John Ross and Pamela – S2 E3 – Birth

Suelen was stuck in traffic and still frantically trying to get John Ross on the phone. Finally, it occurred to her to dial Christopher.

"Hello, Suelen, what can I do for you?"

"I need John Ross. It's an emergency."

"What's the matter? I don't think he's here."

"We had a hearing today for that doctor, and the judge let him go on bail. I'm worried about Pamela because he now knows where she is. Hello?"

Christopher was running to the elevator, "Hold it! Hold the door."

He told Suelen, "I'm on it. I'm on my way to the hospital."

"Thank God!"

Christopher sped out of the garage like a maniac. His adrenaline was thru the roof. All the feelings he had about Pamela and his own babies resurfaced. If somebody was out to harm her again he didn't know what he was capable of. It was an unknown quantity in his mind. But it made him crazy.

He drove into the hospital parking lot like a terrorist (or an expectant father) and took the stairs up to the fourth floor because the elevator didn't come after he pushed the button umpteen times. As he came out of the stairwell and ran to Pamela's room he prayed, "Oh Lord, let her be alright. I promise, I'll get my feelings under control…"

And then he saw her. Her face was contorted with pain and she was yelling, "Get out!" to a tall dude in a suit. He tackled him straight into the wall. They were rolling on the floor and he punched the man in the face.

"What's going on in here," the nurse, who had apparently heard the crash and come to investigate, asked.

"Get security," Christopher yelled, "I want this man arrested. He has no business here and I don't know what he did to her. Help her!"

"There's been a misunderstanding." Macnamara said, "I'm a doctor."

"You're a rapist!" Pamela yelled. "Oh my God, make it stop," she clutched her belly again, gasping.

Christopher dragged Macnamara out of the room and yelled at the personnel at the nurse's station. "Get the police. I want it on record that this man came to harass and intimidate Mrs. Ewing! What the hell is wrong with your security!"

At that point Suelen came running down the hall from the elevator, "What's happened? You! You shameless son of a bitch. Disgusting excuse for a doctor." she yelled, and went into Pamela's room now. "Pamela? Oh my God!"

Pamela was busy having a near asthmatic attack, her panic was so deep. The nurse was talking over her wheezing, "Mrs. Ewing, please, let me put the oxygen mask on. Mrs. Ewing, you'll be able to breathe better. Please, you must calm yourself."

Suelen took Pamela's hand now and squeezed it. "Pamela, listen to me. No one is going to hurt you. He's going right back to jail. I swear."

Pamela had taken a few breaths now with the oxygen mask on and removed it against the nurse's protests to say, "Contractions."

"Well, don't just look at her!" Suelen barked at the nurses. "Get the doctor in here."

"Darling, just focus on the babies, there you go, breathe easy now. What is it?"

"John Ross."

"He…he'll be here soon."

"No! Don't…don't let—" she was pointing towards the nurse's station.

"Alright, alright. I'll take care of it. You don't worry about it."

The doctor walked in at that point and Suelen was gently pushed out of the room. She took the opportunity to text John Ross, "Pamela needs you. Please come to hospital ASAP." There, that was forceful but hopefully not alarming.

She saw now that Christopher was arguing with the hospital security. Apparently, Macnamara had convinced them of his having a right to be in the hospital, that his visit to Pamela was perfectly proper and innocent, given that she was a former patient of his and that he had stopped by to say hi. It was all a misunderstanding.

"Excuse me," Suelen addressed the clearly befuddled security guards. "Gentlemen, this man was just in court today, in a hearing with judge Arlen Vickers, who has ordered him to stand trial for the assault and rape of Mrs. Ewing. There is an order of protection against him coming anywhere near her, and that is what he just did. It is your duty to hand him over to the police, since he is violating that order and the conditions of his bail. Our family would appreciate your seeing to that. We do not want to have to sue your hospital for dereliction of duty and endangerment of a patient."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Oh, and I would greatly appreciate your removing him from the vicinity of the victim."

"Yes, Ma'am. Doctor, come to the security office. The police are already on their way."

When they had moved thru the double doors Christopher asked. "Wow, Suelen, That was impressive. How…how much of that was actually true?"

"I'll call Barbara to see how that order of protection is coming along and have her deal with the police. We've got to get him behind bars again, otherwise John Ross might kill him."

"How is Pamela doing," Christopher kept sending worried looks at her door.

"She may be in labor," Suelen sighed. "Please find John Ross."

As she went off to make her phone calls Christopher looked thru the glass of Pamela's room. She had her eyes closed, she was deathly pale and still. The doctor and nurses had her hooked up to several portable monitors now.

"Hang in there, honey," he whispered.

When the doctor came out a while later Suelen asked, "How is she, doctor?"

"If she continues to dilate at this rate, those babies are coming tonight. There is no turning back, at this point. And her blood pressure is high, which I really don't like."

"But the babies would be early, wouldn't they?"

"Yes, but there's minimal risk. They can make it fine. The trouble here is the delivery itself. For the mother. Excuse me, where is her husband?"

"We've been trying to reach him," Suelen explained.

"Well, I need him. Keeping her pressure down during the delivery is critical. I need him to scrub up with me."

John Ross had been thru everything in that den and found nothing. Either the doctor had his videos on the computer, which he could not access due to password protection, or he had it out on the web somewhere. There were no suspicious DVD's or jump drives laying around. He was thinking of how to get a hacker in here with him. But that would be hard, he'd have to be a criminal to accept a gig like that. The other option was to "borrow" Macnamara's computer and copy the hard drive and then have it searched by an expert.

