Previously on a Heya Love Story...
"Hello?" Heather says trying to sound casual and normal. She waits and hears rustling and clanking noises in the background before hearing that creepy cold raspy voice.
"Heather?" the voice said making Naya tense and start shaking.
"Who is this and why do you keep calling?"Heather asked sternly. Heather brought an arm around Naya who she could tell was freaking out. Heather kissed her wife on the side of the head. Most everyone had gotten up from their seats to stand closer to the bed so they could hear better
"It seems your wife ruined my car. My white pickup..." the voice says creepily before the line goes dead.
March 11th, 2019 (same day)
"He did not mention my wife..." Heather growled lowly. She tossed her phone on the bed and pulled her wife close while running her fingertips up and down her tanned skin.
"Who is this person?! What does he want with my daughter?!" Yolanda asks while sitting beside Susan and Antonio on the loveseat.
"Get the police here now!" Antonio exclaims authoritatively and Heather nods not wasting a single second. The second this person mentioned her wife all rationality went down the drain. Everyone is looking around the room not having any real clue what to do, they just know someone whom they assume is a male just threatened the girls and now this just became something totally unexpected than the aftermath of a car accident. Naya hasn't said a single word so Yolanda and Susan lift themselves off the loveseat and walk over to her to see if they could be of any comfort to her. Heather still has an arm around her wife as she opens her wallet with the other hand and grabs the business card with the officer's numbers on the back and moves to get off the bed.
"I'll be right back, my love," Heather whispered as she leaned over to place a kiss on her wife's lips while cupping her face.
Naya looks up at Heather and her heart breaks into a million pieces, Naya looks terrified, and every few seconds her eyes land on Sophia to make sure she is okay. "Heather I'm so scared. "Naya looks down as two teardrops land on her gown. Heather takes her hand and lifts her chin before taking her thumbs and wiping the tears off her cheeks. "What if..what if they try and hu..." Naya chokes out but Heather stops her wife before she can say it.
"You are safe with me. I will never let anyone hurt you and Sophia. Not ever. I will protect my family." Heather says with a determined and forceful voice. Naya nods feeling so completely safe in her wife's arms. "I'm going to run out in the hall so Sophia doesn't hear anything we aren't ready for her to hear yet and then I'll be right back in," Heather says placing another kiss on her wife's lips and bringing their foreheads together. "I'll be right back, my love," Heather whispers and Naya nods.
Heather scrambles out of the room already halfway dialing the number of the male police officer they were speaking to before. She had no idea which one to call so she just called the top number. Within seconds she was speaking to the officer and starting to explain the situation.
The second Heather shut the door to the private room Naya started hyperventilating and freaking herself out.
"Sweetheart?" Yolanda asks and quickly gets Antonio's attention who is chatting with all the boys in the corner of the room. Antonio comes over and sees the condition of his daughter.
"Hey, Mija, you're okay, honey," Antonio says as he places a flat palm over her chest and takes a mental count of her beats.
He...Hea...ther." Naya choked out and Yolanda motioned and mouthed for Antonio to run in the hallway to get Heather, Antonio could easily finish the phone call for the young blonde since he listened to the caller as well. Heather needed to get back in here before Naya got herself so worked up like last time or reinjured her ribs and incisions from sobbing and shaking so violently. Antonio ran out of the room to find Heather.
Heather was talking to the police with a sense of urgency and was explaining to the male officer what the person said over the phone and the similarities to the previous phone call before she heard what sounded like someone running behind her.
Heather turned and saw Antonio quickly making his way towards her. She was only about two doors down from their room, she always had a habit of walking when she talked on the phone, she has no idea why but she always did.
"Can you hold on one minute, I'm sorry...yep just one second" Heather said into the phone and held her finger over the speaker and looked at her father-in-law. "What's going on?!" Heather asked urgently and Antonio reached forward and grabbed the phone from Heather which confused her.
