A/N My thanks to those reading, and adding this to either your favorites or, even better, your alerts. From her on out I'll be updating on Saturdays only.

Chapter 3

Ten minutes ago

"Nurse Ramsey," Robin called as he and the others walked up.

At his call, Jennifer stopped at the entrance and walked back toward them. She was glad to see that the others were with him. 'This is going to be rough on him, and he's going to need their support,' she thought. "Robin, you're here, good."

"How is she, and when can I see her?"

The brunette sighed softly, wishing that Doctor Benson was free to have this conversation. "Right now, she's in critical condition. We've set the bones in her leg and her shoulder, and we've treated her collapsed lung," she said. "Right now, it's a waiting game for her to stabilize and wake up so Doctor Benson can go in and take care of her internal injuries."

"Why not do that before she wakes up?" Beast Boy asked.

"Because then we wouldn't know how much anesthetic to use to keep her out, and the surgery itself might kill her," Jennifer explained. "So far, she's been responding well, so . . . ." she continued, but trailed off when she saw that she had lost Robin's attention as he stared intently at the doors to the treatment area.

"Kori," he said softly, and Jennifer could hear the worry in his voice. She was going to ask what was wrong, when a soft beeping sound came from the nurse's station, and a green light above the desk started flashing.

"Code green, ER treatment room five," a computerized voice said over the PA.

"Stay here, Robin," Jennifer said as she went back into the treatment area as the call was repeated.

Ignoring her, Robin moved to follow, but ran into someone who was coming out. "Excuse me," he said as he went to go around the person. He looked up when he found an arm blocking his path.

"No, Robin, you can't go back there right now," a woman's voice said.

"That's my wife back there," he argued. "I'll stay outta the way, but I want to be there for her."

"Aye, lad, I know, but ye canna do thot right now."

Robin blinked at the heavily accented voice. He recognized the accent as an Irish brogue. When he looked at who was speaking, he recognized Doctor McDonnough, the OB/GYN that Starfire had chosen to take care of her through her pregnancy.

Colleen McDonnough had been in the States for almost three years, but when she spoke, especially when angry or upset, her brogue was testimony to her spending the first thirty years of her life in Ireland, as did her classic flame red hair and emerald green eyes. At first, Robin had been concerned that if the delivery grew complicated that there would be a communications gap. However, he learned that when she went into what Starfire had termed "doctor mode" her brogue vanished.

"Robin," Raven said in a warning tone as he started to try to duck around the doctor.

"Raven, that's my wife and unborn daughter back there. I'll stay out of the way, but I want to see her."

Before Raven could try to reason with him, Colleen cut in. "Lad, if ye want her tae live and bear your child, ye'll joost have tae be patient. Right noo they donna need an inexperienced person getting in the way."

The fact that an actual doctor had said that Starfire might die struck home and Robin fell silent.

"What is a code green anyway?" Cyborg asked, filling the silence.

"Respiratory arrest," Colleen replied. "Starfire's lung collapsed again, and she stopped breathing. Right now, Linda, Jennifer, and Lisa are working on her, and it's such tight quarters that they can hardly move without knocking elbows." She looked over at Robin, her expression softening. "I'm sorry, Robin, but that's why I'm not back there right now. I'd only be in the way."

Robin nodded, then looked up as the door opened. "Doctor Benson," he said, recognizing the physician. He didn't know whether to feel relieved or not seeing her away from Starfire's side so soon. The expression on her face didn't help as she walked over.

"I'm not going to pull any punches," she said. "Right now it's touch and go. Much as I don't want to, if she doesn't stabilize any better in the next hour or so, I'm going to have to operate anyway."

"Can I see her?"

Raven grew concerned at Doctor Benson's hesitation at answering Robin's question.

Linda sighed, then nodded. "Only for a moment, and if I tell you to leave the room, you will do so immediately and with out argument."

Robin nodded, then followed her through the double doors to the short corridor that led to the treatment rooms. He was curious when Linda stopped after they had only gone a few feet.

"I'm warning you now, that she's in rough shape. Needless to say, that truck hit her considerably harder than Benny and his gang did, so brace yourself."

Robin nodded, then followed her further down the hall. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for whatever Starfire might look like as she stopped and opened a curtain and motioned him through. Despite his efforts, he couldn't suppress the gasp that was torn from him. Before, when he had gone to Starfire's side as she lay in a hospital bed, the victim of an attack by some criminal wannabes, she had been badly beaten and bruised, but the only medical equipment she was hooked into was a small clip that fastened under her nose, that administered oxygen. Now there was a clear bag that dripped it's contents into her through a needle in the back of her hand in addition to the wires that were hooked into a heart monitor. What hit him the hardest was the soft whooshing sound from a ventilator that was hooked to a tube that was taped in place where it went into her mouth.

"The ventilator isn't breathing for her, but making it easier for her to breathe," Linda told him. She was silent for a moment. "I don't mean to pry, but can you tell me what you're feeling from her?"

Robin was silent for a moment, then decided he might tell her something that might help Linda treat Starfire. "She knows what happened to her, and is vaguely aware of what's going on," he said. "She knows she's been hurt, but not how badly, and she's trying to wake up. She also knows that I'm here."

Linda nodded. "Thanks."

"I know you said that I could only stay for a moment, but is it okay if I sit by her?"

Linda looked over at the monitors for a moment, then nodded. She watched as the young hero pulled a chair over beside the bed and took Starfire's right hand in his. She wondered at Robin's emotional control until he went to brush her cheek with the back of his left hand and saw that it was shaking slightly.

"Hey, Star," Robin said softly. "Linda says I can't stay long, but I had to see you, and let you know I'm here."

