With a sob, Kory collapsed backwards onto the hospital bed; curing up into a ball and trying to escape the world around her. She could hear people calling out her name and trying to assure her that everything would be alright; that she was safe now that she was with them. Maybe she was safe, but she was dying on the inside because she knew what had happened.
"Xavier gave me up," she thought with a heavy heart. "He needed money so he dumped me here. He doesn't love me." Each thought of Xavier made it harder for Kory to breathe and soon she found herself choking and gasping for air while doctors around her called for nurses and tried to help her to breathe.
"It's alright Kory, they'll never get you again. I promise," Richard whispered to her, taking hold of Kory's hand as I stroked some of the hair out of her face. She met his gaze, watery and broken emerald eyes to caring and strong sapphire ones and it was then that Kory remembered why she was so attracted to Richard in the first place; his eyes. It was in those eyes that she could always feel safe and protected, like everything else just kinda slipped away and it was just the two of them in peace. Finding strength, Kory nodded before finally taking a breath much to the relief of everyone else in the room. Looking around, Kory saw the two unfamiliar faces of the doctors helping her, some nurses that looked pleased they didn't actually have to do anything, and finally Bruce and his elderly butler; Alfred. Bruce caught her gaze and smiled softly at her which Kory managed to return before sinking back down into her pillow.
Though it seemed that everything could go back to normal and be right again; Kory knew that it never could. Her virginity had been stolen by a man that was now dead, she'd been abused and beaten, her family was dead, for a while others thought she was dead, and now Kory was left without the man she had fallen in love with. Yes, she fell in love with Xavier; probably long before the passionate night they shared together only to find out that it was all just a lie and that Xavier was after money the whole time.
"I have to leave now to let you get some rest, but I'll be back tomorrow Kory; I promise," Richard assured Kory before kissing her forehead and giving her hand one last gentle squeeze. Then he was gone and she was left in my room once again; her thoughts the only thing left to haunt Kory with memories of her last year or so in prison.
Kory's breath fogged before her, floating away into the night sky only to be followed by another as she continued to walk forward in the frigid cold. She didn't know where she was, only that it seemed familiar which made a chill run up her spine as fear continued to work it's way into her system. Chunks of what appeared to be a destroyed building came into view as Kory continued walking and she began to wonder more and more just where she was.
"You're at the birth place of it all my precious whore," Slade whispered out to her from the darkness. Kory spun around, but still saw nothing, just the never ending blackness of the night and then faint city lights from far off.
"Stay away from me!" she cried out into the night with a harsh laughter as her only reply. Letting her fear over-take her, Kory broke out into a run; not sure where she was going but not caring either as long as it was away from Slade.
"You ran from me once my pet and managed to get away, but not for long, because I'm still alive," Slade said and Kory froze in her run.
"N-no, that's not possible! Xavier killed you! I watched it!" she yelled, trembling from the cold and from fear.
"Aw that right, your precious lover killed me. Well you're wrong! I'm still alive and I'm coming to get you. Oh and better yet, there's nothing Xavier can do about it because he left you. He doesn't love you," Slade taunted.
"Shut up!" Kory screamed, grabbing at her hair and squeezing her eyes closed to try and get away from his voice.
"He never did love you. He just used you for sex, the same way I used you." The voice was getting closer and timidly Kory opened her eyes to find Slade staring right at her.
"I want you to know my real face so that you know when I'm following you. So that you know while you're walking down the streets in broad daylight that even then you're still not safe. You are mine you pathetic human and there's nothing you can do to stop me," Slade spat before removing his mask. Kory stared at him wide eyed, having barely enough time to take in his dark brown buzzed hair, sharp bone features, scowling mouth, and scar going from his right temple past his nose before she was falling.
"No!" Kory screamed out, bolting up in the bed and breathing heavily. The curtains were drawn on her window, keeping the light out of her room but there was light streaming in from underneath the door from the hall way. There were no sounds except for her own labored breathing and the pounding sound of her heart beating from what seemed like was inside her throat.
"It was all just a dream," she thought with relief, lying back down into the bed and pushing her bangs out of her face. Even knowing that though, it didn't help her relax enough to fall back asleep. Kory's heart was still beating much too hard and it echoed in her ears, making her whole body aware of every movement around her. The sheets felt even stiffer under her fingers now than they had when she was brought to the hospital to have tests run on her to figure out if she was truly healthy or not.
"What does the dream mean? Could Slade still possibly be alive?" Kory wondered and a shudder ran through her body. No, Slade couldn't possibly be alive. She had watched Xavier kill him after all.
"Ms. Anders, are you alright?" a gentle voice woke Kory from her thoughts and she looked to her left to see a nurse staring at her. When Kory went to blink she let out a cry of pain, eyes dry and stinging as wetness returned to them. How long had she just been sitting up in bed, staring at the window waiting for Slade to jump in at any moment and rape her all over again; tell her that she would never truly escape her before he stole her in the middle of the night.
A strangled sob left Kory's throat as she curled up in a ball and began to shake violently.
"No, it's all just a bad dream. I'm still at the sleep over," she assured herself, but knew it wasn't so. If it were a dream, it was all much too real; the feeling of having her body stolen from her wasn't something she could fake in a dream.
