Chapter 36

"Why do I have to wear a wire?" Lillian asked.

"To see if he'll make the investigation easier by telling you where he got the pictures." The woman 'strapping her in' explained flatly. She grabbed the headphones next to the controllers in the van they were in. "Talk," she ordered, holding an earpiece to her ear.

Lillian sighed, "I don't know what to say."

She nodded, "Okay, she's ready to go." She said to Barry.

Barry nodded, taking a hold of Lillian's hand before leading her to the corner of the block the building was on, "You remember the plan?" Lillian nodded, "Recite it back to me."

Lillian frowned, "I go in, get Luis by himself, talk about everything. Try to get him to reveal where he got the pictures or to admit he put his hand on me." Lillian pressed her hand to her pulsating forehead. "I'll be alone with him and you go in and the warrant, the computers, yeah...whatever."

Barry clasped a hand around Lillian's neck, checking her temperature from the back of her neck before moving to her forehead. "You okay? You look pale."

"Maybe because I haven't gotten a tan in a while," Lillian growled in anger. "Or maybe because I'm nervous."

Barry frowned, crossing his hands over his chest. "Even though your doctor said you're okay, I still would've preferred if you stayed home and let us do our work."

"I told you I wanted to do this. Despite what you all think, I need to say a few things to Luis before giving him the boot."

"We all think you're very brave," Barry stated. He brought the sleeve of his blazer to his mouth. "Right guys,"

"Absolutely, Barry." Donatello's voice chimed in his earpiece.

"Can everyone read me?"

"Loud and clear. Lillian as well."

Lillian stared up at him in confusion for a moment. "Guys?" She turned around to try and find any vehicle that looked suspicious. "The guys are here?"

Barry grabbed her shoulders, "Yes, there are." He turned her back around and sighed. "They can hear you, everyone can hear you. We're all here for you if you need us to rush in there and get you out, what's the code word?"

Lillian touched her finger to her lips in thought, "Um...Dr. Brown? Why couldn't it be something else like pineapples?"

Barry smiled but inside he bit his cheek to prevent him from snickering. "Something less conspicuous. When things get rough tell him Dr. Brown said stress is not good for the pregnancy. Got it?"

Lillian groaned, getting rid of the nerves from her body by shaking her arms. "Okay, let's get this over with."

"Ready?" Barry asked.

Lillian let out a slow deep breath before nodding. Once she looked away from Barry, both of them went their separate ways, Lillian reluctantly yet quickly headed straight for the building where Luis worked. Her breath, her body, her hands all shaking with fear...of what? She couldn't pinpoint why she'd be scared at all. Everyone who can protect her was closely listening, ready to enter whenever she needed them.

Lillian was out of breath by the time she entered the building and went straight to the elevators where she was able to catch her breath. She rested a hand on her stomach when she felt it turn. Was it her or was it the baby? Could it move at this stage? Probably not. It was most likely nerves...

Lillian had spoken to her mother about finding the right doctor quickly. All her mother had to do was make a few phone calls and within hours Lillian had an appointment. The doctor had checked her out, meaning they took her blood, measured her sugar, ultrasounds...anything and everything she had done. Turns out her cortisol levels were high meaning her body was under stress. Not only that, but her blood pressure was higher than usual which meant if she wasn't careful she could develop preeclampsia which wasn't uncommon but still dangerous for the baby. The doctor recommended she stray away from any situation that may be too stressful. Since she was alone with the doctor and nothing was written down or prescribed, Lillian told Barry all she thought he needed to know. He was insistent, nonetheless, in her staying behind. But she just couldn't.

She had to calm herself. Taking deep breaths, she smiled at her stomach. "Okay, baby...we can do this." She whispered, not caring if the wire captured that. She purposefully wore a shirt that actually fit her; a shirt that didn't hide her small baby bump and instead emphasized it. She herself didn't realize how much her belly extended. it wasn't much, but there was a difference.

When the elevator doors opened on the right floor, she took another deep breath then walked straight to the secretary's desk.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The young brunette asked without even looking at her.

"Where is Luis? I need to see him."

The secretary looked up and blinked, "Misses Perez," she said quickly. "Let me phone him and see if he's available." She said picking up and dialing the phone.

