NEW YORK CITY, NY – HOSPITAL – MAR. 16TH, 2002 – SATURDAY

     Grace stopped the car in front of the hospital doors. She got out and headed straight inside.

     “Can someone please help me? I’ve got a pregnant woman in my car and she’s bleeding. I need someone to help me get her out of the car.” Grace screamed to no one in particular and, immediately, 1 male and another female nurse came running, following Grace to her car.

     “What happened?” the male nurse asked as he put Kirstin’s right arm around his neck and carried a screaming Kirstin inside the hospital.

     “I don’t know. One minute, she was sitting and everything was fine. The other, she was up, screaming and bleeding. I don’t know… I…” Grace started to shake her head. She didn’t know what the problem was. She was so confused.

     “Ok, ma’am. Just be calm.” the female nurse was trying to calm Grace down “What’s your name, sweetie?” she asked Kirstin, who was just screaming and crying.

     “Kirstin. Kirstin Addams.” Grace answered for her friend, seeing that Kirstin was in no condition to answer anything at that moment.

     The male nurse placed Kirstin on a gurney, while the female one went to get a doctor.

     “Please, don’t let anything happen with my baby.” for the first time, Kirstin was able to talk. After she said that, the screams and the crying took over her once again.

     “We’ll do everything possible to prevent that, ma’am.” the male nurse said.

     A doctor approached and asked the nurses in charge what was the problem. They told them what they knew and they started to transport her gurney, Grace always behind them. The female nurse stopped and told Grace she was not allowed in that part of the hospital. So Grace was left behind.
Only at that moment, Grace was able to start crying. She had to be strong for her and for Kirstin while she was in her company. She didn’t want to scare Kirstin, she wanted to make her friend feel secure, if that was possible. But now that Kirstin was no where in sight, she couldn’t pretend anymore. She was worried. Too worried. What if something happened to the baby? Worse, what if something happened to Kirstin?

     She looked at her watch. It was noon. Ashley was probably in the airplane. She wouldn’t be able to call him. So she called the other person who should also be there.

 

     After what seemed to have been 10 minutes, Grace saw Tom run inside the hospital and head straight to get information from a nurse. She called out his name and he went straight in her direction.

     “What happened? How’s Kirstin? How’s the baby?” Tom asked, worry clear in his face.

     “I don’t know.” Grace was still crying “They just carried her inside and I haven’t heard from the doctor ever since.”

     “Oh, My God. Grace, for God’s sake, what happened? Why is she here?”

     “I don’t know what happened. We woke up, everything was fine, then, she started bleeding.”

     “She was bleeding?” Tom screamed. Grace just nodded and cried even more “Oh, my God. Please, God, don’t let anything happen to them. Please, God.” Tom put both his hands together and stared up.

 

     “Excuse me.” a nurse came near them “Are you two with Kirstin Addams?” she asked kindly.

     “Yes!” the two, who were sitting, answered in unison.

     “I would need one of you to fill out this form for me, please. With Miss Addams’ information.”

     “I’ll do that.” Grace said, taking the paper from the nurse’s hand.

     “When you’re done, just hand it back to me. I’ll be right over there.” the nurse pointed to the reception.

     “Ok. Thank you.” Grace tried to put on a smile, but wasn’t able to.

    

     Grace filled out the paperwork and handed it back to the nurse after 10 minutes. Then she went to sit back on a chair next to Tom.

     “What time is it already?” Tom asked Grace.

     “It’s 2:15. Oh, my God! Is that the time? I have to go call Ashley!”

     “What?” Tom looked at her.

     “I have to call Ashley.”

     “He doesn’t know already?”

     “No. He was coming to New York today and when all this happened, he was probably in the airplane, so I couldn’t call him. But he was supposed to get here at 2 or 3, so I’m gonna try his cell phone now. I’ll be right back, ok?”

     “Yeah…”

 

     Grace took Kirstin’s purse and headed to a corner near the restrooms. She got Kirstin’s cell phone out of her purse and searched for Ashley’s cell phone number.

     “Hey, baby.” she heard a voice say after 7 rings.

     “Ashley! Thank God, I thought you weren’t gonna answer it.”

     “Who’s this?” Ashley asked confused. He saw Kirstin’s number on his caller-id but he was hearing someone else’s voice.

     “It’s Grace.”

     “Oh, hey, Grace.” then it hit Ashley. Grace was calling from Kirstin’s cell phone. Something was wrong “What happened?” he immediately asked.

     “Ashley…” Grace start to say, trying hard to hide from Ashley that she was crying, but her voice was too shakey “I’m at the hospital right now. Sacred Heart Hospital. At 6th avenue.”

     “Kirstin. Something happened to Kirstin. What happened to Kirstin?” Grace could notice the tension in his voice and then she heard he say to someone else, probably to a taxi driver ‘Sacred Heart. 6th avenue.’

     “I don’t know how she is, Ashley. Just get here. When you do, we’ll talk.”

     “Please, Grace. What’s going on?” Ashley’s voice was shakey now too.

     “I don’t know.” Grace cried even harder “They brought her inside and I haven’t heard from them yet.”

     “But what happened? Why is she at a hospital?”

     “She was bleeding, Ashley.” Grace wiped some tears away “She was bleeding a lot.”

     “Oh, my God. Ok. I’m coming. Please, if you hear anything from the doctor, call me, alright? I don’t know how long it will take for me to get there.”

     “Ok. I will. Bye.”

 

     Kirstin looked at her watch. It was 2:35 and Ashley still hadn’t gotten there.

     “What is taking Ashley so long?” Grace asked.

     “Probably traffic.” Tom answered. He was now pacing around.

     “But it’s Saturday! There shouldn’t be traffic!” Grace exclaimed.

     “Then I don’t know.”

     “Oh, thank God!” Grace got up as soon as she saw Ashley enter the hospital with his bags.

     “Any news?” he said after dropping his bags and hugging Grace.

     “No.” Grace was calmer. She wasn’t crying anymore “Nothing yet.”

     “Hey.” Ashley raised his brows to Tom and Tom did the same.

     “Hey, man.”

     “Where’s the nurse? I wanna talk to the nurse.”

     “That one helped us out when we got here.” Grace pointed to where the male nurse was.

     “Ok. Stay here. I’ll see if I can find something out.” Ashley trailed to the male nurse.

     “Why didn’t you tell me the nurse was right there? I would have gone to talk to him myself!” Tom said to Grace angrily. Grace didn’t answer him. She wasn’t gonna help Tom start this little macho-fight with Ashley to see who cared most about Kirstin and the baby. She just sat down again.

     After a couple of minutes, Ashley came back.

     “So?” Tom approached him.

     “He said that Kirstin is sleeping now. They took care of the bleeding. But he can’t really tell us how she and the baby are. The doctor will come talk to us soon. After that, we’ll be able to see her.”

     “Oh, good!” Grace breathed relieved.

     “Yeah…” Ashley sat down beside Grace.

     The three of them stood in silence.

     “Are you with Kirstin Addams?” a male doctor asked Grace and Ashley who were sitting, looking down. Tom approached them the minute he heard the doctor speak.

     “Yes!” Ashley answered and stood up. So did Grace.

     “Will you come with me, please?” the doctor asked and led Ashley, Grace and Tom to Kirstin’s room.