AN: Like I said before, this one is also in Charlotte's POV because I thought it would have been too much to squeeze it into chapter 15. Also, don't forget to imagine Tessa as Charisma Carpenter...and if you don't know what she looks like, look her up! ; ) And once again, I apologize for the lack of updating! Anyway. here's chapter 16!
Chapter 16
Charlotte's POV:
"Dr. King...?" I hear a voice call out behind me so I turn around.
When I do, I see that it's a woman with dark hair and is at a height that's equal to mine. She would be a few inches taller than me if it wasn't for the heels I had on. I couldn't quite place it but I knew her from somewhere...
"Yes...that's me!" I smile politely. "Can I help you with somethin'?" She had to be someone from the hospital or was visiting someone in the hospital, because I knew who she was but I just couldn't place it.
"So you're the Chief of Staff at this place?" The dark haired woman bobs her head towards my hospital.
"Yes..." I raise my eyebrows. "Why...?" I was starting to get confused.
"I need to speak to you about something important..." The woman tells me urgently.
I don't know why, but at that moment, I got a weird gut feeling...like something was going to happen. No one...not even me, could even imagine what would occur in a few short minutes.
It was because of the woman. She seemed like any other woman in her early thirties...well, that's what she looked like, anyway! She looked innocent and harmless...
Yet, there was something about her that worried me...but what was it...and where did I recognize her from? I could have seen her in the hospital and not realized it at the time because I was busy with other things. That has to be it...
"Yes...what is it? What's wrong?" I ask her, almost impatiently.
It was my job to help others but I was kind of in a hurry. I had to speak to Addison. Little did I know that my redhead was standing a few feet away from me, watching my every move...and the brunette's as well!
"You should know what I'm here to talk to you about..." The woman whispers almost inaudibly.
I tilt my head to the side. Now I was very confused. "Uhh..." I start to search around in my clutter of a brain to see if I actually had a patient I forgot about...which never happens...but I had to be sure! I stand there dumbly before I discover the connection. I knew who this woman was.
I have only seen her a few times before at the Practice because she was a patient of Addison's...well, her girlfriend was the patient, but still. The last time I saw Addison with them was a few weeks ago and her girlfriend looked like she would pop at any minute. I couldn't remember the woman's name though. "Your girlfriend is a patient of Dr. Montgomery...I've seen you around a few times..."
"Yes...Bridget is my girlfriend..." The dark haired woman pushes a curl behind her ear. Bridget... I really knew this woman's name now. It was at the tip of my tongue. It starts with a T...I think...
I point at her. "It's...Tessa, right?" She nods. I smile because I actually remembered it. "Good!"
Tessa smiles, but it was forced...and lasted only for a second. She begins to stare at me now...and it makes me uncomfortable.
"So Tessa...what did you need? 'Cause I was actually goin'-" I am telling her that I'm about to go see Addison and that if she needed to see her, I would tell her, but I'm cut off.
"Have you ever wanted something so badly that you would do anything to get it?" Tessa questions me.
I didn't know what this question had to do with me being the Chief of Staff and the fact that I owned this hospital...but I would go along with it. "...Yeah...all of the time..."
"And have you ever had that something actually happen and then have it ripped from your grasp?" Tessa asks with a straight face...too straight.
These questions were doing nothing to calm the ache in the pit of my stomach. What's her deal? "Yes..."
Tessa lightly crosses her arms and stares at the ground for a moment before looking into my eyes. "My girlfriend and I have been together for almost ten years now."
I raise an eyebrow slowly. This conversation was all over the map...it was like being in Tokyo the one minute and Rio de Janeiro the next! I smile though. "That's good..."
She gives me a real smile now and nods. "How long have you and Dr. Montgomery been dating?" Tessa asks and I swallow nervously. Did Addison tell her this? "Don't worry...she told me and Bridget..."
I nod slowly. I wasn't going to say that we were technically broken up so I tell her the truth. "Six months."
Tessa smiles and then, it fades once again. "...Too bad that's all it's going to be..." She mumbles...but I hear it word for word.
"Excuse me?" I tell her, a little annoyed now.
"You heard me..." Tessa answers me.
Okay...very annoyed. "What is your problem?"
"My problem is you, Dr. King...my problem is you!" Tessa yells at me and clenches her fists.
"What the hell did I even do to you?" I yell back at her. None of this made any sense...why would one of Addison's patients come after me?
