I wake up in the morning. The doctor is standing over me. He's injecting something into my IV.

"What are you doing?" I managed to say.

"Well hello there sleeping beauty. You gave us quiet a scare. You've been out for 15 days."

"What? Why?"

"I gave you some pain medicine to help you sleep and a nurse came in to check on you and noticed you were bleeding again. So we had to go in a redo the surgery. It appears the stitching inside did not hold and the area we repaired previously opened up again. We repaired it again and this time it's holding. Your body has been through so much that you took a long nap."

"Was I dreaming? Did I really lose my baby?"

"Yes unfortunately that wasn't a dream hun. But you are on the path to recovery and that's what we have to focus on."

I tried to hold back my tears but they just come pouring out. He sits on the bed and takes my hand.

"I know this is beyond hard for you, but we had to save your life. You lost the baby during the accident, I'm so sorry for that. But you are here. You are alive and you will go on living your life and raising a family. I was able to at least save that part of you."

I sit silently processing everything. My mom and dad walk in. They are surprised to see me awake.

"Oh baby girl! Your finally awake!" My mom hugs me.

Dads right behind her and sneaks in to hug me too. I feel a sense of comfort with them being here. I feel like everything is going to be ok.

"How are you feeling?" Mom asks.

"I'm doing ok. Not too much pain." I answer.

"I'm guessing you are having a hard time processing that you've lost the baby?" Dad asked.

"Can you tell?"

"Sweetie I'm sorry. No one should ever experience that type of loss." Dad says.

Mom speaks up. "Your dad and I never told you about this, but about 4 years before you were born you had a brother. I carried him full term and when I went into labor he was still born. They couldn't do anything for him. We held his lifeless little body in our arms for hours before they took him away for good." Dad places his hand on hers. The look on their faces are painful, like they both revisited that horrible day.

"Mom, dad I'm so sorry. Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Well honey, it was one of those things that was better to move past. It was a very hard time for us. Your mom and I couldn't bear the loss, it almost ruined our marriage. We shut the nursery door and didn't touch it till we worked past the loss, focused on each other and shortly became pregnant with you." Dad explains.

"Ella you were the miracle that saved us. You too will find your way." Mom squeezes my hand. "Besides there's been a Derek here every single day. He's quiet the handsome fella."

I'm blushing but also shocked that he's been here.

"So tell me about Derek? What's the deal with him?" Mom asked.

"He's a guy from school. I've known him since freshman year."

"I overheard him talking to you one day when I came to sit with you. It was beautiful. He kept telling you take your time, to get better and come back to him. I think it was sweet but it seems like he's more than a friend." Mom winks at me.

Dad stands up and says he's going to get some coffee. I think that's his way of saying go have your girl talk. Dad leaves the room and mom is now looking at me.

"Ugh yeah mom. There's something with him. I didn't mean to fall for him, but I did and then we slept together and now I don't know what to to because there's Ivan too." I start to ramble.

"Wait you slept with him? While you were pregnant?" She's shocked.

"Yeah mom. Right before the accident. It just kind of happened. Mom I'm a horrible person!"

"No honey you are not. I think you feel obligated to Ivan because of the baby. I don't think your heart was with him. Yeah you felt something but only because of the stuff that's happened in the short time you were together. You were there when he was stabbed and your heart hurts for him and you feel it necessary to stay by his side because you were there when it happened."

"That makes a lot of sense mom. I'm glad I can talk to you about this."

"Ella you didn't have enough time with Ivan yet to know if you love him or not. If and when he wakes up and you get to know more, then you decide."

There's a light knock on the door and I look up and see Derek. His smile lights up the room and his eyes sparkle when they meet mine. I never realized how beautiful he was until the other day when I saw him in a new way. Not just because we kissed, not because we slept together but because I felt his soul that day.

"Hi Derek." I smile.

"Hi beautiful. Glad to see you awake!" He says. "Mrs.Bronson." He smiles at mom. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm not too bad, thanks."

