Rise Up

Diego

A/N: My updates will be more sporadic over the next two weeks due to holidays and travel.  I'll be in NYC, so I'll look out for Lin!

My heart was pounding as Carol and I took a cab to the hospital. Carol didn't seem to be in much pain, but obviously bleeding was cause for concern. We arrived and I checked her in as a nurse wheeled her away. Since she was pregnant, the doctors saw her straight away.

I helped Carol into a hospital gown and covered her up with a blanket as we waited. The doctor did an exam and ordered some tests. Waiting was terrible. They'd hooked up monitors and it looked like the baby wasn't in any distress, so that was a relief.

I made the mistake of using WebMD to check Carol's symptoms. It could be cancer, a miscarriage, a uterine rupture. After looking through all the horrible possibilities I put my phone away and held my wife's hand.

About an hour later, the doctor came back in. "Looks like you have an infection," he informed us. "Nothing to cause alarm. We'll put you on a medication and the bleeding should stop."

We both let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't anything serious. Carol would wear a maxi pad for the next few days just in case there was any more bleeding. I stopped at the pharmacy on the way home to pick up her medication.

When we got home, the kids gathered around, their eyes concerned. I explained what had happened and they were all relieved as well. I realized for the first time this was our baby. Our family's baby. It linked us all together as a blended family.

It was late now, so I told the kids to get to bed so they'd be rested for school the next day.

Talie was struggling a bit with school. Hunter had prepared her well, but British preparatory schools were a new level of intensity. She now had the added pressure of O-levels, which were a bigger deal over here. Luckily, Alice was being a big help.

Talie came home very upset from school one day. She stormed straight to her room in tears as the other two stopped in the kitchen for a snack.

"What's up with Talie?" I asked Alice.

"She failed a science test," she informed me. "Chemistry. The teacher's pretty brutal."

I winced. I couldn't be any help with chemistry. I knew Talie had studied hard for that test, so she was probably frustrated. After giving her a few minutes, I took some cookies to her room and found her curled up on her bed, still in her uniform.

"Rough day?" I asked her.

"I bombed my science test," she told me as I set her cookies on her bedside table.

"You studied really hard for that," I acknowledged, sitting on her bed. I rubbed her arm a little. "You'll get the next one."

"The teacher hates me," she proclaimed.

"Who could hate you?" I countered.

"She hates all her students," Talie said. "She's evil."

"Could you do some extra credit?"

"No, she doesn't do extra credit," she said. "I'm screwed. I'll probably end up with a C."

"And it won't be the end of the world," I pointed out. "Hey, didn't Lin's wife Vanessa go to MIT or something? Maybe she could help?"

"Yeah, maybe," she said. "I need a lot of help though."

"We could get you a tutor."

Talie was probably overly critical of herself at the moment because she felt in the spotlight. She was the only American at her school and the American education system was generally thought of as less rigorous than the British system. She felt like she had to prove herself more.