Chapter Twelve
"You've got to be kidding me." a half-awake Leo grumbled to himself as the sound of a ringing phone brought him out of his slumber. His half-closed, brown eyes looked at a nearby alarm clock. "It's only one in the morning."
"Ignore them and maybe they'll go away." Greenlee chimed in, having woken up herself.
"It could be an emergency." Leo replied, groping around for the phone. He let out a yawn as he brought the earpiece to the side of his face. "Du Pres residence."
"Leo, it's Joe Martin," replied the serious voice of the head doctor at Pine Valley Hospital. "I'm afraid that I have some bad news."
"Bad news?" a more awake Leo repeated, sitting up in bed. "What kind of bad news?"
"Carlos Reyes was hit by a car earlier this evening." Joe reported, causing Leo to run a hand through his brown hair. Carlos had been in his bodyguard while he had been in hiding before Leo himself had sent him over to Pine Valley to keep an eye on Greenlee. "He's still alive, but he's pretty badly hurt."
"What is it?" a curious Greenlee asked, her brown eyes bigger than usual.
"Carlos was hit by a car." Leo replied, looking over at the woman. "He's pretty bad."
"Oh my God! Has someone gotten a hold of Juan Pablo?" Greenlee asked in a tone loud enough so that Joe could hear her over the phone. She was referring to the older brother of Carlos.
"He's here." Joe confirmed, causing Leo to nod his head at his wife. "However, he's like you would expect him to be." The older, gray-haired man paused and sighed wearily. "It would do him a lot of good if someone else came down here, and given your close connection to Carlos…"
"I'll be right there, Joe." Leo promised with a nod as he hung up the phone. Almost immediately, he got out of bed and slid the black jeans he had been wearing the previous day over his boxers. "Joe wants me to come down to the hospital. Apparently, Juan Pablo's not doing so well himself."
"I'll go with you." Greenlee volunteered, quickly dashing into the nearby bathroom to change from her skimpy negligee. "Why don't you call your father? Carlos was his employee, so I'm sure that he'll want to know."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Leo nodded, picking up the phone again. Seeing as how it was about seven in the morning in France, he didn't feel so bad about calling.
"Bonjour." the unfriendly voice of Jean greeted on the other line.
"Jean, it's Leo." the brown-haired man replied, eliciting a groan from the other man. "Is Dad around? I really need to speak with him."
"One moment." the older du Pres brother said before Leo could hear the phone changing hands and Jean's voice telling presumably the Count who was on the phone.
"I thought that you'd be asleep right now, my boy." the much friendlier voice of Guy chuckled into the phone.
"I would be, but I just got a pretty bad phone call." Leo sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Carlos was hit by a car earlier tonight, and he's apparently in pretty bad shape."
"My God." a worried Guy whispered, "That's terrible!"
"Greenlee and I are about to head down to the hospital." Leo continued, letting his hand fall to the back of his neck. Greenlee emerged from the nearby bathroom, dressed in blue jeans and one of Leo's t-shirts. "Apparently, his brother, Juan Pablo, isn't taking things too well."
"Tell both him and Carlos that we will be praying for him." Guy sighed before clearing his throat.
"I will." Leo promised with a nod.
"Juan Pablo!" Greenlee exclaimed as she and Leo rushed into Pine Valley Hospital. A tall, brown-haired, clearly affluent Hispanic man turned upon hearing their voices. Greenlee embraced him immediately. "Leo and I came the minute that we got word of what was happening."
"How is he?" a curious Leo inquired, bracing himself on a nearby counter as he tried to catch his breath.
"He's in surgery right now." the man reported in a thick, Spanish accent. Sadness and worry could still be found in his voice. "He has some sort of injury to his head."
"Oh, man." Leo breathed, running a hand through his short, brown hair. Carlos sounded worse than he thought, but he knew that Juan Pablo would want reassurance. "Don't worry, Juan Pablo. According to David, Dr. Grey is a really good surgeon. She'll have him back on his feet in no time."
