Things had gone sour fast.
Not long after Ned had gone downstairs to turn the car on, Katie collapsed onto the bedroom floor after putting clothes on. Amber stood over her, watching as Ned came into the room and found her lying unconscious in a pool of blood.
Amber could only chuckle at the young couple's despair, feeding off their energy. "I told you," Amber whispered in Kate's ear as Ned picked her up. "There is nothing you can do now. He's ours."
"Baby, please wake up." Ned begged, tears springing from his eyes as he felt for a pulse. "Can you hear me? Katie?"
There was one, but it was weak. He moved her to her side, to keep her breathing from being obstructed and fished out his phone. He tried to call someone, anyone. But no one answered.
He brought her to the car then, carefully lying her down on the seat. He buckled her in and kissed her cheek, going down to kiss her stomach too. Her hand touched his hair and he looked up to see her barely awake as she blinked her eyes.
"Katie," he stood up, almost hitting his head but looking up at her. "Are you okay? How do you feel? Can you hear me?"
"Not good," she whispered, crying. "What happened Ned…"
"You were unconscious," he whispered. "I was so worried…" He kissed her, the only thing he could think to do. She touched his face, smiling as she pulled back. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm here and I love you."
"I love you too," she whispered. "We need to go."
He agreed and closed the door before rushing back to lock the house up and get into the car.
She was awake for most of the car ride until her abdominal pain became too much. One second she was squeezing his hand, whimpering about how much the pain hurt, and the next she'd gone limp in the seat again.
He drove over the speed limit the rest of the way, quickly parking and carrying his wife through the automatic doors that lead into trauma center, his pulse spiking higher as he ran faster.
"I need help! My wife needs help!" He yelled, trying to get anyone's attention. Several nurses flocked to him, one pushed out a gurney. "My wife, she's thirty weeks pregnant. She started bleeding in the shower, and said there hasn't been much movement today. She collapsed on our way here."
"What's her name?" A nurse asked as they all helped him set her on the gurney carefully being they start pushing the gurney down the hallway. Ned reached for her hand and squeezed it. He didn't want to leave her alone. Not during this moment. Not when she and their child were in danger. "We'll try our best to save both, but the mother always takes a higher priority."
He knew what Katie would want him to say. To save the baby over her. To do everything to save that little human that grown inside her for the past eight months.
But Ned's selfish and he wasn't Katie. As much as he loved his son, he could never save him over Katie. They deserved the same chance.
"Save the baby," she whispered as they were able to bring her stats up as they brought her into an ICU trauma room. "Ned?"
"What's your wife's name?" The nurse asked, keeping him in the hallway.
"Her name's Katie... Katie Banks," he says as he tries to enter, but restrict him. "Please let me come in the room. Please I want to be with her. I won't be in the way."
"We can't allow you in there until she's stable. It's too hectic in there. Someone will come get you once everything has calmed down a bit," the nurse explained, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "I'm sorry you're going through this. Is there someone you can call? What's your name, sir?"
"I'm Ned. Ned Banks. Her husband. Her father is the chief and he wasn't answering any of my phone calls earlier. Now my phone is dead." He explained, tapping his phone. He shoved it in his pocket. "We'd left everything else in the house in a hurry. Can you make sure he knows?"
"I'll page Dr. Clancy, don't worry, and I'll try and bring you information when I can. There is a phone at the desk you can use, if you want to wait a bit the waiting room is just over there," the nurse said, pointing him to the waiting room nearby.
He sat down on the metal chairs near the room, his head falling into his hands as he waited. It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes before Jim came running in. He barked out orders and people moved out of his way as he dashed down the hallway. Melinda came in next with Mackenzie who had a McDonald's bag in hand.
"Ned," Melinda came to him first, sitting next to him. "What happened? Why didn't you call?"
"I tried. It just kept going to voicemail. They said she wasn't stable," he whispered, blankly staring at her. He didn't know how to focus, bit Mackenzie was holding out a burger.
"Don't shove food in his face," Melinda said, rubbing his back. "Sorry about her."
"I thought it would help," Mackenzie rolled her eyes before turning to Ned. "I eat in a crisis. Do you want one?"
The only thing Ned could focus on was the braid of Mackenzie's blonde hair and her eyes. The blue of them and he saw the burger in her hand. He touched the nail polish on her nails, not realizing it was wet.
"Oh sorry. I was doing that when mom told me. I just ran, followed and pulled my jacket and shoes on." Mackenzie said, wiping the leftover nail polish on her jeans, shrugging as he took it.
"I guess I could eat," he muttered, hugging her then.
She didn't say anything, just gave her mother the bag of food and wrapped her arms around Ned. "I'm scared," the blonde whispered. "She's my big sister."
"I know," he said, pulling back and smiling at her. He hugged her once more as he said, "I tell you as soon as I know what's going on."
"Your father will find out what's going on as soon as possible. You know that Kenz," Melinda reassured them both as she put the bag on the seat next to her. "Your mother would be here, but I needed her to watch Lana since Aaron is off with his girlfriend."
"Okay. I'll call her when I can then," he had wished his mother was here and sat down to eat his burger. Mackenzie went to sit by her mother, dishing out her mother's food and beginning to eat her own fries. "This is all my fault. I should've known something was wrong."
"Hey. Look at me," Melinda said, shaking her head. She rubbed his back and tried to reassure him, but it didn't do much. "Come on, Ned, just look at me." He slowly lifted his head up and looked at his mother in-law. How come she was always so nice to him? She'd always been so nice and the best babysitter. At least that he remembered. "This is not your fault. No one saw it this coming."
