Jesse's POV.

I don't think I've ever felt this cold before. I'm not a winter person. I grew up and lived in L.A. until my late twenty. I couldn't handle the cold weather when I first moved to New York and I'm still struggling because it gets so fucking cold here. (Guess you could say I'm still warming up to it.)

But never this cold.

Voices were distant. I could faintly hear the guy bending over me and talking to someone else. Christina maybe? She was there last time I checked. I mean before everything got so damn cold and fuzzy I heard her apologize.

For what exactly?

She didn't do this to me. What was his name? Yeah, Spencer. Spencer did this.

I guess she could have been apologizing for not telling me that he's bat-shit crazy. Then again, I should have figured that part out since she said that they met at her shrink's waiting room. Stereotypes aren't all wrong after all, right?

Beca is gonna be so pissed at me for not being careful. Beca. I love that weirdo. Shit, pissed at me aside, this could really fuck things up. Beca can't know I got hurt. It could hurt her and Joseph.

I tried to tell the person, who was really pressing hard on my stomach and that I can't for the life of me see clearly, to keep this from Beca but it was so hard especially when this sudden sleepiness washed over me.

The fainted voices stopped without prior notice and it was confusing how everything just started to fade.

MCMXXXIX

"Where am I?" wondered Beca the second she opened her eyes. She blinked to get rid of the initial blurriness and realized she was in a hospital room. Confused, she aimlessly looked for the nurse call button and was successful. She very weakly pressed the button and waited.

A nurse was in the room in no time and checked her vitals.

"What happened?" Beca asked her while the nurse measured her blood pressure.

"Ma'am, you fainted due to a sudden rise in your blood pressure," the nurse was saying as removed the cuff from around Beca's arm.

"Is the baby okay?"

Beca let out a breath when the woman standing near her bed nodded. "Dr. Daly will be with you as soon as possible to answer all your questions," the nurse said before she left the room.

Beca waited for what seemed like forever before a doctor stepped into the room and in the meantime, everything from the night before came back to her.

She watched Jesse walk away and wanted to throw a temper tantrum at Rafael for kissing her but soon saw how pointless it would be so she just walked away from him and told a drunk Chloe what happened. Chloe encouraged her to go after Jesse and she took her advice not because she was very convinced but because Chloe dragged her to the elevator. Once they were outside they heard an ambulance making its way to the end of the street and figured they go see what was happening. She saw Jesse being carried on the gurney and vaguely remembered what happened next and figured that passing out had a hand in it.

"Good morning, Ms. Mitchell," the doctor greeted as he picked up her patient chart. "I'm Dr. Daly."

"Morning." She wanted to ask about Jesse but was too scared of what he could tell her.

"Are you currently suffering from a headache?" he asked her and shifted his attention from the chart to her.

"No."

He nodded and stepped closer to her after placing the chart in its place.

"Double vision, abdominal pain, seeing spots, sensitive to lightning." Beca shook her head at every one of the symptoms.

"It was blurry when I first woke up but it went away in a few seconds," she told him as he cupped her face gently pressing his thumb against her skin.

"Ms. Mitchell, if you weren't admitted as soon as you were last night your pre-eclampsia would have turned into an eclampsia," he informed her, let go of her face, took her hands in his, and did the same thing. "You were given magnesium sulfate intravenously in order to stabilize your blood pressure, and you still are."

Beca nodded as she eyed the IV in her arm.

"The baby and I are still at risk, aren't we?" she asked watching the way the spot he'd pull pressure on with his thumbs turn white.

"Yes," he apologetically said letting go of her hands. "Which is why you're going on bed rest until the baby is delivered."

"Bed rest," she said in surprise.

"I hope you understand the risks," he checked. "Last night you could have had a seizure."

"No, of course, I understand," she assured him. "When will he be delivered?" she asked.

"If you stop responding to the treatment we can't risk your life: A delivery will be accomplished."

She held her head and blew a breath. "When will we know if I'm responding to the treatment on the long run?" she wondered and looked up.

