Mia's Open Heart (Choices Open Heart AU)

Chapter 18: Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game

Author's Note: The first part of this chapter is from @dr._ethan._ramsey on instagram's fanfic "Never Without You". I will not be including every part of it and will really only be paraphrasing it, so that you guys can go check it out (please do so it is amazing)

On a beautiful spring morning, Ethan was helping Mia pack her suitcase for a medical conference she was attending in Florida. He went behind her and hugged her, his hands resting on the large bump in front of her.

"Are you sure you should be going?" he asked.

"I'll be back today, and then I'll start taking it easy to prepare for Luce." she said with a smile. Ethan leaned down to kiss her belly, before standing up and kissing her too. Then, an energetic rumble came running inside, holding his arms up for Ethan to lift him. It was Jonah, their 5 year old son. Ethan lifted him in his arms, as Mia lovingly smoothed over her son's hair. The family made their way to the airport for Mia's flight. As they got ready to say their goodbyes, the younger Ramsey pouted his lips sadly as he looked up at his mother.

"Will you be home before bedtime?" he asked, as he could never fall asleep without a kiss goodnight from both his loving parents. Mia leaned down as best she could with her protruding belly, looking down at her son as she kissed him on the forehead.

"Of course, I promise I'll be back before you know it." she said, as she turned around and walked onto the plane.

After a couple of hours of working at the hospital, a news channel playing on one of the TVs caught Ethan's eye. They were saying that there was a shooting, at a medical conference in Florida. His world stopped, and it felt like his heart stopped beating. He immediately grabbed his phone, pulling up the text thread between him and his wife. He texted her, asking if she was okay. She said she couldn't talk for long, but that she loved him. Both her and Luce loved him, and Jonah. She said that she had to go, but that no matter what, she would fight for them and the life they had together. She asked him to fight no matter what happened as well, to fight and care for their beautiful son.

He ran straight to the hospital daycare, pulling Jonah out and taking him to his office. He played with Jonah, playing the many senseless games that his son loved. About an hour later, there was more new on the TV. Rushing over to it, the news came that the horrific incident was over, but that there were only a handful of survivors. Instead of showing the names of the survivors, they showed a list of the casualties.

As the list went on and on, to Ethan's relief, Mia's name was nowhere to be found. However, at the very end of the long list, the ominous words were there.

Dr. Mia Singh, and her unborn baby

Ethan awoke suddenly with a loud gasp, feeling like all the air had been sucked out of his lungs. He looked over to his alarm clock, seeing that it was 4 am, 2 hours before it was time to get ready for work. "It was just a dream." Ethan thought as a sight wave of relief washed over him, yet it wasn't enough to calm the overwhelming feeling of fear and anguish that he felt. He looked over next to him on the bed, to find an empty spot. This ached his heart even more, until he heard the beautiful sound his ears sought to hear.

"Ethan, what's wrong?" she asked, quickly rushing to Ethan from across the room and climbing in bed with him. He was hyperventilating as tears started to stream down his face.

"You- You died." he said simply, as Mia then realized that he must have had a nightmare of some sort. She quickly wrapped her arms around him as they both sat up, her arms holding him safely and tightly as his head rested on her chest, hearing the sound of her heartbeat.

"Ethan, I'm right here." Mia said. "I'm here, and I'm alive and safe right here with you." When a person is having a panic attack and is unable to breathe, sometimes the act of being held like this can help get their heartbeat back to normal as it listens to the heartbeat of the person hugging them. Luckily, this happened with them, Ethan's breathing started coming back to normal as his tears stained her shirt. Once it became back under control, Mia lay back down and Ethan laid back with her, lying on his side as he rested his head on her chest. She gently stroked her fingers through his hair.