AN: Hospitals are one of the most boring places in the world, but luckily I have my laptop, and I am actually getting this chapter written... It might take me forever to type with a cannula and IV line in my hand, but hey, I'm getting it done!! Thanks to all of those who are reviewing!! Just keeps me motivate to keep writing, and it also tells me that you (OH god... here comes some one to take more blood off me... *cries*) all like this so far!!!! Soooooo COOKIES TO ALL MY REVIEWERS!!!! Quick grab a cookie before the Cookie Monster eats them all!!! (tries to take mind off the doctor with a needle in his hand.... LALALALALA... winces as needle get poked into my arm)

Chapter 13: With Devastating Consequences

Jennifer awoke the next morning as a nurse came up beside her bed.

"Morning sweetie, how are you feeling this morning?" she asked as she wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her upper arm and placed the finger pulse oximeter onto her finger.

"I'm fine thanks," Jennifer replied, sleepily looking at the gadgets that now were hooked up to her.

"That's good to hear," the nurse replied as she started the machine, placing a digital ear thermometer into her ear to record her temperature.

Jennifer watched the blood pressure cuff inflate around her arm before turning her attention to the monitor. 87/108 and 100% oxygen blood saturation.

"Everything's normal sweetie," the nurse said as she took off the blood pressure cuff and finger pulse oximeter. "The doctor will be around shortly to have a chat and I'll draw up your discharge papers," she added as she took down the empty Sodium Chloride IV drip.

"Thanks for that," Jennifer replied as Matt walked back into the room carrying a steaming cup of Gloria Jeans coffee and Jennifer's overnight bag.

"Morning beautiful," he said, setting the cup and bag down before giving her a quick peck on the lips. "I brought you in a fresh change of clothes."

"Mmmm, thanks Matt," she replied, sitting up in bed.

"I heard that you're being…" Matt's sentence was cut short when the doctor walked into the room.

"Good morning Jennifer. My name's Doctor Sara-Jane Cane, how are you feeling this morning?" She asked, looking at Jennifer's charts.

"Much better thanks, except for the morning sickness," Jennifer said, sitting up further.

"That will pass but something to help with that would be either Ginger tablets, vitamin B6 or vitamin B12. Also, avoid foods and smells that make you feel sick. Although I do know that in your line of duty that avoiding some smells is going to be hard," she joked.

Jennifer laughed at the thought and turned towards Matt with a smirk on her face. "Looks like it will only be the three musketeers in the field!"

Matt simply shook his head, a grin plastered on his face.

--- ---

He walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. In the center of the room, there was a large king size bed, the covers a rich dark chocolate colour with a ribbon of cream piping. The pillows were the same shade of chocolate, each with cream ribbon trim along the edge.

At the foot of the bed sat a rich dark timber chest, and on either side of the bed were rich dark timber night stands; atop each one were stainless steel lamps with black shades. The decor of the room was rich, dark, earthy colours. Very subdued and classy. Jennifer most certainly had good taste.

He walked over to the chest of drawers and looked at the photos that were up there. He saw some of Jennifer with what looked to be her family, a photo of the team at a Christmas function and the last one he saw was a photo of Jennifer and, if he remembered correctly, Matt, who had his arms around Jennifer and she was grinning.

Hearing a car pull up in the driveway, followed by voices, he quickly made his way back into the bathroom. Just as he was about to climb through the window, he heard a key in the lock. He quickly pushed himself through the window and closed it to where it had been previously before he had opened it.

--- ---

Matt put the key in the lock and turned it, unlocking the front door of Jennifer's house. He stepped over the threshold and into the small hallway foyer. An antique wood sideboard was against the wall to his left; resting there was a tray on the sideboard that looked like it was supposed to hold keys. Matt flipped the switch by the door and two side-by-side candlestick lamps, also on the sideboard, blinked on.

He walked down the hall and into Jennifer's bedroom where he placed her overnight bag on the bed and made his way back out into the kitchen where Jennifer was standing, drinking a glass of ginger beer.

Matt walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her on the head.

"Stomach a little but upset?" he asked, rubbing soothing circles on her flat stomach.

"Yeah, a little, but that is helping a lot," she said, turning around in his arms so that they were now standing face to face.

Matt leant down and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. Breaking apart, he guided Jennifer over to the couch and turned the TV on.

"So," he started. "What do you want to watch?"

Jennifer just simply shrugged her shoulders before answering. "Anything; doesn't matter."

