one eye open. "Hermione?"
"We have to go to the hospital," I gritted out through clenched teeth, snapping my eyes shut. "Now."
"What?" Draco jumped up and ran across the room, flipping on the lights and trying to throw on a pair of pants. "Hermione, talk to me!" Draco quickly threw on a shirt and took the bed covers off of me, grabbing my hand.
"Something is wrong!" I yelled at him, wiping the beads of sweat from my forehead. "I don't know- ow! Damn it!"
Draco nodded and helped me out of the bed, slipping my coat around my shoulders on the way up. I tried my hardest to get to the fireplace so we could floo to St. Mungo's, but my knees suddenly gave out on my and I ended up clutching my stomach on the floor, crying out in pain.
"Hermione!" Draco knelt down and cradled my face, trying to get me to focus on him. "I'm going to get you some help, alright? Hermione?"
The last thing I was was Draco's worried expression, before I slumped over and darkness consumed me.
Sometime later- I did not know how much time had passed- I became aware of sounds and faint lights. I was also aware that I was being moved somewhere and that there were numerous hands on various places of my body. I found the strength to turn my head, my right cheek touching the fabric of whatever I was laying on.
"Mrs. Malfoy, can you hear me?" Someone asked. I turned my head the other way, trying to answer. Pain after pain crashed through ym stomach, causing my fingers to dig into the hands that were holding mine. "Someone get me an ultrasound."
"Hermione, can you open your eyes? Can you squeeze my hand?" A female voice called out, just as someone patted my hand.
I opened my mouth and tried to form coherent sentences. "M-my b...ba'y" I tried, the words coming out half formed.
"Ultrasound's here!" I heard a shout. More frantic movements raged around me, something cool being spread onto my stomach and a piece of plastic moving over it.
It then a small, faint heartbeat filled the room and a door slammed into a wall.
"HERMIONE!" Draco yelled from somewhere. "Get your hands off of me! Hermione!"
"Draco," I croaked, moving my head towards the direction of his voice.
"You have to leave, Dr. Malfoy!" I heard Draco call my name a few more times before footsteps faded off into the hallway and I could not hear him anymore. A needle was shoved into my hand and a mask was put over my face.
"Ectopic pregnancy," Someone finally said, taking the plastic thing off of my stomach. "We'll have to go in and remove the fetus."
"Why wasn't it caught before? Is there any chance of survival?" I could feel myself being moved somewhere as the people talked around me. I then heard the ding of an elevator.
"We won't know until we go in," A male said, just as the doors started to close. "But for now... no."
I could almost feel my heart stop at that. I started to drift off farther into the realm of unconsciousness, a sense of dread the last thing I felt.
My baby was dying.
(Draco pov)
"Oh no..." I groaned, pacing up and down the waiting room for what had to have been 2 hours. "No no no no... this can't be happening... Oh Merlin, this can't be happening..."
The sun was beginning to rise, making red, orange, and yellow streak across the sky like blood and bile was painted on canvas in messy, uneven strokes. Panic and dread was surely evident in my facial expression, as well as the way I walked around the room. I was fairly certain the women sitting in the two seats to my left were a little unsettled by my display, but I really didn't care right now.
My wife was hurt and my baby was dying.
"Are you sure I can't get you-"
"Don't touch me!" I flinched back from the woman's attempt at touching my shoulder; she'd asked me if I wanted coffee three times. I did not want a damn cup of coffee.
"Sorry," She mumbled, slumping back into her chair.
I began to wonder what was happening to my wife. I was not an obstetrician, nor was I a gynecologist, so I had a very limited knowledge of pregnancy. Of course, I knew the basics and I was fully capable of delivering a child- but beyond that, I was clueless. I didn't know why Hermione had suddenly had terrible pains in her abdomen, I didn't know why she was sweating so badly, and I didn't know why she all but stopped breathing.
It killed me that I just didn't know.
She could be bleeding death. The placenta could have detached. She could be miscarrying or her heart could stop beating. And I wouldn't be there. I could never get to meet our daughter or see my wife again. I didn't know what I was supposed to do.
