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Darkness

It felt like Kelly couldn't get to the hospital fast enough. It didn't help that the project he was working on with Casey was on the other side of town, but then was traffic. When he tried to take a different route to sneak around it, there was construction. Either way, he couldn't win and neither Shay or Lacey were answering their phones. He couldn't help but feel his heart race.

After all, if it wasn't a big deal, Shay would have just told him on the phone? Right? He didn't want to think this way, but what if Lacey lost the baby a second time? He had been upset the first time, but this time around he might really lose it. Finally arriving at Lakeshore, he threw his car in park before hurrying inside, nearly taking someone out in the entryway.

"Whoa," the girl laughed a little, tucking a piece of dark brown hair behind her ear.

"I'm sorry," Kelly said quickly.

"Wait, Kelly?" she stopped him and he looked at her in confusion; then he remembered where he knew her from, she was a high school friend of Lacey's. The last he heard, Erin Lindsay was working for CPD as a detective.

"Oh, Erin, hey," Kelly said. "Look, I can't-"

"I just saw Lacey, she's ok," Erin promised. "Shay's with her, third floor..." She trailed off as she thought about it. "Room sixteen."

"Thanks," Kelly said, still not sure what she was doing there, but grateful she sent him in the right direction. Heading up to that room, Kelly spotted Shay coming back, looking like she was bringing water back for Lacey.

"Kelly-"

"What happened?" Kelly cut her off. All she had said was that he should get to the hospital and that they didn't know what was wrong yet; that was nearly half an hour ago and he hoped there was some news since then.

"Lacey is fine," Shay assured him. "Zoe is fine too, they checked her heart rate. The doctor went to run some tests, she should be back soon." She looked Kelly over once. "I know you're freaked out, I am too, but you have got to get that look off your face before you go in there." Kelly knew that he was probably showing sheer panic in his face, but he also knew that would also worry Lacey even more than she already was.

"Ok," Kelly said, taking a breath before following her into the room. As soon as he saw Lacey in the hospital bed though, he felt the panic shadowing his expression. She looked nearly the same, her face drained of color, her frazzled appearance. There was one thing on each of their minds and that was their daughter.

"Hey," Lacey greeted him softly.

"Hey," Kelly said quickly, going over to kiss her. "How are you?"

"Mmmm," Lacey sighed, as if to say not good. "Worried."

"Well, hey," Kelly said, taking a seat next to her, holding her hand. "Shay said everything came back ok with Zoe..."

"Yeah," Shay nodded. "I, um, got you something to drink." Lacey nodded in thanks.

"I just hate not knowing," Lacey murmured, staring at her and Kelly's hands on the bed sheets. There was a pain in her side again and she touched it instinctively, wincing.

"I'll go get your doctor," Shay offered, leaving now; Dr. Hooper had come in since she was on call with the hospital.

"Ow,ow,ow," Lacey grimaced, squeezing Kelly's hand. He didn't know what to do except for holding her hand back. "It just keeps coming and going," she winced. "And it's getting worse." She tilted her head over to look at Kelly, tearing up. "You don't think it's early labor, do you?"

"I...I don't know," Kelly stuttered.

He wasn't a doctor and had no where near the experience with someone being pregnant to know what might be wrong with her. Katie was his only sister and she obviously didn't have any kids. The closest person he knew was Heather Darden, and both of her pregnancies were uncomplicated. He did know about premature births, babies that came one or two months early and had to spend weeks in the NICU. That thought was excruciating enough. As of now though, Lacey wasn't due for five more months; Zoe wouldn't even stand a chance.

"I can't lose her Kelly," Lacey said, starting to cry and he gripped her hand tighter.

"You're not going to," Kelly promised, kissing her knuckles. "You won't, all right?"

"Hi Lacey," Dr. Hooper rushed in, her own maternal instincts kicking in as she saw the young girl crying; Dawson and Shay were waiting out in the lobby. "I just got your test results back, all right? And this has nothing to do with your baby. I do have to get you into surgery though."

"Surgery for what?" Kelly asked worriedly.

"She has appendicitis," Dr. Hooper informed them. "Nothing to do with your daughter, but we do have to treat you right away."

"Is this bad for the baby?" Lacey asked.

"It's not common, but women do have to undergo surgery for reasons other than their pregnancy," Dr. Hooper assured her. "We'll be monitoring both of you throughout the procedure, but we have to get you to the OR."

