Roommates

54. Risk And Believe

Previously...
"Well it's not half as bad as the things you say to her. Rachel can stick up for herself once after you coming for her so many more times. So just piss off and leave her and my baby alone."
Me and Jenna both bite back our tongues, shocked at Finn who is clutching my hand angrily but protectively.
"Let's go." We walk away, hand in hand leaving Jenna and the Bitch Brigade behind.

***

A few hours later
Finn's POV
Me and Rach cuddle up on the couch watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? sharing a bowl of caramel popcorn.
We're getting annoyed because the guy on the show keeps risking his money for the next round even though he's risked enough already. Jeez, if I had that money I wouldn't have to work a day in my life.
"What the hell is he doing?!" Rachel sits up and points at the TV, frustrated.
"Being an idiot." I shrug, and she laughs, shaking her head and laying back against me.
"I swear, some people need to realise what they've got before they risk it all."
"Sorry, Wise One." I laugh at her and she nudges my rib with her elbow and I choke on a popcorn bit.

There's some silence for a few minutes as we watch, and then Rachel's fingers intertwine with mine and she cuddles up closer to me.
"Thank you for sticking up for me," she starts, "with Jenna."
"You know I'll always have your back."
"I know but... I just want to be able to handle all these things by myself. What with Jenna bothering me before and all the crap with Natasha, I feel like I'm bugging you too much."
"You're not, Rach." I squeeze her against me, kissing her long, brunette hair, and she looks up at me to kiss me gently.

Rachel's POV
I feel like an idiot, trying to come at Jenna when I know she'll always be smarter than me. I don't want to just stand there and take what I don't deserve, but how do I defend myself when I just make it worse?
Finn holds me close and I hide my face in his shirt, which smells like home and him, and I block out the feelings.

Finn must have noticed I'm not feeling my best, because he gets up and goes into the kitchen, and begins to prepare a hot chocolate. He knows I love hot chocolate; it's so calming.
"Thank you." I call to him, and he winks at me across the room.

*

I put down the empty mug on the coffee table, my tongue somewhat burning from the hot taste of luxury chocolate.
"Do you want to watch a movie or something?" Finn asks me, and I look at him like I'm looking for the first time. "What?"
"Just..." I sigh and slouch down on the sunk-in couch. "I don't know."

I don't feel like myself.

"Don't be upset," Finn tells me. "She got what was coming to her."
"From you." I sigh. "I can't do anything. I just take it and make it worse trying to not."
"Come here," Finn holds out his hand to me and pulls me into his arms once more, "you're feeling like this because of your pregnancy hormones. I don't know a lot about them, but I think there's something about them making you more emotional. So please don't worry, if she makes any more snarky comments you've just gotta slap her and walk away."

I laugh. "I don't think I could slap her. I'd get bitch all over my hand, and I don't want that on me."
Finn snorts with laughter. "That was a really bad insult, but it's cute." I nudge him in the ribs again to show him I can be somewhat tough, but he just keeps laughing.

More time goes by as the TV plays some rubbish show that we're not really watching, just staring blankly at the screen, pretending we are for something to do.
"I'm gonna get ready for bed," I tell Finn. "I feel crap, honestly."
He rubs circles on my back as I start getting up. "I'll join you soon, yeah?"
I nod and kiss him slowly, then get up and walk to the bathroom.

This isn't like me. I'm never tired this early.

I wash my face, brush my teeth and then use the toilet. I sit and think, wishing I could go back and bite my tongue.

"Ouch." I whisper to myself as a sharp pain attacks my stomach. I breathe deeply, since when I get indigestion or a "stitch" that usually makes it go away, but this won't.

It gets worse.

I clutch my stomach and a feeling inside me tells me to push, like I'm constipated or something. But I'm not.
After a minute, the pain goes, and I get off the toilet. Then I notice blood.

There's blood in the toilet.

The pain comes back. Worse this time.

"Finn." I call out to him, and I hear the TV go quieter like he heard me but he's not sure. I call out again, and the TV turns off.
"What's wrong?" He calls to me, and I open my mouth to reply, but instead I moan because the pain hits me again.
There's quick footsteps and soon Finn is at my side. "Shit, shit, shit." He looks in the toilet, and then at me, and I begin to cry. I'm a perfectly healthy 18-year-old girl. There's no way.

"Okay, I'm gonna call an ambulance. Sit down again." Finn runs to his phone that he left on the couch, and I sit back down on the toilet, wishing this would go away too.

Finn's POV
This isn't happening. This isn't happening.

"Hello?" A woman on the other end of emergency services picks up.
"Hi, uh, my girlfriend's pregnant and she's in pain and bleeding."
"What's your address?"
I tell her the college name and the dorm number, and she says she wants to speak with Rachel. I run back to her.

"Here, they need to speak to you." I hand her my phone and she takes it reluctantly.
"Hello?"
There's the muffling of the woman's voice on the other end and Rachel answers with mostly "yes" each time a question is asked.
"I'm over twelve weeks." "Yeah." "I tried that." "Okay." "I'm eighteen."

There's some silence, and then Rachel's eyes prick with tears.
"I was in a car accident a couple months ago."
The doctors told us everything was fine.
My mind is racing like crazy, and even I have to sit down.

"Thank you. Okay." Rachel hangs up and passes the phone back to me. "Fifteen minutes, they said."

Fifteen minutes is too long.

"We can walk there. I did when you were in there."
"I can't, Finn. I can't even stand up."
"You'll be okay."
"It doesn't feel okay."

We sit in silence, Rachel rocking herself back and forth and me being optimistic while she's being more pessimistic, until there's a knock on the door and I run to answer it.
The doctors and nurses rush in with their machines and equipment, and the woman from the phone (I recognise her voice) sits beside Rachel as they run some tests.

Then, the door opens again and Santana runs in.
"Everyone in the lobby saw the ambulance people. I saw them go up here, so I followed them. What the hell is going on?"
"Rachel." Is all I can manage to get out of me before I collapse into Santana's arms, crying.
"Oh my god." Santana responds, and then she breathes deeply. "It's okay. She'll be okay."

But now I don't believe she will, because Rachel doesn't believe she will, and Rachel is all I have.