Author's Note: Thank you, thank you, thank you, BluCrayons for your wonderful gift and of course, being my beta. :D
Chapter 39: More Complications
Peter sat with Sarah the entire night. She eventually cried herself to sleep. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop feeling so awful. He knew that he was doing all he could to help her, but he still wanted to do more. But between her being pregnant and hormonal and her being so scared about Micky, she wasn't going to relax very easily. Peter had even hummed her a little lullaby like Micky had back when, but it only seemed to help a little.
She groaned a little during the night as she had nightmares and since Peter couldn't really sleep, he made sure to try and keep her relaxed. He knew stress wasn't good for her or the baby. Whenever she groaned and started to shift a little, he made sure to stroke her hair gently or rub her back to calm her down. It seemed to help little by little, but Peter was afraid it wasn't helping much.
Come morning, or at least what he assumed was morning as there were really no windows here, Sarah woke up with a start, screaming a little. Peter held her close and rubbed her back letting her know that he was still there for her and that whatever happened was only a nightmare. She looked at him with tears forming in her eyes and suddenly darted off for the bathroom.
"What was that?" Davy asked waking up with a yawn and rubbing his eyes.
"Nightmare," Peter answered getting up and following her into the bathroom. "Though now I think she has to throw up." Sure enough once inside the bathroom, Peter found her hunched over the toilet. Peter knelt by her side and pulled her hair away from her face, trying his best to comfort her. He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do for her, but he was going to try his best because Micky couldn't.
"Is there anything I can do?" Peter asked softly.
"Not really," Sarah answered groggily. "Peril of being pregnant."
"Here," Rose said coming up behind them and handing Sarah a glass of water. "Drink. You need plenty of fluids."
"Rose," Sarah said taking the water gratefully. "Listen, about what I said yesterday-"
"Don't even worry about it, honey," Rose said. "I know you didn't mean it. You're just scared. We all are."
"I know, but it was still uncalled for," Sarah said. "I'm sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry for," Rose smiled. "Now drink up. Fluids." Sarah smiled and drank the water before Peter helped her up and back out into the main room. Halfway to the bed, she stopped suddenly and clutched her stomach.
"You ok?" Peter asked worriedly. "You have to go back in there?"
"My stomach hurts," Sarah said. "Somethings...somethings wrong. Where's Micky? I need Micky."
"Sarah, just sit down," Rose said pulling her to the bed. "Micky can't be here, but I'm here for you. I've been through this. It's gonna be ok; I promise. Just take a deep breath. It's more than likely just stress."
"Are you sure?" Sarah asked sitting on the bed but still holding her stomach.
"Just breathe," Rose said kneeling in front of her. Peter sat next to her while Davy and Mike sat on the edges of their beds watching, hoping in their own ways that they could help. "Is it just your stomach that hurts?"
"Yes," Sarah answered. "Oh God; it really hurts. I need Micky; where's Micky?"
"Ok, here's what I want you to do," Rose said taking Sarah's hands in hers. "I want you to take a deep breath. Breathe in. Sarah. Listen to me. Breathe in." Sarah wasn't really doing what she was asking. Peter rubbed her back carefully and tried to take a deep breath alongside her to encourage her to breathe. Finally she closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. Peter blew out and Sarah followed. They did this three times before Rose said it was ok to stop. Peter looked down and noticed that Rose had her hand on Sarah's wrist the whole time.
"You feel better?" Mike asked.
"A little," Sarah said.
"Your pulse is slowing down," Rose said making Peter finally understand why she was holding Sarah's wrist. "I think it's just stress, but if you want, I can check you out to make sure everything's ok."
"Yeah," Sarah said wiping tears away from the corner of her eyes.
"Sure," Rose said. "Lay down on the bed. Davy, go sit next to Mike. Peter, hold the sheet up over her legs."
"Huh?" Peter asked confused. Davy looked confused, too for a moment, but then they both got it at the same time as Sarah laid down on the bed. Rose was going to have to examine Sarah and Davy was right across from her.
"Right," Davy said jumping up and walking over to Mike. Peter grabbed the sheet uncomfortably and held it up for Rose to see but so that no one else could. He still felt a little ashamed, so he looked away and felt a flush on his cheeks. It only took a few minutes for Rose to finish.
"Sarah, you can relax," Rose said. "I don't see any signs of bleeding or anything else to worry about. It's just stress. But stress can hurt the baby, so you need to try and relax. You need to remember to breathe. It's really important you relax or you could develop preeclampsia."
"What's that?" Davy asked.
"It's a disease pregnant women can get where their blood pressure is abnormally high and it puts mommy and baby at risk," Rose explained. "If her blood pressure gets too high, she could die. It doesn't normally happen this early in the pregnancy, but it can get bad if left untreated. And the stress she's having might be causing it to present early because it usually occurs after 20 weeks."
"Ok," Sarah said. She looked at Peter as if asking if she could curl up with him again. Peter answered by simply smiling and pulling her close to him. If that's what it took to make her feel safe, then he'd hold her as long as she needed. He felt a little strange taking Micky's place, but knew that she needed someone to offer her comfort. And he'd come to view Sarah as a part of their strange, extended little family.
