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The nurse was just fastening the doppler, which picked up the baby’s heartbeat, around my stomach when Hunter came barreling in. He paused in the doorway of the already very full room and looked right to me. I gave him a wobbly smile, which he returned, then he moved over to stand against the wall with Kai.
“When was the last time you felt movement?” Doctor Andrews asked as the nurse started up the doppler to pick up the baby’s heartbeat.
“Y-yesterday morning. I realized last night they hadn’t moved, but I didn’t think much about it. The movements aren’t exactly regular yet,” I tried to explain. I was already beating myself up for not acting the night before when it had occurred to me the baby hadn’t moved. Why did I wait?
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Nico asked as he took my hand in his and rubbed soothing circles on the back with his thumb.
“I should have.” I replied guiltily. “I just wasn’t really that worried. I haven’t even been feeling that much movement yet.”
“It’s going to be okay, Mads,” Cam said as he leaned over me and kissed my forehead.
I heard the sound of the doppler kicking into action, then the steady whoosh of a heartbeat, and a sob slipped from me.
“Is that the baby?” Kai asked as he stepped forward.
“It is,” Doctor Andrews replied, but the look on her face wasn’t comforting as she looked at the numbers on the screen.
“Is it okay?” Cam asked.
“The heartbeat is slow,” she explained as she turned her attention to me. “I think your baby may be in distress, Maddie. His or her heartbeat is much slower than I would like. We need to get you delivered.”
“What? No! I’m only thirty three weeks. It’s too early!” I cried as I clung even tighter to Nico’s hand.
“Thirty three weeks gives the baby good chances of survival. The lungs should be developed and with a little time in the NICU, the odds are good. I know it’s scary, but a c-section right now is your baby’s best chance.”
“Oh God!” I sobbed.
“Is this dangerous for Maddie?” Hunter asked warily as Nico pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me.
“A c-section is a pretty standard procedure. There are risks but I have done hundreds of them without incident,” the doctor assured Hunter.
I clung to Nico for a few moments more, drawing as much strength from him as I could, then I sat back and looked to the Doctor.
“Okay,” I nodded. “Please just save my baby.” I swiped at the tears on my face and took a deep breath.
“I’ll schedule an operating room. We need to do a quick sonogram before we get you in there.”
“Can we be with her?” Kai asked.
“Just one of you I’m afraid. There’s a waiting room for the others,” the doctor explained. “I’ll send a nurse in to get you prepped and I’ll be back to do the sonogram.”
I nodded that I understood, even though the words seemed to be echoing round in my head, and the Doctor left us all alone.
Thoughts were running through my mind at a hundred miles per hour, but only one really mattered.
“You guys will keep them safe, right? If anything happens to me, you’ll take care of Willow and of this baby? He can’t get his hands on them…Edward. You can’t let him have them,” I panicked, tears running down my cheeks.
“Hey, enough of that. Nothing is going to happen to you,” Nico growled.
“It could. Please…I n-need you to promise you’ll do whatever it takes to protect them. I need them to be safe. Why didn’t I make out a will?”
“Maddie, stop panicking. Everything is going to be okay,” Cam told me as he placed his hand on my thigh and squeezed a little.
“But if it’s not…” I began.
“We will never let him near your kids, Maddie. Never. I’ll take them and go into hiding for the rest of my life if I have to,” Nico told me.
“We all will. We’ll protect them always, baby, but you will be here to watch us all do that. Do you hear me?” Hunter insisted.
