Fulcrum

Chapter thirteen

Walker has never been more nervous in his life, he wasn't even in the one in the hospital, his girlfriend Emily was. They had found out a while ago that she was pregnant,Emily had been so happy that she cried. At first he thought it was because she was scared, but she explained that she was just so happy to have her own family. While Emily didn't talk about her home life much, Walker guessed that her childhood had never been the best. Her parents weren't around much, and she pretty much took care of herself. Yet through it all she still remained the most kind hearted soul Walker had ever met in his life.

It was why he had fallen head over heels for her as soon as he saw her, and couldn't help himself when it came to treating her with all the love and passion he could muster. And while his parents were upset him for being careless. He didn't regret wanting this baby, even if he was scared to death, of how he would be a father at seventeen.
"How is she doing?" He asked the doctor.
"She's been in labor for the past few hours," the man explained. "But she and the baby are doing perfectly fine, it might take awhile so feel free to rest sir.
"Okay thank you." Walker responded. But despite his exhaustion, he couldn't bring himself to fall asleep, he wanted to be awake to see his baby.

Emily had wanted to be surprised so they didn't know the gender, but Walker didn't care what they got, he would love his child either way. It took another two hours but Emily had finally given birth, he practically flew out of his seat and ran into the room. The doctor scolded him and told him to be careful, but he could care less about what the man thought. The second he got inside and saw Emily holding the crying baby girl, he cried himself.
"Cordell she's so beautiful," Emily said."I hope I'm holding her correctly, I've never held a baby."

The infant eventually stopped crying and opened her eyes to see the world around her.
"You're doing great Em," Walker responded giving her a kiss on the forehead. He gently touched his daughter head and she looked at him attempting to take his appearance in. Maybe he missed it but it looked like she tried to smile at them. "What's her name?" He asked.
"I haven't decided but I really like Ashyla," Emily responded. "What about you?"
"That's a pretty name," Walker said. "But I'm still open for other options."  Before he got the chance to hold her, the doctor came back in saying he needed to clean the baby.

He took her from Emily and promised to bring her back. The doctor was gone for hours and the two began to get worried that something had happened.
"Cordell where is she?" Emily asked.
"Don't worry I'll go find out," Walker responded. He left the room to go search for his daughter and as luck would have it, he stumbled across the doctor who looked distraught. "Sir?" He asked.
"Cordell Walker I'm so sorry but I have terrible news," the doctor said taking off his glasses. "I'm afraid your daughter didn't make it."

"What?" Walker asked unable to believe what he was hearing. His heart sank into the pits of his stomach.
"I'm not sure what happened one minute she was perfectly fine, but then she wasn't breathing and we lost her," the doctor explained. "I can't say how terribly sorry I am." Walker didn't respond he could stand there and wait for the world to make sense again. When he finally regained control of his body he broke down in tears, blaming himself for not realizing that his little girl might have been sick. In just a few hours this had gone from best day of his life to worst, he made his wet back to Emily who took it worse than he did.

She didn't blame him for any of it, because she was too busy blaming herself. The two cried over the loss of their daughter together, until Emily was discharged.
"I want my daughter back Cordell," Emily said while she sat somberly in her car. "I want to see her."
"I know I do to," Walker responded. "I don't know how this happened but I promise you, I won't let it happen again."

***

Miles made sure to stall James by sending him more messages, and actually sending a hitman after the captain. They couldn't have any witnesses for this, Avis was going to take control. His master plan had taken twenty long years, but it would all be worth it once the deed was done.
"Are you going to tell him sir?" Miles asked as Avis prepared to leave.

"That because he stole Emily I stole something from him," Avis answered. "If he's too stupid to figure it out, besides this whole thing will make him look crazy again." Avis left after that expecting everything to fall into place, what he hadn't expected was for someone to show up at his door and offer him a deal.
"Um you can't be here." Miles said.

***

Walker never found out what Jake wanted to tell him, since their conversation was interrupted by Felicia screaming about losing her contacts.
"Stupid little things I should have gotten better ones!"
"Oh no," Jessy said. "They must have fallen out again."
"Since when does she need contacts?" Walker asked. That didn't seem right, she never needed them before. Before he could think too much about it, Felicia came back with all the dye washed out of her hair, it was a mess but back to its normal brunette color.

Call him crazy but without her contacts in, Felicia seemed to have his eyes. Walker shook his head thinking he was just seeing things. But nothing changed in fact she looked a lot like Emily, save for the messy hair of course. He became speechless as Jake said they should really discuss what he found out in private.
"Jessy this is impossible," Felicia complained crossing her arms. "They won't stay in."
"Here let me help." Jessy said taking pity on her girlfriend. She took out a blue brush and combed through the snarls in Felicia's hair.

"Thanks," Felicia responded. "Wow Walker what's wrong you look like you've just seen a ghost," she said noticing the look on his face. "Are you okay?"
"

Yeah sorry just got lost in thought." Walker responded he was a little embarrassed at his actions. He shouldn't have stared like she was a bird or something.
"Emily?" Felicia asked. "I kept meaning to say this but I'm so sorry about what happened to her." she gave him a hug hoping to cheer him up.
"Ashyla," he said suddenly surprising her at the name, she told him he didn't need to call her that since it was just a codename like Fulcrum. "Sorry I don't know why I said that." He responded hugging her back and a tear ran down his face.