Four months later
I flip the pancake over and set the spatula down. I turn around to see Link shocked at the counter. "I should be up making you pancakes."
"No, no. I wasn't feeling well this morning, but the second I threw up it went away. Anyways, I don't want this pregnancy to ruin our anniversary."
He walks up and places his hands on my growing stomach and leans in for a kiss. "If anything it makes it so much better," he whispers.
"You are so goddamn sexy, I seriously don't understand." Link laughs and flips another pancake for me.
"Four years with me. How do you feel?" I ask as if he's on a talk show, holding the PAM cooking spray up to his mouth like a microphone.
I pull it back to my mouth before he can answer. "There is a wrong answer to that,"
Link laughs and picks me up and sets me on the counter. His tongue travels and my hands rip off his shirt. "The best four years of my life," he whispers in my ear.
A surge of nausea rushes from my stomach to my mouth.
I push him away quickly and speed walk to the toilet just to throw up. "Sorry!" I call out.
Standing in surgery a few hours later, I start to get overwhelmingly dizzy and I step away from the table. "Can, uh, someone page Koracick?"
"Are you alright? Amelia?" Bailey asks.
"Yeah, I just, yeah." It was hard to form a sentence, my head hurt so bad.
It was throbbing, and my vision was hard to direct.
I don't even scrub out when I walk through the hallways trying to walk in a straight line. I almost hit the side of the wall when Link grabs me before I fall.
"Amelia?" He asks, panicked.
"I'm okay. Just, don't feel well. At all."
He takes my scrub cap off and holds my hand to Carina.
"We are going to take some tests, there's a chance something could be wrong." She says.
I start to tear up. Link squeezes my hand. "Babe, these babies have to be okay, please God."
He holds me in his arms and comforts me and tells me it's all going to be okay.
A few hours later, I feel better, a lot better, but worried out of my mind.
"Your tests show you have high blood pressure, causing your symptoms. High blood pressure during pregnancy could lead to a few this. Mainly preeclampsia."
"Oh my god." Link squeezes my hand harder as I try very hard not to panic.
"Preeclampsia is common in pregnancies with more than one fetus."
"So, what should we do?" Link asks her.
"Now, women with preeclampsia usually need to go on bed rest. Just so we can reduce the risk of the baby being born early. You aren't a major case, though, and I have hope your twins will only be born a few weeks early than full term, which is when twins are born usually. Obviously there is no way to tell, but Dr. Shepherd, you need to go home and rest. For two weeks. Then we will check back up on you, okay?"
I take a deep breath and try to figure out what is going on.
Link drives me home and I stare out the window. "I was right, about the pregnancy ruining our anniversary." I point out.
He puts his hand on my inner thigh and lightly squeezes, showing that he's here and cares.
"I don't think I should go back to work. If there's any risk, I'm not taking it. And I'm not going to go on that medication, so I really can't do anything out of the box." I explain.
Link leaves back for work and I sit in the nursery.
Teddy has a key, so I'm not surprised to see her walk in. "Hey, Amelia. I heard what happened. Are you okay?" She comes and sits on the ground next to the rocking chair I'm in.
"Preeclampsia." My voice cracks and my eyes start to water, I feel that pit in my stomach that wants to come up but I fight it.
"Oh, honey." Her voice turns apologetic.
She takes my hand and squeezes it, which causes me to break down crying.
Two weeks later
I sit propped up in bed after my appointment with Carina. I dial Tom Koracick's phone number and wait for him to respond.
"Hey, Tom. Sorry if you're busy." I greet.
"Nah, you're okay. What's up?"
"I am going to give up my position as Chief of Neurosurgery." The words slip off my tongue and I really don't want them too.
"What?" He asks, completely shocked.
"There's too much going on with me and my family right now." I explain.
There's a moment of silence over the phone, because he knows how hard this must be for me.
"Amelia Shepherd, when you get this dumb family drama figured out, your position is waiting for you right where you left it."
He hangs up and I start breaking down crying, again. Carina diagnosed me with preeclampsia for sure a few hours ago, and I'm terrified out of my mind. Big decision being made.
I text my mom to tell her I'm okay.
I get a text from Maggie and Mer saying they're sorry and that they're here for me.
I have a lot of people who love me, and who are there for me. I see Link standing in the doorway of our bedroom smiling, just to cheer me up.
I'm happy, I just need to push this barrier down.
I hope that in three months, I have my Link, Scout and two babies in my arms and everyone's healthy.
