All by Chance {Brollins}

/ Chapter 17 \

"Okay, Rebecca." The interviewer clasped his hands together on the table. "Can we proceed?"

Colby's concerned eyes went from reassuring Rebecca to staring a hole into the interviewer. "Give her a goddamn minute."

"It's okay." She nodded at Colby with the smallest of smiles. It pained him to see her at her most upset, yet still trying to make him feel better.

"On August nineteenth at seven fifty-four pm last year, I went into labour and gave birth to a baby girl." Rebecca spoke blandly, "And on August nineteenth at seven fifty-nine pm, I lost my baby girl."

She let out a long and slow breath, and the interviewer nodded. "And do you know what the cause of death was?"

"Heart failure." A tear escaped her eye, and she quickly wiped it away.

She didn't look straight at the interviewer but right past his head, not wanting to make eye contact. Instead, she found herself staring at a picture Colby must've put up without her knowledge.

It was a photo of Rebecca and Colby on his couch, both smiling brighter than imaginable. Colby was in the forefront, taking the photo with his extended arm, and Rebecca was close behind. One hand was placed on his shoulder, and the other was on her stomach. She seemed to be at that stage in her pregnancy at the time, where it was obvious that she was pregnant and not just putting on weight.

While observing, her lips were tightly pressed into a half-smile as more tears began falling down her face. She'd never seen the picture before, but everything about it was perfect.

Colby watched her and couldn't help but feel choked up, he wanted nothing more than to fix the gap in her heart, but it was something he knew only time could mend if that was even possible.

"Was the baby born at a stillbirth, or did it die afterwards?" The interviewer spoke abruptly, without an ounce of sympathy in his voice.

"Excuse me?" Rebecca was suddenly back to just the feeling of complete emptiness.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rage filled Colby's voice, and he was only keeping himself in check for Rebecca.

She looked over at the interviewer in disgust. "She was alive. Immediately after her birth, I had to have surgery done for internal bleeding because my placenta was ruptured."

As much as she tried, her head fell down, and she was staring into her lap again. "I didn't even get the chance to hold her..."

She felt herself being pulled back into the scene subconsciously. "And when I woke up hours after, I was told that... that they did the best they could."

Her vision blurred, and she couldn't bring herself to even try to hold back her tears. "But she didn't make it."

The interviewer nodded, "And did you know who the father was?"

Rebecca responded quietly, "No."

Suddenly words the interviewer was saying bled into the sound of machines beeping, and all she could see around her was a sickeningly white room. She was standing, and when she turned around, she saw herself lying in a hospital bed.

A small cry filled the room, and Rebecca instantly tried to move towards it, but her feet just wouldn't. She saw a baby being carried away, her baby. Before an oxygen mask was being placed over her past self's exhausted face.

A series of blurs spun around her, and then everything stopped. It was silent, eerily silent, and no baby or Doctor was in the room. 

Until someone spoke up from behind her, and a different scene was being played out. She saw herself in a hospital bed again but sitting upright. A doctor was bedside, holding a clipboard.

"We're so sorry..." A long pause filled the gut-wrenching silence with heavy sorrow. "We did everything we could."

"Rebecca?" Suddenly she was back in the office, sharply inhaling as her heart raced. Her eyes darted around as she tried to remember what she was doing.

When Rebecca looked beside her, Colby's hand was holding hers, and she realized he must've brought her back. 

The interviewer just sighed and cleared his throat. "So it died after five minutes, correct?"

"I- uh..." She couldn't get herself to focus, and everything was a jumbled mess of noise, bleeding her ears. "I'm sorry- I can't... I can't do this."

Rebecca stood up and rushed out of the room. "Miss Quin, you can't leave halfway through an investigation."

"This investigation is over." Colby placed Danielle into the carrier and stood up.

The interviewer shook his head, "Mr. Lopez, that includes you too."

"Some professional you are." Colby mumbled, aggravated as he walked, when a different thought dawned on him, however, he froze and spoke louder. "Where is your identification?"

He stared at the stranger intensely, "Where's your ID?"

"I don't need to show you anything. I've been sent by the service department. You have no say." The interviewer began packing up, "Although I can tell you that Miss Quin's lack of cooperation will definitely leave a stain on your ledger."

"Lack of cooperation?" Colby felt anger rush through him as he walked around the desk. "What sort of game do you think you're playing?!"

Colby pushed his finger against his chest, feeling the interviewer's heart race. Colby clenched his jaw, stepping towards him the further away he stepped back. "I'm tired of your shit. Get out, or I'll make you."

"The interview isn't over." The interviewer stuttered, trying to find an escape route.

"You come into our home, insult my wife, and believe some moron you heard tell you on the phone that we're abusing our child." Colby tried to stay level-headed but failed miserably. "Well, does it look like we are? Because it sure as hell doesn't to me."

The interviewer's back hit the wall, and Colby spoke venomously, as he watched the man shrink down. "Get the fuck out. I'm not asking again."