A/N This one's for you Jen. Thanks for your motivation to get this chapter finished this week

Chapter 39

Timeshel

Cold is the water

It freezes your already cold mind

Already cold, cold mind

And death is at your doorstep

And it will steal your innocence

But it will not steal your substance

But you are not alone in this

And you are not alone in this

As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand

Hold your hand

And you are the mother

The mother of your baby child

The one to whom you gave life

And you have your choices

And these are what make man great

His ladder to the stars

But you are not alone in this

And you are not alone in this

As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand

Hold your hand

And I will tell the night

Whisper, "Lose your sight"

But I can't move the mountains for you

Mumsford and Sons

Nathan continued to glance at the clock just as he had the entire day. The doctor had told him that the sedation they had given Haley should have worn off by this morning but it was 4:18 pm and she still wasn't awake. To say that he was starting to panic was a distinct understatement. Both heart monitors still had their steady heart beats but after what the doctor has said the night before in the ER it wasn't helping his growing fear. He hadn't slept the whole night. He sat there holding her hand in his occasionally talking to her, placing his hand on the top part of her forehead and smoothing it back over her hair line and whispering his love to her over and over again through the night.

Lucas was in and out most of the night checking on both Nathan and Haley while returning back and forth between Haley's room and his fathers. He kept Nathan up to date on Dan and he kept Dan up to date on Haley. Even Dan was growing concerned that Haley hadn't woken up from her sedated night's sleep.

Nathan hadn't seen the doctor since this morning but he was more than anxious for him to come in to check on Haley through evening rounds. He had told him this morning that they wanted to do a sonogram today and when the nurse came in with the machine, Nathan was relieved to see the baby on the screen. He just hated it that Haley had missed it. She probably needed that emotionally as much as Nathan had.

There had been so many tests ran since she was admitted to the ER last night Nathan had lost count. The only thing anyone seemed sure of and the one test that the results had come back was that Haley was still pregnant. There was concern from her and the doctor too that she had lost their baby due to the cramping and bleeding she had experienced.

Nathan's mind and imagination still ran rampant with what had happened to Haley. This was serious he had no doubt. The severity of what must have happened ran chills down his spine. He had never seen her like this; he had never seen anyone like this for that matter.

During his vigil by her side, he hadn't seen her move once while asleep. It was slowly taking its toll on him. His memory went back to the day he had to go to the morgue and he closed his eyes, and moved his head side to side sharply, shaking those thoughts out as quickly as possible. When he opened them, they found Haley's face. "Haley? Baby? I need you to come back to me. I can't do this without you Hales. We're supposed to raise our family together. Everything is so uncertain without you here. Please….." he choked back the sob that had been threatening to close his airway, "Please baby… Open your eyes Hales" he pleaded. Nothing happened, as with the rest of the attempts during the day, nothing changed. He sighed heavily

…..

Around eight o'clock that evening, Dr. Henderson finally returned. "Mr. Scott" he said holding out his hand. Nathan took the Dr's hand and shook it. "I have a lot of the test results back. Haley has Placental Previa as I suspected. This is a condition in which the placenta is attached to the uterine wall close to or covering the cervix. It is very dangerous to Haley and the baby."

"Ok so what do we have to do?" Nathan asked.

"Mr. Scott with your wife's medical history, if it were my wife, I'd terminate the pregnancy. There are all kinds of life threatening possibilities that this condition can cause. Haley can severely hemorrhage during delivery, it can cause the baby alarming distress and we could lose them both."

Nathan turned his head to his wife and his eyes burned with unshed tears. Haley would never agree to end the pregnancy. How could he ask her to do that? With this information how could he not ask her? Hadn't he just thought of life without her? Hadn't he lived life without her while she was being held captive? He'd already had a glimpse of that life and it was one he knew he didn't want to live.

Nathan turned to the Dr. and his face was full of emotion. "As much as I want to make the decision I can't, not without Haley. I can't do that to her. When is she going to wake up? What's happening with that? Why is she still asleep?"

