"Dr. Baxter is currently in surgery ma'am. Would you like to leave a message?" The nurse was completely apologetic, but it wasn't helping Bette's mood.
"Yes I would. Tell him Stanley said he needs to come-" She stopped midsentence. How much of a secret was Olivia's pregnancy? Did she dare even mention her over the phone? Quickly deciding descretion was the better part of valor, Bette made her message something no one else would understand. "Home. Grace isn't feeling well."
"That's all?" The nurse checked politely.
Bette sighed, looking down at Olivia's still face as she moved her hand to a better position. "Yes that's all. Thank you."
"Looks like you're stuck with me Livie." Bette took a small pillow from the couch and put it under Olivia's head, trying to remember what she was supposed to do in the situation. "Would be probably be better for both of us if I could remember what I'm supposed to do." Twisting her fingers together wasn't bringing anything to mind. "You aren't making this any easier for me Olivia, and all this melodrama certainly isn't good for the little one."
Thinking for another moment, she called the closest thing she could get to Roger. It took a second to remember the number of Ethan's cellular phone.
"Hello?" The young man sounded so much like his father.
"Hey Prince of Wales, got a moment?" Bette petted Olivia's forehead nervously. It had been years since she had seen Olivia faint and she wasn't unconcous this long then, she was sure.
Ethan's smile was obvious in his voice. "For you, always."
"That's a good boy." Bette replied mechanically. "Listen, I need some medical advice and your father is in surgery."
Ethat's laughter was sweet. "I'm a veterinarian Bette. I can help you with Belle or Spike, but I'm probably not what you want for a human problem."
"Honey, I don't know where else to turn."
He stopped laughing, sensing the urgency in her voice. "What's the problem?"
"Olivia fainted." A high pitched note crept into her voice. "I've tried to wake her, but I can't get her to stir. I don't know what to do- I can't just call anyone..."
She heard him repeat what she said to someone with him, and when he returned, Ethan's concern was warm and comforting. "I've got an medical expert with me at the moment, I'm going to let you talk to her okay?"
The line rustled, and Bette was greeted by a calm female voice of a young woman. "You need to increase the flow of blood to her head. Put her feet up on something, like a pillow. Then go to the kitchen and get a bag of ice or something frozen and wrap it in a towel."
Pulling another pillow from the sofa, she propped up Olivia's feet. Then, with the phone pressed firmly to her ear with her shoulder, Bette headed for the kitchen and then to the freezer. "All right." She replied as she grabbed the first thing in the freezer. "I've got frozen vegetables. Will that work?."
"Yes, that's good." Ethan's friend continued with the same steady tone. "Now you want to wrap it in a dish towel or a tablecloth."
"Got it." Bette started back towards the living room with a navy blue towel in hand. "Now what?"
"Now you put it under her head, right on the base of her skull. That should bring her around." The phone rustled and she heard the muffled voices of Ethan and the young woman as they talked.
Ethan took the phone back. "We're going to head over to the house. We'll be with you in a few minutes. Don't worry."
"Nearly impossible in this house." Bette informed him darkly. "We'll be waiting for you." She brushed her hand over Olivia's forehead again as she hung up the phone. "Won't we Livie?"
Olivia's eye were just starting to move under her eyelids when Gregory burst throught he front door. Bette still wasn't sure what had happened to him. His suit was dirty, a square of broken safety glass came off into her hand when she touched his shoulder. "You look like hell. What happened to you?"
He pushed right past her to kneel next to Olivia. Bette could watch the panic drain from his face as she watched him look down at her. Realizing she wasn't going to get anywhere with him, she went to Paula she followed in the front door. "Maybe one of you will tell me what happened to Gregory?"
"Car accident." Paula explained, her lips tight. "His brakes failed."
"Failed?" Bette asked as the color drained from her face. "Failed as in ceased to function completely-failed?"
Paula nodded grimly. "Gregory stopped his car by sideswiping the brick wall of the Scathway building, if he hadn't thought so quickly people, including him, could have been seriously hurt."
She brought a hand up to her mouth. "Oh good lord! When Cole called- he must have told Olivia what was going to happen-" She threw a glance over her shoulder at her unconcious friend. "No wonder she went down like someone cut her strings."
"Ricardo thinks Cole cut Gregory's brake lines. He's at the Liberty lot with the crime scene unit right now." Paula explained as she took out her notebook. "You said Cole called Olivia? Do you know what he said?"
"No, no I don't. She just said 'Gregory' before she was out." Bette explained as she folded her arms protectively over her chest. "Cole must have told her Gregory had been in an accident."
Paula jotted a quick note. "Is Mrs. Richards all right?"
"I hope so." Bette shrugged and tried to smile anxiously. "Ethan's bringing some medical expert and Livingston-Roger- I mean- Dr. Baxter will be here as soon as he gets out of surgery."
On cue, Ethan arrived with his expert. A petite young woman with short, curly brown hair who nodded to Bette and Paula and went straight to the floor next to Gregory at Olivia's side. Ethan put an arm around Bette's shoulders. "Don't worry. Phebe's a paramedic. She'll take good care of her."
Paula's radio hissed on and she excused herself to the corner of the room. Bette glanced over as Phebe spoke to Gregory softly. "Phebe-" She thought for a momet, trying to place the name. "The one you met at the hospital."
