Dawn's POV

I stood in front of my bathroom mirror, feeling sick to the bones, too weak to do anything as the exertions of yesterday still took a heavy toll on me.

I stared down at the mess I'd made on the sink. I guess my baby felt the discomfort too. I turned the faucet on and washed my face, hoping to get some color to it.

It'd been fifteen hours since David visited my apartment with so much rage oozing out of him, fifteen hours since I broke down and cried my eyes until there were no more tears to spill. And then I'd gone to bed on my couch, ignoring all the calls from Becky and everyone else. The couch was uncomfortable but I didn't feel safe enough to sleep in my bedroom so I double-locked the doors and crashed there, hoping that when I woke, I wouldn't feel any pain, but I did.

It didn't work.

The next morning, I'd woken up with the ache in my chest, a swollen eye and twenty more missed calls from David.

My lip trembled as emotions took over me again. Rejection hurt. He didn't want this baby, he never would. I let myself cry once more, soothing my hormones before continuing with my toilette.

An hour later, I walked out of my room, clad in one of my floral maternity gowns with my hair pulled up in a messy ponytail.

My phone was the first thing I picked up from the coffee table. Another call rang through but this time it was from Mrs. Amanda.

Sighing, I tossed the phone back and walked into the kitchen for breakfast.
Nothing fascinated me. My appetite wasn't back yet but I knew I needed to eat for my baby's sake so I pulled out my half-eaten tuna salad, warmed it up, and served a small portion.

When I walked back to the living room and finally crashed on the couch, a knock sounded.

I didn't move right away. Yesterday taught me an important lesson. For all I knew, it could be David here with heavy-bodied guys to drag me out.

"Who's there?" I asked, placing my tuna on the coffee table.

"It's me." When I heard Paula's voice resonate from the other end of the door, I heaved out a breath of relief and rushed to open it.

She walked in with a bag of supplies in her hand. "Hey." She gave me a side hug. "You don't look good, what's wrong?"

I forced a smile and shook my head. She didn't have to know. "Just feeling a little tired, that's all." Eager to get away from her assessing gaze, I accepted the bags from her hand and walked to the kitchen to place them on the counter.

When I walked back out, my phone was vibrating on the coffee table. I looked down at it and expelled a breath. It was a call from Tanner this time. 

He rarely called. I didn't understand why they were all on my neck today.

"Are you going to take It?" Paula asked, equally looking down at the caller ID.

I shook my head and settled on my couch with my hand coming to caress my belly. I didn't need any of that. I'd already cried enough for one day.

"Dawn," Paula called my name, morose, looking at me as though she had something to say but was hesitating.

"Yeah?" I asked, sticking a spoonful of tuna into my mouth.

"Did you perhaps get a call from David?"

My brows pinched together. "Yes, I did," I answered, watching her curiously. "But I didn't take them."

"You should have."

A prickling sensation shot up my spine. I sat up. "Why?"

She inhaled but didn't speak.

"Paula?" I didn't know why but my heartbeat picked up. I dropped the tuna back down. "What happened? Is everything okay?"

She raked a hand through her hair and blew out a breath. "I don't know if I should tell you this but David was rushed into the ER last night."

A sudden chill swept through me like I'd been dunked into ice water. My stomach contracted. I got up, unblinking, trying to process. "W-why was he rushed in?"

She hesitated again, keeping silent.

I moved closer, feeling the blood drain from my skin. "Paula." I held her hand, shaking her. "Please tell me. Why was David rushed there?"

She closed her eyes and expelled another breath and when her eyes opened, they were sullen. "He got stabbed."

My breath caught in my throat and I slapped a hand over my mouth, my eyes going wide with shock.

"He got into a fight at a bar," she continued. "It was a pretty mean fight. He's a mess, Dawn."

A hard knot compressed my throat and my chest grew tight, making it hard to breathe. I wheezed for air, palming my chest, trying to stop my heart from palpitating.

Oh my God.

Paula rushed to my side, soothing my back with gentle strokes. "You need to calm down."

Instant tears whelmed up my eyes.

How could I be calm?

My body trembled. "I need to go to him," I told her, breaking off. "I need to see him."

This was my fault. This was all my fault.

Paula blocked my path. "I don't think it's a good idea, Dawn. You shouldn't be running around with your current condition, it's not safe to —"

"Paula my husband is hurt. I'm not going to sit here and pray to whoever. I'm going there." My whole world was crumbling apart around me. I didn't have to think twice about it. He was hurt. I was going.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins, I sidestepped her and moved around my apartment in haste, blindly grabbing things into my bag.

