Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters, plots or concepts of the OC. Everything else is all mine!
A/N: Thanks everyone for your reviews! I'm sorry to have left you on such a cliff hanger, but I tried to get this chapter up fairly quickly. I hope you enjoy, and I'll try and update really quickly, but reviews would greatly help
CHAPTER 12: A RUSHED ARRIVAL
"911, what's your emergency?"
"My name's Seth Cohen, my wife's eight months pregnant and she just started bleeding."
"Heavy bleeding or spotting?"
"Um, heavy I think. There's a lot of blood. More than spots."
"Is your wife experiencing any pain or discomfort?"
He looked over at a very pale Summer, who nodded. "I thought it was just a normal stomach ache."
"OK. Mr Cohen, can you drive your wife to the nearest hospital?"
"We don't have a car."
"There's a ten car pile up on the highway, a lot of the ambulances are tied up there."
"But we need to get to the hospital! You can't say that you can't help us."
"We'll send an ambulance as soon as we can. If you can get to a hospital any other way, do. We'll be there as soon as we can."
Seth hung up the phone, before turning to Summer.
"Summ, sweetie, I'm going to go to the other cabins to see if they can help. I need you to stay here."
"No, don't leave me. I don't want to be here alone."
"I know you don't, I don't want to leave. But I need to go, it's to help you. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Just keep calm. Everything's going to be fine."
"You don't know that."
"I can just tell. Everything will be fine, but I need to go. OK?"
Tears streaming down her face, Summer nodded, trying to be brave but feeling terrified. He kissed her on the head, and rubbed her back, before leaving her alone in an unfamiliar cabin.
He ran outside and set off down the dirt path leading to the other five cabins.
They were spaced about a hundred metres apart, each taking advantage of the spectacular lake on the other side. And they were all completely secluded, with enough room between the cabins to make it as if there was no one around at all.
Now however, the distance between the cabins isn't ideal because it meant more time away from Summer, which could prove to be really bad, he didn't know. He wasn't a doctor, obviously, but bleeding had to mean something bad and he just really wanted to get back to Summer as soon as possible.
He knocked on the door closest to him, but got no answer, and all the lights were off. There were no signs of life, and Seth didn't want to waste time on a cabin that was empty.
He kept sprinting down the track until he reached the next cabin. A man about Seth's age answered the door, wearing pyjamas and rubbing his eyes, making it obvious he had been asleep. Seth checked his watch and saw it was only ten thirty, but felt bad about keeping the man up.
"Can I help you?"
"My wife's sick and I need to get to the hospital. We don't have a car and the ambulance is ages away and I need her to get help now. We're having a baby and nothing can happen to it. Please, you have to help me."
Seth didn't mean for it to come out all at once; he didn't want to scare him away, but he was desperate.
"I'm so sorry; my wife and I got a taxi down here."
"Alright. Thanks anyway, I'll just try the next cabin. Sorry to bother you."
"Is anyone else with your wife?"
"Um, no, she's alone."
"We can go over to your cabin and wait with her if you want. She shouldn't be alone right now."
"Yeah, that'd be great actually. We're staying in the next cabin down, and tell her I'll be there as soon as I can."
He ran along to the next cabin. No answer again. But when he sprinted down to the next cabin, he saw the lights were still on and there was a car in the driveway. Hopefully fourth time would be the charm. He had no idea what they'd do if they couldn't get help. He didn't want to think about it.
When he knocked on the third door, he was surprised to see an elderly couple still up and dressed.
He repeated what he had said to the first man, waiting intently for his answer.
"Yeah, you can use our car. I'll just grab my keys and you lead the way."
"Thankyou so much. I'm so sorry to drag you away from your cabin so late at night."
"Don't worry yourself about it at all. When my eldest daughter had her baby, she had to get to the hospital in the back of a garbage truck. And my son's wife was in the same situation as you, having to get her next door neighbour in a holiday resort to drive her. So don't you worry about anything except your wife."
The elderly man grabbed his keys and set off right behind Seth. He couldn't run, but tried to walk as quickly as he could, understanding just how scared Seth was.
