Him and Her Ch. 09-10

CH 9.

As the weekend went by, Caelan and Astrid could not keep their hands off each other. They made love later that Friday night, or morning rather. Saturday was spent trying to have a nice breakfast and later lunch, both times ending in two satiated lovers. By Sunday night, they both were exhausted. So they spent that night just holding each other in bed.

"I'm not going to the office tomorrow morning. I'll stay here with you."

"Nonsense Caelan. I am a big girl I can manage a few hours by myself."

"Honestly, that's not what I'm worried about."

Astrid sat up in bed and crossed her legs. Because they were sans clothes, it gave Caelan a direct view of her intimate parts. He took a deep breath. As tired as he was, that scent she emitted was making him horny again. He could live between those legs and feast all day. He was sure her juices would give him the nutrients he needed to live a nice long and healthy life. She looked down to see what had gathered his attention. She unfolded her legs and crossed them at the ankles. He then looked up at her and noticed that her face was not one of amusement but of annoyance.

"What? You can't show me that and expect me not to lose focus."

"So what are you worried about then Cae-lan?"

"Well in all honesty, I'm worried about you sitting here all day alone, contemplating what we've done and leaving...As-trid!! Your track record isn't exactly kosher now is it?"

Astrid hung her head low. He was right. Anytime things started looking good between them, she did up and leave. He had no right to trust that she was not going to repeat the same thing. But she was here this time and had no intentions of going anywhere. To say she wasn't scared would be a lie. But she had to learn how to let herself live one day at a time. See where this thing between the two of them goes. They may love each other for a life time or they may do like her and Darrell and grow tired of each other. But would it be in her best interest to not even give this thing a chance? Shouldn't she just forget about the past, all her failures, all her heartaches, all her troubles and just let Caelan love her the way she wants to be loved, deserves to be loved?

She slid closer to him and wrapped her arms around his middle, laying her head on his chest. She could hear the steadiness of his heartbeat. The heart that beat for her. The heart that had professed it's love for her. She wasn't going anywhere. She was staying.

"I'm not leaving this time. You have my word, which I know may mean nothing to you right now. But I will show you."

He bent his head to kiss the top of hers, "I believe you." They both eased their way down onto the bed, still wrapped in each other's arms and fell asleep, she listening to the rhythm of his heart and he smelling the vanilla scent of her hair.

***

Caelan was in the shower when he heard what sounded like a thump. He didn't pay much attention to it thinking Astrid must have knocked something over. He was going to go to work. He decided he needed to trust her words that she would stay. As he lathered his body with soap, he thought about everything they had gone through in the last couple of months. He knew from the moment he saw her, he wanted her but never in his wildest dreams did he think he would have all of her. Well at least he thought he had all of her, her body and her heart. He let the water rinse the soap from his body, then stepped from the shower. Instead of drying himself completely he let the water drip from his chest. He wanted to tease Astrid and give her something to look forward to while sitting in the house waiting for him all day. He checked his reflection in the mirror and flexed his chest muscles. He mused to himself; he wasn't normally this cocky.

When he walked out of the bathroom, he didn't see her in the bed so figured she was in the kitchen. As he came around the bed he saw her laying on the floor with her robe on. His heart dropped. He felt his skin tighten and his head was like lead. He dropped to the floor next to her, shaking her gently, "Astrid!" he yelled.

She didn't respond.

He shook her again a little harder and yelled a little louder. Still no response. He got up and ran to the night stand in a panic looking for his phone to call for help. It wasn't there.

"Where the fuck is my phone!" he yelled into the air. "Hold on baby. I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you." He ran to the living room and there was his phone on the coffee table. He picked it up and the battery was dead.

"What the hell." He threw the phone across the room. Where is Astrid's phone, he was thinking to himself as he spun around in circles looking nowhere but looking everywhere. He ran to the kitchen. It wasn't there. He ran back into the bedroom. There was her phone sitting on the nightstand on her side of the bed. He picked it up but didn't know her password.

"Not like this God! You cannot take her away from me," he thought. What would her password be. Birthday popped into his head. As he hit the home button, he saw, emergency calls at the bottom of her screen. So he hit it and immediately heard it ringing.

