by Andromeda
"Please Lord," I whisper in prayer. "Please let him make it."
Taking a deep breath to collect myself, I walk back into the OR and stop dead in my tracks. Mr. Mathews stands there with his gun pointed at Pearl, tears in her eyes. David and Kenny stand with their hands up.
"Stop trying to fix him," he says slowly.
"I can't do that," she whispers.
Marcus appears at my side. "Hey! Mr. Mathews, stop this please."
Pearl and the boys use this a distraction to begin working back on Giovanni, but Mr. Mathews shoots his gun in the ceiling in warning.
"That man is the only one that I want dead," he says. "But if you keep interfering then I'll shoot you, then the woman, and then the other two."
He points his gun back at Pearl, and I can't hold back anymore.
"Mr. Mathews, please!" I cry, leaping forward. "If you're going to shoot anyone...shoot me."
"Mala..." Pearl hisses in warning.
"No!" I say, shaking my head. "You want justice, then shoot me. That man on the table is my boyfriend and...I remember Shelly, I was the intern who was supposed to watch her, I was the intern who promised her that she would wake up and see her.”
“You lied,” he whispers. “You lied to both her and me.”
“And I’m sorry for it,” I say. “I am so, so, so, sorry. I didn’t lie, I tried to keep my promise, but my own child was rushed to the hospital, she needed her mother. I couldn’t leave my little girl alone and so I made a choice: I chose my daughter. So if you want to kill anyone then, then kill me.”
Mr. Mathews considers this, looking in my eyes before he turns away from Giovanni and points the gun at me, cocking it. “I lost my daughter because of you…”
I close my eyes, waiting for the bullet as I whisper a soft prayer of forgiveness. I remember that day unlike any other. It was one of my first surgeries three years ago, and I had promised Shelly I would be there for her. But Robyn needed me, she had a burst appendix and I had to leave Shelly to get to my baby.
When I found out that Shelly had died, I tossed and turned for days, unable to find solace in sleep because I thought, that maybe if I had stayed with her, then maybe Shelly would be alive today. I later found out that her blood was too thin because of all the medications she was on and her organs to damaged; but I still blamed myself for what had happened on myself.
"Wait!" Pearl suddenly cries out. "She's pregnant. Would you shoot a pregnant woman?"
Mr. Matthews looks at me in surprise, shock covering his face as he takes in this new information. Apparently he has morals, because he slowly begins to lower his gun but then Marcus lunges for him.
BANG!
Marcus falls to the ground as the gun goes off.
"HEY!" David yells. "Over here!” Mr. Mathews does, and David points to the monitor. "With a few moments his heart will stop because his lungs will fill up with blood.”
We all looking at the monitor, no one moving, no one breathing as we wait. Beep...beep...beeeeep...beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...
"NO!" I scream, dropping to my knees and crying my heart out. “NO GIOVANNI!”
"It's over," Pearl says. "You can leave now...let her mourn."
Mr. Mathews looks at me with almost sad eyes, and then slips away.
"Ok, he's gone," David says.
We watch as they put the heart monitors back on his chest, and a strong heartbeat fills the room. I wipe my tears in realization. They tricked him, they tricked him in order to get him to leave and get us all out of danger.
Getting up, I run over to Marcus and drop to his side, checking him over. "Marc?"
He opens his eyes. "Am I dead? If so, where is Remy?"
I laugh. "You're perfectly fine. The bullet barely missed you."
"Thank God," he murmurs, dropping his head back.
"Let’s finish this, guys," Pearl says.
********************************
Giovanni
I'm floating in an endless pool of darkness, a pool that is both soothing and worrying. How long have I been here? Can I leave? Where is Malaika? Where is our baby? A light appears at the end of the pool, and I feel drawn toward it.
"GIO!" a distant voice says. "GIO, YOU CAN'T DIE!"
That voice...I know that voice...
"Gio, please wake up..."
"Mala, he's been out for a long time...maybe we should..."
"NO!" the familiar voice snaps. "I will not do it! Please Gio, come back to me..."
