38
(5 weeks later)
Wilson was sitting in his office reading through his files for the next morning when Maddy appeared. "Hi." He greeted her with a surprised smile.
"Hey, that meeting is going on longer than I thought, won't be finished until at least seven."
"You want me to wait or pick you up then?" He asked.
"No, no. I'll make my own way home." She answered, "I'll try not be too late, you can handle bedtime?"
"Yeah, no problem. How are you feeling today?" He was concerned, Stacy didn't know about the pregnancy yet, and he didn't want Maddy working too hard.
"I'm fine," she smiled, "but I have to get back, I'll see you tonight."
"Call me, ok?"
"Uh-huh. Bye." She closed the door and headed back to the office.
(9pm that night)
Wilson glanced at the clock, he was sure she should have been home by now. He sighed, she had been working since 9am that morning. Perhaps she had gone for dinner with Stacy after the meeting? He decided to try and call her cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail. He tried Stacy's phone.
"Hello James?"
"Stacy, is Maddy still with you?"
"With me? She left over an hour ago. Isn't she home yet?" He could hear concern in her voice, and started to worry himself.
"Did she get a cab?"
"Umm, I offered her a ride home, but she said she wanted to walk, wanted fresh air. You don't think anything's happened, do you?"
"All I know is I've not heard from her since this afternoon. Hold on, I've another call coming through. I'll call you back."
"Dr Wilson?"
"Yes, that's me."
"I'm calling from Princeton Plainsboro ER, we have a Madeleine Brandt here. Dr Cameron asked us to call you."
"Oh my god, what happened?"
"We're not sure-"
"How is she?"
"They're working on her just now."
"I'm on my way." Wilson hung up the phone, ran upstairs to the nursery, woke the twins, put a warm jacket on them,and bundled them into his car.
(Earlier that night)
Detective Michael Tritter was heading home, passing by the alley, next to the local liquor store, when he heard shouting and a scuffle. He walked towards the noise, and was almost knocked over by a guy running from the alley carrying a ladies purse. "Hey!" He yelled, and started to chase him, stopping when he dropped the purse. He picked it up, and followed a noise coming from the alleyway. "Oh god." He muttered, as he seen a young woman, clearly the robbery victim, lying curled up on the ground. "It's ok, can you hear me?" He asked her, trying to help her to a sitting position, she groaned in pain. He could see blood where she had hit her head, one eye was bruising, and she held her stomach. "I'm going to get you to a hospital, ok?"
"Baby." She whispered, almost silent, Tritter didn't hear as he was calling an ambulance.
"Stay with me, the ambulance is on it's way." He sighed, wishing they would get there quick, "My name's Michael, I'm a detective, can you tell me your name?" She blinked at him, and tried to speak.
"Ma-" She whispered, before everything blacked out.
Tritter looked in her purse and pulled out her driver's license, "Madeleine." He cradled her head as she lay unconscious in his arms, within moments he heard the siren of the ambulance.
"Ok, what we got?" The EMT asked him.
"I think she was attacked, robbed, she lost consciousness a few minutes ago. I-I think she hurt her head, was holding her stomach, probably punched or kicked, I caught the end of it all."
"We need to get her to the hospital. You want to ride along?" The EMT asked Tritter, who nodded. The got her into the back of the ambulance, and monitored her as they rushed to PPTH. They arrived and ran into the ER.
"In here guys." Dr Cameron instructed them, "OK, what happened?"
"25 year old female, victim of robbery, lost consciousness at scene. Head injury, possible abdominal trauma, not sure about any broken bones, wrist looks bruised. Dammit, she's bleeding." The EMT added, noticing the blood.
"Do we have an ID?" Cameron asked.
"Driving license says Madeleine Brandt." Tritter answered.
"Shit." Cameron muttered, "Jo, I need you to call Dr Wilson from oncology, get him down here right away." The nurse nodded and went to call.
"His patient?" Tritter asked Cameron.
She sighed heavily, "His girlfriend." She answered, disappearing to help the team treating Maddy. "How is she?"
"She's losing blood, abdomen distended, my guess is internal bleeding, spleen maybe. And there's that." He pointed to the blood on her thighs, Cameron sighed heavily.
"I need her notes here, now!" She yelled to a nurse standing nearby, who ran off to find them.
"You think she's pregnant?"
"God I hope not." She answered, "Page for a surgical consult, we need to get this bleeding under control." She rubbed her eyes as a nurse appeared with Maddy's notes. Cameron scanned them, "She's 10 weeks pregnant, ultrasound now!"
Another face appeared in the room, "You paged?" It was Chase. Cameron quickly gave him a recap of the situation. "Someone's called Wilson?" Cameron nodded, turning as the nurse returned with the ultrasound equipment. "No heartbeat." Chase observed, sighing. "Allison," he put his hand on her shoulder. "She's lost it." Cameron turned to him, defeated.
"Ok, let's get her to the OR, fix the bleeding." She resigned herself to the fact that there was nothing else she could do. She slowly walked out of the room, coming face to face with a distraught Wilson, child in each arm.
"Cameron, how is she? Tell me she's ok!"
"Let's go somewhere more private."
"Oh god!"He exclaimed, panicking, surely fate wouldn't take someone else away from him. "She's not-she can't be."
"She's ok." Cameron reassured him, as they walked towards a relatives room. She took Jamie from him as they walked along. The entered the room, and she sat down. Wilson remained standing, soothing Hannah who had woken. "Sit down."
