Sutton's heart pounded and she bounced her knee up and down rapidly. Austin's desk was impeccable. Just as neat and tidy as his apartment had been. She looked up nervously at him, "So?" She said finally breaking the silence. She looked down at the floor.
Austin finally looked at her, "I don't know, Sutton." He said calmly, "I've thought about this. It's not like it's a new puppy. It's a baby, Sutton."
She looked at him, "Yeah, I got that. I think the constant vomiting is a good reminder that it's a baby." She said, but then she realized maybe her comment was a bit harsh. Her face softened, "I'm sorry." She said.
Austin nodded, "It's my baby." He said looking at her stomach, "And I can't just make the decision to kill it or not. I don't really want a baby right now." He confessed.
Sutton looked at him, her eyes widened, "So, you don't want the baby?" She said hopefully.
Austin shrugged, "I mean, I don't know. This is easier for you Sutton. You already have one, you're used to being a parent."
Sutton shook her head, "This isn't easy for me, Austin. This is my kid too." She said sighing, "I just can't keep this lie up. But if you want this baby, Austin, it's going to mess up everything I have. You have to understand how much I love my family. My daughter and Thayer are everything to me."
"Then why did you sleep with me?!" He said slamming his hand on the desk, the thumping sound made her jump and she looked at him, "Why did you sleep with me if you love him so much? Obviously, you don't love him as much as you think."
Sutton shook her head, "No. That's not true!" She said raising her voice to match his. "You don't know anything about what preceded that night. You don't know what I was going through. He and I had a fight and I was upset. I thought things between us were over and when I met you, you made me feel like I didn't deserve to be treated the way Thayer treated me. You made me feel special. You took care of me and I let my guard down."
"Yet here you are, pregnant with my child." He said shaking his head.
Sutton looked at him, "Look, I might have wanted another baby, but not like this! Not with some other guys baby. Do you know how terrible this feeling is?" She said putting her hands on her still flat stomach.
Austin's eyes widened at her comment, "You didn't seem to think that when you begged me not to stop." He looked down at the keyboard next to his arm and then his eyes came up to meet hers, "I get it, Sutton. You have a family. You wanted the family thing. I understand that mistakes happen and as much as I don't want to think of my child as a mistake. I think it's best for all of us if you," Then he paused for a moment gathering his thoughts, "If you terminated the pregnancy like you'd like."
Sutton wanted to bust a smile, but she kept her face calm, "Are you sure about that?" She asked keeping her voice steady.
Austin tried to fight back a tear, "I don't want to be the reason that your family is messed up. I came from a messed up home. My mom and I lived alone for the most part. My dad ditched us before I ever born and for most of my childhood, I blamed myself. I didn't even know him until I was in high school, when my science teacher turned out to be father. I don't want this kid to think that it's parent's don't love them. But the truth is, I don't know how I could handle taking care of a baby, even if I wanted to. My life is so stressful now with just me. I can't throw a baby in there with needs and with my mom back in Pennsylvania, I won't have much help with child care and I certainly can't afford day care while I work. Just do it, Sutton." He said sighing heavily.
She wanted to thank him, throw her arms around him and squeeze him, but she stood up, "As long as you're okay with it."
He looked at her, she could tell it was killing him to say all of this to her and she felt bad but when she thought about it, this was a chance to make her life better. "It's not that I'm okay with it as much as I know it's the right thing to do."
She nodded as she stood up, "Then it will be done." She said plainly. She left his office and nearly fell to her knees. She grabbed her stomach and felt tears fall down her cheeks. She had wanted this so why did she all of a sudden feel so guilty about it all? She thought.
Emma sat there, frozen. Her eyes widened at she stared at the doctor. The words the doctor had just told her seemed to sting her, temporary paralysis. "What does that mean?" She finally asked.
Beside her, Ethan held her hand, he looked up at his wife and squeezed her hand, "It's okay honey." He said smiling at her.
She looked at him, "No it's not, Ethan." She wanted to cry. She squeezed his hand. She felt a tear form in her eye and she desperately blinked it away.
"Mrs. Whitehorse, I know this comes as a shock, but the injuries your husband sustained were to the lower back. He's lucky he'll even walk again, even luckier to be alive. I know it will be difficult while he recovers but if you cooperate with us, we can get your husband walking in a month or two."
