I'm really enjoying spending time with Elliot and Ava. I was worried at first that Elliot would annoy the shit out of me, but this weekend hasn't been too bad. Plus, I'm sure my beautiful little love bug, Ava, has something to do with it. She's so sweet and always gives me the best toothless grin when she sees me. I'm becoming so attached to my niece, it makes me wonder how being a father is going to be. I already feel so protective of this little girl. I can't imagine how I'm going to feel with my own. I wonder how Ana would feel about sending a CPO with baby Grey when he/she goes to school...
"CHRISTIAN!" Elliot comes running in, shoving things in the diaper bag. "We have to go! We have to get on a plane!"
Suddenly, I'm panicking. "What? What happened?" I stand up, making my way toward Ava's car seat to put her in.
"The girls. The girls have been in a car accident."
"What?" I'm fumbling to snap her in, but my fingers won't cooperate. I give up, turning toward him. "Are they okay?" My heart has dropped into my stomach.
One look from him tells me all I need to know.
"God, damn it! Snap her in!" I demand, pulling out my phone to call the airport. They need to have our plane ready asap. I call Taylor next, telling him to meet us at the airport.
"I knew they shouldn't have gone! I fucking knew it!" I tell him as we climb into the truck. "Who called you?"
Pulling out of the driveway, he sighs. "Kate called me. They were trapped in the car while waiting for the police. She said the car is totaled."
"Is she okay? What about Ana? Mia?" I feel the bile rising in my throat.
"She said her leg is really messed up. She said Mia and Veronica are alright. Veronica couldn't talk and Mia couldn't move her arm."
"Fuck. Ana? What about Ana?" I can't deal with this.
"Well...she was in the front with Kate."
"JUST FUCKING TELL ME!" I scream, hitting my door out of frustration.
"Kate said she was unresponsive. Her upper body was laying on the dash."
"No. No." I shake my head. "No way." Tears threaten to fall, but I choke them back with a sob and hit the door again. I'd rather feel this physical pain than the physical pain this emotional grief is causing. "She's got to be okay. She has to."
XxXxXx
"What else did she say?" I ask, pacing on the plane. I've asked him this probably fifteen times, but he hasn't come up with anything new to tell me. I've tried calling their cell phones and no one is picking up.
"Christian, I told you everything I know."
The pilot comes over the loud speaker, telling us we're about to land.
"It's about fucking time!" I sit in my seat and buckle up, ready to get out of this fucking plane. "Taylor? Have you gotten ahold of Veronica yet?"
He shakes his head. "No, but her phone's GPS is showing she's at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center."
"How far?"
"About 25 minutes."
"Fuck. Fuck." I pull at my hair, feeling like I'll never get to my girl. I don't know her condition, if she's okay, if she's awake...if she's scared and alone and confused. I need my girl.
"Speed." I tell him.
XxXxXx
Taylor drops us off at the emergency department door and Elliot and I run in.
"We're looking for the women that were brought in by ambulance! They were in a car accident."
"Their last names are Grey and Reigner." Elliot adds.
"Hold on a minute, let me see..." The woman at the concierge desk is taking her fucking time. "Are you two any relation?"
"For fuck's sake!" I growl, smacking the desk. "If we weren't, do you think we would be running in here like fucking lunatics, asking where they are? Anastasia is my wife!"
"And Katherine is mine!"
"Mia is our sister. Now. Tell. Me. Where. The. Fuck. Our. Family. Is. NOW!" I can feel my face beginning to redden, the blood coming to the surface, my face heating up. My blood pressure has to be through the roof.
"I'll need you to sign in..." She has the fucking balls to push a clipboard at my face and I yank it out of her hand. "What are your names?"
While I scribble our names, Elliot tells her who we are and she hands us ridiculous name tags for us to stick on our shirts.
"I swear to God, if you don't tell us where our family is right now, I'm going to come over this desk and look for myself."
Her eyes widen and she begins to stutter. "They-they're-they're not in the ER anymore. They've been admitted. Katherine Grey is in surgery right now and Anastasia is in Room 304."
