by Jillian Neal
Before Garrett’s eyes, Rainer’s boot landed in Pendergrath’s face, bouncing his head against the ground. He was already cuffed. The bones of his face crushed under the weight of Rainer’s acrimony.
“Dan, please, please it’s me. Listen to me.” Fionna inched closer.
“Fionna, get away from him,” Garrett demanded. Dan’s head jerked spastically towards her voice.
~Rainer Lawson~
“Fionna, keep talking,” Rainer pled as he attempted to move his body to block the girls and keep his pistol aimed at Pendergrath’s head.
“Dan, it’s me. Please,” she broke down. “I love you. I’ve always loved you, and…” she convulsed slightly. Vindico’s head shook. He blinked repeatedly trying to see her.
“Dan, I’m pregnant,” finally fell from her trembling lips.
And as the broad, hate-filled, evil grin spread across Wretchkinsides’ face, Rainer knew his fate was sealed. Every unbearable demand Vindico had made the last few weeks suddenly made perfect sense.
Wretchkinsides would never give Vindico peace, and Vindico wouldn't allow his wife and child to live like that.
Fionna’s plea had been in hopes that Vindico wouldn't kill him in cold blood, but she'd just hammered the nails in his coffin.
Suddenly, Rainer reeled around. He saw Pravus move, though he was bleeding steadily from his gut where Logan had buried two slugs. He still had his gun.
Pravus took weak aim at Fionna’s abdomen and pulled the trigger using his last energy, his last motion, his last breath, to take another life.
“Fionna!” Vindico broke through the mindcast as soon as the gun fired.
Wretchkinsides kicked Vindico’s gun away, and as he watched Fionna crumple forward on the ground, he turned back.
In a horrifying split second, a deep inky black orb formed in Vindico’s hand, and he pulled the very life force out of Dominic Wretchkinsides, killing him instantly.
He threw the black energy against the concrete walls, trying to keep his body from taking it on, and flew to Fionna.
“Oh, God please, Fi, please baby, say something!” he sobbed.
“Dan, the ambulances are right outside.” Adeline moved in.
“Here!” Emily pulled the promethium filled engagement ring from her own finger and shoved it on Fionna’s. “Just please work,” she begged the ether in a terrified whisper.
Rainer watched the blinding green energy surround Vindico and Fionna as they raced out of the basement of the Tantra.
Trauma
Rainer held Emily tightly in his lap in the cold waiting room chair of the trauma unit of Georgetown Hospital. They’d been there for hours. Emily had sobbed steadily for most of them.
Governor Haydenshire paced outside of the room Vindico and Fionna had been inside of since the ambulance had flown to the hospital. Adeline was in there as well.
Will offered Garrett coffee. No one let on that they knew Garrett Haydenshire had sobbed as he’d been driven to the hospital.
Mrs. Haydenshire tried to soothe Emily and Garrett as best as she could, though her own tears welled up constantly.
Will sat steadfast in the waiting room beside Garrett. He was there for his brother and there for Vindico, though no one knew what was happening on the other side of the concrete walls.
All of the Angels sat in the waiting room with tears spilling down their faces as they tried to comfort one another. The Stylers had been called and sat with morose expressions quietly in the corner.
No one was willing to tell them that Fionna was pregnant or what had happened.
Governor and Mrs. Vindico were situated near Mrs. Haydenshire, although no one had informed them of Fionna’s pregnancy, either.
Kara, Vindico’s sister, and her husband Zach were sipping coffee quietly as they stood watching the door to the operating room.
Garrett’s cell phone rang. The sound startled everyone anxiously awaiting news of any kind. Clearing his throat in a feeble attempt to sound like he hadn’t been crying, Garrett answered.
“Hey, man, are you here?” He nodded. “Yeah, we’re on the third floor, Trauma Unit. We’re all out here in the waiting area. No, he hasn’t been out, and no one’s been allowed in.” Garrett blinked back another round of tears.
“Yeah, just tell them you have no comment, I guess. See you in a few.” Garrett ended the call. “Fitzroy’s cab just pulled up. The press is swarming out there. He’s on his way up.”
