"Don't worry, sweetie, everything will be ok." Randy guaranteed. Roxy was basically passed out on the backseat of his car, clutching her stomach. She groaned, fidgeting for the large part of the journey.

Randy, against Roxy's wishes, was driving her manically to the hospital. Tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, he cursed under his breath, glancing back at his wife from time to time. The traffic was so slow moving, he was getting increasingly frustrated.

After what seemed like hours, Roxy was taken away from Randy for tests as Randy sat and waited in the relatives room for any news. He was now beginning to regret not bringing her in sooner. Despite her tan, she was deathly white except for glowing hot, red cheeks when he left her. He impatiently glanced mindlessly around the room.

Waiting.

"Mr Orton?" A male dashed into the room.

"Yes?" Randy hastily spoke, standing up.

"Can you sign these forms on behalf of your wife."

"What forms?" Randy questioned.

"We need your permission to remove Roxanna's appendix, they seem to be the cause of the problem."

Randy gulped hardly. He wasn't a doctor but knew that appendicitis could be fatal. Scribbling his signature quickly, Randy felt regret wash over him.

"Can I see her, you know, before you do it?" Randy pleaded.

"Yes, but you need to be quick." the trainee spoke, leading Randy to his wife.

Roxy was still only half conscious by the time Randy got near her. He clasped her right hand and stroked her hair gently. "It's ok baby - I'm so sorry, I promise everything will be ok. I'll see you when you wake up. I love you." he reassured, watching his wife lapse in and out of consciousness.

Returning to the relatives room, Randy sunk instantly in one of the arm chairs. He was terrified for his wife and wished that it could have been him, rather than her, in a near death situation. He clasped her wedding rings in his hand, hoping and praying for her recovery.

Without a word of warning, the door crashed open.

"Randy?"

"Chris!" he exclaimed, leaping from his seat to the clutches of his best friend.

"What the hell's going on - I tried ringing you hotel room, your mobiles, and then the woman on reception tells me Roxy's really sick and you brought her here?"

"Roxy...she needs her appendix removing." Randy told Chris, his eyes downcast as he tried to digest the words himself.

"Really? Is she gonna be ok?" Chris urgently asked.

"I hope so...man, it's all my fault!" Randy began to sob, burrying his head in his hands. "If only I'd made her come here..."

"It'll be ok Randy - you'll see." Chris promised, holding Randy close as they sat next to each other.

"I don't want the final words she properly understood from me to be 'fuck you'!"

"I know. Listen, in a few hours, everything will be fine, you see. Don't over react, ok?" Chris comforted.

"She looked so pale." Randy snivelled, sitting up "I just can't believe this is happening...the past few months have been amazing and today has been totally shit!"

"She's a strong woman Randy, remember that." Chris told his friend, squeezing his shoulder tightly.

After about another hour of waiting, Roxy's doctor entered the room.

"Which one of you men is Mr Orton?"

"I am." Randy spoke "How's Roxanna?"

"She's critical but stable. We managed to remove her inflamed appendix successfully. Mr ummm?"

"Jericho." Chris spoke as the doctor faced him.

"I need to speak to Mr Orton - alone."

"Ok - call me later." Chris urged Randy, hugging him once again before leaving.

"How did everything go?" Randy once again asked.

"As far as we can tell, fine. I think we caught her appendix before they actually burst but when she wakes up, I'll need to do a few blood tests, just to make sure, to make sure she hasn't got any blood poisoning."

"It came on really quickly." Randy replied, sitting back down, rubbing his temples.

"Appendicitis often does. Anyway, there is another pressing problem, but I need to ask you a few questions about it first."

"Ok." Randy unsurely agreed.

"When was your wife's last period?"

"Two weeks ago."

"How often do you have sex?"

"It varies - sometimes most nights, some weeks hardly any. It depends on where and what we are doing or have done during that day." Randy replied uncomfortably, watching the doctor write short nots on a file.

"Ok, do you where a condom or is your wife on any other sort of medication such as the..."

"No! We're married!" Randy yelled, loosing his temper a bit, standing up "What has all of this got to do with Roxy?"

"Because, Mr Orton, when we scanned your wife's stomach we noticed that her womb seems to be dilated. We think Roxanna is pregnant."

Randy's eyes stared at the doctor. "The baby won't survive will they? How old are they?"