"Naya is freaking out and has been since the moment you left. She needs you, I'll finish talking to him since I heard the caller as well. Go to Naya before she gets herself too worked up. Sophia is up now too and she was nervous with everyone trying to help Naya." Antonio said. Heather ran back the short ways towards the room and hastily opened the handle to the solid wooden door.
Heather rushed in and Naya was sitting up in bed breathing heavily and wincing in pain. The two things that hurt more than anything right now and she was doing them both simultaneously. All the girls were surrounding her trying to calm her down but nothing was working and probably just making it worse unintentionally. Heather could see the sweat and terrifying look in Yolanda's eye watching her daughter like this. Sophia was crying in Mychal's lap since the guys tried to stay in the corner and let the girls be around Naya.
"Mami...Momma." Sophia says teary completely confused and terrified seeing her mom like this. The moment she spots Heather out of the corner of her eye she wiggles out of her uncle's arms and runs to Heather. Everyone follows the flash of dark hair that catches the breeze and notices Heather was back.
"Momma!" Sophia cried out and Heather lifted her baby girl in her strong arms before quickly going over to the side of the bed she always laid on. "Momma you have to help mami! She's scared!" Sophia says distraughtly and Heather nods reassuringly and kisses her cheek quickly while setting her daughter on the bed. Naya notices her and grabs her hand just needing to feel her wife close. Heather kissed her knuckles before letting her hand go and positioning herself behind Naya. Everyone backs away just enough to give them some room. Heather positions her legs so there is one on either side of her wife and eases Naya back against her and puts one arm over her stomach gently and another one over her chest so Naya feels secure and safe.
"I'm right here, beautiful. Shhh, Soph and I are right here." Heather whispers and Naya starts to calm down almost instantly. Naya brings her hands up to hold onto Heather's arm that's around her chest while holding her other arm straight out for her daughter who was whimpering while she sat on her knees and watched everything that was happening with so much confusion. These last few days were so stressful for her little mind to try and comprehend.
"Come here mi amor." Naya whispers and Sophia crawls over and snuggles into Heather and Naya's side. "Oh, baby girl I love you so much. I'm so sorry if mami scared you, my love." Naya mumbled while kissing her daughter's dark hair. Naya felt horrible for letting her feelings take over like that in front of her daughter but they also never wanted Sophia to think that they didn't have emotions and hide everything from her. Sophia is so so much more compassionate and empathetic because they didn't close her off from those real emotions.
"It's okay mami. It's ok to feel scared and sad. don't be sorry. Me and Momma are here with you now." Sophia reassured while she hugged Naya. Naya choked out a sob and hugged her baby girl back tighter ignoring the discomfort.
"How are you so perfect baby girl?" Naya sobbed out. Sophia smiled and shrugged.
"Because your my mami and we protect each other and momma protects us because she's really strong," Sophia explains as if it's obvious and Naya subtly shakes her head and chuckles at her daughter's brilliant logic.
Antonio walked back into the room and noticed that Naya was smiling and looking a thousand times better than she had when he ran out of the room. Antonio knew how much Heather was a lifesaver for his daughter and he couldn't help but smile seeing the three of them together.
"Alright, I called the officer and he will be here shortly. Jenna can you send Heather that video of the call so she can send that over to the number on the back of the card. I told the officer to expect that video in a few minutes." Antonio asked and Jenna nodded grabbing her phone and sending the message over immediately causing Heather's phone to beep a few seconds later. "He should be here within the half-hour. Mija, are you doing a little better?" Antonio asks walking over to his daughter and patting her on the shoulder.
"Ahh, I mean not about the situation as a whole but right now my wife is holding me and my daughter is snuggling me so I'm much better," Naya admitted and smiled when she felt both of her girls softly tighten their grip.
"We love mami, Abuelo!" Sophia mumbles causing Naya to twist her head to the side and kiss her daughter's head before she was cut short by a knock on the door. They were all shocked that it could be the officer already since it had only been five minutes, but they turned towards the door and instead of the officer, they saw Owen, the technician that did Naya's x-rays. With everything that happened in the last half hour or so, they spaced this out which is unbelievable considering how anxious they have been for these results.
