Chapter 58
Patrick stared at her for several seconds, unable to speak. "Pr-pregnant?" he stammered. "How? When?"
"I'm not sure I need to explain the how to you," she said closing her eyes as the nausea continued to wash over her. "I found out last week."
"Is it Nik's?" He grimaced as soon as the words left his mouth.
Her eyes flew open as she fixed him with a dark look. "Despite my past as a slut Patrick, I haven't actually, ever, cheated on anyone."
"I know" he said apologetically. "That isn't what I meant to say, I guess I'm just surprised - you never said you were thinking about a baby."
She shrugged, "We only decided a while ago."
"How far along are you?"
"I have no idea," she said honestly. "Noah told me last week and I haven't had a chance to get in for an exam."
"My dad?" The chains clanged on the concrete floor as he rubbed his face. "Why was my dad giving you pregnancy results?"
Shaking her head, she tried to stand on her wobbly legs. "Doesn't matter - we need to get out of here." The first tentative step Nathalie took proved to be too much as she swayed, her legs giving way completely. Scrambling to his feet, Patrick pulled his leash as far as it would go and managed to catch her before she hit the ground.
"Nat!" he cried. "Nat!!" Her head lolled to the side as her entire body went slack. Placing his fingers against her carotid artery he felt her weak but steady pulse. Gripped by panic he began to yell. "HELP!! HELP US!!!" The words bounced off the walls and came back to him, almost mocking in their tone. Lifting his head and looking at the ceiling, he let out a deep sigh -the room was soundproof and there was no help coming. He looked down at his friend, unconscious and cold in his arms and began to realize just how dire their situation was. He rubbed his knuckles over her heart. "Come on Nat – I need you to wake up." He propped her up into a sitting position, leaning against him with her arms stretched out awkwardly in front of her due to the length of the chains. Hoping the heat from his body would transfer to her he rubbed her arms and kept talking to her.
"Come on you heartless bottom feeder" he joked weakly, "don't make me use my quack skills on you. You need to wake up so that we can get out of here – I have to get back to Robin and you need to get back to Nik." He paused and sucked in a long breath to steady himself. "Did I tell you? Did I tell you Robin's pregnant too? You guys can be pregnant together – though I don't think I'm ready for all those hormones to be in one room together. But it would be fun – wouldn't it? Trading stories about swollen ankles and weird cravings – if you wake up we can get out of here and get moving on that." Her head lay unmoving against his shoulder. "Remember when you were pregnant with Oliver and you practically ate every grocery store out of their cranberry and orange scones? You had Drew driving all over Washington to find some. I sent you two boxes from Williams Sonoma and Drew said you polished it all off in a couple of days." He smiled at the memory.
"Dude – it's all she wants to eat – cranberry and orange scones. I have become best friends with at least three bakers in our neighbourhood but they don't make them often enough."
"Tell her to eat something else" Patrick dismissed.
"P- it's bad luck for the baby if you don't give the momma what she wants."
"Oh?" he laughed "Is that the story she spun you?"
Drew laughed. He had a hearty laugh that was contagious and would fill a room. "One day P – one day you will know what this is – there isn't anything I wouldn't do for her."
He scoffed. "Yeah, I know – you're whipped."
"I'm not" he protested. "I'm not whipped because there isn't anything she wouldn't do for me. We're partners. Just you wait my friend – one of these days some girl is going to come out of nowhere and you're going to wonder how you lived without her."
"Whatever – go get your wife some scones."
"Robin didn't have too many weird cravings with Rian – though she ate a lot of ice cream. Maybe Nik and I could form a support group to deal with the two of you? What do you think?" He continued to rub her arms. "I bet my dad was excited that you're pregnant. He adores you, you know – I'm almost jealous at how much he likes you – almost, I mean he still loves me best and who wouldn't, frankly?" he chuckled at his own joke. "You're so good to him – you always were. Remember that night you hosted us for dinner when Drew was on another of his 'Get Patrick and Noah to make up' campaigns? He tried to be sober that night but I was so mean to him – so angry with him that I pushed and I pushed until his only option was to reach for the flask in his jacket. Drew felt defeated but not you – you just took him by the arm and into another room where you sat and talked to him. I don't even know what you said but I do know that you showed him the kindness I couldn't." Patrick rubbed his face with his hand. "You didn't give up on him – and you can't give up now – wake up Nat. Wake up and we'll get out of here." His confidence was wavering as he began to plead with her. "Please – please wake up." She stirred slightly in his arms, her head moving against his shoulder. "That's it Nat" he encouraged. "Open those eyes – come on."