"The paramedic who treated Olivia after Casey was shot." Ethan finished with a tiny smile. "I was waiting with Heather for Casey to get out of surgery, and she came by to check on him for Gregory. We got to talking-"
"You were on a date." Bette realized with the smallest of giggles. "You left your date to come here. That was sweet of you."
"Phebe has a real damsel in distress complex." Ethan teased easily. "She didn't want to leave you panicked."
"Methinks you should try to keep dating this one." Ethan's reply was lost as Gregory's sudden cry of relief. Turned all their attention back to him.
Few feelings were worse in the world then knowing he were helpless. As Bette told him she had fainted, Gregory's heart had been lodged in his throat. It made it difficult to breathe, nearly impossible to speak until he saw her. Until he knew Olivia was all right.
Even when Cole was after him it seemed Olivia was still the target. His hands had become fists in the police cruiser on the way over, and only now were the muscles starting to relax. Adrenaline still coursed through him, filling his blood with strength. He pushed past Bette and dropped to his knees next to Olivia.
His fingers touched the towel under her head. It was cold, just as he would have done. She should be coming around soon, that little trick usually worked. "I'm sorry so Liv." Gregory whispered as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. "I'm sorry that bastard knew how to find you. I'm sorry Casey had to knock you down to save you, that you can't tell our children about their sibling, that I have to ask you to lie when I should be asking you to celebrate."
He fought back the emotion that threatened to break his control. If he lost it now, everything would hit him and Gregory couldn't afford that luxury. Embracing his anger forced his fear to the back of his mind. "He's going to pay for this. When I'm done with him, hell will be an escape."
He ran his fingers along the line of her jaw, wishing he could call her back from oblivion. "You always ask me what I feel and I answer you so rarely that this would probably surprise you if you could hear me." Gregory's fingers moved across her chin and up the curve of her cheek.
"I'm afraid." He explained simply, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Terrified. Despite my best efforts, this man keeps coming. We've avoided him, but we've been lucky. Not safe, lucky. If that red car had turned on second sooner-" He saw the cars twist into a pile of metal in the blink of an eye. "If Casey hadn't-"
That was too horrible to even let into his mind, but the image came anyway. Olivia's eyes gone glassy and dark, unseeing as they stared up at him from the street. His hand twitched, bring a sudden stab of pain from his wrist. The adrenaline was starting to fade, leaving him to deal with the world again. "We won't talk about that."
He flexed his fingers, trying to get them to respond. His left hand was sluggish, the numbness of his wrist was fading into an ache. Gregory ignored it as he ran his hand over the folded edge of her robe, pausing with his hand resting on her stomach. "We haven't even wondered if it's a girl or a boy yet. Do you remember when you were pregnant with Caitlin how we used to sit up at night and talk about what she or he was going to be like?"
His right hand toyed with a lock of her hair. "I have to admit I never expected her to be blonde. I thought when we had a girl, she'd look more like you."
The movement at his side startled him, and Gregory was instantly on alert. Phebe put a hand on his shoulder, trying to still his charged instincts. "Friendly." She insisted with a smile. "Ethan's father's still in surgery, so he asked me."
Gregory blinked, trying to figure out the connection between the paramedic and Roger's son.
"We're dating." She explained easily as she wrapped fingers around Olivia's wrist. "At least, we were trying too. I'll admit to being flattered, but I could really do without the repeat business."
His eyes followed the hand of her watch around as she timed her pulse. "Is Olivia all right?"
Phebe nodded curtly, her curls bouncing slightly as she lowered both her hands on either side of Olivia's neck, fingers searching. "Her pulse is good, a little fast, but strong."
"What are you doing?" His hand with unconciously back over Olivia's womb, as if that would protect the baby.
"I'm looking for the pressure points on her neck." Still searching as she spoke, Phebe smiled as she found the points just beneath Olivia's ears. " Usually the ice trick works, but this should bring her back." She tightened her jaw as she pushed her thumbs into the nerve bundles.
Almost immediately, Olivia's eyes flew open. Panic returned with conciousness. Only the fact that Gregory was sitting right next to her kept her from screaming. Sitting up to look at him nearly made her pass out again. He caught her shoulders and stared down the terror in her eyes. "Liv? Oh sweetheart, thank god you're all right."
Olivia clung to him, not caring that her head was spinning from the sudden movement. "Oh god, Cole- Cole said you were in an accident and I saw it, I saw your car hitting the wall and I heard the sound of the glass breaking. Oh Gregory-"
"Shh..." He insisted gently, trying to hush her hysterics. "It's all right. It's all right now."
Phebe touched his back as she stood up, and over Olivia's shoulder Gregory caught her smile as she returned to Ethan and Bette. "I'm fine." He assured her. "I'm fine."
Hicupping slightly, she pulled away from him enough to look at him. "What happened?"
Gregory cradled her back to his chest, shifting their position so he could lean against the sofa. "Nothing to worry about. The car really got the worst of it Liv."
"The car?" She asked weakly, settling in to his chest. "What about the car?"
Gregory chuckled dryly as he kissed her hair. "When I buy the new one what color should we get?"