Chapter 25

Ross's Carriage House

Friday, September 11, 1992

Ross slipped quietly out of the bed on Friday morning, trying not wake up Blake. Unfortunately, he managed disturb the slumber of Blackout, who'd somehow managed to crawl up on the bed and deposit himself on top of Blake's feet. Blackout picked his head up, as if questioning why Ross was getting up so early in the morning.

Blake stirred a bit as Blackout moved. "Ross?" she mumbled.

"Shhh," he whispered. "Go back to sleep, it's early. I have a pre-trial meeting I need to get ready for."

"Hmph," Blake turned and rolled onto his side of the bed, curling up in the blanket and falling back to sleep.

Ross showered quickly and made his way downstairs, Blackout following him. He would let him out and feed him, so Blake could sleep longer.

A few hours later, Blake woke up, stretching out on the bed. She had a lunch meeting with the person serving as the race coordinator at 11:00, but nothing on her plate until then. She took a shower and got ready, slowly starting to realize how many of her things had migrated to Ross's house. Her shampoo, her hair brush, some of her clothes. She smiled, thinking about what he'd said to her last night.

She used the bathroom and her peaceful feeling soon turned to panic. She was spotting. Blake had a moment of full blown terror before remembering in the book she'd read that spotting was at least semi-normal in pregnancy, but that she should go to the doctor, just in case.

Trying to keep the tears from falling and her emotions in check, Blake quickly got dressed and made her way out of the house to her car. "It's going to be alright, it's going to be alright," she kept repeating to herself on the way to the hospital.

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Cedar's Hospital ER

Friday September 11, 1992

Blake arrived at the hospital and made her way straight to Lillian, who was standing next to the nurses station.

"Blake!" Lillian took in the terrified face of the young woman, "Is everything okay? What's wrong?"

Blake didn't think she could talk without bursting into tears. "The baby," she finally choked out.

Lillian nodded and guided Blake quickly to a wheelchair. "Page Dr. Sedgwick," she ordered one of the junior nurses. "And Dr. Bauer," she added.

"Okay, Blake, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you everything's going to be okay, but we're going to get you checked out and see what's going on."

Blake nodded as Lillian wheeled her into a private exam room. Lillian helped her get undressed and into an exam gown.

"Can you tell me what happened? Are you feeling any pain?"

"No, no pain," Blake managed to speak. "I noticed some spotting this morning."

"Okay, it's a good sign that there's no pain. Spotting can happen in a normal pregnancy. How far along are you?"

"Tw...welve we...eks," Blake stutterd.

"Okay. Blake, I want you to take a deep breath."

Blake nodded, trying to control her breathing. Dr. Sedgwick came in a little while later. Lillian explained to her what was going on.

"Okay, Blake, lie back. We'll see what's going on with this little one," Dr. Sedgwick told her in a reassuring voice.

Blake stared up at the ceiling, praying that her child would be okay, praying that she wouldn't lose one of the best things that had ever happened to her and wishing to God that Ross would be there.

Several minutes later, a hand grasped hers and she looked over, seeing Ed next to her. If Ross couldn't be there, Ed was the next best thing. Ed have her a reassuring smile. "There's not much blood. That's a good sign."

"I called Ross," Ed whispered, "he's on his way." The tears that had threatened to fall, finally gave up their fight.

Dr. Sedgwick finished her internal examination and brought out the doppler, explaining, "We'll set up for an ultra-sound in a few minutes, but for now, listen."

Blake could hear a whosh, whosh sound coming from the speakers on the little device Dr. Sedgwick was using. "It's your baby's heartbeat."

"It's the…" Blake spoke before starting to cry again, listening to her son's or daughter's heartbeat.

"Everything looks fine, Blake. There are no signs of contractions, no pain. Just a little blood. We'll check the placenta on the ultrasound to be sure, but I think this is what we call breakthrough bleeding. You're at twelve weeks. Your body is so used menstruating every month, that sometimes this can happen. It's the hormones. We usually see it at 4, 8, and 12 weeks before the placenta starts controlling the hormones for the pregnancy. You may have even spotted at 4 and 8 weeks and not noticed if it was light."

Dr. Sedgwick's voice was reassuring, but all she wanted was Ross. "I'm going to let Ed hold the doppler, so you can keep listening, while I set-up the ultrasound."

Blake nodded as Ed sat up the bed and then took a hold of the doppler. Blake let the gentle whosh, whosh sound wash over her.

She began talking softly to her bump. "I hear you in there, little one. You've got six more months to go. You've got to give your mommy and daddy a little time to get ready for you. This is the first time that we've done this. And you've got a grandpa that can't wait to meet you," she smiled up to Ed, "but he's going to have to be patient."

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Ross's DA's Office

Friday, September 11, 1992

"Marler," Ross said, picking up the ringing phone. His secretary must be making copies or coffee again.

"Ross, it's Ed."

Ross picked up on Ed's serious tone, "What is it?"

"You need to get to the hospital. Emergency Room. Blake's here. Exam room 3. I'm not sure what's going on, but I wanted to call you as soon as I heard."

"I'll be the in 5 minutes," Ross hung up the phone and hurried out the door, passing by Haggerty.

"Ross, you've got court in 30 minutes," he reminded.

Ross grabbed the file from his secretary's desk and threw it at Haggerty. "You need to take it, I have a family emergency."

Ross didn't bother with his car. The hospital was a short walk from city hall and getting his car from the parking lot would take more time than walking, or running, as was the case with Ross.

Ross was slightly out of breath as he reached the doors to the ER. He burst through the doors and found his way to exam room 3.

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Cedar's Hospital Waiting Room

September 11, 1992

Vanessa was sitting in the waiting room, just outside of the ER. She was waiting on her son, little Bill. Bill had an appointment with a psychiatrist to discuss some of his feelings and the way he'd been acting out during and after Vanessa's rape trial. She'd taken Blake's advice, not because she valued her opinion or even trusted her, but as a child of a rape victim, Blake probably knew what she was talking about when she'd hinted that Bill might need some help.

Vanessa was flipping through an ancient copy of Time magazine when she saw Blake come into the ER. She appeared to be slightly distraught and Lillian put her in a wheelchair and wheeled her into exam room 3. Vanessa said a short prayer, hoping everything was alright. No mother should ever have to experience a miscarriage.

Several minutes later, she saw Dr. Sedgwick go into the room, followed by Ed, who stopped to make a quick phone call, first.

Five minutes after that, she saw Ross rush into the ER and head for the room Blake was in.

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Cedar's Hospital - Exam Room 3

September 11, 1992

"Blake!" Ross ran into the room, stopping short as he saw Blake sitting up and Ed holding an instrument to her stomach. He could hear a gentle whosh, whosh sound coming from the instrument. He then looked up to see Blake smiling broadly, through a tear stained face.

"It's alright. The baby's alright," Blake reassure him. "I had some spotting, but it's okay." She held out her hand and Ross rushed over to take it.

"Is that…" he started.

"It's our baby's heartbeat," Blake finished.

Ross let out a shutter as a single tear rolled down his left cheek. "Is the baby really alright?"

Blake nodded and Dr. Sedgwick added, "Just fine. Take a look." She spun the ultrasound monitor around for them to see.

Hand in hand, Blake and Ross stared at the fuzzy screen, seeing their baby's heartbeat wink in and out in time to the whosh, whosh sound.

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Cedar's Waiting Room

September 11, 1992

Fifteen minutes after Ross went in, Vanessa saw him come back out of the room. He leaned against the wall, tiredly, and let out a choked, relieved sob.

To be continued...