part of me | e.d

thirty-two

i hand luna to ethan. he lays her head on his shoulder, one hand under her bottom, the other holding her back. he sways her softly, trying to calm her crying.

"where did kara go?" i ask ethan as we walk out of the bathroom and follow the paramedic.

"i think she left." he shrugs. 

we take the elevator down and walk outside the building. we see some police officers and an ambulance, and the paramedic walks us over.

i get in the ambulance and ethan hands me luna. he's about to get in with me but one of the police officers stop him to ask him questions.

i cradle luna, who stopped crying thanks to ethan, and she just stares at me. she still looks a little discolored.

i still can't wrap my head around how in the hell a mother could do this to her own baby. i'm not even luna's mom and i can't imagine it.

at first, i thought it may have been an accident. but the way kara kept blocking us and screaming at us not to go into the bathroom made it obvious she did it on purpose.

crazy bitch.

i look down and see luna still staring at me. i give her a small smile, but she seems like she's really shy with anyone that isn't ethan.

the paramedic for the ambulance comes in then.

"how are you guys doing?" she asks me. 

"we're doing okay." 

"that's good. i'm going to take luna and put her in the stretcher, okay?" 

i nod, and lift my arms to give her luna. she lays her down on an infant stretcher, strapping her in. then she hooks up a bunch of monitors to her so they can watch her vitals.

ethan walks in then. he sits next to me and puts on his seatbelt. then he smiles at luna, giving her a small wave.

the ambulance starts up and we start heading for the hospital.

"how'd it go with the police officer?" i ask.

"okay. they want to talk to kara, but she just disappeared. her car's not even here anymore." 

i scoff. of course she'd run away.

ethan looks at me, and i get lost in his hazel eyes for a moment. but i pull myself out of it and look away.

"so are you okay?" he asks me. 

i widen my eyes at him. "ethan, i'm fine. are you okay?" 

i can't even imagine how hard this must be on him. 

"i guess. i mean, luna's okay and that's all that matters." he grins, looking at luna while she keeps babbling "dada."

i reach in my pocket to grab my phone and text my dad, but i remember kara broke it. i guess i'll just update him later.

"thank you," ethan says suddenly.

"huh?"

"thank you for being there."

"you don't have to thank me." i honestly still feel extremely guilty that i left him alone to deal with all this. he spent an entire year trying to keep the mother of his baby sane. it must've been hell.

i just can't believe tomorrow i'm leaving all over again.

-

"yep, she's doing great. we ran a few tests and it doesn't look like she sustained any other internal injuries. she's a healthy baby." the doctor smiles.