Chicago (A Jay Halstead Story)

Chapter 8

*Trigger warning. Violence towards pregnant woman, Fetal Homicide*

I walked downstairs Saturday morning after waking up to an empty bed. I found Marco in the kitchen. I kissed him on the cheek and opened the fridge.

"When did you get in? Want me to make some breakfast?"

"Yeah sure. I got in around 1. What did you do yesterday?"

I shrugged as I pulled out eggs and bacon and started up the stove. "Just hung out. Trying to enjoy as much me time as I can before this baby comes."

"Hung out where?" He took a sip of his coffee. "Pete said he came by a couple times to drop something off and every time he came, you weren't here."   

"I went to the park again and just drove around. Stopped by to see Erin and Hank."

About that time my phone, that I had stupidly left on the bar right in Marco's view, buzzed with a text from Kelly.

"Who is Kelly? And why did they ask for your work schedule?"

I tried my best to keep my cool. "Kelly Severide, from the firehouse. And I saw him when I stopped by the precinct yesterday so he must've thought I was working there. I was sitting behind a desk but I was having fun in the spinny chair."

"Why are you lying to me?"

I turned the stove down so the eggs wouldn't burn and turned around to face him.

"Marco, I'm not lying to you. When I saw him he was going to do an interview so we talked for a split second. He asked me to text him when I had a chance so I sent him a text before I went to bed."

"Why did you start hanging around Erin and Hank again?"

"Cause they're my family and I miss them."

"Something has been up with you all week. Ever since you started back communication with them. You're out all the time, you're talking back to me, you're LYING to me. They whispering bullshit in your ear?"

"What are you talking about?!"

"They're probably feeding you lies, trying to get you to leave me. Is that it? They've hated me since the beginning. And I know you stopped seeing them as much when we got engaged. You tell them we only got engaged cause you were pregnant? Probably. That made them hate me even more."

Marco stood up and walked towards me, getting right in my face. I backed up until I hit the counter and couldn't go any further.

"I didn't tell them that, Baby. I promise. They're not trying to convince me to leave you."

"BULLSHIT." He backhanded me right across the face. "That's all they've done since the day we MET."          

Holding my cheek, I fought back tears. "I'm not lying to you!" I screamed at him. "Don't ever put your hands on me again!"

His eyes lit up with a rage I've never seen before.

"You think you can tell me what to do? Maybe we should prove to everyone we aren't just engaged cause you're pregnant. Take that out of the equation."

"Wha-what are you talking about?"

He turned around and walked to the island, breathing heavily but not saying a word. I stepped forward and gently placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Marco? What do you mean take it out of the equation?"

He turned around quick, smacking my phone onto the floor. "I mean..." he punched me hard in the stomach and I screamed. "If there is no baby.." another punch. I fell to the floor holding my stomach. "There's no question." He started kicking me. "They never wanted you to have this baby!" His breathing was getting ragged with how many times he kicked. The pain I was in was unbearable. "Now they won't." Kick in the stomach. "Have" kick in the chest. "To" kick in the face. "Deal with it!" I had rolled over on my back, which was a huge mistake. He pulled his leg up and stomped down, causing this horrific popping sound.

He was huffing, trying to catch his breath. He fell back against the counter. I was gasping for air. Trying to cry. Trying to scream. Nothing would come out. My face was wet. I couldn't tell if it was tears or blood. Everything hurt. All I could think about was my baby. Was there anyway it could've survived this? I heard a noise and looked up, through half swollen eyes. Marco was staring at me in shock and fear. Finally he grabbed his keys off the counter and ran out the door, leaving me for dead on the kitchen floor.

No. I'm not dying today. If he did kill my baby, I will kill him. If by some miracle my baby survived, we are getting out of here and he is getting locked up. I rolled over and saw my phone on the floor. Praying it wasn't broken, I pulled myself across to it. I picked it up and the screen came on. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. I couldn't speak. I pulled up Erin's texts.

911. Ambo. My house. Hurry.

Sent. I laid back on the floor. Everything was spinning. I finally closed my eyes, unable to handle the pain anymore.