Patrick's head snapped up as the door at the top of the stairs opened and he heard boots on the metal staircase before the two men came into view. He tightened his grip around his friend and glared at the aggressors. Without a word, they walked directly to where they were sitting on the ground and tried to yank Nathalie from his arms. He shifted, trying to put his body in front of her. "Leave her alone!!" he screamed.
One of the men, their faces still covered, pulled on the tether attached to the wall forcing Patrick to let go of Nathalie. The second man picked her up in his arms and undid her handcuffs. Jumping to his feet, Patrick tried to lunge at them and received a solid punch in the gut for his efforts. With the wind knocked out of him, he crumpled to the ground in a heap.
"Let's go" the first man said. "Madame said we were to be careful with this one."
"She's on her way shortly so we better get her ready."
Panting, and holding his chest, Patrick watched as they spirited her up the stairs. Their words echoed in his head. "She's on her way." Whoever had taken them was apparently a woman but beyond that it did nothing to help him figure out what was going on.
He pulled himself, groaning, on to the bed. Lifting his arm, he looked at his watch – 10:52 p.m. – they had arrived at Nathalie's from the hospital around 5 p.m. so by his best guess they had been gone almost six hours. Draping his arm across his eyes, his thoughts wandered to Robin. Did she know they were missing? Was she frantic? She would have put Rian down by now having read him two stories. He got two stories every night – when their shifts allowed them to both put him down, each one would take a turn reading a story – tonight would have been one of those nights. His chest seized as he thought of his son. His son – their child together – he had come into the world fighting for his life and proved to be a miracle every day.
Patrick knew that he couldn't let himself get too emotional or too deep in his own head. Staying level headed and as emotionless as possible would be necessary to get through this – whatever this was. A small smile crept across his lips as he thought of the number of times Robin chided him, when they first met, for his cold and distant bedside manner. He had worked hard to bring a little more compassion to his dealings with patients and Robin had declared it a moral victory but now, in this moment, he needed to call up on the old Patrick – the cold, arrogant jerk that could do anything. It was going to be the only way to get the one thing he wanted – home, to his family.
He slid his watch from his wrist and shoved it in his pocket. Keeping track of the days and the time were going to be important to survival and he was afraid if they saw his watch they would take it from him. A slow, unsteady breath escaped his lips. He had never thought himself to be particularly brave but he knew he needed to find some courage to survive. Standing up from the bed, he walked as far around the room as his chains would let him. He ran his fingers along the concrete wall, randomly feeling for any weaknesses – there were none. Whoever had planned this had put a lot of thought in to it.
Clueless as to why he and Nathalie had been taken, he ran scenarios through his head. Was he the target and Nathalie collateral damage? He dismissed it immediately – they wouldn't have grabbed him at her place – if they wanted him there were lots of places to get him alone. They wanted her – as well as him or did he get in the way. He wondered briefly if this was the work of her parents but knew that as sick and twisted as they were, this was not their work. The Ambassador would never lower himself to exert this much effort where his daughter was concerned.
"What do we have in common?" he asked out loud. "Why would they take Nathalie AND me?"
He continued to pace, counting how many steps he could take from his bed in each direction. Nathalie's bed remained just out of reach and he couldn't decide if that was on purpose or not. He found himself wishing he had taken his father-in-law drinking and pried all of his spy tricks from him because clearly his medical training was of little use. He spun around as the door opened again and the two men returned carrying a struggling Nathalie down the stairs.
"PUT ME DOWN you motherfuckers!" she yelled, arms flailing, legs kicking.
"That's my girl" he thought to himself.
They carried her straight to her bed and practically dropped her on it before disappearing back up the stairs. "FUCK YOU!" she screamed after them.
"Nat?" he asked, searching her face for any sign of mistreatment. The only evidence was the bruise on her cheek from when they grabbed her in the kitchen.
She struggled to sit up. "P? Are you okay?"
Nodding, he let go of the breath he wasn't aware he had been holding. "I am – you? What did they do to you?"
She shook her head. "Took my blood pressure, drew blood and gave me a shot." Patrick furrowed his brow at a loss to understand. "Patrick?"
"Yeah?"
"I think we're in really, really big trouble."