After the Storm 4
I don't own these characters; I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had than that.
MKMKMKMKMKMKMKMKMKMK
(Three and a half months later)
Kitty laid on the small hard hospital bed, in the equally small, as well as sterile room, wave after wave of agony wracking her small body. Words spoken by unseen voices floated above her, only occasionally penetrating the haze of agony in which she was cocooned.
She did know where she was, and that she was in labor, but something was wrong. She heard the words "Abnormal Labor" and "too big" and "hemorrhage" but the words were too disconnected, and made no sense to her pain addled mind. She thought she remembered someone leaning over her; the light above making a halo around his head, but who that may have been she wasn't sure. She wasn't sure of too much of anything, except her baby was coming and Matt wasn't there.
MKMKMKMKMKMK
Nathan Hancock stood in the stark, gray hallway of the hospital, nervously pacing back and forth, wearing a clear path in the tile floor. Having been a bachelor all of his life, he had no experience with women having babies, and no idea whether this length of time was normal or not. But somehow, he had a feeling it was not.
Reluctantly, his mind centered on the image that had greeted him when he had stopped by Kitty's house to drop off some paperwork.
After failing to a get a response to several knocks at her door, Nathan was walking away, when he had a cry of misery coming from inside the house. Trepidation filled him as he turned back to the door, swallowed the lump in his throat, and tried the knob on the front door. It was open.
Nathan stopped just inches inside the door as his frightened eyes took in the sight of his partner, lying on the floor of her front parlor, with blood seeping out beneath her. Quickly he crossed the distance to kneel down beside her, on the blood stained floor.
Her small hand was cold as he took it in his own, and her face was pale. "Ki.. Kitty," he stuttered, "What's wrong? What's happened?" Nathan tenderly lifted her head, cradling it in his lap, as she slowly opened her pain filled eyes.
Kitty looked up blankly at him for a moment. "Nathan," she whispered, unable to gather enough strength to add volume to her voice, "the baby. Oh God help me." The effort to speak was more than she could manage, and she slumped back towards the floor, senseless.
Unsure of what else to do, Nathan swiftly picked her up and carried her out to his carriage. Whipping the horse unmercifully into a mad run, he piloted the carriage through the traffic, and towards Massachusetts General. Once there, he gently carried her in, surrendering her to the medical personal within.
That had been a couple of hours ago, and except for an occasional sympathetic glance in his direction, from various people entering and leaving her room, no one had spoken to him and he had no idea how she was.
"Mr. Dillon?" a hesitant voice interrupted his thoughts from behind him.
Nathan jerked and turned towards the voice to find a tall, severe looking man with gray hair, a waxed mustache and calm brown eyes regarding him.
Nathan extended his hand in greeting. The man accepted the offer, his handshake brief and perfunctory. "My name is Dr. Lewis, Mr. Dillon."
"Mr. Hancock," Nathan corrected the man, with a shake of his head. "Mrs. Dillon is my business partner. Her husband is…. gone." Nathan knew the truth about Kitty's marital status, but saw no reason to share that information. "I don't think she has any other relatives."
"Oh I see" the man said in a disconcerted, yet accepting tone. "Well that makes it simpler I suppose."
"What do you mean?" Nathan asked, not liking the sound of the man's words. "What makes what easier?"
Dr. Lewis hesitated for a moment. "I really shouldn't be speaking to you since you're not a relation of hers." He said finally, with a sigh. "But as you are her partner, and there is no one else, I suppose I can tell you."
Nathan was confused. "Tell me what? What's going on in there?" he jerked his hand back towards the door behind which she lay.
Dr. Lewis' voice turned warm and sympathetic as he answered. "Mrs. Dillon is having significant difficulties in having this child due to its rather large size. She has been hemorrhaging and a decision needs to be made as to her treatment. "
Nathan swallowed hard as he turned, once again, to look at the door, blocking her from his view. "What kind of decision," he asked.
Lewis ticked his head towards that same door. "We basically have two choices in Mrs. Dillon's care. We can operate or we can continue as we have. Either option carries with it inherent risks to both the mother and child. Normally, in a situation like this, we would seek the husband's opinion in the matter, or failing that, another relative. But if you are correct, and there are no other relatives or a husband for me to consult with, than the decision will be up to my discretion."
Nathan stared at the floor beneath him as he listened to the doctor. Finally raising his eyes he pointed back towards the door. "Have you asked her?" He asked. "Don't you think it should be her decision?"
Lewis shook his head. "She's not mentally competent at this time to decide" he stated. "So as I said, the decision will be mine."
The doctor started to turn away, but Nathan reached out a hand to stop him. "What are you going to do?" he asked worriedly.
The doctor smiled kindly. "Most doctors would recommend surgery first thing, in a case such as this." He stated "But I do not like that option at all. There are too many complications that could ensue, as well as the fact that she is so weak. However, unless something changes within the next couple of hours, I will have no choice."
Nathan nodded his head in understanding. Suddenly he thought of the baby's father. "Doctor," he asked, "would it be alright if I saw her?"
Dr. Lewis considered the request for only the briefest of moments. "Alright," he answered, "but please, don't stay long."
Nathan nodded gratefully as he reached for the door and entered.
Kitty was lying on the bed unmoving, with only an occasional groan to alert him that she was alive. Nathan stepped gingerly up beside the bed and looked down at the pale but beautiful woman, he called his friend and partner. And, if truth be known, the woman he was just a little in love with.
"Kitty," he called softly, as he gently brushed a stray lock of red hair from her fevered forehead. "Kitty?"
Slowly, she opened haggard blue eyes to gaze at him. "Nathan," she answered weakly.
Nathan was encouraged that she knew him and could respond; still he remembered the doctor's words and the look on his face as he made his pronouncement of her condition. Nathan hated prying into her personal affairs, but if the worst were to happen he knew the baby's father should be notified.
"Kitty, I need to know something." He stated.
Kitty tried to focus, but the torment she was in, was making it difficult. "What?" she finally managed.
"Kitty, who should I contact in case… well… if you don't…..? I mean if…..?" He couldn't bring himself to say it.
On a normal day, in normal circumstances, with all of her wits about her, Kitty would've told him nothing, avowing instead that there was no one. But this was not a normal day, and she did not have her wits about her. She was in agony, and her mind centered on the only one in the world, that she knew of, that could take it away.
"Matt Dillon," she forced over dry lips. "Marshal….. Dodge… City."
TBC