Chapter 9
Ryan, Taylor and Jamie had stayed over at Kirsten's and sandy's house last night, to find out how Sophie's date went with Edward, she had come home full of beans, and couldn't wait to spill them, she had loved every minute of their date, and as much as Ryan and sandy hated hearing all the details, in a way they were really pleased for her, finally Sophie had some happiness in her life, and a chance to forget the past.
Up until last night, Ryan had no idea, that Sophie had been having nightmares too, about the night that Scott had tried to kill their entire family, he hadn't thought of anyone else suffering the way he was, but hopefully now that Edward was around, Sophie would start to progress, and with time move on.
Today was a new day, but Ryan was pushing himself to far, he had decided that with Taylor's due date coming up fast, that he wanted to try and up his therapy, he didn't care what it did in the long run, all he could focus on was now.
Ryan had been in the garden doing his therapy for the past three hours, and Taylor had been watching from the kitchen, where she had been baking cakes with Jamie, ready for his birthday party. She could see the pain and the determination on Ryan's face, and in all honesty she was worried, she knew he would push himself as far as he could, but just how far would that be?
Sandy, and the rest of the Cohen family had arrived at Ryan and taylors house, ready for Jamie's fifth birthday, they came armed with presents and cards, cakes and balloons, and Jamie's face lit up at the sight of it all,
"is all this just for me grandpa?" he asked sandy, as his eyes wondered around everything,
"yes kiddo, all this is for you, now lets go open some presents" sandy replied and Jamie beamed,
"come on parker" Jamie said as he grabbed parkers hand and dragged him into the lounge,
Jamie picked up a large box, wrapped in blue paper with fishes in birthday hats on it, he shook it, and looked all around it, and was just about to rip the paper off,
"Jamie, wait please, just wait for daddy" Taylor said from the doorway, Jamie nodded and smiled, putting the box back on the table,
Ryan lowered himself in to his chair, he knew he shouldn't be pushing himself quite so much, but he felt that he had to, he had to be the protector, the hero, he grabbed his towel and started to sponge the sweat from his head,
"water?" sandy offered, making Ryan jump
Ryan took the water, "thanks"
Sandy crouched down, not wanting to seem like he was talking down to Ryan, "you're pushing things a bit hard, aren't you?"
Ryan screwed the lid back on the water, and set the bottle down next to him on the table, "I'm fine"
"you look it" sandy replied,
"sandy,..can we….can we not do this, please?" Ryan asked calmly, but under the surface he felt anything but calm, he didn't wait for an answer, he just turned and wheeled himself into the house,
Sandy stared after him, now he knew for definite, Ryan was at breaking point, he followed Ryan into the house and took his place next to Kirsten.
Ryan went into his and taylors bedroom, and situated himself in the re-walk, he knew after all the therapy he'd been doing, that he really shouldn't be using the re-walk, but today was Jamie's birthday, and he wanted to walk, he had to walk.
He stepped out of the bedroom and made his way across the hall to the kitchen, where he stood for a moment to compose himself,
"Ryan? What's wrong?" Taylor asked, as she walked into the kitchen,
Ryan turned towards her, "why does something always have to be wrong, can't I just take a god damn minute alone" he yelled,
Taylor was shocked, Ryan had never spoken to her this way, why was he behaving like this, " Ryan, what has got into you?" she asked whispering, not wanting to alert everybody to this… whatever this was.
"urgh.. Taylor cut the crap, ok? What do you think has gotten in to me, THIS, THESE, THE FACT I CANT WALK, WITHOUT THIS STUPID MACHINE, do you get it now?" he asked, whilst smacking his legs,
"ry… please…" Taylor started but was interrupted,
"erm.. Is everything alright you guys?" sandy asked,
Ryan's face flashed with anger, "GET OUT, ALL OF YOU OUT, NOW!" he shouted, Ryan grabbed taylors arm, "get them out of my house",
Taylor twisted around in Ryan's grip, "ow, Ryan you're really hurting me, let go"
Sandy moved forward, "Ryan!, what is going on, why are you behaving like this?"
"behaving like what? How do you want me to behave, huh? How? You tell me." Ryan yelled again,
The rest of the family came into the kitchen to see what was going on, "Ryan, what is up man?" Seth asked
"oh, forget it, you wouldn't understand, none of you would understand, none of yo…." Ryan collapsed on the floor in a heap, before he could finish,
Taylor tried to crouch down, but unfortunately the twins were making that difficult, sandy moved her out of the way, "Ryan? Ryan? Can you hear me?", Ryan didn't move or make a sound,
"Kirsten, call an ambulance, Seth take the kids" sandy barked at everyone,
"already on it" summer said, as she ushered the kids out of the room " we'll take them to ours" she said and sandy nodded.