"I only wish that I could share your optimism, Leo." Juan Pablo smiled before noticing a familiar black-haired, Hispanic woman entering the hospital. Leo recognized the woman as Simone Torres, a friend of Greenlee's who had been romantically linked to Carlos in the near past. "Excuse me."
"He seems worried." Greenlee commented to Leo as Juan Pablo went off to speak with Simone.
"The man's little brother could die, Greenlee." a sympathetic Leo said, thinking back to his own younger brother's death months prior. "I think that he's allowed to be a little upset."
"What about you, Leo?" a curious Greenlee inquired, placing herself in front of her husband. Du Pres smiled as the brown-haired woman reached up and caressed his cheek. "I know that you and Carlos were pretty close."
"Well, I'd be lying if I said that I was fine." Leo admitted before kissing Greenlee's fingers. "But, like I told Juan Pablo, I'm pretty sure that Carlos is going to beat this thing, Greenlee. He has to!" Suddenly, he winced and slapped himself in the forehead. "God, I'm such an idiot!" His brown eyes searched the area around them. "I should find you a chair or something! You really need to get your rest."
"I'm fine, Leo." Greenlee assured with a chuckle, "Relax! Both me and the baby can handle something like this." She smiled at her husband. "They have our genes, remember? That already makes them a survivor." She laughed. "Your genes especially, Mr. Comeback-From-the-Dead."
"That kid's going to be one tough cookie that's for sure." a brown, curly haired woman remarked as she and a dark-haired man Leo's age walked up to the pair. Lightly, she hit Greenlee in the arm. "You should have told us that you were expecting."
"Must have slipped my mind." Greenlee shrugged with a smile.
"Yeah, right." the woman rolled her eyes before looking sincerely at Leo. "You know, Trey would have been ecstatic if he was still here. He always wanted a big family."
"He would have made an excellent uncle." Leo nodded in agreement, recognizing the woman as Kendall Hart, his brother's half-sister on the other side of the family.
"Yeah, he would have." Greenlee agreed, leaning up against Leo.
"How's Carlos?" the dark-haired man asked, putting his hands in his pockets. The man was Aidan Devane, Anna's nephew who had a possible romantic relationship with Kendall. "We heard about the accident and figured that we needed to be here for Simone."
"Apparently, he's got some sort of head injury." Greenlee replied with a sigh, "He's in surgery right now, but the doctors are optimistic." She paused and shook her head. "Juan Pablo? Not so much."
"Well, do you blame the guy?" Kendall sighed, rubbing her forehead. She smiled gently up at Leo and Greenlee. "You know, you two should really get home and get some sleep. You're going to have enough sleepless nights in the near future."
"No, I want to be here for Carlos." Leo shook his head firmly. "If not for my own personal reasons, then because my father can't be here for him."
"Don't worry about that, little brother." a familiar voice said from nearby the group. All four sets of eyes turned to see Zoe du Pres entering the hospital. "You're not the only one who can be here in Papa's place."
"Zoe!" an overjoyed Leo exclaimed, hugging his older half-sister. In his joy, he failed to notice Kendall and Aidan excuse themselves from the group. "What in the hell are you doing here? I thought that you were still back in France."
"I left the day after you." Zoe replied, hugging her much taller brother back. "I was in Philadelphia on business when Papa called and told me what had happened." As the pair separated, her blue eyes searched the chocolate ones of her half-brother. "How is your friend?"
"He's in surgery." Greenlee replied for Leo. "He's got some sort of head injury apparently."
"The poor man." Zoe shook her head with a sad sigh. "All we can really do right now is pray, I guess."
"Well, that's brought about miracles before." Leo shrugged as Greenlee leaned him towards him. Kissing the top of his wife's head, du Pres wrapped one of his arms around her. "It might just be what we need right now."
