The Real Deal (17)
A/N: It was quite obvious by all of my fantastic reviewers that cliffhangers are evil, so I couldn't let you guys hang in limbo for too long lol and to my anonymous reviewer who has asked twice why chapter 16 is the same as chapter 1 all I can say is that something must be wrong on your end because no one else, myself included, is seeing the two chapters as the same…
Hope you enjoy this chapter, guys, as there may not be many more after this one :)
"What have we got?" Doctor Nathan Xavier asked as he caught up to the paramedics who were wheeling in the gurney.
"Thirty-eight year old female, about seven months pregnant, she was hit in the back of the head with a blunt object in an attempted mugging from what we were told," The female paramedic, Lola Jones, answered.
"She has a good strong heartbeat, but has been unconscious since we arrived on the scene," The male paramedic, Lucas Cole, added.
"What about the baby? Was there a heartbeat there too?" Doctor Xavier asked as he started his own examination on his new patient.
"Fortunately there is a heartbeat, but there are also contractions, about six minutes apart from our calculations on the bus," This was Cole talking as he handed the chart he had filled out in the back of the ambulance over to one of the nurses who signed the report as she ran alongside the gurney as they entered one of the cubicles to perform a more thorough examination.
"Alright guys, thanks, we'll take it from here," Dr. Xavier said before he started barking out orders to his nurses.
Mark and Laurel arrived at the address that Sam had provided for them about five minutes ago, but neither had made an attempt to get out of the car. Instead they both sat in silence looking up at the building where Harley had retreated to in order to avoid them for months.
"You ready for this?" Mark asked Laurel.
"No, what if we've really lost her, Mark?" Laurel replied looking nervously over at Mark.
"Hey, stop that, you're supposed to be the optimistic one, remember?" Mark smiled.
"I know, but now that we are here, like really here, I can't help but wonder… I mean it's like you keep saying, that if she cared at all then she wouldn't have stayed away for this long. Hell, I can understand why she ran; I can even understand that she needed time to sort things out, but for all this time? That I can't understand, I really can't," Laurel said shaking her head.
"She didn't stay away because of you, Laurel, it was because of me and I'm sorry," Mark said squeezing Laurels hand firmly.
"It's not your fault either, Mark, I have never thought for one second that it was," Laurel said smiling over at Mark.
"That makes one of us," Mark said as he let go of Laurel's hand and opened his door, "come on, I think this reunion is long overdue," Mark said stepping out of the car and onto the sidewalk. He took a deep breath before walking up the door and holding it open for Laurel.
Laurel knocked on the door for a third time and just like the previous times she waited, but still there was no answer. There was no peep-hole on the door and neither Laurel nor Mark had spoken a word, so they knew that Harley couldn't have known it was them.
"Maybe she's out grocery shopping or something," Laurel said looking over at Mark.
"Either that or Sam gave me the wrong damn address," Mark said pulling out his cell phone to call his friend, but before he could even get to Sam's name in his contact list, his own phone had begun to ring, "speak of the devil," Mark said hitting accept on the screen.
"I was just about to call you, I think you may have given me the wrong address," Mark said answering without even a "hello".
"I didn't give you the wrong address, Mark, Harley isn't there," Sam answered.
"Don't tell me your man got it wrong…again, or worse Harley spotted him and took off…again," Mark said exasperated.
"No, Harley is still in Canyon Lake, just not in her apartment," Sam said.
"Then where the hell is she?" Mark asked as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
"I got a call from my guy, he was following her, he stopped to get a coffee and when he came back out she was walking down the street and he noticed a guy following her. He took off running behind them but he was too far away to stop him," Sam said in a rushed explanation.
Mark stopped breathing; he couldn't believe what Sam was saying, "What happened?" Mark bit out through clenched teeth.
