Kane(63)

"Promise me!" I repeated, tears streaming down my face as I began to cough again.

"Please, don't make me choose-"

"Promise!" I screamed through my coughs.

Kane wailed, "I promise!"

I tightened my hold on him. "I love you, so m-much. You're perfect,  inside and out..." I paused to cough once more, "you make me so  h-happy."

"Stop it!" Kane bellowed at me. "Stop talking like that. Just stop. Please."

I slumped, as the weight on my chest grew heavier.

"Do not go to sleep!" Kane shouted and slapped my face with force, but I didn't feel it. "Keep your eyes open."

Sleep.

That sounded so good.

"Aideen!" I heard Gavin's voice whimper. "Please!"

I wanted to comfort him and Kane, but I couldn't move.

"Tired," I rasped.

"Just rest a little, but don't go to sleep," Kane said, his voice cracking.

I opened my eyes and gazed into his for a long moment and just in case I didn't wake up and see his face again, I said, "Bye."

The force of my words hit him like a train, I saw it.

Goodbye.

"No," he whispered, "it's never goodbye. It's I'll see you later, remember?"

I slid my eyelids closed when they became too heavy to keep open.

"Don't you think of leaving me, Aideen Collins. I need you. I love you,  babydoll. Please, stay with me. You can do this, I'm right here with  you. Me and you?"

Me and you.

I heard loud sirens then a lot of shouting and commotion. I didn't need  to open my eyes to confirm there were now loads of people around me-I  could sense their presence.

"Sir, please, save her. I'm begging you. Please."

Kane.

"She's almost thirty weeks pregnant, don't press on her stomach! Don't let me sister and nephew die. Please save them. Please."

Gavin.

"Move back. We'll do everything we can, but you both have to stand back."

Everything became noise.

"Aideen!" I heard his voice through the cloud of haziness. "Stay awake, babydoll."

"Aideen!" This was Gavin.

I wanted to reply to them both, I really did, but I just couldn't stay  awake any longer. I let myself fall into darkness, but just before my  mind when blank I saw Kane's smiling face and it put me at peace. I just  hoped if I didn't wake up, he could somehow find peace, too.





Blinding white light.

That's what I was greeted with when I blinked my eyes open. It took a  moment for my eyes to adjust to the light, but even when they did, I  still had to blink a lot. They stung pretty bad.

I squeezed my eyes shut and attempted to lift my hand to rub them. I  frowned when I found I couldn't. There was some sort of wire on my arm  and I had no idea what it was. I forced my eyes open and tried to look  down, but something on my face prevented me from seeing.

There was a mask over my nose and mouth.

What the hell?

I closed my eyes again and placed my hand on my bed and felt for Kane, but I just felt mattress then a rail?

"Kane?"

When I spoke, it sounded more like a rasp and it hurt like fucking hell.  I erupted into a fit of coughing, and each cough tore through my  throat.

Oh, God.

What was wrong with me?

"Aideen, it's okay."

Kane?

I opened my eyes and focused them until I could see his face. He was leaning over me and it looked like he just woke up.

"Where-"

"Don't speak, babe," he cut me off. "You're in the hospital."

The hospital?

"Wh-"

"There was a fire at the school. You were trapped for a little bit, but you're safe now. You're safe, babydoll."

A fire in the school?

I tried to think of a fire, but I couldn't.

My mind drew a blank.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"You don't remember?" Kane questioned.

I tried to think hard, but nothing came to me so I shrugged my shoulders.

"It'll come back to you," Kane murmured.

I nodded my head and tried to sit up a little, but I yelped when pain  shot up through my leg. I pulled the blankets off my lower half and  stared down at the royal blue cast that covered my mid-thigh down to my  ankle of my right leg.

What the hell?

Kane gripped my hand. "Your knee and shin bone were broken. You'll have  to wear the cast for eight weeks until the damage repairs itself."

I blinked.

What the fuck happened to me?

I examined the rest of my body for any other signs of injury, and my  eyes zeroed in on the white bandage that was wrapped around my left arm  from my elbow to my wrist. I stared at it then looked up at Kane.

He frowned. "Second degree burns. You'll need a skin graft."