Matt flicked through the channels. 'Boring, boring, extremely boring, hmmm this looks good,' he thought to himself as he settled on a documentary airing on the Crime and Investigation channel.

They sat there and watched the program for about an hour before Matt got up and walked to the kitchen.

"What do you want for dinner?" He asked as he set about the kitchen, gathering things that he could cook.

"Doesn't matter... anything that you can find," she replied, stretching out on the couch and turning her attention back to the TV.

An hour later, Matt walked back into the living room with two steaming plates of spaghetti. Handing a plate to Jennifer when she sat up, he sat down and dug in.

After they had finished eating, Matt took their plates and loaded them into the dishwasher with the other dirty utensils that he used to make dinner, before returning to the lounge room.

When he walked in, the sight before him made his heart warm. Jennifer had fallen asleep, one hand draped loosely over her still flat stomach, while the other was tucked under her cheek, acting as a temporary pillow.

He quietly squatted down beside her and brushed the few strands of blonde hair that hung limply over her eyes, back behind her ear. He watched as the woman he had grown to love slept soundly, her hand protecting the child that they had created together.

--- ---

4 ½ Months Later

At precisely ten minutes past seven every morning for the past few weeks, Jennifer had been awoken. She'd fling back the sheets and dart for the bathroom. And this morning was no different as she flung back the sheets and headed for the bathroom. This was the part of the pregnancy that she hated; the morning sickness.

She re-emerged from the bathroom ten minutes later and crawled back into bed, cuddling up beside Matt's warm body. "I hate you," she said to Matt, cuddling up to him more.

"Oh and I hate you too, Jen," Matt replied playfully, running a hand up and down her arm, placing a kiss on her head.

"Not funny..." she said, hitting his chest playfully, mock angry.

"Hey!!" Matt laughed, before replying. "But I will make you very happy."

Jennifer rolled out of bed and wrapped her silk robe around herself before replying. "You will make us very happy by making breakfast because your daughter is telling me she's hungry." Jennifer walked out of the room and down the hall.

Matt laughed as he rolled out of bed himself and made his way into the kitchen and set about making pancakes, Jennifer's favourite food at the moment. Well, if he wanted to be accurate, his daughter's, as Jennifer would always argue.

He placed all the ingredients into a large glass mixing bowl and mixed it all together, occasionally adding more milk.

Throwing in a handful of blueberries, he mixed them in then set about adding some of the mixture into the hot pan.

"Mmmmmmm, pancakes," Jennifer walked back in and placed the morning paper on the table and poured herself a glass of juice, then returned to the paper.

Placing a plate of pancakes in front of her, Matt slipped down to one knee and whispered to Jennifer's stomach. "Eat up sweetie; Daddy made your favourite." before placing a gentle kiss to Jennifer's stomach.

--- ---

Jennifer sat in the passenger's seat as they drove to work. Today was her last day before she went on maternity leave and her mind was drifting to happy memories from a few weeks ago when they had all gone out to the bar as per normal, but this time Jennifer didn't order her usual beer. Even when Simon had offered to buy, she had stuck to just a glass of orange juice. It didn't take Simon and Duncan long to realise; Simon had looked at her, and when she nodded, he turned to Duncan a giant grin plastered on his face saying, 'you owe me 100 bucks'. She had laughed as Duncan had grumbled about something while pulling out two fifty dollar notes and thrusting them at him, before Duncan had then slapped Matt on the back.

"It's about time mate!!" Duncan said before yelling. "DRINKS ARE ON MATT!!" The whole bar had erupted in whoops and cheers.

Jennifer grinned at the memory of that night. Her grin slowly turned into a happy smile when she rested a hand on the bulge of her now noticeable stomach. She was about 19 and a half weeks along and her mind drifted back to when they had told Wolfe, just before she started to show.

Taking a deep breath, Jennifer looked at Matt. He took her hand in his own as he knocked sharply on their boss's door. "Come in," came the reply from behind the door.

Opening the door, Matt guided Jennifer in and to a seat in front of their boss's desk before closing the door and taking a seat beside Jennifer.

"What can I do for you, Detectives?" he asked, writing down some notes.

"Well," Jennifer began. "I'm going to have to take some leave in a few months," she said before adding. "Maternity leave, sir."

Looking up quickly, Stanley looked at her in shock. "Did I hear you correctly? Maternity Leave?"

Jennifer simply nodded.

Stanley looked over at Matt, the look on his face was all that Matt needed to answer. "Yes sir."

