One of a Kind - A KathNiel Story

Chapter 22

DJ held onto Kath's hand tighter as an ambulance almost immediately pulled up at the end of the red carpet, two paramedics rushing out with a medical bag and they were pushing a gurney between them and they lowered it to the ground when they were close enough and they joined DJ and Max on their knees with Kath.

"What happened?" The male paramedic demanded to know, whilst the woman got out medical supplies from the bag.

"This is Kathryn Bernardo, she's twenty-four and she was shot in the shoulder, but her heavy bleeding tells me the bullet may have hit an artery. She was conscious until about a minute ago and she's an ex-addict, so you can't be giving her morphine. Her pulse is getting weak, there's no exit wound so the bullet is lodged in her shoulder somewhere - I've been applying pressure for the past six minutes." Max spoke quickly, DJ's tears streaming down his face as Noah just kept screaming at the top of his lungs - yelling for his Mommy. It was the first time he'd ever called Kath his mother, and she wasn't even aware enough to hear it for the first time. It never should have been under the current circumstances anyway.

"Sh-She's pregnant." DJ choked out and Max's eyes widened, his head snapping up to look at DJ and the paramedics looked impossibly more worried too.

"Excuse me?" Max questioned.

"Do you know how far along she is?" The female paramedic asked and DJ nodded his head quickly - they knew the exact dates, since as they'd only ever had sex once. He couldn't help but sob, reliving the moment he shared with Kath as she got ready, both of them having their hands on her flat stomach, silently excited and doting on their unborn baby.

"I-It'll be a month on Sunday." DJ choked out and the paramedics nodded, instantly working on Kath to check her vitals and attaching a cannula to the back of her hand, trying to find a painkiller they could give her that was safe for a pregnant ex-addict.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I wouldn't expect the baby to survive." The male paramedic said and DJ couldn't help but cry impossibly harder, his eyes locked on Kath's unconscious face. It was as if he could see the color draining from her body as she continued to bleed - there was chaos around them, but nobody noticed or cared.

"Just save her... save her." DJ begged, closing his eyes and holding onto Kath's hand tighter as Noah continued to scream at the top of his lungs.

It was less than a minute later when the paramedics lifted Kath onto the gurney, holding up the bag of painkillers that was quickly dripping down through her cannula.

"I'll take Noah, you stay with Kath. Don't fucking leave her." Max ordered, wiping his hands on his pants but they were still heavily stained with Kath's blood. The gauze was packed over her wound, one of the paramedics applying so much pressure to the wound that it was making Kath's body turn in her direction slightly but it still wasn't enough to make the gauze almost instantly drenched.

"I don't plan to." DJ breathed, diving into the ambulance and he looked back at his son as he strapped himself into the seat right by the gurney. Max lifted Noah up, which just made him impossibly more hysterical.

"NO! MOMMY, NO! MOMMY!" Noah kept screaming, and DJ could hear him even after the doors to the ambulance slammed shut. Only the sound of the siren whirring as they headed towards the hospital.

"Sh-She'll survive, right? She's not gonna die?" DJ choked out, tears streaming down his face as he gripped desperately onto her lifeless hand. He could tell on the monitors that her heart was beating quickly and unevenly, the oxygen mask over her nose and mouth giving her a high dosage of oxygen to hopefully make it easier for her to breathe and make her stable.

"It all depends on how tests come back, I'm afraid, depending on where the bullet is. I'd expect for her to immediately be taken for emergency surgery... I'm so sorry, sir, that I can't give you a definite answer." The woman said, but DJ just shook his head and kissed the back of Kath's hand, before kissing each fingertip in turn.

"I know my girlfriend... I know her. She won't give up without a fight... b-but if she gets tired, she can... she can let go..." Even the paramedic's eyes burned with tears as DJ stared at his girlfriend, giving her permission to pass away if she couldn't fight anymore. "I love you so much, K... we may not have been together long, but I fucking love you so much... you'll always be Noah's Mommy, whether you were in his life for a month or a damn lifetime. You're his Mom, you hear me? You're the mother of my kids." DJ couldn't even look at her stomach, terrified that they'd lose their baby - their miracle. He was even more terrified to face his son if Kath died. She was the center of his universe ever since she came into their lives. He already lost one mother, DJ was petrified he'd have to admit to his son that he'd lost another.

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