Alex's POV

My senses came back to me one by one. Touch, sound, but most of all, pain. I felt like I'd been hit by a truck and as that thought hit me my eyes snapped open. I was in a hospital room and as I jerked to sit up, I'd startled the nurse that stood at the foot of my bed, reading the chart hanging there.

"Oh! Mr. Rush, you're awake."

"Where is she?"

Her brows furrowed in confusion.

"I was in a car with three other people, one of them was a woman, my girlfriend, she's pregnant, where is she?"

"Sir, if she's pregnant she's likely in the maternity ward but I'm not her nurse so I don't know the extent of her injuries."

"And the two men I was with?"

"They're right outside waiting for you to wake up, I'll let them in if you're ready?"

I nodded for her to let them. They rushed in, both dressed in hospital-issued scrubs and small cuts over their faces and arms, probably from the glass.

"Thank God you're awake, they said you'd be fine but they still wouldn't let us see you, your family is outside."

And as if they were listening, my mother and sisters burst through the door, yelling over each other."

"Alex are you okay? Oh, my poor baby!"

"Alex, what happened?"

I raised a hand to silence them.

"Guys please, I'm fine but I do have a hell of a headache so could you please stop with the yelling?"

My younger sister, Katherine, the most level headed of the three even at 16, gave a quick apology.

"Sorry Alex, we're just worried."

"It's alright, I'm fine, just a little banged up."

"Oh, I'm just glad everyone made it out okay."

My eyes snapped to my mother.

"So she's okay, you went to check on her?"

She furrowed her brow and shook her head in confusion.

"Who? We only got the call about you Nate and Jacob, n they never said anything about anyone else."

Dammit. She wouldn't have the same emergency contacts as the rest of us.

I turned to Jacob and Nate.

"Did you get word on Ana? Where is she?"

"Last we heard she was in surgery but that was hours ago, they wouldn't tell us anything else but Cameron and Marisa are trying to figure out what's going on with her."

Katherine gasped in shock.

"Ana was in the car too? Is she okay? What about the baby?"

Nate looked down at her, disappointment clouding his features.

"I don't know kiddo."

Clara snorted.

"I don't know why you all are concerned about her, she isn't family."

'Clara!"

"Jesus Clara have a heart!"

"What's your fucking issue, Clara? That woman hasn't done a damn thing to harm you or anyone else."

"She's nobody! Nothing but a gold-digging whore that's fooling all of you into thinking she's so innocent!"

They argued for a while longer while I listened, blood boiling.

"Clara get out."

I didn't yell, barely raised my voice but the room still quieted.

"Alex, you can't be serious."

"Get out."

"Alex!"

I wasn't a man who repeated himself and the fact that I'd already had to and she was still standing in my face was pissing me off.

"Clara, that woman that you hate so much for no reason means the world to me. She has done nothing to you nor has she ever been anything but kind so you can either get with the program like everyone else or get the fuck out." It was a rare moment that my sister was speechless but here we were even if it didn't last long.

"You're going to regret this Alex, I promise you that."

And with that ominous threat, she stormed from the room.

'Fucking drama queen."

My mother sighed.

"I don't know what has gotten into that girl, I didn't raise her that way."

I didn't comment as I swept the blankets off and made to stand up.

"Woah where are you going? You need to lie down man."

I pushed the hands trying to keep me down away.

"I need to go check on her, I need to know what was wrong with her before the accident."

As Nate went to argue with me again, a doctor and a woman in a well-tailored suit walked through the door.

"That won't be necessary Mr. Rush, I'm Dr. Kinney, Anastasia's doctor and this is Lorelai James, a social worker, she has a few questions to ask before we move on."

I wasn't in the mood for introductions.

"Where is she? Is she okay? What about the baby?"

Lorelai moved closer to me, clipboard raised so that she could read off it.

"Mr. Rush, there was a report of a 911 call from you a few minutes before the crash. What was the emergency?"

I sighed frustrated, I just wanted to see Ana.

"What does it matter, I just want to know if my girlfriend is okay."

"Please Mr. Rush, answer the question."

"Around three in the morning Ana was in a lot of pain, I thought she was in labor but she was bleeding, enough that it had soaked through the sheets. I called an ambulance but they wouldn't make it in time so we decided to just drive ourselves to the hospital."