"Which way?!"
She points and Elliot and I run down the hall, baby and diaper bag in tow. 304...304...304.
As we run down the hall, I hear the ding of an elevator and make a sharp right jumping on before it closes. I hold it open for Elliot and Ava and jab at the number 3 over and over until the doors close.
"Come on, come on, come on." Elliot murmurs under his breath as he dances around. I know he's probably worried sick about Kate. Surgery. This is the second time she's been rushed to the OR since they've been married.
The elevator door opens and we both book it down the hall, until we find a nurses station.
"304! We need 304! Anastasia Grey. She's my wife. Where is she?"
"Calm down, sir. She's just down that hall, about halfway down."
I continue down the hallway quickly, hearing Elliot ask where surgery waiting is. I leave him be, knowing they'll direct him to wait for his wife, while I search for mine.
300...302...304!
I open the door and step in, my stomach immediately doing a somersault at the look of her. She's got wires and tubes coming out of her, a nasal cannula in her nose, and a catheter attached to her bed.
"Ana...Ana, baby. I'm here." Her hair is wet for some reason, there is a large white dressing on her head and I notice small scratches along her face. Her eyes are closed, but I can see the rise and fall of her chest, telling me she's breathing. I reach for her hand and see that she's got white dressings wrapped around her arm.
"What the fuck happened to you, babydoll? Please wake up for me." I lay my head on her stomach and then my heart gives a jolt. The baby.
Seeing her call light attached to her bed rail, I hit it a few times, hoping it'll bring someone faster.
"Ana! Ana, are you up?!" Mia comes hurrying into the room, a cast on her arm from her hand to her shoulder and a brace around her neck. "Oh, Christian! You're here!" She throws her healthy arm around my waist and sobs into my chest.
"Are you okay, Mia? What happened to you?"
"I broke both bones in my arm and I've got whiplash. Oh, Christian! It's all my fault!"
I pull her off of me. "What? Are you saying-"
I'm interrupted by the nurse coming in. "Oh, I thought that Mrs. Grey was up. Hello, are you her spouse?"
I nod. "Yes, I'm her husband. What happened? How is she? Is the baby alright?"
The nurse puts her hands out, trying to calm me down, but it just pisses me off further.
"We used a fetal doppler and the baby's heartbeat is strong. Mrs. Grey hit the dashboard pretty hard. The police said the seatbelt failed and she was thrown forward. She has some trauma to her left arm, from the glass from the windshield. Thankfully, it seemed that she had both arms covering her stomach. The doctor said that if she hadn't, then that piece of glass would have easily cut through her abdomen and caused major damage to her organs, possibly even miscarriage. Luckily, though, it just went through her arm instead."
Oh, fuck. My girl really was born to be a mother. Her first instinct was to save our baby. Again, I choke back tears.
"Why is her hair wet?" I ask, stroking it.
"It was full of blood and glass. We needed to get the glass out so that the doctor could put a few staples in her head. She also has a laceration on her forehead, one that will probably leave a scar."
"I don't give a fuck about a scar. Is she going to be alright?"
The nurse looks down at my wife, and smooths her blanket. "Right now, it seems that everything is working as it's supposed to. We won't know the extent until she wakes up."
"But she will wake up?"
"Eventually. Hopefully soon. She definitely has a concussion, but the doctor said since she's breathing on her own and everything looks as it should, she shouldn't be in a coma for too long."
"When do I meet him?"
"Dr. Ahmad? He'll make his rounds here soon."
I nod, staring down at my sleeping wife. "Our baby...I need an ultrasound of our baby."
"Mr. Grey...we usually don't-"
"I don't care what you usually do! I don't care how much it costs. I want an ultrasound. Now."
She sighs, but nods. "Yes, Mr. Grey. I'll go alert the doctor."
As soon as she's out of the room I turn on my heel and scowl at Mia, who is sitting in a chair in the corner.
"What. Happened?" I growl through my teeth.
Her chin is quivering, but I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for her right now. Especially since Kate is having emergency surgery and Ana is out cold.
