Out Of The Friend Zone (29 page)

"She can't be dead," Chandler moaned.

"Come on. We need to get to the hospital," Zaiden said, pulling Chandler off the floor. He put one arm around Chandler to keep him steady, then his other arm went around Nyla.

Somehow, Chandler made it into the passenger seat of his SUV, with Zaiden driving and Nyla sitting in the back seat. He drove to the hospital at breakneck speed as Chandler looked out the window, remembering the night he lost Brooklyn.

Then another thought hit - a worse thought, if such a thing were possible. "Our baby," he whispered. "What about our baby?"

They pulled up to the emergency room of the hospital and Chandler jumped out of the vehicle before it came to a stop. He ran into the ER and frantically asked for Brynn Chase. The nurse told him that she would get the doctor, and motioned for them to sit in the waiting room.

"But this can't wait!" Chandler insisted, trying to muscle his way back.

Zaiden held him back. "Come this way and sit down," he ordered, in a voice that was not to be brokered with. Chandler started to cry again, and let Zaiden lead him. Once in the waiting room, Chandler paced anxiously, thinking the worst.

Not long after, a man in a white lab coat and green scrubs walked in. "Chandler Tiller?"

Chandler looked up. "That's me."

The man stuck his hand out for Chandler to shake. "I'm Dr. Miner. I was the doctor on duty when Ms. Chase was brought in. Luckily, her OBGYN was here, passing through and recognized her. We got your name out of her doctor's files as an emergency contact," the doctor explained.

"What happened?"

"Ms. Chase was in a serious car accident. From the way we heard it from the paramedics, Ms. Chase's vehicle was t-boned on the passenger side, and the airbags inflated, causing-"

Chandler interrupted. "Is she ok? Can we see her?"

"There was internal bleeding and possible head trauma. It looks like we are going to have to operate to try to stop the bleeding," the doctor said.

"What about our baby?" Chandler asked.

The doctor took a deep breath. " This is a lot of trauma for a pregnancy to tolerate, and we aren't sure if it will survive the surgery."

Chandler swallowed hard. "I understand."

"Ms. Chase is in a room for the time being, until we can take her up to be operated on. I can let only immediate family in to see her right now."

"I'm her fiance," Chandler stretched the truth. "She doesn't have any other family, other than an eight year old son."

"Alright, you can go in. Just follow me," the doctor said and led him out of the waiting room.

The moment Chandler saw her bruised body, fresh tears came to his eyes. He took her hand and sat in the chair next to her bed.

"Oh God, Brynn. You have to make it through this. You have too much to live for. Willow, Barrett, and I all need you. Our baby needs you." The tears flowed down his face as he reached over and touched her stomach. There was still a nice little bulge there where his baby was.

"Neither one of you can leave us. We have the rest of our lives together, so you both need to make it through this."

The doctor slowly pushed open the door, and told Chandler they had to take Brynn up for surgery. Chandler leaned over the bed and kissed Brynn's stomach, then kissed her forehead. "I love you both. I'll be here waiting for you," Chandler said.

Just as he was about to let go of her hand, he felt a little squeeze from Brynn.

Chandler watched as they rolled her away. He went back to the waiting room to comfort his best friend and girlfriend, as they all waited for news of Brynn's surgery.

A couple of hours later, Dr. Miner appeared back in the room, looking solemn. "Mr. Tiller?"

Chandler looked up with tears in his eyes, waiting to hear if his life as he knew it was over or not.

C
handler stood and walked over to the doctor. His feet felt like they were made of lead, his knees were like jelly, and his mouth like a desert.

"Ms. Chase is out of surgery, but she still has not regained consciousness. We were able to stop the bleeding, and there doesn't appear to be any serious damage that won't heal over time."

"So...so she is going to be okay?"

"It's hard to be absolutely sure, but it looks like it, yes. We will keep a very close eye on her for a few days, but right now it seems this will turn out well for her."

Chandler lost the ability to stand. The relief flooded him and he sank into a chair. The doctor smiled at the obvious rush of happiness that coursed through the man in front of him.

"What about the baby?" he asked.

The doctor cleared his throat. "For now, she still has a viable pregnancy, but that can change quickly. You need to be prepared in case that happens. We are monitoring her closely, though there isn't much else we can do in this situation."

Chandler nodded. "Can I see her?"

"After she is out of recovery and into her own room, you will be able to see her. I suggest you go get something to eat, and take a break from the hospital for a while. She will be here for several days, so you will have more of this place than you can stand," the doctor said, smiling again.

"Thank you, Doctor. For everything," he said, shaking the man's hand.

Chandler turned to look at Zaiden and Nyla. "Do you guys mind taking me to a few places? I don't think I can really drive right now."

"Sure man, I'll drive you wherever you need to go," Zaiden said, giving Chandler a typical man hug. "Sounds like she's going to make it."

"As long as she gains consciousness soon," Nyla said, still skeptical of Brynn's condition.

"We need to hurry up so that we can get back here and see her," Chandler said absently, thinking of where he needed to go. The doctor was right, he really should get something to eat, and he had to go to the flower shop before it closed, run to Wal-Mart, then head to the house for a minute...he just hoped they had enough time to do it all. When he told Zaiden all he had to do, Zaiden took charge again and set the order of where they would go.

