Several days later, most of the girls had returned to work and were just finishing up for the day.
Lizzie: Hey, babe. I should be finished up shortly.
Annie: Okay. Drive safe. Aubrey, Chloe and I are out shopping. We should be home before you get there.
Lizzie: Okay. See you when I get there. I love you.
Annie: I love you too.
Back at the Beale-Conrad house.
"Hey has anyone heard from Annie, Aubrey, or Chloe?" Lizzie asked as she and Shelby walked in the door.
"No," Stacie said as she finished feeding Bella. "I thought they were supposed to be home by now."
"I haven't heard anything either," Beca said with a worried expression.
"Okay, let's get dinner started," Lizzie said as she sent out a text to the small group. "Maybe they got sidetracked."
As she pulled out the ingredients for dinner all of their phones went off with a text notification.
Ashley: We just watched an accident. We are going to be late.
"Well that doesn't make me feel any better," Lizzie said as the other two nodded.
They continued dinner preparations as another text came through.
Jessica: It's Annie's car. We'll find out what's going on and let you know.
"Okay, stay calm," Lizzie said while trying to stay calm herself. "Get things ready by the door while I finish dinner. We can go as soon as we know something more. Jessica or Ashley will let us know as soon as they do."
They continued to fix dinner until it was finished and ready to be eaten. Lizzie passed everyone a plate of Spaghetti and sat down with her own plate.
CR came in the door and stopped when she saw the small group was only picking at their food, except Shelby.
"What's going on?" CR asked as she grabbed her own plate. "You'd think someone died or something."
"Annie, Aubrey, and Chloe were in an accident," Lizzie replied as she pushed her dinner around her plate. "We are waiting to find out what happened and where they are before we head out."
"Do you need me to watch Shelby while y'all go?" CR asked as she poked Shelby in the belly making her laugh.
"If you don't mind that would be great," Lizzie said as she got up and disposed of the remaining food on her plate. "What about Bella?"
"I can keep an eye on her, too," CR said as she turned her attention to Stacie. "Is she down for a nap?"
"Yeah, she'll need to be fed again and given a bath when she wakes up," Stacie said as she too got up to dispose of the rest of her food. "Are you sure you'll be okay with the both of them?"
"We'll be fine. Maybe we can watch a movie until you guys get back," CR said as she turned towards Shelby. "Do you have homework to do, Munchkin?"
"No, I did it while we were at the studio," Shelby said. Beca got up and reached for Shelby's plate. Shelby handed it to her and Beca took it to the sink.
Shelby looked at CR. "Can you read me a bedtime story?"
"Sure, I can," CR said with a smile. "What story would you like to read tonight?"
"OH! I have a new one to start!" Shelby said excitedly as she ran upstairs to get her book.
"Okay, then," CR said and looked at the others. "Are you guys okay?"
"No," they all replied.
"I'll be okay when I know our girls are okay," Lizzie said as her phone rang. "It's Jessica."
"Hey, Jessica," Lizzie said, answering the call and putting it on speaker. "How are they?"
"Aubrey and Chloe have a few scrapes and bruises. Lizzie, Annie isn't in great shape. They're all being taken to Mount Sinai," Jessica said. "You might want to hurry."
"Okay. We are on our way," Lizzie said, trying to remain calm. "Please be careful."
"Always. We are following the ambulance Annie is in," Ashley said. "We will see you when you get there. Drive safe."
They said their goodbyes and Ashley ended the call. Just then Amy and Flo came in the door laughing about some guy on the street.
"Amy, we need a ride to Mount Sinai now," Lizzie said as she brought a few of her and Annie's things downstairs.
"Um, okay. Let's go," Amy said as she called her driver to come get them.
As soon as they arrived at the hospital they are taken back to Aubrey and Chloe's room.
"Hey, babe," Beca said as she sat beside Chloe's bed. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel great!" Chloe said with a dopey smile. "Hey, Beca, have I told you I love you? I don't think I did. I love you. There, now I've said it."
"Someone is on some good pain killers," Beca said as she leaned up to kiss Chloe's cheek. "And I love you, too."
Aubrey had a somber look on her face and tears in her eyes as she said, "I am so sorry."
Stacie sat on the side of the bed and held Aubrey as she sobbed.
"Hey, it will be okay," Lizzie said as the doctor entered the room.
"Good evening, ladies," the doctor said as he checked Aubrey and Chloe's charts.
"Well, what is the diagnosis doctor?" Stacie asked, still holding Aubrey.
"These two will be fine," the doctor said. "They both have some bumps and bruises and this young lady has a cut on her arm."
The doctor checked the stitches on Chloe's arm.
"Doctor, have you heard anything about Annie?" Aubrey asked still sniffling.
Lizzie, who had been in a daze, snapped her head up to look at the doctor. "Yeah, any news on my fiance?"
He started to pull Lizzie aside, but she stopped him. "You can tell them. Is she going to okay? What's going on with her?"