"For now you've been stabilized. The baby is fine. You will be closely monitored to make sure you stay stable. There's no way to determine whether you will continue to respond to the treatment. We can't let you reach your due date because the complications of your illness are life threatening." He paused. "The baby will be delivered as soon as possible."

"When is that exactly?" Beca wondered pushing back tears.

"It all depends on your health, Ms. Mitchell."

"What about Jesse?" she asked him. "Where is he? He's still alive, right?"

"Mr. Swanson was lucky officer Michaelson was there," he began to tell her. "He was quick enough to keep him from losing too much blood before medical help arrived."

"So, he's okay?" she checked getting more emotional.

"Yes. My colleague Dr. Rettner did her best."

"When can I see him?" she wondered feeling relieved.

"Right now Mr. Swanson is unconscious."

"I don't care if he's not awake. I wanna see him."

"Ma'am, you're on bed rest," he reminded her. "Hospital bed rest, that is."

Powerless, Beca clenched her jaw and ran her fingers through her hair then nodded when the doctor kept looking at her.

Jesse's POV

Why am I so tried and why does everything feel so numb?

This is confusing.

Hold up, what's that beeping?

I opened my eyes and looked at the source: one of those heart machines.

Oh, I am at a hospital, I realized. I tried to sit up but it didn't seem possible with the fucking numbness all over my upper half.

I gave up trying to sit up and reached for the nurse call button. A nurse soon came and asked me if I'm feeling alright.

I nodded—I think I did. I'm not sure. Everything felt weird and my head felt heavy.

It wasn't long until the confusion started to fade as I recalled the events of the night before.

Beca was mad at me for some reason. I tried to get to the bottom of it but it was affecting her health so I dropped it. I went to check on Christina. I found her texting that crazy fucker who shot me in the fucking stomach. She told me about him before and just forgot to mention the part when he's not stable.

She said they met at her psychologist's office and bonded over their issues.—Now that I think about it, I should have figured out the not stable part.— She said he understood her. And, she was almost always drunk when they were together. After sobering up, they stopped hanging out together because he'd always pull her back into drinking whenever she tried to knock it.

I knew he was a bad influence on her so I tried to keep her from seeing him because I also knew she was feeling low and he made her feel better.

I tried to talk some sense into her but it didn't work and she just left.

I was following her when I saw Beca pushing the man she was just kissing away from her. Pushing him meant she didn't want to be kissing him but still hurt to see her kissing someone else.

I couldn't stay any longer because Christina needed me so I went after her.

Then comes the part where I got shot by none other than Christina's booty call slash pity party companion slash psycho.

"Mr. Swanson." I heard a female voice call so I opened my eyes to see a doctor standing in front of me.

"Yeah?" I replied and tried to move again rubbing my face when I could lift my arm.

I tried to carefully listen as the doctor explained what happened to me. Something about lucking out because of the caliber of the bullet. .22 was it? She continued telling me details about the surgery she performed on me and I was hardly keeping track.

"I'm sorry," I interrupted. "Where's Beca?" I had to know.

"Ms. Mitchell," she started to say checking. I nodded.

"Did you tell her about this? If you did please tell me that she and the baby are okay. Beca has a pre- eclampsia and this news wouldn't be good for her heath."

"Ms. Mitchell was admitted to the hospital same time as you were. To my knowledge, she had been stabilized."

"Where is she? I have to go see her." I pushed myself up.

"Mr. Swanson, you need to rest."

"I'll be fine," I assured her and winced as I tried to swing my feet off the bed.

"Once the morphine completely wears off you will be in a humongous amount of pain if you don't stay in bed." I heard her warn.

"I'm sure it wouldn't be as bad as the pain of getting shot," I deadpanned. "Fuck," I swore when my feet failed me the moment I tried to stand.

"Mr. Swanson, you need to rest," the doctor repeated herself and supported my weight.

"I need to see Beca," I insisted as she laid me back on the bed.

MCMXIV

Beca was laying on her side like the doctor ordered, wondering how long would she have to wait until she got to see Jesse.

She also wondered why the hell weren't her friends at the hospital then figured they were too hungover to function or were sent home for being too loud or both.