'Raven. . . . .girl. . . . .safe?'

Despite the fact that the words came over their bond, and had not been spoken, Robin could feel the strain Starfire had to put into the question. "Yes, Kori, they're safe. You saved their lives. You just rest and let the doctors take care of you."

'Good,' came the relieved thought. The next one, together with what Robin felt through their bond, took him by surprise. 'Honorable. . . .death.'

"Doctor!" Robin shouted, just as the heart monitor started beeping loudly. "Kori! Starfire, don't do this, fight it."

"Robin, step back, let us work," Linda said as she and Jennifer reacted to the alarm.

"She's crashing," Jennifer said as she looked at the monitor. "Heart rate 110, BP 90 over 20, and dropping."

'Kori, what honor is there in a death that results in the death of an innocent?' Robin asked through their bond. 'Think of our daughter. Think of Liand'r. If you die, so does she.'

"Defibrillator charging," Jennifer announced as the whine of the device building up its electrical charge could be heard.

"Hold, on," Linda said as the monitor stopped its insistent beeping and resumed the regular beeping of Starfire's heart beat. "Heart rate now 70 ,and her BP is coming up.

Both doctor and nurse shared a sigh of relief as Starfire's vital signs leveled off. They weren't normal, by any means, but it looked as though she was holding her own.

After a few minutes Linda looked over at Jennifer. "Okay, her vitals are holding for the moment. Hang another unit, and make sure OR seven and John are standing by."

"Yes, Doctor."

"Robin, we need to talk."

"Doctor Benson," Jennifer called, stopping them by the curtain. "This will leave only two units for the surgery."

Linda sighed. "I know, Jen. I just hope the plasma reclamation system will recover enough."

Robin followed Linda into the hallway, and when she stopped and turned to face him, he gave her his full attention.

Linda saw the anxious expression on Robin's face, and despite herself, her heart went out to him. She'd had the conversation she was about to have with Robin several times before with husbands and fathers, but it didn't make it any easier, and Robin was by far the youngest she needed to discuss this with.

"Robin, I'd like nothing better that to be able to tell you that Starfire's in anything but critical condition, but I can't. Under normal conditions, the surgery she needs would be tricky. Her pregnancy is the main complication. According to the database that Vern'a left me, once Starfire' life force reaches a low enough level, her body will sacrifice itself to focus on preserving the baby," she explained. "That brings us to our second problem. As Jennifer said, we're down to our last two units of blood for her. Now, we have a system that collects and filters the blood lost during surgery. That should be enough, but it leaves us with no reserves if something goes wrong."

Robin swallowed nervously, and looked back toward the curtain where Starfire lay. "What are her chances?"

"To be honest, 70, 30 against her making it through the surgery," Linda said. "That goes up to 50, 50 after 24 hours." Linda took a deep breath and blew it out, then went on. "That makes it necessary for me to ask you a difficult question. If, during the surgery, I'm faced with taking steps to save Starfire, or her unborn child, which do I do?"

"What?!" Robin gasped, staggering back a step. "You can't be serious! I can't make that decision. You're asking me to choose between my wife and my daughter!"

"I know that, Robin, but you have to be the one to make it. As you said, Starfire is your wife, and she's carrying your child. You're the only one who can make the decision."

Linda watched Robin closely. She'd seen husbands reactions vary from storming off without facing the situation, to fainting from the shock and stress. She was relieved to see that Robin's reaction was going to be somewhere in between.

"How soon do you have to know?" he asked softly.

"The sooner, the better," Linda replied, then sighed softly. "Listen, I've got to check to see if the operating room is ready, and that John Winston from anesthesiology is set up and ready." She looked over at the curtain that kept Starfire from view. "Jennifer has the form you're going to need to sign. Once the unit of blood we're giving her now is empty, I'm going to have to do the surgery. You have until then, and you can sit with her until then as well."

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Robin sat at Starfire's bedside, the soft beeping of her heart monitor almost keeping time with the burnt orange liquid dripping from its plastic pouch into the IV line that was connected to the back of Starfire's hand. A pouch, he noted, that was only half as full as it had been when he had come in. He was slightly surprised when Jennifer had left the room, but realized that she was probably just on the other side of the curtain, and would be back the instant one of monitors Starfire was hooked into sounded an alarm.

There were several things that Robin didn't like about the present situation. First was that Starfire had been hurt, despite all the precautions he had taken to ensure her safety. Close behind that was the fact that, for the first time he could remember, he didn't know what to do.

"Robin?" Raven's voice called from behind him.

"Raven, she doesn't know what's she asking me to do," he said not turning around. "When I first got in here, Star managed to use our bond to ask me if you and the girl were safe," he related. "When I told her that you were, she almost let herself go, saying something about an honorable death. I was able to get her to keep fighting to stay alive by telling her that it wouldn't be an honorable death because an innocent life would be lost as well. Doctor Benson is asking me to choose between Starfire and Liand'r, my wife and my daughter. I can't do that."

"Robin, all she's asking that for is if she runs into a situation where she'll lose both of them if she doesn't take steps to save one of them. She's not asking you to choose between them." Raven was silent for a moment as she gauged Robin's reaction.

"Rae, she's gonna be upset with whatever choice I make," he said. "She'll either think that I don't love her anymore, or that I don't want Li."

Raven sighed softly. "Robin, she knows you love her, and you've actually made it clear that you're crazy about becoming a father," she said. "It'll be alright, no matter what you choose, but Doctor Benson needs that choice made soon."

As he filled out the form, Robin gave a frustrated growl at Raven's not understanding what hewas certain was going to be Starfire's reaction at his decision.