Patrick managed to get coffee for the two of them. While he’d been away he’d called his wife to tell her everything was okay. He’d call her again when he knew more. Of course, Abby had wanted to get there right away, but he didn’t want her here. Jane was a good friend of both of them, but it was already too much for him. Jane, who was like a little sister was injured and they didn’t know what was going on, and Viktor, who was a good friend, was even more helpless than Patrick himself.
“What is taking them so long?” Viktor huffed, cradling the plastic cup in his hands. What he really wanted to do was smash the thing and scream at the top of his lungs. All the frustration, anger and sadness out of his body. But he knew that this wouldn’t achieve anything. The only thing they could do, was wait.
“I don’t know, but you need to calm down,” Patrick said, knowing exactly how upset he was. His hands weren’t shaking, but they were extremely still. He hardly moved at all. Patrick had been around Viktor long enough to know what was going on in his mind right now.
“That’s the kettle calling the pot black.” Viktor shot him a look, surprised when Patrick chuckled. “What are you laughing at?”
“It’s the other way around,” Patrick explained. “The pot calling the kettle black, but whatever.” It had at least lifted his spirits for a brief moment.
“I’m Swedish. I have an excuse.” It actually brought the hint of a smile to Viktor’s face as well, but it quickly faded, when a doctor approached them.
“You’re here for Miss Walker, right?” Both men had stood up and were now nodding at the doctor. “Are you family?”
“I’m her brother.” Patrick was the first one to act. It was not really a lie, since he felt that way towards her, and she didn’t have any family left.
“I’m her fiancé,” Viktor blurted out, just to be on the safe side. How would anybody prove this anyway? And it wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about this. He loved her, after all.
The doctor looked at both of them before he sighed and thought better of asking them any more questions. Instead he said: “She’s stable now. She has a broken rib and a couple of bruises. There was internal bleeding, probably from strong blows she got to her upper body. We tried our best, but I’m sorry that I have to tell you that she lost the baby.”
“Baby?” Viktor asked, shocked to the core. It was bad enough as it was, but now there was a baby he hadn’t even known about. When he looked towards Patrick, he couldn’t read his face.
“Yes, she was about five weeks pregnant. I take it, you didn’t know about this?” Viktor shook his head to that question. “Maybe she didn’t even know herself. You can go in if you want to, but she’s still asleep. But please try not to upset her when she does wake.”
They thanked the doctor and stayed rooted to the spot for a few more seconds, before Viktor turned to Patrick. He had to ask, had to know whether Patrick had known about the pregnancy.
“No.” Patrick shook his head and took a deep breath. “I’m pretty sure Abby didn’t know either. She would have told me. She can’t keep these things to herself. She would have been too excited about being pregnant around the same time as one of her friends that she wouldn’t have been able to keep this from me.”
“Wait, Abby is pregnant again?” Viktor stared at him, gaining a strained smile from Patrick.
“Yes. But after what happened, we didn’t want to tell anybody until after the first trimester is over.” Viktor nodded understandingly. “Want to go se Jane now?”
“Yes.”
Viktor and Patrick walked to her room and went inside quietly. They both sat down in chairs on either side of the bed, watching her, still a bit shocked.
She looked so peaceful, so vulnerable. Her hair was combed back from her face, exposing her swollen bottom lip to a full effect. Her jaw was bruised, as well as her left collarbone that peeked through. The cuts in her upper arms didn’t look as bad as Viktor had thought at first. Only one of them had to be stitched up. What was worse, were the injuries they couldn’t see. The broken rib and the internal bleeding. Viktor knew firsthand what a pain in the ass a broken rib could be.
Then there was the lost baby. He didn’t know whether Jane had known that she had been pregnant or not, but they’d have to tell her that she’d lost it. They’d see in her reaction whether she’d known or not.
Patrick gently took her hand in his, running his thumb over her knuckles. God, he was so relieved that she was safe now. Sure, she’d been injured, but they’d gotten there before worse things could happen. It was bad enough as it was, but they hadn’t lost her. She was still alive.
No, he would not cry. He would not cry. But when Jane opened her eyes, tears were brimming in his eyes. She truly was like a sister to him, and he couldn’t have dealt with losing her.
When Jane felt that someone was holding her hand, she gave it a light squeeze. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Patrick again, before she glimpsed Viktor on her other side.
Immediately he sat upright, covering her hand with his. Relief flooded his body. Jane smiled at him, trying to sit up. Viktor stopped her from that immediately.
“Don’t! You’ll only feel more pain.” He smoothed down her hair, staring down at her face. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been run over by a truck, but it doesn’t matter.” She said, her voice a bit louder than a whisper. “I’m here, I’m alive, and it’s all thanks to you guys. Thank you.”
“There’s no need to thank us,” Patrick spoke up, rubbing a hand over his eyes. “We’re just glad we made it in time.”
“Still, I wouldn’t be here without you.” She smiled at both men. “So, what did the doctor say? When can I go home?”
Good old Jane. It made both men smile for a second. They would have been the same in this situation. Getting out of the hospital as soon as possible was the most important thing. They couldn’t blame her for wanting to get out, get into a familiar surrounding where she could relax. She’d spent too much time at hospitals already.
“He didn’t say, but I think they want to keep you a little longer.” Viktor glanced at Patrick before he sighed and continued. “You have a broken rib, had internal bleeding. And they said that you’ve lost the baby.” He squeezed her hand in his.
“Baby?” Jane’s eyes widened and she suddenly grabbed his hand. “I… I was… pregnant?”
“I’m sorry, Jane.” She hadn’t known about it, or she would have reacted differently. Viktor could feel her hand shake beneath his. Tears were brimming in her eyes, and she let them roll down her cheeks, drop down on the pillow. She didn’t have the strength to brush them away.
It broke Patrick’s heart as well as Viktor’s. Viktor was the one who acted on it. Carefully, he wedged onto the bed, cradled her in his arms without hurting her too much and let her sob into his chest. She didn’t only cry for the baby she’d lost. She cried for her own lost childhood, for all the pain she’d had to live through, for barely escaping her father today, and especially because of the two men in her life that had saved her, because she meant so much to them, because she was their family.