He felt a vibration in his pocket and took out his cell phone. Before he even answered he saw the flash of his last text message. It said, PAMELA' S IN LABOR. GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE.

In less than ten seconds he had cleared out and was in the car. When he got to the fourth floor and saw both his mother and Christopher outside Pamela's room he slowed his step, steeling himself.

"She's been waiting for you," Suelen said.

What was that look on her face? Guilt?

He went in straightaway and saw the still, marble statue. Focused inward. Just like the last time she was in crisis. He remembered that night.

He kissed her on the forehead and said, "You're my heart, my soul and my life. I believe you can do anything, Pamela Barnes. You're a woman of steel."

"I'm afraid," she said. "He…he was here. He thinks these babies are his." She was done hiding things from him. Now is when she needed his courage.

John Ross knew this was not the moment to have a heart attack, even though he wanted to. Quickly, his mind made the calculations. Suelen's guilty look. Macnamara had found out she was here and had come. "Did he touch you?" he asked.

"No, Christopher got here in time."

But he had talked to her. That had brought this on. All her determination to stay calm was crushed. "So. Do you want him inside your mind?"

She shook her head, her baby blues focused on his.

"Then don't let him," he said.

"Hey, you ready to meet these boys? I'll lay a hundred dollar bill on the odds of them both having blue eyes."

He got a smile out of her. She kept a grip of his finger, as if she didn't have strength for more. He took out his cell and showed her pictures of the nursery, the house, the garden. Then he said, "Tomorrow, or the next day at the latest, is when you get to break out of prison. So, you've got something to look forward to."

When the doctor came in for another exam John Ross got a few minutes to confer with Christopher and Suelen. "Look," he said, "I promise I won't fly off the handle right now. Just tell me straight, everything that's happened."

They left nothing out. "Thanks, Christopher. I should have been here. I'm sorry mom, that I didn't answer your calls."

"Where were you? You can never shut off your phone!"

"Well, if you must know, I was taking advantage of the fact the doctor was behind bars to search for evidence at his house. Which I wouldn't have been doing if I'd known there was a hearing today and he might have been set loose. No, I know. I promised I wouldn't get mad. But we're going to have to talk this out later, Mama."

"Alright."

"Mr. Ewing," the doctor came out, "It's a go, she's ten centimeters dilated and her blood pressure has come down since you got here. I need you to scrub up, so come with me."

"What about Pamela?"

"She'll be there, in the delivery room. C'mon, we want to do this while conditions are good."

That was only at the beginning that conditions were good. From there on out they either fluctuated or went from bad to worse.

The fetal monitor around her belly gave them a scare several times. The blood pressure monitor spiked.

John Ross climbed on the bed behind Pamela and held her up, because she was so limp. Contrary to the custom of most women of expressing their pain, she was almost silent, breathing shallow and keeping her eyes closed half the time.

At the end of forty-five minutes of steady pushing, when she finally pushed out the first baby, John Ross was so relieved for her he cried. He quickly forgot about the first baby, in the effort to get the second one out.

"Can't do it again." Pamela said, and it seemed her life force was literally waning.

"Your body's already doing it for you. The head is engaged." The doctor said.

"Baby, you're doing so good," he kissed her hair, her temples, "You're so strong, you're my hero."

A very long eight minutes later, the second baby slid out, and Pamela said, "P…Put me down. See…them."

John Ross climbed off the table and his knee almost gave out, from having been in that position for so long.

The nurse handed him the first baby and he tried to put it in Pamela's arms, but her arms wouldn't hold it, they had no strength.

"This…Ross…Junior. " Her voice left off as if she'd lost interest.

The nurse brought the other one and held it next to Ross Jr. "This…John…Robert. My…beautiful…boys."

"I like those names, darling. Pamela?" John Ross called.

"Her pressure's up again!" someone yelled. Quickly, the nurses whisked the babies away.

"Pamela, stay with me." He had her by the shoulders and kissed her lips.

"You'll be…great daddy," She whispered now. John Ross felt a cold dread invade his heart.

The doctor said, "O-okay, that's the placenta. Okay, it's intact. That's good. But the uterus has caved in. We're going to have to have your permission Mr. Ewing, to perform a hysterectomy, otherwise she's going to bleed out."

"Alright, alright. Do it!"

In a few minutes the anesthesiologist said, "Her pulse is falling."

"I need time," the surgeon said, his hands flying. There were orders to the crew. Preparation of the electric shock paddles.

John Ross reacted with force now. "Baby, don't do this to me. I'm nothing without you here. We need you, darling." He kissed her hair, her face.

"Keep talking to her," the OB/GYN was by his side now.

"Bring me those babies." He said to the nurses. "Right now. Put them here. Pamela, look at them. Pamela!.God damn it, woman. You look at your boys!"

He reached over and pulled the blanket off the legs of Ross Jr. who started to fuss at the cold, "There you go, cry for your mother." Soon the other baby started to cry also.

"Listen to them Pammie, they're calling you. They need their mother. I swear, if you leave us, I'll…I'll give them away! You hear me?"

The babies were now screaming in such a frenzy nobody could stand it without wanting to console them. But their mother wouldn't open her eyes.

In his anger and fear John Ross was yelling over the sound of the babies and the crew was visibly affected. Some of the nurses had tears running down their faces.

"Pamela! This doesn't work without you. You hear me, bitch! Don't you leave me here. I WILL NOT keep them. Pamela Barnes Ewing! They need YOU!"