Chapter Nine

My eyes opened to the overly-bright fluorescent lights above me, and I snapped them closed again with a soft groan. My stomach twisted, and I held my breath to fight off the nausea. I became aware of my body in little sections at a time- first, the aching in my head, then the tension in my neck and shoulders, the warm hand gripping mine, the tingling in my legs, my cold feet. I tried to open my eyes a bit again, and saw Fang staring down at me, face tightly drawn.

"Max?" he said. His voice was slightly hoarse, and I felt bad immediately that it was probably my fault. "Hey. How you feelin'?"

"Like crap." I pushed my bangs out of my eyes with fingers that felt like ice. "What happened?"

"You fainted after Angel began seizing. They admitted you. Couldn't have picked a better place to pass out, really." He chuckled, but there was no real humor to it. The hand not holding mine stroked my forehead, and I closed my eyes against the feeling.

"Is she okay?" I mumbled. My lips were rebelling against me- I could barely speak. I felt drunk.

"Angel? She's been moved back up to ICU so they can monitor her. Doctors said the blood was likely due to a pulmonary embolism- a blood clot in her lungs." He brushed my sweaty hair away from my face and lifted my fingers up to his lips. The gesture was oddly sweet and completely out of character for us. "The seizure was caused by the head injury. They want to watch her to make sure she doesn't have anymore. They're putting her on anticoagulants to thin her blood to see if the clot will go away."

"Too many big words, Nick," I whispered. He smiled at my use of his real name. "Where are the others?"

"Getting some dinner down in the cafeteria. You've been out for a little bit."

I shrugged and pulled the blankets up around my shoulders. It was freaking freezing in this room.

I looked down at myself. I had on one of those pale blue hospital gowns with the gaping holes in the back (note to self: don't stand up. There will be no Max-butt flashing today.) There was a needle taped to the back of my hand that was connected to a bag of clear liquid.

"What's that?"

"You were dehydrated, so they're just giving you fluids. They also drew a little blood to check your sugar levels. Make sure you're eating correctly," Fang said. He stared up at the steady beating of my heart rate monitor as if mesmerized.

"I told them you were fine, but they wouldn't listen to me," he said over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the screen. I rolled my eyes with what little energy I had left.

"Hey, Max. Feeling better?" Nudge appeared in the doorway, flanked by Ig and Gazzy, and I managed a smile.

"Yeah, a bit. I'm just really tired.

"Hear anything about Angel yet?" Fang asked.

"Yeah, is she okay?" I pushed myself into an almost-upright position, despite Fang's protests.

"We don't know yet. She's still in surgery. You were out for an hour and a half, but that might've just been because of the sedative they gave you." She stopped talking and frowned. "Wait; was that the thing I wasn't supposed to say out loud?"

Gazzy chuckled. Fang closed his eyes and said very slowly, "Yes, Nudge. That was the thing."

"Oops," she said, smiling apologetically.

"Sedative? Why would they give me a sedative if I was already unconscious?"

"You kind of woke up or something and hour ago and started freaking out. You were thrashing around and yelling Angel's name. They couldn't calm you down and they didn't want you to hurt yourself, so they sedated you and brought you in here. It obviously wasn't a very strong sedative, since you were only out for an hour or so." Nudge stopped talking when Iggy shot her an ugly look. "Sorry," she whispered.

"Call the nurse. I'd like to be unhooked from this crap so I can leave."

Gazzy found the remote and flipped on the television, and Iggy threw himself into the chair next to Fang. "Turn the game on!"

"Guys, c'mon, leave Max alone. Don't turn the game on- she doesn't need to listen to you two fight and yell," Nudge said, frowning.

"Miss Ride?"

We both looked up at the nurse who poked her head around the door.

"Oh, good, you're awake!" she entered the room completely, her clip board attached to her hip. "Excuse me, you guys; I'm going to have to ask you all to leave to due patient confidentiality rules." She smiled a sugar-coated grin.

They mumbled words of protest, and Fang refused to move until I promised him I'd survive ten minutes without him- insert eye roll here.

He left with a tense glance over his shoulder, and the nurse giggled like a school-girl.

"It's so nice to have someone you love in your time of need, isn't it?" she asked and grinned. When she turned to check my heart-rate monitor, however, I thought I saw her smile wobble a bit.

"Oh, I don't- it's not like that, exactly," I said, but she ignored me.

"So your blood tests came back. Your sugar levels were a tad bit low, so drink a lot of fluids when you get home, mostly juices." She checked her clipboard again. "Oh, and congratulations by the way!"

I narrowed my eyes at her. What had this lady been smoking?

"Congratulations for what?" Please don't be something weird.

"On your pregnancy, of course!" She smiled, again, but it was watery around the edges, like it was too hard to keep in place.

What did she just say?

My jaw hit the floor, along with my stomach. All I could think of was the two very negative pregnancy tests preparing to take up landfill space in my waste basket at home right now.

"I-I'm not pregnant," I said, my voice slow and dumb-sounding.

"Y-yes you are. The blood tests came back positive."

"No. No, that's impossible. I just took a test," I said. I was starting to sound hysterical. "I'm not pregnant."

"Ma'am, please calm down. I just assumed you already knew. Oh, they're going to fire me now for sure!" She buried her face in her hands and burst into tears. Actually, I felt like doing the same. I pressed the 'call-nurse' button on my bed-remote.

One was here in practically seconds.

"Um," was all I said, gesturing to the hysterical nurse. The other one sighed and placed her hands on her wide hips.

"Mary, sugar. Come on now, dear. Let's go." She gently ushered her from the room and came back a few minutes later.

"Sorry about Mary. She's been a little off-balance since her husband died."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, sugar. You didn't know no better," she said and smiled. Her teeth were bright against her dark skin.

"Do you know when they're going to let me go?"

"Just as soon as I get your discharge papers together." She turned to leave.

"Wait." She turned back around, a patient look on her kind face. "Do you know if blood-pregnancy tests are wrong?"

"I've never heard of it happening, but I guess there's a slim chance." Fang caught the door on her way out. My head was spinning, and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, and too fast all at the same time. The top of my head felt so hot that it was cold. Nothing made sense, especially not the sharp joy mixed with fear spiking in my chest.

"Hey, what'd she need to tell you?" he asked. I looked up at him, my eyes wide and my mouth slightly open.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He sat next to me and gripped my hand in both of his, warming my frigid fingertips.

"Nothing. I'm fine," I lied.

It's not like I meant to, exactly. My mouth and my brain just had different ideas, is all. My head was malfunctioning.

Oh God, I'm pregnant. What would my mother say?

"Max," Nudge said, bursting into the room. "You're mom just called your cell and I answered it. She's on a plane, Max. She read about you guys' marriage on Angel's Facebook page. She's coming. Tonight."

Oh, Hell. Something tells me things are about to get interesting.