He shakily sat down, his tears spilling over, he sniffed. "She's pregnant." He stated quietly.
"Wilson, I'm so sorry." Cameron looked him in the eye, he already knew what she was going to say. "We did an ultrasound, but there was no heartbeat. She's," Cameron sighed, put her free hand on Wilson's shoulder, "Lost the baby."
"What happened?"
"She was brought in by EMTs and Detective Tritter."
"The Tritter?" He asked, open mouthed, "What was he...?"
"She was attacked, tried to take her purse. She fought back. Tritter chased the guy, got the purse back." Cameron explained.
"Where's Maddy? Can I see her?" Wilson asked, rocking Hannah back to sleep, stroking her hair.
"She's in surgery. Internal bleeding, she was beaten pretty bad. You're lucky Tritter managed to get her in here so quickly."
"Lucky?!" He whispered angrily, "She's in surgery, we've lost-" Tears started to fall, "Lost our baby. Yeah that's lucky."
Cameron sighed, "I didn't mean-"
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
There was a knock at the door, Cameron stood up and opened the door, Tritter was stood there. "Come on in."
"Dr Wilson, how are you?" He asked, solemnly.
"I'm fine. Thank you for all you did tonight. Did you catch him?"
"No, but I know who he is, we'll get him. How's Madeleine?"
"Maddy." Wilson corrected him, knowing how much she hated her full name. "She's in surgery, she lost the baby."
"I'm so sorry Dr Wilson, really I am." Tritter sat down beside him, "Do you mind if I stay until she's out of surgery? I'd like to know she's ok." Wilson shook his head, indicating it was ok for him to stay, deciding to lighten the mood Tritter asked, "Who's this?" He asked, indicating a sleeping Hannah.
"Our daughter Hannah," Wilson nodded to Jamie, still in Cameron's arms. "Our son Jamie, they're 13 months old." He explained.
"Wilson, why don't you take the kids to your office to sleep? I'll get some blankets from Pediatrics. Chase will update you once she's out of surgery." Cameron suggested, handing Jamie to Tritter.
"Come on, Dr Wilson. I'm sure she'll be ok." Wilson stood up and followed Tritter out of the room. They settled the twins on the sofa in Wilson's office, and stood waiting for news.
"I should call House." Wilson broke the silence, Tritter raised his eyebrows in question. "He's Maddy's father."
"Oh, I never knew he had a daughter."
"Neither did he until 2 years ago." Wilson explained.
"How's he adapting to family life, never struck me much as doting father."
"He's surprisingly good at it. She brings out the best in him, as do his grandchildren." At this Wilson sighed, Tritter could see tears in his eyes, "He didn't know about the baby." Wilson picked up his office phone and called House's apartment.
"It's Wilson. I'm at the hospital. It's Maddy. She's in surgery. I'm in the office. See you soon." He hung up his phone, "He's on his way." Wilson explained, as his cell phone rang. "Hi Stacy. No, we're at the hospital. I'm not quite sure what happened. I don't know, she's in surgery. No, you don't have to. No, no it's not your fault. He's on his way here. I'll call you." He put his cell phone on his desk, and sat down with his head in his hands, until House burst into his office a short while later, waking Jamie. House hobbled over and picked him up, noticing Tritter standing in the corner.
"How is she?" He asked Wilson, "And what is he doing here?"
"Still in surgery, internal bleeding. Detective Tritter found her and got her here."
"Found her? " House asked, sitting down on the sofa with Jamie.
" She was walking home, her meeting ran quite late. Some guy tried to take her purse, she fought back. " Wilson couldn't continue.
"Grandpa." Jamie announced, staring at House. "Want Momma."
"I know spawn, we all want to see her." House sighed, "Go back to sleep, huh?" Jamie snuggled in towards House's shoulder. "How long has she been in surgery?"
"Maybe forty five minutes." Tritter answered, "Dr Chase is going to update us when she's out."
Cameron knocked on Wilson's office door, and quietly walked in. "How are you guys holding up?" One look at the tear stained face of Wilson, the worry etched on her ex boss's face told her. "Can I get anybody anything?"
"No, thank you." Wilson answered, standing up from his seat at his desk, and starting to pace.
Chase walked towards Wilson's office, a short time later. He entered the office, "Good news, she's out of surgery. A blow to the stomach appears to have ruptured her appendix, led to the the miscarriage, we removed the appendix and stopped the bleeding."
"Thank god." Wilson whispered.
"The head injury wasn't serious, and her wrist is just badly bruised, she'll be sore for the next few days." Chase explained. "You can see her, maybe just the adults." He suggested.
"She was pregnant?" House addressed Wilson, "She never told me."
" She had a bleed a couple of weeks ago and wanted to wait until we knew everything was ok. She wanted to surprise you with the ultrasound picture. She was 10 weeks." Wilson replied, "What room is she in?" He asked Chase.
"302." Chase replied, "She should be awake soon. I'm due a break, I can stay with Hannah and Jamie if you'd like." Wilson nodded in agreement.
"I should go." Tritter started, "I'll maybe come and see her tomorrow?"
"Yeah, that'd be nice." Wilson tried to smile at him. "Thank you again."
"No problem, I'm just glad she's ok." He walked out of the room.
"Tritter." He turned around, it was House. "Thanks." Tritter nodded in acknowledgement and walked away.