"911 what's you emergency?"

"My wife! She is laying on the floor unconscious."

"Ok sir. I am dispatching an ambulance right away. What's the address?"

"Uhh Umm 108 Crystal Lane."

"OK sir, stay on the phone with me. Help is one the way. Does she have a pulse?"

He placed his fingers on the side of her neck right under her jaw. He either remembered it from high school or watching tv. But either way, he was glad because it was paying off now. He felt a pretty strong pulse considering the circumstances.

"Yes. She has a pulse."

"That's great news. Do you see any blood anywhere?"

"No." He looked around her. He lifted he head a little and saw blood on the side of her head near her hair line. "Oh wait, there is some blood. It's near her hair line. Do you want me to get a wet cloth for it?

"No sir. The EMS team will care for it when they arrive. They should be there shortly."

"I hear the sirens. Let me go to the outside so they get the correct house."

"Ok. I am going to stay on the line until you are in contact with them."

Caelan started for the door, when he realized that all of this time he was completely naked. The towel must have fallen off in his search for the phone. He ran to the bathroom to grab his robe. He then ran outside in the cold just as the ambulance was pulling into his yard. They got out, grabbed the stretcher and followed Caelan into the house. By the time they got to the room, Astrid was conscious. She was still lying on the floor but her eyes were opened looking at everyone who entered the room. Caelan immediately fell to his knees beside her.

"Baby. Are you alright?" She didn't answer but just looked at him confused then she slowly closed her eyes.

"Sir step to the side so we can help her." Caelan reluctantly moved over. They instantly got to work, checking all her vitals. The wound was cleaned then they moved her to the stretcher and administered an IV.

"She seems to be severely dehydrated. It looks like she may have passed out and hit her head. That's probably what knocked her unconscious. We are going to take her to general for further observations. You can follow us or meet us there," the EMS worker informed him.

"I'll follow you."

As they took her to the ambulance, he threw on some sweats and t-shirt. He grabbed her purse, his wallet and keys and was in his car before they pulled out of his driveway.

CH 10

By the time Caelan had parked and was in the emergency room, Astrid had already been assigned a room. He was led there by a petite yet very busty nurse. She looked at him strangely, almost as if she knew him. He tried to recall in his memory if he knew her or not but couldn't.

When he walked into the room, Astrid was conscious and drinking what looked like water. He practically ran to her side. He took her hand in his assessing her head where the bandage was. His eyes calmly moved to hers though his heart was beating a mile a minute. She lips slightly curled upwards. His eyes held so much love and adoration and yet so much fear. He let out a sigh as if he had been holding his breath for longer than possible. He bent over her, carefully wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his face in the crook of her neck. A sob caught in his throat as all the emotions he had been holding onto was finally released. She wrapped her free hand around him as tears began to fall from her face as well.

"I thought I'd lost you."

"I'm here. You didn't loose me." They just continued to hold each other trying to get their emotions together; neither aware of the silent observer standing watching the exchange between the two obvious lovers with a slight confused look set across her face. She silently slipped out of the door, cell phone in hand.

Caelan righted himself and pulled the chair closer to her bed. He grabbed her hand again and held it in his as he rubbed his thumb across the inside of her wrist. "Have you talked to the doctor yet?"

"No. Only a nurse who took my vitals. She said the doctor would be in her shortly." No sooner than she got the words out of her mouth, a woman almost as tall as Caelan dressed in purple scrubs with a stethoscope around her neck walked in. She had blond hair that was tied in a bun at the nape of her neck. She reached a hand out to Caelan first and shook it introducing herself as Dr. Sandhime.

"So seems you were unconscious for a while there. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Umm, I just remember not feeling too well this morning when I woke up. I felt queasy on the stomach. When I stood the intense wave of dizziness came over me and the next thing I remember is waking up with a bunch of people standing over me." Caelan squeezed her hand as she recalled the events that happened to her and he wasn't there when she passed out nor when she came to. He felt like he had let her down.

