I'm not a doctor, so I'm sorry if not all the medical stuff is correct.
Except this time, Emily didn't have another bad dream; she ended up having a dream about winning the Olympic Gold with Spencer there with her. On the other hand, Spencer had a dream where all she could see was her newborn daughter in Emily's arms while they both wore black.
Early the next morning, Emily woke up and untangled herself from Spencer and hopped off her bed as quietly as she could. She grabbed her stuff, kissed her wife on the cheek, patted her baby belly and then headed out the door to the pool.
At 7:30am, Melissa came in with a still half asleep Taylor and set her down next to her still sleeping sister. She smiled as her daughter moved closer to Spencer, wanting the closeness and warmth of something right next to her. She quickly placed some coloring stuff on Spencer's table and then left for work.
An hour later, Spencer woke up and frowned when she realized that Emily wasn't there anymore, but smiled when she saw that her adorable niece had taken Emily's spot in her bed.
"Hey kiddo! Wake up!" Spencer whispered to her niece as she started rubbing her back to wake her up.
"Hi Auntie Spencer." A tired Taylor said to her as she tried to suppress a yawn.
"So what do you want to do today? How about we color and then maybe we can go explore the hospital a little bit. Does that sound like fun?"
"Yeah! Let's color first though. Mommy got me some new coloring books."
"Oh, really? That was nice of her! What kind of books?"
"There is one book that has all princesses and the other has dinosaurs."
"Dinosaurs? Really?"
"Yeah! We were learning about dinosaurs a little bit in day care the other day. Miss Anne was telling us all about the T-Rex."
"Oh, the T-Rex. Which one is that?" Spencer asked, pretending she didn't know.
"I'll show you! Here, you can have the princess book and I'll use the dinosaur book." She said as she handed her aunt the book and placed the pack of markers in between the two of them.
Spencer and Taylor had been coloring for almost two hours when Spencer got her first check up text message from Emily, which was later than she thought it was going to be.
"Hey, Tay. Are you hungry?" Spencer asked when she felt her stomach starting to grumble.
"Yeah, I want cereal, please."
"What do you say we go to the cafeteria and find some for you?"
"Okay."
Spencer didn't bother changing out of her sweats; she just grabbed her IV pole, helped Taylor off the bed and kept holding onto Taylor's hand as she walked them towards the cafeteria.
She knew that she shouldn't do too much walking, since she was technically on bed rest, but she didn't think that less than 10 minutes of walking was going to do any harm.
They sat down at a table a few minutes later, Taylor got her bowl of Lucky Charms and Spencer got French toast, yogurt and some cereal. Since she had started eating for two, she ate almost twice as much as she normally did, but she still managed to remain pretty close to her normal size, except for the baby bump.
As they walked to the cafeteria, Spencer started getting a headache, but she just assumed that it was because she hadn't eaten yet, so she brushed it off. But when they were eating it kept getting worse and worse and then all the sudden she felt something dripping from her nose.
"Auntie, your nose is bleeding. Are you okay?" Taylor pointed out to her as Spencer reached for a napkin to try to stop the bleeding.
"I'm fine, it's just a nosebleed. Are you done eating, Tay?"
"Yeah. Do you want to go back and color?"
"Sure, that sounds great." Spencer said with fake enthusiasm as she tried to stop her nosebleed.
When they got up, Spencer felt a little bit lightheaded, but she just thought it was because of her headache and the nosebleed that was still going. The farther she walked, the more and more sluggish she became, until she was almost stumbling and her vision started to get hazy.
"Mrs. Hastings? Are you okay?" A nurse asked as she started to walk towards her.
She had originally planned to go check on another patient, but when she saw Spencer walking slowly, holding a bloody napkin to her nose, she quickly walked over to her.
"Uhh, I just can't get this to stop bleeding, and I'm kinda dizzy now. But I'm fine; Taylor and I were actually just going to-" She stopped for a second to catch her breath, "to go color. Right, Taylor?" She asked weakly as Taylor looked up at her aunt.
"Get me a wheelchair, now. And someone page Dr. Jordan, STAT! Amber, can you call her wife and tell her to get down here, and then take Taylor and play a game with her or something." The nurse yelled, scaring Taylor a little bit, but Spencer didn't even notice since she was struggling to stay standing.
One of the nurses quickly ran a wheelchair over and they got Spencer to sit down in it, almost immediately after she sat down in the wheelchair, Dr. Jordan got there.
"Spencer? Can you tell me if anything hurts?" He asked as he flashed a light in her eyes to check her pupil reaction time.
"Um, my head is killing me, and I'm kind of dizzy and lightheaded. And my damn nose won't stop bleeding, but other than that, I'm fine." She said, attempting to make a joke and make Taylor feel a little bit better.
"Okay, let's check her blood pressure, blood sugar, platelets, pulse, everything, NOW!"
"Taylor, honey, it's okay. Why don't you go with the nice nurse, maybe she can color with you."
"But I want to stay with you, Aunt Spencer."
"I know you do, honey, but they just have to do tests on me. It won't take too long, okay? Then we can color for the rest of the day, I promise." She said as two different nurses surrounded her and checked her blood pressure and pulse.
