TW:// blood, trauma    

      A painful scream split the dream Scott was engulfed in. He sat up with a jolt and a squeak he never heard from his throat before. He was still on the couch he and Willow were on the night before. He looked around as Willow was nowhere to be seen. He stood up with swiftness and swung his head around looking for her. Finally he spotted her lying in a fetal position, gripping her swollen belly. She was covered in water that seemed like it was spilled all over the ground. He sprinted over and aided her to her feet.

“Wh-what’s going on?!” He yelled with panic. She gripped her stomach harder.

“The b-baby’s coming. I’m going into labor!” She let out another scream but this time it was quieter as she hunched over farther. Scott’s heart started pounding fast, out of panic and excitement. He was going to be a father at last! He scooped her up in a bridal fashion and carried her as she couldn’t walk on her own, let alone make it there on time. He busted through the front door. As it swung around, a few bystanders glanced in their direction in curiosity and started whispering to themselves. Scott caught a few words of what they were saying. ‘Willow’s having her baby, go spread the news’, one said. Scott paid no attention, as he was focused on bringing Willow to her destination. What hospital is the fastest and best quality?, He thought to himself as he started to run.

“Go to Morin Hospital! It has the best care, it even has some help from the capital!” She huffed, like she could read what he was thinking.

He stopped and hesitated for a moment before turning around and heading towards the hospital she requested.

“Are you sure you want the government’s involvement in this..?” He said through heavy breaths. “It’ll be fine. It's the best care we can get for our baby right now!” She huffed again. As much as Scott hated Luis and his rule, she wasn’t wrong. He wanted the best care for both his wife and child. There is a known fact about high mortality rates of infants who are born in Slum care centers. He pressed on, narrowing his eyes and carefully navigated the bustling, narrow streets. His wife gave another tight squeeze and a loud groan as she started contracting.A sweat broke across his brow as he navigated swiftly through rows and rows of shacks.. He dodged a man pushing a cart full of produce, almost bumping into it. The man yelled some insult at him as he ran away but Scott was too focused to even care. As he ran up over a hill, a huge, shiny building appeared in sight, big and square and oddly beautiful. Once they saw this, Scott seemed to perk up and started to run faster in anticipation. As he was about to enter the proximity of the hospital, a strange guy walked around the corner of the last shack on a corner and halted Scott from going any further. He looked very smug as he placed a hand on the shack and the other in his pocket.

“Woah woah, where are you heading off in such a hurry? And why are you with this idiot, Willow?” He gave her a flirty look. Scott shot him a death glare and gritted his teeth. The fuck is wrong with this guy..?! Scott thought to himself. Before Scott could snap a retort at him, Willow answered for him.

“Look Lucas, get the fuck out of the way or I’ll make you regret it. I don’t care if everyone in the Slums looks up to me, I’m not gonna be stopped and questioned about my personal lif-” As she said the last word, she violently gripped her stomach and groaned loudly. Scott looked over at her with a worried look. Willow looked up again.

“Also, dumbass, I’m obviously taken. Get a life.” Scott took the last line as a cue to keep heading to the place they were going. As Scott pushed past Lucas, he whispered the word “bitch” before sprinting away, loud enough for Lucas to hear. He didn’t look back to see his reaction nor did he really care. His top priority right now is his wife. They busted through the entrance to the hospital and ran towards the front desk. A lady was sitting there awaiting patients.

“My wife.. is having… a baby” He said through big huffs of air as he slammed one of his hands on her desk. A few pieces of papers flew up and off of her desk in a dramatic fashion. The lady gave him a look like he was an alien speaking another language. She looked down at Willow whom Scott was still carrying and picked up her phone to call the doctor. She mumbled a few words into it then looked up at him with a smile while still holding it.

“Your names?” Scott responded with another huff. “Scott and Willow Mitchell.” She mumbled a few more words into the phone then gently placed it back into its spot.

“The doctor will be out momentarily. Please wait in the waiting room, thank you.” Scott nodded and mouthed ‘thank you’ as he walked over to the seats that were in this small room. He gently set Willow down on her feet. She fell into one of the seats with a huff.

“Thank.. you so much.. dear… hehe” She huffed out with a small laugh. He gave her a smile and then swung around to sit right next to her. He glanced around the waiting room and noticed they were the only ones there.

Strange… He thought to himself. Wonder why no one is here… maybe they’re just fast with their service.. He reassured himself. There was a noise at the swinging doors next to the front desk. The doors swung open and three nurses came out pushing a hospital bed. Both of them stood up to greet the new visitors. Scott gave a weary look at the scene playing out in front of him.