Kelly stayed with Lacey until they wheeled her away for her surgery. He promised he'd be there as soon as she got out and the doctor assured him that it was a very routine procedure. While it was routine, they were going to have to go about removing the organ differently, and therefore her recovery time would be different, longer than normal. As Lacey was taken down the hall, Kelly left the room to find Dawson and Shay in the waiting room.

"Hey, she ok?" Dawson asked.

"She has to get her appendix out," Kelly explained. "The baby's fine."

"Ugh, thank God," Shay let out a sigh of relief and Kelly nodded in agreement. Appendicitis wasn't ideal, but it was certainly better than an alternative.

"What happened to you?" Kelly asked Dawson curiously as she had looked slightly disheveled, just getting to the hospital.

"On the way here, my car got a flat," Dawson rolled her eyes at the luck. "But, I guess Lacey's friend Erin lived in the neighborhood, she saw us when she was driving back from work."

"Wow, that was nice of her," Kelly commented, remembering how he had run into Erin on his way into the hospital. He was going to have to call and thank her.

The surgery went well. After a few days of monitoring in the hospital, it was determined that both mother and baby were safe to go home. They sent Lacey back to her apartment with strict orders of bed rest for a few weeks. Kelly was attentive before, but since this recent scare, he was even more so in the last two weeks. On the days he had to work, he left her in the care of her mother.

When he was off, however, he was waiting on her constantly, not wanting her to get out of bed. Today, he had to get ready to go into work again, but unfortunately her parents had a trip planned for weeks to visit the Darden boys in Florida. It wasn't like he could ask Shay because she was on shift too, and Dawson had something with Antonio.

"Maybe I'll just take off today," Kelly offered, laying in bed with her still that morning, though he was already dressed.

"Both of us can't miss work," Lacey said, missing several weeks of work herself due to her surgery. By the time she got back to school, it would only be a couple weeks before she was on maternity leave. "We have an apartment...and bills...a baby coming..." She covered her face with her hands now. "Mmm, and the wedding."

"Hey, don't stress," Kelly told her, taking one of her hands; he ran his other hand over her stomach gently, steering clear of her incision on her right side as it was still sore. Feeling his daughter kick, he couldn't help but smile a little. Since her last trip to the hospital, they had been monitoring Zoe's movement like crazy as well as getting a small monitor to test her heart rate at home between doctor's visits.

"It's fine," Kelly continued. "I'll just pick up extra shifts once you're better."

"Don't miss work," Lacey insisted. "I'll call Katie and see if she wants to come over." Kelly seemed hesitant. "What's wrong with that, she's your sister."

"I just feel better with Dawson or Shay," Kelly admitted.

"Ok, Katie's not a paramedic," Lacey sighed. "But she's capable of bringing me food and watching tv in bed with me." She looked over at him. "Just go to work, I'll feel better if you do." She felt bad that he was attending to her so much, not that she didn't appreciate it. Him missing work would just make her feel more helpless.

"I'm gonna see if Erin can come over too," Kelly said and he knew Lacey was about to point out that Erin wasn't a paramedic either. Kelly's reasoning though was if there was some kind of emergency he'd rather have some kind of response person there, someone that could stay calm and get Lacey where she needed to be. Katie was great and was so excited to be an aunt, but Kelly didn't know how she'd react in that kind of pressure situation.

"Just let me," Kelly stopped her and she just nodded as he went to call her.

"Hiiiiiii," Katie beamed as Kelly let her into his and Lacey's room. "Aunt Katie's here!" She was holding two plastic bags. "I've got food, and magazines..."

"I gotta get into work," Kelly was saying as Katie was getting onto his side of the bed. "Erin's on her way."

"Ok," Lacey half smiled at him.

"I'll call later," he said, coming over to kiss her once. "Love you."

"Love you too."

"Thanks Katie," Kelly told her before heading out.

"Sure thing!" Katie called after him, happy to be called to help. "So," she smiled at Lacey, pulling out a stack of magazines. "Which one do you want first?"

"Um, this one," Lacey laughed, pulling one from the pile.

"So, this bed is awesome," Erin was commenting an hour later, all three girls propped up on pillows, watching tv and passing around snacks. "Can I stay here with you?" she joked to Lacey.

"Mmm, you can switch me," Lacey half laughed. "I'd much rather be some place else, not stuck in this bed."

"I guess," Erin agreed now.

"What do you do Erin?" Katie was asking from Lacey's other side.

"I'm a detective, at CPD," Erin answered.

"Oh," Katie nodded. "And how do you two know each other?"