"We...we were driving around, looking at celebrity houses and Kate thought we should head to town and I begged her not to and grabbed her shoulder and she turned to yell at me and we ran a red light."
I rub my hands over my face, trying to find some control. "What you mean to say is that you threw a fucking hissy fit and distracted Kate. Why the fuck would you grab the arm of the driver? It's time for you to grow the fuck up, Mia! Your hissy fit could have killed all of you! These women...these girls you call your best friends...could have died because they wouldn't put up with your petty, immature bullshit! Do you see her lying there? DO YOU? She's carrying a child, Mia! You're stupidity could have killed our child! Your stupidity could have killed the mother of your niece! I swear to God, if anything happens to them, you will never see me again. I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you for this. You put all your lives in danger. I can't even fucking look at you right now. Go find Elliot and tell him what the fuck you did." I march to the door and open it for her. "You are no longer welcome in this room." She runs off sobbing, but I don't give a flying rat's ass. She should be crying.
I pull a chair up to the side of the bed and lower one of the rails so I can be close to her. I stroke her wet hair, and search her face.
"Ana, baby, it's me. It's Christian. If you aren't ready, I understand, but I'd wish you'd open your eyes for me. I miss those big blue eyes. The nurse says that the baby is alright, but I'm asking for an ultrasound anyway. I need to see it for myself. You did a wonderful job protecting our child, Ana. My beautiful, sweet, selfless girl." A tear rolls down my cheek, but I quickly wipe it away. I need to be strong for my family.
There is a knock on the door and I turn to see a man with hazelnut skin come through the door. He's got on a white coat and has a stethoscope around his neck.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Ahmad. Your nurse said you wanted an ultrasound?"
I shake his hand and nod. "I'm Christian Grey, Anastasia's husband. Yes. I want an ultrasound done."
"We can arrange that. I just want to look Anastasia over and answer any questions you may have."
He listens to her lungs and her heart and moves her blanket to look at her legs. I see that she has a brace on her right knee and I frown. The nurse didn't say anything about it.
"What's wrong with her leg?"
"She dislocated her knee. Usually, we give medication before fixing it, but under the circumstances, we couldn't, so I had to pop it back into place while she was out. She's in a brace now and I'd like her to keep her weight off of it this week, but keep the brace on for four weeks. It might need worked on, but since she is pregnant, we can't perform any surgeries right now. Once she has the child, she can decide if she needs to go to the orthopedic surgeon. Until then, she'll have to watch it. If it hurts, she can use the brace."
My poor girl.
"I'll keep a close eye on her."
He nods. "Good." He checks her eyes one at a time, using a pen light to check her pupils.
"Her pupils are reacting to the light, so that's a good sign. She has a few staples on the side of her head that will need to be taken out in about two weeks. She's got a small fracture where we had to staple her head, but it'll heal on its own pretty quickly."
"What about her arm?"
"A large piece of glass pierced her arm, but her bone stopped it from going through. It's deep, but it's a pretty clean cut considering. I'm more worried about her head and her knee. I'm confident that she'll wake up soon. I know that a lot has happened to her, but considering how devastating the accident was, she was lucky."
There's a knock on the door and we both turn to see a woman in turquoise scrubs pushing a white machine.
"Ah, Rebecca. Thank you for making time in your schedule for this. Mr. Grey, this is the ultrasound tech. She'll be doing your wife's ultrasound today."
I nod at the woman. "Hello."
She gives me a smile and nods and sets up her machine next to Anastasia. I pull down Anastasia's blankets and pull up her gown. I hurry to pull the blanket back up enough to cover her modesty. There's a bruise on her stomach and I frown. Please be okay. I run my hand over her small bump, which I swear has grown over the last couple of days.
I take a step back and stand by her head while the tech squirts the gel on her stomach before placing the wand on her stomach. I watch the screen and notice that it looks different than our last one.
"Why does it look like that?"
She smiles. "It's a 3D ultrasound. The doctor requested it." She looks back to the screen and moves her wand around until I see it.
"Holy fuck." My body jolts at seeing the baby. It actually looks like a baby! Our baby. It doesn't seem real.