I had dealt with a case like this before. 2 years ago, a 6 month pregnant woman had come in, unresponsive and barely breathing. She'd had a massive heart attack and was going into premature labor, and her husband sat in the waiting room while I and several others worked on her. I cracked her chest and took one look at her heart- there was no way this woman was going to survive. Her aorta was in shreds, most likely from a defect that was present since birth. I tried to repair it, but there was simply nothing viable to work with- her heart stopped beating as soon as the other surgeon had taken the baby out of her. It was a miracle that baby had survived- he had celebrated his second birthday three weeks ago, a card being sent to the hospital every year.
I couldn't function if Hermione weren't there. I couldn't look at the little girl she and I created with being completely torn up inside every time I tried. I wouldn't be able to tell her about her mother- how she died and what she was like. I didn't have the capabilites.
"Draco."
I turned around to see Madriana Zabini, a 45 year old surgical nurse that had been working here since I was a preteen, standing behind me with a solemn look on her face.
"Maddy?" I said, barely keeping the emotion out of my voice. I'd known her since I was a child- she was Blaise's aunt- and she was like a second mother to me.
"Sweetie," She said softly, opening her arms. I practically flew into them, missing the comfort that my own mother used to give me. "I came to tell you-"
"Tell me what?" I pulled back, not bothering to wipe my tears. "Is she alright?"
"You will be able to see her in a few minutes," She said calmly, putting bother of her hands on my forearms. "Hermione is going to be fine."
"What about the baby?" I was afraid to ask.
"I don't know," Madriana shook her head and began to escort me out of the room. "Dr. Burkman will be with you in just a moment."
She walked away after giving me a small, reassuring smile. I stood in the hallway just outside the tiny waiting room, in the exact spot I had told a woman that her husband had died.
I immediately moved to the other side.
I wringed my hands together for a while before a man in a white coat walked over to me. I'd worked with him before but we had never actually spoken before this.
"Dr. Malfoy," He shook my hand before leading me down the hall. "Your wife came out of surgery just fine."
"And my child?" I asked, only to be met with a solemn experssion.
(Hermione pov)
I couldn't remember anything. I couldn't move or open my mouth, but I could hear just fine. My arms hurt and my head was pounding, the light in the room making it worse. There were people yelling quietly in the hallway, which magnified my headache ten times.
I opened my eyes and saw the familiar pattern of the hospital ceiling above me. I moved my head as far as I could and saw hospital blankets on my bottom half and two people standing outside the room. I closed my eyes again, willing the pain to go away, and listened to the voices outside.
"Dr. Malfoy, I think-" Someone started to say.
"I don't give a damn what you think!" Draco interrupted the man. "I want her fired and her license taken away!"
"She made a mistake," The man said again. "Everyone makes mistakes; you of all people should no that."
"That girl's mistake caused more damage than necessary!" Draco seethed. "My wife could have died, do you understand that? If I hadn't brought here in time her insides would have been torn apart, because that girl chose to ignore something blatantly obvious in a bloody ultrasound!"
"We don't know that for sure," He said. "It could have just been missed. Pregnancies like this look completely normal from a certain point of view."
"Five ultrasounds and it was missed every time?" Draco asked angrily. "That is not missing something. I will have that girl's job by the time I'm done with her."
"I don't think that's really necessary."
"It is very necessary," Draco spat back, cracking open the door to the room. "My wife almost died and my daughter probably won't live to see the next week; we could have done something before we became too attached. I. Will. See. Her. Gone."
Anguish set in my heart as I opened my eyes and saw Draco closing the door, before walking over to me and grabbing my hand. He noticed I was awake and tried to give me a small smile. It didn't work.
"How much of that did you hear?" He asked quietly.
"The very last part," I croaked. My throat hurt from screaming.
"I'm sorry," Draco whispered, leaning in and kissing my forehead. "I'm so, so sorry."
The doctor Draco was presumably talking to opened the door and came in, a chart in his hands and a frown on his face.
"Mrs. Malfoy," He greeted me. "I'm afraid I have bad news."
A/N: I know, I know. I didn't really tell you what was wrong... but google is very helpful! It's election day in America so I have nothing do today, and I will hopefully get a few of my stories updated. So... review? It helps me get things out faster. -Nikki a.k.a.- Twipotterfreak28