"Good evening, Naya! I have the results of your x-rays from this morning, would everyone mind stepping out into the hallway while I go over the results, please. It should only take a moment." Owen asked kindly of the large group in the room and they all nodded. He shook and greeted Antonio as they left the room and soon it was just Heather, Naya, and Sophia left in the room.
"I can stay right?! I know I'm super short, but I'm a doctor! Ask Donna and Abuelo!" Sophia says and the young man chuckles and nods.
"Oh, so your Sophia! Donna keeps mentioning something about a Sophia at the nurse's station! She says your her new favorite doctor here." Owen confesses and Sophia's eyes widen and she squeals.
"Really?! Momma mami! I'm the best doctor!" Sophia announced as she sat on her knees and bounced up and down a little at the compliment.
"Jeez, Soph! You are famous around here! Smartypants!" Heather smiles and Sophia smirks knowingly. Confidence is a trait she did not lack.
Owen chuckled before grabbing the rolling chair from the corner of the room by the computer and rolling it over to the bed and opened Naya's chart.
"Well, Naya the good thing is that you didn't suffer any severe internal damage to any organs or the uterus walls when you received the puncture wound to your abdomen." Owen began and Heather tipped her head back in pure relief and Naya turned her head into her wife as tears came down her eyes. "One thing we thoroughly check for is damage to the uterus itself as well as damage to the ovaries or other internal organs which can make it difficult or impossible to conceive but luckily it went through tissue and bypassed the muscle by a couple of centimeters which is also extremely good news. You will definitely be sore for the next month or so as it was still a very deep wound but you are in the clear." Owen explained and Heather kissed her wife on the cheek repeatedly and hugged Naya close. They couldn't have asked for better news from the x-ray. Finally something positive that the girls could hold on to.
"Th...thank you." Naya breathed out as she wiped her eyes and smiled at the doctor.
"Of course! These images were also sent down to Dr. Laine who reviewed them and arrived at the same conclusion. She will still be in contact with you in the next couple of weeks as she would like to see you for a check-up just so she can take a look herself in person but there was nothing about the X-rays that concerned her." Owen assured and both of the girls breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Sophia looked at the doctor and tried to figure out what exactly he was saying but it was a lot of big words she didn't understand.
"Oh my God, thank you so much!" Heather sighed out while her arms were wrapped around her wife. Naya held her arms out for her baby girl who smiled and softly leaned into her and laid her little head against her chest. After that news about their future, they needed their daughter close.
"You're very welcome, alright, I'll let you settle in for the evening and get out of your way but I'm delighted everything turned out the way it did for the both of you!" Owen said as he rolled the chair back in the corner and turned back around towards the girls. "Keep up the good Doctor work Sophia!" Owen says with a smile as he leaves the room.
"Thanks, Owen!" Sophia waves goodbye to the young male doctor. She was thoroughly enjoying all this attention. "Momma, mami, what does that mean?" Sophia asked and neither Heather nor Naya wanted to get into a baby conversation tonight, especially knowing the unpleasant talk that was sure to happen soon with the officer. They didn't want to start an important talk like that with Sophia and have it interrupted.
"Honey we will explain all about that when we get home okay, I promise. Tonight we have to talk to a nice police officer about mami's car crash." Heather explained.
"What do you have to talk to him about?" Sophia asked and Heather turned her head and looked at Naya.
"Mija, the officer has to try and figure out who it was that crashed into my car," Naya says and Sophia has her hands in her lap was is trying to figure this out in her mind. Heather and Naya are trying to be vague enough but at the same time be honest with her. There are only so many details they are willing to divulge to her though. Oversharing to a four-year-old would be extremely irresponsible because her brain would have no idea how to process these very scary adult issues. Hell, Naya just had a panic attack so there's no question what this would do to a child.
"Okay baby girl, listen to momma okay?" Heather says and Sophia nods intently. "They can't find the person that hit mami's car so the nice police officer is asking us questions to try and find them," Heather explains and Sophia nods in understanding but frowns at what her mother said.
