November 8th 2024
Kansas City, Missouri
Seeing your girlfriend bathe in the glory of her blood pooling out from beneath her was something Travis Kelce had never wished to set his eyes upon in his entire life. And yet here he was. Watching as Taylor's lifeless body lulled in and out of consciousness in front of him on the white tilled bathroom floor.
"NO NO NO, Taylor." He shouted, rushing ver to where she had been laying, almost slipping over as his sock covered feet met the shiny yet deathly slippery tiled flooring. He pulled her up against his body, pulling off his jumper to mop up the blood that was continuing to pour out. He knew that no matter how bad things were, he valued his life greatly and knew that Taylor would most certainly kill him if she knew he had ruined their expensive white cotton towels from Singapore that she had personally monogramed for the pair of them by using them to mop up her own blood bath. Travis couldn't comprehend how she was still loosing blood. It already looked like she had bled to death.
"Tay, tay, tay, wake up. Please wake up, wake up, wake up. Come back." He was slapping against her cheek, a pathetic attempt to get her to wake up. But it didn't work. None of it work. Travis didn't know what exactly it was that he was meant to do. No part of his life and upbringing had prepared him for this. All he knew was that he wasn't going to let Taylor bleed to death, and lose their baby on their bathroom floor. She couldn't lose another one. It had to be ok. It had to.
Ringing an ambulance would be futile, it would be useless. No, it would be much quicker for him to drive her straight to the hospital. He called the hospital ahead of time as he frantically ran around the house top to bottom, flinging on his shoes, which did not for some reason match but were at least on the right feet. He grabbed a towel that he used to use for when he had his dogs previously and laid it out along the back seat of the car, choosing to take one of Taylor's range rovers with the tinted windows. He really didn't want this to get out to the press.
Slipping on a pair of his old sweatpants onto her, Travis pulled Taylor up and into his arms, bridal style, carrying her in the most graceful way possible as he took the stairs three at a time, nearly falling down as Meredith decided now would be a great time to execute one of her murder attempts. In these times she would hide in a corner off the stairs, where it curved around into the downstairs area. There would still be quite a few steps to go down before you reached the bottom however as they had learnt the hard way, there was a blind spot. And here Meredith would hide and then jump out when you least expect it.
"Seriously mer, now is not the time." He mused, watching as the cat strutted away, saddened at her unsucsessfull attempt at household domination. With the humans gone, Meredith could rule. She was forgetting the one factor that was that she relied on these humans for her reliable daily food deliveries but that was by the by.
He gently slide her onto the back seat, knowing that it would be nicer than cramming her into the front passenger seat where it would be cramped and tight, plus you could still see out of the front. The drive to the ER in hindsight only took 25 minutes with Travis' speeding and several violated traffic laws. At this point in time, he did not even care if he was arrested. None of that would even matter. All that mattered then and now was Taylor, and his baby.
How long had she been laying there, waiting for him to come home ?
It could have been hours....
But Travis couldn't think like that. He swore that every intersection and set of traffic lights he came to immediately turned red, as if they knew he had important places that he needed to be, and fast. The drive to the hospital was silent, Taylor still lulling in and out of her lucid state which was not surprising considering the stress and pain she was under as well as the sheer amount of blood she had lost and was most probably still loosing. Heartbreak rolled down his cheeks as he pulled into the small parking bay at the back entrance to the hospital where he had been instructed to park so that Taylor could be wheeled in and assessed without anyone noticing. Whilst the people of Kansas City had always been respectful of Travis and Taylor's relationship, nobody even knew she was pregnant outside of their close circle of family and friends. This sort of news would spread like a wildfire.
"Travis..." He heard a small voice cry out in his arms and he looked down to see that she was fully awake, the cold winter air hitting her face, most likely waking her back up.
"I am right here baby, it is all going to be ok."