"According to the EMS there was a gash near your right temple. After assessing the environment they seem to think when you passed out, you hit your head on the night stand and that's what caused the unconsciousness and the cut. We are going to run a CT scan to see what could have caused you to black out, get some blood work and then we will go from there. Right now, I'll do a quick examination and ask you a few questions, ok." By that time the same nurse had entered the room. The doctor told her the test to order and she walked back out of the room.

"Do you think there may be a chance that you could be pregnant?"

"No. We've tried for years with no success." The doctor just assumed she was speaking of Caelan though neither of them wore a ring.

"Has there been a diagnosed problem?"

"No."

"Ok, we'll do a pregnancy test just to rule that out."

At that comment, Caelan's heart leaped in his chest. He knew of the first weekend they had sex, it was unprotected. He didn't mean to ejaculate inside of her but she was just too exquisite to pull out and he not only did it once but twice or was it three times? Just thinking of it made him begin to harden some. He shifted in his chair to ease the discomfort and hide his thoughts. What if she was pregnant? He knew beyond a shadow of doubt it was his. She hadn't had sex with that no-good bastard in years. His mind began to race. Oh my God, she could be pregnant. She would could be carrying his child right now. He could have another child on the way. He'd have to marry her immediately. Damn, he can't marry her because she is still married. But as soon as the divorce was final, he'd marry her. They would have a boy and he'd have a junior. Man he was so excited! Son...slow down. You've already fated a future and she just said she was going to run some test. Jeez dude.

The tech came in to do blood work soon after the doctor finished her examination and left. Caelan watch as Astrid took the needles in her arm in stride. He wished he could be in her place taking all the pain for her. He hated seeing her like this. She had already lost so much weight. Once the tech was finished, the nurse came back in.

"The doctor wants to hold off on the CT scan until she sees the results of the pregnancy test."

"Ok," they said simultaneously. The nurse gave a grim look at both of them. It didn't go unnoticed. Once she left the room, Caelan asked, "Do you know her?"

"No, but she is not too friendly that's for sure. She has just been kind of aloof with me."

Standing from the chair, Caelan said, "Yeah and that look she just gave. I'm going to find the head nurse and see if we can't get someone else. She may be having a bad day or something, but I don't think she should be taking it out on her patients."

"No Caelan. You don't have to go through the trouble."

"It's no trouble, it's what's right! You don't need any extra stress than what you're already under."

"Caelan, please! Just stay here with me," she said reaching her hand out to him, "Just hold me please."

Caelan sat down and beside her chair and took her hand. He laid his head in her lap and let out a long-held breath. What he really wanted to do was cry. He wanted to let out all the emotions he was holding bottled up in him. The fear, the anxiety, the helplessness...but he wouldn't. He would only let her see the strength he had. The love he held in his heart for her, only for her.

The nurse came back and let them know they would be moving her to a room. The doctor wanted to keep her for observations. They had massive wreck on the interstate and she would be back later to talk with her. Once in her room, Astrid fell asleep from pure exhaustion. She was still hooked up to the IV and had an oxygen tube in her nose as well. Even in this state, Caelan thought she was the most beautiful creature he had ever had the pleasure of meeting. He just wanted to protect her from any form of hurt and he felt as if he had let her down. Not knowing what time the doctor would make it back, he decided to try to rest his mind a little and get some shut eye.

He felt like it had only been five minutes when in fact, it had been about thirty when the door to the room burst open and he heard a male voice say, "Astrid baby, are you ok? I was so worried!" Caelan immediately stood up and Astrid's eyes opened. She was discombobulated, trying to figure out where she was and what was going on. Why was Darrell here and calling her baby? She looked to her left and saw Caelan standing with a fury in his eyes she had never seen before, it was almost murderous. Darrell reached for her hand that had the IV in it. She swiftly moved it away.

"Baby, I what's going on? Who is this man?"

"Who the fuck are you?" Caelan almost shouted. He was trying his best to hold himself in check. He didn't want to upset Astrid more than she seemed to be already. He noticed the spike in her heart beat on the monitor.