"What the…" a stunned Leo asked himself after pushing open the door to Carlos' room a few days later. The black-haired, Hispanic, former bodyguard, who was still recovering from being hit by a car, was nowhere to be found! Only an empty hospital bed remained, which caused Leo to start believing that the worst had occurred. "Oh, no."
"Don't worry, Leo." Juan Pablo reassured from behind the tall, brown-haired man. Hearing his voice, du Pres turned around instantly. "He is still alive. However, we had to move him to a secret location to ensure his safety."
"His safety?" Leo repeated before shaking his head. "I don't understand, Juan Pablo." Remembering that Carlos had mentioned being in hiding from some Argentinean mobsters, the realization suddenly dawned on Leo. "Wait! You think that the Calvatras might be after him?"
"I strongly suspect that they are." Juan Pablo nodded as Leo sighed in dismay and shook his head. "Like I said, I had Carlos moved to a secret location for his own safety." He paused and rubbed his brow wearily. "However, I'm not sure if even that will be enough. I think that you should stay away from Carlos for the time being, Leo."
"What?" a shocked Leo asked, "Why?"
"Because these men will not stop until they find Carlos." Juan Pablo replied, looking into Leo's eyes. "They will hunt down anybody that they even suspect would know anything about Carlos' current location, and I know that my brother would not want you to be involved." He shook his head. "Not now when Greenlee is expecting."
Nodding silently, Leo couldn't help but feel slightly conflicted. Sure, becoming involved with the situation between the Calvatras and Carlos could be dangerous for himself and his soon-to-be family, but Carlos was his friend. He just couldn't abandon him when he needed him the most. However, he also knew that the Calvatras knew about his connection to Carlos, so they might be watching him and where he went, hoping to learn the injured Carlos' location.
"You're right, Juan Pablo." Leo nodded, "It would probably be better for everyone involved if I stayed away from him." He paused for a moment and put a supportive hand on Juan Pablo's shoulder. "Tell him that I'll be praying for him though, and that we'll catch a beer or something when this is all over."
"I will." Juan Pablo promised with a nod.
"I'm glad that you told him that you'd stay away, Leo." Greenlee commented later that night after Leo told her about the incident at the hospital. The brown-haired woman was already lying in bed, watching with a slight smile as her husband stripped off his clothing. "You've already been through one war with a criminal organization."
"You know, I'm surprised, Greens." a grinning Leo said as he pulled his shirt off over his head. He held the shirt in one hand and spread his arms out. "The sight of me stripping used to derail any other sort of thoughts you had." He sat down on his side of the bed. "You don't find me so attractive anymore?"
"Please! You'd have to commit me to Oak Haven if that was true." Greenlee reassured as Leo laid down, resting his head on her thigh. Her smiled widened as she gently massaged his bare chest, eliciting a moan of pleasure from him. "I'm just tired, Leo. Carrying the baby around is already wearing me out, and I'm not even whale-sized yet." Her hand paused and her eyes looked down into her husband's. "You are going to find me still attractive when I'm as big as a house, aren't you?"
"Like I could ever think that you weren't the most beautiful woman in the whole world?" a reassuring Leo chuckled, turning his head to look at her. "Especially now that you're carrying our child inside of you?"
"You are so sweet." Greenlee replied, running her fingers through his hair.
"I know." Leo laughed, looking back up at the ceiling. "Mind if I fall asleep right here tonight?"
"That depends." Greenlee smiled widely. "Are you going to make any more narcissistic comments? If so, I'm just going to have reassign you to couch duty."
"Ok." Leo agreed, putting his hands up. "No more narcissistic comments from me, I swear."
"Hmm." Greenlee giggled quietly as she reached over and turned off the lamp. "Goodnight, Leo."
"Goodnight, Greenlee." Leo yawned as both turned their attention to Greenlee's stomach. "Goodnight, Baby."
To be continued...
