48.
Memorial Hospital, Washington DC
3.21am
Scully was hooked up to a drip and monitors. She lay perfectly still, almost afraid to move in case she miscarried the baby. The doctor had said it was highly possible that she may do just that. They had given her the anti-labour drugs, which seemed to be having little effect. Samantha was bundled up on a few chairs wrapped in the car blanket.
They hadn't been able to contact Scully's Mom and had hurried from the house straight to the hospital. Scully had hugged her belly the whole way and Samantha had groaned about having been woken up for a car journey.
Mulder watched Scully's face crease with intensifying pains. She cried silently and he could hear her murmur her love to the baby, begging for it to hold on. That the hospital would give her the drugs so it could stay inside of her. All it had to do was hold tight for a while. She didn't think she could cope with losing the baby now. Not since she had realised how much she loved it.
Scully's mind raced with the horror that could lie ahead. She didn't want to lose the baby now and hoped all the drama of the past week hadn't caused these pains.
The doctor came into the room quietly as he noted Samantha's presence. He spoke in a tender voice.
"Miss Scully. It appears the drug to stop labour progressing further is not working but we have a new drug that is stronger but may carry side effects for yourself."
"What kind of side-effects?"
"Vomiting, tiredness, headaches and heart palpitations. It isn't without its risks but it is all we can give you to save this baby." Scully placed a hand over her belly.
"The heart palpitations… How serious could they get?"
"Extremely. It has been known to cause hearts to stop and need restarting."
"What damage has that done to the children born after?"
"Nothing. They have been perfectly fine."
"No learning difficulties or abnormalities?"
"Nothing what so ever." Scully nodded her head.
Weighing up the information in her mind she had to consider the fact her heart
could stop momentarily.
"Doctor… Have there been any fatalities using this drug? What is the success rate? Also what is my chance of survival if my heart goes flat line?"
"We have a 95% success rate and the fatalities are one in fifty. The odds are pretty good despite the side effects."
"Ok, you can use it."
Mulder looked on in awe of Scully's rational questioning of the doctor. She was amazing when she took that professional stance with people, finding everything out that she needed to know.
The doctor was back ten minutes later with the drug and administered it directly into the drip feeder in the back of her hand. Closing her eyes she felt the burning of the drug as it travelled through her veins and around to her heart. The heart rate monitor began to bleep frantically as Scully's heart beat faster. She opened her eyes briefly to look at Mulder who was staring wide-eyed at the monitor. Her eyes fluttered shut as her heart rate suddenly took a nosedive into a flat line.
Scully stopped breathing, in that instant, the doctor grabbed the paddles after slapping salmon coloured rubber strips onto Scully's chest. He barked commands at his staff that jumped with his every word. Mulder stared at the scene from the seats by the wall. Samantha was oblivious to her Mother's turmoil. All she had wanted was to save their baby and she had flat lined in the process.
The doctor repeatedly charged the paddles, taking them to the highest shock possible. Nothing.
A second attempt was followed by the third and still nothing happened. Scully's heart was refusing to start. Tears escaped Mulder's eyes. The doctor looked panic stricken as if he had not been witness to this reaction before. Mulder pleaded with God for everything to be okay, that he would resume taking Samantha to church if Scully was returned to him in that instant.
The paddles were charged for the last time. The doctor had said it was futile to keep working on her anymore. As if in slow motion Mulder watched the doctor place the paddles to Scully's chest and hit the 'blast' buttons. Her body jumped off the bed with the electric shock and fell to the floor as if hit with another shock from beneath her body. The wires came loose, equipment crashed from the trolleys as Scully's body fell into them.
The doctor rolled her onto her back and felt for a pulse. He looked up at Mulder and his team. The room was silent, an air of concern swept through it like a tornado through Kansas. The doctor hung his head momentarily. Mulder collapsed from the chair he had been perched upon. Not now!
