His Always: Book 1 Rhodes Character Series

Chapter 10: Tate

I see Eric's mouth moving but I can't hear what he is saying. I want to look away from Natalies' body on the gurney but I can't pull my eyes away. Tears are streaming down my face when I feel someone squat down next to me. It's James.

"Tate - it's me. I am going to take care of this okay? I've got her. Why don't you go get some air?" His words bring me out of my trance. I immediately stand. "No, absolutely not. I promised her I wouldn't leave her. James she might have been raped. I don't know what happened. She wasn't making a lot of sense. Someone needs to get me an ultrasound machine now. She's got internal bleeding."

James puts his hand on my shoulder. "I've already scanned her Tate. She has an ectopic pregnancy. Did you know? Does Thomas know? Has anyone called him?" I feel sick. She is pregnant. Natalie is a mom. James shakes my shoulders. "Tate, focus. Did you call Thomas? He needs to get down here. Natalie needs him." I hear Eric barking orders. I hear the wheels of the gurney begin to squeak as they turn. It snaps me back into the room.

"James, I have to operate on Nat. She could have permanent damage from this pregnancy. I need to get in there now." I start to jog to catch up to Natalie as they have begun to transport her to the operating room. James catches up to me. "Absolutely not Tate. I can operate. I can handle it. You can't operate on your Natalie." I stare at him for a split second longer than I should have. I trust James with my life. I know he can handle this and as much as it pains me to admit, I don't know if I can handle this. "Don't fuck this up James. I will never forgive you. She wants to be a mom. And I am in the room, no questions asked." He lets out a huge breath as we reach the scrub sinks. He probably thought I was going to put up a much bigger fight. He must not know me as well as I thought. I would never, ever, put Natalies life in danger. If that means I am on the sidelines then so be it.

"You can sit by her head with the gas man." James begins scrubbing in. I wipe my eyes one more time before I do the same. "How attached to this pregnancy was she, man?" My brain still doesn't want to connect the dots of my Natalie and pregnancy in the same sentence. "I didn't know. I don't know if she knew. She just came to my apartment. Someone had attacked her." I choke on my own breath. I can't lose my composure. I have to be strong for her. James turns to me before he enters the OR. "Get someone to call Thomas. Who knows what kind of mental state she will be in when she wakes up. She's been through a lot in the last 2 hours. He should be here for when she wakes up." I hold up my freshly scrubbed arms and walk towards the OR door.

"Yah, someone else can make that call. I'm not taking my eyes off her." Eric has already opened her by the time I walk in. I can barely hold the sob back in my throat seeing her laying lifeless on the table. I sit on the stool next to her head and softly move the hair out of her face. The blood in her hair now dried. How did we get here? What happened to you baby? The OR door flies open. Pen steps in with tears already streaming down her face. "What the hell happened to her?" With Eric and James deep in focus. I turn around but don't take my hands out of Natalies hair.

"Pen, we don't know the full story, okay? Someone attacked her. Shit. Did anyone call the police?" Fuck. Natalie's attacker is just walking around somewhere. "Pen, can you call the police? I don't know where this happened? We didn't get a lot of details —" I am interrupted by the alarm beeps of Natalie's machine. I stand immediately. "What the fuck are you two doing? Someone needs to find that bleeder now." No one even acknowledges me. I keep my hands glued to Natalie. "Tate sit down or I will kick you out of this OR without a second thought." James yells through his mask. I sit. I am in no mood to fight his ego. Him and I both know he couldn't get me out of here even if he tried.

"Pen - no one has called Thomas. I'm guessing he is at his apartment. And can you call Madison? I have no idea what happened to her but she might need to just speak to you girls when she wakes up if you know what I mean." Penelope's hands fly to her mouth. "Someone... raped her?" She can barely get the words out. "I don't know Pen. Fuck I don't know anything. Just get Madison okay. Get Thomas."

"Page me when she is in recovery. I'll make the calls." I don't give her a response but here the OR door close again. I stare down at Nat. Her beautiful, sun-kissed skin, smeared with dry blood. She looks so tired. I gently lay my head down next to her and lightly rub my thumb on her cheek. I clear my throat. "Can I get an update from you guys. What does it look like?" Eric speaks first, "two stab wounds to the abdomen with shards of thick broken glass. One was pretty shallow. The second nicked some of her small intestine. I can repair fine." I take a deep breath. "James? What about the baby? She has an IUD."

"It's ectopic Tate. Would have never made it. Honestly, had this not happened, it could have caused her to lose this entire fallopian tube. But, we caught it early enough. The abdominal trauma from her attack must've jump started the miscarriage. She is going to lose the baby." The air is sucked out of the room, not just by me, the entire OR staff is silent. I swallow the pain that hearing Natalie's baby won't make it out of this room. I try to lean on my training and think of the possible response Natalie might have to finding out she's pregnant and losing the baby all at the same time. I hope Pen can get ahold of Thomas.

"Okay, I can help get her through of anything. This is Natalie we are talking about. I can get her through anything." I can't tell if I am staying that for me or her. I sit with her while James and Eric close her up. Neither of them have probably opened and closed a patient start to close since their residency but no one wanted to put Natalie's surgery in anyone else's hands. I hold her hand as she is wheeled to recovery. I see Madison and Penelope stand up when they see us coming down the hallway. Madison runs towards us. "Oh my god. Natalie. What happened?" Madison looks up to me. "We don't have a lot of the story yet. Someone needs to be with her at all times until she wakes up. Did either of you get a hold of Thomas?" Madison shakes her head. "I left him multiple messages. I called the police as well. They are on their way down here. They will have questions when she wakes up."

I put my hand up. "No one asks questions until I say. She was freaked before she passed out at my apartment. We need to prepare for anything when she wakes up. I don't know what kind of state she will be in." We walk into Natalies recovery room. I find a seat by the window. Madison and Pen sit down on the edge of her bed. I close my eyes and let anger wash over me now that I know Nat is physically okay. I open my eyes to Eric and James walking in the door of her room. I look at them with fire in my eyes. They know exactly what I am thinking. The police better find this fucker before I do.