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

     Ashley, Grace and Tom were following the doctor around the hospital’s corridors. The doctor stopped and they could see through a glass window, Kirstin lying on a hospital bed inside this room.

     Ashley placed his hand on the glass, looking tenderly and worried at Kirstin. He didn’t stop staring at Kirstin when the doctor started to talk.

     “Ok. We were able to stop the bleeding. We monitored her and the baby during the whole process.”

     “How is she, doctor?” Grace asked.

     “She’s fine. She is really weak right now because she lost a lot of blood, but she’s fine. Everything is fine with her.”

     “And…” Tom swallowed hard before asking “How’s the baby?” for the first time since he got there, Ashley turned his look from Kirstin to the doctor.

     “Well… it is also fine.” Ashley took a deep breath, relieved, and went back to look at Kirstin “We are still monitoring both Miss Addams and her baby. Miss Addams is out of danger, but the baby’s situation is still fragile. We don’t know how it is gonna be yet. It is fine right now, but the situation can change, because Kirstin’s weak due to the blood lost. And she is what keeps this baby alive.”

     “But… why did this happen? Why did she start bleeding?” Tom asked.

     “Well, we found in her blood a type of salt that can cause the uterus’ walls to weaken. The salt probably came from a medicine she’s taking.” The doctor took a look at Kirstin’s file “But it’s weird, because the level of the salt we found in her blood was really high. The salt, in lower doses, wouldn’t cause the uterus' walls to weaken, but the level is too high.”

     “It’s her stomachache medicine.” Ashley informed, not looking at the doctor.

     “Do you know the name of that medicine?” the doctor asked, ready to take notes.

     “Lexol.” Ashley answered “She’s been taking those since she was in highschool. And she told me that some times her stomachaches were so terrible that she would take 3 pills at once.”

     “Ok.” the doctor wrote the name of the drug done “So, I’m almost certain that’s it. I’m gonna go, because I have some other patients, but I’ll work on her case a little more before I come back. You can all go inside now.” Ashley was already opening the door when the doctor spoke again “I’m sorry, but are any of you relatives?” all the three of them shook their heads “Oh, so, I need the father of the baby to sign this paper here.” the doctor handed the pen to Ashley and showed him the paper.

     “I’m the father of the baby.” Tom took the pen out of Ashley’s hand.

     “I’m sorry.” the doctor apologized and looked at Ashley, who didn’t have a happy face on. While Tom signed the paper, Ashley went inside the room, Grace by his side.

     “Oh, my God.” Grace started to cry when she saw Kirstin’s face. She didn’t look too good. She was pale and it was red below her eyes and her nose, probably because she had been crying the whole time.

     Ashley looked at her and that moment was the first time he burst into tears. He sat on a chair right beside Kirstin’s bed and held her hand. He didn’t say anything. He just stared at her.

     Tom got into the room and started crying too. Grace and Tom were standing at the foot of the bed.

     “Did the doctor say anything else?” Grace asked Tom.

     “Not really.” Tom answered.

     They kept like that, no one saying anything, until a nurse came in. The same female nurse that helped Grace gets Kirstin inside the hospital.

     “Hello. My name is Claire.” this brunette girl around 30 said with a smile on her face.

     “Hello.” the three of them said in unison.

     “Oh, don’t be so sad. She’s fine. And the baby is also fine.” she said, pulling the covers up to Kirstin’s chest “See this?” she pointed to a monitor “This line here is Kirstin’s heart and this one below is the baby’s heart.” the three of them looked up and saw these two lines going up and down.

     “Why is the baby’s heart only 57 while Kirstin’s is 103?” Tom asked.

     “Well, he is really weak right now. Miss Addams lost a lot of blood that was feeding him.”

     “He? Him?” Ashley asked from his seat.

     “Yeah.” the nurse frowned “You don’t know it’s a baby boy?” she looked at Ashley.

     “No!” Tom said, apparently happy.

     “Well, it is.” the nice nurse smiled.

     “I can’t believe it!” Tom smiled big “I’ve always wanted a boy. I prayed it was a boy.”

     “So, it’s your baby then?” Claire asked, and then looked at Ashley puzzled.

     “Yes. It’s mine. A boy!” Tom still had the big smile on.

     “Shhh! Try to keep it down.” the nurse grinned “Miss Addams needs to sleep.”

     “Sorry.” Tom calmed down, but the smile was still on.

     “Ok. I have to go now, I’ll came back later to switch her medication.”

     “Ok. Thanks.” Grace said.

     “Oh, sorry, just one more thing.” the nurse came back “The visitor’s hour is gonna end soon. So, after that, as there are no relatives here, only the father of the baby will be allowed to stay.”