☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
Everything happened minutes after Mark and Amber left. Natalie had decided to have a slow evening until they got back.
"What do you do for fun when you're pregnant and you can't drink?" Natalie wondered. "Baby, I am not an alcoholic, I just appreciate a good bottle of Irish whiskey. I am going to take you to Ireland when you grow up, you're going to love it there." Natalie sat on the couch and touched her belly, that was getting bigger everyday, especially since she was entering her third trimester.
"I'm going to do better with you, I promise. I won't let you go through everything Amber went through. I just know that it's going to be different, because you have a father who already loves you more than he loves anything else. And he loves your mother and he loves your sister, better than her own father ever loved her. We are going to be okay." She promised.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
Accidents happen at any time... And that's exactly the problem. You can't possibly foresee them, because if you did you would have never let them happen. You would have never be on board with someone hurting you... or any Natalie's case, her child.
It's always the most quiet afternoons when things change unexpectedly. You get hurt, and sometimes people die in plane crashes, lose parts of their bodies in car accidents; people die every day. Like fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don't let yourself believe it will happen to you. You never believe that you will be one of those people. Until it does happen to you... and then you have to face the consciousnesses...
Those small decisions you make, they can change your life for good. And Natalie made a decision that evening. She decided to get in her car and drive to the nearest Chinese restaurant. Because she was craving for Chinese food. She could order in, she could even wait until later for Mark and Amber to return and bring her something to eat.
But it had been a while since the last clear evening, there was no rain, no wind, no clouds. It was just peaceful, a perfect evening for a stroll around the town.
That was the moment, though. That was the moment her life, was once again in danger...
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
Back at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital, Derek was in the ambulance bay along with Callie, waiting for an incoming trauma. There was a car accident, that's how far they knew. And the moment the paramedic opened the door and revealed who was inside the ambulance, they wished they had never found out.
"Tachycardic and hypotensive en route. Obvious head and chest injuries." The paramedic said, oblivious of the shock on the doctors' faces. Because they wished that it was all a lie. And that Natalie Turner was not inside that ambulance, injured and with blood all over her.
Natalie was always careful on the street, she was a careful woman, because she knew what accidents could do to you and the people you love. She knew first handed not just because she had treated these types of trauma before, but because her own daughter was part of an accident before. So she was careful. She did all those things that are supposed to be done. Like stopping at a red light. A red light, right? That's the most obvious thing to do.
But not for the driver that crashed her car that evening. Red lights didn't apply to him. And that was how Natalie ended up at the hospital. Not as a doctor, but as a patient, for the third time. And this time she was not alone. There was a grown baby inside of her, trying to hold on to the world that it hadn't even met yet. Trying to hold on to the mother it had already learnt to trust and love.
"Nat, stay with me." Derek said to his best friend and they were carrying her in one of the trauma rooms. Natalie eyes were still open and she could feel all the pain and she could see the worried faces of her friends and colleagues all around her. "You got that Nat? You stay with me."
"Book an O.R. right now." Someone ordered.
"Set up a chest tube." Someone else yelled.
But everyone quieted down as Derek realised that there was one thing he had to do first before saving his best friend's and her baby's lives. He had to call Mark... he had to call Mark and tell him what happened. Tell him to drive right back before he'd lose both of them.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
"It's gonna be a girl, I'm telling you." Amber was telling Mark at the car when his phone went off. Derek had stepped aside for a second to call Mark. He wanted to be the one to tell him.
"Hold that thought." Mark told Amber and answered his phone when he saw that it was Derek. He made sure to put it on speaker. "Hey dude, I am driving, can I call you back in a few hours?" He asked his friend, thinking that he'd need him to complain about Meredith.
Derek wasn't even sure what to say to him. How could he say that Natalie was in danger? That his child was in danger? How could he tell him all that while he was driving? So he didn't... He chose the safest option, he didn't tell him how serious it was, not wanting to cause any accident. Derek chose his words carefully as he looked at Natalie outside of the window. "Mark, you need to get back. Natalie's in labor."
"What?" Mark exclaimed, not understanding what could have happen in few hours. Not understanding that his seven months pregnant wife was in labor.
Derek opened his mouth to reply to him, but Amber's yelling stopped him. "Mark, watch out!" Amber yelled when she saw a car coming up to them in high speed.
"Mark? Mark?" Derek yelled over the phone. But the call had ended. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Derek cursed and tried to call Mark again but it went straight to voicemail.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
Amber could only hear a loud horn for few seconds as Mark managed to avoid the running car. "Is he trying to kill us?" Mark yelled and made a stop on the side. "Are you okay?" He looked over at Amber who had a horrified look on her face, as images of her accident came at her.
She took a deep breath and nodded her head. "Something happened to mom?" She asked as she had heard Derek's words.
"Yeah, I-" Mark looked down at the petals where his phone had fallen onto. He reached for it and realised that it was broken. "Are you serious?" He exclaimed when he couldn't turn it back on again. "Can you call your mother?" He asked trying to stay calm.
"Yes, of course." Amber said and started searching for her phone. "I-I think I forgot it at home." She realised. "Mom told me to get it, like always, because I always forget it and now she needs us and I don't have it." Amber panicked and Mark reached for her arm, trying to give her some courage. But Amber started trembling at the idea of something happening to her mother. "I-I" she tried to speak but not words were coming out. She started taking sharp breaths. She knew what was happening. It wasn't the first time she had a panic attack. It had happened before, but she had never said anything. The panic attacks had started the first time her mother got into an accident. It had become better in time, but whenever Amber was stressed or upset, she knew that it was going to happen. She always dealt with it all alone, but this time Mark was with her. "I c-can't... I can't breathe..."