"I'll drive you." Paula offered but I was already out the door, racing down the stairs to get to David. I didn't care if had messy hair or wore the wrong set of shoes, my urge to see him pulled apart my reasoning.

Time seemed to slow. The drive took forever. I sat in the front seat, shivering. It hurt. It was all my fault and it hurt so bad, so awfully bad that I just wanted to scream and smack my hands on the glass and curse at every car that obstructed our way.

My thoughts devoured me. I covered my face with shaky hands. I felt useless and powerless and my body wracked with an onslaught of sobs and tears that just kept pouring out until we arrived at the hospital.

Still in a state of confusion and disbelief, I immediately ditched Paula, not caring to check if she followed behind.

A sickening tingle of terror crept into my skin as I ran through the sliding doors, and when I approached the reception, Tanner was standing there, leaning over the desk, conversing with the nurse and looking worn out.

I rushed to his side, my tears blurring my vision. "How is David?" My question came out in a rush of air. "Is he okay?"

Shocked, he turned to me and his eyes lowered to my stomach for a brief moment. I knew what he was thinking but I didn't care.

"Tanner please, I need to know if David is alright."

His shoulders dropped in resignation. "He's fine." He affirmed after a moment but my gut told me that something was terribly wrong.

"Don't lie to me, Tanner," I begged, desperately tugging on his shirt.  "Where is he? I want to see him."

"You'll see him once he wakes." He assured. "The knife hit his spleen. He's getting a blood transfusion right now and Amanda is there with him. He'll be fine."

Oh, God.

Amanda. She'll hate me. Oh God, she'll hate me for doing this to her son.

"Uncle Tanner?" A voice suddenly called from behind, urging us to turn and when I did, I came face to face with the replica of David.

My heart slammed against my ribs. The resemblance was uncanny and seeing him made me feel a certain type of way that couldn't be described by words.

Tanner crouched down on his knees to meet his dreary eyes. "You shouldn't be here Alex, where is Stella?"

"She's crying in the bathroom." His eyes slowly shifted up to mine, and the way he looked at me—he knew who I was, he knew what I'd done and he looked at me like I had taken the most important thing away from me.

"You're miss mummy." He came closer, tugging on the hem of my dress. "You're miss mummy."

My stomach sank.

"Why did you leave daddy?" He asked me, shaking his head and tugging in my dress. "He doesn't play with me anymore because he's always sad."

"Not now Alex." Tanner countered, pulling him away from me and lifting him into his arm. "It's not her fault."

"Will daddy be alright?" He asked, sniffing between words. "I don't want him to go to the angels yet."

Hearing that made my heart bleed.

"He won't." Tanner persuaded, stealing a glance at me.

Until this moment I fought very hard to remain strong but the thought of what might happen broke me.

What was I doing?

I hadn't realized I was crying again until tears soaked my dress. I wiped my eyes, just about when Amanda walked in, looking as pale as a walking dead.

I stood still, dread eating into me. I wished she would say something instead of staring at me like that. I wished she would curse at me, yell at me for causing her son so much pain but she just stood there, face pale, eyes reddening.

"Mrs. Amanda." I managed, choking. "I'm sorry..."

A silent moment passed between us.

"No." She finally spoke, her voice sounding as wounded as mine. "I'm sorry Dawn. I'm sorry for everything." She moved towards me, visibly trembling, and much to my surprise, she fell to her knees in front of me.

My heart constricted. I immediately grabbed her hand, trying to hurl her up. "Please don't do this."

The passing crowd stopped to watch. Oh, God.

"I know it's selfish of me to ask this of you and I am sorry it took us this long to come clean. You have every right to hate us but Dawn, my son is falling apart, he is suffering."

I tried to hold it in but unwilling tears burned my eyes. "Mrs. Amanda please get up, this is not right."

Amanda jabbed her hands on her chest, tears falling down her ashen cheeks. "Hate me instead, all the anger and resentment you feel for my son, pass it on to me, slap, curse at me and I will take it all but please go back to him. He is a mess and I'm afraid he won't make It out of the theatre with his current condition. I don't want to lose him like I lost my sister."

"Amanda..." I couldn't hold it any longer. I fell to the floor in a disheveled lump and let my heartache pour out in a flood of uncontrollable tears.

"I'm sorry Dawn." Amanda cried with me, holding my hand. We both didn't care if we made a scene or attracted curious eyes. All that mattered was the intense purge of emotions that freed both our hearts and at that very moment, I made my decision.