"He will be." She muttered impatiently.

She hung up the phone then stood. "Follow me to the second meeting room." She said, walking over to the empty meeting room. "He'll be with you in just a minute."

Lillian groaned, "Fine." He was making her wait on purpose. She reluctantly sat down, sighing exaggeratedly. "And my name is Lillian Aguilar-Anderson, not Perez."

The entire time she waited, she breathed deeply and slowly to calm her heart. She felt like she was on the verge of panicking. All of a sudden she wanted to call off the whole thing and just never talk to Luis again. She was scared. But no, she couldn't show any signs of weakness to someone who would take advantage. She has to be calm... The first step was breathing.

The door opened suddenly and Lillian jumped up from her chair with a small gasp.

Luis paused for a moment at her reaction, "Easy, sweetheart, I'm not going to hurt you." He said with a charming smile. "I wasn't expecting you to make a decision like this so soon."

Lillian felt nauseous at the sight of him, "Way to make the mother of your child wait."

He shrugged, "Well, you cheated on me, the least you can do is wait five minutes." He went up to her, leaning in to kiss her cheek before she moved her way away from him and sat back down in her chair. He chuckled, his pride feeling a little bruised at her move, "Looking a little chunky there."

Lillian rolled her eyes, "It's called pregnancy."

"No excuse for you to eat like a pig." He said his tone light. "But I guess that's another conversation for another time." He sat across from her at the table. "Have you been to the doctors?"

"Yes, I have. Everything is fine. My blood pressure is a little high but that's your fault."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll make sure you're good and relaxed." He smiled excitedly, clapping his hands together. "But other than that no deformities or complications."

Lillian scoffed, "It's too early to tell if the baby will be deformed but who cares, asshole."

"Wow, you came with an attitude today, didn't you?" He laughed softly. When she didn't answer, he simply nodded, figuring she was upset because she had reached a decision and didn't necessarily like it. That was good on his part. "So, what have you decided? "

Lillian sat back in her chair, "Well, first I want to know how you got the pictures."

Luis blinked, "Why do you need to know that?"

"Because I figured it's the least you could do for me after everything you have put me through. All the lies, all the stress, the abuse both physical and emotional..."

Luis crossed his arms over his chest and laid back in his chair, her terminology catching him off guard. "Abuse?"

"Is there another term to use when your partner puts their hands on you? And this isn't even the first time!" She laughed. "You put your child in danger. Do you know how many people want you dead because of what you did to me?"

Luis wagged his finger at her, "Don't threaten me." He suddenly slammed his hand on the table, causing Lilly to jump. "Hey! Don't you threaten me!" He shouted.

"I'm simply stating a fact. You can't hurt me and then expect the people that actually love me not to react." Lillian tried to remain calm, but her heart rate was going a hundred miles an hour. She could feel it pulse in her skull, her stomach once again turning when Luis slammed his hand on the table. Talking to him was exhausting, "Where do you get the pictures, Luis?"

Luis sighed, resting his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together against his mouth in thought. Maybe this was the least he could do. "I had a suspicion you were cheating on me which is why you were acting out. At first, I thought it was April you were cheating on me with. So I hired someone to follow you and that's that." He laughed darkly. "What a surprise I had when the guy I hired came to me and told me you were sleeping with an X-Man." He shook his head, "You know, you're lucky. I should be repulsed by you. I should be disgusted. A mutant? The more I looked, the more I realized that I'm not the only one that hates mutants. So the best revenge for taking something that belongs to me is taking it back and making it better."

"Raphael didn't take me and I do not belong to you," Lillian growled through gritted teeth. "I do not belong to anyone."

"Yeah well, now you don't have a choice. You're lucky I don't kill the monster." He stated. "But look, Lillian, I don't want to fight." He held up both his hands in surrender. "I don't want to argue. I don't want to be mean..."

"Yeah well, you started it when you called me fat."

Luis flashed her a glare before he took a deep breath and swallowed his anger as best as he could. "Okay, I apologize." He sighed deeply. "I have to admit, I'm surprised you had...the balls to cheat. Human or not... Lillian... Miss high and mighty..."

