Falling | Charles Leclerc

29.

"Summer, are you okay? Oscar sent me a message but all it said was you were having some pain and that you were at the hospital" I say all in one breath, I excuse myself from the dining table and walk outside onto the balcony into the cold London air.

"Charles" she sounds so weak, so fragile, so broken. She doesn't say anything else. The monitors in the background start to get louder and so does all the yelling. It's hard to make out what is being said. I hear alot of shuffling around and that's when I hear it. "Code blue adult, code casear"

Panic sets in and I start to pace along the balcony until I hear a familiar Aussie accent "Charles you still there?" Oscar says, the noises around him non existent. "Yeah mate, what's code blue adult and code casear?" I hear him sigh. "She's.. she is.. ah.." he's struggling to get the words out. "Summer, is she okay? Is the baby okay"

"No" Is all he manages to say before I hear a sniffle coming from the other end of the phone line. Indicating that Oscar is crying. "Oscar.. hey.. you need to listen to me. You need to tell me what is going on. That's my girl.." I stop and quickly correct myself "my ex girlfriend and my baby.. I need to know what's happening"

"It's bad Charles. You need to get to Melbourne as soon as you can. I don't.. I don't think she's going to make it." I hang up on him, that's all the information no I need. I quickly come back inside and grab my keys not saying a word to anyone at the table. Carlos looks at me confused, so does Amber.

"Baby.. where are you going?" Amber questions. "Not right now Amber.. I need to go to Australia." Carlos looks at me in shock and stands up, blocks the door. "Australia? What's happened to Summer?" He says in a hurry. I try and push past him. "Her.. the baby.. they are in hospital and it's not good. They aren't going to make it" I say struggling to hold back my tears. Carlos wraps his arms around me as I can hear Amber complaining in the background. She is the worst PR stunt ever, and what makes it even worse is that she tries to make it so real. But it isn't.

"Hey, I'll drive you to the airport" Carlos says stepping away from the hug and quickly grabbing his keys from the kitchen bench. I quickly type a message to Oscar

Please let me know asap if anything happens. I'm on my way from London

I hit sending, praying that I get there in time and that they both pull through.

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"Hey" someone says softly as they move my hair to behind my hair. I blink open my eyes, adjusting to the light. I groan as I feel a pain in my stomach. I place my hand on my stomach releasing there's no more baby bump.

"You gave us a scare Summer.. please don't do that again" Daniel says as I look at him. I look around the room and see that I'm connected to multiple machines, oxygen specs in my nose. "What happened?" I say still looking around confused. Last thing I remember is Oscar bringing me to the hospital. "Where's Oscar? Where's my baby? Did she?" Tears start to fill my eyes, I try and blink the tears away and I quickly look away from Daniel, groaning in pain again. "The nurse said you might want this when you wake up" he places a little button that's connected to a machine in my hand. "Pain relief" he says with a small smile, I quickly press the button.

"Oscar is at home resting, he was here all through last night and this morning. And no, baby girl didn't die. She's in the NICU though. It was touch and go for a while, but she's stubborn like her mum, she's not giving up a fight any time soon. As for what happened. You had a thing called preeclampsia. Your kidneys were shutting down. They rushed you to surgery"

I just nod taking in all the information. "You're in the ICU now. You're still not out of the woods just yet. So please rest" he says as he places a kiss on my forehead.

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"Charles?" She says looking at me , the man who broke her heart. "Can I..." I hesitate and stutter on my words. "Can I come in?" I clear my throat. I watch as she presses a button in her hand, hopefully not a button to call security. Relief covers her face as she looks at Daniel, giving him a small nod. "I'll give you guys some time. I'm going to the cafe, did you want anything?" She shakes her head, declining him.

"Summer" I say as I sit down next to her. Leaning on the bed rails I take her hand, noticing that she doesn't bother to pull away. If this was 3 months ago, she wouldn't even be able to look at me let alone let me touch her hand.. "Summer" I shake my head, not knowing what to say.

"Shes in the NICU if you want to go see her"

"Her?" Her eyes light up as soon as she mentions her.. "We had a girl?" She just nods "we had a girl" i repeat to myself. "I will go see her afterwards. But I think we need to talk"

"Charles" she says in a serious tone. "I just had major surgery, I could have died and you want to talk"

"No no, not about that Summer. I want to make sure you're okay" I sigh.

"Of course I'm not fucking okay. I almost died, with Oscar by my side. Who was only over because he was forced to come and check on me after I refused to speak to Daniel or any of you after what YOU, put me through. If he.." she sighs in frustration. All of this hurt and built up rage she's been harbouring for months, finally coming out. My glare moves to the floor "if he wasn't there I would be dead, and so would baby girl"

I don't look at her, I just stand up and walk to the door "your death would have been my fault" my voice cracks, I turn and walk away.. something I'm apparently good at.

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I sit down next to my baby girls incubator "daughter of Summer and Charles" written on a piece of paper at the bottom, with all the birth details on it. I look at the tiny girl, whose whole body is covered in tubes. There are more tubes on her than there is her.

"Hi baby" I say as I place my hand inside the box, beyond terrified that I'm going to hurt her. "I'm your dad" i watch her chest rise and fall as a monitor continues to beep behind her. A member of staff comes over and writes down some information onto a computer and smiles at me. "First time dad?" She questions. I just nod "it's hard when they are here. But I promise you, we take the best care of them" she says before walking out of the room.

"Code blue adults, ICU 3, that's code blue adults, ICU 3" is said over the intercom and my heart stops. That's Summers room.