Heavenly Virtues

Part 44

These past few months had been nothing short of a fairy tale. Moving in with the twins, becoming closer than Ashley thought was possible, the recent proposal, everything had been perfect.

The last few weeks had been crazy with the three going back to work and Ashley diving into wedding planning. The day after New years, when they all woke up and sat to breakfast, the twins told her more about the ring after she asked about the symbols on the side.

"It's a trinity knot lass, an Irish symbol fer love, commitment, unity and eternity." "It translates ta 'three-cornered' it's like it was made fer us love." She had loved the thought they had put into the ring, the constant overtime and work now making sense. They explained how the diamond represented her and how the emeralds represented them. The three tied together by the trinity knots.

There had been tears and laughter and lots of kisses that eventually led to the three of them tangled in bed together. Looking back to that day, it was probably the last time she hadn't felt stressed. It was coming up to the end of January now and Ashley was knee deep in wedding plans, through the twin's connections within the church, they were about to find a priest willing to preform a commitment ceremony. No exactly a wedding but it was close enough to a wedding in their eyes, still, the boys had wanted her to take their name legally.

On top of all the planning for the ceremony she was also pulling together a city hall appointment to legally marry one of the brothers. The two had taken that decision out of her hands as Connor knew were she stood, deciding that Murphy should be the one to legally marry her. Ashley felt conflicted and it took a few long talks together to decide it was the right decision and no one would feel put out, that they both knew she loved them the same and being legally married to one, didn't change her love for the other.

The recent onset of stress had left Ashley tired. She woke up drained and lightheaded most days and today was no different. She had her 3 month appointment coming up this week to check how her healing was progressing after long stay at the hospital. The boys were gone for work already when she woke, and she got dressed as quickly as possible.

She hadn't registered that something may be wrong until her walk to work were she found herself getting winded. The cold air on her lungs wasn't helping as she leaned against a wall to catch her breath. By the time she reached the diner she was seeing stars, little white spots in her vision as she sat down to catch her breath again. She had been feeling like shit lately but this was making her a little panicky.

"You okay darlin?" Darlene asked as she turned on a pot for the customers that were sure to be showing up any minute. Ashley nodded her head with furrowed eyebrows. "Yeah I just..." She sighed, working to catch her breath "I feel like shit, my chest is killing me and..." She closed her eyes and shook her head trying to recenter herself. "I don't know."

Darlene looked her over with raised eyebrows. "Do ya think...?" Ashley looked up to her expectantly not knowing were this was heading. "Ya think your pregnant darlin?" Ashley's stomach dropped and her eyes grew as big as saucers. She shook her head, not doing anything for the double vision she was experiencing "no. No, I-. No."

A customer walked through the now open door, prompting Ashley to stand to get to work. The sudden action of her standing made everything worse and Ashley fought it before the darkness won over, making her collapse to the floor of the diner.

Darlene gasped, not able to get to her fast enough "Sal! Sal! Call an ambulance! Now!" Sal rushed out of the kitchen, phone in hand as he took in Ashley's unconscious body on the floor. Darlene stayed beside Ashley's side until the ambulance took Ashley to the hospital. When she watched it pull away she went back into the diner, closing and gathering her things as she picked up the phone and dialed the number from Ashley's file.

****

"Connor and Murphy MacManus to the front office. Connor and Murphy MacManus to the front office."

The twins gave eachother a confused look from their respective work stations as they handed off their tasks and took off their white coats, dropping them in the 'soiled' container before making their way to the offices.

Charlotte, the receptionist told them to head on in to John's office, not giving them any hint to what it could be. They ran over in their minds what they could've done. They liked to fuck around, play pranks, mostly on eachother but they occasionally played them on other co-workers. Nothing to land them in the office of the owner of the plant though.

They sat with confidence, knowing they hadn't done anything wrong. "Connor, Murphy." He addressed them with a concerned look on his face, knowing what the three had been through as he was the one to give them the extended time off. "I just got a call from a woman named Darlene, Ashley's boss." The boys swallowed harshly, now nervous about why they were here. "There was some sort of medical emergency, Ashley was taken to the hospital. I was told she was relatively stable when the ambulance left with her."

The two were in full panic mode now. Murphy had blocked everything out, not able to hear what John was trying to say to them, Connor struggling to keep a level head and gather the information they needed after looking at his brother and knowing he was galaxies away.

"I'm gonna give you two the day off, if you need more time after today, call me." Connor nodded, grabbing Murphy by his arm and dragging him out of the room "Thank ye." He threw over this shoulder as they rushed out the door. They got to the hospital as quick as they could and were met by Darlene and Doc in the waiting room.

"Where is she?!" Murphy yelled panicked, still not knowing what was wrong. Doc approached the two with extended arms "s-s-shes okay. They're d-doin some tests FUCK!ASS!" Connor stepped in front of Murphy, "Can we see er?" Doc shook his head, "gotta w-wait fer tha doctor." Murphy paced the waiting room as Connor watched him before he stood. Connor placed his hand on the back of Murphys neck and squeezed, bringing their foreheads together to calm his twin.

"She's gonna be fine Murph. She's so strong, whatever tis is, she'll be fine." Murphys eyes welled as he shook his head against his brothers "She almost died las' time Con! I- I can't do tha again, I can't loose er." Connor led his brother to a chair as they waited.

The doctor came out not too long after and escorted the four back to Ashley's room were the nurses were putting medicines in her IV. "We've got the test results back and Ms. McGinty should be awake soon, we'll talk then." He stated before he left the room. The four sat and waited, worry wracking their minds until they saw the flutter of Ashley's eyes opening.

"Ash!" Both boys jumped from their seats. Connor immediately hit the nurse call button, wanting answers now. They asked her how she was feeling, not getting much from her as she came too. When the doctor came back he sat the four down after assessing Ashley.

"I've been going through your file. You were here not too long ago." He flipped though some papers on a clip board. "You had quite the extended stay." He said to Ashley. She nodded her head at him, wondering what the connection was. "As you know, the extended use of the ventilator, put strain on your lungs and eventually your heart." She nodded again "okay?"

"The testing shows that you've developed Pulmonary Hypertension. It's a condition in the blood vessels to your heart, causing high blood pressure. It can be managed with medication, but this is going to be something you'll have to live with." Ashley's face had contorted from shock, to confusion to anger.

Everything came back to this, to him. "When it goes untreated, or poorly managed you can go into what we call a hypertensive crisis, which is what you suffered today." The tension in the room had lowered a bit at the knowledge that her life wasn't in immediate danger, but Connor and Murphy where feeling the anger that Ashley was experiencing for themselves.

"I'm going to prescribe you some medication, well reassess in a couple weeks, see if it's working for you. You can get ready to be discharged, everything looks good." Ashely nodded and moved to get up still not feeling a hundred percent.

Ashley thanked Darlene for everything as she left and assured her Granda that the boys could get her home just fine. When the doctor came back with the prescription the three went right to the pharmacy to have it filled.

The two had been instructed to keep her stress levels low over the next two weeks, which meant taking a break from wedding planning, and no sex.

As the three cuddled up in bed together that night, Ashley couldn't help but wonder, just how many more reminders of him she'd have to live with.