Lillian felt her lip tremble, choosing to stay silent. She didn't regret that night she spent with Raphael and almost slept with him, with that being said, it still wasn't right. At least not while in a relationship. Though, she had a strong feeling Luis had no clue about that night and instead was talking about the date she had with Raph. She blinked her tears away and straightened her lip. "When Raphael and I were together, you and I weren't."

Luis shook his head, "I was under the impression you were going to come back. You should've been straight with me."

Lillian's eyes widened, "My exact words were, 'there is no relationship anymore'. How much more straight can you be? Or was it all a lie? The fact that I had a choice to leave and give you my baby." From outside, Lillian tried to ignore the commotion, but it sounded like the warrant was being issued out. Footsteps and voices...she worried Luis would never admit to anything. "Where did you get the pictures?" She urged once again.

"If you want me to tell you the company I won't. I promised them that much. And they said they already got rid of any evidence they worked with me so you, alone, can't prove I did anything." He said smugly, seemingly obvious of the commotion outside. "Tell me about this mutant, Raphael? How is it that you have fallen for something like that?"

Lillian's face was stoic, she wasn't so scared anymore now that she knew everything was almost over. She shrugged, "I don't have to tell you anything."

"You don't?" Luis was beginning to worry. This entire time she has not given him an answer and he assumed it was because she had called his bluff. Maybe if he pushed harder. "I wonder what would happen if everyone found out where he lived. You know how humans react to things that are different. I wonder how bad it's going to be for him when everyone finds out who he really is. Is he going to be murdered? Is he going to be tortured? You see, I found out that there are a lot of people that do not like anything that involves mutants. You should see what some of these people think. It's ugly...dangerous even."

Lillian felt her heart drop, yet still did not show any emotion. Her eyes were filled with tears, but she refused to let them fall. He wasn't going to get any tears out of her, in fact, he wasn't going to get any reaction from her. "I'm not scared for Raphael."

"Does he have a family?"

"I'm not going to tell you anything."

"When did you fall in love with him?"

"I'm not going to tell you-"

Luis suddenly banged his fist on the table in frustration, scaring Lillian once again. "How many times did you fuck this thing while you were with me? Endangering our child! God forbid it gave you a disease."

Lillian scoffed, "Oh stop it."

"Stop what? Call you out on how irresponsible that action was? How disgusting it is to even think let alone experience? How much of a whore you've become!" He stood up from his chair, walking slowly around the table towards her. "Sleeping around before I came into your life is one thing. Hell, I'll be honest, I've strayed away from time to time at the beginning of our relationship but this? You're so lucky I forgive you."

"I do not need your forgiveness for anything nor do I want it." Lillian spat, ignoring the fact he had just admitted for the first time that he had cheated on her.

"So...society it is then!?" Luis yelled. "Change society, reveal this thing to the public, and have your career go down the drain before it even started."

Lillian felt her heart clench with fear, "Luis..." she began. "I came here to see if you still had some good in you. To show me you deserved to be in this child's life after you continuously begged me not to terminate it. Despite our falling out, I've gotten heat from everyone I know because I still thought you deserved to see this child. Be in this child's life. I'm here to see if you deserved to be a father. But you're threats and blackmail tell me all I need to know. It's disheartening, to say the least."

"You're not going to distract me from this lie you've told-"

This time it was Lillian who slammed her hands on the table to stop him from speaking. She let out a loud groan before pushing Luis back and away from her. "Stop it! Stop acting like I never loved you!" She screamed at him. "Stop acting like everything we went through was a fucking lie. I loved you! I was in love with you. I was pealing you off the bathroom floor so you wouldn't choke on your vomit! I waited till after you came out of rehab! I waited! I don't wait for anyone! Especially not someone who beat me because he thought I was sleeping around with my best friends! You made me fall out of love! You made me turn to another for comfort and kindness because you stopped showing me that as soon as you saw I could live without you!" She pushed him again, Luis just staring at her flushed face with shock.

"I loved you! But you wanted more and more. More control! More of my attention. And I followed because I was afraid of being alone for so long. You destroyed my self-esteem. You forced me to get pregnant! You put your hands on me again, you kicked me out of 'our' house and left me on the street! Pregnant and alone on the street! You lied to me about my family..." Unfortunately, Lillian couldn't help but let out a sob, tears flowed from her eyes. But not of sadness or even anger...it was just something that had to come out. Like she had been building this up. "The worst part is, I want to but I can't even blame it on your drinking. You did this sober."