"The guy hit her with something before my guy could get to her, seems he was after her purse, but my guy scared him off, he said the cops grabbed him before he cleared the block," Sam said knowing that hearing that the mugger was caught would not matter to Mark after hearing that Harley had been injured, and he hadn't even dropped the "real bomb" yet.
"Is Harley okay?" Mark asked as he started for the entrance to the building to make his way back to his car.
"I don't know, my guy wasn't able to get anything from the hospital since he's not family," Sam said as he prepared himself to tell Mark what else he did know, "Mark…"
"Thanks, Sam, I'll call you when I know more," Mark said before disconnecting the call.
"Mark wait," Sam started, but it was too late, "well he's going to be in for one hell of a surprise," Sam said as he picked up his beer and took a swig.
"Mark, what the hell is going on? Where is Harley?" Laurel asked running behind Mark.
Hell Mark had forgotten about Laurel. He was just still in shock from what Sam had just told him. How the hell could something like this happen? If he'd found Harley sooner she would be okay right now and not in some damn hospital.
"Mark? Mark! Come on, you're scaring me!" Laurel said in a panic, "what is going on?"
"Harley was mugged, well almost mugged, Sam's guy ran the attacker off…"
"Oh thank God!" Laurel said resting her hand over her heart.
"But not before the mugger hit Harley over the head," Mark finished and watched all the color drain from Laurel's face.
"Oh no! Is Harley alright?" Laurel asked as tears came tumbling down her cheeks.
"I don't know. Sam said that they wouldn't give his guy any information since he wasn't family," Mark was driving now, faster than he should have been but he didn't care. He had to get to the hospital he; he wouldn't be able to breathe again until he knew she was going to be okay.
"Oh, Harley, you have to be alright, you just have to be, we need you…we love you!" Laurel sobbed.
"She's going to be fine, Laurel, I bet it's nothing more than a bump on the head," Mark said as he pulled into a parking space.
"If you really believed that you wouldn't look so scared right now," Laurel accused as she and Mark walked into the hospital.
"We're looking for Harley Cooper," Laurel said as she rushed up to the nurse's station.
"And you are?" The short, round brunette nurse asked politely.
"Laurel Hansen, Harley's best friend," Laurel answered.
"I'm sorry ma'am, but unless you are family I can't give you any information," The nurse said with a sympathetic smile.
"I'm Mark Calaway, Harley's husband," Mark said looking at the nurse, his expression daring her to challenge him.
"Oh I'm so sorry," the nurse said clearing her throat before speaking again, "your wife is still unconscious at this time, but we've given her Tocolytics to try and stop the contractions. They haven't started working, yet, but Doc Xavier is hopeful they will soon, but if they don't then we will give her Corticosteroids to try and speed up the baby's lungs development," the nurse said as she started to walk down the hall, "if you'll follow me I'll take you to her room, as I said though, Mrs. Cooper is still not awake," the nurse said stopping when she realized that Mark and Laurel weren't following her, "is something wrong?" She asked.
"I'm sorry, but did you say baby?" It was Laurel who asked the question as Mark's brain had stopped comprehending at the mention of the word "baby".
"Yes, that's right, Mrs. Cooper is seven months pregnant…didn't you know that?" The nurse asked confused.
"No, no we didn't know, things are complicated right now," Laurel answered.
"You are Mrs. Cooper's husband aren't you?" The nurse asked Mark suspiciously.
"Yes, but as Laurel said things are complicated at the moment, we've been separated for some time," Mark said finally able to form a sentence.
"About six or seven months I take it?" The nurse asked.
"Yea," Mark responded, "so is the baby going to be okay? I mean you said she was having contractions already, but she's still out cold, so what happens if the baby decides he or she is ready to come out? Harley is in no condition to push, right?" Mark asked full of concern.
"We are hoping that the Tocolytics take effect in the next few hours, but if not and Harley does go into full blown labor before she wakes up things should still go smoothly."
"But she's in a coma, how can her giving birth go smoothly?" Laurel asked.