"I'm aware of the case being built against her husband so I'm here to ensure the well being of the child while Ms. Hills is incapacitated."

She nodded and motioned for the doctor to speak.

"She was miscarrying, that's why she was bleeding so much, I've been in touch with her primary OB and she said that Ms. Hills has been under a lot of stress recently, does that sound accurate?"

I nodded.

"Is she- are they okay?"

"She's unconscious and will be for a while, she suffered massive internal bleeding, a concussion, and a broken collar bone from the accident."

I held my breath before letting it out.

"And the baby?"

"We had to do an emergency C-section, everything went as smoothly as it could in terms of the birth."

My heart was in my throat at the news that she was miscarrying. I opened my mouth to ask again how the baby was when Cameron and Marisa walked in, followed by a nurse pushing a cart in front of her. Upon closer inspection, I realized that it wasn't a cart, it was one of those plastic cribs that they use in hospitals and within that plastic crib was a tiny bundle wrapped in a blue blanket. Holy shit.

"They won't let us see her yet but they brought the baby out since he was healthy enough on his own."

Marisa had tears in her eyes as she spoke.

I leaned over the crib that the nurse had parked at my bedside. He was beautiful, a little wrinkled but beautiful nonetheless. I reached out and gently ran a finger down his baby soft cheek. He opened his eyes at the contact and eyes just like his mother's looked back at me, I knew he would take after her once he was older.

"Mr. Rush?"

I looked up at Lorelai.

"I've spoken with your lawyer, Natasha, she faxed over this document once she found out about the accident."

She handed me a thin packet of paper that took less than five minutes to read and once I'd finished I was stumped.

"She wants me to take him?"

Lorelai nodded.

"in the event that she is unable to care for her child, she has appointed Marisa Fairchild, Cameron Grey, and Alexander Rush as legal guardians."

"We think that he should live with you Alex, he's safer with you."

I slowly shook my head.

"I can't. I can't keep him safe; I couldn't keep Ana safe and that laded us in the hospital. No, he's safer with the two of you."

They both shook their heads.

"Alex, if we didn't wholeheartedly believe that he would be safer with you then we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now."

"But I don't know how to take care of a child."

"Well, luckily I raised three and so far it seems like at least two of you came out okay."

I turned to my mom.

"What?"

She smiled.

"I can see how much you care about his mother, and from what I can tell and the fact that she entrusted the life of her child to you shows that she cares about you as well, so I'll help in any way I can."

"And we'll stop by often to help out, you won't be in this alone man and besides, Ana will wake up soon and you two can raise this little guy together."

I wasn't confident that I could do this alone but options were slim and if Ana asked this of me, then I would do it for her.

"Okay."

**

Two days later they finally allowed Ana to have visitors. They were releasing me and the baby today but I wanted to see Anna before I left. I checked to make sure the baby was secured in his car seat and that the seat was securely attached to the stroller. Marisa had dressed the poor kid in a teddy bear onesie, fully equipped with a hood with little ears attached, he looked supremely unimpressed with the outfit choice.

"Sorry little guy, I'd have chosen a different outfit but let's be realistic, your godmother is terrifying."

I received a thoroughly unimpressed stare in response.

"Okay, let's go see your mom buddy. Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll be awake."

As I walked into the room, I saw that everyone, including my mom and Katherine, were there already, talking quietly amongst themselves. But I only truly had eyes for one person at the moment was the woman lying in the single bed in the room.

I felt relief when I looked at her. I'd expected to see a million tubes running out of her and her looking like death. But that wasn't the case, she just looked like she was sleeping, serene. I made sure to keep my grip on the stroller steady as I moved to sit in the open seat closest to her.

"Hey sweetheart, we're glad you're going to be okay. I thought you'd like to meet the little person you've been carrying around for the eight months. Marisa has him in this god-awful teddy bear onesie and he looks highly unimpressed by it."

"Hey! He looks cute as fuck!"

"Of course, he's cute, it's the outfit that's fucking heinous."

"Bullshit Cameron you picked the damn thing out!"

"He looks adorable you two, I kind of wish that I'd found it first."

"Well, I think he needs a name."

The banter over the ugly teddy onesie came to a halt at Katherine's statement. She was right though; he did need a name.

"Ana never really said anything about names the few times we spoke over the phone, and she was a little too frazzled the last time we spoke," Marisa said.