Matt and Jennifer both rose as Stanley got up as well.

"Well I think congratulations are in order," he said, giving Matt a firm hand shake and embracing Jennifer in a warm friendly embrace.

"So, when are you expecting your leave?" he asked.

"Oh, um..." Jennifer had to think about this. "About 10 or 11 weeks," she replied.

"Hmmm... ok," Stanley replied, flipping through his diary. "So the... 12th of November?" he asked, looking up at Jennifer.

"Yep, that sounds about right," she replied.

--- ---

Jennifer had almost finished cleaning her desk when the need to empty her bladder arose again for about the 5th time in the past hour.

Rolling her eyes, she said to Matt, who was helping her to pack up everything, "Back soon..."

Matt nodded as he placed some photos in frames into the box. "I'll just take this down to your car."

Jennifer nodded as she made her way to the bathroom.

Walking out of the bathroom a few minutes later, she plopped down into her desk chair and rested her hands on her swollen abdomen.

Simon was about to walk out of the room, but stopped. "Jennifer, do you want a cup of coffee?" he asked, carrying two empty coffee cups.

"No, but I would love a cup of tea... and maybe a bickie…" she said sweetly.

Simon laughed. "Ok, I think I can manage that."

--- ---

Matt walked back into the office fifteen minutes later after putting the box into the back of Jennifer's car.

"Hey," Jennifer said as Matt lent down and placed a chaste kiss to her lips.

"Everything's loaded into the back of your car," he said, sitting down.

"Hmmm... thanks," she replied, getting up and picking up a heap of files. "I'm just gonna take these down."

Matt got up and tried to take them off her. "Here, let me Jen."

Jennifer just shook her head and said, "I can manage these; it's alright, nothing's going to happen," she joked as she walked towards the lift.

Seeing a few papers that Jennifer missed, Matt picked them up and yelled out. "Jen! You forgo…" but he was too late as the doors closed behind her.

--- ---

Jake watched as the woman made her way towards her car. Her hands were filled with files. Slowly and quietly, he walked up behind her, careful not to be detected but she turned around. Quickly, he ducked out of sight behind a car, and then when she had turned back around, he resumed to stalk his prey.

Slowly he pulled out a knife, its blade glinting in the dimly lit car park.

--- ---

Jennifer made her way towards her car in the dimly lit car park. She was sure that there was someone behind her but every time she turned to look, there was never anyone there.

You're just imagining things, she kept telling herself as she approached her car, key in hand.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man appeared before her. Jennifer didn't notice the glint of the metal blade of a knife in his right hand until he plunged it into her swollen abdomen.

All the files that she held in her hands fell to the floor and everything seemed to move in slow motion for Jennifer as the man pulled the knife from her stomach and fled.

Her right hand slowly descended to where her side arm rested on her hip, her fingers wrapping around the handle, finger resting on the trigger, as she pulled it from the holster and fired three shots in the direction the man had fled.

Tears clouded her vision as she dropped her gun and moved her right hand to where her left one was clutching her stomach. Looking down, her white top was turning red from the blood that flowed freely from the stab wound.

Slowly she slid down the side of her car, still clutching her stomach as she sobbed, through her teary eyes, she could see four uniforms running towards where she was, guns raised. She could hear one of them on the radio but she couldn't make out the words that he was saying. The voice that followed was one she knew too well; Matt's.

"Jen!" he yelled, pushing past the uniformed officers. "Jen!"

He fell to his knees, his gun falling from his grasp as his hands automatically went to her stomach.

"Oh my god, Jen," he whispered, raising a bloody hand to her cheek, brushing a lock of hair from her face.

"Hurts," she sobbed, clutching Matt's arm. "Please, make it... stop... hurts so much..." she sobbed, tears falling down her cheeks.

Yelling at one of the uniforms to get a car, he turned back to Jennifer, his eyes welling up. "I'm gonna get you to hospital," he said, stroking her forehead.

When the patrol car pulled up, Matt carefully lifted Jennifer into his arms and made his way to the car, one of the uniforms opening the back door for him.

"Thanks," he said as the door was closed behind him as they sped off towards the hospital, lights and sirens blaring.

--- ---

Jake watched as the police car sped off, it's lights and sirens blaring.

Wiping the knife of prints, he tossed it into a garbage bin, knowing that he couldn't be connected to it in any way, before walking off down the street, mingling in with the crowd like any ordinary person would.

Tbc...

Will Jennifer survive Jake Wrangler's attack, and will their unborn child survive??