"I can't lose it, I can't lose the baby." She said wearily, shaking her head from side to side as her face contorted in agony and pain, both physical and emotional. His heart broke for her, and for him. Whilst he couldn't feel what she was feeling, he knew that it hurt. Little by little he could feel his heart shattering more and more. He lightly kissed her forehead as he was escorted into the hospital via the back entrance.
One of the nurses instructed him to lay her down on a trolley and Travis followed, watching as Taylor was wheeled away into a consultation room. A private one, to protect their privacy.
"Mr Kelce, can you please explain to me exactly what is happening. There weren't any notes given over the phone." One of the doctors uttered as they entered the room hurriedly, placing on a pair of blue gloves and grabbing an iPad to take notes and look up Taylor's medical history.
"I don't know. I just came home and found her bleeding like this. There was so much blood. Pints and pints of it and I think she is still bleeding." Travis cried out, frantically looking over at the doctor, telepathically begging him to save her..
"Ok and did she loose consciousness. I can see that she is quite lucid."
Travis nodded, and the doctor noted it down.
"Please help her."
"We will do everything we can to help her Mr Kelce." Travis watched as the doctor went over the attach monitors to Taylors heart and stomach. As the doctor was lifting up Taylors jumper and shirt, Travis cried out
"Please save her. She is pregnant." The doctor pulled back the top half of Taylor's clothing, leaving her only in her bra, revealing Travis' outcry to be correct.
"Sir how many weeks pregnant is your wife?"
"She isn't my wife, well not yet. Thats not to say I don't want her to be, oh." He could feel himself getting flustered and collapsed down into the chair beside where Taylor was lying on a gurney. "She's, she's, she is eighteen weeks, almost nineteen weeks." Travis sighed, grabbing onto Taylors outstretched hand, softly running his thumb over her knuckles in a way to hopefully bring her some comfort.
"Ok, Taylor I am going to examine you and then do an ultrasound ok." The doctor asked, watching as Taylor nodded her head slightly. Travis was sure she didn't really understand everything that was going on, but she very much did after the doctor examined her. Neither Travis nor Taylor could read the expression on his face. It remained objectively plain, in the most frustrating way.
"Ok, Taylor I am going to do the ultrasound now. It will be a normal transabdominal one so it will be as painless as possible." She nodded, looking over at Travis, the most alert he had seen her in a long while.
"Trav, it has to be ok. Please promise me..."
"Everything will be fine. I promise you Tay." He kissed her on the forehead, cursing himself for making promises he may not be able to grant or keep. He couldn't tell what the future would hold for them. But he had to pretend that all was ok, for Taylor's sake. He couldn't fail now.
Silence flooded the room as the doctor studied every inch of Taylor's abdomen with the ultrasound probe. It felt like time had stopped, or at least was moving very slowly. Hours seemed to pass until a sound appeared. The sound they had been waiting to hear and hoping and praying for. The steady thump, thump, thump, thump of their baby's heartbeat.
"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your baby Miss Swift. Looks strong and very happy in there still, moving around and everything."
"The heartbeat seems slower than normal. Is that ok. The last time I recorded it at our ultrasound Tay and it defiantly sounds different today." Travis fretted as Taylor's eyes stayed glued happily and contently to the screen that still showed their baby, moving around happily inside her.
"Don't worry Mr Kelce, it is completly normal for your baby's heart rate to fluctuate a little bit. After such a traumatic experience today, it isn't surprising that their heart rate is a little slower than it normally would be, but it is still well within normal range for a baby of eighteen weeks gestation."
"And what about the bleeding?" Travis asked, sitting back down in his seat next to Taylor, taking her hand back in his.
"We still aren't too sure about that. We have managed to control the bleeding with medication through an IV drip but a nurse will come in to draw up some bloods and other samples for further testing. Rest assured we will find out exactly what is going on. Thank You."
And with that, the doctor left, leaving behind a pretty young nurse who came in to take Taylor's blood. She winced slightly as the needle went in but tried her best to focus on Travis and the positive outcomes that had come from that night: Travis and come back to her, their baby was safe and well. Things started to look up for them.