How long have I been gone? Why is she screaming for me to come back? I need my angel...the light...I can't swim toward the light!
Taking a deep breath, I begin to swim in the opposite direction, summoning all my strength.
My eyes suddenly fly open, and I'm blinded by the bright lights above me. Am I in heaven? Slowly I roll my head, and I realize that I'm in a hospital room, and then I see her. Cuddling up on a couch covered with a blanket, she looks peaceful in sleep.
"M...Mala?" I croak.
Instantly, her eyes snap open and she looks at me. "Gio..."
I smile at her. "My angel..."
As she gets up, my eyes fasten onto her belly and my jaw drops. It's huge! How long have I been out? I look at the calendar and my heart freezes. It's August 20th. But...the last date I remember was April 20th. It can't be September, unless...I've been out for four months…
Chapter Twenty: Baby Won't You Come My Way...
Malaika
The doors open at my approach to the hospitals. Standing still for a moment, I survey the scene before me. Children being carried by their parents, doctors talking to nurses, and husbands helping their panting wives to the L&D department. It's hard to imagine that almost 5 months ago, this place was hell. Bodies littering the ground, bullet holes in the walls, the whimpering of a person begging for his or her life. Try as I might, I can't forget.
Movement in my belly distracts me; looking down, I smile and place my hand on top of it. Only three-and-a-half before I greet a new little person. My baby or maybe even babies. I can't wait to meet it, or them. I was so worried that I almost lost it's/their father.
When Pearl finished the surgery, we are about to wheel him into recovery when his body begins to seize. Turns out when he fell back from getting shot, he hit his head so hard on the ground that it caused an aneurysm. Calling a neurosurgeon, they worked carefully but the swelling in his brain stopped the blood flow in some parts of his body. They turned to me, saying that they could put him into a medically-induced coma to help his brain and body heal.
Four months. Four months he laid still like a corpse, sometimes coding, but we always brought him back. Four months, that's how long I went without feeling his touch or kisses. Four months, that's how long it's been since I found out that I was pregnant. OB-GYN calculated it that I was about a month pregnant before the shooting, but I'm huge! I could pass for nine. Walking up to recovery, the nurses smile when they see me and then zero in on my belly.
"Damn girl!" Sally, the head nurse says. "You're as big as a house!"
"Thanks Sally," I mock-grumble. "You really know how to make a girl feel special."
They all laugh, me included, before walking around and after asking permission, rub my belly.
"How many?" they ask.
"I...don't know," I say. "But I'm guessing just one."
"Pa-leeze," a nurse named Erin snorts. "The way Mr. Rinaldi has been tapping that...I'm guessing three."
"I'm guessing four," another nurse says.
"I'm guessing five."
"Girls!" I laugh, my sides aching. "Kind of starting to scare me here."
"You'll be fine, girl," Sally says. "But just know that Mr. Rinaldi won't be able to keep his hands off you now. Well...as if you could keep his hands off you before."
I blush. "Why do you say that?"
"Because..." she teases. "Men go crazy when their woman is pregnant. I remember when my Billy found out I was. Girl, we did it till the cows came home! One time, when I was about 7 m
onths, we..."
"Ok!" I say, cutting before she can continue. "While I'd love to listen to your sex stories about when you were carrying another living being, I'm here to pick up Giovanni."
"Thank God!" a janitor grumbles, passing by.
I raise an eyebrow and look at the nurses.
Sally laughs. "Yeah um...Mr. Rinaldi has been a little bit of trouble..."
"Trouble how?" I ask.
She holds up her fingers, counting down: three...two...one...
CRASH!
I turn my head as a tray of food comes shooting out of a room like it's been shot out of a cannon, crashing into a wall that I just realized is heavily stained.
My jaw drops. "Is that..."
"Yep," Erin says, popping the 'p'.
"I HATE APPLESAUCE!" a voice roars.
They all look at me pleadingly and I giggle, walking up to the door. He stands by the bed, his back to me as he fixes his clothes.
"I don't know, I've always liked applesauce," I say, teasing him.
He turns to me, his eyes softening before resting on my belly.