"There have been cases of women giving birth while in a coma and the babies have turned out happy and healthy and we have great doctors here, especially Doctor Xavier, he is the best!" The nurse said with a bright smile.
Laurel was glad the nurse was so confident because she was an even bigger wreck than she was before.
"Can we go in and see her now?" Mark asked.
"Sure, and make sure you talk to her, maybe hearing familiar voices will help her regain consciousness," the nurse said stopping outside of a door, "this is it, good luck to you both." The nurse said as she continued her way down the hall.
Laurel watched as Mark walked over to the bed where the woman he loved lay completely still except for the rise and fall of her chest letting them know that she was a live. She wanted to go to her too, but decided to give Mark a few moments alone with her. She had fought the tears that threatened to escape until she saw Mark rest his hand on her stomach a break down himself. Laurel turned away from the tiny window then and walked down the hall to the waiting room. The room was empty except for a man who sat at the far end of a sofa. He was facing away from Laurel, but turned in her direction when he heard the door open.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize anyone was in here," Laurel said about to step back out of the room, not because of the man being there, but because she wanted to have her crying jag in private not with an audience.
"You're here to see Harley Cooper, aren't you?" The man asked.
"How…how do you know that?" Laurel asked a little nervous now.
"I'm Savv, I work for Sam," The man said.
"You're the one who found Harley?"
"Yes, I'm also the one who allowed this to happen, if I hadn't stopped to get that coffee I would have noticed the creep following her sooner and I could have stopped what happened to her. They wouldn't tell me anything, is she going to be alright?" Savv asked.
"She is in a coma and she's having contractions that they have given her medicine to stop, but they think that both she and the baby will be fine," Laurel said wanting to give the guy some relief as she could tell he was beating himself up over what happened to Harley, "it's not your fault, Savv, there is no way you could have known this would happen." Laurel said walking closer to him.
When she was directly in front of him she said, "You probably saved her life; there is no way to know if the guy who did this to Harley would have stopped at one blow." Laurel said placing her hand on his shoulder and squeezing.
"Thanks, I still blame myself though, but knowing that her friends don't blame me makes me feel better," Savv said, "I'm gonna get going, I just couldn't leave until I knew how Harley was." Savv said standing.
"Thank you, Savv, for finding her and saving her," Laurel said with a smile as Savv walked towards the exit.
"You don't have to thank me; I was just doing what I get paid to do."
"No matter your reason's I'm still grateful." Laurel said causing Savv to smile his appreciation for her kind words.
"Harley, Darlin', it's me; it's Mark. I need you to wake up, Darlin', we have a lot to talk about. Like this baby, we're gonna have a baby," Mark said as he clasped Harley's hand tightly, "why didn't you tell me? Didn't you think I deserved to know? Where you ever going to tell me? Damnit, Harley, wake up! Sit up and look at me with those beautiful green eyes. I need you, Darlin'. I love you and I promise I am going to take care of both you and this baby, our baby, but you have to wake up first Harley, you have to," Mark said as he allowed the tears to flow freely down his cheeks, something that he never did. Mark was not a crier, but at that moment he couldn't stop the tears even if he wanted too especially after he felt Harley's tiny hand squeeze his.
"That's it Harley, fight to come back to me; fight to come back to us," Mark said as he rested his hand back on Harley's swollen belly, "We need you." Mark said as he felt Harley squeeze again.
Harley was in some dark place and as much as she tried she couldn't find her way back to the light and on top of that her limbs were heavy. She kept trying to lift her arms but they wouldn't move, so she tried to lift her legs but they too felt like they were being weighed down. She tried to open her eyes and that too felt impossible, so she just lay there trapped in the darkness and that's when she heard him, Mark, he was there in the darkness with her, but that couldn't be because Mark was three hours away with his blonde bombshell and no matter how clear that voice was she knew that it had to be a figment of her imagination, so she let herself drift back off into the darkness, at least there she felt at peace.