"How do you know that?" He sighed. "You don't have to say things to make me feel better."
"Katie is my daughter and you're her husband. I will always take care of you both." Melinda squeezed his shoulder and smiled at him. "Ok? Don't worry about it..."
"Yeah," he said. "I could never thank you for everything you've done."
Melinda shrugged and sat back. "You should go take a breather Ned," she said. "You look like you need one. Isn't that the same nurse I saw you with?"
"I think so," he finished his burger then, running his hands through his hair. He stood , going to stand near the ICU room where the nurse was standing with her chart.
"You can see her. A doctor is about to check on the baby now that we have her stabilized." She explained, stepping out. "The chief was just here. He'll be back soon I bet."
He nodded, turning to look in the room. He could barely see Katie through the sea of doctors and nurses tending to her. The room started to clear and he stepped inside, walking toward her.
Katie was awake, lying there with different wires coming in and out of her arms. A doctor was just beginning to perform an ultrasound, waving the wand over her swollen stomach, which had a wired belt wrapped around it to read the heartbeat and any possible contractions.
"Ned," Katie sobbed, grabbing for his hand as he reaches the side of the bed "Where have you been?" Once she got a hold of it, she brought it to her mouth and smiled. "I missed you. I wanted you here. I kept asking, but no one was giving me any answers."
"They wouldn't let me see you," he whispered as he kisses her hair. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I wanted to be here."
She nodded and they both turn to look at the blank ultrasound screen as the tech rolled it it. The doctor hadn't turned it on for them to see yet. It felt like hours until they finally see the doctor's hand still on Katie's belly.
The doctor hadn't taken her eyes off the screen.
He watched the disbelief cover the doctor's face, and he knew he doesn't want to hear the words she's preparing herself to say to the expectant couple.
The doctor exhaled before she sets the wand down and reaches for Katie's hand, gripping it tightly. "Your placenta ruptured, that explains the bleeding. Your son is in distress. We need to act fast before he's deprived of any nutrients for too long." Dr. Carr began to say, squeezing her hand. "I know you wanted to wait as long as we could, but there's only one option and that's to get this baby out of you right now. Okay?"
"Okay," she squeezed the doctor's hand. "How soon is soon?"
"I can give you a moment with your husband while they prep the OR, but then we'll need to take you down." The doctor said, leaving the room. "It's the only way to save the child."
She turned to Ned and she lost all strength when she sees the pain in his eyes. Her tears spill as she hugged him, kissing his neck. "I wish you could be there with me," she whispered, kissing his throat next, feeling him jolt at her touch. "I love you. I need you to be there for my mom. I'm guessing she's here."
"Yeah. Right out in the hallway with Mack and your dad." He looked to the door. "Want me to get them?"
"No, I just want you right now." She looked to the ceiling, her hand rubbing over her swollen stomach. "This is it. I won't be pregnant when I wake up."
He placed his hand with hers, kissing her briefly, and they were silent from then on until the doctor and prep team came back to get her.
"I'll be right here when you come back and wake up," he reassured her and sat back in the chair as they wheeled her out. "I promise."
"Okay. I love you," she said, squeezing her hands against his as she let go once they were out of reach.
"I love you," he said, choking on his words.
He knew he should fill everyone in on what's going on, but he stayed in the chair until Jim, Melinda and Mack come into the hospital room. It was more comfortable in here, private too. Mackenzie fell asleep on a cot Jim brought in for her and Melinda sat in the comfier lounge chair opposite of Ned's. She flipped through the channels as Ned tried to catch some sleep too, but only found himself blinking at the wall.
When the doctor returned, the orderly's pushed the hospital bed where Katie laid to where the bed goes.
He stretches, standing up to walked out into the hallway with the doctor. "Well," he muttered sleepily. "Just give it to me."
"We were too late," the doctor paused, looking up at him. "I'm so sorry. Your son didn't make it. We did everything."
"Thank you for trying," he said softly. "What happened?"
"There was a knot in the umbilical cord that denied the baby oxygen. It's uncommon," the doctor said. "But when the placenta ruptured there was nothing that could be done. It was not anyone's fault."
Not anyone's fault. But how? How could this happen to them and not be anyone's fault? How does something like this happen?
"When your wife wakes," the doctor's voice made him stop before he entered the room again, his eyes glancing to his sleeping wife. She didn't even know yet. "I thought it would be best for her to hear it from you. Let one of the nurses know and she'll bring your son to you both so you can be with him if you'd like."
He nodded, going back to his chair, pulling it to Katie's side. He felt his world come crashing down. He didn't remember much of what followed, but he went numb. His tears were silent, soaking into her hand and the scratchy sheets of the hospital bed.
Melinda must've come over at some point, because he swore he could feel her hug him from behind, her pregnant belly against his back.
Their son had entered the world sleeping on January 19th.
A/N: This took everything out of me to write. I've been holding off on posting it out of wanting it to be perfect which is a hard request, especially with the time being 1:44 in the morning and I have school in less the seven hours. But I needed to post this now. My cousin suffered a stillbirth a few years ago, we're close and being that I was there through the whole process, I was there when she got the news. And this was her first child and she'd recently lost her husband during his final tour of duty in Iraq, I watched the light go from her eyes. She puts a smile now, but I don't think she's ever fully recovered. xx Mariah