"Mia angela," he breathes. "Il mio bambino."
Smiling, I walk over and press his hand to my belly. "Il nostro bambino."
He pulls me close, kissing me deeply, the passion that I've missed for so long sparking between us. However, I pull away before it goes too far.
"Have you been treating the nurses well?" I ask.
He mutters under his breath in Italian while I giggle and playfully slap him upside the head. "Asshole."
"But I'm your asshole, baby," he whispers, pulling me close for another kiss.
********************************
Giovanni
I missed everything about her: the sound of her laugh, the way she smells, the taste of her lips, and so forth; and now as I look at her, she's glowing. Her body is still perfect, even if she looks as big as a casa.
I admit, I was shocked when I first woke up and saw her belly; I didn't even know she was pregnant. Wait...no, that's a lie, yes I did. She told me before I went under for my surgery. I'm so happy she didn't lose this one because of her stress, and then she told me about me being in a coma. That man...Mr. Mathews...I asked her what happened to him and her face twisted up in pain.
"He shot himself," she told me in one of her visits. "He said that he wanted to be with his daughter."
I told her I was sorry, but...I couldn't say that I felt it in my heart to forgive him. He almost killed her, killed our unborn. It's going to take me a while to forget and forgive.
After I woke up, I stayed in the hospital for another good 2 weeks, just to make sure everything was perfect. I know I was hard on the nurses; I know I was an asshole, but I'll make it up to them.
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I feel movement in her belly and a smile splits my face. "He's moving..."
She raises an eyebrow. "He?"
"My son," I say proudly.
"What makes you think it's a boy?"
"Because Rinaldis always have boys first."
She rolls her eyes and I chuckle. "So my love, where are we going?"
"I have an appointment with the OB," she says. "Before we go home. Want to come with me?"
"Of course," I say, nodding. I've missed 5 months of appointments—I sure as hell am going now.
It doesn't take it long to reach the maternity ward. It's on the same floor as Glitterland, but on the opposite side of the building. That too has the best funding money can buy, and they sure as hell better take care of the most important people in my life.
"Alright Mala," the OB says as Malaika hops on the table. "Roll up your shirt and let's see what we have here."
Nodding, I watch as she pulls up her shirt as instructed. The OB gets some weird blueish-jelly and smears it on her belly. Taking the ultrasound machine, she moves it along, typing on the computer.
Lub-bub...lub-bub...lub-bub....
The sound of healthy heartbeat fills the air. My own freezes in my chest as I see the moments of a tiny body: yawning...stretching...cuddling. Tears prickle my eyes; I never cry. I didn't even cry when Brittany showed me Rosie, but then again Rosie wasn't mine. I feel Malaika's hand grasp mine and she smiles up at me.
"You ok?" she asks.
"Y...yeah," I choke, wiping my eyes. "Just got a...little dust in them."
"Mmmhmm sure," she snorts.
"Perfect like always," the OB says. "Your babies will be fine."
My jaw drops. "Wait what?"
The OB looks from me to Malaika, and then back again. "She didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?" I ask, looking back at Malaika, who is shyly smiling.
"You're having more than one," the OB says.
I about faint. More than one? I knew Malaika and I had a lot of sex, but damn! Then my cocky nature comes back and I smirk. I hit it good.
"Gio," Malaika suddenly says, snapping me from my thoughts. "Stop thinking dirty."
"Can you blame me?" I ask, leaning down to kiss her before turning back to the OB. "What are we having?"
"Well, let's see," she says, turning back to the machine. "You are having..."
********************************
Malaika
"Well let's see," the OB-GYN says, turning back to the machine. "You are having..."
I hold my breath as she looks, and then she turns back and smiles.
"You have having triplets: two boys and one girl."
CRASH!
I jump and whip my head to the side to see Giovanni sprawled on his back. He fainted! I can't help but laugh! He fainted! The great and mighty Giovanni Rinaldi fainted!
A couple moments later he comes to, looking around dazed.
"M...Mala?" he groans. "Ow, my head. I had a nightmare that the OB told us that...we're having triplets."
