Safe House

Chapter 29

A year and a half later

She drives up to her mother in law's grey and white farmhouse. Her stomach churns, and as turns the car off. She quickly unbuckles her seatbelt, and opens the door to throw up on the gravel of the driveway.

"Mama?" Josh says from the back seat.

"Yeah buddy?"

"Are you staying at Mima's too?"

"No, just you and your brother ok?"

"Ok." He says

"Ok, let's go inside." Erin says after a few deep breaths. She gets out of the car, and helps Jonah out, and they all walk up to the porch together.

Ms. Belle opens the door, as they start up the stairs. Jonah and Josh both hug their grandma before running over to their great grandpa, and the dog.

"Are you feeling ok sweetheart?"

"Yeah I'm ok." She answers

"Oh so did you just have something that didn't agree with you?" She asks next, nodding over to the car.

"Uh yeah I think so."

"You think so, or is there something else it could be?"

"I don't know." Erin says with a smirk.

"Alright well I'll stop grilling you, and let you go find out, and we'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you Ms. Belle."

"No thanks necessary sweetheart." Ms. Belle says as Erin walks over to her sons, and gives each of them a kiss on the head.

"Behave for Mima, and Papa James ok?"

"Ok mama." Josh says, as he continues petting Finn.

"Ok goodnight, I love you."

"Love you too." They say in unison, and then she stands up, and leaves. She goes straight to the store before heading home.

Her hands are shaking as she unwraps the first test, and her heart is pounding once she pees on the stick, and places it on the wrapper.

A few minutes later the timer goes off, and then her phone rings as she looks at the white stick in her hand.

"Hello." She says into the phone.

"Hey Erin?"

"Yeah, Adam what's up?"

"Can you come to the hospital?" He says in a serious voice, something that she's not used to with him.

"Why what happened? Where's Jay?"

"He's been shot." He says, and it's as if the world came to a stop. Hearing those words made her feel the complete opposite of how felt just moments ago.

"I'll be right there." She says as she places the test back on the vanity, before grabbing her keys and rushing off to the hospital. Tears stream down her face, as she quickly drives to her husband.

About a hour later, she's emptying the rest of the contents of her stomach into the waste bin just outside the waiting room.

"Mrs. Halstead?"

"Yes, that's uh me."

"Of course, your husband can be seen now. It was a simple through and through on his thigh, and the bullet to his abdomen missed any major organs, but it did hit an abdominal artery. We repaired it, but he's not of the woods yet. If the blood supply to his organs were cut off for too long, he may be at risk."

"Where is he?" Erin says, as they walk back inside.

She cautiously walks into the room assigned to her husband, and there he is sleeping in the small hospital bed. Tears fall from her eyes as she goes to sit next to him.

"Hey babe, I don't know if you can hear me, it's probably better if you can't cause I really don't know what to say to you, but I love you, and our boys love you, so please come back to us. Please?" She says with a sniffle.

There's several minutes, where the room is silent except for the beeping of the machines, his light, even breathing, and the sound of her tear drops hitting the light grey blanket, and where her hand is clasping his.

"Josh drew a picture for you today at daycare." She says, and then she takes a break to wipe her cheeks, before she continues. "He was so excited when he was climbing into the car to go to your mom's, he put it in the front seat so I'd remember to give it to you for him. If I wasn't so afraid to let go of your hand, I'd go get it for you. It's pretty good for a four year old, you can tell he drew you as Superman, with your hands on your hips, and your chest is all puffed out, and in the background is him, and Jonah, and me, and the dogs of course." She says, and it makes her feel better telling him about the boys.

"And Jonah asked where his daddy was when I was buckling him in." She says with a sad smile.

"They need you Jay, our babies, all three of them." She adds placing her hand that's not attached to his, onto her still flat stomach. "They need you to wake up, and be ok, and so do I."

"He's going to be ok sweetheart, he'd never leave the three of them." Ms. Belle says from the door way.

"Or you." She adds as she walks closer to her daughter-in-law. She puts her hand on her shoulder, and she can feeling her shaking. Erin looks at her husband, and then up at his mom. A fresh batch of tears run down her cheeks as she stands to give her a hug. Her hand still clutching his. She pulls back, and asks

"Where are my-?"

"They're with Kim, I just wanted to come see him, and see how you were." Ms. Belle says, and Erin nods, taking a seat again.

"So three, huh?" Ms. Belle asks after a few moments, causing Erin to let out a sad laugh, and nod. She wants him to wake up, she needs to see his beautiful eyes, and tell him that he's going to be a daddy again, and she doesn't want to leave his side until then.

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A/N: We're almost done, just one more chapter. Thanks to those of you still following along, and reviewing