Chapter 14

The phone call was the last thing Dan had expected. Mary Beth had seen the news when it interrupted her program. The ambulances were still at the scene, working on Michael and Sidney when the swarm of reporters arrived. Michael's horror was played out on live Tv as she screamed Sidney's name in hysterics in between every contraction. The public finally had their answer as to if Michael was carrying Sidney's child, but they had to wonder for how much longer.

Dan almost collapsed in his office as he saw the images from the news copter of Sidney, laying lifeless on the ground as the EMT crew performed CPR. The camera work was almost Hollywood, flashing back and forth between his daughter's hysterics and Sidney's life, slipping before his eyes.

It was difficult trying to figure out which hospital they were being taken to, but Dan took a chance and headed to Mcgee Women's hospital, the first place he could think that an ambulance would take a conscious pregnant woman. The little over a mile drive from the arena was plastered with rush hour traffic. Dan felt helpless in a panic as he was stopped on fifth avenue, waiting for any movement on the road. When he saw the lights of an ambulance flashing by, Dan gunned it along the berm of the road, scrapping the side of his car in full persuit. It never occurred to him that his daughter might not be the passanger in the ambulance.

Dan rolled out of his car, just as Michael was being lifted from the ambulance. Her head was bleeding, but that seemed to be the least of her problems. Michael was crying, clutching her stomach as if it was the only thing she had left of Sidney.

There was a lapse in time, generated full of phone calls between Dan and Mary Beth and Mario, and anyone else who had Dan's number. It was as if there were two home bases. Dan held vigil at Mcgee for news of his daughter, waiting for Mary Beth and Allen to arrive, while the Lemieuxs held camp down the street at Presbyterian hospital with Sidney.

"Mr. Bylsma," a younger looking man in a white lab coat said, extending his hand. "My name is Dr. Merandes. If you would like, we can step into one of the family rooms to discuss your daughter's condition."

"Yes, please," Dan said, eager to find anything out about his daughter, good or bad.

"Michael is stable, so that is the good news," the Dr said, gesturing for Dan to sit down.

"And the baby?" Dan said, too nervous to sit.

"Honestly, only time will tell. I ordered an ultrasound and we found a heartbeat, but," Dr Merandes said, "Michael is in active labor. We have started a cocktail to try and stop her labor, but you need to be prepaired if we can't. Michael is only seventeen weeks pregnant, if she does deliver, there will be nothing we can do for the baby. Twenty-three weeks is the magic number, and in your daughter's case, that's still a long way away.

"I understand," Dan said, clutching the ultrasound picture he hid in his pocket earlier. Sidney knew his coach wouldn't be able to stay frozen towards Michael at the site of his unborn grandchild. Dan's chest began to tighten at the thought of how he had acted towards his own daughter.

"Mr. Bylsma," Dr Merandes said, "there are some other issues we need to be concerned about."

"Please, call me Dan," he said, finally taking a seat.

"When the truck hit their SUV, Michael was ejected from the front seat. The EMTs said the driver was able to slow down enough before he hit them, but obviously the impact was enough to do some damage. Michael's insuline pump was torn out when she hit the ground, which, until we are able to get her into the operating room to replace it, will be something that will have to be managed. But what I am really concerned about is the guard post that Michael slid into. Her Kidney seems tender, there could be some damage. Michael informed me of a previous diabetic attack that left one of her kidneys slightly damaged. I ordered some labs and an ultrasound of her kidneys. That's the best we can do at the moment until we get her contractions under control, which, at the moment are not."

"Can I see her?" Dan said, ignoring the constant buzzing of his phone in his pocket.

"Ofcourse," the Dr said, "she's been asking for you."