Governor Vindico edged closer to Governor Haydenshire as he took the seat beside his wife. “I know there’s more to this than what I’ve been told, Stephen.”
Governor Haydenshire gave a defeated nod. “Yes, Arthur, but you’re going to have to wait to talk to Daniel. I’m sorry.”
“Well, I just don’t understand what she was thinking. Why did she go out there?” Mrs. Vindico demanded hotly.
Fury washed over Mrs. Haydenshire’s features. “She went out there because she loves him, Marion, and she was terrified! Now, why don’t we all take a deep breath and wait to hear what we can all do to help Fionna and Daniel recover from whatever might’ve happened.”
Pulling her face into a scowl Mrs. Vindico crossed her arms over her chest in a pout.
Fitzroy appeared off of the elevator. “Still no word?” He dragged a chair over to Will and Garrett.
Governor Vindico offered Fitzroy his hand.
Fitz smiled consolingly as he shook the Governor’s hand.
Rainer cradled Emily tenderly, but he kept a close constant watch on Logan. He hadn’t spoken since he’d killed Pravus, but Rainer knew the harrowing reality of what he’d done was still settling on him.
Garrett shook his head, but Fitzroy studied him closely.
“Wanna take a walk down to the Coke machine? I talked to Dan yesterday,” he elaborated, and Rainer understood Vindico must’ve told Fitz that he suspected that Fionna was pregnant. Fitzroy seemed to have figured out that Garrett could confirm the suspicion.
~Dan Vindico~
His hands were still shaking. He couldn’t make them stop. Her beautiful body was laid out open before him. Gloved hands moved in and out of her. Dan couldn’t make sense of it. He couldn’t see. His eyes burned with some kind of liquid fire that he didn’t understand.
He tried to remember. He needed to feel the horrifying pain. He deserved it. It was the only thing that grounded him to what was happening. Maybe he was losing his mind. Maybe that would be better than this.
“I’m losing her pulse again! The oxygen isn’t working. Her body is rejecting something. We’re losing her!”
A dry, convulsive sob, broke from Dan’s lungs. He jerked his body back away from Fionna. My God, I’m killing her. He’d summoned black. He remembered now. He could feel some remnant of the dark energy in his own.
If they managed to save her he could never be around her. He had to leave. He didn’t deserve her anyway. That’s what her body was rejecting-- him. How could he have been so stupid?
“Dan! No!” Adeline’s screech shook through him. “Don’t do that! Look!”
Tension and Explanations
~Garrett Haydenshire~
“Hey, I’m not trying to intrude, but Dan told me he thought she was pregnant and keeping it from him,” Fitz whispered as soon as they were out of earshot of the waiting crowd.
Garrett nodded his confirmation, praying that Fionna wouldn’t mind. Feeling the need to talk flood his body, he let his eyes close in defeat.
“Well, I doubt if she is now, actually.”
Fitzroy’s hand reached and steadied Garrett. He hadn’t understood why the hospital had started to spin.
“Whoa.” He held him solidly until Garrett had regained the ability to stand upright. “You’re all right. Deep breaths.” Fitz put several dollars in the vending machines and plied him with a Dr. Pepper. The sugar and the extra energy did help.
“I’m not sure if I’m more stunned that Dan finally took him down, or because of all the evil they caused on their
way out.”
Suddenly remembering how Pravus had been ended, Garrett panicked. He needed to talk to Logan. He needed to make certain that his little brother was going to be okay. Watching a guy bleed out from a trigger you pulled changed a man, and Garrett needed Logan to know that he understood.
Fitz and Garrett walked slowly back into the waiting area. The elevator opened, and Garrett’s mouth dropped. “Jarred, what the hell are you doing here? This is not a good time.”
“Hey, it’s all over the news. I just wanted to make sure she was all right,” Jarred pled.
Garrett summoned and switched on the TV mounted in one corner of the room. He pushed the channels upward until he reached a Gifted news network.
There it was, blaring across the screen. Dozens upon dozens of news vans were in the shot taken from the front of Georgetown Hospital.
Fionna Styler, lead Receiver for the Arlington Angels, in critical condition was scrolling along the bottom of the screen constantly.