"Two months?" She said shaking her head. Her life was hard enough taking care of Ryleigh primarily alone now it was only going to be more challenging with her injured husband. She looked at him and he smiled at her. How could he be so positive right now? She thought.
"Honey, it's going to be fine." He said stroking her hand. She wanted to believe him, but he wasn't the one who had to take care of him and his daughter.
"All I want is for you to be okay." She said letting a tear trace a line down her cheek. It splashed on the back of his hand and he looked at her.
"Baby, don't cry. Everything will be okay." His voice soothed.
"We will get Ethan on a regular physical therapy schedule. Essentially he will need to relearn how to walk again. We will start him out slowly and working the muscles out and gradually work into the treadmill. Even after his mobility comes back, he may need a cane to support himself on until his muscles build enough strength to hold him up themselves." The doctors words were hopeful but Emma still felt like crying.
"How long will the recovery process be in total?" She asked looking down at Ethan.
"It could be 6 months to a year depending on how fast his body regains it's strength." The doctor said, "Until then, he'll need to refrain from any extraneous work and heavy lifting."
"What about holding his daughter?" Emma asked, "She's going to be crawling soon and pulling herself up, will he not be able to hold her for a year?" Emma's heart pounded.
"He can still hold her as long as he's sitting until he's able to stand completely on his own without the help of a cane or a walker." The doctor said then he set Ethan's charts down and looked at Emma, "I know this comes as a strain to you. I understand you have a little baby in the house and having to deal with her is one thing, having your husband basically not able to help you out with her is going to be stressful on both of you. But remember that we are helping Ethan get his strength back and ability to walk again. The timing isn't the best and I understand that. Maybe having a family member stay with you to help will lighten the stress for you both. Do you have someone who could help you for a little while?"
Emma looked at Ethan, "I could see if Kristin will be help. She'd love to get to see Ryleigh more and that would give me time to help you out with getting around the house." Then she stopped on a thought and looked up at the doctor, "Wait, we live in a two story house, how am I supposed to get him up and downstairs?"
"Well you have two options. You can keep hi downstairs for the month or so that it will take him to get his mobility back, or you can have a chair lift installed in the house until he is fully capable of walking on his own." The doctor tried to remain hopeful, "It might also be a good idea to hire a therapist to talk to during this time. Having someone to talk to under this stressful time will help get you through the time and it will help Ethan to heal faster." He said. "I have some numbers of a few outstanding therapists in the area if you'd like their names."
Emma nodded, "Yes, I'd like that, thank you."
The doctor looked at her and smiled, "Of course Mrs. Whitehorse. I'll be back in a little while to check up on you, Ethan."
Ethan smiled as he exited the room and he looked at his wife. Emma looked up at the ceiling and then turned to him. "I told you to be careful, Ethan. What the hell were you thinking getting out of that squad car? Did you think you'd be the hero?" Emma spat at him.
Ethan looked at her helplessly from the hospital bed, "Emma, stop." He begged but she was livid.
She looked down at him, "No, Ethan. You don't realize how bad this is?" She said folding her arms over her chest.
Ethan pushed himself up on the bed, "Do you realize how lucky I am that I'm not permanently paralyzed, Emma? Or even worse, dead? I get it, it wasn't the smartest thing to do jumping out of the car, but at least you're not burying me right now." He spat up at her.
She looked down at him. He had a point, she was lucky that it was only a temporary injury and that it could have been worse. But for the next month to a year, her life was going to be difficult and even if it meant getting her husband back, it still wasn't exactly what she'd wanted her first year of marriage. But she sat on the bed beside him and put her head on his shoulder, "I'm sorry, baby. You're right. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. I was just so scared that you were dead that I just wanted everything to be alright." She reached for his hand and laced her fingers around his, "I love you Ethan and I'll be beside you for the rest of my life. We will get through this together."
He smiled at her, "I'm sorry too. You don't deserve this. But you are the greatest woman and I'm so glad to have you by my side." Then he kissed her gently and she placed a hand on his jaw. So she knew it wasn't going to be easy but at least it was the least detrimental of all the possibilities that could have happened and for that she was thankful.
A/N: I know that this chapter contains some sensitive topics, but please remember that this is a work of fiction. I don't want any comments about the choices my characters have made. If you don't agree with the content, don't read it.