Lea walked into the hospital room knowing Dean would most likely kick her out. Yet she refused to tuck tail and run. At least not before she talked to him.
She thought she had prepared herself for seeing him in the hospital bed looking drained and empty. He was still pale and his lips looked bluish. She wasn't sure if it was her mind playing tricks on her or not.
All night she had dreamed various scenarios about his death. She was still shaken by the graphic images of his bloated, colorless corpse washing up onto the beach. She began to gag and almost vomited.
"Does the sight of me make you sick, Kitten?"
Lea recoiled against the malice in Dean's voice. She knew leaving him would hurt him. But nothing could've prepared her for his reaction.
Ignoring his question, Lea walked closer to his bed. She reached out and stroked his hand. Needing to feel his pulse under her fingers.
"Take your fucking hands off me."
Lea flinched and jerked back. She didn't know how to reach him. How to make him understand that she still loved him. That she had been so scared after receiving the hospital's call. That she was still scared.
Roman felt torn inside. He understood Dean's pain. How lost and betrayed he must have felt. How proud of a man he was. Yet he also sympathized with Lea. She was struggling to be strong right now when she was being forced to confront issues she wasn't fully prepared to face just yet.
"I'm going to give you guys some privacy. Call me when you're ready to leave."
Lea walked over to the window and stared out over the city below. Thousands of people were crowded into cars, buildings, on beaches. She could sense the beginnings of a panic attack. She wanted to run out and never set foot in Tampa again.
Dean stared at her back. He couldn't believe she was here. He honestly hadn't believed her promise that she would return. As he began to think about never seeing his baby born and growing up, rage began to flood his mind.
"You fucking cunt. Where you going to steal my child away from me? Did you think I wouldn't search the whole world for my daughter?"
Lea never even turned away from the window. She couldn't allow Dean to see her like this. Weak and scared. She was ashamed of herself.
"No. I'm sorry you think that I would keep her away from you. No matter what you apparently think of me. How little you think of me. I'm not some cruel, heartless monster."
As Dean continued to hurl insults at her, finding the most vile and despicable terms and phrased, Lea grew desperate to leave.
She broke out into a sweat. Her skin coated with goosebumps and thin, cool layer of perspiration. Her heart was beating wildly. The roar of what sounded like blood pumping furiously echoing in her ears.
She felt lightheaded and dizzy. More bile collected in the back of her throat. She knew she was going to vomit.
But as she turned to rush to the bathroom, blackness engulfed her and she collapsed on the floor. Her body landing with a hard thud. Landing on her stomach.
Dean began to scream for help as he repeatedly pressed the call button.
He walked as Lea began to convulse. Her whole body jerking erratically.
As the nurses began to rush into the room, he snatched the phone off the bedside table. He needed a friend and Roman was close.
One of the nurses stepped away and began to ask Dean questions.
How far along pregnant Lea was, blood type, allergies, who could sign papers if permission was needed to perform surgery, etc.
Dean knew he was guilty. He had done this to her. Pushed her to her breaking point.
"Will they be okay? She landed hard on her stomach?"
The nurse looked at him with a sorrowful look. "they can't stabilize her soon, they may have to do an emergency C-Section. The baby hasn't fully developed yet. She might not make it. She'll have to be in an incubator."
"But what about Lea? Will she be okay? Would she survive the surgery?"
"I don't know Mr. Ambrose. Let's just pray they can get her stabilized soon."
The nurses loaded Lea onto a stretcher and rushed her to the maternity ward. They were concerned that the hard landing could have tragic consequences. The doctors hooked up a heart monitor to her abdomen. They couldn't find the baby's heartbeat.
A technician used the ultrasound wand. The baby wasn't moving. They had no choice but to perform an Emergency C-section to save both mother and child.
Dean sent Roman to the maternity ward. He needed constant updates. Once Roman informed him about the c-section. He ripped the IV out of his arm, unhooked his heart monitor, and quickly dressed. If anyone tried to detain him, he would drop them.
He arrived at the maternity ward and spotted Roman pacing the hallway. Spotting a nurse, he quickly explained that his fiancee had been rushed upstairs for an emergency.
The nurse spoke with her supervisor and they agreed to let him in the operating room after he he changed into scrubs and washed up.
He managed to make it into the delivery room before they cut into her abdomen. He grabbed Lea's hand and laid his forehead against hers.
He wasn't sure if she was still unconscious from her fall. Or if they had sedated her. Either way, he hoped she could hear his voice. He begged her to stay with him. To fight for her life. Fight for their daughter's life.
He prayed to a God he wasn't sure existed. Praying that they wouldn't have to pay for his actions. He bargained with God. Promising to be a better person. Be more forgiving. Hell he would even track down his junkie mother and forgive her if necessary. Just as long as Lea and his child lived.
He was so caught up in his conversation with God, he hadn't noticed that nurses had rushed the baby to the neo-natal unit.
The doctor began to suture Lea's stomach. A nurse pulled Dean aside while they cleaned her up. She escorted him to the nursery so he could see his daughter for the first time.
She promised that once they had completed their tests, he could go inside and hold her. Dean grabbed Roman and hugged him as hard as he could. He was so scared that even now he could lose either one of them.
They still had to do a MRI to be sure Lea's skull hadn't been fractured in the fall. Scan for any abnormalities to explain her seizure.
No one wanted to mention the fact that she may never wake up. They had called in an anesthesiologist. But Lea had never regained consciousness from her fall.
The fact that almost an hour had passed since the fall was worrisome.
After the nurse waved Dean inside, Roman went to speak to the head nurse. He needed to be sure he was completely aware of the true nature of the situation.
After hearing the disheartening report, he called Seth and Drew. He felt bad that he hadn't called Drew earlier. Even though he would've missed the actual birth, he could've seen the baby sooner.