A female reporter stepped in front of a camera, adjusting her lapel mic and offering a fake air of concern as she began her newscast.
Garrett felt his muscles cinch of their own accord as he braced to learn what the press knew.
“This is Sharon Palaver of Realm News reporting. We’re bringing you up to date with what we know to the minute, folks. So keep your sets summoned here.”
“To review what we know, we have confirmed that Iodex was responsible for a hostile takedown at the Non-Gifted Gentlemen’s club, called the Tantra, today. Involved in that takedown was Dominic Wretchkinsides and numerous members of the Interfeci crime organization. Gifted police precincts in Arlington and D.C. have confirmed that Wretchkinsides did not survive the take down, nor did Vladimar Pravus, known gun and drug runner for the Interfeci. We can also confirm that over thirty members of the Interfeci crime organization were taken to Coriolis late this afternoon.”
“Now, we get to the confusing part folks,” she feigned regret. “We are stationed outside of Georgetown hospital where numerous police and Iodex officers are being treated for injuries they sustained in the takedown today. We have also learned that two officers from the Arlington precinct have been confirmed dead, but Iodex will not release the names until their families have been contacted.”
Garrett felt his heart sink as he thought of the men they’d lost. “However, Ms. Fionna Styler, famed Receiver for the Arlington Angels, did arrive by ambulance coming from the Tantra, though we still haven’t gotten confirmation on why she was there. And this story has more questions than answers at this point unfortunately, Jim, but when Ms. Styler arrived, she was carried in by Chief of Iodex Officer, Daniel Vindico. He informed the awaiting surgical team that he was her boyfriend and that he wasn’t leaving her side. He was taken into the operating room with Ms. Styler. Now, this was news to us all as Fionna Styler has been linked with the Crown Governor’s son, Garrett Haydenshire, for the past several months.”
“This is unconfirmed as well, but upon interviewing one of the ambulance drivers, it appears that Miss Styler is being treated for a gunshot wound to the abdomen. I can also tell you that when Miss Styler arrived at Georgetown there was a Gifted Obstetric Emergency Surgical unit waiting to assist hospital chief of staff, Medio Harrison Sawyer. We can confirm that Miss Styler was listed as pregnant when she was taken in. Whether or not the baby is former boyfriend Garrett Haydenshire’s or current boyfriend Daniel Vindico’s I cannot tell you. But we will stay here until we can provide the Realm with the information they deserve.” Palaver signed off.
Garrett’s head fell as everyone stared at the television in stunned disbelief. He hadn’t really considered the fact that the majority of the people awaiting news of Fi hadn’t known she was pregnant.
“Arthur.” Mrs. Vindico came completely unglued before everyone’s eyes. “Make them stop saying that. It isn’t true! What will people say?”
To Garrett’s shock, fury lit through Kara like he’d never seen before. Zach tried to halt her march towards her mother, but she jerked away from his grasp.
“Just shut up, mother!” she shrieked. “Just shut up! It doesn’t matter what people say! It matters that Dan is in there completely devastated, and that Fionna might not survive. And the baby! I can’t imagine how it would have survived a gunshot, but the very last thing that matters is what other people think!” Her body trembled in her anger.
She spun into Zach’s chest and began sobbing convulsively.
“You knew she was expecting,” Mrs. Vindico whispered the word as if it were a disease.
Kara clung to Zach’s shirt as she turned back and glared at her mother. “Dan came by the house a week ago. He was a disaster. He was so worried about Fionna. She was scared to tell him,” Kara threw at her mother. “And she was scared to tell him because of you!”
Governor Haydenshire stepped in. “Zachary, son, why don’t you take Kara for a nice slow walk. Everything is going to be okay, sweetheart,” the Governor promised Kara.
Zach nodded his agreement as he slowly turned Kara and guided her down the hallway sobbing.
“Well, maybe everyone will assume the baby is yours,” Mrs. Vindico decided as she gestured her head to Garrett.
Rolling his eyes, Garrett didn’t give a damn who the Realm thought the baby belonged to. He just needed Fionna to be okay.
