Rella's world had slowed down in that moment when she saw Stefan's horror mirroring her own, when she realised that they were both thinking the same thing. Everything that happened after that was a blur. She heard him yelling to someone to bring the car around and then he was lifting her up. The ride to the hospital took a lifetime.
"I'm sorry but your wife's had a miscarriage…"
They were too late and now the doctor is saying she's lost her baby. She tuned out the doctor's words after that first damning sentence. Everything was spinning and she couldn't breathe.
Rella started sobbing while Stefan turned and left the room–he probably couldn't wait to get away from her. The doctor was still talking to her but Rella had since tuned her out, her voice getting drowned by the silence in her head–normally there'll be a roaring–but there was utter silence that Rella was afraid she wasn't in her skin anymore.
Rella was oblivious to when the doctor left the room and Van was there with tears running down her face.
"I'm so sorry best friend I know how much you wanted the baby."
Rella's voice wouldn't come out, a huge lump was stuck in her throat but the tears still licked from the corner of her eyes wetting her pillow. That baby had become her whole life, a part of her and now it feels strange.
She feels strange in her own body.
Her mom came too but Rella wasn't sure what she was saying she drifted off after that and when she woke up hours later she thought she'd dreamt the whole thing up.
Stefan didn't return but it doesn't matter now, Rella knew what she must do and she didn't have any regrets. She discharged herself much to the doctor's dismay and after threatening her with physical harm. Rella was free and she marched to the hospital exit with purpose.
She took a deep breath inhaling the earthy scent of early morning rain. It was drizzling and a cold breeze nipped at her exposed arms causing goosebumps to appear all over skin but she didn't care. She walked down three blocks before she flagged down a taxi and gave him an address she hadn't mentioned or talked about in a while but it was her most safe haven.
Her aunt Marjorie was surprised to see her at the door.
"I have no where else to go." She simply said.
"Come on in. You can stay for as long as you want."
The waiting was the hardest part.
After he said those harsh words to her Stefan's regret was instant but he couldn't take it back, he wished he could take it back but nothing prepared him for the horror on her face when he saw the blood trickling down her thighs.
Stefan felt dizzy as he paced the waiting area going back and forth praying earnestly that everything ends up fine only to have the doctor deliver the bad news; he was no longer going to be a father. It felt like a dagger had been pierced through his heart.
Stefan needed to get away, he needed to vent out so he went to the park and cried his heart out. He didn't how long he sat there until his friends surround him to comfort him.
"It's all my fault." He cried bitterly. "If we weren't arguing that time, if I didn't say those harsh words to her then this wouldn't have happened."
"This isn't your fault." Dave told him.
"Yeah it might've been something else. Don't be too hard on yourself." Max put in.
"I think you ought to go back and show her how much you love and support her." It was Jake who suggested.
Stefan remembered how much he pushed her away instead of supporting her maybe if he had then they wouldn't be in this position. His friends were wrong, it was all his fault they only said it wasn't because they wanted to put his mind at ease but he was responsible for her stress. Stefan left them there at the park and went back to the hospital, to his wife. She was his wife even though there was nothing to prove it and her name wasn't on the marriage certificate, he loves her God he loves her with everything he's got and he doesn't want to be separated from her again–not now not ever.
Rella was asleep by the time he slipped into the room and Stefan just sat there watching her. He promised that when she wakes up he was going to tell her that he loves her with his whole being and that he doesn't care what has happened in the past he simply doesn't want to be separated from her. He planted a kiss on her forehead.
He left at the wee hours of the morning when she still asleep to get her clean underwear and to also get breakfast but when he returned she was gone.