"High school," Lacey answered now. "And you," she laughed, turning to Erin now. "Never answered by question about Shay." Lacey had not so secretly hinted that she thought the two of them should hang out, maybe as a group at first, but then definitely a real date after.

"Oh," Erin laughed. "Why is it that you're always trying to set me up?"

"Because you don't date," Lacey teased her and Erin made a playful face back. "Can I just give you her number?" Lacey pouted, sticking out her lip.

"Fine," Erin gave in, handing Lacey her phone. "And what about you," Erin said to Lacey now, teasing back. "Finally landed big brother's best friend?" Lacey just laughed, handing the phone back. "You know," Erin said to Katie now. "This one's had a crush on your brother since we were thirteen."

"No way," Katie laughed, then the lights went out in the apartment.

"That was weird," Lacey commented, looking around as all their eyes adjusted to the dark, Erin getting up from the bed.

"Looks like the lights are out on the whole street," she commented from the window. The more she looked though, it wasn't just this street, but the darkness extended for blocks. Her phone started going off with a call from work and Katie was getting texts from Otis.

"I guess the guys need some more food at the house," Katie said, reading the texts. "They're letting some people from the neighborhood come spend the night."

"I should get you both over there," Erin said. "It's going to start getting cold in here fast." She looked to Lacey. "Are you ok to move?"

"Mmmm, yeah," Lacey nodded, edging herself over slowly to the end of the bed.

"Oh no," Kelly said, seeing Lacey coming in with Erin and Katie on either side of her. They were all busy at the house, getting out cots and setting them up for people to stay the night, with others working in the kitchen to get food ready for the people coming in. "Power's out at our place too?"

"Went with the rest of the neighborhood," Katie nodded, backing out of Kelly's way so he could help Lacey while she went over to help with the food.

"Where's your office at?" Erin asked, helping Lacey on her other side.

"Oh, I don't have to stay back there," Lacey protested.

"Please don't start," Kelly half laughed as they rounded the corner. She was so stubborn and determined to take care of herself, she had been this way after her accident last year too. Part of him loved that about her, but right now he just wished she'd let him take care of her.

"Hey!" Shay grinned as she ran into them. "My baby's here!"

"Your baby?" Kelly laughed, raising an eye brow, moving to let Shay hug Lacey.

"Oh, we forgot to tell you," Shay bit her lip.

"We're running away together," Lacey informed him, linking arms with Shay.

"Ah, of course," Kelly said, going along with the joke. "Should have seen that coming." He shrugged now. "You can keep her, but I'll fight you for Zoe."

"Ouch!" Lacey laughed, making Shay laugh too.

"What a loving dad," Erin laughed now.

"Yeah, dad," Lacey rolled her eyes playfully. "I don't know about fiance."

"I've been trying to get you to go rest," Kelly laughed in protest.

"He's right, you should go," Shay nodded at Kelly's office. "I'm gonna grab some more blankets and pillows, but I'll be back to say hi in a bit."

"Oh, Erin can help," Lacey said now, glancing at Erin. "Right?"

"Ah, yeah," Erin laughed at Lacey's not so subtle suggestion, going to follow Shay to help finish setting up before going into work herself.

"That was very subtle," Kelly teased her, opening the door for her before leading her over to sit down.

"It was your idea," Lacey said, laying down now and feeling much better after moving around so much. It was true, once Kelly remembered Erin after not seeing her in so long, he suggested introducing her to Shay or at least inviting her over whenever they had one of their girls' nights. The way he planned it though probably would have been a little more subtle than Lacey's way.

"Guess so," he smiled, kneeling down next to her as she pulled the covers over herself. "How are you feeling?"

"Kinda sore," she said, adjusting a little. "Probably from moving around so much." He nodded.

"Want me to get you anything?" he asked.

"No, I'll be all right," she promised. "I think I just want to get some sleep."

"Ok," Kelly nodded, kissing her forehead. "I'll go see if there's an extra blanket."

"Just leave it," Lacey insisted as he got up to go.

"What's going on?" Kelly as Shay came into his office quickly, a concerned look on her face.

"We have a problem," Shay explained.

"What?" Lacey asked now.

"Eric's here," Shay said now, glancing at Kelly. "Boden's telling him to leave, but I didn't know how you..." She was going to say wanted to handle it, but Kelly was already out the door of his office.

thanks for reading! :) i really hope you liked it, please let me know what you thought! :)
yikes, i know, more cliffhangers! lol...but this one isn't nearly as "bad," right? lol more soon!