"We are," I say as she cleans off my belly. "Two boys and one girl."
The OB-GYN prints off a picture and hands it to me. I smile at it, seeing the three little life forms that I'm carrying inside me. Giovanni looks at it as if it's made of rubies and gold, his eyes tearing up again.
"Gio?" I whisper softly.
He looks up and pulls me close, kissing me passionately and deeply. For a moment I'm lost, unable to pull away...and then I remember we are in a doctor's office and I do, with great reluctance.
"I...I should take you back home," I stammer.
He nods and we walk to the car. When he sees it, he frowns. "No."
"Huh?" I'm confused.
"No way in hell are you driving a car and are so far in carrying my children."
I cross my arms, rolling my eyes. "I'm fine, Gio! How did you think I got here?"
He grits his teeth, but I'm not having it. Glaring at him unblinkingly, he finally relents and gets in the car. The ride is quick and he helps me out and up the stairs.
"Rosie is with Robyn at daycare," I say, closing the door.
"Good," he says, turning to me. “Then we can make up for lost time…”
Before I can react he pulls me close, his lips smashing against mine.
********************************
Giovanni
Without her, my stay in that hospital was torture! Five months without her? Well, time to make up for lost time. Picking her up in my arms, I run the stairs. Gently laying her on the bed, I begin to take off my clothes. She follows suit.
When she's fully naked, my eyes widen. Goddess. That's the first word that pops into my head as she stands before me. A Jamaican Goddess. My eyes roam over her thick, lush curves, starting at her large breasts, traveling down further to her round stomach Jamaican Goddess where our children reside. I can't help but admire how she still has her figure even though she's carrying triplets. I look at her thick and beautiful thighs and lick my lips; the thought of them parted and around my hips is making me drool.
Crossing the room in two strides, I kiss her passionately and deeply, my tongue seeking hers. She sighs, wrapping her tongue around mine as I move so t
hat she's on top. Slowly, she slides down on me, making me groan.
"Dannazione..." I groan when I'm fully inside her.
She feels so good...her warmth is welcoming, inviting, and it makes me feel one with her.
She throws her head back, her hands on my chest as she rocks. I grasp her hips, guiding her.
"Gio..." she breathes. "Oh....Gio..."
"That's it, baby," I whisper as I begin to move my hips with her rocking. "Say my name...say my name..."
She chuckles. "W...why do you sound like Destiny's Child song?"
I laugh. I'm lost as wave upon wave of pleasure and passion washes over me.
"Fanculo...." I groan, raising myself so I can move faster.
Flipping us over, I begin to slam into her, gripping the back of the bed but careful so that my weight isn't on her stomach.
She moans louder and I wrap her legs around my waist. Moaning as I move faster and faster, deeper and deeper inside her; her moans melt into cries of pleasure, and she throws her head back as she claws at my back.
"Yes Gio...." she cries. "Oh yes...yes...yes...don't stop...oh please don't stop...."
Panting, I grip the back of the bed as I thrust harder and faster, my climax getting closer and closer. I look at her, smiling as I look at her writhing with pleasure, screaming my name over and over again. She tightens her face, and I smirk as I see her struggle to keep from climaxing, but I feel that she's losing the battle.
She throws back her head, crying out my name at the top of her lungs as she climaxes. At the sound of her, at the feel of her inner walls clamping tight around me, my own body responds. Shouting her own name, I pour into her, before rolling off her body with a soft groan, panting heavily. I feel her trace patterns on my back and slowly raise my head up. Smiling, I kiss her lightly on the lips. No words have to be said. Our bond is back.
Without saying a word, I pull the covers up over us, resting my head on the swell of her breasts as I let sweet sleep overtake me, listening to the lullaby of her heart. Yep...I'm home.
Chapter Twenty-One: A Question of Doubt
Malaika
"Jonny...open your mouth..."
"No!"
I put my hands on my hips, tapping my foot with an arched eyebrow. Jonny, my patient, is being difficult like usual. It's time for his medicine and he refuses to take it. Not that I blame the kid; the stuff is ghastly.