1653 words......enjoy....
Aphmau's POV

*Play Song*

Concerned....

All I get are concerned looks...

Sometimes pitiful....

Even some reassuring...

But mostly concerned....

Like as if I was a grenade, and the incident had pulled the pin on me, and I was now about to burst....

Any....day...now...

I have to admit, I did lie to Aaron....

I'm not SURE if I'm ready to be back.

I feel fine.....but....

It still haunts me......

The screams...

The pain......

The fear......

I'm hiding it........under a pleasant smile....

All my pain.....

I don't want Aaron to worry, and I want him to go back to work.....

I want him to feel.....normal again.

I'm such an idiot....

Thinking he would do something like that......

Something so horrible...

That he, someone who saves lives....

Would want to destroy one....

Then there is the fact that he even wanted me back...

Even after I said those words....

Those hurtful words...

Screw that saying, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me....

Coming from experience, they hurt the same....

Sometimes even more...

I put on my intern scrubs, placing my coat in my locker.

I smile, noticing a small snow flake, half melted into the furry exterior of the coat.

Oh Aaron....

Then as I close the door, a small rolled up piece of paper falls out of my pocket.

I curiously pick it up, immediately regretting it.

Why didn't I throw this away....

Don't look at it...

Don't....look at it...

Just throw it away Aphmau!

I don't listen to myself, shakily unrolling the small slip of paper, the image being displayed sending a painful feeling through out my entire body, it exploding everywhere.

I open my mouth to breathe, sucking on air quickly.

The tears start generating again, tracing the outline of my face.

It was him....

His tiny phalanges looking like little sausages......

Them trying to reach out to me.....

It was an ultrasound....of the baby.

The whole area of the picture mostly black but except for the cute little outline of the this tiny human..

This tiny potato..

At the time, no one else was in the locker room, until I hear the door hinges creak.

I immediately stick the picture to my back, sniffling and wiping my tears away, trying to hide any evidence of current grief.

"Aphmau?" Katelyn questions, peeking her head from out of the door way.

"Yeah?......I'm here...I'm ready..." I sniffle, forcing slight smile despite my puffy face.

"Aphmau.....you're crying...." She starts, but our pagers interrupt her.

"It's the ER.....I'm fine Katelyn okay?" I rush out of the room, slipping past Katelyn, escaping her questions.

I try my best to stifle my sniffles, pathetically failing in the process.

I start jogging towards the ER, maybe work will make me feel better.

Katelyn's POV

Aphmau rushes out of the room, slivering past me.

I start to head after to her, concerned that my theory was right.

What if she isn't ready...

I wouldn't be anywhere ready if this happened to me....

Maybe Aphmau is stronger than me....

Scratch that, she is stronger than me.

She still walks lightly on darker grounds.

Oh well......

As Aphmau jogged way ahead of me, she doesn't notice a small roll of paper escape her grasp. The small crinkle of paper hitting the ground.

I search the floor, eyeing the small roll of paper. In curiosity, I lean down, picking it up and unrolling it to find something that sends a pitiful feeling throughout my body.

Oh Aphmau....

*

I reach the ER, seeing Garroth, Travis, Aaron, and Aphmau standing just outside the hospital's ambulance bay, probably waiting on an ambulance

I head outside to join them, the aggressive wind addressing me.

"What do you know?" I ask Aaron over the wind, snapping on my medical gloves.

"All I heard was that there was possible head trauma, nothing else...." He informs me, the sirens starting to echo in the distance.

The ambulance then comes into sight turning a corner as it came closer to us.

It comes to a screeching halt in front of us, the back opening.

We all rush to it, the paramedics rolling out the gurney.

We roll the patient into one the ER rooms, starting to set up everything to start doing damage control. And as we workee, the paramedics start telling us details.

"25 year old female, trauma to the head, thorax and abdomen, vitals stable for now. She was found unconscious at the site....." The paramedic states, all of us starting to access her wounds.

Aphmau seemed a bit fazed, but still helped Aaron assess the head injury.

Garroth was checking her clavicle as a representative of Ortho, as Travis was checking the skin damage as a representative of Plastic.

I was checking her blood pressure and the wound on her stomach as General.

After inspecting her torso, I notice a sudden arch in her abdomen.

"Uh is there anything else?" I ask the paramedic, suspecting something.

"Well, it was a domestic abuse case, and....oh yeah she's pregnant...."

At the paramedic's words, everyone goes silent, their attentions involuntarily turning to Aphmau.

Her mouth was slightly ajar, her eyes showing pain.

Domestic abuse case.....

She's pregnant....

Sounds like an all too familiar situation.

"She's conscious...." Travis states, gesturing to the now open panically eyes of the patient.

The pain probably now setting in, or from adrelanine, she starts struggling about on the table, her screams muffled by the neck stabilizer around her neck.

"Aph.......you okay?" Aaron questions, concerned, his attention divided between her and the patient.

Aphmau stands there, frozen for a few seconds, until she snaps back to reality.

She then manoeuvres from where she was standing, to standing right next to the patient's head so she was in the patient's view.

The patient was still panically, struggling like a fish out of water.

