In This Farewell

It was a beautiful day, with the sunlight streaming into the bedroom, casting a bright light across the bed, and the figure still sprawled there. She'd been there most of the morning already, a slim figure curled in on herself, scarcely moving, and scarcely breathing. She took a deep breath, and another, trying to ease her pain. None of it worked. She was burning up, and the white pillow beneath her head was dark with sweat. She locked her teeth shut, biting back the full groan that fought to escape.

Earlier that morning, her fiancé had decided to take her two small children to visit a Children's Museum. Knowing that she hadn't felt well the night before, and since she was pregnant with their first child, Jonathan had thought it would give her a chance to rest, and recover from whatever ailed her. She hadn't been this bad this morning, and had made the children breakfast, and kissed all three on their way out. the cramps had hit sometime an hour after that. Madeline Munroe had stumbled back to bed, curling in on herself, hoping that they would stop soon. They hadn't. She rolled over, and paused at a wet sensation. Lowering a shaking hand, she touched the wetness, and raised blood covered fingers.

Panic took her, and she painfully scrambled for the phone, dialing Morgan's cell-phone number. This was bad, but Madeline didn't want to frighten her children. She needed her best friend right now, and she was hoping he would pick up the phone. He didn't, and she tried to leave a message. It was mostly the sound of her tears, and a low voice that begged over and over again. Not knowing what else to do, she set the phone down, and tried to get up. She might have to drive herself to the hospital. She made it to her feet, but she doubled over with pain. She wasn't bleeding heavily yet, but she was worried. Fear rose again, and she was afraid she was just going to die. But then the phone rang.

Stumbling back to her bed, she reached for the phone, and answered it, shaking and trying not to groan.
"Maddie, what is it?" Morgans voice was thick with lust and pleasure, and Maddie flushed with the realization that she'd interupted them. She didn't want to be a bother.
"S-sorry. It's n-nothing..." She stopped with a groan, and curled into a tighter ball.
"Madeline?!"
"I-I'm cramping and bleeding."
There was silence at the other end of the line. To Morgan, it sounded as though she were just experiencing her menstrual cycle, and it irritated him to think that she'd interupted his time with Tetsu for that. She had Jonathan now to cuddle with her. But then his sleepy and one-track mind focused. Madeline wouldn't have called for that, and the soft sounds of her weeping was coming across the line.

"Maddie? What's wrong, sweetheart?"
"I'm pregnant, Morgan. And I shouldn't be bleeding....or cramping or- OH!"
Morgan immediatly reached for his clothes, and jotted a note which he held up to Tetsu.
"Where's Jon? Maddie, stay with me, where's Jonathan?"
"W-with the kids. They went o-out."
While Morgan was glad that his children weren't there to see their mother in such a state, he was scared that she was alone, and possibly suffering a miscarriage.
"Li-li? I'm on my way, alright? Hold tight."

An hour later, Morgan was carrying Madeline into the Emergency Room, having called to let them know he was on his way. He regretted that he hadn't called Jonathan yet, but he was a little more worried about Madeline's safety than Jonathan's potential feelings at the moment. She was still bleeding, and in intense pain, both emotional and physical. She'd figured out by now that she was losing her baby, and the pain it was causing her was immense. The doctors were converging on Morgan, and took her from his arms. She turned those dark eyes on him, begging for something, though he wasn't sure what.

It seemed an eternity before any news came about. Jonathan had arrived with the two little ones, and not long after, Tetsu had come to take them home, and to see how Morgan was holding up. He seemed to understand that Morgan didn't want to leave Jonathan or Madeline, and he seemed alright with watching the twins indefinately. Morgan cast a side glance to Jonathan, who looked dreadfully upset. It seemed that Madeline had only realized she was pregnant a few weeks earlier, and the man was possibly going to lose his child already, and neither of them knew the condition of Madeline. He wished he knew what words to offer the man, but he wasn't sure that there were any. Instead, they both sat there in silence.

Madeline herself was rather quiet. The cramps had subsided, and the bleeding had stopped. Her baby was gone. The enormity of that thought filled her, and she couldn't make any sounds. The doctors were concerned about what they termed as her stoic reaction. Morgan or Jonathan could have told them that it was shock. Her brown eyes were glued to the window, balefully eyeing the bright sun, that cast brightly gentle rays onto her form. Apparently, the child's death hadn't been caused by anything she'd eaten, or any injury. It simply hadn't formed or settled properly in her womb, and the uterin wall had begun to break down around it. Just a biological flaw, a freak accident. Her next child should be safe for the full term.

Next child?

What about this one? She'd failed. They'd asked her several times if she was ready to see visitors. Madeline had said nothing, just staring out the window at that blasted child, thinking about the bloody towel they'd carried away, bearing a bloody lump smaller than her fist. She'd wanted to see it, had actually formed the words, and held out her hands. They had told her that at this stage, the fetus was nothing more than a blood clot. Seeing it would only make everything worse, and that they would dispose of it for her. That was her baby and she didn't care what they said. She'd wanted to see it.

After a little while of giving her space, the staff let Jonathan in to see her. He gave a slight knock to the door before he entered, brown eyes full of grief, and worry.
"Mads?"
She turned her head at the sound of his voice, and whens she saw him, she burst immediatly into tears. He was at her bedside seconds later, gently brushing her hair away. Madeline didn't want distance, though, and she sat up, and wrapped her arms around him.
"I'm sorry, Jon. I'm so sorry...."