"Momma, we have to protect mami until they find the bad person! Okay?" Sophia lets out frantically and tugs the oversized thick grey knit blanket that's sitting at the foot of the bed, which is Naya's favorite and covers her mami who's still between Heather's legs. "Tuck it in momma!" Sophia says as she tucks the blanket around her mami so there's an impenetrable knit wall around them. Sophia looks satisfied then kisses Naya on the forehead and her momma as well. "Don't be scared mami. No bad guys will get you. Me and momma will protect you." Sophia says in that cute raspy voice that melts her heart and once again Naya wants to weep at her amazingly sweet and thoughtful little girl.
About two minutes later everyone comes back into the room after waiting in the hallway and this time the male officer was with them. He smiles and greets the ladies before sitting in the rolling chair that was previously occupied by Owen, the x-ray technician. The group was looking at Naya and wondering why she was packed under the covers like a human burrito but Sophia sat and look very satisfied on the bed.
"Mija, are you cold sweetheart?" Yolanda asked and Naya shook her head.
"No Abuela! This is to keep the bad guys from hurting mami. Blanket walls will keep mami safe!" Sophia said proudly and scooted over to lean gently against Naya. Naya looked at everyone that was staring at her daughter adoringly. Even the officer had a smile on his face. Sophia knew how to tug at those heartstrings. Heather smiled at her protective little girl and played with her long dark hair that flows down her back.
"You are such a sweetheart, Sophia," Yolanda says to her granddaughter.
"Girls, would you like us to take her out?" Susan asks. Heather and Naya look at each other and have one of their silent conversations. They didn't want Sophia out of their sight but at the same time, they know she shouldn't be here for this kind of thing.
"Yeah, okay... She probably shouldn't be hearing all this adult stuff." Heather said very reluctantly before Chris cut in.
"We will all take her in the hall, your parents are probably going to want to stay and hear everything he says." Chris reasoned and the four older adults gave grateful nods. They did want to be here for this for obvious reasons. These were their kids. Heather and Naya were so reluctant to let their baby girl out of their presence, again this had nothing to do with trust, this was everything to do with the circumstances.
"...ok...you guys we are trusting you, do not let her go," Naya warned and they all nodded before Amber came over to the other side of the bed and Sophia kissed both of her mommies before scooting over and hugging around Amber like a monkey on a tree.
"We got her. Text the group chat when you are done and we will come back." Nickayla says. Ashley ran her fingers through her niece's long head of hair causing Sophia to smile up to her from where she was hugging Amber. Diana reached over and grabbed her quilt and Vanessa grabbed her bunny before thru headed out.
The meeting with the officer was not as enlightening as they may have hoped. The officer was some to find some blurry and pixilated footage from the crash site was were only able to determine that it was a man. He did show the girls the footage of him leaving in a grey getaway car but the footage was so grainy they couldn't make out anything on the license plate. Heather was livid that with all the amazing technology nowadays, store security cameras are still the worst quality things around. She was upset that he easily could have been caught and they would have so much more information to go off of if the footage was decent. Obviously, there was nothing they could do about it but they didn't change the fact that she was pissed off.
Just as the officer was about to get up and scoot his chair back they hear Heather's ringtone. Heather grabs her phone right away and looks at the officer
"It's him," Heather says blankly. Naya's hands come up to her mouth and she's trying desperately hard to breathe normally. Heather grabs her hand and the officer quickly grabs his phone and hits record and urges Heather to answer the call. Heather answers and puts it on speakerphone.
"Hello," Heather says emotionless.
"I'm here." the raspy barely-there voice says and all of the sudden Heather gets a weird feeling almost like she knows exactly who this is but she has no idea at the same time. Then again she's heard so many people being in this business it's impossible to remember everybody, but this voice is different.
Naya jolts to sit up wincing quietly. She looks around frantically. Heather is just as troubled by what he said but is ready for a showdown if that's what it will take to get this guy the hell away from her family.
"Where are you?" Heather said losing her patience.
"You figure it out!" the raspy voice replied.