"Well, what about Jason?"

"No, Brayden maybe?"

"Well, I planned on having a niece so I'm guessing Sophia is out of the question."

It went on like that for a few minutes, with everyone shouting out potential names, but I was stuck on a conversation that Ana and I had one night, a few days before the accident.

"Elijah."

The arguing over the name stopped.

"Hmmm, I like it."

"Yeah so do I."

"That's what she wanted to name him if he turned out to be a boy, Brooklyn if she'd had a girl."

"You two talked about this?"

I answered my mother's question without looking away from the infant that laid fast asleep in the car seat.

"Yeah, she was nervous about something and talking about the baby would calm her nerves most of the time, so I asked her what names she wanted. Elijah for a boy and Brooklyn for a girl, Elijah was her father's name, she thought it was suitable to name his grandson after him."

"Well, I think Elijah is a wonderful name."

Little Elijah. Yeah, I think it suited him just fine.

**

Whoever said kids were a joy are dirty fucking liars that didn't have a screaming infant waking them up at four in the morning. I was used to pulling all-nighters, I was the CEO of a billion-dollar company, one that I'd been neglecting in the recent months, but a CEO, nonetheless. Before Ana came crashing into my life I would regularly work until the wee hours of the morning, running on caffeine and spite most days but as I walked to the nursery with half-lidded eyes, it seemed like a bullshit fantasy that I'd never get back to.

"Come on Eli, I know you're hungry but could you please turn down the volume?"

As if he understood what I was saying, his cries picked up in volume. I sighed deeply; I didn't know how single parents did this. Marisa, Cameron, and my mother and sister were there to help with Elijah during the day so that I could get some work done, though I didn't get much done because I was too busy nervously hovering and learning how to take care of him, at night I was on my own, just me, an obnoxiously expensive security system, and little Eli.

I reached into the crib and gently lifted the squirming baby into my arms, his cries quieting to whimpers almost as soon as he was comfortable.

"You just wanted a little attention too, didn't you?"

I spoke softly to him as I walked us both to the kitchen to warm his bottle. The routine had been the same for the last two weeks, Ana still hadn't woken up but the doctors said she was healing well but she was ultimately the determining factor on when she woke up. I could only hope that she woke up sooner rather than later, I was concerned about her missing out on Elijah's early stages, moments that I knew she wanted to be around for. Marisa's solution was to more or less take pictures of his every move so that she could put together a photo album so that Ana could flip through it and catch up on the, hopefully, the short time she'd missed.

"Okay buddy, let's do this."

I carefully laid him in the swing I'd placed in the kitchen for times like this when I needed to keep an eye on him, but I needed both of my hands. If there was one thing I'd learned about Eli it was that he liked to be held and given attention and I was quickly reminded of that when I strapped him into the swing and his wining picked up again.

"I'll be quick, just hang tight."

Almost as if he'd understood me, though it was more likely that he felt comfort in the soothing tone of my voice, his whimpers quieted down. I quickly went through the painstaking process of preparing his bottle, sighing in relief when I tested the temperature and it wasn't too warm this time.

"We got it right on the first try this time Eli, no wait needed."

I got the patented blank stare of a newborn as a response. Right his main concern is eating right now.

I carefully lifted him from the swing and made my way to the couch so that I could watch the news as I fed Elijah. During the last few weeks during hos nightly feedings, I found myself transfixed with the small human in my arms, watching him eat seemed to beat out anything that the news had running this time of night.

I was content, to say the least.

**

"Natasha, I need that divorce finalized ASAP. Yes, I'm well aware that she has to file a formal report with the police, but we need to get the ball rolling on this."

"I'm doing what I can Alex, but the divorce and the domestic violence case are baseless without her pressing official charges, she was supposed to do so the morning of the accident, so this has slowed things down significantly."

I sighed, frustrated.

"You're positive she has to be the one to press charges?"

"Yes, she's an adult so we can't legally press charges on her behalf, the only way that would be possible is if he was the one that put her in the hospital in the first place."

I ran a hand down my face, taking a moment to turn my head to check on Elijah and make sure he was still asleep in the swing that I'd placed in my office.

"Okay but do whatever you can, the statement she gave should be enough for a restraining order at least right?"

"Could be, I have a connection that owes me a favor, I'll see if she can pull a few strings for me."

