Ch. 21

Ezra's POV

Aria jolted awake and sat upright with a cry.

"Aria! Aria! What's wrong?" I asked with panic in my voice.

"Aah! Ezra, it hurts!" Aria cried out as her eyes searched my face for comfort.

"What hurts?" I demanded.

"My stomach," My heart dropped when she said those words.

"Ok," I said trying to at least pretend I was calm, "I'm bringing you to the ER."

I scooped her tiny and limp frame into my arms, grabbed my keys, and jogged to my car.

Aria cried the entire way to the hospital. I wasn't sure if she was crying in pain, or out of fear. My hands shook on the steering wheel as I drove as quickly as possible. I glanced over at her every ten seconds to see what expression was on her face. As we arrived at the hospital, I parked the car and ran over to open the door for her. I picked her up, slamming the car door behind us, and ran into the hospital with the love of my life in my arms. The doctor's took her away immediately and her OB/GYN was paged in. I picked up my cell and called Ella.

"Hello?" She asked uncertainly, as she didn't have my number and it was 12:30 in the morning.

"Ella? It's Ezra. Aria's in the hospital. She woke up crying in pain, and the nurses just took her away. Dr. Hale has been paged and is coming in to examine her. I just…I know that she would want me to call you, and I wanted you to know what was going on," I said in a shaky voice.

"Okay. Thank you, Ezra. I'll be there in ten minutes," Ella said with an enviable amount of calmness.

"Excuse me, sir. Did you come in with Ms. Montgomery?" a nurse asked me.

"Y-yes, I did. Is she okay? Can I see her?" I managed to stammer out.

"Yes," the nurse said, "You may see her, but Dr. Hale is still 5 minutes away. She should be able to tell you something as soon as she gets here. I'm assuming you're the father by your overall reaction?"

"Yes. I guess it's pretty obvious, but I'm just so worried. I've never seen her in that much pain before."

"I know. There's no cause for panic yet. Her room number is A27. I'll be in to check on you both later," the nurse said with a pat on my back.

I ran down the hall and into Aria's room. She was in a night gown and lying on the exam table. Her eyes were closed and her skin looked translucent and pale as the white paper sheet underneath her in the bright lighting of the hospital.

"Aria, honey, how are you feeling?" I asked quietly as I sat in the chair by her bedside and took her hand in mine.

"Ezra," she whispered so quietly I could barely hear, "I'm so scared. What if I lost our baby?" The tears started pouring down her face.

"Aria," she turned her face away from mine, "Aria," I began again as I turned her face towards mine with my hand, "If you lost our baby it was not your fault. Okay? And we have no way of knowing what's going on until Dr. Hale get's here. I love you no matter what happens, whether you're pregnant or not. We can always make another baby when the time's right; we can never make another you."

Aria smiled and rubbed her thumb across my cheek.

"I don't mean to interrupt," Dr. Hale said as she walked in.

"No, not at all," I said.

"So, I'm assuming you're Ezra. I've heard about you," she said with a smile.

"Aria!" Dr. Hale exclaimed, "You must've really missed me, because I wasn't supposed to see you for six more weeks."

Aria laughed softly and said, "You know me, Dr. Hale. I just couldn't stay away!"

Dr. Hale smiled and said, "Why don't I take a look?"

She put Aria's feet in the stirrups and checked to see if there was any blood loss.

"Ok," she said as she squeezed the cold gel onto her belly, "Now, let's check for a heartbeat."

Aria squeezed my hand, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

"Please, God," I prayed silently, "Please don't let my baby be dead. Please…."