"Tay, I am so sorry. I should never have left you this afternoon. I was just being bug headed, trying to be in the right."
"Sushhhh" Taylor whispered, putting a finger to Travis' lips to silence him, she scotched over slightly on the bed, weary of her IV that was still firmly place on the top of her left hand. She beckoned Travis onto the bed next to her and despite his large 6 foot 5 frame, he managed to comfortable squeeze in next to her, holding her in his arms the way he had ached to for these past few hours.
" I couldn't imagine what would have happened if you had lost the baby Tay, I"
"I know Trav." Taylor said, cutting him off before he ended up rambling again. "I know. And what's more, I think you are right. I am catastrophising things and I shouldn't be. I should be so grateful to be here with you, to be this far on in my pregnancy, with a man who loves me and this baby by my side. We should tell the whole world, who cares what anyone else thinks."
Travis smiled, planting a light kiss on the top of her blonde head of hair. He nuzzled in, taking in the sweet scent of her expensive vanilla shampoo, the only thing that was keeping him sane in. a room full on antiseptic and broken hearts.
"Tay, I never held you enough, I do now. And if I never told you I loved you, I will do it now."
"Just being here, with you, together. It's all I need to be happy." The pair stayed sat together on Taylor's bed for a while before the doctor returned with another doctor, a female this time donned in pink scrubs, with him.
"Hi Taylor, I am Doctor Robinson. I am a specialist OBGYN here at KU hospital. We have your test results back and I have confirmed these with Dr Cartwell who examined you previously."
"What's your diagnosis?" Travis asked frantically, sitting up with Taylor still pulled tightly into him.
"Taylor you suffered quite a nasty and serious subchorionic hematoma, which is what would have caused the cramping you described and the severe blood loss. We have managed to successfully control it with IV medications but we would like to keep you in for a day just to monitor you and the baby."
Both Travis and Taylor looked at each other confused. Neither of them were doctors, or came from a medical background in their family.
"I'm sorry but what does all of this mean?" Taylor asked groggily, from the blood transfusion she was receiving as well ad the drugs, she was becoming increasingly more tired.
"It is essentially blood collects between the wall of your uterus and the baby's amniotic sack. They are often a problem in the first half of pregnancy but are quite often detected on an ultrasound."
"What does this mean in the long run Doctor?" Travis asked, gripping Taylor's hand that wasn't attached to the IV for comfort.
"Most hematomas like this shrink easily and go away on their own. I can see from your ultrasound that it has already shrunken significantly and so I can't see it becoming a problem again. But we will be keeping a closer eye on you with some more routine ultrasounds and I must stress that you must take it easy for the last half of your pregnancy. No lifting anything heavy for a while and nothing stressful. Lots of bed rest."
Both of the doctors turned on their heels, shutting the door behind them. Travis looked back over at Taylor, whose head was resting against his chest.
"I don't want to waste another minute Trav. The world deserves to know." Taylor mused as she felt Travis' arm snake around d her waist, his hand coming rest under and amongst all of the wires and monitors attached to her to find its place back on her stomach once more.
"I know Tay. Me neither. Why don't we wait until after we have the gender reveal thing in a couple of weeks. We will know whether it's a boy or a girl then." Travis suggested and Taylor nodded, yawning as she snuggled deeper into his chest, feeling his hand lightly caress her ever growing bump that was only going to get bigger. She couldn't wait for the world to know, but for now was content knowing that it was just her, Travis and the baby...
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Two chapters in one day... wow look at me. But see, a happy ending. The baby is happy and healthy. After the outcry of the cliffhanger from the last chapter, I felt like it was the least you guys deserved so here is the follow up chapter for No Letting Go. As you can see, no cliffhanger and I don't plan on their being anymore super sad, dramatic scenes for a while so you can expect fluff, happiness and relative amounts of peace for the time being.
The gender reveal is the next chapter so place your bets here as to what you think it will be, boy or girl ???