Laura doubled over in pain again. Her neighbor ran and called for an ambulance. The pain was excruciating. Laura held onto her stomach trying to relieve some of the pain, but it was too much to bear. It felt like knifes were being plunged into her gut. A loud blood curdling scream could be heard throughout the halls of the apartment complex. The neighbors next door came rushing out to see what was going on.

JC banged his fists against the steering column of the rental car and cursed to himself. "You fuckin' idiot!"

He took a deep breath and leaned his elbow against the window frame of the car and let his head fall into his hand before running his fingers through his hair to think. He then pounded his fist into the steering column again. This routine went on for about 3 more minutes until he finally started the car.

As he was pulling off he could see an ambulance far in the distance coming down the street. He missed the light and sat there waiting on it to turn green. He silently watched as the ambulance went through the light. He turned his head in curiosity to see where it was headed. He looked back at the light to see if it had turned green yet. He then looked into his rear view mirror and saw that the ambulance had pulled up the front doors of Laura's apartment complex.

"Oh shit..." he said to himself as he watched the two EMT's get out of the ambulance. One carrying bags to the back of the vehicle while the other pulled out a stretcher. He prayed to himself that they weren't going into her building, but when he saw the man from the front desk rushing outside to help them in, he knew he needed to find out what was going on.

JC ran through the light and made an illegal u-turn and raced back down the road towards Laura's building. He threw the car into park and raced to the front doors. He pressed the button on the elevator and waited impatiently. He noticed it was still going up. He crossed his fingers hoping that it wouldn't stop on the ninth floor. When it did, JC let his head fall back as he yelled, "Oh God. Please. No!"

He ran to the stairway and dashed up nine flights. He ran down the hallway to the crowd that had gathered in front of Laura's door. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up when he heard her screaming. He pushed his way through the small crowd of neighbors and tried to gain entry into the apartment to see about Laura. A security guard pushed him back.

"Laura!! Is she okay?"

"Please, sir. You are going to have to stand back." the guard insisted.

"What's going on? Laura!! That's my friend in there! Laura!" he yelled trying to again, push his way through past the guard.

An EMT asked the guard to make a path so they could get to the elevator. He had heard JC and said, "Sir, We are going to be taking her to the hospital. You can follow us there, but right now we need to get her out of here."

"Is the baby ok?"

"That's what we're tying to find out, Sir. Please stand back and make room for the stretcher." he announced to the JC as well as onlookers.

As they were wheeling Laura out into the hallway on the stretcher, JC noticed that she was holding onto her stomach and moving her head from side to side in pain. Her yells were muffled by the oxygen mask on her face, and tears were streaming down her face. JC walked along with the stretcher and tried to get Laura's attention.  "Laura? Sweetie, I'm right here. I'm right here."

Laura lifted her hand towards JC. He reflexively went to hold it, but was jolted when she pushed it away and waved her hand signaling him to leave. Stunned JC slowed down in his pursuit to keep up with the stretcher and watched as it disappeared into the elevator. He then took the stairs back down and followed the ambulance to the hospital.

JC's head was in his hands as he impatiently waited for some word from a doctor or nurse about Laura's condition. His eyes were blood shot from crying and his face was pale. He paced the room over and over again getting jumpy each time someone walked in.

Two hours had gone by and JC found himself laying on a couch watching the news. His eyes were heavy and he started to drift in and out of sleep.

"Mr. Chasez? Sir?"

JC opened his eyes quickly and noticed a nurse was lightly tapping him on the shoulder. He sat up and tried to adjust his eyes.

"Ms. Charles has been moved into a private room now."

"Is she okay?"

"Yes. She will be fine. She is still sedated from the medication, but you are welcome to see her."

"Is the baby okay?"

"You will have to speak to the doctor about that. Since you aren't in her immediate family, I don't know if he will give you that information, but when I spoke to her mother over the phone, she gave consent for you to be updated on her condition." she stated as she led the way to Laura's room.

The room was very dim and JC could hear sounds of various machines. One was a beeping noise that sounded off about every ten seconds. The other was a constant thumping sound.

"What's that noise?"

"Oh, that's just the baby's heart beat. They are monitoring it."

"Is it suppose to be that fast?"

"Yes. If it were slower, then we would be worried." the nurse replied as she checked the reading of a machine and wrote it down on a clipboard.

JC turned and looked past the curtains towards Laura. He stood at the end of her bed as the nurse pushed back the curtain to gain access to the other side of the bed. He lightly touched her foot which was covered by a thin off white blanket. Tears started to fill his eyes when he noticed the small oxygen tube under her nose and three different IV's in her arms along with various cords that disappeared under the blanket where her stomach was protruding out. He slowly walked up towards the head of the bed and placed his hand just over her belly. It took everything in his being to stop his hand from trembling before he lightly let it rest on her stomach.

JC looked towards Laura face and could see she was in a deep sleep. He moved a few strands of hair from her face and tucked them behind her ear before letting the back of his hand slide down her cheek.  "God, Laura...This is all my fault..." he sobbed.

"She is under a lot of medication so she might not wake up or respond."

JC was startled by the sudden presence of another nurse who had entered the room. JC moved a nearby chair up next to Laura's bed and sat down. He leaned forward and let his chin rest on the edge of the mattress as he looked up at her. He picked up her hand and entwined his fingers with hers. The nurse stood on the other side of the bed and took her blood pressure.

"Hey Donna. How is she doing?"

"Her blood pressure was a little high before. But it's at 130 over 80."

"Good. Good." the doctor said as he looked down at her chart. He looked up and could see JC sitting by her side. "You must be Mr. Chasez."

