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" Daryl!" Jillian's panic voice pulled Daryl from his sleep. He groaned and ran his hand over his face.
" What's wrong, Babe?" He asked, his voice laced with sleep. He opened his eyes and found her sitting up in their bed, her night stand light on. She was staring at her fingers which had blood on them. He pushed himself up quickly. The bed around her had blood in a pool and her thighs were covered in it. "What the fuck!" He yelled.
" I woke up and thought I peed the bed! When I turned on the light there was all this blood!" She said as she started to cry. He threw the covers off and got up.
" You have to go to the hospital!" He said quickly. He grabbed his pants and threw them on. He grabbed his shirt and put it on as he walked into the bathroom. " I'm gonna get you a towel." He said. He quickly grabbed a towel than ran back into their bedroom. He tossed the towel to her. She started to wipe up her thighs. He grabbed her pajama pants and ran to her side of them bed. " Put these on, Babe, than I'll carry you to the truck.
" It's the baby, isn't it?" Her voice was small and her cheeks were tear stained.
" I don't know. Don't think about it, Babe." He said.
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Daryl was gripping her hand as he sat beside her in the hospital bed. Her eyes were locked on his face while he watched the doctor's face. The doctor had a heart monitor out and pressed against her stomach. They had seen the heart beating at her ultrasound but he wasn't picking anything up. The doctor was frowning as he moved the wand slowly around her stomach.
" The baby's gone, isn't it?" Jillian whispered. Daryl brought her hand to his mouth and kissed each of her fingers.
" Ok, I'm having a hard time finding the heart beat so we are going to do an ultrasound. It's not uncommon at this stage in pregnancy that a heartbeat can't be found. Since you are still bleeding, we are going to bring in the ultrasound machine here. It won't be long." The doctor said before he got up and left the room.
" Daryl." He looked at her face than leaned forward. He swept a hand over her hair before he kissed her forehead.
" Whatever happens, we will get through it." He said.
He rubbed her fingers with his as they waited for the doctor to come back with the machine. As soon as he had put her in the truck, she had started having bad cramps and they hadn't stopped yet. She was scared and he could feel her trembling. He kissed her hand and fingers a few times but he was just as nervous and scared as she was. It only took half an hour before the doctor pushed the machine in. He pulled the hospital gown up to reveal her stomach than applied the gel. Jillian held her breath as the image of the baby came unto the screen.
The baby wasn't moving. The doctor took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he moved the wand around her stomach. They could make out the baby's head and little body but there was no fluttering in the chest. All three of them knew it but no one wanted to say it. Jillian turned her head away from the screen so she was facing Daryl. She closed her eyes as tears slipped down her cheeks. Daryl tighten his hold on her hand without taking his eyes from the screen.
" There doesn't appear to be a heartbeat." The doctor said softly. " I'm sorry."
" So that means the baby passed?" Daryl asked, his voice low.
" I'm afraid so." The doctor said as he wiped off the wand and placed it back on the machine. " We are going to need to schedule a small surgical procedure. It's called a D and C. It will take out the baby and the placenta. There is a change she will pass it on her own but we need to be sure everything is gone to prevent any infection from setting in and so it doesn't interfere with any possible future pregnancies."
" I want to go home." Jillian said as she looked at Daryl. " Can you just take me home?" He looked down at her than leaned forward and put his hand on her head.
" We can go home soon. We got stuff we gotta do here first, Babe, okay?" He said. He rested his forehead against hers. " Don't cry, please."
" This isn't any one's fault. Sometimes these things happen." The doctor said. Daryl pulled away enough to look at him. He sighed and nodded. " I will send the nurse in to schedule the D and C." He said before he left to give them privacy. Daryl looked down at her again. He leaned down to her and spoke softly.
" Jill, look at me." He said. She shook her head. " Come on, Jillian, look at me so I know you're here." She swallowed and looked at him.
" I don't want to do this. I want to go home." She said.
" I know you do but you heard the doc, same as I did. We gotta do this. You gonna get sick if we don't." He said as he stroked her hair.
" What if the doctor is wrong, Daryl? What if?" She asked. Daryl's eyes went down her body as he shook his head.
" He's not wrong, Jill. You know that." His eyes came to her face again. " Our bed is covered in your blood, you're still bleedin now. You got pain and there is no heartbeat. Baby's gone, Jill. I'm sorry but that's the fact and we have to deal with it." She pulled away from him and he saw anger flash through her eyes.
" This is what you want, isn't it? You want them to take the baby because you didn't want it to begin with." She snapped.
" What the hell, Jillian?" He asked as he sat back. The nurse walked in with a big book and sat down as Daryl and Jillian glared at each other.
" So the doctor wants to see if Jillian can pass the baby the natural way, it's actually safer for Jillian but if everything hasn't cleared out by next Wednesday, than we are gong to have to do the surgery. We are going to schedule it, okay?" She asked.
" Yeah, seems about right." Daryl said as he looked up at her.
" Daryl, please." Jillian's voice was soft. He looked down at her, seeing her shake her head. " Please don't let them do this." Daryl felt torn. He knew the doctor was right, he knew the surgery had to be done but the tears in her eyes were almost more than he could stand.
" We got a week, Jilly." He said softly. " We ain't got any other choice." He looked up at the nurse and nodded his head. " Schedule it." He said in a firmer voice.
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Daryl stopped the truck in their drive way and got out. Jillian slowly opened the door as he came around her side. He took a hold of her arm and helped her out. She put her hand on her stomach, the pain had increased slightly and she was still bleeding. He kept a hold of her as they walked into the house. She hadn't said a word to him after he scheduled the surgery for her. When they walked into the house, Daryl led her to the couch while pushing Hunter away.
" Lay down here. I'm gonna change the sheets and shit than I'll come back down and get you. Don't let that dog be on your stomach." He said. He looked at Jillian but she didn't answer him. He sighed and turned away from her.
Daryl stripped the sheets off the bed and looked down at the mattress. Some of the blood had gotten on it but when he touched it, he found it was dry. He figured he'd flipped the mattress in the morning. It was almost three and he wanted to get her in bed quickly. They were both tired and upset. He balled up the sheets and took them to one of the spare rooms. He would throw them out in the morning so she wouldn't have to see the blood. He went to the closet and grabbed new sheets than made their bed.
He ran his hand through his hair as he started back down the stairs. He walked through the hallway and found her laying on her side, one arm hanging off the couch, her hand resting on the puppy. Hunter was laying on the floor and his tail started wigging as soon as he saw Daryl. Jillian's eyes were closed and she was sleeping. The hospital had given her pads to help catch the blood flow. She wasn't allowed to use tampons.
He walked over to the couch and crouched down. Daryl gently nudged her to turn her over than slipped one arm under her neck and the other under her knees. As carefully as he could, he lifted her up. He turned them and slowly started back to the steps. He won't go to work tomorrow. He'd ask Lori to sit with Jillian in the morning, then drive into town and get her the medicine the Doctor wanted her to take so she didn't get weak from blood lose. He'd tell Ryan he was going to stay home for a few days then he'd get something nice for her.