"Mrs. Hastings, we need to go, now." The nurse said to Spencer, only getting a nod in response.
Meanwhile, Emily was killing it in the pool; she was succeeding at not thinking about Spencer while she was in the pool and she was having a great practice.
She had been working hard all day and she felt really good, and Spencer said she was doing well when she last talked to her a little while ago.
Emily felt like she was on fire, her swimming was going so well and she was beating her personal records left and right and her day had barely begun.
"Emily."
"Yeah coach?" she asked excitedly since she had just broken her personal record again.
The smile was immediately wiped off her face when she saw the grim look on his face.
"The hospital just called-"
"Is she okay?"
"I don't know, they said that she wasn't looking too great. Go ahead, you're free for the day."
"Ok, thanks coach!" Emily said as she bolted to the locker room, toweled off as best as she could and threw on her jeans and a t-shirt.
As soon as she got to the car, she called Aria.
"Hey Em! How's everything going?" her chipper voice rang through Emily's phone.
"Not great, I just got called back to the hospital, but I don't know what's going on yet."
"Oh, Em, I'm sorry. Is there anything we can do?"
"Can you tell Hanna please?"
"Of course. Just call me if you need anything, okay? We'll come visit sometime tonight once you get everything settled."
"Okay, thanks Aria."
As soon as Emily got to the hospital, she ran inside to where Spencer's room was, but didn't see anyone in there. She stood there shocked for a minute until she heard someone calling her.
"Auntie Emmy." Taylor screamed as she ran over and practically tackled Emily as she jumped into her arms.
"Hey honey, where's your Aunt Spencer?"
"I don't know! They took her away, but that nurse over there was coloring with me." Taylor said as she pointed to the nurse at the nurse's station.
"Hi, excuse me, I got a call about my wife, Spencer Hastings." Emily said politely, but slightly panicky.
"Oh, of course, Mrs. Hastings. I'll page her doctor for you."
"Emily." She heard a few minutes later, and as soon as she heard that she was up on her feet, staring her wife's doctor in the eyes.
"What happened to her?"
"She was fine, but then all of the sudden she got a splitting headache and then her nose started bleeding and it wouldn't stop. And she was swaying all over the place, so the nurses called me and we started running tests."
"Well how is she doing now?" She asked, with Taylor on her hip.
"She's hanging in there right now."
"Hold on, I don't like the sound of that. What do you mean 'hanging in there'?"
"Well when we rolled up her sleeve to take blood, we noticed bruises on her arm and so we started looking on her legs and belly and there was some bruising in other places. That's what tipped me off. Her platelet count is way off and that is why her nose keeps bleeding, because her blood isn't clotting. It's a side effect from some of the meds that she's on, so we took her off of them for now, but we will switch them later. Normally it doesn't happen this fast, but it did in her case. The nurses are getting her set up for a blood transfusion. After that, she should be as good as new."
"Okay, well can I see her?"
"We will be moving her back to her room in a few minutes and the transfusion could take anywhere from 1-4 hours."
"Okay, thank you doctor."
"Hello?"
"Aria? It's me. So Spencer is going to have to have a blood transfusion."
"What? That's awful."
"I know, but she should be better after that. But I have Taylor with me right now-"
"Do you want me and Hanna to come pick her up and entertain her until Melissa gets off work?"
"It's like you just read my mind. That would be great." Emily said truthfully.
"Okay, I'll go get Hanna and then we'll be over in a few minutes. Give Spencer our love if she's awake when you see her!"
"I will. Thank you so much Aria!"
"No problem, we'll see you in a few, Em."
Almost 15 minutes later, Emily and Taylor were in Spencer's room, while she was just beginning the blood transfusion.
She wasn't awake because losing all of that blood had taken a lot out of her, but her color was starting to go back to normal a little bit.
Emily was sitting in the chair next to Spencer's bed with Taylor lying in her lap while they waited for Hanna and Aria to get there.
"Well look who it is, Aria. It's my favorite girl ever, oh and Emily." Hanna joked as she walked into the room, trying to liven things up a little bit.
"Hanna!" Taylor shrieked as she got up and bolted into the blonde's arms.
"Well I guess we know who she likes the most." Aria joked as she ruffled Taylor's silky brown hair.
"Hey Tay, how about you and Hanna go get something from the cafeteria or the vending machine down the hall?" Emily said, looking at Hanna, who was more than willing to distract the little mini-Melissa for a few minutes.
"So how's she doing, Em?" Aria asked as she walked over to Emily and leaned down to hug her.
"She is having a blood transfusion as we speak, so I'm gonna say not so well."
"Em, I'm so sorry. Do they know why it happened?"
"Her platelet count was really low apparently, so they're hoping that this will help turn that around."
"It will, Emily. The doctors know what they're doing, she's in good hands."
"I know, I just hate that she's in this situation to begin with, you know?"
"Yeah, I get it." Aria said quietly as she looked at Spencer.
"Listen, thank you so much for coming and helping me with Taylor. She would've gone crazy just sitting here."
"Of course, that's what friends are for."