"Everything!" Tessa screams out emotionally. "You don't even get it!" I stand there and look at her like she was some kind of unworldly demon. She realizes my confusion and sighs. "Have you ever wanted kids, Dr. King?"
"No...not really..." I tell her truthfully. I may not have wanted kids before but that didn't mean that I wouldn't want them in the future.
"You want to have children with Addison, right?" Tessa questions me. She was asking too many personal questions about me and Addison...it was starting to get creepy now.
"Of course I do..." I tell her softly...not because I was unsure, but because Addison and I never discussed it before.
"Bridget and I have been trying to have a baby for five years...five long and excruciating years of trying to get pregnant..." Tessa explains. "She's the only one who could get pregnant...because I lost my uterus when I had a hysterectomy when I was twenty." I stay silent as she's telling me this, still wondering when the point of this story was going to arrive...or the reason why I had to listen to it. The person she should be talkin' to is Violet...not me. "Do you know what that feels like...?"
"I...uh...no...I'm sorry, I don't." I tell her truthfully.
Something weird is going on inside of me and it's building up rapidly. I think it's fear. Something inside of me is telling me to run that second, but I don't listen to it...because I've never been too in tune with my emotions in the first place...since I'm always forcing them back down.
"Your girlfriend is the best neonatal surgeon around...double board certified...or so they say..." Tessa mutters the last part and I narrow my eyes.
"She is the best! She's one of the main reasons I hired her!" I say proudly and smile widely.
"So you hired Addison?" She questions me.
"Yes? I hire everyone at this hospital!" I answer her. "Seriously, what is this about? I have things to do and people to see-"
"Your amazing double board certified neonatal goddess told my girlfriend and I that our baby was going to be fine...that she would be perfect even...and do you want to know what happened?" I open my mouth to speak but I'm cut off. "Our baby isn't okay...and she isn't perfect either!"
I was aware of what happened to their baby…but from what I've heard around and from I've seen, the baby seemed like it was going to be fine! "I don't understand!" I tell her honestly. "How is what happened to your baby MY fault?" I question her.
That's when it happens. That's when I see her dark brown eyes turn darker...dark with rage...and it frightens me. I even step back.
"It's YOUR fault! YOU hired Addison! YOU'RE the reason our baby is breathing on a machine right now!" She yells as loud as she possibly can and it makes me shrink back. "And if you DIDN'T hire the BEST neonatal surgeon around, our daughter would be able to go home right now!"
Now I was starting to get a sinking feeling. Tessa wasn't standing here with me right now just to argue or to get steam out or to pick a fight...she was here to seek out revenge.
I wasn't a coward...in the very least. I've gotten through scary situations. I even got through the whole ordeal and aftermath of my rape...and I honestly didn't think that I'd survive that...but, I knew that this wasn't going to end well for me.
I look at her with as calmly as I possibly can at that moment. "Please...Tessa...calm down..."
"Calm down?! You want me to calm down when my baby is in there on a machine?! I won't!" She takes a step closer to me now, which causes me to take yet another step back.
Don't let her see that you're scared... I tell myself and swallow slowly. "I assure you...your baby is goin' to be okay...I'm sure your girlfriend is waitin' for you in there...wonderin' where you are, so please...go inside and stop attackin' me."
Tessa's eyes darken even more. "You think I'm attacking you right now?" She asks me in such an evil and ominous tone, it nearly makes my heart stop. "Wait until you see what's in store for you..."
That's when I happen to look down from Tessa's crazy and psychotic gaze to see her pulling something out of her jacket. It could be anything. I tell myself. But, in a situation like this, I knew it wouldn't be something harmless that she was taking out.
At that moment, Tessa removes a nine millimeter gun out of her pocket. My jaw drops slightly and all I can do is stand there...because it's like my feet are glued to the ground and I can't go anywhere. I suck in a huge intake of air and swallow loudly. "Tessa...don't do this...you know doin' this won't solve anything...you'll only make it worse for yourself..."
"No, it will..." She slowly begins to raise the gun. "I'm going to kill you...and I'm going to watch every tiny ounce of life drain out of you until there's nothing left...and maybe then, I'll feel a little bit better..." The gun is pointed directly at me now...pointed straight at my heart. Getting shot in that area isn't a death sentence...I can survive...but it all depends on how I get hit...and when help gets to me.