But Mrs. Haydenshire seemed to have had enough. She stood and moved in front of Mrs. Vindico. “You know Marion, I’ve kept my mouth shut for many, many years now on Daniel’s account when it came to you, but I think it’s high time I spoke up.” Every eye in the room was on her.
Governor Haydenshire knew better than to try and stop her so he stood steadfast by her side. “Your son is one of the finest young men I’ve ever known, Marion! Not that you ever gave him credit for anything that wasn’t your idea. Now he has been through hell at the hands of Dominic Wretchkinsides, for no other reason than the fact that he is a good person and wanted to do what was right. But you chose to sweep all of his efforts, all of his horrendous pain under the rug, because it wasn’t how you’d envisioned his life working out. Well guess what! This isn’t how Daniel envisioned his life either!”
“But right now, he is in that room clinging to the love of his life, willing her to live, and praying desperately for the child they created together out of their love. And you’re sitting out here worrying about what the Realm will think when they find out that his girlfriend is pregnant!”
Her tone turned derisive as she continued. “I’m certain everyone in the entire Realm will be thoroughly shocked. Daniel Vindico is thirty-two years old and involved in a loving relationship with a women he adores more than life itself. And she loves him so much she couldn’t bear to think about what might be happening to him, so she flew to his side today because she didn’t want him to face the demons she knew he would face today all alone,” Mrs. Haydenshire choked.
With another deep breath she went on. “So I’m sure that the Realm will be thoroughly shocked to learn that Daniel and Fionna have sex!”
Broad grins spread across most of the faces in the room as they continued to watch the first lady’s diatribe. “Please, Marion, for the sake of your son, for the sake of the woman that he wants to spend the rest of his life with, please stop worrying about what the Realm will think and start worrying about Daniel!” Mrs. Haydenshire roared her conclusion.
Stunned outrage etched Mrs. Vindico’s face. “Well, Lillian, I feel certain that you would feel differently if one of your boys had gotten a girl into trouble.”
“First of all, Marion, Fionna isn’t in trouble. She’s in love. And if that were the case, dear, I would be just about the biggest hypocrite in the Realm,” Mrs. Haydenshire vowed adamantly as she threw her hand out to Will.
Eyes goggled around the room. “Thanks, Mom,” Will blushed violently, and Garrett couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I’ve never been spoken to so rudely! We’re leaving, Arthur,” Mrs. Vindico demanded righte
ously.
All eyes turned to Governor Vindico. “You can leave if you’d like Marion, but I’m not leaving. I’m not going to leave Dan here to deal with all of this alone. I won’t allow him to face any more pain alone, Marion.”
“He’s my son, and it’s high time we stood by him. And I will be here to assure Fionna that we couldn’t have loved her more if she’d been ours, and that nothing would make me happier than for she and Dan to work through their pain together and for her to become his wife. And if by some miracle they save the baby, then I will assure both of them how proud and overjoyed we are to have another grandchild.”
Answers
Before Mrs. Vindico could reply, the door to Fionna’s room opened.
Medio Sawyer exited, followed by Adeline and teams of other Medios and nurses.
Everyone stood in the endless moment of desperation. Adeline flew to Logan. Garrett watched his little brother, who’d been lost and despondent since they’d arrived at the hospital, appear to come back to life at Adeline’s touch.
“Daddy,” Chloe pled as renewed tears poured from her eyes.
“It will be touch and go for the next twenty-four hours, but I believe Fionna will make a full recovery, sweetheart. As long as she stays with Officer Vindico, that is. When he let her go, we lost her momentarily.” Medio Sawyer said the words that carried blood back to Garrett’s heart and air back to his lungs.
“We were unable to save the baby,” he concluded morosely.
Emily sobbed violently in Rainer’s arms. Mrs. Haydenshire’s chin trembled as the Governor wrapped her up tightly in his arms.
“I didn’t know. She didn’t tell me,” Chloe tried to explain.
“She wasn’t very far along, Chloe. Less than seven weeks. I’m sure she was frightened,” Medio Sawyer soothed before he turned to the waiting crowd.
“Dan and Fionna will be seeing a very few visitors at this point, and Dan will be determining who sees her and how long they stay.” Sawyer explained to the waiting crowd, what Garrett was certain had been Dan’s orders.