Somewhere between insult and threat the door was bust open, and Zoe had to blink against the dust of wood chip to recognise the figures of vaguely recognisable security staff. She staggered back, her ankles too painful to move much. She watched as security removed the two men, spitting and swearing as they were hauled from the room.

She felt cold, she hadn't experienced such hatred towards herself purely based on the colour of her skin in a long, long time, and for it to happen now, when she felt so vulnerable made it even worse.

Connie entered, followed by Max, she reached out for him, his fingers touching hers.

"Can you get up?"

Connie asked, standing in the door way, blocking the view of onlookers from the corridor beyond the room.

Zoe shook her head, mute from the shock.

"Can you..."

Connie gestured with a nod to Zoe for Max to lift her. He bent down to her and as he placed his arms about her she felt that he was trembling. He pulled her up against him, holding her within his arms, his lips pressing against the side of her head as he cradled her and took a step towards Connie.

"Be careful, don't drop her."

Connie warned, side stepping out of the small room.

"That's just what I was planning on doing..."

Max murmured, hearing Connie order the litter of people away who were trying to find out what was going on.

She seemed to slip in and out of panic as they moved along the corridor, somehow nothing seemed quite right, she felt as though the air was thin and she couldn't quite breathe enough of it in to make sense of what was going on. She felt her heart flutter inside her chest and she tightened her grip about Max's neck, suddenly realising that he seemed to be speaking to her, only she couldn't hear the words, only faintly see the blurred movement of his lips.

She frowned, her ears made everything sound as though they were under water. She could feel the panic building again.

When she next woke she was lying in a hospital bed, Max at her side, his hand holding hers as he sat in the plastic chair next to the bed, his head lolled back against the wall, his mouth wide open as he slept.

She looked up at the ceiling, following the white tiles with her eyes to the door, then to the bed where she lay. She shifted, looking down at herself, she saw the BP monitor next to her and felt the pull of the wires that were attached to her skin.

Her movement woke Max who startled in his seat so that the legs of the chair jarred gratingly against the floor. He cleared his throat.

"Are you ok?!"

He asked, the panic of being woken so quickly making his head throb loudly.

She squeezed his fingers.

"What happened?"

She asked. He relaxed back slightly in his chair.

"You fainted."

He said simply.

"...the baby?"

She whispered. He nodded slowly.

"the baby's fine."

He said, and as he spoke he reached out his spare hand to tuck the stray hairs that had fallen against her face behind her ear. She closed her eyes at his touch. This love of theirs, with its reassuring domesticity and its easy silences, its permanence, yoked her directly to the machinery of mortality itself. Now there was a loss beyond imagining.

He let his hand fall back to the bed, exhaling slowly.

"She told me...Connie, I mean. About your heart."

"Did you ever get the feeling that maybe weren't supposed to get together?"
He whispered. She raised an eyebrow.
"No, why would you say that?"
She asked, feeling that age old flutter of her heart and the slight wince it seemed to give when she felt uneasy.
He smiled slightly, sensing her worry.
"Oh, you know. The miscarriage, me being mugged in America...it just seems as though destiny may be aginus."
He mused, stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.
"Aginus?"
She repeated.
"It's like, "Against," only just a bit more olderer."
He smiled again as he spoke.
"That which doesn't kills you makes you stronger and all that..."

He breathed and let his head fall back against the wall again, this time he looked up to the ceiling, his lips pursed.
"So when do we start thinking of names?"
He asked.

More soon! I am so sorry for the huge delay in updating. I've been really struggling to get everything done what with National novel writing month , Christmas presents and I've been asked to submit a short story for an anthology (anyone who fancies doing a bit of pre-proof reading let me know!) I will endeavour to get my writing head back on and start updating regularly though! Sorry again xxx