"She is okay right now," the doctor told them. "We had to put her on a lot of fluids and give her a blood transfusion. She had a couple of broken bones that we stabilized and casted. She has a cut on her head and a possible concussion. We won't know the extent of the head injury until she wakes up. Would you like to go see her? I can only take one of you at a time for now."
"Go ahead, Lizzie," Stacie said. "We will bring these two up once they are discharged."
"Thanks, Sissy," Lizzie said as she rushed to follow the doctor.
As they reached the door to Annie's room, Lizzie stopped the doctor. "I have a couple more questions. Are, um, are the babies okay? And can we get her moved to a private room?"
"We didn't know she was pregnant," the doctor said. "I can get a sonogram machine up here and check on the baby."
"Babies," Lizzie said.
"Oh," the doctor said. "And, she's already been placed in a private room."
The doctor turned and started down the hall to find the machine.
"Wait," Lizzie said. The doctor stopped and turned to Lizzie. "If she's already in a private room, why only one visitor at a time?"
"They just moved her down here to the private room and she's a bit out of it. We didn't want to cause her any undue stress."
"Okay, thank you," Lizzie said. She opened the door and started crying when she saw Annie lying in the bed with several tubes connected from her to the machines around the bed. Lizzie walked over and sat in a chair next to the bed and gently took Annie's hand in hers. "Oh, sweetie."
Lizzie sat there for what felt like hours before the doctor came back with the sonogram machine.
"Okay, let's take a look at these babies. Do you know how many? How far along is she?" the doctor fired off quickly.
"Three. About eight or nine weeks," Lizzie replied weakly trying not to get her hopes up.
"We might not be able to hear their heartbeats this early," the doctor said while moving the wand around Annie's abdomen. "If not, we will get a transvaginal machine up here try to see if the hearts are beating."
Lizzie was waiting with baited breath to hear anything.
After several minutes of searching the doctor said, "Okay, we need the transvaginal machine. I will get that up here right away."
"Thank you," Lizzie said as she stroked Annie knuckles absentmindedly.
Just then the door opened and Stacie and Aubrey walked in.
"Hey," Stacie said as she stood behind Lizzie and watched the doctor take the machine out of the room. "Find out anything about your trio?"
Lizzie shook her head and continued to absentmindedly stroke Annie's hand. "He couldn't hear the heartbeats with the sonogram machine. He is going to get a transvaginal machine to see if that works better."
"Hey, I'm so sorry," Aubrey said as she grabbed Lizzie's hand that wasn't holding Annie's. "I didn't see the ice until we were already spinning."
"That's how black ice works," Lizzie said as she squeezed Aubrey's hand. "I did something similar before with my mustang right after I found out I was pregnant with Shelby."
Several minutes later the doctor came back with a different machine and a nurse to help get the wand inserted. Once inserted the doctor smiled as the babies came up on the screen.
"Well, they are definitely there. Now let's see if we can see their heartbeats."
After adjusting the machine a few times, the doctor and nurse turned to Lizzie with smiles on their faces. Lizzie snapped her head over to the screen, and tears sprang to her eyes as she looked at four heartbeats. "Wait! Is that four heartbeats?"
"It looks that way," the doctor said as he removed the wand and the nurse started to clean up. "Congratulations, you are having four babies."
"Holy shit! I was ready for three and now I find out we are having four!" Lizzie exclaimed with tears streaming down her face as she looked at Annie. "You hear that baby? You are giving us four babies!"
"She needs to wake up so she can celebrate with us," Stacie said as she clapped excitedly.
"How did we not see this on the other scan?" LIzzie asked. "Holy hell! We are going to need help with this group. She wanted to deliver them naturally but I'm not sure she will be able to deliver this many. Hell, one was hard enough for me."
"Well, in early scans they don't always show up," the doctor said. "One is sometimes hiding behind another. With four babies, a C-section is probably going to be her best bet. Do you have any other questions?"
"No, thank you," Lizzie said and the doctor left the room. She was still somewhat in shock as she asked Stacie, "How is Chloe doing?"
"She was passed out when we left them," Stacie said. "She'll have to stay the night. Beca is not happy about that."
"I can imagine," Lizzie said with a slight chuckle.
"Beca wanted to come up here but…," Aubrey started but was cut off.
"She should stay with Chloe," Lizzie said quickly.
"Yeah," Stacie and Aubrey said at the same time.
"You two should go home and get some sleep," Lizzie said looking at the clock. "I'll text everyone once she wakes up. I'll see you…later in the morning. No objections, Aubrey."
"Okay," Aubrey said defeatedly. "If anything happens, call us please."
"Will do," Lizzie said as she looked back to Annie, hoping for any sign that she will wake up.
They said their goodnights, and Aubrey and Stacie head out the door. The room is silent except for the beeping of the machine.
Lizzie continued to hold Annie's hand. Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep with her head on the edge of the bed.