Luis's jaw was agape, Lillian had never unloaded on him with so much emotion before. At this moment, with her yelling and crying in front of him, he knew he had lost her and this was it.

"This was your last chance to prove to me you could be a father. All you had to do was be nice to me..." she shook her head. "You couldn't even do that. So now, you will watch another man raise your child." She said walking towards the door. "You will hear from my lawyer."

Before Lillian could grab a hold of the doorknob, Luis had grabbed her hand, jerking her towards him. Lillian cried out at the abrupt physical violation, her eyes wide with fear as she stared up at Luis's red face. "If you think for a second I'm just going let you leave this room and have my child be near that abomination, you're dead wrong." He growled at her through gritted teeth.

Once Lilian was able to regain control over her emotions, she snatched her hand from his grip. "Don't you touch me."

Upon seeing how quickly the fear left her eyes, Luis said nothing else and just watched her as if it were the first time in a long time that he was seeing her. She was smaller than him, but at that moment, her fearlessness caused her to grow another 6 inches and stand face to face with him. This was it, he had lost her.

Lillian's stare told him everything he needed to know. She was angry, she was sad, she was gone for good after this and she wanted him to see that. She wanted him to watch her grow cold, watch the light drain from her eyes whenever she looked at him. This was how their relationship was going to end.

When she turned her back on him and again reached for the doorknob, it felt like a weight suddenly vanished from her shoulders. As soon as she opened the door, her relief was swiftly cut short.

She felt her body suddenly turn cold as if her blood pressure had dropped. She frantically blinked her eyes when her vision was invaded with black dots. On top of the room spinning around her and a wave of nausea filling her senses, a sharp pain shot from her abdomen to her back, prompting her to double over in pain. When she would get stomach cramps like she had been for a while, it was a momentary thing that could often be ignored. This time, Lillian couldn't help the cry of pain from escaping her lips,

It felt as though the room had flipped upside down, and all Lillian could do was prepare for the sudden jolt of the ground against her tense body as she fell sideways, but two hands came out and around her body, catching her. That was when the pace of her world changed. Everything took forever to pass while a film of ringing covered her ears as she looked up at Luis's frantic face. Lillian shut her eyes as another jolt of searing pain traveled up her spine, setting every nerve ending on fire and causing all muscles in her body to quickly tense, this time she let out a strained groan before gagging for the air that quickly left her lungs.

Luis held her for a close second while she screamed, pressing her into his neck. He stood with her, running out of the conference room while simultaneously repeating something to her. Was he really saying something or was it just her ears ringing? She clutched her stomach when she felt her it drop as her body was transferred from Luis's arms to Barry…?

The second she touched her father's arms, the ringing stopped and suddenly the entire room became raucous and fast-paced. She could truly hear how loud her screaming was while noticing the commotion of police and agents walking in and out with stacks of files and whole computers in their hands.

Barry looked down at his daughter in unadulterated horror, attempting to get a good grip while she twisted in and twitched in his hands. He looked up at Luis, "What did you do!?" He screamed.

"She just fell!" Luis defended back, his voice pitching with emotion. "I don't know what happened!"

Barry shook his head frantically, "Lilly, Lilly…" he repeated, attempting to center her from the pain while wasting no time, moving through the crowds and heading towards the elevator. "Where does it hurt, Lilly? What happened?"

Lillian grabbed a handful of her shirt, "My stomach…it hurts…! I-"

Barry hushed her as she screamed one more time, her skin turning a ghostly white shade. "I know, just focus on me. What happen-" Before Barry could finish his question or even enter the elevator that just opened, he turned around when out of the corner of his peripheral, he saw Luis moving right behind him. Barry swung his leg around to push Luis in the stomach as hard as he could before screaming, "No! No! You stay here! Hey!" He yelled at a group of officers near them, catching their attention. "Arrest him and take him in for questioning! Now!" He ordered as he stepped into the elevator.

"Barry! You can't do that to me! That's my child!" Lillian heard Luis scream as the doors closed in front of them.