Besides, it was too early and visiting hours didn't start until 11:00 am. They wouldn't let them in anyway.

Hearing a knock on the door, she looked up and frowned seeing that it was her PA Christina at the doorway.

"Morning, boss," she greeted as she looked around before stepping inside the room.

"Hey," Beca said as she shifted a little. "What are you doing here? And how did you get here?" she wondered.

"I know the girls at reception. Guess you could say I spent enough time here to know the staff," she shrugged. "I came over to explain what happened with Jesse."

"Oh, a cop came and filled me in on what happened," Beca told her.

"I know the guy that shot Jesse," Christina blurted. "I told the cops everything I know about him and I thought you deserve to know as well."

"You know him? Like you personally know him?"

"Yep." Christina took a seat on the chair near Beca's bed. "His name is Spencer. I met him over a year and a half ago at my shrink's office," she uneasily started to say. "We kinda became friends I guess. I found it comforting to know someone struggling with what I thought was the same issue." She looked up and found Beca eyeing her looking very focused.

"A month prior meeting him, I had run over a kid with my car because I was busying arguing over the phone to see him crossing the street. Spencer told me had also run over someone with his bike and I thought it was the reason he was also in therapy. We started hanging out a lot. Drinking a lot." She paused and stood up scratching her head.

"I didn't even realize that drinking became a problem and he didn't care enough to point it out." She shrugged, dropping her hand, and started walking around the room.

"Whenever I get a reality check from my godfather and I try to get it together he'd be there to pull me back." She inhaled and glanced at Beca. "I'm not blaming him for how things turned out for me. It's my fault. I just should have stopped hanging out with him." She tucked some locks of her hair behind her ear.

"If it weren't for Jesse's help I would have gone to see Spencer the moment I started to feel bad again. Spencer, of course, didn't like being shut out." She swallowed before looking at Beca. "If I continued to ignore him Jesse wouldn't have gotten hurt."

"You said you thought he was in therapy because he ran over someone," Beca noted.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." She nodded. "Until one night he told me he was actually there because the voices made him slap his landlord."

"Voices?" Beca frowned.

"He's schizophrenic, Beca," Christina sighed and rubbed her face.

"Hey, it's not your fault," Beca said meeting Christina's gaze. "You didn't pull the trigger. He did. And he's also sick and needs help. There is no reason to blame yourself," she told her knowing what guilt would do to her. "And Jesse's fine."

"But you're not," Christina deadpanned.

"I'll be fine," Beca smiled at her despite not believing the words that came out of her own mouth.

Jesse's POV

Yeah, this sucks balls. I officially hate being powerless. I've been lying in bed plotting how I was going to go see Beca for two days, damn it!

The plan sounded doable in theory but I knew it was going to be hard.

I just had to walk across the room and get out then use the wheelchair right in front of my room, which I can see from my bed, to get to the reception desk and ask about Beca's room and hope they don't ask too many questions.

As I said, doable in theory. But because of the way I'd wince when I barely move I knew it was gonna hurt.

I kinda had an idea of what time it was because Chloe, Stacie, Amy, and Bumper had left when visiting hours ended so I knew it was late in the pm. They took turns going between Beca and myself and assured me she was okay and refused to tell me what room she was staying in because they are suddenly all super level headed and weren't going to let me get out of bed. Nevertheless, their reassuring words weren't enough I had to see Beca as soon as possible.

Okay, here we go.

Standing up was a success.

I carefully walked towards to door, which was quite hard to pull off, but I did it. I bit back a yelp when I sat down too fast then began wheeling my way to the elevator.

Luck was on my side because I made it to the reception.

I was on fire!

The plan was going as planned.

"Sir, you're not supposed to be here," the nurse at the reception desk said once she took a good look at me after I had asked her about Beca's room.

"Look, I have to see her." As I looked into the nurse's eyes, I knew I had to step up my game if I wanted her to let me go see Beca. "She's my everything and she needs me…" I proceeded to give the nurse an improvised speech where I poured my heart and soul into every word as to why I had to go see Beca.

"Please," I pleaded and watched her look away from me to think. I smiled when she called another nurse on duty to wheel me to Beca's room.

