Chapter 3: The Diagnosis

A short time later, Beth was standing at her best friend's side as the medical personnel loaded Justin's motionless body onto the stretcher and into the back of the ambulance. As they slammed the doors, the lights flickered brightly and the sirens echoed loudly throughout the hallway. Groups of other Superstars and Divas had gathered, whispering about what had happened. Natalya turned into Beth's shoulder as the ambulance drove off to hide her tears. As Beth wrapped a protective arm around Natalya, she happened to look up. She couldn't believe what she was seeing; Heath standing off to the side along with Wade, Trent and Alex Riley, with a smile spread across his face. She had seen enough of his cockiness to last him a lifetime.

"I'll be right back Nattie." Beth said, excusing herself.

Beth walked straight up to the red headed superstar and just stopped right in front of him. He slowly turned to face her and was just about to ask her what she wanted when Beth drew her right arm back. She swung and caught Heath square in the nose at a full extension. The cracking of bone echoed just as loud as the sirens of the ambulance. Everyone turned to face Beth and Heath just in time to see Heath fall to the ground, blood gushing from his nose and him knocked out cold.

"Sonofabitch!" Beth muttered under her breath as she shook her hand.

She then turned on her heel and walked back over to where Natalya was standing. She was rooted to her spot, with a look of pure surprise all over her face.

"What the hell Beth?"

"What, he deserved a good knock in the face a long time ago. It was completely overdue."

Natalya remained quiet, not sure about what she should say next.

"Let's go get changed and head over to the hospital. You need to be there for Justin."

"What about your championship match against Eve tonight?" Natalya asked, finally bringing her thoughts back to the situation at hand.

"While I get changed, I will send a text to Stephanie explaining that I need to be at the hospital with you. I'm sure she'll understand and figure something out. Now let's go, my hand is throbbing."

Without further hesitation, they walked back to the locker room area silently. Beth went to her room to change out of her unused ring gear and text Stephanie, while Natalya was next door in Justin's locker room to pack all of his gear up. Natalya was the first to finish and when she rejoined the Glamazon, she noticed that her right hand was severely swollen.

"Holy shit Beth!" Natalya exclaimed.

"What now?"

"Your hand is really messed up. You need to get it looked at when we get to the hospital."

"I will after we find out what has happened to Justin."

"No! As soon as we get there, you need to check yourself in."

"But…"

"I'm not arguing with you about this. Something could be seriously wrong." Natalya insisted, cutting into Beth's sentence.

"Fine I'll get my damn hand checked out!" Beth said finally giving in.

"And everyone says that I'm the stubborn one."

Despite the throbbing pain in her hand, Beth was still able to drive them to the hospital. Once they arrived, Beth checked herself into the emergency room while Natalya went in search of her fiancé.

"Excuse me; I'm looking for someone who was just recently brought in by an ambulance." Natalya said when she found a nurses station.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but visiting hours have ended." The nurse rudely replied.

The tone in the nurse's voice took Natalya back.

"Does that include family?"

"According to his chart the only family that he has is in Africa."

"His mother lives in South Africa to be exact and his chart obviously hasn't been updated in the whole day we've been back in the states."

Natalya could not believe how rude the nurse was being. If it weren't for the fact that she was pregnant, she would have laid that bitch out already.

"I'm sorry, but I am extremely busy…"The nurse started to say, but that was the last straw.

"I'm sorry, but I would like to check in on my FIANCÉ sometime tonight." Natalya interrupted.

Hearing the word 'fiancé' caught the woman's attention and her face dropped.

"I am so sorry, I didn't know."

"Yeah I can tell. You were too busy with what you were doing to stop for five seconds and help someone out. Now if you don't mind, can you please tell me which room he is in?"

"He is in room two thirteen. It's just down the hall, on the right side of the hallway." The nurse said.

Natalya walked away without another word. Following the directions, she finally came upon room two thirteen. Stopping outside the door, she paused to mentally prepare herself by taking a deep breath. When she walked into the room, she saw Justin lying in the bed, hooked up to various machines, which opened up the floodgates once again. Walking into the room, she pulled a chair over to the bedside and picked up his left hand. Lacing her fingers with his, she rested her head on top of their hands. It seemed as soon as her head touched their hands, the doctor walked into the room.

"Excuse me miss, but visiting hours ended almost two hours ago. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Here we go again. Look, I'm not going anywhere."

"Please do not make me have to call security and have you escorted off the premises."

"The reason I'm not going anywhere is the fact that I'm his fiancé and I have already had this conversation with your snooty nurse out there." Natalya said, putting her defenses up again.

"My sincerest apologies let me fill you in on what we have found. Once we brought him in, we took him straight in to get x-rays. They showed that he has a fractured right arm, which is why there is a splint. When the x-rays showed that, his skull was intact, we sent him off for an MRI, and it's a good thing that we took that extra precaution. The MRI showed that there is a slight swelling of the brain. The nurses and I are going to monitor him overnight, and in the morning, we will see if there has been any progress." The doctor explained.

"What will happen if there isn't any progress?" Natalya asked, afraid of the answer.

"If there are no signs of progress, we will then have to operate to relieve the pressure so that there is no permanent damage."

The doctor scribbled a few notes on Justin's chart and then left the room. Natalya could not believe how quickly things had changed as tears were threatening to make an unwelcomed return. Feeling the weight of the last few hours mixed with the jetlag, she laid her head down on their hands again and fell asleep, still holding Justin's hand.