Over the next week, Mike was finally able to walk on his own and Sarah tried to relax as much as possible. Peter, Davy, Mike and Rose made sure that Sarah got a little more food than the rest of them, though Sarah was resistant at first to take the extra food. Peter would make sure she did the breathing exercises whenever he felt her starting to get stressed out. It helped to lower her heart rate and was better on the baby. But there was still no word on Micky. One night, Peter overheard Mike and Rose talking when they thought everyone else was asleep.
"You really think that it's just stress?" Mike asked.
"Yeah," Rose said. "Pretty sure. But I was also pretty sure that Micky was gonna wake up."
"He still is," Mike answered. "I know him. He's strong. He'll pull through this."
"I just thought they would have at least told us something by now," Rose said. "Maybe Sarah's right. Maybe I did wait too long to get help."
"I think no news is good news," Mike said. "At least with them. If he'd died, they'd have said something to make us suffer. Don't you think?"
"Yeah, probably," Rose said. "Claire would love to rub it in my face. She'd be pissed Micky was dead and wanna take it out on one of us."
"I was thinking...we can't stay here much longer," Mike said. "With Sarah as stressed as she is...it's bad for the baby."
"What about your baby?" Rose asked.
"We have two months left," Mike said. "We can speed up the plan and I think I know of a way we can make sure she stays here and take her with us."
"How?" Rose asked sounding a little skeptical.
"Well, uh, we offer her something she wants," Mike said slowly.
"Mike…" Rose said tentatively. Peter thought he knew what Mike was talking about and didn't like it any better than Rose did.
"It might be the only way," Mike said sighing heavily. "And I can get her alone which will make it easier to take her with us."
"Mike, I don't think that's such a good idea," Rose said.
"Why not?" Mike asked. "We can't stay here much longer. Sarah can't take the stress."
"First I don't like you putting yourself in danger like that," Rose said.
"Oh, but it's ok for Micky?" Mike asked.
"That's different," Rose said. "They're not hurting him that way. Second, what is gonna happen even after we leave? We can't go to the cops. We can't go to the hospital. We'll have to run. Hide. They'll look for us. It's not really gonna be any better."
"Why can't we go to the cops?" Mike asked. "Maybe that's what we should have done from the beginning."
"Don't you remember?" Rose asked. "My boss is in league with her. They'll never do anything to convict them. We have to run from them until we can find proof enough to get them convicted or else until we can…"
"Kill them?" Mike asked.
"Yes," Rose said. "Which I'm more than ready to do, but I remember what happened to Micky when he killed his brother. It was completely justified, but it still destroyed him. I don't know that I can put him through that again."
"We'll deal with that when we come to that," Mike said. "First priority is getting out. Getting safe."
"Right," Rose said, "but there's still Micky to worry about. We can't leave without him either and he may be in better care where he is now than if we leave."
"Agreed," Mike said. "We'll discuss this again when he comes back." Peter really wanted to speak up; he hated what he was hearing. He didn't want Mike to give himself up to save the rest of them. Not like that. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right. But they weren't exactly in a fair situation. Peter could only hope that by the time Micky got back to them, they wouldn't have to resort to Mike's plan.
But it wouldn't work out that way. Micky came back the next morning. Claire came in with Cole carrying Micky behind her. Micky still looked very pale and very ill, but his eyes were open. He was conscious. Shirley walked in behind them pushing a rod holding an IV that was attached to Micky's arm. Peter and Sarah jumped out of the way to allow Cole to put Micky on the bed they were on instead of the bed currently hiding their weapons and Rose stared down Claire.
"He's ok?" Rose asked.
"Lucky for him, you called me in time," Claire answered. "You were partially right. He'd passed out initially from loss of blood, but apparently a blood vessel in his head ruptured. As his blood began to flow properly again, it formed a clot against his skull and the pressure kept him unconscious. I gave him some blood thinners to break up the clot. He should be fine by now. Just a little more rest."
"Thank you," Peter said not really know what else to say. Claire looked at him with disdain.
"I didn't do it for you," Claire snipped before handing Rose a bag. "There are some syringes and medications in there for you to give him. Every 8 hours."
"Of course," Rose said digging through the bag. As Claire turned to walk away, Rose pulled one of the bottles out of the bag and looked at it skeptically. "Morphine?"
"Yes," Claire answered dryly. "I figured he could use it. His body needs to heal and it won't be able to do that if it's in too much pain."
"You're letting him have pain killers?" Sarah asked.
"It's what's best for him," Claire said before turning to leave. Sarah rushed to Micky's side who still looked weak, but at least he was awake.
"Micky, thank god you're ok," Sarah said rushing over to cover his face in kisses.
"Ow," Micky moaned. "Stop that."
"Sorry," Sarah said.
"I love you, too, but that hurts," Micky said.
"You're gonna be ok," Rose said walking over to him and checking on his IVs. Peter breathed a sigh of relief. He hated seeing Micky like this, but at least Micky was getting better. And as much as Peter didn't want to admit it, as long as Micky was this weak, they couldn't escape. Which meant Mike couldn't go through with his plan. At least Peter hoped.