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Glaring at him, I looked at the sign behind him and grimaced, but it was Archer who beat me to it. “That’s not as bad as discharge.”
The door opened as he started making gagging noises and out came the nurse with a look on her face I couldn’t read.
“What is it? Is she ok?”
As she crossed the small space in the hallway, she caught sight of Archer and did a double take. Then again, it could be the fact that my family were now standing right next to us that made her do that, but regardless she did it and then turned back to me. “She’s breathing and conscious, but she’s inhaled a lot of smoke. The baby’s showing signs of distress, though…”
“He’s still alive?”
“Yes, but they’re giving her something to help his lungs before they take her to into surgery.”
“Surgery? What does she need done?” None of it was making sense. She was breathing on her own, she was awake, but she needed surgery?
“They need to get the baby out, sir. He’s in distress now.”
As she said this, the door opened, and they pushed the bed with Lily on it through it.
“We’re heading up now. OR2 is free and Dr. Kapinsky is waiting for us. Are you Tate?”
Nodding my head, I started walking quickly behind them with my family and the nurse behind me.
“Ok, we have her signature to go ahead with emergency c-section. Depending on what anesthetic we end up using, you can be in there with her, so long as you get changed quick enough. Once we get set up to start, if you’re not in we can’t let you enter. Do you understand?”
In the history of stupid questions, given the situation, that one had to rank close to the number one spot on the list. “Yes, what do I need to wear? Is she ok?”
We were now in the elevator, and just as the doors shut behind me, the doctor nodded at the bed with his head and said, “Ask her yourself!” Just as a cold hand touched my fingers.
Someone had cleaned a lot of the muck off her face, but there were still smears and patches all over it. Leaning down, I didn’t bother looking for a clean spot, I just rested my forehead against hers and tried to stay calm. “You scared me.”
Nodding slightly, she swallowed loudly and awkwardly. “He’s going to be ok.”
Not moving my head from where it was, I looked out the corner of my eye and saw her rubbing her bump. I don’t know if it was wishful thinking, or if it was real, but I swear I saw a lump appear under the skin like he was giving her a high five.
“I love you, Lily,” I said shuddering as the first tear won the war and escaped. “And when this is done, the three of us are going to be a family. You’re going to marry me…”
“Yeah,” she replied faintly, scaring me for a second with how weak it sounded. “But it’s a girl.”
Pulling my head up, I looked down at her suspiciously. “How do you know?”
“Women always know,” the doctor grumbled, reminding us we weren’t alone. In fact, there were a grand total of five people in that elevator, all the men agreeing with him, including the nurse who was nodding her head.
At that moment, there was a noise and the doors of the elevator started to open. We’d only gone up two floors, but it felt like we’d gone up forty. Turning to face the hallway, I came face to face with my rock, one who was panting and holding up a hand as he used the other one to brace himself against the wall. My brother.
“S’cool, on you go,” he gasped, moving the hand that had been in the air to his side. “Holy shit, that’s a lot of stairs.”
Walking out ahead of them, I grabbed him up in a hug, ignoring the groan that came out of him. “Thank you.”
“No… man… al… ah, fuck that hurts,” he groaned, pushing me away and stumbling over to one of the plastic chairs against the wall. “I’m here,” he pointed his finger at the floor, and then waved us to go past. “Baby… time.”
Twenty-nine minutes later…
“Ok, Ms. James. We’re just making our way to the… oh, that’s a lot of hair,” the doctor said from the other side of the curtain.
“Jesus Christ,” Lily’s croaky voice tried to yell. “I did my best, ok? I haven’t seen my genie in a long time. Did you see the size of my… ow, stop pulling on it.”
“I meant that the baby has a lot of hair, Ms. James,” came the dry response, followed by snorts and chuckles.
“Oh, right,” she muttered, letting her head fall back down onto the cushioning of the bed with a thud. “Wait, it has hair?”
