He wakes up, and quietly descends the staircase into the kitchen. He finds his wife sitting at the kitchen table wearing leggings, and a flannel shirt. He grins at her, as he reaches for the coffee. He rubs sleep from his eyes, and studies her face. He immediately picks up on her sheepish grin. Eventually the coffee percolates, and he pours himself a cup of the caffeine elixir. He pulls out a chair, and takes a seat next to her.
"What are we doing today?"
"You should probably finish your coffee, and get dressed," she suggests.
"Do you have plans for us today?"
"I do," she grins.
"What are we doing?"
"We are going to have a couple of babies," she answers.
He shakes his head in disbelief, "You have been saying that for weeks."
She scoots her chair away from the table, and turns towards him. He looks at her stomach which seems to be stretched to its capacity.
"I have been having contractions for hours, and my water recently broke," she informs him.
"I guess I will be taking my cup of coffee to go."
22 hours later—
He sits in the hospital room next to her. She wears a hospital gown, and her face is saturated in sweat. She holds onto the side rail as she has a contraction. Medical personnel enter the room. The doctor stands at the end of the bed. Kate's face is beet red as he begins to talk.
"You have been in labor for hours, and you have stalled at a six," he begins.
"I'll take some more laps," she insists.
"No. Your babies' heartrates are dropping with contractions. We can't wait any longer. It is time to get them out."
"I can do this," Kate argues.
"We are going to take you down for an emergency c-section."
The nurse hands Castle some hospital attire, and instructs him to put it on. By the time he returns they are ready to take his wife to the OR. He follows them into the OR, and takes a seat on a stool next to his wife. He holds her hand as she proceed to position a sterile drape, and cleanse her skin. The doctor rubs a finger on the sole of her foot, and confirms that she is numb. Castle looks over, and finds his wife drifting into unconsciousness. He looks around at the frenzied activity in the room. Two teams of individuals prepare themselves for the arrival of their twins. He tries not to notice the concerned look on the OB nurse's face. He swallows hard, shoving his doubt down with his saliva. The procedure begins, and within a matter of minutes a baby is being hoisted into the air. He watches at the doctor quickly unwraps the cord from the baby's neck. Once this is done the baby shifts from grey to pale, and finally from pink to red. Her tiny lungs screech, and announce her arrival. Only moments later a second newborn is being lifted from his wife's womb. A nurse touches his elbow, and leads him away from his wife. She leads him around the sterile field to his newborn daughters. She proceeds to offer him scissors. He cuts each of the girl's umbilical cords. Among the chaos of the room he hears a nurse say, "Her blood pressure is dropping."
The neonatal team whisks Castles, and the two new babies out of the room, without a word. He follows the staff into the nursery. He finds the newborns being weighed, and measured. He quickly receives two new armbands. He sits in the corner of the nursery watching as they assess the babies. Eventually, when they are satisfied that the babies temperatures are sufficient they proceed in cleaning them up. Baby A is soon placed in his arms. He grins at his new daughter.
"Hi, beautiful. It is nice to finally meet you. Your mommy, and I have been waiting for you."
He doesn't notice when another staff member enters the room, and pulls one of the OB nurse's aside. Finally he looks around, and notices the room is eerily silent. A nurse approaches him with a second baby. She places the second newborn in his arms.
"Have you heard about my wife? What is taking them so long?"
"I am sure she is probably in recovery by now," she guesses.
He notices a second nurse approaching them. She intercepts the conversation. He notices that this staff member has a brightly colored tag that identifies her as an RN, but she is dressed in business attire. Two nurse's in scrubs join her, and weasel the newborns from his arms. The girls are taken to their basinets, and suddenly Castle is all alone with the woman wearing business attire.
"What's going on?"
"Your girls seem to be doing well."
"They are perfect," he comments.
"Yes," she nods.
"Who are you?"
She extends a hand, "My name is Sarah Bradley I am the manager of OB," she explains.
"Okay. I am wondering how my wife is doing. It has been over two hours, and I still haven't heard anything."
"Your wife had some blood loss, and her blood pressure dropped."
"I assume that she had to have blood transfusion. Where is she now?"
"We did have to administer blood."
His stomach begins twisting into knots, "You don't typically meet with patients, or their families, do you?"
"Not every day," she admits.
He considers that maybe it is his celebrity status, but quickly realizes that this corner of the world knows him as Richard Carmichael.
"What is going on? What is wrong?"
"Would you like to see your wife?"
"Yes, of course."
"Mister Carmichael, there is no easy way for me to say this. Your wife had a lot of sudden blood loss, which caused her blood pressure to drop, and her heart to go into an arrhythmia."
"What are you telling me?"
"Mister Carmichael, I am so sorry, but we were not able to resuscitate her. We worked on her for an hour."
He furrows his brow, "What? No."
"I am so sorry, Mister Carmichael."
He feels his entire world being enveloped in grief. She offers him a hand, "Let me take you to her."
She leads him back into the operating room, but this time no one is concerned about maintaining a sterile field. He looks around the room, and sees the aftermath of their efforts. There are wrappers all over the floor. The sharps container that is nearby is at capacity. He sees his wife's pale, lifeless face in front of him. She is covered in a blue sterile curtain from her chest to her toes. He takes a seat on the stool next to her. He can see EKG stickers on the upper portion of her chest. He reaches out, and touches her. Her body feels eerily cold. Her lips are dry, and pale. He watches her chest, but it doesn't rise, or fall. He stares at her neck waiting to see it pulsate. She doesn't move. She doesn't breathe. Her heart doesn't beat. She is no more.
Suddenly, he feels as if his heart doesn't want to beat. His heart breaks, and the tears begin to fall like rain. He turns towards the hospital official sitting next to him. He clenches his fists, and his nostrils flare.
"How does this happen? With all of the technology in this world, how does this happen? Women aren't supposed to die in childbirth."
"No, they're not."
"How did this happen? My wife is a fighter. She wouldn't have given up this easily."
"She didn't give up easily. Her heart would start to beat, but she couldn't maintain rhythm. We did everything that we could to save her."