Afterglow • Gideon Emery

9

The painful waiting and silence waiting for Chloe to wake up felt like years. Gideon paced in the hospital room in circles trying to think everything through. What this event is going to mean for his work and what this has in store for him.

Obviously, it's Chloe above everything, and he knew that Irons would understand. Irons has had a situation similar happen to him before, so he'd be empathetic and he would want to help one of his best men in anyway he could.

As for the baby situation, this wasn't impossible for our Gideon. He thought it was going to happen one day or another day, because Chloe wanted a family with Gideon for a long time, he never expected it to be so soon. And to find out in a devastating way didn't help with his nerves. He's happy, but he will really be happy when his Chloe can share the same happiness with him.

Looking out the window waiting for the Mitchell's to get back with their clothes he could hear a quiet groan then a shift in motion from the hospital bed. Chloe's emerald eyes slowly opened adjusting with the bright lighting rays sparking her eyes. Her breathing is as concerning as before, he couldn't see her chest rise or shrink and he couldn't hear her breathe and the little time he did he noticed it wasn't very much breath being taken in.

Gideon walked back over and dropped down to her level then grabbing her hand again. Stroking the back of her hand with his thumbs. "Bear...." he sighed "good morning, love." Chloe didn't say anything, her dinted eyes just stared at him, showing confusion and tiredness. Gideon didn't know what to say. "I..."

Chloe turned her head to look around the room, arching her back up a little for a little morning stretch, following the sound of a crack caused her to whimper out a cry and lay right back down. Blood streamed down her mouth. "Yeah..don't do that love okay?" Gideon looked down and found tissues to wipe the blood away. He kept a clean tissue over her mouth until the bleeding stopped. "I—I can explain."

The anesthesia left the poor soul so confused to what was happening, left her drugged brain to forget the last 12 hours. "But, I'll tell you when you're here. Okay?" He continued to stroke her arm, while she gently gave his big hand a squeeze then leaned her head down to her side and closed her eyes again.

As much as the soldiers heart is breaking from this sight, he didn't let that take over him. He had to be the big strong guy right now, strong men can be broken too.

• • •

Chloe woke up from her hangover, feeling sharp pains in her lower abdomen and her ribs. She looked around the hospital room feeling so confused about why she was in the hospital. She couldn't move her body except for her head, when she turned her head to the sound of snoring she could see Gideon looking like he has gotten into a fight.

She couldn't stop staring at blood stained scars on his arms and his ripped clothes from all the shattered glass of their Pitbull. "Gideon.." she whispered in shocked. She managed to move her arm reaching for him, feeling so much fear she wanted his touch to feel safe again. "Jaguar" she said louder than her whisper trying to wake him up, she managed to reach farther enough to touch his kneecap "Jaguar!"

Gideon woke up to her whimpers and immediately came to her secure. "Hey hey hey, bear lay back down okay?" He says softly standing back up, he held his hand over her back then holding her hand while he lowered her back down. He used a tissue to wipe the fresh blood from her mouth. Chloe couldn't stop herself from crying from the pain she felt on her lower abdomen and the pain she felt while trying to take a breath.

"Jaguar-" she started to cry while gripping his muscles hands "what happened? Everything hurts-"

"I know—I'm so sorry" Gideon sighed dropping down on his knee so their levels matched wiping the tears from her green eyes. He let her squeeze his hand as hard as she needed, it showed him how much pain she was in as if her sobbing wasn't evident enough. "We got into an accident while going on our date, some fucking dumbass wasn't paying attention to where they were going and they crashed into us and other peoples cars. Our Pitbull fell down a whole ditch. It was more than just our car crashing it was a whole section of us getting hit, because the dumbass drove a pickup truck full of cargo and forgetting how to drive properly."

"Jaguar" Chloe muttered, she pulled his strong hand beside her cheek before leaning her head on it.

"When I found you, you were thrown out of the Pitbull and you had a literal bone poking out of your stomach, the nurse said it cut a good hole in your lung."

"Ew..." Chloe cringed hearing that, that explained most of her pain at least.

"And...um...Bear...I don't need you to stress out over this okay?"

"Okay?"

Gideon took a deep breath before he spoke looking into his angels eyes "you're pregnant."
Hearing this new information, made the atmosphere in Chloe's mind drop with fear.

She wanted a family with Gideon since a year after they got married, but with her physical state, being pregnant horrified her. "Don't stress okay!" Gideon could see her eyes shake with fear "I will be here for you— the whole step of the way, do you believe me?"

"Of course, Jaguar...I-it's just—I'm so scared-" she whispered, he grabbed her other hand and he kissed her hair.

"I'm scared too, Chloe." He whispered "you're the strongest woman I know and you can get through this, you can get through anything. Trust me" he gave her a small assuring smile, seeing her blush made his heart flutter. He removed a strand of hair from her emerald eyes. "You will have to be bed bound for a while, to heal better. I'll take care of you"

"You have work, Jaguar"

"I'm going to talk with Irons about time off to look after you. If not there's always Hannah to be with you, she loves you so much"

"Does she know about what happened?"

"Will, The Mitchell's, and Joker all know what happened. They stopped by and she was screaming at me worried for you. I told them to bring us fresh clothes, seeming that we will be here for a little bit." Gideon pulled Chloe's hand up to his mouth and he gave the back of her hand a kiss. "At least you get to be lazy all day everyday huh?"

"That'll be fun" she very lazily shrugged before leaning her head on Gideons shoulder. Taking small breaths and long painful breaths was something she's going to have to get used too. As Gideon said, she's a strong woman she can do it.

Gideon wrapped his arm around her neck leaning his head down over hers and gave her head a kiss. "We'll get through this, I know we can, I love you, Sunflower."

"I love you, Jaguar"