I turn to look at my hospital...the hospital I've been taking care of for several years...it's my second home! I knew I could run inside and call for help...but I may not even make it a few feet away. And even if I did, I couldn't lure a woman that literally just lost her mind that has a gun on her into the hospital. I'm not that selfish.
I let out a nervous exhale and stare at the barrel of the gun. If this was my fate, so be it! I thought God would have a better plan for me than this...but maybe I deserve it for being a bitch to everyone for so long.
Tessa's dark look gets even worse when she smiles at me with an insane grin. "If this doesn't make me feel better, I'll just go after your girlfriend...and I'll watch her bleed out all over the pavement too."
That's when it happens...something snaps inside of me.
I was actually giving up. I was seriously going to let this woman shoot me! I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I look at her angrily now. She threatened the thing that meant the most to me; Addison. I wasn't about to let a hormonal crazy woman kill me, so that I won't be able to apologize to Addison! "You hurt Addison and I will kill you." I warn her through gritted teeth.
"I can handle a toothpick of a bitch like you." She tells me as she cackles and takes the safety off.
I had a 50/50 shot here...I would be able to get the gun off of her, or, she would win and I would be...well, who knows...
Without a warning, I lunge forward to grab the brunette's arms. If her arms weren't pointed at my body, she wouldn't be able to shoot me! I grab them as hard as I can and I try to get the gun from her grasp. Tessa's a bit shocked, so she doesn't react as quickly...but eventually, she snaps into it.
I almost have the gun knocked out of her hand when I'm roughly shoved back and stumble backwards a few steps. I barely have time to even register that before I look up to see the gun pointed at my chest again.
I am in the middle of breathing in when I hear the loud explosion of a gun being shot...and I'm sent flying onto my back. "Oh!" I land roughly...and it takes me about five seconds to notice that my white shirt blood is stained...well, Violet's shirt, but that's beside the point. I gasp loudly as I collapse onto my back and grip at my chest. All I can do is whimper and scream in pain...because it hurts more than anything I can imagine. I can hear footsteps running away...and another set running towards me...I even think I heard someone yell my name.
I'm about to yell for help...but I feel all of my strength rapidly leaving my body. "Help..." My cry comes out in a barely audible whisper. "No..."
"CHARLOTTE!" I hear a voice call out...a voice I knew too well.
I look up with half opened eyes to see my girlfriend kneeling next to me. "Addi-Addison..."
"Oh my God, Charlotte!" Her hands come up to my chest right away to try and stop the gushing blood. "Ohhh God..." Not that I didn't know already, but by that tone, I knew I was a goner. "Baby, you're going to be okay! Stay with me!" She presses down hard on my chest as she screams. "HELP! CHARLOTTE'S BEEN SHOT!" All of the feeling has been drained out of my body and my senses were dwindling.
"Addison..." I whisper so soft I'm afraid she won't hear it.
Fortunately, she hears me. "Help is coming, Charlotte! Please stay with me! Please!"
I shake my head...or attempt to. "N-no...I need to t-tell you..." It's getting so hard to breathe at this point. "I-I'm...I'm s-so sorry..." I look up at her as best as I can...because if I was going to see one thing for the last time, it had to be Addison. "And I l-love you, Addison..." Any other kind of words I'm forming can't make it through, because my lips are trembling uncontrollably.
"I'm sorry and I love you too!" She gives me a smile. "Help is on the way. They heard me!"
I don't hear anything after "I love you too". My facial muscles form a half smile as my eyes begin to flutter. She still loves me...Addison still loves me! Amelia and Violet were right!
Addison notices this and she starts to cry. "No, Charlotte, NO! You're not leaving me, Charlotte! You're going to make it through this! I mean it! Just hold on, they're coming!"
"I can't..." I mutter, as I try my damn hardest to keep my eyes open. "I-I-I love y-you..."
At that, I could feel myself slipping away...and as my eyelids close, I can see less and less of the love of my life...and all I can hear are her horrifying screams before everything just goes completely black...
AN: PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! :O I know I'm a horrible person, but I planned this for such a long time and it's bad, but, I swear on my life that this story has a wonderful ending (I may not know specifically yet, but it'll be perfect) so, please, give me a review, since I made you guys wait for so long...and give me honest reviews. If this made you scream or bawl, I wanna know...and feel free to yell at me...but not too much! ;D And be patient with me...because I work and it may be a while until I update again! Just remember...everything will be fine!