They made it back to the cabin as fast as they could, and found the lady from the cabin next door sitting next to Summer, trying to calm her down but without much luck. She had lost more blood and her stomach cramps were worse, and she didn't have Seth with her.
When he returned, he rushed over to see how she was doing, and tell her everything was going to be OK. He didn't know if it was, but he needed something to hold on to, something that would make everything seem a little better than it was.
Summer had calmed down a little, and now Seth was getting ready to move her to the car. He put towels on Mr Park's car seat, thanked Mrs Rice profusely for staying with Summer, and scooped Summer up in his arms.
He's never been so brave in his life, never been so strong in his life, but what matters at the moment is getting Summer to the hospital and making sure she and their baby are OK. More than OK, perfect, that was what he needed them to be.
Because without her there was nothing in his life worth living for. He liked his job but had no passion for it, he had friends and family, but nothing could compare to Summer. And he needed her to be fine. He needed to be strong and brave and take her to the hospital and hold her hand because it was the only way he'd get to hold onto Summer, and he needed her.
For an old man, Mr Park drove surprisingly fast. He sped on every road, didn't slow for the corners, knowing the urgency that the two people behind him were feeling, and doing everything he could to help out. They were a long way from the hospital, but the way Mr Park drove got them there in less than an hour.
He sped into the emergency entrance and Seth rushed in to get a doctor and a wheelchair. He was surprised at how quickly they responded, having heard so many horror stories about having to wait for hours.
Maybe Seth's appearance with blood soaked hands and terrified expression made them act faster than they normally did. Whatever it was, Seth was extremely grateful that they didn't have to wait, because he was not sure he and Summer could wait for much longer.
She was wheeled into a private room almost straight away, and the on call resident OBGYN entered not long after.
"I'm going to set up an ultrasound to see what's going on, OK?"
"Alright." Summer and Seth were hand in hand, squeezing tightly and barely exhaling.
They were in the familiar position of sitting and waiting for ultrasound results. But this time was different; it was scary and uncomfortable and tense.
When the doctor had a pretty satisfactory look, she turned to Summer and Seth and informed them that she indeed has a very potentially dangerous condition.
"It's called abruptio placenta. It sounds very scary but it means that your placenta has prematurely detached from the uterus wall. That's what has caused the bleeding and stomach cramps and discomfort."
"But what does it mean?"
"It means that the blood, oxygen and food supply to your baby has been cut off."
"Is baby Cohen alright?"
"There's a heartbeat, although it is faint. How long has it been since you noticed the bleeding?"
"About an hour and a half."
"OK, I'm going to schedule you for an emergency C-section. Your baby needs to come out now, because they can't survive for very long without their oxygen. But there's still a heartbeat, and we've caught it early enough so it can be treated."
"But the baby's not due for another five weeks."
"Your baby needs to come out now."
The doctor walked away, leaving Seth and Summer to swallow the devastating news.
"Summ, did you hear that? She said we caught it early and it can be treated."
"But the heartbeat's faint. What if baby Cohen doesn't survive?"
Tears were spilling onto her cheeks, but Seth was wiping them away tenderly with his hands.
"You forgot that baby Cohen has the greatest mummy and daddy in the whole wide world, and we're fighters. We've fought hard to be together and we're going to fight hard to give baby Cohen the best life in the world. And I know we'll be fine because we deserve it. And there's a heartbeat and all signs point to survival."
She hugged him tightly and cried into his shirt.
"Thanks Cohen."
"You don't need to thank me. You just need to get yourself ready to have our baby. Cos really soon, we'll be parents. How great is that gonna be?"
"It'll be great."
"And we're about to meet baby Cohen."
At that moment, the doctor walked back in with a team of nurses ready to escort her to the surgery.
"I love you Cohen."
"I love you too. Now go have our baby." He kissed her tenderly and ran his fingers through her hair. "I believe in you and I know we're going to be fine. You're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me."
As she was wheeled out towards the operating room, Seth angrily wiped away a few stray tears of his own, before going into the waiting room and slumping his head in his hands.
'Why was this happening to them? He shouldn't be scared shitless on the day he was becoming a parent. He should be happy as hell and spreading the good news.