"Becs," I called once we reached the room. "Beca, are you up?" I asked in a low voice seeing that she was laying on her side and I couldn't see her face.

"Jesse," Beca said in surprise and tilted her head. I told the nurse that I got it and wheeled myself to the side of her bed that was a little higher that the wheelchair. Not a problem. I stood up despite how painful it was and held her hand when she sat up.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a cracking voice.

"You didn't think I wouldn't come see you, did you?" I sat down on the bed.

She could tell that moving hurt so she sat up and scooted as closer as the IV she was hooked to let her.

"They told me you needed to rest," she was saying before she leaned in and kissed me.

"I can't rest. I had to come see you," I told her pulling away.

"When I saw you lying cold I thought I lost you, Jesse," she cried.

"Hey, hey, hey." I wiped her tears away and held her chin up. "I'm still here, Becs. I'm not planning on going anyway." She kissed me again, pulled her hand from my hold, and rested it on my shoulder then my neck as if she were making sure I was really there with her.

"How bad is it?" she asked pulling away. "You were bleeding a lot. I know they kept shit from me."

"Tis but a scratch," I quoted the black knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail and hoped she'd get the reference. She laughed in spite of herself at the reference.

"How are you, Becs? They told me you're stable now." I stroked her cheek.

"Yeah. This is keeping my blood pressure down." She sniffed nodding at the IV.

"Does it hurt?" I asked.

"It's uncomfortable," she shrugged. "Which is fine considering the fact it's basically the only way Joseph is still in the womb." She used the back of her hand to wipe her nose. "Um, I wanted to come and see you but I'm on fucking bed rest."

I knew she was on bed rest.

"Well, at least now that you don't have a choice: you will watch movies with me!" I said making her chuckle. "Joseph, buddy." I leaned down and ignored the pain the movement caused. "Joseph, daddy is here," I said once I was on eye level with Beca's belly. "I'm sorry I almost screwed things up for you and mommy," I apologized.

"And yourself." I heard Beca mumble.

"I'm sorry, Bec." I sat up.

"You were just trying to help," she sighed as she scanned my face.

"Sir, you need to go back to bed." We heard the nurse, whom I forgot was there, say.

"Two nights ago, I saw him lay lifeless as paramedics tried to keep him alive." Beca paused to swallow. "I almost lost my baby and his father on the same night. So, I think you'd understand if I asked you to leave us alone for a while longer," Beca said to the nurse and did nothing to stop the tears that were falling.

The nurse looked between Beca, who looked like she was ready to put up a fight, and me, who I'm pretty sure looked great and not like I was about to die, then nodded before she left the room.

"Jesse, you need to go catch some sleep and heal," she told me and wiped the sweat that was forming on my forehead because of the pain that I thought I was hiding from her.

"I know," I nodded. "Bed rest huh?" I took her IV free hand and interlocked our fingers.

"Total bed rest," she sighed.

"So, you won't be leaving the hospital?" I placed a kiss on her hair, breathing her in.

"I don't think I will be anytime soon." I knew from her tone that things were very serious and made a mental note to have a detailed talk with the doctor in charge about Beca's health.

"We should get a private room then," I said after a beat and wiped her cheeks.

"Dude, what part of total bed rest you don't get?" she questioned in amusement at my suggestive tone.

"That's not what I meant," I smiled; glad I was cheering her up a little. "Private room so we can watch movies. 'Cause it would cause a disturbance to the other patient in the room," I explained.

"No movies, Jesse."

"Yes movies, Beca." I squeezed her hand.

MDCCLXXVI

AN: I thought I'd do some point of view for this chapter to take the dramatics down a notch. I hope it worked. Thank you for reading. There will probably be 2 more chapters to this story depending on how much I'll end up writing and how much I could jam into one chapter—very serious storytelling techniques as I'm sure you can tell.

PS: the random roman number are random historical dates I used to indicate the end of the POV of Jesse. I have no idea why I did that instead of just writing end POV. As I'm writing this I realize that it's a pretty odd call to make but ain't gonna go back change them now.

FADE OUT.