"We need a doctor!" the nurse cried out into the hall way, a sense of panic over taking her voice. Kory slowly opened her eyes to figure out why a doctor was needed for her panic attack when she looked down and saw blood covering the sheets. A woozy feeling fell over Kory before she collapsed backwards into her bed, unconscious as doctors swarmed into the room.
"She just started bleeding! I-I didn't know wh-what to do," the nurse stuttered out, staring in disbelief at the bleeding girl in the bed. Richard stood near the door way, looking in with wide eyes as the doctors lifted Kory from her bed and into an emergency bed with wheels so they could move her.
"It looks like she's bleeding from the womb," a doctor told one of the nurses before that woman left to prep a room for Kory.
"Richard we need to give them room to work. Come on, you haven't eaten all day," Bruce said gently before pulling his adopted son away from the room. This wasn't, after all, something he needed to see. Richard looked back one more time to see Kory being carted away down the hall way before the elevator doors closed and he was left to hope.
oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Kory woke up, groggy from having suddenly blacked out and felt her body ache with stiffness from having not moved for who knows how long. She wanted to stretch and yawn and blink open her eyes while sitting up with a smile to greet the new day with some new found happiness, but the sound of beeping echoing in her ears quickly stopped her from doing so. Slowly, Kory opened her eyes; glad that where ever she was was dark and not blinding with light for she didn't think her eyes could handle that right now.
The ceiling was an off white color, plain and boring and not anything exciting to look at. Sadly, the walls were the same and didn't even hold any pictures to give someone in the room something to stay at. Kory's attention drifted from the walls and back towards the sound of the beeping when it went off again and she found some machine set up next to the bed she was staying in.
"Oh yeah, that's right. I'm in a hospital," she finally remembered, rubbing her eyes tiredly. After lying in bed for a few more minutes, Kory shifted her position and noted that her thigh muscles were sore even though she had done nothing but sleep. Realization came rushing back to her when she thought back to the nurse calling for a doctor.
Blood. There had been blood soaked through the sheets of Kory's bed. In a fit of panic, she quickly sat up and looked down; relieved to see clean white sheets before pain when shooting through her stomach. With a groan, Kory collapsed back onto the bed as tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. Finally she reopened her eyes and found the button on the wall used to call doctors. With a trembling hand, she reached up and pressed it before relaxing back into the bed; hoping that someone, anyone, would arrive soon to relieve her of the pain her body was putting her through.
Kory could faintly hear the sound of rushing footsteps before the door was thrown open and light came streaming in; causing Kory to cover her eyes as they stung from the change in light.
"Call the doctor, she's awake," a nurse ordered someone still outside the room in the hall before she came in, closing the door behind her but turning on a small light.
"Ms. Anders, how are you feeling?" she asked sweetly and Kory managed to point at her stomach, still grimacing as the pain shot through her abdomen. The nurse simply nodded before pulling some vile out of a drawer and injecting it into the IV connected to Kory's arm.
"It'll take a few minutes for the pain killers to kick in, but once they do you'll feel much better Ms. Anders. The doctor will be here shortly to answer any questions but until then I'll stay here by your side. If you need anything just tell me and I'll get it for you," she offered and Kory nodded, curling up into a tighter ball and cradling her stomach. Just what had happened to her?
The door opened again and this time a doctor came in, turning on all the lights as he entered. By now Kory's eyes had adjusted to light and her stomach was only letting out a small ache that reminded her she hadn't eaten anything in probably quiet a while.
"Ms. Anders, I'm glad to see you awake. You were out for almost a whole day and I was beginning to worry that something had gone wrong during the operation. We are all happy to see that you are well aside from the usual soreness that comes from this kind of surgery," he said with a cheery smile which only made Kory's confusion grow.
"What surgery?" she asked weakly, throat dry from a lack of water. One of the nurses picked up on this and soon brought over a small Dixie cup of water that Kory drank down slowly.
"You've been through a lot Ms. Anders. I'm not sure if now, when you still haven't fully recovered from everything, is a good time to tell you," he said, appearing somewhat nervous which just made Kory's stomach churn.
"Just tell me what's happening," she ordered in a voice that was anything but demanding but instead laced with worry and dread for what she was about to be told.
"You were pregnant Ms. Anders. With twins. Because of the stress and trauma the womb was put through during your captivity it was damaged and began to bleed and we were forced to rush you into surgery so we could save your ovaries and keep you from dying of blood loss." Kory just sat there frozen, staring at the man in a state of disbelief as he told her that she had been pregnant.
"We hadn't even known you were pregnant with the twins until we were half way through with the surgery since you're less than a week into your pregnancy. It was too late for one of them, but we managed to save the other twin and it appears that you'll be able to go through with a normal pregnancy provided that you still wish to keep the baby," the doctor finally finished telling her and Kory just sat in silence for a few more moments. Her hand went to her stomach once again and a haunting thought crossed her mind,
"Am I caring Slade's child?"
oo-oo-oo-oo-oo
Ahh! So I know that it took me like forever to update, but I've just been super busy with school work. The chapter is pretty long though and you finally find out a little of what Slade looks like. Also, you figured out that Kory is pregnant so it's not like I gave you some boring update.
Um if all goes according to plan (which usually it doesn't) the next chapter will be about Xavier, but it may end up with only some of it being about him. I'm working on an update for Being With You Only Brings The Tears so it's not as if I've totally abandoned the story even though it sure as hell appears that way. I hope to get that update posted in the next couple of weeks.
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and please review!
Kattie