JC looked over at the doctor and wiped the tears from his eyes before getting up to shake his hand. "I'm doctor Phelps. My daughter has you plastered all over her walls at home."

"Nice to meet you. Is she going to be okay?" he asked as he looked back towards Laura.

"We're still waiting on some test results to come back. We don't know if the pain she is having is due simply to stress or if its Preeclampsia."

"What is Pre...clampsia?"

"Pre-eclampsia is an illness that occurs most often times during pregnancy or immediately after delivery and can affect the mother and the baby. It is quite common, affecting about one in every 10 pregnancies. Woman are at a high risk if it is their first pregnancy or if they are pregnant for the first time by a new partner."

"What is the cause of it?"

"There are differing opinions on the cause, so for the most part it's unknown. But when a woman has it, she develops problems in her circulation, which normally show up as high blood pressure, protein in her urine, swelling, and sharp abdominal pains. For most woman the illness remains mild. But in some cases it becomes serious and affects other parts of the body, such as the liver, brain, lungs or blood clotting system. It can get worse very quickly - and it can be dangerous."

"What could happen to her or the baby if she does in fact have that?"

"The baby may grow slowly or have other problems because he or she can't get enough food or oxygen from the placenta."

JC placed his hand on his head and the other on his hip and began to pace to room.

"Has Ms. Charles been having severe headaches? Rapid heartbeat? Dizziness? Excessive nausea? Ringing or buzzing on her ears? Things of that nature?"

"I really wouldn't know. I haven't seen her in a long time."

"I'm waiting on her doctor to return our page. I was hoping to get as much info as I could from you." the doctor said as he felt around her stomach and applied pressure in different areas. "Do you know if she has been under a lot of stress lately?"

JC watched him carefully and said, "Well, we're both in the same business. And it can get pretty stressful. She's always working, constantly on a deadline from one project to the next. She recently moved here from Florida."

"I'm hoping it's just a simple case of stress. The test results should be back in the next couple hours, so we'll know then."

"This is all my fault."

"Why do you say that?"

JC went and sat down on the chair, letting his head fall into his hands. "We argued right before she was brought here."

"What did you argue about?"

JC didn't want to tell him. "We used to be really close. But before she moved, we were no longer getting along. I was in town with my fiance and a friend of mine bumped into her. I wanted to see how she was doing. She wasn't happy to see me."

The doctor knew there was more to the story, but knew it wasn't his business to pry. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known that this was going to happen. Let's just hope that all this is just a stressful reaction.  I can treat things like that, but Pre-eclampsia is something that really can't be helped."

With that, the doctor finished checking her chart and left JC and Laura alone. JC resumed his position in the chair next to her bed. He snaked his fingers lightly up and down her hand. "I'm just the biggest asshole known to man, Laura. I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm so sorry, baby."

A couple hours later, JC awoke to the sound of a new noise.  It wasn't like any of the other machines that had been beeping, but it was rather a buzzing with a tone that was not pleasing to the hear. He looked over and noticed Laura was still sleeping. A nurse came in and went straight to the machine that was causing all the noise.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything is fine. I just need to replace her fluids with a new bag. This one is almost empty."

JC's stomach was rumbling and growling. The nurse looked over at him and smiled. "You should go down the cafeteria and grab something to eat. She isn't going anywhere."

JC took her advice and ran down to the cafeteria to grab a cup of coffee and a muffin. When he was walking down the hall towards Laura's room, he could hear the nurse talking to another female.  "...He's been here since you were brought in. He's really worried."

As he rounded the corner he could see Laura sitting up and looking over at the nurse while she checked her blood pressure. He lightly knocked on the door to get her attention. She slightly turned her head to see who it was. The nurse smiled and looked back down at her watch.

JC walked into the room slowly and stood at the foot of Laura's bed and just starred at her nervously. She glared back at him before directing her attention back towards the nurse who asked, "Are you still having pains?"

"No. Right now it just feels like I have a cramp in my side."

"That's good. That feeling will go away over the next couple hours. I'm going to go and get Dr. Phelps so he can check you out. I should be back shortly."

Laura thanked her. She and JC were silent as they watched the nurse leave the room and close the door. Laura didn't speak. She turned over on her side with her back towards JC.

"I'm not going to stay." he said.  "The doctor said this may be a stress reaction and I'm sure my being here is causing just that. I just needed to know you were okay."

"Well we're fine, JC. You can go back to your family now."

"Laura..." JC wanted to argue but knew it wouldn't be any helpful to the situation. "I'm going to go. But when you are well enough we need to sit down and discuss what's going to happen after you have the baby. Because I want to be apart of his or her life. I swear to you that I had no idea that you called or wrote me about this. As God is my witness, I was not ignoring you Laura. I don't think I could, even if I tried…"  He waited for her to say something…Anything.  "...And I don't care if you believe me or not, but I really want to be apart of yours...I would love for us to be friends again. And I would hope you do too."

Laura didn't respond. She just looked towards the window. Tears were forming in her eyes.

"I better get going. Hopefully I will talk to you soon?"JC lingered for an answer but knew it was pointless. He started towards the door and suddenly stopped short of opening it. "You had asked me earlier why I showed up at your apartment the way I did...Well I lied about needing to talk to you about that song...The real reason I had to see you was because..." JC took a deep breath and looked back towards Laura whose back was still turned to him. With a quiver in his voice, he said "Somewhere along the way, I think you became home to me...And today I just felt a little homesick."

"Why does he always do this?!" she thought to herself.  "One minute he is a complete and utter asshole and then the next…" She wiped the tears away from her eyes and looked back to respond, but JC had already left the room.