Lillian shook her head, "My baby..." she cried.

The elevator ride could not have gone faster as Barry agonizingly repeated to Lillian, "Your baby is fine. Look at me. Look at me. Your baby is going to be fine." Wiping the cold sweat that she was drenched in away from Lillian's face. "Breathe, Lilly. Breathe." He stated, over and over again, staring at the floor numbers as they decreased. Once on the first floor, Barry huffed as ran out of the building, desperate to find a taxi quickly so he wouldn't have to run a block towards his people and waste more time.

"Hurry up, Barry!" Barry heard from the oddly shaped car in front of him, the door sliding open.

Without a second thought, Barry hoped into the vehicle and immediately fell to his knees in exhaustion, but he could and won't dare rest. "Hospital, quick!" Barry panted, Lillian still wrthing in pain and groaning in his arms.

"Step on it, Leo!"

Lillian was seeing white, the pain was nothing like she'd ever experience. This was what she was afraid of. Pain. Seconds felt like hours. Time seem to go by slowly almost like something was forcing her to endure the pulsating burning that seared in her pelvis. In her mind, all she kept seeing was Raphael and Barry, begging her not to go see Luis and the doctor telling her that being relaxed was very important from here on out. This had to have been her fault…it just had to! And now…when she had just started accepting her future.

She felt her head being caressed. She sharpened her vision just for a split second, and a cool feeling of relief tickled her neck at the sight of two familiar green eyes. He was there. She reached her hand up to touch his face when another sharp pain that was too much for her to withstand. She let out one last bloodcurdling scream, then her eyes rolled to the back of her head before her body went limp in Barry's hands.

It was hours until Lillian felt just she could breathe normally without feeling like a knife was being stuck in her abdomen. She woke up in a hospital bed, the doctor and Barry both bombarding her with questions on where her pain was or just how painfully it was. She had to be kept under surveillance for 24 hours with ultrasounds every 4 to make sure the baby was okay. When Lillian arrived, a heartbeat was located but the pain continued. It was hours of constant tests mixed with ultrasounds done intermittently and the same questions repeated so many times... Things weren't looking good since her pain was coming and going mimicking contractions. She was tired, exhausted from the pain...all she wanted to do was be with Raphael...

Barry had contacted Ian and Lillian's mother, all came to the hospital but Lillian refused to speak to anyone. She didn't want to see anyone or speak to anyone but Barry or Raphael.

It felt like some sort of punishment having to sit and wait in pain and regret.

"I shouldn't have let you go. I should've fought or been more forceful. I'm sorry this happened to you. It's my fault." Barry muttered, leaning against the wall to the right of Lillian.

Lillian rolled her eyes, "This isn't about you." She scoffed.

"Lilly,"

"Barry, I don't feel like wallowing in your self-pity right now. I am more worried about what's going on inside my stomach than anything else. Did you call Raphael yet?"

Barry sighed at her tone, she had been biting everyone's head off ever since her pain subsided a bit. It was almost like the Lillian everyone loved and knew was patient, suddenly vanished and became irritable and cold. She had every reason to be. "No, I haven't. You haven't even talked to your mother."

"I don't want to see or talk to anyone but him. Bring him here." She demanded stubbornly.

"Well, you know why I can't do that." Barry told her.

"No I don't. I told you to tell him to put on his bike outfit or a big sweater, evacuate the hospital, I don't know!"

"I am not evacuating the hospital for Raphael." Barry countered. "You're acting like a child."

"No. I'm telling you what I want. If I can't have him come here then I'll go to him." She said, tossing the hospital covers off of her before throwing her legs over to the side of the bed and attempted to stand up. Once her legs hit the floor, she winced in pain, clutching her abdomen.

Barry ran to her, "Are you crazy?" He yelled, helping her back into bed. "We are supposed to be watching you for 24 hours, it's only been 12. You need to stop acting this way, it's dangerous for your child."

Lillian shook her head, "I have...to see him." She groaned.

Barry tucked her back into bed, wiping the sweat off her brow. "You will. I will arrange him to meet us at my father's condo once everything it checked out and your baby is okay." He cupped her face, chuckling a bit when she moved away from his gentle touch. It was a small movement and practically meaningless but it gave Barry a small sense of comfort that she acted so childish. He shook his head, "You should've married Raphael instead of you loved him this much."