"Hey, hey." He whispered softly and reached for her cheeks, cupping her face between his palms. "I am right here. You are safe. I know that you're scared, but you're safe right here, okay?" He asked her and Amber kept her eyes on him as tears started falling down her eyes and she started sobbing. "Breathe with me. One...two..." Mark started counting slowly and Amber followed him and started taking small breaths. In and Out. "You're doing great." Mark encouraged her.
"I am sorry." Amber managed to say when she had calmed down enough. "I'm so sorry." She repeated.
"You have nothing to be sorry for." Mark reassured her and Amber fell into his embrace and Mark held her tightly, giving her all the fatherly love she needed in the moment and Mark had plenty to give her. He had plenty for her and for his baby.
"Thank you." Amber breathed out and she was thankful, that she had him as her step-father. She was more than thankful.
"Let's get back to your mother now, yeah?" Mark asked her and Amber nodded her head. "I am sorry you're going to miss that dude you like." He told her trying to light up the mood, even if he was more worried than ever before about the fate of both of them.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
"This monitor's not picking up." Lucy had joined the doctors in the trauma room and she was trying to find a fetal heartbeat.
"Doppler's here." Webber informed her and they switched the machines so the ob doctor could get a better result.
"How are we doing with the heartbeat, Lucy?" Derek asked the doctor, feeling responsible for Natalie more than anyone else in the room.
"Systolic's down to 72."
"Get some heparin to flush the line."
The doctors in the room were working like crazy. Natalie had helped all of them somehow, in a case or a personal issue. She was the kind of person they wanted an advice from, even if they knew it'd come along with a sarcastic remark.
"If I'm gonna find a heartbeat, I need everybody to shut up for a second." Lucy said, needing the doctors to be quiet for a second.
"Everyone, quiet. Right now." Liam yelled as he tried to keep his breathing in control at the sight of his childhood friend in that condition.
"There it is." Lucy said a second later. "Fetal heartbeat."
But then the Natalie's monitor started beeping like crazy. "V-fib! She's crashing."
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
When Mark and Amber arrived at the hospital, they didn't need to do much searching. They didn't need to do anything. Because in the same moment they were walking towards the elevator, they saw Natalie in a gurney with many doctors around her, carrying her towards the elevator.
Time slowed down at they saw he in the condition. Their bodies froze. Their breaths got caught in their throats. Natalie had been hurt before, but not like that.
"What the hell happened?" Mark asked.
"Car versus car." Owen replied to him. The doctors were all in a hurry to get Natalie in surgery.
"And her injuries? What ... the baby?"
"Mark, we need to get her to surgery. We'll send someone to inform you." Derek said calmly to his friend.
"No, screw you. I am coming-"
"Sloan, you need to sit this one out." Webber tried to reason with him.
"I'm not sitting this one out. That's my wife!" Mark yelled, his veins around his neck were showing wish how much angry he was feeling. "That's my kid."
"Which is why you can't. I'm sorry. You can't be a doctor on this one." Webber told him.
"Screw you. Screw all of you."
"Look at me, Mark." Derek spoke to him again. "There is a fetal heartbeat. There is. Now, we need you to step back and let the rest of us do what you can't rationally do... save your family's lives. Okay?"
And Mark stayed back and the elevator's doors were closed. Natalie disappeared from him eyesight. Mark looked at his side, knowing that he had to stay strong for Amber, because Natalie would want that. But Amber was not there anymore. Amber had runaway, not wanting to see her mother in that condition again.
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆
ɪ ᴀᴍ ʜᴏɴᴇꜱᴛʟʏ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ꜱᴏʀʀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪᴛ ᴛᴏᴏᴋ ᴍᴇ ꜱᴏ ʟᴏɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ʜᴏᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡʜᴏʟᴇ ᴘʟᴏᴛ ꜰɪɢᴜʀᴇᴅ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ꜰɪɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ ɪᴛ ᴅᴏᴡɴ? ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ.
ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴡᴀꜱ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ʟᴏɴɢᴇʀ, ʙᴜᴛ ɪ ᴅᴇᴄɪᴅᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴏ ᴛᴡᴏ ꜱᴍᴀʟʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀꜱ ꜱᴏ ɪ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ᴇᴀʀʟɪᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏᴛ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ᴅᴀʏꜱ.
ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇɪɴɢ ᴀʙʟᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴘᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ᴏɴ ᴘᴀᴘᴇʀ, ɪ ᴀʟꜱᴏ ᴜꜱᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ɪ ʜᴀᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴍʏ ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ'ꜱ ꜰɪᴄ, ᴛᴡᴏ ɢʜᴏꜱᴛꜱ, ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ɪ ʜᴀᴅ ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ɪɴꜱᴘɪʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ.
ᴏᴋᴀʏ, ꜱᴏ ɪ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ᴘʟᴀʏᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴀʟʟ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʜᴀᴛᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ, ʙᴜᴛ ɪ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴇᴄʀᴇᴛʟʏ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ɪᴛ. ʟᴏʟ
ꜱᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʟʟ ꜱᴏᴏɴ <3