"Stop messing with my family!" Heather says her anger is impossible to hide anymore. Naya is crying silently and Heather mouths for her to come closer which Naya does immediately and leans against her. The officer continues to stay silent while recording the conversation.
"How's Sophia?" the voice rasped before the call dropped. Heather turned into a different beast the second his daughter's name came out of that stranger's mouth. Naya felt like she was going to be sick. The officer covered his mouth as he ended the video recording on his device.
"Oh, God. I need to help my wife to the bathroom, can you please find the group and get my daughter back in here. She's not leaving this room." Heather said sternly to the officer and he nodded before running out in the hall and finding them pretty quickly waving them inside.
Heather was helping Naya into the bathroom and she was throwing up while sobbing from the pain. Throwing up when you have stomach incisions and broken ribs should be classified as torture.
"You're okay my love. He will never get to Sophia, I promise you that, beautiful. Not a chance in hell." Heather said and Naya nodded while sobbing. She thinks she's done being sick but her chest feels like someone was standing over her and dropping bricks down one by one. The pain she was feeling was horrible. Antonio and Ashley sneak inside the bathroom.
"Mija, what happened honey?" Antonio asks kneeling next to the girls and putting a hand on Naya's forehead.
"We will explain in a minute. She needs anti-nausea and pain meds. She can't be throwing up like this with incisions and broken ribs." Heather let out quickly and Antonio sprinted to the nurse's station. Ashley grabbed a washcloth from the cabinet and ran it under the cold water before running it over Naya's tanned skin.
"You're okay Naya," Ashley says softly. She and Heather share a look. Heather's is of fury and protectiveness, while Ashley's is of confusion and worry.
"Sophia..." Naya whispers trying to catch her breath. Heather looks up as well needing to see her baby girl with her own two eyes.
"Do you want her in here?" Ashley says and Heather looks over at Naya who's between her legs.
"Can you help me go back out there? I need to lay down my chest is killing me." Naya says and Heather nods. She and Ashley both ease her up off the floor and Ashley opens the door just as the nurse is entering the room with Antonio. Everyone looks over at the three girls wondering what the hell happened since they left.
Heather and Ashley get Naya settled into bed and Naya cries out in pain. That really messed up her chest and made everything unbearably sore again. Heather wanted to smash something yet cradle her like the most precious thing in the world, two completely opposite emotions but seeing her wife in pain hearing this evil stranger utter her child's name was enough to send her over the deep end.
"Where is Sophia?!" Heather says looking around everywhere just as the little girl hops into the room in her pajamas but her smile quickly fades when she sees Naya crying.
Sophia rushes to the bench was onto the bed in the blink of an eye.
"Oh no, mami are you okay?!" Sophia asked as she pets her mom's hair and kissed her cheek. Sophia looks over at Heather.
"Sweetheart, mami wasn't feeling good and she threw up and it hurt the big cut on her tummy and her broken ribs. She's hurting but the nice nurse just gave her medicine." Heather said
"Heather, what the hell happened?!" Kevin said and Heather got up slowly from the bed but never let the two girls out of her sight, even though it was a private wing, a private room filled with people they knew including a police officer. Heather was paranoid as hell. Heather walked over and pulled the officer aside and asked for him to play the video he recorded for the group. It would take forever to explain. Everyone except Naya and Sophia walked into the side room to listen to the recording. Before that, Heather had given a brief update on the lousy security camera updates.
Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Naya was crying both of horrendous pain and terror that whoever this person was knows their baby girl enough to say her name.
"You're okay mami. I'm here." Sophia says as Naya is laying pretty far back almost completely flat. Just propped up slightly by a couple of pillows. Sophia grabs the blanket on the foot of the bed and covers her mami and then hurry up and slides off the bed to grab her quilt and bunny off the side chair. She was in such a hurry before she forgot them. Naya's eyes never left her daughter when she got off the bed. "Don't worry mami, I'm back. Here's my blankie and bunny, just snuggle with them.