"Hey, do you remember that one day when we all watched Taylor for Melissa? It must've been when she was like 5 months old, right?"
"Oh my gosh, I completely forgot about that. That was like the longest day of my life." Aria and Emily both laughed.
"Yeah, I think it was the longest day of all of our lives."
It was a gorgeous summer day in Rosewood and Melissa had asked Spencer to watch Taylor for her for the day since she had to go into Philadelphia for a conference. Melissa dropped Taylor off at their parents house early in the morning that way Spencer could just watch her from there. Both Spencer and Emily were back for the summer and were staying with their parents.
Of course Spencer had said yes because it got her some time with her adorable niece and she got to do something nice for her sister and hopefully stay on good terms with her.
The first two hours of her babysitting adventure had been great; Taylor was the sweetest little baby and she was asleep when Melissa dropped her off, and she was still knocked out.
Then, all of the sudden she woke up and she was practically screaming at the top of her lungs, but the very calm under pressure Spencer quickly picked her up and started to rock her back and forth.
The next thing she knew, it was an hour later and Taylor was still crying. Spencer had tried everything, she checked her diaper, tried to feed her and burp her. She had also successfully walked the Hastings house about 50 times, doing anything and everything to try to get her to calm down and nothing was working so she decided to call for back up.
"Hey babe. How's it going?" Emily asked happily as she saw her fiancée's name pop up on the screen.
"Well, let's see. She has been crying and screaming for the past hour. Like I'm talking non-stop, Em. The only thing that has successfully happened is that I now have a splitting headache. I've tried everything that I can think of and she won't calm down."
"I'm sorry, Spence. I'll be there in a few minutes and try to help out. I just got out of the pool at the club."
"Okay, thank you. I even asked her nicely to stop crying and when that didn't work, I told her to stop crying and she didn't listen to that either. I'm not used to people not listening to me." Spencer said seriously as Emily laughed.
"I know you aren't babe. I'll see you in a few minutes."
15 minutes later Emily walked into the Hastings's house and followed the sound of the crying to find her fiancée. As she walked into Spencer's room, she saw her frazzled fiancée rocking Taylor in her arms.
"Its official. We're never having kids." Spencer said as soon as she spotted Emily standing in the doorway.
"Yeah, well we'll revisit that topic in a few years. We aren't even married yet. Meanwhile, why don't you let me try?" Spencer gladly handed Taylor to Emily; she just needed a moment of peace.
"Spence, why don't you go get some water or something, you look like you need a break."
"Okay, I'll be back in a few minutes. Do you want anything?"
"No, I'm good, thanks."
Spencer sat downstairs on the kitchen counter, sipping her water, waiting for the aspirin to kick in.
She was just about to go back upstairs to Emily and her crying niece when she heard her phone start to ring from her pocket.
"Hey Aria, what's up?" She asked her best friend.
"Nothin much, I was just wondering what you and Em were up to today."
"We are babysitting Taylor, but she's been screaming for the past hour and a half. I'm about to rip my hair out." She said seriously as Aria chuckled.
"Well how about I come join you? Maybe I can help. I could have an unknown gift."
"Sure, you're always welcome here. And unlike me, you can leave when you've had enough."
"Oh, Spence, I'm sure it's not that bad."
"Okay. I guess it is that bad." Aria conceded as she stood in the Hastings's living room, holding a 5-month-old Taylor. Spencer quickly smirked and pointed her eyebrow at Aria, as if to prove her point.
"I just don't get it, why won't she stop crying? We've tried everything. Like literally everything I can think of."
"Who knows? Maybe she misses Melissa or something." Aria finally said.
"Yeah, that could be it. This is Melissa's first conference since she had Taylor; they've never really been apart for this long. But at some point she's got to get tired of crying." Spencer groaned as she threw a hand over her face.
"Okay, I just texted Hanna. She's coming over. Maybe she will have an idea." Emily said as she set her phone down.
"Oh really? You mean Hanna as in 'that baby's outfit is awful. My child will never wear anything like that' Hanna. Or 'can someone get that kid to shut up? I don't get why she's crying, she's surrounded by amazing clothes' Hanna?" Spencer joked.
"Well I guess what they say is true then. Misery does love company." Hanna said as she realized that they weren't going to have a nice girls afternoon and they got to listen to a screaming baby instead.
"Someone hand me that little goober. I'll try to shut her up."
"That's a great attitude, Han. She's really going to respond well to that." Aria joked as Emily handed her the baby.
Hanna quickly sat down on the couch and cradled the baby up to her chest, so she could hear her heartbeat and Taylor almost immediately stopped crying.
"I'm sorry. What just happened? How did Hanna get her to shut up?" Spencer asked.
"I read that a baby likes to hear someone's heartbeat because it makes them feel like they are back in their mom's womb." She answered as everyone just sat there and smiled.
"Well thank you so much, we owe you." Emily said sincerely.
"Yes, and I owe you my sanity. Seriously. Thank you."
"What are you two laughing about?" Hanna asked as she walked back in with Taylor a few minutes later.
"Just memories." Emily answered sadly as she looked at Spencer's small frame in the huge hospital bed.