"The tests indicate she isn't in a coma Mr. Scott. She'll wake up when she's ready. She's been through a very trying experience. This is her body's way of healing. The sedative isn't keeping her from waking up now. It could be any time, or it could be just a little longer. I am optimistic it will be soon" he smiled.

"What about the cramping and bleeding she had?"

"Mr. Scott your wife was pregnant with twins. Her HCG levels are extremely high which are indicative of a multiple fetus pregnancy. We can find any evidence of the second fetus on the sonograms. This is called Vanishing Twin Syndrome."

Nathan looked at the Dr. and shook his head. "You mean there were two babies?"

The doctor smiled. "Yes Mr. Scott. That's what twins' means" he chuckled. "I know it's a lot to take in. Let's just keep her monitored and we'll be able to put a lot more of this puzzle together in the next few days. I'll be on call tonight. Just have the nurse page me if you need anything or if Mrs. Scott wakes up and needs anything. I'll leave orders for the night shift nurse in case that happens, which I believe it will."

The doctor then moved to Haley an examined her as Nathan sat quietly in shock at this latest information. When the Dr. was finished he bid the Scott's a goodnight and left the room, leaving Nathan to even more troubling thoughts than when he came in.

Around ten o'clock, the nurse stepped in and smiled at Nathan. "Mr. Scott, why don't you go downstairs and get something to eat, I'm going to give Haley a bath."

Nathan shook his head. "No I'd like to help you."

The nurse looked at the man strangely but shrugged her shoulders and started to run water in the pan by the bed. Nathan wanted to see as much of his wife's body as he could. He had no idea what types of injuries she might have and this might give him some answers as to what they did to her.

As the nurse pulled the hospital gown away from Haley's shoulders Nathan immediately saw the hand print shaped bruises that were on the front of them. Rage began to rise inside of him. He had seen the bruise on her cheek but when she was admitted to the ER he hadn't seen anything else. They had her wrapped in a blanket and already in a gown. As the nurse washed Nathan inched the gown lower. When the garment was below her breasts, Nathan's eyes widened in horror. There was a huge deep bruise about three inches wide along the left side of her rib cage. Nathan could see the distinct outline of a boot heal along the edges. His eyes screwed shut as his breathing rate increased. As he moved the gown lower and finally off of her body he found several more bruises on her pelvic bone, thigh and hip on the right side. He moved his hand to brush her hair back away from her forehead, and placed a soft kiss there. "Oh baby" he breathed.

The nurse watched in sadness. This man really loves his wife. She had never seen more evidence of love than on Nathan Scott's face. She could only imagine what he must be feeling.

….

Nathan heard the knock on the door to Haley's room and turned to see his father being rolled through the doorway in a wheel chair. He quickly turned his head and swiped the tears from his cheek. Since he had seen the marks on Haley he hadn't been able to stop the fresh flow of tears that continued their track down his face.

"Nathan? Has there been any change?" Dan softly asked. This was his first venture out of his hospital bed.

"Ah, she's still asleep but they have gotten some of the test results back" Nathan sniffled a little.

"Ok. So what are we dealing with" Dan asked?

"Haley has had a partial miscarriage. She was pregnant with twins. It's called Vanishing Twin Syndrome. The other baby is doing ok. "

"Nathan what are they saying? Do they think this baby will be alright" Lucas questioned?

"They don't know for sure, Luke. Haley has a complication called Placental Previa. The placenta attached to the uterine wall low and is covering her cervix. It's dangerous to her and the baby. This is going to be an extremely high risk pregnancy. The doctor has suggested we terminate it." Nathan said shaking his head as he closed his eyes.

"WHAT? NO!" Lucas said a little too loudly.

Nathan turned to look at his father and was surprised. He saw tears running down his father's cheeks.

"Nathan I'm so sorry." Dan choked out.

Nathan moved over to his father and kneeled down still swiping at his tears just like his father. "DAD….." Nathan said before he started to sob.

The three men sat there with their arms touching each other's in one form or another. They were sharing their emotions for the girl that meant so much to all of them. The girl that none of them could imagine their lives without. The girl who had suddenly started to moan and then screamed out "NO PLEASE STOP!"