The tech laughs. "It's amazing, isn't it?"
I nod. "Incredible. How big is the baby?"
"Um...let's see. She presses a few buttons. "About the size of a plum. How far along is she? Eleven...twelve weeks?"
"She'll be twelve weeks tomorrow."
I'm completely mesmerized by the screen. Suddenly, the baby moves on the screen, but her hand hasn't moved.
"It moved!"
"Yes, the baby moves. See? The baby is fine. Everything looks great."
Wow. I wonder if I can buy one of these machines for home...
"Would you like a few pictures?"
"Yes. Please. I want to show my wife."
XxXxXx
It's been hours and I haven't heard anything from Elliot or Taylor. Anastasia is still comatose and I find myself periodically checking her urine bag and her vital signs on the monitor at the head of the bed. I keep tucking her into the bed, then worry she feels closed in, and so I untuck her a bit. Then I begin to worry she's cold, so I tuck her in again.
I'm going fucking crazy.
"I need you, Ana. Please wake up. I need to make sure you're okay."
There's a knock on the door and I turn to see Elliot stick his head in. "Hey. Can I come in?"
"Yea."
He enters and I see him holding Ava. I immediately take her, hoping that holding her will calm me a little.
"How's she doing?" He asks moving towards the bed to place his hand over hers.
"She hasn't woken up, but we had an ultrasound and the baby is alright. She's pretty beat up, but the doctor seemed positive that she'd wake soon. How's Kate?"
Elliot squeezes her hand before turning back to me. "She just woke up about a half an hour ago. She's pretty drowsy from the surgery, but she's okay. She's pretty beat up, too. They had to end up putting a metal rod in her leg."
I wince. "God, I hope they end up okay."
He squeezes my shoulder. "They'll be alright. They have to be." He takes a step back from me and I see him wipe a tear quickly away, but I pretend not to see it. "Kate wants to see you. She's across the hall."
"Yea, I'll go see her. Will you stay here?"
He nods. "Yes, of course."
"Any word on Reigner?"
"She's in room 312. She had to have jaw surgery. Her mouth is wired shut."
Fuck. "If you don't mind staying for a bit, I'd like to see her, too."
"Not a problem. Mia is with Kate."
Just fucking great. I watch him have a seat in the chair next to her bed and he takes her hand again. As I head out, I hear him talking to her.
"Hey, Ana. It's Elliot. I'm here for you while Christian visits with Kate. She's alright but..."
I smile as I make my way across the hall. I realize that him touching her doesn't bother me like it use to. I know he loves Kate and respects our relationship. He truly considers Ana family and it warms my heart to know he cares for her. I can depend on him to take care of her if anything ever happens to me.
I knock before entering and when I stick my head in, Kate gives me a sleepy smile. There are bruises under both eyes, making me wonder if she broke her nose.
"Come in, Christian."
I head in with the baby and give Mia a scowl. "Out!"
She jumps out of her chair and hurries towards the door to leave.
"Oh, Christian, please don't be too hard on Mia. She's hurt, too, and is beating herself up already."
I shake my head. "Don't you worry about it. You just concentrate on getting better."
Kate rolls her eyes and holds out her hands for Ava. "Oh, my baby girl. Let me hold her." I hand her over to Kate and Ava gives her a large, toothless grin when she takes her.
"Gimme kissy." Kate tells her and she leans towards Kate's face with her mouth open. "Muah, aw thank you, baby. Slobbery baby kisses are the best." She wipes her face off while Ava giggles at her. I find myself reaching over to smooth Ava's hair on the back of her head. The relationship these two have is so sweet. I really can't wait to see Ana bond with our baby.
"So, how are you doing?" I ask, pulling a chair up to the bed.
"I'm here." She states, shrugging. "How's Ana?"
I look down at my hands. "She hasn't woken up. She has a skull fracture, some staples, an arm injury, and a hurt knee but the baby is alright. The doctor said he expects her to wake soon, so I hope he's right."
She gives me an encouraging smile and reaches over to take my hand. I gladly envelope her hand in both of mine.