Sophia adjusts the stack of pillows so she can lay down flat too however she's up higher than Naya. Sophia wiggles down a bit and lays on her right side facing Naya and brings her left arm around to wrap across and around her mami's head. Naya's face is buried in her daughter's tummy since she's slightly higher.
"You're okay mami. I love you so much. You're super brave and you teach me how to be super brave too. I'm right here mami." Sophia says softly while her arm that's crossed over her face and around her head holds her mami close.
"Sophia I love you so much." Naya sniffles and sobs out." Naya mumbles and Sophia kisses the top of her head.
"I love you so much it feels like fireworks going off in my heart," Sophia says and Naya smiles kissing her daughter's tummy before the medicine kicks in and they both fall asleep but this time Sophia is the one holding her mami.
A couple of minutes later It was just after 4:30 pm and the group along with Officer Mac step back out into the main area. Everyone is in shock and horror about the smugness of the guy on the phone. The guys especially Andrew, Antonio, and Mychal look like they are ready to attack. Yolanda, Susan, and all the girls are horrified and look sick to their stomachs as well. Now they all completely understand why Naya got sick. As they all entered the room, Sophia lifted her head and put a finger to her lips signaling for them to be quiet. Sophia brings her arm back over Naya's face to pet her hair. Sophia is cradling her mami's head while Naya is on her back but her head is turned on the side into her daughter's tummy.
"Oh, would you look at that!" Susan says softly as Heather smiles and walks over to lie next to her girls. She is behind Sophia while bringing her hand over to connect with Naya too.
"I love mami so much, It makes me so sad to see her cry," Sophia whispers as she places a kiss on Naya's forehead. "I love you so much, momma," Sophia says and Heather leans down.
"I love you more my baby girl," Heather said while leaning down to kiss her daughter. Everyone looked at the three of them with a look of pure love. They couldn't be any sweeter.
Antonio had already led officer Mac out of the suite since the girls were occupied. He assured Dr. Rivera that he would call as soon as possible with any updates.
Around 6:00 pm that evening everyone was still hanging out and nobody wanted to leave despite visitor hours ending at 9:00 pm. They were all talking in their little groups when Donna walks in with a smile on her face.
"How are you feeling, Naya?" Donna asks while approaching the bed stopping to point and smile at the little girl holding her mother. Both Naya and Heather gaze at their little girl and smile.
"She's something else that's for sure. I'm sore as hell but I'm anxious to get out of here. It will be nice to get in my bed." Naya admitted.
"Well how about tomorrow?" Donna said with a smile and Naya perked up as did Heather.
"Wait really?" Heather said and Donna nodded.
"She's doing well. We check her incisions twice a day and they are healing nicely. She's not giving us any indication she needs to be cooped up here any longer. You'll need to take it easy for several weeks and not overdo it. Well, I will send you home with a lower dose of pain meds but I see no reason to keep you. How does that sound?" Donna asked and Naya laid her head back In relief. She missed her bed.
"Amazing..." Naya said and Heather kissed her head. Everyone had smiles and they listened and Donna gave Naya a low dose of meds before leaving.
"Oh thank God!" Naya said and her family smiled. Heather looked slightly apprehensive, however. "Baby?" Naya questioned and everyone focused their attention on Heather.
"Love, I am so glad we're going home, believe me, but the fact this guy is still out there is troubling for me. Here we are in a private wing, a private room in a secure hospital. Back home we are way more vulnerable and I'm not sure what this guy is capable of. Of course, I'll protect you both with my life, that's not even a question but it's still would make me feel better if we found this guy." Heather explained and everyone's smiles started falling as they realized how true she was. They weren't even thinking about that.
"We will stay with you," Antonio said and both Heather and Naya turned to him.
"Really?" Naya asked and her dad nodded.
"Absolutely. I'd feel much better if we were there too." Antonio said before Andrew spoke up.
"Count us in too," Andrew said with a smile. Naya and Heather we're so grateful for their family.
"So it looks like we're going home?" Naya asked with a smile. Heather leans over a sleeping Sophia and places a delicate kiss on Naya's lips.
"We're going home, my love." Heather smiled.
Buckle Up!