What Comes Next (A Colton Fan-fiction)

Chapter 8: "I'm Sorry" 's and ER Visits

I stood there in utter shock. I couldn't believe that Cole would cheat on me. As I felt hot tears pour down my face, I looked at the woman who touched my Cole. She actually seemed like a nice woman, light honey brown hair, greenish bluish eyes and freckles galore along her semi-tan skin. My eyes reached hers and then narrowed in a glare, as I did so, her eyes widened in realization and guilt. "Oh my god! You guys are together? I'm so sorry, I'd never sleep with a taken man. I didn't know. He wasn't wearing a wedding ring and the whole time he was flirting with me," I winced at that part," he never mentioned anything about having a boyfriend or husband. I'm so sorry, I really am!" She says getting out of the bed pulling back on her dress and shoes, stuffing her undergarments into her purse, before leaving.

As much as I wanted to hate her, I couldn't. It wasn't her fault, she didn't know. She was just another lonely single on this cruise looking for some kind of romance. It was all Cole's fault. As I turned my attention to him, I saw him get out of bed and pull on boxers, stumbling as he did so. "Daltypoo, baby I can explain." He tried to say, slurring his words a lot. "Save it Cole! You broke my heart by cheating on me! How could you? Don't our vows mean anything to you?" I cried out, my vision blurred with tears. He tried to make his way over to me, but I just shook my head, pulling off my rings and then I threw them at him. "Take them! If you aren't going to live by your own words then I don't want them." I said before I ran out of the room, taking my wallet with me. I made my way to one of the 24-hour diners on the ship and ordered a plate of loaded French fries and two beers.

I sat in my booth alone as I ate and drank, trying to hold my tears in. "Hey, are you okay?" A woman asked. I looked up at her. She looked like she was in her mid to late 30s, and somehow, I immediately noticed her wedding rings on her hand. I simply shook my head as the tears began to fall again. I lost awareness of my surroundings as I cried, and I felt a pair of arms go around me and my head rest against someone's chest. I had no idea how much time had passed, all I know is that I cried so much that I simply had no tears left. I pulled out of the arms to see that it was the woman. She wiped my eyes with a tissue before turning to me. "Now what in sam's hell has got you all wound up like this?" She asked, a truly Texan accent pulling through.

"I found my husband... in bed... With a woman..." I said, my words broken up by hysterical laughs. It was ridiculous to even think of Cole cheating on me with a woman, but sadly it happened, and I'd witnessed it. She gave me a sympathetic frown as I told her. "Aww poor baby." I frowned even more. "The worst part is that he was so utterly drunk out of his mind that he didn't even realize that she wasn't me." I said. The woman looked at me confused. "How is that the worst part? I mean sure he might need alcohol counseling, or someone to monitor how much he drinks, but at least you know that he would never do anything like that sober." She says. I bit my lip as I processed what she said.

She was 100% right, Cole would never do something like that sober. That knowledge still didn't entirely repair my broken heart. "I know you're upset and it still hurts, but you'll forgive him. I can tell you still love him, his actions wouldn't have affected you this much if you didn't. And I bet you he's losing his mind back in your room, because his heart's broken too. Broken because he witnessed how much pain he caused you. And that's how you know it's true love." I looked up at her, comforted by her words. "Alright thank you. I'm going to go talk to him now." She smiled. "Go on honey, I'll cover the tab, you just go reconcile with your husband." I gave her a genuine smile, said thank you, and then headed off to go to my room.

I made my way into our room, my heart a bit lighter, that is until I see Cole. He was in our room, quickly packing as he wiped tears from his eyes. "Baby, what's wrong?" I ask him, momentarily forgetting all my anger towards him. "I just got off the phone with Becca. They had to rush Tally to the hospital." My hand flew over my mouth. "Oh my god! Is she okay? What happened?" Cole shook his head as he finished packing up our bags. "They don't know what it is yet. All Becca knows is that they were playing in the backyard when Natalia collapsed. She was barely breathing when they brought her to the ER. I already booked us plane tickets to LA and talked to the ships captain. When we dock next, we're getting off and going straight home. " He said, looking up at me, his eyes extremely red and puffy from crying. I tried to hold back my own tears, and in doing so my bottom lip transformed into a quivering pout. Cole's expression softened a bit when he saw my face. "Daltypoo, come here." He said, putting his arms out for me.

I walked straight into them, the tears falling as I burried my face in his neck. "My poor baby girl. And I'm not there with her." I cried out, sobs rocking my body. Cole held me very tight, one hand rubbing my back and another running its fingers through my hair, both hands trying to soothe me as he murmured into my ear. "It's okay baby. In less than 24-hours, we'll be at Tally's bedside. "Only 4 more hours until we dock, 7 more hours until our flight home, and 16 hours about, until we'll be at that hospital, in those crappy chairs, in the pediatric ward next to her bed and having the doctor tell us that everything's going to be alright. Everything will be alright Dalton. I promise you." He says, softy, holding me tight to his chest.

And like Cole said, we managed to make it to Los Angeles Children's Hospital in about 17 hours. Once we got out of the taxi, we headed into the hospital, bags in hand, and went right up to the front desk. "Where's our daughter?" Cole demanded. I put a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. 'We're looking for Natalia Rapattoni, our daughter. Could you tell us what room she's in?" I asked the secretary. She nodded before turning to her computer to look it up. "Natalia is in room 842, it's on the eigth floor. Here are visitor's passes." She says, handing us two yellow laminated badges. I handed one to Cole, clipping mine on as I went to the elevator. We impatiently waited as the elevator took forever to come and then as it took a while for us to get up to the 8th floor. Once we did, we immediately rushed down the hallway to Natalia's room and ran in. I saw Becca standing by Natalia's bed, her eyes clearly red and puffy from crying.

"I'm so sorry Dalton. I don't know what happened. They said she had a servere  allergic reaction to something but they're still not sure what. They have her in a medically induced coma while they run tests, to ensure that she stays stable until they find a correct treatment." She says coming over to me. I brushed past her as I made my way to Natalia's bed side. My poor baby. She was lying there, an IV in one arm, a pulse monitor on her other hand. She also had an oxygen tank hooked up to her and a feeding tube down her throat. She looked so pale and fragile, lying in that hopsital bed. I pulled up a chair and took a seat, taking her little tiny hand in mine as I began to talk to her. All I could do at this point is just wait and wait, hoping that she'll get treatment and wake up sometime soon.

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A/N: I'M SOOOOOOOOOO SORRY THAT IT TOOK ME FOREVER TO UPDATE! I was dealing with writer's block on how to go about this chapter, and then I've been writing non-fanfiction stories under a pen name, all on top of college classes, Nutcracker, college visits, and a somewhat major knee injury. Junior Year, really is the toughest year of high school.

Anywho, I hope you guys like this chapter!

Xoxo, Eden

QOTC: Do you guys think Cole and Dalton will ever address what happened between them? Leave your thoughts down below.