"I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for this."
My eyebrows knit together, confused.
"For taking my eyes off the road. If I wouldn't have looked back at Mia, it wouldn't have happened. It's my fault." She begins to cry and my heart aches for her.
"Oh, Kate." I bring her hand up to my lips and kiss the back of it. "Don't do this to yourself. If Mia wouldn't have thrown a fit, this would have never happened. The important thing is that you and Ana are alive. You've got a long road of recovery ahead of you, but you're here and I promise to help in any way I can."
She grins at me. "Especially if it entails watching Ava?" She teases me, knowing how attached I've gotten to her.
"Yes. She's become my best friend, haven't you love bug?" I pick her up and tickle her tummy, making her giggle. We both laugh with her and I place her back in Kate's lap.
"Elliot said you'd probably bond with her quickly. He remembers how much you loved Mia when she came home."
I frown, remembering.
"She's still your little sister, Christian. I know she's immature, but she really does have a good heart. She just doesn't know how to deal with her emotions. She's working full time hours at the bakery now and she's talking about moving into an apartment with a friend. I think it'll be good for her. She's getting there, Christian. Just give her some time. She needs support right now. You know the saying...those who are hardest to love, need it the most. I know it's hard for you to deal with her now, but she needs the love. She feels so unloved right now...and guilty. She's so full of guilt. Please, for Ana and me...just try. It'll break Ana's heart if you two don't mend this. If anything, do it for Ava." She holds her up to make her point and the baby smiles at me. "She doesn't want her auntie and uncle fighting."
I sigh, taking the baby. "You play dirty."
Kate smiles. "Never said I played fair."
I press a kiss to Ava's temple and hand her back. "I need to go see Reigner real quick and then I'll send your husband back to you."
XxXxXx
I sit by my sleeping beauty while the nurse makes up the couch that folds flat into a bed. I don't know if I'll even be able to leave her side long enough to get any sleep. The thought of her waking up and me not being by her side is disturbing to me. I want to be the first thing she sees when she wakes up. I need her to know that I'm here for her through everything.
There's a knock on the door and I turn to see Taylor.
"Christian, I got the girl's belongings out of the car and the bungalow before checking them out of the hotel. It's all in the back of the van I rented for us."
I give him a nod. "Thank you, Taylor. What about clothes for us?"
He gives a small smile. "The girls have already taken care of that."
I grin. My baby bought me clothes.
"Great. We'll go through them with Kate in the morning. Go get some rest, Taylor." He booked a room down the street from the hospital and he deserves the rest.
"Call me if you need anything." The look on his face is genuine and I know that he's worried for everyone involved.
When he leaves, I pull the chair up as close as I can to Ana and lay my head on her stomach so I can watch her sleep. Seeing her chest move in and out as she breathes is almost hypnotizing and I find myself dozing quickly.
As I doze, I become hyperaware of every noise the room makes. The sound of the blood pressure cuff inflating, the click that the IV machine makes, the sound of the door opening when the nurse comes to check on her. I don't bother to greet the nurse, I close my eyes and leave my head on her stomach while the nurse checks on her and changes her IV bag. When I hear the door open again and the nurse's footsteps disappear, I let myself drift again.
When I wake, I hear whimpering and I lift my head and rub my face. When I hear it again, my body startles, realizing where it's coming from.
"Ana...Ana, baby? Can you hear me? I'm here...I'm right here." I stroke her hair and squeeze her hand.
She turns her head a little and lets out another whimper, but her eyes are still closed.
"Angel, open your eyes for me. Let me see those beautiful blues."
A 'V' forms on her face as she fights to open her eyes. She lets out another whimper and turns her head toward me. I see her eyelashes begin to flutter.
"That's it, baby. You got it. Let me see you." I encourage, rubbing the back of my index finger over her cheek.
Finally, her eyelids flutter open and she blinks up at me.
"Ana...oh, Ana. Thank God. Thank God." I press my lips to hers and when I pull back, she blinks up at me, her eyes wide and confused.
"Christian?"