The only good thing about the entire situation was that Jack was always a quick thinker. And right now, he needed every last ounce of his intelligence. And not to mention his strength. Carrying a heavily pregnant and unconscious woman was a bit much even for him, who was accustomed to all kind of physical endeavours. But he had to. If there was ever a moment where it was crucial for him to hold on and succeed, it was now. He didn't know exactly what was wrong with Sonja, but he knew he had to bring her to a hospital asap. Or else. Both for her and his unborn daughter.
Gently as possible, he laid her in the back of his truck and sped away. A small suburban hospital was actually only a ten-minute drive away. While driving, he came up with a war plan and just before pulling up at the parking lot, he put his Joker make up on.
Showtime, he thought grimly, I have to pull off my best performance ever, or our future is doomed. If there is any future for us.
….
Imagine working in a small hospital with just one emergency unit, a few specialists and mostly doctors who are bored to death by diagnosing the common flu. Everybody know everybody by name. Things are neat and quiet.
And then, one day, the glass front door is basically kicked down by a heavy boot (and what a waste, since the doors automatically slide away sideways anyway?!), and the goddamned Joker, make up, guns and grenades, comes bursting in, laughing hysterically while holding an unconscious pregnant woman.
"Listen up, fuckers!", his voice shakes the walls and everyone freezes and stares at him, "This knocked-up chick here fainted in front of my car! And since I filled out my weekly quota of killing, I decided not to run my car over her, cause I'm nice like that!"
He stares at the group of nurses and doctors that had the misfortune of hanging around the entrance area.
"But I don't like my efforts to go to waste, no I don't", he continues now more quietly, but somehow sounding even scarier than before, "So if it turns out that I brought this chick here for nothing, you're all dead. Every. Single. One. Of. You."
His arms are already trembling from all the weight he's carrying, and the nurse closest to him finds enough courage to rush to his side to support the woman. Somehow, this commotion makes all the other staff react, and their training kicks in. They have lives to save.
Just as they are about to load Sonja gurney, Joker's voice booms again.
"And for those who think about calling anyone, and I mean any-fucking-one, please be aware that I have men scattered around the building with lots of nice surprises for you guys! Wanna come home tonight to your wife and kids? Save the woman, shut the fuck up and we all go home.", and then someone coughed behind his back. Joker turned to see one of his most trusted henchmen arrive. He had the wits to call him from the car and order him to come here at once. Now he pointed at him, "This gentleman here will stay with you and help you with keeping shtum. Enjoy."
"Let's go, she's not looking so good", Joker turned towards the nurses standing next to the gurney and managed to giggle. It wasn't an honest giggle, but how would they know? He needed them to believe he was crazy, some lunatic who is feeling macabre joy over a pregnant woman dying.
The nurses started pushing the gurney, and he noticed with worry that they were going straight to the operating room.
"Aww, we gonna snip-snip-snip the lady?", he forced a laugh and made a gesture with his hands, as if holding huge scissors.
"Her pulse is erratic, this is probably eclampsia, we need to do a c-section", one of the braver nurses responded.
"Ah great.", he nodded and walked right after them into the operating room.
"You can't be in here, sir, it's not sterile..", the same nurse tried.
"What, and miss the opportunity of a front row in a legal display of gore? Don't think so", he said, casually patting his huge gun.
"We don't have time for any of that", an energetic female voice that belonged to a young doctor was heard, "Let's start."
Jack had not real idea what they were doing, but Sonja was stripped down naked, poked with needles, connected to oxygen, and in less than 10 minutes the incision was done. The staff was really concentrated and almost forget that they were closely observed by a mass murdering clown psychopath.
"Her pulse is getting better"
"The baby looks fine – we'll take it out in a minute"
"Check her vitals again, please"
"She's good. She got here in time."
"It's time for the baby. Everybody ready?"