After stopping at the flower shop to get flowers and balloons for Brynn, they went to get a quick bite to eat. After a quick Quarter Pounder and fries, they finished the errands and stopped at the house Chandler shared with Brynn.

After a few minutes inside, Chandler came back out. He turned on the overhead light in the SUV as he sat down, then fished a small box out of his pocket.

"Nyla, as Brynn's best friend, I need your opinion on something. Do you think she will like this?"

Inside was a beautiful marquis cut diamond ring, with two rows of small diamonds in a channel set on each side of the large diamond.

Nyla gasped upon seeing the ring. "Oh my God! It's beautiful, Chandler! When did you get this?"

"I bought it for her a couple of days ago. I know that she didn't want me to ask her to marry me just because of the baby, so I didn't. I want her to marry me because I can't see myself spending a single minute without her for the rest of my life," he said, and paused as he began to get choked up. "Today, that almost happened."

"She's going to love it, " Nyla whispered through her tears, and reached up to hug Chandler. "She's lucky to have you."

"I'm lucky to have her," Chandler said, as he shut the box and put it back in his pocket. Zaiden began driving back to the hospital.

"I never thought I'd see the day..." Zaiden said, as he looked proudly at his friend. "Not after you lost Brooklyn. I never expected you to find someone else."

"Neither did I," Chandler said honestly. "Neither did I."

Zaiden smiled at Nyla in the rearview mirror. They pulled into the parking lot at the hospital, but before they got out of the SUV, Zaiden stopped them. "Hey Chandler, is your house still empty?"

Chandler blinked at him. "Yeah, we haven't found the right person to rent it yet."

"Well, do you think Nyla and I are the right people?"

"What?" Nyla shouted.

"Well, Nyla and I have been discussing moving in together, and I think we've both had some reservations about it, but you're right, when you find love, you shouldn't let it go. We need to get over our fears, and realize that we really are meant for each other. I want to be with her, and not a million other women. I've been there, done that, and found something better," he told Chandler, knowing that Nyla was listening to every word coming out of his mouth.

"You really mean it, Zaiden?" Nyla asked.

"Yes, I mean it," Zaiden said, looking into Nyla's eyes. "No more playing around. It's time for a commitment."

"Well, if you guys want it, it's yours," Chandler told them, a smile on his face for the first time since he heard of Brynn's accident. "Now, if you guys will excuse me, I need to get in there to see Brynn."

"We'll be right in," Zaiden said.

As soon as Chandler had gotten out of the passenger seat and grabbed all of his bags, flowers, and balloons, Zaiden pulled Nyla into the seat next to him, and began kissing her to seal their decision.

Chandler walked slowly and cautiously into Brynn's hospital room. He set the vase of flowers and the balloons on the ledge of the window, next to her bed. He put the bag that he had packed for her in the closet, took the teddy bear out of the Wal-Mart bag, and placed it in the bed next to her stomach.

Chandler placed a soft kiss on her belly, and rested his hand on the pregnant mound. He sat down in the chair next to the bed, and with his free hand picked up Brynn's hand and nuzzled it against his forehead.

The nurse said that there had been no progress since he last spoke with the doctor, but there wasn't any regression either. The nurse suggested that Chandler sit with Brynn and talk to her, giving her reason to fight, and that was exactly what he planned on doing.

"Hi, baby," he started. "You've really given us a scare with this accident. The kids are with my mom, and they don't know anything yet. I didn't want them to be scared, especially not Willow since...well, you know. You are her mother now, and she loves you so much. And Barrett...he is so lucky to have you. You have been both mother and father to him since he was born, and he has turned out to be an amazing kid. Not many kids would be as well behaved if they only had one parent who loved them."

He watched her sleeping figure for a long moment. "Then there's me. I need you so much, baby. I need you to wake up because I don't know how to live without you. When I met you all those months ago, you gave me a reason to live again. Don't take that away from me, okay?"

He put a hand on her belly. "And, think of our little one growing inside you. You need to wake up and give that baby the strength to survive. We created that baby out of our love, now we need to use our love to save the baby."

Chandler was trying to be strong, but his voice kept cracking as he bit back the tears. He kept his head down, looking at the sheet on the bed. What he didn't see was the fluttering of eyelashes as Brynn tried to open her eyes.

Brynn could hear Chandler talking to her, and she tried to wake up, but she was so tired. No matter how hard she tried, she just didn't have the energy to open her eyes. She could still hear him though, and the deep voice speaking to her was music to her ears. She felt so safe with Chandler there talking to her, she just hoped that he would keep talking.

"You know, I am so happy now that people know you're having my baby. It was so hard to keep it a secret when I wanted to shout it from the rooftops. And Rylee has been a big help. In fact, we were talking about it today before you left. I know it was a bad time to take her call, but she needed to order a few things so they would be ready for your shower."

Chandler smiled. "Whoops...guess I just told you about the surprise, huh? You see, as much as I'd like to take the credit for the idea of a surprise baby shower for you, it was mostly Rylee's idea. She thinks the world of you, almost as much as I do. Now, the next time you see her, don't let her know that I told you about the shower. She swore me to secrecy. I was trying to stay quiet as we planned things out on the phone, but it was the wrong time to do that, and I'm sorry I did it. I wish I could have that time back, to have lunch with you."