Beautiful Disaster

Chapter: 23

Pairing: Robert and Holly Scorpio

Rating" PG

January 1st 1993, General Hospital Waiting Room

Robert slowly and numbly made his way out into the waiting area, completely dazed. He couldn't fathom how such a happy day could turn dire so quickly. Tiffany, who was now waiting alone glanced up to Robert walking toward her. She was on her feet immediately. "What happened?" she asked, fear dripping from her voice. "Is there something wrong with the baby?"

"No." he managed to answer. "The baby's fine."

Tiffany helped him to the sofa and sat down beside him. "Holly." she breathed.

"Everything was fine. She had the baby, I cut the umbilical cord and everything was fine."

"And the baby?"

"The nurses took the baby to get cleaned up and then Dr. Meadows ordered me out of the room." he explained, his head still spinning. "They wouldn't even tell me what was going on. And Holly, she looked so pale and fragile."

"Robert." Tiffany said soft as she reached for his hand. "I'm sure someone will be out to talk to you very shortly. Until then we're just going to sit here and think positive thoughts.

His heart was sinking and breaking with every passing moment. He just wished that they would come out and tell him something, tell him anything. It was better to know than to speculate. Dammit! Why wouldn't they tell him anything when they forced him out of the delivery room?

Operating Room

What Dr. Meadows had first suspected had unfortunately turned out to be correct. Holly wasn't contracting strong enough and postpartum hemorrhaging occurred. After delivering the placenta Dr. Meadows had tried every available option, she tried massaging the uterus, giving medication and changing Holly's position but nothing helped. Once inside the OR several other techniques were being tried, but Holly was losing entirely too much blood in the process.

"If this doesn't work, we're going to have to open her up and take a look from the inside." Dr. Leighton informed Dr. Meadows. "The only way to stop the bleeding may be to perform a hysterectomy."

"Holly's only in the early thirties, I don't want to have to perform a hysterectomy unless we absolutely have to." Dr. Meadows replied. "We still have a few options."

Waiting Room

Robert got up from the sofa. "All this waiting is killing me." he sighed as he ran his hands through his hair. "Why won't they come out and tell us something?"

"They will as soon as the can, Robert." Tiffany replied.

"What did you tell Robin and the others.?" he asked.

"I told them that Holly was still in labor and that I'd come and get them as soon as I heard something." she told him. "I didn't want to scare Robin."

"Good." he breathed. "I don't know how much more of this I can take, Tiff."

Tiffany got up and walked over to where he was leaning against the wall and gently wrapped her arms around him. "Holly is the strongest woman I know and I'm sure that she's going to be just fine. She has to be."

"Mr. Scorpio?" Alex called out.

"Yes?" he answered, never letting go of Tiffany. "My wife is she alright?"

"Mrs. Scorpio is under the best possible care." Alex tried to assure him. "As soon as she can Dr. Meadows will come out and speak to you. I just wanted to tell you that your baby is in the nursery and you can visit whenever you're ready."

"Thank you." he replied.

"I also wanted to give you this." she said, extending her hand. Alex gently placed Holly's wedding band in the palm of his hand and then left the room.

Robert looked down at the ring and then slowly closed his hand. "This means they had to take her into the operating room."

"We don't know that." Tiffany offered. "But for right now I think we should walk down to the nursery and take a look at that baby."

He gently nodded and slipped Holly's ring onto his pinky. Tiffany lead him down the hallway until they reached the nursery window. "In all the chaos I forgot to ask. Is the baby a boy or a girl?"

"A boy." Robert answered.

"I told ya it was a boy." she smiled. "Let's go in and see him."

They walked into the nursery and were greeted by Alex. "Would you like to hold him?" she asked.

"Sure." he smiled, trying to take his mind off of Holly. "I think I'm going to sit though." Robert sat down in the rocking chair and Alex brought the baby over and gently placed him in his father's arms.

"I'll be next door if you need anything." Alex told them as she left.

Tiffany looked down at the small baby ."Oh, Robert, he's beautiful."

"Isn't he." Robert agreed. "Holly said he was perfect."

"He is." she agreed.

He gently rocked his son, holding him tightly in his strong arms. He wanted to shield him from the entire cruel world. Tiffany watched Robert with his son but her mind wandered back to Holly and she knew Robert's did as well. As he continued to rock the baby all the tears that he had been holding in began to fall. One by one.

Operating Room

Nurse Marina looked from the monitors back to Dr. Meadows. "Her pressure's dropping."

Dr. Meadows glanced up at the machines. "Open up the IV's." she instructed.

The nurse did just as the doctor instructed, but after following several different orders nothing seemed to help. Holly's vitals continued to fall rapidly. A loud, high pitched noise began to fill the room.

"Get me a crash cart!" Dr. Meadows ordered.