Lillian blinked at his comment, "I am not married to Luis."

"I know. But you were engaged with him." He wiped her hair out of her face. "I can only imagine what Raphael is going through not being at your side."

Lillian's breathing was heavy from the pain, but eventually, when it subsided, she paused for a moment. "Raph asked me to be his wife."

Barry jumped at this, "Already? You guys just started-"

"I said yes." She snapped.

His eyes widened for a moment, nodding once it all made sense. Of course she said yes, Raphael seemed like her true love when she was a young girl. And who was he to judge, within just a couple months of knowing her mother, they had moved in, gotten married and had a child. Barry found her hand and gave it a squeeze. "I'm sorry you have to go through all of this without him at your side."

"Stop apologizing."

Barry brought her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. He shut his eyes to hide the tears that formed and was able to regain control over his emotions. No matter what anyone said, he considered Lillian to be his daughter. She was his child. To see her in pain, in fear…it shook him to the core. If anything were to happen, Barry would never forgive himself. As a father, he should have pushed more. She should have stayed at home or with Raphael in his vehicle where no force on earth would have touched her.

Barry's phone began to ring, pulling him away from his pitiful thoughts. He answered it, "Anderson."

"Sir, we have officially confiscated any and all forms of electronics the suspect had, including the ones in his home. Within all the files and paperwork we took, we were able to retrieve the three pictures your daughter described to us. We haven't had much luck finding any electronic files with the same images though we were able to track down where the suspect received these photos."

Barry sighed, "Was there a paper trail?"

"Not for these particular photos. We did find, according to his bank statements, he hired a PI to find out where your daughter was staying. No one interesting, but smart enough to know not to have a paper trail. That's our next place to look. We're working on the warrant right now."

"Who knows about this PI?"

"Just me and Roberts."

"Keep it that way. FBI has a cover story out already about the advertisement agency being investigated for tax evasion. I don't want any other story floating around. Have you contacted Bishop?"

"No sir,"

"Then do that first and update him. Call me back if you find any information-"

"There's one more thing, sir."

Barry paused. He was never interrupted in his line of work. "What?" He snapped.

"The suspect has been released."

Barry felt his blood turn cold, "He's what?" He growled. "This better be some sick joke, Martinez."

Lillian watched Barry's face get redder and redder with rage, only once before had she seen him this angry—after he had found out Lillian's mother smacked Tony. Something about it scared the living shit out of her. She squeezed his hand to get his attention.

"No sir. There was just no reason to have him arrested, according to the cops once everything was settled." Martinez explained. "The police didn't know about the documents we were looking for and at most, he could just be fined for possession of this sort of information. Once he was able to get his lawyers down at the precinct, he was let go. Unless he assaulted your daughter and she would like press charges, that is a different story."

Barry glared in Lillian's direction, she looked at him in suspense and it was the small glimmer of hope in her eyes that broke his heart. "Fine, I'll see what I can do on my part. Find more about this PI and let me know when we move in on."

"Yes sir,"

With that Barry shoved his phone into his pocket. "Are you sure he didn't cause this?"

Lillian thought for a moment, quickly catching on to what he meant. "He didn't hit me. The pain just came out of nowhere."

"What do you want to do with him?"

Lillian knew Luis was free just by that question. Why should she be surprised? He always bragged about how rich and powerful his family was, of course, he'd be let go. She swallowed hard, "It all depends on this." She pressed a hand to her stomach, feeling too weak to continue crying.

Just then the doctor that was checking Lillian periodically came in once again with the ultrasound machine. They flashed her a warm smile, "Back again to do another test. It's been 4 hours since the last one."

Lillian sighed, tossing the blanket off of her once again, flipping her gown up to expose her belly without so much of a warning to anyone. "The pain is getting better, Doctor. I think I can go home now."

"Oh, well, let's see just check first, and then we'll see about getting you discharged." They said with a comforting smile.

Lillian shut her eyes and stared at the ceiling. She just wanted to leave this place. She never liked hospitals. Being in one made her feel like she was bound to go crazy or get sick. She let out a breath, flinching a bit when she felt the Doctor place the cold gel on her belly. She would never get used to that no matter how many times they do it. Barry went to stand on the other side of the bed to not disturb the doctor and the big bulky machine.

