Pretty Little Liars: 16 & Pregnant

Floor 8 Room 243 (Pt.2)

Aria's Pov

I pull back from kissing Ezra. His lips are dry, but the kiss is still enjoyable. Ezra may not be awake to kiss me back, but the connection of his lips on mine still gives me shivers.

A gray-haired doctor walks in the room, momentarily watching Ezra and I. After adjusting some equipment, he begins to talk.

"I suppose you would like to know what happened to him. We were going to wait until his mother arrived, but she lives far and won't be here for a number of hours. I can explain it to you now if you'd like." The doctor says. I look at his nametag sewn onto his shirt. Dr. Ronald. I nod quickly.

"Yes. Please." I beg "I just want to know if he'll be okay." I wipe my eyes, looking at Ezra. Dr. Ronald sits down in a chair beside me. Folding his hands in his lap, he begins talking.

"I have to be completely honest with you," he says. My heart plummets. That can't mean good news. "Ezra has a TBI, which is a traumatic brain injury. It's common in car crashes. That will go away by itself, but a common thing after a TBI is a brain hemorrhage. This is where a problem can occur. We've taken a CT scan of his brain and found swelling between the membrane and skull in the lumbar sac. We've taken three samples of the liquid inside. We test the liquid for raised amounts of red blood cells. If the samples come back with raised amounts, it's a subarachnoid hemorrhage. If there isn't any raised amounts, it's just a traumatic tap, which will heal on its own. Where we'll have a real problem is if it's a brain hemorrhage." My breathing speeds up, and a lump rises in my throat. I realize that I'm starting to have a panic attack. Ezra can't have a hemorrhage. This can't be happening. Not now. Not ever.

"What happens if he gets a brain hemorrhage?" I cry, not exactly wanting to hear the answer. By the way Dr. Ronald frowns, I can tell its bad.

"Now Miss Montgomery I don't want to scare you." he says. I clench my hands into fists. Even if the answer was terrible, I still need to know. I need to know what to expect.

"Tell me." I demand, trying not to cry. He exhales heavily, nodding.

"Brain hemorrhages can result in loss of speech, it can affect motor skills, it can temporarily or permanently erase memory. But it wont necessarily result in that. That's the worst of a brain hemorrhage." I feel like someone punched me in the stomach. Ezra can't lose his memory. He can't forget how to walk and talk. This isn't really happening. Please tell me it's not happening. I can't breathe. I. Can't. Breathe. Suddenly I have the urge to throw up. Leaning sideways over the chair, I vomit all over the floor. I don't know if it's from the news I just found out or from the morning sickness, but I throw up again. I'm left dry heaving over the side of the chair, tears pouring down my cheeks at the same time. I squeeze my eyes shut and bite my lip hard, hoping it will take away from the pain that takes over the rest of my body. I wipe my lips with my hand, trying to get the taste of vomit out of my mouth. I notice someone standing over me, so I slowly look up, my vision blurry from tears. Dr. Ronald stands with a cup of water in his hand.

"I'm sorry," he says, offering the cup of water "It's never easy hearing news like that. Remember that it could just be a traumatic trap, and once he wakes up and the swelling goes down, he will be able to go home quickly." I take a small sip of the water, holding it in my mouth for a second.

"And what if it's a brain hemorrhage?" I ask quietly, staring down at the polished floor. There's a pause before he answers.

"A brain hemorrhage will take more work, but that doesn't mean he won't go back to the way he was before. Hemorrhages can be minor." He explains. A few tears drip onto the floor below me.

"Excuse me." I say suddenly, standing up. I walk into the bathroom that's attached to the hospital room. I just stand there, staring at myself in the mirror. My eyes are red from crying, and my hair is tousled from sleep. My lips are dry and my cheeks are tear stained. I'm a mess. But it doesn't matter. All that matters right now is Ezra and that I stay strong for him. Until he wakes up, I'll need to hold it together. I will at least need to try. I stare at myself and think for a few more minutes before exiting the bathroom.

I walk out of the bathroom and back into the hospital room, where Ezra lays the exact same way as before. The vomit on the floor is cleaned up, and Dr. Ronald is gone. I sit back down in the chair beside Ezra's bed, taking his hand. Immediately, tears spring to my eyes again, but I try to blink them back. I close my eyes and exhale, imagining the tears disappearing. I open my eyes and stare at the love of my life.

"Wake up soon Ezra." I say to him quietly "Please." I kiss him, imagining we're at home watching some movie that we weren't really even paying attention to, because we're too busy wrapped in each other's arms and kissing. But when I open my eyes, I'm still in a hospital room, and Ezra is still the victim of a car crash. I look down at my swollen stomach, the place where a child that Ezra and I created is slowly growing. I place one hand on my stomach and the other carefully on Ezra's cheek. I run my fingers slowly down his jawline until I get to his chin, then let my hand go limp on his chest. I place my head where his heart is, listening to the familiar sound of his heart beating. Countless times I've fallen asleep with my head on Ezra's chest, drifting off to the sound of his heartbeat. The heartbeat I hear right now is the exact one I've heard so many other times. I close my eyes and try to imagine myself snuggled in Ezra's arms, the only sound his beating heart. But when my eyes open, the sound of the beeping hospital machine drowns out the comforting sound of Ezra's heart.

I place my hand on the non-bandaged side of Ezra's head, feeling his hair. I let my fingers tangle into the soft strands, looking at his closed eyes as I do.

"You're gonna be okay," I reassure him "You'll be out of this hospital before you know it, I promise." I put my head back on his chest, focusing only on the sound of his heart. Soon, it engulfs me, and I hear nothing else before I drift off into a dreamless sleep.