"We are estimating about two months, give or take a few days. We took a fluid sample from the womb and will be testing that. If your wife pulls through ok then your baby should do although, because it is so young, there is more chance of her miscarrying."

Randy realised that if Roxy miscarried another baby, it would crush her. "Can I tell her myself, in our own time."

"Yes, of course. I'll warn you, before you do see her, she'll be extremely weak. It's probably best just to let her sleep it off for the majority of the time." the doctor advised. "I'll take you to see her now."

Randy followed the man through the corridors until they came to Roxy's room.

"Was her pregnancy the reason she got appendicitis?" Randy questioned.

"Quite possibly, yes, as the female hormones keep changing as the baby grows. Now, we'll need to keep checking her scar to make sure there are no infections there. She unfortunately has a lot of scar tissue in that area of the body, which might not help too much..."

Randy nodded, not really listening to what the gentleman was saying. He peered through the windows at the still figure lying in bed.

Tip toeing into the room, Randy kissed Roxy's forehead lightly. He sat next to her on the side of the bed and took her hand in his, placing her wedding rings back on her forefinger. He couldn't believe that his wife was pregnant and, although fantastic news, was possibly not the best of times for it to be happening. Her skin was not as pale as before but her eye lids were darken and she appeared fatigued.

Randy continued to watch his wife sleep for about another half an hour. Suddenly, he felt her fingers grasp his as she unsurely opened her eyes.

"Hey gorgeous," Randy greeted warmly, moving closer to her fragile body, kissing her cheek tenderly "How ya feeling?"

"Bad." she drowsily replied, her eyes not wanting to stay open for any length of time.

She attempted to move her body slightly and grasped her stomach, not really moving anywhere. She felt really dizzy and still quite nauseous.

"The doctor needs to come and see you." Randy whispered, caressing her cheek that she had rested on the palm of his hand.

"Great." she sarcastically muttered after a few moments.

"Back in a sec - Racoon eyes!" Randy half laughed, kissing her forehead once again before walking out of the room to find the doctor.

Roxy smiled blankly at her wedding rings, not really remembering the argument prior to her appendectomy.

A few moments later, Randy returned with the doctor and pulled a seat up beside Roxy's bed.

"Hello Mrs Orton, how are we?" he asked.

"Have been better." she mumbled. "When can I go home?" she eagerly questioned.

"Ahh, that remains to be decided. We need to make sure that your stomach doesn't get infected. I need to take a blood test." he concluded, picking up a needle and walking over Roxy.

Roxy swallowed hard.

"Can you do it later?" she asked.

"Afraid not, I need to get the results sent to the lab." the doctor coldly replied, looking for a vein on her arm, tapping her skin with his finger tips.

Roxy shut her eyes tightly as she felt the blood being drained from her arm. She grasped Randy's hand securely, not wanting to let go. Randy smirked slightly to himself. She'd never confessed but all of the time he'd known her, Roxy had hated injections and needles.

"All done, now that wasn't so bad was it?" the doctor mockingly quizzed. "Try and get some rest Mrs Orton, you'll feel better then." he reassured, taking the blood test and walking out of the room.

"Bastard!" Roxy mumbled dozily, letting go of Randy's hand.

"No matter how ill you are, you always find the strength to insult someone!" Randy smiled, returning to her side on the edge of the bed.

"Some people just deserve it!" she shrugged, resting more comfortably as Randy once again placed his hand against her cooling cheek.

"Try and get some rest." Randy urged, kissing her forehead once again.

A few hours later and Randy was still at Roxy's bedside, his hand firmly clasping hers. She had managed to dose off but Randy couldn't take his eyes off her. He daren't take his eyes off her.

Suddenly, the night nurse walked into the room. Randy was aware of her presence but did not bother to turn to face her. The middle aged woman placed a comforting hand on Randy's shoulder.

"She's fine - you need to go and rest though." she encouraged, Randy slowly turning to face her, a question upon her face.

"I promise you that if anything changes I'll call you immediately."

"I feel like I need to be here..." Randy whispered.

"She really is making good progress, under the circumstances. You won't be much good to her tomorrow if your exhausted, will you?" the nurse rationalised. "Besides, she'll be out of it until the morning at the earliest."

Randy glanced at Roxy before nodding to the nurse. He knew she was right. Intertwining his hand from Roxy's he stood and kissed her lips one last time before reluctantly leaving for the evening.