Kirsten was speaking rapidly into the phone to the emergency staff, Taylor was panicking, "sandy, what's happened?"
Sandy shook his head " I don't know Taylor"
They sat and waited for what seemed like an eternity for the paramedics to arrive, but the eventually did and everyone was ushered out of the way, once Ryan was strapped to a hospital gurney, and loaded in the ambulance, Taylor was driven to the hospital by sandy and Kirsten.
They all sat in silence, like they had the night of Ryan's operation, after scotts rampage, only this time, it was Ryan himself that had caused this.
Hours later, a doctor came forward, and addressed them, " Mrs Atwood?"
Taylor stepped forward, "I'm Mrs Atwood", the doctor nodded,
"Mrs Atwood, Ryan is fine, we have put him in a private room and you will be able to see him shortly" the doctor said,
"do you know, what happened? Why he collapsed like he did?" sandy asked,
The doctor turned to face them all, "Ryan has been through a lot these last eight months, but lately he said he's been pushing himself, we can say he had collapsed through exhaustion, he's lost weight since the therapist weighed him two weeks ago, he says that he hasn't been sleeping"
Sandy nodded "he's been having dreams, since back then…"
The doctor nodded, "I see, well we're going to be keeping him in for while just to make sure that he is stable enough"
"thank you doctor" Taylor said and shook the doctors hand,
"we will send someone to let you know when you can go and see him" and with that the doctor walked off, leaving Taylor, Kirsten and sandy to once again sit in the familiar waiting room that had always bought them bad news.
"sandy, why didn't he tell me that he's been having these dreams" Taylor asked,
"he didn't want you to worry, he thought the stress wouldn't be good for tha babies" sandy tried to comfort her,
"but I'm worried even more now" she replied, Kirsten came and sat next to Taylor and she put her arm around her shoulders, "Taylor, we're all in this together" she said.
A few hours later when Ryan had been settled in his room, and answered all the questions that needed answering and he was already feeling relived, all he wanted now was to see Taylor, to apologise, he couldn't believe he had behaved the way he had to her, he was pulled out of his thoughts, by the very woman herself,
"Taylor, I…" Ryan started,
"Ryan, please, let me go first.. I just want to say I'm sorry, I never should have put pressure on you to walk and I realise now that when I did what I did in the beginning, that I never should have, I love you and I should have been there for you, and I will be from now on, I promise, no more pressure, you walk, you don't walk, you are still my husband and I love you" Taylor rambled.
"finished?" Ryan asked smiling,,
Taylor nodded, and smiled back,
"I'm sorry Taylor, I never should have shouted or grabbed you, but it was like I wasn't in control, it was like I had snapped and a different version of me was doing the things that I did, I'm sorry, and I'll never, ever do it again" he said,
"oh Ryan" Taylor said as she sat on his bed and kissed him, and for a few moments they just sat holding each other,
"sorry kids, we just wanted to check how you're doing?" sandy said, making them jump apart,
Ryan waved them in and Taylor stood up to give them room to see their son, but as she stood, great searing pain shot across her stomach, Taylor hunched over in pain,
"oh my god, Taylor are you ok?" Kirsten asked, as she offered assistance,
Taylor looked at Kirsten, her face already red and hot from the pain, and she shook her head for 'no',
"sandy, sandy, go get a nurse, taylors having the babies" Kirsten yelled,
Ryan started scrambling around the bed, searching for what? He didn't know, but panic was setting in,
Suddenly the room filled with nurses and doctors, the surrounded Taylor so fast that everything was a blur.
"what's going on? Somebody talk to me?" Ryan demanded,
Finally a nurse faced Ryan, " mr Atwood, your wife is in labour".
Ryan smiled, he hadn't envisioned it would be like this but he was still excited, he looked at Kirsten who was gripping taylors hand, and he looked at sandy, who was smiling back at him,
"well at least we were already at the hospital" he laughed,
A nurse addressed Ryan "mr Atwood, would you like us to wheel you down to the maternity ward too".
Ryan nodded, and they helped him in to a wheelchair, along with Taylor in hers, side by side, they gripped each others hands as they were wheeled together to the maternity ward, where they will finally meet their new babies.