"Good. What's the word on the idiot that caused the accident?"

"Simple case, driving drunk and ran a red light. This is his second drunk driving incident, so the judge is likely to just throw the book at him this time."

"Good, call me back with any updates on Ana's case."

"Will do boss."

I sighed heavily as I searched through my contacts for Nate's number.

"What's up boss?"

"Have you seen her yet?"

"No, visiting hours haven't started yet but I flirted with a nurse and she gave me some bare-bones information. She's still asleep, doctors say she's recovering well. The hospital still won't agree to post anyone outside her door, so we're only allowed during visiting hours which are only for a few hours a day since she's still in ICU."

"Okay, stay as long as you can but I probably won't make it today but Marisa and Cameron are taking Elijah to see her today, I'm completely swamped with work and I have seven deadlines to reach by tomorrow and I'm taking care of Elijah for the day because everyone else is busy."

"Sure thing, We'll probably head in at the same time, don't burn yourself out today man, you're still on baby duty at night."

"Yeah, I know, just keep me posted if anything changes."

"Will do."

With that, I hung up the phone and with one more glance over to Elijah and then the clock which showed that I had an hour to work before he woke up and needed to be changed and fed and threw myself into my work.

Exactly one hour later, I heard Elijah snuffling awake, face scrunched and arms stretched out as he yawned.

And no, I, a 6 foot five rather brutish looking man, a prime example of masculinity, did not pull out my cell phone and coo at the groggy infant as I snapped a dozen or so pictures, I did nothing of the sort.

"Come on sleepy boy, let's go get you cleaned up and fed and off to your godparents."

By the time Marisa and Cameron arrived, Eli was ready to go. It wasn't the first time that I'd left Eli alone with someone but this time something different happened when I handed him over to his godparents. He cried. I thought that he was too young to understand that I was leaving and I'd be correct but I would later learn that even this young he was comfortable with my presence, preferred it even and was able to sense that I was no longer with him.

"Hey little guy, don't cry. We'll bring you back in a few hours."

Cameron's voice did nothing to soothe the upset infant, so I walked up to Marisa, who was holding him, and let him hold my finger in one of his tiny hands, the crying stopped almost instantly.

"It's okay Eli, I won't be gone for long, you're safe with them."

I knew he didn't understand me, but one of the parenting books that I'd been reading said he'd be able to pick up on the different tones of voice so I did my best to sound reassuring and soothing and after talking to him for a minute or two it seemed to work as I slowly removed my finger and moved further away from him.

"Okay, he should be good to go. If he cries again just try to sound relaxed or he'll freak out."

The two adults nodded.

"I hate to say it but you're good at this Alex."

"I've been doing a lot of reading lately."

"Well, we're going to head out, would you like an update once we get there?"

I nodded.

"I'd appreciate it since I can't see her today."

"Okay will do."

Twenty minutes later I got a phone call that rocked my world.

**

I practically ran down the hall of the hospital to Ana's room.

"What happened?"

A frazzled doctor turned from the group of confused relatives and friends of Ana.

"Nobody knows what the fuck is going on. We got here just before visiting hours and once we were cleared to go in she wasn't there, she's gone."

To say I was frustrated was an understatement.

"Coma patients don't just get up and fucking walk out of a goddamn hospital!"

I turned to the doctor.

"Where is she?!"

"I was trying to explain that we don't have any coma patients here, this isn't where we would keep them. I also have her signed release forms here, she had to have left voluntarily, with someone who signed her out, it's the only way she would have been discharged after sustaining the injuries she has."

"Well, who the fuck signed her out?"

The flustered doctor flipped furiously through the paperwork clutched in his sweaty hands before he stopped at a packet and read off the last page.

"It says here an Alexander Rush signed her release forms and took her home."

"What the fuck are you talking about I'm Alexander Rush and I definitely didn't sign her out."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I snatched the packet form the doctor and looked at the signatures at the bottom. To the right of Ana's shaky signature was my name but the sloppily written signature wasn't in my handwriting, but I knew exactly who's it would match.

"Call the cops, she didn't leave voluntarily, she was forced."

That fucking son of a bitch. 

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Maybe only five or so chapters left. I'm hoping to get the next chapter up tomorrow and if not tomorrow then sometime this week especially with the quarantine going on and all that. Yall stay safe out there!