CHAPTER 16

It was almost two in the morning when Rory found herself dry heaving over the bathroom sink. She was weak, bathed in sweat and hurting. Her belly was giving her major spasms that left her breathless.

"Why are you so persnickety right now?" she questioned the baby that grew within her. "Alight, let's make a deal," she said, bribing her belly, "If you give me this night to sleep with no hassle, I will give you all the chocolate you can handle. It will be out little secret."

After another jabbing pain, "Okay, no chicken sandwiches either!" she muttered, wincing in agony.

Seconds later, another cramp sent her grasping for air as she blacked out and landed on the floor with a thud.

A loud crash woke Tristin up. He looked outside of his dorm room window and caught the end part of a bright lightning strike. The rain was still pouring in the aftermath of the passing stream of storms that hit the east coast recently. His eyes darted to the corners of the room, trying to get his eyes accustomed to darkness.

It took him seconds to realize why he was not in his usual tousled, sleeping position. Rory! He felt the side she rested on and found it damp.

"Rory?" he called out in the dark. Where is she?

Another thunderous boom reverberated. Lighting lit the whole room again. For a split second, he saw nothing. "Rory?" he called out again. Silence.

He got out of bed and donned on a pair of sweatpants. He walked towards the bathroom and found the door ajar. "Rory, you o-," Tristin asked before walking into the room.

"Oh my God!" he yelled as he went down on his knees.

"Oh my God, Rory. Rory, wake up!" Tristin tried to coax her. His heart pounded hard and fast. He didn't know whether to move her or leave her the way she is.

"Rory!" he yelled as he tried to shake her into consciousness. When her knees moved, he found a trail of blood seeping through the boxers he lent her.

"Oh God, oh my God," his litany went on. He didn't know what to do. Like an angel in the dark, Matt walked into the room.

"Hey, Tris, what are you doing up so-," Matt greeted before he got interrupted.

"Matt, you've got to help me. Rory..." he tried explaining.

Automatically, Matt got back into paramedic mode as he shoved Tristin aside. He assessed her quickly. "What happened? How long has she been out?"

"I-I don't know. I woke up and I found her on the floor," he said.

"Grab a blanket and her purse. It's faster for us to driver her to the hospital than call an ambulance. I'll go get my truck. Can you carry her by yourself?" he asked.

Tristin nodded a yes before going back to the main room to get the items Matt instructed him to procure. Matt was already down the second set of stairs when Tristin got Rory bundled in the blanket. His adrenaline was still pumping in overload.

"Hang on, baby," he crooned into her ear as he lifted her.

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The one-mile drive from Butler College to the Princeton University Medical Center felt like an eternity. Matt drove as safely as he could as Tristin held a limp Rory on his lap.

"Listen to me," Matt ordered. "Look in her purse for all her personal information. They'll be asking for that. They won't release any medical information to you because you're not family so I suggest saying you're a twin or cousin or something. By the time they check your story out, you'll at least have most of the information you'd want to know. But you didn't hear that from me."

Matt parked his car right in front of the emergency doors. He barked orders to the cop right by the doors to get a gurney. Seconds later, a doctor and an orderly met Tristin, Rory and Matt.

"Thought you were done for the night, Matt?" the orderly asked.

"This is a personal call," he said.

"What do we have here?" the doctor asked as they assisted Tristin in putting Rory on the gurney.

"Nineteen year old female, found on the floor, bleeding between her legs. Eyes are equal and responsive. BP is 180 over 98. Breathing is fast and shallow. Skin feels like it's running a fever but shock hasn't settled yet," Matt enumerated.

"Any other history?" the doctor asked doing his own assessment as they wheeled her in.

"Yeah, she's pregnant," Tristin sighed.

The orderly, nurse and Matt looked at each other. Almost instantly, the doctor barked orders.

"Get the OR ready. Have someone contact OB to assist us. We need a CBC, a CMP, type and cross two units of O negative blood. We might have an threatened or incomplete abortion in our hands," he warned everyone around him.

Tristin stopped on his tracks as the doctor and the orderly went through a set of double doors with an army of nurses and doctors ready for action.

"Sir, you have to fill out the forms," a nurse asked him as she handed him a clipboard with papers.

He stared at her like there was a void that opened right where she planted herself.

Matt came back for Tristin minutes later.

"Tristin, they're going to help her keep the baby. Have faith," his friend encouraged.

Absentmindedly, he looked at the clipboard handed to him and did what only someone like him could do: wait.