Where She Least Expects It

Chapter 19

Becky had come out of surgery fine, thankfully. They were still monitoring the baby closely but everything looked good there too. Eventually everyone had been shooed out by Angela and told to go get some sleep. It worked on everyone but Tom. Mike told the hospital that he was Becky's fiancé, and they allowed him to stay.

Around two in the morning, an older black woman came in and introduced herself as the night shift nurse. "Sorry for waking you honey, but I've got to check on your family here."

"I can't complain about that," he told her with a smile. He had finally fallen asleep in a recliner that was pulled up next to her bed so that he could still hold her hand.

"Not from here huh?"

"No ma'am."

She chuckled and kept checking things on Becky. "Well everything is as it should be."

"Thank goodness," he let out the breath he had been holding.

"So, are you really engaged?" He looked at her questioningly. "Well there's no ring and no tan line either."

He smiled, he liked this woman. "No, not yet at least. I just found out she's pregnant."

"Boy, don't tell me you wanted a shotgun wedding, and she ran away!"

He laughed, "I don't think anyone would try to pull a shotgun anything on Becky."

"So what brought her to New York and away from a handsome man like yourself?"

"You got time?"

"Honey, it's the night shift, here's hoping it's quiet. I was instructed to start and end my rounds with this one here. She's special because of that little bundle she's carrying. You were in the shower when I started."

"She's my best friend's little sister, eight years younger. I'm actually lucky I haven't had a shotgun pulled on me. She has four older brothers."

"Her brother is next door, right?"

He nodded, "they warned everyone within a hundred miles to stay the hell away from her. And it worked. Several weeks ago, she got fed up with it. She wore this skimpy little outfit to a party, and I was blown out of the water. By the end of the night, it was just the two of us, and she starts going on about never finding a guy who's not scared of her brothers. She blurts out that she's going to die a virgin, and I lost it. I didn't want to push her into a relationship of any sort so I left it all up to her. It happened again a week later. I finally told her a couple days later that I wanted to be with her. Later that night, she showed up, and we started seeing each other secretly."

"Fell in love with her, huh?"

"Hopelessly. Then she up and makes this trip here without an explanation. It wasn't until her sister in law told me about the baby that I finally understood why she came here."

"The girl's young...known you her whole life. She finally finds a man that she enjoys spending time with, who just happens to be her big brother's best friend, and before she can process that, she finds out she's pregnant. No wonder she ran away, and I'm guessing it had very little to do with you. She was worried and she needed to process the news...not easy to do while she's got the man in front of her that got her there."

"I guess...I still feel like I failed her."

"That's because you love her, but you couldn't possibly have stopped that car from running that red light.  From what I hear, you need to thank her brother though."

"Why?"

"From everything they've looked at, they can't figure out any other way where she only breaks her leg than if he pulled her out of her seatbelt and on to him when the impact happened.  We won't know for sure until he wakes up, but I think he saved your girl and your baby."

"Wow.  I remember someone saying something but didn't hear all of it.  Thank you."

"Not a problem honey.  If you need anything, you just holler."

"I will."

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When Tom woke the next morning, it was still dark out.  The clock showed around five in the morning.  He got up and  figured that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so he got dressed and went in search of coffee.  After finding a small cafe right next to the hospital, he got breakfast and went back up.  He decided to stop at Brock's room first and check on him.  They had told them that he would probably wake up sometime today.  There was no reason to worry, he was just on powerful pain meds. 

Tom sat down next to his bed.  He ate his breakfast and prayed for a speedy recovery for both Brock and Becky and thanked god for having Brock protect her.  He didn't realize how long he had been there until he looked at the clock, and it was almost seven.  He started to get up so he could go back to her when he heard Brock stir. 

He groaned and then opened his eyes.  He looked around the room and then finally focused on Tom.  "I sure wish I was in good enough shape to kick your ass for knocking my sister up."

"I'd probably let you since you saved her."

He smiled, "she's my sister, what else would I do?"

"Pulling her away from the point of impact just in time is a pretty ballsy thing to do."

He nodded a little then winced, "How is she?"

"Broke her leg in a couple places, the rest is just cuts and scrapes."

"The baby?"

"Fine, at least for now.  I don't think I can ever repay you, man."

"Just take care of her, and we'll be even."

Tom nodded, "I intend to.  You should probably press that button so they can check you over.  I'm gonna call everyone and let them know you're up."

He pressed the button and laid his head back. Within seconds, nurses flooded the room. Tom called Brandon, and everyone got there in about half an hour.

He slipped back over to Becky's room and sat down next to her. "Oh Beck, I know they said it would take time, but I need to hear your voice, honey. I need to talk to you. I need to tell you how unbelievably happy I am about this baby. I need to tell you that you had nothing to worry about."

He put his hands on her stomach and kissed it, then laid his head down on it. "My sweet little boy or girl, you are already loved. I know your mom loves you already, but so does your daddy. Be strong. I can't wait to meet you."

At some point, he must have fallen asleep, because he woke up to someone running their hands through his hair. At first, he thought he was dreaming of Becky, but, after a minute, he realized that they were still in the hospital and it was very real.

He looked up, "Becky?"

She nodded and smiled at him, "Tom."

He immediately got up and kissed her.

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