Which made him remember; he should be calling Newport and letting everyone know.
"Hello, Cohen residence. This is Kirsten."
"Hi mum it's me."
"Seth, is everything OK? It's pretty late."
"No, everything's not OK. Summer started bleeding and the doctor told us she had a condition which cut off the air, food and blood supply to the baby. And now they're performing an emergency C-section to try and save Summer and the baby."
"Oh my god. Are you alright Seth?"
"Summer's the one you should be worrying about. She's out of her mind with fear and I wasn't allowed in the operating room. So she's all alone."
"Sandy and I will be on the next flight to New York. I'm sure everything will be fine."
"I keep telling Summ that, but I'm not sure I can believe it myself. Thanks anyway."
"That's what I'm here for. Don't worry about calling Ryan, we'll let him know. Just take care of Summer and my grandbaby for me. Give them both a big kiss and let them know we're on our way. And Seth?"
"Yeah?"
"I think you're doing an amazing job. You keep surprising me with how mature you've been lately and how great you've been helping Summer out with everything. I thought you should know, you're going to make a wonderful dad."
"Thanks mum."
"I'll see you soon."
When Kirsten hung up the phone, she turned to Sandy on the other side of the bed, and said,
"Pack your bags. Summer's having the baby now. And she's in trouble. Seth wasn't making a lot of sense but he said there was something wrong and Summer and the baby could be in trouble."
"Well we've got to get down there."
They were both out of bed and getting dressed. There should a late flight leaving soon, and they intended to be on it.
"Have you got the teddy bear?"
"Got it."
"And the clothes?"
"Got that too. And the money. And everything." Sandy had quickly booked tickets on the last flight, which left in an hour. "We just need to get in the car and hurry. And call Ryan."
"Sandy?"
"Yeah?"
"We're about to become grandparents." He gave his wife a kiss, and marvelled at how quickly things seemed to have changed. It wasn't that long ago that Sandy was facing this situation with his very stressed, very pregnant wife. And now Seth was doing the same thing. And it seemed as if no time had passed at all.
"Now let's call Ryan."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Hello?"
"Ryan, it's Sandy."
"Hi. What's going on?"
"Summer's having the baby."
"What?"
"Summer's having the baby. And Seth said there were problems, and he was freaking out, saying he didn't know if they were OK. We're going on the next flight. We'll call you as soon as we hear anything."
"Thanks for letting me know. I'll try get off work tomorrow so we can fly over. Seth, Summer and Marissa would all kill me if I didn't. Say hi to them for me."
"Will do."
Sandy and Kirsten rushed through security and made it to the final call. They were on their way to New York, and they were, fingers crossed, about to meet their perfect, healthy, grandchild. All they had to do was pray.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Seth didn't know how to pass the time. He went into the sterile bathrooms and washed the blood off his hands, although there were some stains on his clothes that would never come out. As if he worried about that.
He had gone to the cafeteria and got a double shot coffee to keep him alert.
He had paced up and down the maternity ward, looking in at all the brand new babies, looking so innocent, before anyone had a chance to stuff things up.
And that had taken a grand total of ten minutes. Now he was waiting in the appropriately called waiting room, checking for any signs that the surgery went well.
There were no signs.
No doctors giving updates, no movement from the operating room. Nothing.
Then, the resident OBGYN walked out of the operating room, slowly removing her mask. Her face was unreadable, and her body language didn't give anything away. The fifteen seconds she spent walking towards him were perhaps the longest and scariest fifteen seconds of Seth's life. He had no idea what kind of news she would bring to him. Or if he wanted to hear it. He was terrified.
"Mr Cohen?"
"Yes."
"Congratulations. Your wife is fine. And you have a beautiful baby boy."
A/N: So I'm no doctor (but I want to be one day), and the medical information might not be accurate. I did a bit of research on the internet, but I'm still not sure. This story is fictional however, so hopefully you'll see past any potential flaws. I do watch Grey's Anatomy as well (as you might have noticed in earlier chapters) and I get a lot of medical stuff from that!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and now you know the sex, so I hope no one's disappointed. You guys are the ones that voted!