"Sorry about the coldness." The doctor apologized.

Lillian stared at the ultrasound machine, not knowing what she was looking for and more focused on hearing the heartbeat. The doctor ran the small probe over Lillian's stomach, pointing at the screen when they spotted the peanut-shaped object.

"There they are... Let's hear that heartbeat." The doctor pressed a couple of buttons then turned up the volume of the computer.

For a moment, Lillian held her breath staring up at the ceiling while the weight of her sorrow sat on her chest, barely allowing her to inhale. She didn't want to look that the monitor or at anyone's facial expression in fear it might reveal something she had been dreading. After what felt like a million years, there was a slow rhythmic sound coming through the speakers of the machine. Finally, Lillian exhaled.

"Okay, we have a heartbeat…" The doctor said slowly, checking their watch as the beating continued.

Barry shook his head, clasping Lillian's hands in his. "Thank God,"

Lillian refused to ruin this moment with more tears. She just wanted to leave and be with Raphael. Everything was still okay and she just wanted to leave. She sniffed, "Great, when can I go home?"

The Doctor sighed after a minute of looking at his watch, "Hmm…" They hummed, pressing button after button to double-check all the numbers that popped up on the screen. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to keep you here for another 8 hours. And instead of every 4 hours, we're gonna come in and check the baby every 2 hours."

Lillian pushed herself up a bit from the bed, "Why? I'm fine right? I just had a check-up and everything was-"

The doctor immediately placed a comforting hand on Lillian's ankle, stopping her from moving any more. "It's just a precaution. Your baby's heart rate is a little low for my liking. We're going to keep you here for now, but the most important thing for you to do is rest. According to your vitals, your blood pressure is a little high as well and that could be due to the stress you've been experiencing."

Lillian just stared up at the doctor, like their words weren't even registering.

"S-So, what does the baby's heart rate mean, Doctor?" Barry stuttered, his heart hanging on to every word the Doctor said.

"Well," they sighed. "A normal heartbeat at your baby's size is 160 beats per minute. Right now, their heart is beating at 110, which means we have to check in more often and do some more tests to fully diagnose what's going on. I'm going to order a fetal echocardiogram, which will tell us what to do next."

Barry shook his head, "What does that mean?" He repeated, his tone more pointed now.

"I believe your baby may have a particular type of fetal bradycardia. This means if your baby's heart rate doesn't improve, then your pregnancy becomes a high risk."

Lillian felt her jaw fall, "I'm going to lose my baby?" She asked, her voice cracking.

The Doctor reached over to pull out two paper towels, gently wiping off the gel from Lillian's stomach for her. "We are going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen. But you have to help us by resting for now. We still have 8 hours, I'll be back in 2. If nothing has changed after 8 hours you are free to go home but check back in a week. Rest all that you can… Okay?"

Barry looked at Lillian, her eyes were darting back and forth like they usually did when she was thinking too fast. And rest assured, she was thinking too fast. He covered her body with the hospital gown and blankets, never letting go of her hand. "Thank you, Doc."

The Doctor nodded at the both of them, "A nurse will be back to check your vitals in about half an hour." They assured, taking the big ultrasound machine with them as they left the room.

"Hey," he said, his voice hushed. "Lillian, look at me," he demanded softly. "Lil'…"

Lillian's mind was going over all the way this could have been avoided. She should've listened and stayed away. Raphael was going to be so mad at her. How was she going to even explain it to her? Would he leave her? Is that the most important thing to worry about at this moment? She focused her vision on her father's face, the realization of how crucial the next 8 hours were hitting her hard.

She shook her head, squeezing Barry's hands until her knuckles turned white, "I'm going to lose my baby."

I changed a lot actually. originally it was more violent. Fetal Bradycardia is an actual prognosis and it's sorta rare from what I read. Lillian has not been taking care of herself and it isn't until now that she's serious. Please, take care of your mental health and physical health. Listen to your body when it's in pain.

Sorry, there are not that many turtles in here. The next chapter is everyone's perspective and reaction. Let me know what you guys think. See you soon.