"Hey, shhh it's okay, my name is Aphmau.......you are going to be okay, we are going to help you okay?......You're safe now......you're safe now...." She soothingly says to the patient, her genuine smile on her face.

The patient stops struggling, now just breathing heavily, the calming words setting into her brain

Aaron still looks at Aphmau worried, but continues to go about his work.

"My....name....is...Dottie..." The patient manages out, her voice hoarse and her face showing obvious fear.

"Hey Dottie, you are doing so well.......don't worry, you are being worked on by all the best doctors.....all are very good at what they do...." Aphmau's smile still on her face.

"What.....about my baby? Is my baby okay!?" Dottie exclaims, looking to Aphmau for answers

Aphmau's smile wavers a bit, but then goes back to its original form.

"Someone from O.B.is coming to check your baby out.....don't worry..."

Then as if on cue, Lucinda enters the tramau room, dragging with her a mobile ultrasound, placing it to the patients bare stomach, which was semi-rounded upwards.

Everyone became silent again, the tone of the room solemn, awaiting a specific sound.

And almost instantly, Everyone lightens up, smiling at the sound of a baby's steady heartbeat.

The sound rings in our ears, giving us a somewhat calm feeling ourselves.

But what throws me off....is Aphmau's expression.

For a moment......just a split second, her face looks longing, her anguish and pain unmasked for just a few seconds.

Aaron catches the few seconds, hesitant to go to her.

And, as if nothing had happened, she goes back to smiling at Dottie, telling her all kinds of reassuring stuff.

Aphmau.....you are an angel...

To Dottie today, Aphmau was her hero.....

Someone Aphmau needed on.....that day....

"No concussion or brain bleeds, she's good....." Aaron states.

"This skin injury is gonna need to be taken care of in the O.R., along with the clavicle...." Travis informs Lucinda.

"Okay, let's get her to the O.R.......Ro'maeve and Vulcrum come with me......" Lucinda demands, rolling the gurney out of the room.

As they leave the trauma room, Dottie makes a last attempt to reach for Aphmau's hand, Aphmau taking it briefly.

"It's okay, they will take care of you......" Aphmau says before she releases.

Just as the team taking Dottie up reaches the elevator, someone with slick fiery red hair enters the ER, his werewolf ears erect with alarm, his eyes frantically searching the room til his gaze falls on Dottie's gurney. 

"Dottie! Hunny, what happened!?" He exclaims, panting, slightly leaning over her gurney.

Dottie finds the source of his voice, smiling.

"Blaze.....I'm fine, the baby is fine, it was just some drunks in an alleyway......"

"Thank Irene you are okay," He says relieved, cupping her face with a fusion of relief and affection.

"Sorry sir, but we gotta get her to the operating room so please wait in the waiting room," Lucinda asks of him politely. 

He obliges, leaving as does Garroth, Travis, and Lucinda, with Dottie leaving in the now empty trauma room, just Aaron, Aphmau and I.

Aphmau turns to Aaron reluctantly, biting her lip as she emits an annoyed whimper, sprinting out of the room.

Aaron and I exchange a brief worried look before he rushes after her.

Third Person View

"Aphmau wait!" Aaron yells, chasing her in an urgent jog.

Aphmau runs blindly into a room, not noticing what room it was.

Aaron comes to a halt in front of it, letting out a deep sigh before entering as well.

"Oh no....."

It was that X-RAY room......

The one where everything.....went down....

The one where their precious son...

Was maliciously murdered....

He slowly follows her in there, finding Aphmau standing near the blank wall, her head dropped, her eyes studying the floor.

"Aph....." Aaron starts, but Aphmau interrupts him.

"The janitors......didn't do a good job....." She stares blankly, referring to a small glob of blood on the floor, and a distinct fanning of dried red.

Aaron walks silently to her, bringing her into his embrace with no hesitation, Aphmau almost immediately collapses into his arms, sobbing hard.

"She's me Aaron.......she was me...."

"You didn't want her to feel scared.....you wanted her to feel safe.....like you wanted to feel...."

Aphmau nods her head slightly against his lab coat, still sobbing hard into his shoulder.

"That heartbeat though Aaron.....I can't.....remember.......his....heartbeat.."

Aphmau cries, unsuccessful at trying to grasp for that memory.......

That memory.....of their son's heartbeat.....

Aaron then takes her hand softly by the wrist, pressing it against the middle of his chest.

Aphmau pulls in her bottom lip, her fingers vibrating with his heartbeat, which was sounding throughout her brain.

Her frown wavers into a tearful smile, as she giggles at the rejuvenated memory.

Sniffling, but also remembering.

"His.....was just like yours," She remarks.

"Remember now?" Aaron whispers to her, also smiling now.

"Almost too well.......hey Aaron?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we......name him?"

"Sure.....like what?"

"Alex...."

"Alex it is then....."

Then on that day, their would-be-son was named.

And his would-be-future.....was marked.

And even after all that has happened, and the fact even more, horrific events are still to come.....

They are ready....

But.....the real question is....

Are they ready enough?

Have a nice day my crystals!