"Your dads been gone an awful long time, I'm going to go find him." Mom says standing up and walks out of the room.

Derek takes her seat and takes my hand. "Are you ok? What happened?"

"I could be better but I'm here. I honestly don't know what happened. Everything's a blank."

"Ella, I'm sorry babe. I'm sorry about the baby too." He seems sincere.

"Thanks. I'm heart broken, but at least I'm alive and will eventually be able to have children." I try to fake a smile. "How are you?"

"Better now that you are awake." His thumbs circling the top of my hand. Derek stands up and sits on the bed next to me and takes me in his arms. "I don't want to hurt you, is this ok?"

"Yes it's perfect." I nuzzle against his chest. Taking in the warmth and his scent.

Why did I not see this before, why did I not realize that he had feelings for me? This whole time he's been quiet and patient with me. I grab the remote and flip through the channels trying to find something to watch and feel the comfort of being in Derek's arms.

Mom and dad come back and say they are going to head home now. Derek slowly takes his arm from around me and stands up to hug my mom and shake my dads hand goodbye. My dad winks at me, points his finger at Derek and nods his head in approval. My mom hugs me and kisses me on the top of my head and my dad gives me a gentle hug. Whispering in my ear "he seems to care a lot about you." And they head off. Derek sits back on the bed once again taking me in his arms. I start to nod off but he doesn't stop me, he just kisses my forehead and brushes my hair from my face.

I must have dozed off for about a half hour or so and Derek's still on the bed holding me. All of a sudden Nancy bursts into the room.

"The nerve of you girl! My sons in a coma and the minute you lose your baby you're already snuggling up to another man!"

"Nancy..." Derek cuts me off.

"First of all this is a hospital, you don't need to be yelling, secondly she was upset about the accident, the baby and Ivan so I comforted her and thirdly she cried herself to sleep so I left her alone not wanting to wake her. Ella is my friend and friends are there for friends."

Nancy walks over and takes the seat my mom was sitting in. She apologizes for assuming and Derek's face softens. She then thanks him for being here and I look at him and hopefully he sees the apology in my eyes. Derek stands up squeezes my hand and walks from the room. I see Courtney and Brad standing there talking to him, Derek shakes his head and continues to walk down the hall.

"Hiiiii Ella!" Courtney hugs me.

"Hey Ella!" Brad chimes in.

"Hey guys. Did you all come together?" I ask.

"Yes Nancy said. Nurse Abby is at the house so we felt comfortable enough to leave for a bit."

Brad asks to see Nancy in the hall for a minute and they exit the room.

"What's that about?" I ask.

"Derek told us what happened. You looked upset and I asked him what was wrong. So Brad is going to talk to his mom." She explains. "Listen while Brad has his mom out there I needed to talk to you. Brad knows about you and Derek." My heart sinks. "Not that you slept together but that there are feelings between you two."

"How does he know?"

"Well he's heard Derek talking to you and he's been here a lot. The guy is crazy about you and I love it. He truly cares and he wants to take care of you. Derek's a good man."

"So is Brad angry with me?"

"Not at all. I explained to him about everything. He gets it. He wants you to be happy too and with Ivan in a coma you can't be expected to put your life on hold hoping one day he wakes up. You only dated a week before everything happened and he landed in a coma. You don't know if he's the man you will spend the rest of your life with."

"Thank god! Hopefully Nancy understands."

"Well that's what he's explaining to her now." 

They finish talking and come back into the room. Nancy seems ok and Brad looks over and winks at me. Derek returns and takes his seat next to me while Brad and Courtney sit at the bottom of my bed and my leg in a cast between them. Nancy brought different colored sharpies and her and Courtney start drawing on my cast. Brad and Derek join in and Derek draws a beautiful picture of hands cupped holding a heart. Visiting hours are now over so they all stand up and leave. Derek lingers back and waits for them to be out of sight. He bends over and places the softest kiss on my lips, tells me he will check on me later and walks from the room.