Fucking. Hell.

I checked out the rest of my body but saw nothing else, so I looked at Kane.

"You have a black eye, and a swollen jaw, but that's it. Everything else is okay."

I slowly nodded my head.

"Are you in pain?"

Surprisingly no.

It hurt when I tried to talk, but other than that I was okay.

I shook my head.

"Good," Kane said. "Pain meds and some fluids are in the IV drip.  They've had you on it since you came in last night. You've been here for  sixteen hours now."

I've been here for sixteen hours?

"Are you okay?" Kane asked me.

I instantly shook my head.

I didn't know what happened to me, or why I was so busted up. It made me feel like a stranger in my own body. I didn't like it.

I looked down to my hands and stared hard at them. I tried so hard to  think about what happened to me. I could remember going to school for  detention. I had one kid to look after. One kid. My classroom. On our  own.

One second things were misty and dark, and the next images flooded my mind.

Philip.

Fire.

Smoke.

Caleb.

My baby.

I widened my eyes to the point of pain. "Baby," I rasped then fell into a fit of coughing.

"Easy, darling," Kane soothed and got me some water to drink. "Small sips, swallowing will hurt."

I whimpered in pain when I swallowed the little bit of water I had in my mouth. It felt like lava was sliding down my throat.

"There you go," he murmured and continued to rub his hand up and down my good arm.         

     



 

I blinked my eyes and lifted my arms, though it was difficult because my  body felt so tired. I pressed my hands on my stomach and was relieved  to feel it was still huge and hard.

I looked at Kane, my eyes wild.

"He is okay, he is still in there."

The relief that flooded me almost caused me to throw up.

I began to cry and it upset Kane.

"Babydoll," he breathed. "You're both okay, I swear."

I shook my head.

"The baby is okay. The doctors don't know if there was any damage  because of the smoke inhalation, but as far as they can tell, everything  looks okay."

My tears were fast and furious then.

What if the baby had brain damage because of the smoke cutting off my oxygen?

All sorts of horrors flooded my mind, and terror filled me completely. I  couldn't hear Kane speak. I realised why, it's because I was wailing.

"Baby!" Kane pleaded. "He is okay, I promise, he is okay."

"What if... brain... damage?"

"Don't think like that," Kane hissed. "You think positive thoughts. He is okay!"

I reached up and gripped my throat when the pain struck it.

I closed my mouth as hot tears spilled from my eyes and onto my cheeks.  The pain... God, the pain. I had never felt anything like it in my  entire life. It was like someone was slowly running a saw over my  throat.

"I'll get the nurse," Kane said and jumped up off the bed. He ran out  into the hall and called for help. "She's awake and in pain. Please,  hurry."

I blinked my eyes a couple of times, and when I focused, two nurses were next to me.

"Aideen, can you hear me clearly?" the first nurse asked. "Don't reply  verbally, just nod for yes, and shake your head for no. Do you  understand?"

I nodded my head.

"Good. Is your hearing okay? Does it sound like you're in a tunnel?"

I shook my head. My hearing was fine.

"What about your chest, does it hurt when you breathe?"

I tested it out and took a deep breath, which only resulted in coughing.  I quickly pointed to my throat, which was the only pain I could feel.

"Your throat?"

I nodded my head.

"Okay, do you have any chest pain?"

I shook my head.

"Good, that's really good."

The nurse looked at Kane then and said, "Just to be safe, we're going to  do a round of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. She will be placed inside a  pressurised oxygen chamber here in the hospital. It will speed the  replacement of carbon monoxide with oxygen in her blood."

"Is that safe?" Kane questioned. "She is pregnant."

The nurse nodded her head. "It's highly recommended for pregnant women  who're exposed to carbon monoxide poisoning. Unborn babies are more  susceptible to damage so this will be good for both mother and baby."

I wanted to do it. If it would eliminate any damage to the baby, I was completely on board.

I nodded my head.

Kane focused on me. "You want to do it?"

Again, I nodded my head.

"She wants to do it."

The nurse looked at me. "Okay, Aideen, we'll get the chamber prepared.  We'll come get you in twenty to thirty minutes if you're able. Is that  okay?"