16
Hawkeye ran out of the kitchen and to the front of the house to the staircase and paused at the sight.
"Oh God," he said as he ran over.
Margaret was laying on the ground with her face down. He knelt down by her and helped her to sit up. Her face was red and streaked with tears and blood. He was now extremely worried.
"Okay, come on, we're going to get you to a hospital. Make sure that you don't have anything broken," he said.
Margaret found it hard to speak. Right now there was one thing that she was worried about, and it had nothing to do with whether or not she was okay. Her baby. Even though she had fallen down the stairs, her body was numb with worry. Her baby could possibly be dead right now. Everything that she was so careful to avoid was now all happening to her.
Hawkeye helped her up and then held her shoulders for a minute. He didn't want to say anything about the baby, but he was worried. He also knew what it would do to Margaret if she had found out that she had lost the baby.
"Here, I'll drive you two there," Daniel offered.
"Thank you," Hawkeye said.
They all walked out the door and over to the car. Daniel got into the front seat while Hawkeye got into the back with Margaret. The way there was silent. Hawkeye sat against the window as Margaret leaned against him. His arm around her shoulders and her head on his chest. He ran his hand through her hair and tried to calm her.
All she did was stare out the window. Outside there was a group of kids playing. It made her wonder why she couldn't have that. If there was something wrong with her.
"I wasn't meant to be a mother was I?" she asked with out any emotion.
Hawkeye looked down at her with pity.
"You don't know that. That baby there might still be alive," he said as he took his hand and laid it on her stomach.
"That's what I told myself in the waiting room," Margaret said.
It stayed silent for the rest of the way there. Once they got to the hospital, Margaret had x-rays taken and found out that her arm was broken. Hawkeye sat with her while she waited for a doctor to come back with the results for everything else. He sat there and held her hand. As he looked up at her face he saw an expression that he had never seen on her before. It was fear. Her cold stare made her look so calm, yet it also made her seem as if she could loose it at any minute.
The doctor finally walked in and stood before them. Hawkeye could feel Margaret's grip get tighter as he he walked closer.
"Mrs. Pierce," he said reading through something on his chart.
"You're left arm is broken and you needed a few stitches on the inside of your mouth where teeth had cut it," he said.
Margaret stared impatiently at him.
"Okay," he said and then went to another page.
"And I'm happy to say that you're still going to be a mother," he announced.
Margaret hadn't noticed, but she had been holding her breath. Letting out a sigh of relief, she softly smiled.
"Thank you," Hawkeye said.
He walked out of the room leaving Margaret and Hawkeye alone. Hawkeye smiled up at her.
"See, I told you," he said.
"One of the only times that I'm happy to be wrong," she said.
"I'm just happy that everything's okay," he said.
"Me to," she said.
They both leaned in and kissed.
That night Margaret sat at the dresser as she brushed her hair out. The incident earlier had made her realize how easily this could all go wrong. Now she felt as if she had to be twice as cautious. She was starting to think that Hawkeye had expected that, either that or he wanted to be more protective of her. When they got home he walked her up the stairs without her even having to say anything. She didn't even give him a look or anything.
Smiling, she looked down at her stomach. There was a small bump, but nothing much. Taking her hands, she placed them over top of her stomach as if she were almost trying to hug herself. Hawkeye started to walk into the room, but stopped outside the doorway once he heard her start talking.
"You were lucky today. You know that? I promise not to scare you like that again, as long as you promise not to scare me like that when you're older," she said.
Hawkeye smiled at that. He knew that promise would be broken right away. Just the fact that it was his child made it a guarantee that they had to do something stupid at least once a week. The more he thought about it, the luckier he felt that he didn't spend his complete childhood in a hospital.
"I might not have been able to take care of your sister right, but I promise I will get you passed the age of three. What happened to her was unfair. I wish you would have gotten the chance to meet her, she was a wonderful little girl," Margaret said.
Hawkeye's head hung as he heard her start to cry a little.
"You're just lucky to have a father like Hawkeye. Serena never knew him, but you will. Trust me, if he was around with her, she would still be around," Margaret said through tears.
"I'm just glad you got a second chance," she said crying.
Hawkeye looked up and then decided to walk in. All he had ever wanted to do was to keep her from getting hurt, and here she was feeling one of the worst pains that some one could feel. Loss.
"How's my favorite little mother to be?" he asked.
Margaret looked up and wiped her eyes.
"Hello," she said.
"Something wrong?" he asked.
"No," she said.
He just sighed.
"Why don't we go to bed? We've had a long day," he said.
"Alright," she said.
Margaret stood up and went over to pull the covers back on the bed.
"Do you think that maybe I should sleep some where else?" he asked.
Margaret slowly turned to him. He had no intention of it, but he could tell that he had hurt her.
"You broke your arm," he said.
Margaret looked down at it and shook her head.
"It'll be okay," she said.
Margaret knew that he was doing for her sake so that he wouldn't roll over on her arm or accidentally hit it while they were asleep, but she couldn't help it. She needed him. There was no way that she could fall asleep with out being in his arms. He was like a security blanket to her, something that she needed to get through the night.
Hawkeye could see it in her eyes that she was about ready to beg him to stay.
"Okay," he said.
"But if I hurt you," he started.
"You won't," she said.
He walked over and got into bed on his side while she did the same thing on hers. As he got under the covers he smiled at her as he watched her grab the teddy bear and hug it while she laid down.
"Good night," he said hugging her and pulling her closer to him.
"Good night," Margaret said.
Margaret started to close her eyes.
"Oh, and Margaret? I'd never for even a second believe that you would be a bad mother," he said.
"Thank you," she replied.
She smiled. That small little compliment meant the world to her coming from him.
"And I also know that you did take care of Serena, it was just that the baby sitter ruined it," he said.
Margaret's mouth came open. She now knew that he had been listening to her, but decided just to go to sleep and not make anything of it. Feeling as safe as she possibly could in some one else's arms, she drifted off to sleep. But no matter how many times that he told her that it wasn't her fault, she would always see it as that way. Another thing that added to her guilt was that she knew she was going to protect this baby with every ounce of her energy, something that she couldn't do for Serena, something that needed to be done for Serena.
I guess I owe hartyvampire an apology. Hope that I didn't ruin it for you. I had read your review after I had finished most of this. And I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I can't resist, I'm an excited young girl, but the 14th is my birthday!! Only a few more months and I can have my temps to start driving!! Okay, got that out of my system.