The Boot (Book 1)

Chapter Eight

The gurney reaches us and I am by her side in an instant. I find her hand and intertwine my fingers with hers. I press a kiss to her knuckles. "I'm here, baby. I'm here."

I walk alongside the gurney as they load her into the ambulance, but I hesitate. Would she want me there? Am I being... too clingy?

"You should go with her." a voice says behind me. I turn around and see that it's the female paramedic from earlier.

"I want to, believe me. There's nothing I want more than to stay by her side." I sigh. "But what if I'm just in the way?"

"You won't be. Family rides along in the ambulance all the time. I don't know you or her, but speaking from experience, the victim almost always wants their partner there." she says. "Besides, your babies need their dad."

A shiver runs down my spine as I process her words. I know I'm going to be a dad, but it doesn't stop surprising me. Dad. In about five months, I'm going to be a dad. One day, I'll have two little angels calling me dad. I can't wait.

I nod. "I'm going with her."

"Good call."

I climb into the ambulance and my hand once again finds hers. I sit to the side, staying as far out of their way as I could but still not letting go of her hand for even a second. I give it a tight squeeze. "I love you, baby."

I reach my hand onto her belly. The second my hand makes contact with her bump, a surprising event occurs. I feel two kicks, at the same time, but clearly from two different people. The babies are alive. They're trying to tell me that, like their mom, they are fighters.

"She's flatlining! Get an AED! Charge to 120!" a paramedic says. He grabs the paddles. "Clear!"

"What? No!" I feel tears start to go down my cheeks. "I can't lose her!"

"Sir, you need to let go so we can shock her heart back into rhythm."

"But what about our babies? She's pregnant."

"I know this is scary, but it's perfectly safe to use an AED on a pregnant woman. I promise."

I sigh before letting go of Lucy and moving back. "Clear!" the paramedic says again before shocking her chest with the paddle. I watch, tears stinging in my eyes as her chest jolts upwards.

"Nothing. Charge to 150. Clear!"

Finally, the beeping of her heart monitor sounds again. "Oh, thank God." I sigh out a breath of relief. "May I touch her now?"

"Go ahead." the paramedic answers.

I grab her hand again and hold on tightly. A few minutes later, the paramedics became frantic again. "She's not breathing on her own. She isn't protecting her airway."

"Bag her!"

I am once again shoved aside, but I don't let go of her hand for a second. They use their tools and intubate her, attaching a bag to the tube. One of the paramedics squeezes the bag at regular intervals while the rest of them keep up with Lucy's care the remainder of the ride to the hospital. Once we arrive, which feels like an eternity later, they unload the gurney and start to rush her into the emergency entrance. I follow along, holding her hand the whole time, willing her to be okay. To survive.

They get her into a room. Everything is happening so fast, I don't have time to process what's happening. Before I can even make sense of what's what, I hear the words that horrified me the most. Emergency surgery.

She is whisked away as I collapse back into a chair, running my fingers through my hair over and over again.

A knock sounds and I look up to see a doctor waiting in the doorway. "Are you the boyfriend?"

"Yes." I stand up. "Yes, that's me."

We shake hands as the doctor introduces himself. "I'm Doctor Serrano."

"How is my girl? And our babies?"

"Unfortunately, it's too early to say. There's some internal bleeding, but we need to figure out where. There are tons of other things we'll need to take care of, so a few more surgeries is likely. But first, we need to locate the bleeding and stop it."

"Please, Doctor. Save my girl. Save our babies. Please."

"We will do our best. In the meantime, Nurse Lily here will guide you to what will be your girlfriends room in our intensive care unit."

Doctor Serrano leaves and the nurse leads me up a few levels and into the room. She leaves, and I, finally alone, allow myself to cry.

A/N: Shorter chapter but I've got big plans for the next chapters! Please remember to comment and vote to give me more motivation to write!

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