Note: Before you question the end of this chapter, just know that it can really happen because it happened to my Aunt's friend.
~Weeks Later~
Laura's POV
We found an apartment we could stay in for the meantime. Riker and Vanessa are out looking for a new house. Ross and I decided to stay in the condo and clean up.
It's really not a bad place to live. It's actually really big in here. There are three bedrooms. One for Ross and I, the other for Riker and my sister, and the last is suppose to be a nursery for Vanessa and Rike's child in case we don't find a new house in time. So we've left that without furniture.
Every once in a while, Stormie and Mark come over with the others and either offer us some house warming gifts, or sometimes to say that we could've lived with them. But if Maia is after us, we don't want them to get involved.
Rydel sometimes comes over by herself too, and helps around with the place. But for now it's just me and Ross. Doing the dishes, swiping the floor.
"You okay?" Ross catches my silence, freezing the sound of a broom brushing against the floor.
I sigh and put down the soap-covered-plate. "Just... thinking about all of this, I guess."
"Hey." He leans the broom against the wall and walks over to me to keeps his hand on my shoulder. "The police will catch Maia. And because she's done enough, they're not gonna lock her up anymore. They're gonna take her to her execution."
My eyes open wide and I turn to face him, making his hand fall. "They're gonna kill her?"
Ross nods.
"Where did you hear that news?"
"On the newspaper."
I raise one eyebrow at him. "You read a newspaper?"
He laughs a bit. "I needed something to do in the bathroom, okay?"
Our conversation was interrupted by the landline ringing, the caller ID stating it was Riker. Ross walked over to the phone, and put it on loudspeaker.
"Yo," Ross says.
"Ross, where's Laura?" Riker sounds panicked.
"She's here... why? You're on loudspeaker anyways."
"Okay," he breathes in. "Drive to the hospital as fast as you both can. Vanessa needs Laura here. She's giving birth."
I suddenly shoot up and run towards the room to grab the car keys. I was going to pull Ross towards the door with me, but he was still talking to Riker.
"How can that be? She isn't due in two months," Ross says.
"Ross, she's not in a good condition..."
"What's happening to her?!" I yell and rush to the phone.
"She went into labor while we were driving and, she's lost a lot of blood."
"But... But she'll live, right?!"
"I don't know. I couldn't go in with her. While she was in the car ride, she suddenly stopped talking and her eyes were shut. But she was still breathing."
"We'll be there."
•••
We arrive at the hospital at around 4:00 PM and run to the emergency sections. There are seats around the waiting room and I easily spot Riker in one of them, looking like he's in tears. I squeeze Ross' hand tighter and nearly cry myself. Though, I don't know what for. Maybe Riker's just contagious like that.
He turns his head and sees us. Right away he stands up and gives me a hug.
"Is she okay?" I say over his shoulder.
He pulls away. "I- I don't know."
So we sit in the waiting room together. And wait for two hours now. I remember seeing Riker in the hospital. Seeing me in the hospital. And now Vanessa.
The doctor finally comes out- Dr. Ari, according to her badge.
"Mr. Lynch?" She says.
Riker and Ross both stand up, and I smile a little and pull Ross back down to sit.
"How is she?" Riker asks.
"Well... We're in quite a situation."
"What kind of situation?" Riker asks again, his anger coming out a bit.
"We need you to choose."
"Choose what?!"
"Choose who you want to live. Your daughter, or your wife. If you want Vanessa to live, it takes a process that involves killing the child. If you want the infant to live, Vanessa dies. We need you to choose one, and fast before they both die."