The were preoccupied enough not to notice the amount of relief that washed over Joker's face. Jack put all the effort into keeping a straight face, not to show how worried he is and to give himself and his family away. He was trying to make it look like he was curious about all the blood, but after a few minutes he forgot himself. The best he could do was just stand there, and be painfully aware of how much this woman means to him, and the baby too, and Jackson, and even Ghandi, the ugly dog.
And then he saw a little bum in the air. And then he heard the most beautiful sound that he ever heard in his life, and that was his daughter's first cry.
"There you go, beautiful little baby girl, who has strong lungs? You do!", the nurse holding the baby cooed and smiled at the baby. Jack decided to find out where she lives and leave a few k's in her mailbox.
He couldn't control himself anymore. His legs moved before he really decided to move them. He came up to the nurse and gently but decidedly took the baby. The entire room fell deadly silent. The staff was sure they were going to witness the most shocking crime in history of mankind. Crazy Joker, the mass murderer, holding a new-born baby?!
But Jack had to. He didn't care anymore if anyone thought it was suspicious or whatever, he had to hold his baby. And the crying bundle actually stopped hollering and looked him straight up in the eyes.
He was lost for words. All he had was a huge grin for the little brat. She sure was the most beautiful little baby on this planet, in his humble opinion, and he knew he was a goner. He would do anything for her. Daddy's little princess. His heart was full of love and dedication.
It took him a minute to come to his senses, and then he carefully gave his precious baby back to the nurse.
"For a girl, she sure has a huge pair of balls. Looking at me like that, huh", he joked lamely, not really listening to himself, and the nurse just stared at him, "And the mom, she's going to be good or what?", he asked, trying to sound as uncaring as possible.
"She should recover just fine. Actually, you probably saved her life", the young doctor from before said.
"Yeah, don't tell anyone. I have a reputation to maintain, you know", he giggled crazily.
And then he turned away and waltzed out of the hospital. His henchman was nowhere to be found. He knew what that meant.
"Face down on the floor! Don't try anything funny!", he heard from at least three directions. There were police cars, officers, special unit, even a helicopter.
Well, fuck.
A/N: OK, I actually never share private information online, but I think this is important. My own father is a gynaecologist, and I myself am highly educated. When I was pregnant with my twins, I read a lot about pregnancy, to be sure everything was developing just fine. I had regular medical checks (including ultrasounds-I heard American woman only have one ultrasound during pregnancy? Over here we have them all the time?). And still, the first time I heard about pre-eclampsia is when I had it! It means that your blood pressure is suddenly so high that it could lead to your and your baby's death. And what's extra creepy is that I had no symptoms: I didn't feel dizzy, I didn't have any problems with my sight etc, I regularly checked my blood pressure and noticed it was all over the place (one minute low, and then high again- I thought the machine was maybe too sensitive), and the day I had the emergency c-section I felt good enough to clean the house and have guests come over! I even felt stupid for calling my doctor and bothering him about my blood pressure that was a bit high for a few moments. Luckily he told me to come see him asap, and I did. The ctg showed that my baby girls heartbeat was already dangerously erratic. I had to have an emergency c-section within the same hour. Luckily, I was in best hands (and am ever grateful to dr. Podobnik from Zagreb for saving my childrens and my own life) and my son, my daughter and myself are alive and healthy! So please, when you're pregnant in your last trimester, check your blood pressure daily, and call your doctor if the pressure is too high (140/90 or over), even if you feel perfectly fine otherwise (like I did, and in truth I was close to death without even knowing!). This has nothing to do with your weight or anything, it simply happens to some women, so please be aware and take care!
I wanted to incorporate this experience somehow in the story, so poor Sonja had to go through this shit (otherwise I really never put anything from my life in my stories). At least I was awake when my babies came and heard their first cries, while Sonja didn't even get that.
Btw thank you for all the new favs&follows and reviews, I smile like an idiot anytime I get a notification :) and sorry that the chapter is so short, but at least it didn't take me zillion years to update like it took me with the last few chapters :/