“Willow Mitchell?” The nurse asked Willow, not looking up from the clipboard in her hands. “Yes, that’s me” Willow gasped again in pain and hunched over. The nurses surrounded Willow and assisted her up on the bed. Scott watched intently, observing every swift movement the nurses did to his wife. He watched how they inserted an I.V. and how they leaned her forward to give her a shot of morphine near her spine. As they hurriedly wheeled the bed away, Scott took a breath to calm his nerves and followed closely behind. As they walked down the hallway, Scott noticed a few Inner City guards patrolling the few dividing halls they passed. He couldn’t help but feel really uneasy with them around. Why do they need so many guards around when there is barely anyone here..? Scott nervously thought. He shook the thought out of his head and kept on. Out of all the rooms they passed, one room stood out to him the most. A room that was labeled “NO ENTRY” In big, capital letters. It was a brownish golden door with a glass window, contrary to the beige and blue walls of the rest of the hospital. He stared at it in curiosity as they passed it in a hustle. They finally entered a larger room that was much bigger than the one they were in. They wheeled the bed his wife was on to the back of the room where the group of machines were circled around. Scott looked around in amazement at all the technology that was before him. He didn’t understand what any of it was but he still knew it would help more than any Slum care center could ever do. He watched in fascination as they hooked Willow up to a small machine that beeped every second or two. He watched as they hooked a clamp to her finger that he figured, somehow measured her heart rate. As they propped her legs out of the way to make room for the baby, the doors behind Scott opened with a flurry, and a man dressed in a nice white coat with a blue-purple mask across his face approached Willow. She gave another scream, this one full of pain and cramps. The doctor looked down and observed her intently.

He glanced over at the nurse and said “She’s at an 8.” The nurse hurriedly sketched on the clipboard then tended to setting up more things to Willow’s arm. Finally, the doctor noticed Scott nervously twitching and standing behind him. The doctor turned around and tried to give a smile as best he could through the mask.

“Hello. You must be the husband. My name is Dr. Rey. I will be assisting your wife in the birth of your child.” He nodded at Scott. Scott gave him a worried look in return.

“Does she look okay? Is everything going to be alright?” The doctor nodded at him again. “Everything looks fine on my part. Now we just let nature take its course.” Willow let out more painful screams, each more painful than the last. The doctor quickly snapped around and focused on Willow attentively. Scott looked over the doctor’s shoulder, then quickly got nauseated at what he saw. He walked over to Willow’s side, careful not to get in the way of the nurses as they hustled around the bedside. He grasped her hand as the last bit of contractions passed and she finally started pushing.

“Push, push.” The doctor gently said as Willow screamed the loudest Scott’s ever heard. She squeezed Scott’s hand so hard, he winced. He never knew she was so strong. Suddenly, there was a high pitched cry in the room. Willow’s grasp relaxed against Scott’s hand. They both gave a sigh of relief as the doctor held up a small, crying red creature who wiggled and squirmed in his hands.

The doctor glanced down at it for a second, “It’s a boy!” and quickly handed it to the nurses. The nurses surrounded the crying mass and wiped it clean. They wrapped the baby in a small blanket and handed it to Willow, which she took with weak, but open, arms. She looked over at Scott with happiness. “We did it.” She laughed. “I’ve never been happier..” She weakly whispered as she held her newborn son close to her chest. Scott never felt happier in his life, now at this moment. He reached over and caressed the crying baby with his hand. He was so very happy! He was officially a father. He officially had a son. He was so happy, he didn’t notice his hand was resting on the side of the bed. Something warm and wet brushed against it. He looked down. When he realized what it was, the color left his face.

Blood started to pool over the edge of the bed, thick and slow like magma. Too much to be humanly possible. The nurses started to scramble around while the doctor was barking orders. Scott’s ears started to ring as everything got colder. He couldn't believe what was playing out in front of him. Willow’s eyes rolled up as her head flopped to the side in a sickening motion. As the baby started to slip out of her hands, Scott snapped out of his trance and caught his child. The baby started screaming louder as the nurses were panicking to assist the doctor as he worked to control the bleeding. He grabbed as much gauze as he could hold while trying to subside the thick ooze. The beeping of the monitor got slower and slower as time seemed to freeze in Scott’s mind. His heart beat wasn’t fast, but it was heavy, and very much loud. Loud enough to overwhelm every other sound he heard. All he heard was the slow Thump… Thump… Thump… of his own heart… He watched as the line on the machine turned from small bumps to completely flat, he watched them take a strange electric machine and press it against her chest, he watched as they pushed on her chest area and blew in her mouth. He watched as the nurses slowed their movement, how the doctor sat up in a grieving motion and shook his head while placing his face into his palms, how Willow, the love of his life, died right in front of him.

. . .

(author's note) *tapas only lets you put 15,000 characters so I have to split this up sorry!*