Jenalyn: Crossing Lines (#4) [Complete]

Chapter 92: Tyler

Sunday, 8:48 A.M. EST

Everything has been moving so fast, but so slow. It’s hard to separate this from being a dream... or a nightmare. I only know it’s not one because I haven’t been able to sleep since Hayden ghosted me. 

And this... is why. 

“I’m sorry Mr. Robson, it’s an odd situation, but I have to contact Child Protective Services due to the severity of her drug use during pregnancy...” The doctor that’d been tending to the babies says after making his way back into the room. “I know you said you two live out in California? The case will be transferred and they can follow up the investigation out there. They’ll require a plan of action: rehab for the mother, they’ll come assess the children’s home, conduct interviews- those types of things.”

The doctors words fade in and out. I can’t believe any of this is happening; None of this was supposed to happen. 

I knew it was going to be bad when I showed up here early this morning, but nothing could have prepared me for any of this. 

Finding Hayden the way I did? With the crazy fucking ex she told me used to beat her? And try to pimp her out?! Only to find out that my babies were born and barely surviving? 

Wait... how can I be so sure this isn’t a dream!? 

“Are they going to be taken away from us?” I ask mindlessly, still trying to distinguish reality from the nightmare this day has turned into. “She’s really a good person! A great one! I don’t know what happened, but I-“

The doctor cuts me off as soon as he realizes I’m rambling. “No! Oh heavens, no!” he says as he pulls out the manila folder that’s been stuck under his arm since he came in here. “They’ll just need to see that the babies will be okay, and-“

The babies would have been okay. They would have always been okay, but I fucked up. I’m never letting that happen again. I thought I was doing the right thing for Hayden by giving her the space she requested, but if anything has become clear in all these months dealing with her? It’s that Hayden can’t handle the space that she requests.

“They’re going to be okay,” I unintentionally interrupt, only to question myself after the fact because my mind won’t let me forget how I just found them. “-They’re going to be okay, right?”

The doctors face changes, just a little, but enough to make my stomach feel sick. He opens the folder he pulled from under his arm and scans it while adjusting his glasses. 

“Well, I’ve never seen anything like this, Mr. Robson!” he starts, astonishment in his voice though it still holds and underlying anxious tone. “See- I was able to have a few of Hayden’s documents faxed over from California. We should have seen this coming! However, it seems there was never a follow up appointment made after they found the mass beside the baby. I can see why we’re all taken a little... off guard.”

She said she would follow up with her primary in Pennsylvania; I should have known it was all a fucking lie! 

Has she ever even cared about these babies? 

“They’re both okay though, right?” I can’t stop myself from asking before the doctor has a chance to continue. “I saw that one of them was really small, but she seemed to be oka-“

The doctor nods his head, waiting for me to finish before he continues. I give up halfway through though, deciding that his continuing would probably answer any and all questions my anxious mind could come up with. 

“That’s the wild thing here, Mr. Robson,” he starts, flipping pages in his folder and quickly reading over something before continuing. “Baby B, the mass they spotted over in California? She was suffering Twin Transfusion Syndrome in utero- basically meaning that Baby A was getting mostly all the blood supply. That’s why, in the beginning when they’d first spotted her? She was still so underdeveloped. She may have been conceived later than Baby A; It doesn'y happen often, but it happens!”

I think I’ve heard of that before. My mom used to tell Gage and I how worried she was that we wouldn’t know how to share while we were inside of her, and that one of us wouldn’t make it.

We both did!

“She made it though!” I exclaim, feeling a slight sense of relief wash over me for only a second before the doctor uncertainly nods his head and continues. 

“Yes, they both made it out alive; That’s a miracle alone considering how they were delivered! So we do have that to be thankful for!” he says, flipping the folder shut before fixing me with a look that radiates bad news. “-but Mr. Robson? If you’d like to take a seat, I do have some less fortunate news to share as well- mostly regarding Baby A. We’re doing everything that we can, but due to the excessive drug use and the fact that she had been getting mostly everything from the mother’s blood supply… It’s not looking too bright for her...”

I... wasn’t expecting to hear that. 

I’ve been so worried since seeing the tiny baby, who visibly looks a little underdeveloped and affected by the drug use, that I failed to even let myself worry that it may be the bigger more healthy looking baby I’d lose…

“But... she looks so much more healthy...” I mumble in disbelief, trying to process the overwhelming emotions that flood my body.

The doctor nods, his eyes sympathetic while he takes in a deep breath. “She was developing pretty well there for a bit while her mother was doing okay, I assume...” he says with a small sigh. “She had a chance to grow more than Baby B, that’s for sure! When it came down to some of the more vital developments though, it’s almost as if she filtered out the toxins from the little bit of blood supply that Baby B was getting... Baby A saved her sister’s life…”

I’ve felt my heart break before, but this isn’t even in the same realm of any kind of broken I’ve felt.

“So... she’s not going to make it?” I mumble without really knowing it.

My body feels numb. I wish my mind would pick up the same effect, but I feel way too many emotions for my head to try to remember what numb feels like. 

“We’re doing everything that we can, Mr. Robson. For all three of them,” he says after a moment, placing his folder on the table beside him. He leans in and rests his hands gently on my shoulder. “They’re in intensive care with or best team of doctors, okay? Let’s see how the next hour or two goes, and I’ll give you and update. For now… maybe you should get some rest? It’s still early, and I’m sure this morning has been... draining.”

I nod my head and thank him, though waiting any longer to know that my girls are okay is the last thing I want to think about doing right now. 

Still, I follow the doctor when he leads me out to the waiting room, offering to have the nurses bring me out a travel pillow since it might be a little while. 

“That’d be great,” I tell him with the kindest smile I can fathom right now. 

But let’s be real, nobody would be able to just “take a nap” after the morning I just had…