Page 62 of Stolen Salvation

“Lotus is with her, and she’s being seen by a doctor. I told her we’d keep her informed.”

Hanging his head in his hand between his knees, he wished like hell he’d made Charlie stay home.

“Don’t do that, Bishop, don’t second guess yourself. Charlie wouldn’t have stayed home if you’d asked.”

He glanced up to see his teammates all surround him in chairs around the small room. “Why did she take her damn helmet off?”

Reaper lifted his head and Bishop saw haunted eyes meet his. “The first girl she found was frozen with fear, she wouldn’t move and was heavily pregnant. Charlie took her helmet off to show her she was one of the good guys.”

“Typical Charlie.” His words held resignation and a touch of anger. “She should never have put herself between me and a bullet.”

“She loves you, Bish.”

“I know, and God, I love her so much I can’t breathe without her.”

A hand landed on his shoulder, and he saw Hurricane beside him. “She’s a fighter, Bish. She’s strong and you give her a reason to fight this.”

Bishop didn’t know what to say to that. She was a fighter but a bullet in the head was about as bad as it got. They’d need a miracle to bring her out of this and even then, would she even know him or have any kind of physical or mental capacity? The damage could be catastrophic, and Charlie wouldn’t want that.

The door opened and Savannah walked in wearing scrubs.

“Savannah?”

He jumped to his feet and met her halfway as she took his hands in hers and looked him in the eye with a steady, determined stare. “Noah, we’re taking Charlie into surgery now. I’m going to operate to remove the bullet from the front of her right temporal lobe. The bullet passed through her hand first so I’m hoping that the high velocity and lack of wobble on the bullet has helped us, but I won’t lie. This is bad, and it’s going to be a long, complex surgery, but I’ll do everything in my power to bring her back to you. However, I can’t make any promises about the baby. Charlie had a lot of blood loss, but so far the pregnancy, though very early, is intact.”

“Baby?” Bishop felt like he’d been sucker punched in the gut, the room seemed to tunnel around him, the air got stuck in his lungs as he tried to force it out and everything felt fuzzy.

Savannah squeezed his hands. “Noah, focus on me.” He did and the air exploded from his lungs as he followed her deep breaths in and out. “I take it you were unaware.”

“I was. I mean I didn’t know.”

“Well, as I said it’s very early. I’ll send a nurse out with updates when I can.”

“Thank you.”

Savannah nodded and turned on her heel to go save the most important people in his world.

Sinking to the soft chair he fell back, his brain and body struggling to process it all. Charlie was pregnant and she’d thrown herself in front of a bullet. “What the fuck was she thinking?”

Anger was the only emotion he felt as he stood abruptly and shoved his way past his friends.

“Where are you going?”

He waved Titan off. “I need air.”

He was suffocating, that’s how he felt. Like he couldn’t breathe, like he was dying. Reaching the exit he stumbled through and dropped his hands to his knees and sucked in air. Pregnant, she was having his baby and now she might die, and he’d lose them both. This was a nightmare and he couldn’t seem to wake up.

“Bishop?”

He growled not wanting to deal with anyone right now. “Go away, Snow.”

“She loves you and she loves this baby.”

Standing, he felt the first stab of suspicion as his glare landed on Snow. “You knew?”

Her eyes met his before dropping to the floor. “She was sick earlier today, so we got her to take a test. She was going to tell you as soon as you got home, but then we found the location and it all happened so fast.”

He advanced on Snow. “She was pregnant, and you let her go into the building and put herself in danger! How could you?”