"Darrell what are you doing here? How did you even know I was here?" Astrid asked. She was so confused. Nobody knew she was in the hospital. She hadn't called anyone and she was sure Caelan hadn't.

"That is not important right now. How are you feeling? What's wrong? Why are you here?"

Astrid could feel the energy flowing through Caelan as he stood holding her hand. She knew she better try to get rid of Darrell as soon as possible. "Darrell, we are in the process of getting a divorce remember. I signed the papers and you should have already filed them by now. You need to leave."

Darrell took a step closer to and reached for her hand again. Astrid didn't see or feel Caelan move. The next thing she knew, he was standing on the same side of the bed as Darrell and was in his face, "You heard what the lady said; I won't repeat it and neither will she!" Darrell backed up. He stared at Caelan, looking him up and down. He looked back at Astrid. How in the hell could she leave me for this white bastard.

Addressing Caelan he said, "Look man, I don't know who the fuck you are but this is my wife and ain't going nowhere."

Astrid saw Caelan's fist ball up but before he could throw a punch, she yelled, "Caelan, please. He's not worth it." She turned to Darrell, "Please just leave. I will call security and have them escort you out." She picked up the phone and began to dial. Darrell backed up to the door.

"Oh, I see how it is now. I will see you at home," and he left the room.

Caelan immediately went to Astrid's bed and bending over, held her in his arms. She let out the tears and emotions she'd been holding on to for just those short five minutes. He didn't speak a word, just rubbed her back and let her cry. All kinds of thoughts were going through his head as he held her. She was married to that bastard and didn't want to leave him? Who in the hell did he think he was? They were separated and he had the audacity to say, "I'll see you at home!" What home? She wouldn't be going back there if he had anything to say about it. Where the hell is that doctor. My baby doesn't need this stress. She is already worried about her health and why she fainted. She doesn't need this again. First the nurse treating her funny and now this asshole showing up! Speaking of the nurse, how did he even know she was here? He hadn't told anyone and he's sure the doctor didn't call. But why would the nurse call him? How did she even know to call him? Caelan sat up and gently pressed Astrid back toward the bed.

"Do you think that nurse knows Darrell and is the one that called him?"

"I don't know. That could be the case. Because how else would he had known to come here? Surely the doctor didn't call."

"Yeah, try to get some sleep. You need to relax." Just as he stood up, a member from the security team walked in the room.

"We had a call from this room but no one ever said anything. Is everything ok?"

Caelan responded, "Her ex-husband showed up and was causing a commotion. Is there anyway to make sure he doesn't come back to this room?"

"Yeah, but you'll have to come with me to look at the security cameras to make a positive ID on him so he can be intercepted before coming in the hospital."

Caelan looked back at Astrid. She was already falling in and out of sleep. He just kissed the top of her head and whispered, "I'll be back."

They walked out of the room. They got about two doors down from Astrid's room and saw the nurse and Darrell coming out of an unoccupied room. They looked up and saw the security officer and Caelan standing there. "That's him, right there officer."

"That bitch called security on me," Darrell chuckled. The officer held his hand out as if motioning for Darrell to walk forward, "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

"No the hell I won't!" Darrell voice was very loud and threatening, "Just because some white asshole says I did something, you just going to believe him and try to kick me out of a public hospital?" He stepped up the officer, pointing at Caelan, "Tell that motherfucker to leave. He's the one in there with MY wife."

"Sir, I won't ask you again. You will have to come with me." As the words were leaving his mouth, another member of the security team was coming down the hall. Darrell looked behind him, then to Caelan and finally to the nurse. He turned towards the officer coming down the hall as if he was going to walk away. Before anyone could react, Darrell turned and punched the officer behind him causing that officer to fall into Caelan knocking him to the floor. Darrell jumped on the officer as both the officer and Caelan were trying to get up. He reached for the holster attached to the officer's side, unsnapping it and pulling the gun free. He was able to fire two shots before being shot from behind by the other officer. Three bloodied bodies laid on the floor as Darrell looked right into Caelan's eyes, "Just because I don't want her, doesn't mean you can have her!" and he fired off one more shot before his head hit the floor and death engulfed him.