8. Connections - Part Two

*This & Sick Love get more requests than anything else, so here you go. Lol. I know it's been like 78235276 years :/ My bad. And this is proper short but I haven't written for a while. I'm getting back into it slowly. Anyway, I hope it was okay for those who still read & hopefully it's not too bad or confusing.*

"What?" Wrinkling her brow with concern she strained to hear her husband's panicked voice. The noisy environment around her was making it somewhat difficult. "Slow down and start again."

"You need to get back here, like, now."

"Dave? What's happened?"

"I don't know! Look, just come home as soon as you can. I can't get a response from her or nothin'." He held the phone to his ear as he continued to check her over. The tumbling he heard from the kitchen was fairly loud, giving him an idea of just how hard she'd fallen. When he got to her she was already out-cold at the bottom of the stairs.

"But she's still breathing, right?" Her serious question caught the attention of her passing co-worker.

"Yeah, still breathing and she's got a pulse...She's just not wakin' up."

"Okay, I'mma take an early break. I'll see you in 10 minutes and don't leave her alone."

Her worried colleague spoke as soon as he saw her hangup the phone. "Kris? Is everythin' okay?"

"Yeah, yeah everythin's fine. I just gotta rush home for a minute." She grabbed her jacket and ignored his fretful face.

"It doesn't sound it. Are you sure?"

"I'm positive, Dell." Not even giving him half a chance to open his mouth again she set off walking at a quick pace as she threw her jacket on.



Back in Drake's shoes he was still staring the stony Vampire in the face. Locked into a hard stare as they talked. This news Marquis was just now informed of was bitter for his ears to hear. Nicki still had a place in his heart, no matter how hard he tried to forget. She was completely erased from his mind but his heart was harder to rid her from.

"Pregnant?" Marquis swallowed, sitting on the upset he was feeling. "How far along is she?"

"We don't know for sure." He paused to re-take his seat at the table. "Around 6 months, we think. Or at least close to that anyway."

"And what exactly is wrong with her? I mean, what changes are you noticing that are worrying you?" All his years training as a Vampire doctor hadn't gone to waste as he continued to question a worried Drake sat before him.

"I just...I can't tell what she's thinkin' anymore. It's like there's nothin' there."

"Like it's empty? Or like it's clouded?"

He sighed sadly. "Clouded...Or it could be empty. Shit I'ont even know." He rubbed his face furiously and exhaled loudly into his palms.

"You think she's dying." His sentence wasn't worded as a question, letting him know that his thoughts had been heard. Noticing the hint of fear and sadness in his voice, Drake became wary of the fact that Nicki was still present in his life. Something he should perhaps be more alerted to.

He was silent again before speaking quietly. "I don't know what to think anymore." He sighed. "One day she's completely fine and the next she's not eating and sleeping all day like she can't even find the energy to sit up."

"Where are you staying?"

"At a friend's. He owes me a favour, we're staying there for as long as we need." He kept the information basic, he didn't want any unexpected visits if he were to give the address out. He wouldn't put it past Marquis to come around snooping.

"A human?"

"They're a human family, yeah."

"And they obviously know about Nicki."

"They've been really good to us, I left her with them to come here."

There was a pause whilst Marquis returned to his seat. "You already know what I'm going to ask, don't you?"

"Yes and you already know what my answer is." His face hardened. "So don't even bother, Marquis." Reading his actions like a book he quickly went back into defence mode.

"I'm sure Nicki would be persuadable to the idea, especially if it's in her child's best interest. Think about it, you could move back here and not have to worry about a thing. No more hiding, no more running."

Drake shook his head angrily. There was no way in Hell Nicki would want to be back here in the Rivers colony with all the vicious memories and the strict laws. "It's not even an option we wanna consider."

"But you said it yourself. Now is my chance for redemption."

"Exactly. Redemption." He spoke the word slowly, emphasising its definition. "But I feel like you think by bringing us both back to live in your colony it's just gonna erase the past. That's not what'll happen." Marquis stayed silent, understanding that Drake was fully correct. By offering them refuge in his colony he believed all events of the past might be forgotten, that by going against his own values and beliefs maybe Nicki could forgive him. But that was a long-shot. He knew it and Drake knew it.

"You're right, you're right." He paused before speaking incredibly sincerely. "But my offer is genuine, you'll both be safe here. Please, I want to help."

The flicker in his eyes was malevolent but they were running out of options. This might be their only way of surviving.

~

Back at the Harlan residence the anticipation was at an all-time high. Dave was freaking out as he gently placed a blanket under Nicki's head. He'd checked her over as well as he could but he had no clue what he was looking for, he was just grateful that there seemed to have been no blood-spill from her fall. That, to him, meant she can't be majorly injured. His body relaxed when he heard his wife's car pull into the driveway.

Entering the house hurriedly, Kristin made her way straight the bottom of the stairs. Sure enough, her husband was still kneeling by Nicki's motionless body. She could tell by his face he had no idea what to do but then again, nor did she. Vampire care wasn't her specialty.

"Oh thank God, I didn't think you were coming." He moved around to the other side of her. "I left her where she was-"

"Good, good. That's good." She nodded breathlessly and quickly knelt down and began checking her over. "What happened?"

"I don't know." He exclaimed and rubbed his head worriedly. "She got herself all worked up but I managed to calm her down and then I went to go make her some food and she..." He stopped for a second. "She must have just passed out or somethin' on her way upstairs. I don't know."

"Her breathing is really shallow and her pulse is slow." Sitting back on her feet she made eye contact with Dave before they both glance back down at her. She was so frail looking.

He shook his head regretfully. "I didn't mean for her to hear what I was thinkin', but I couldn't help it."

"It's fine, we'll worry about that later." Scanning over Nicki's still frame she stopped suddenly, remembering what Drake had given to Jackson. Maybe now was the time to use it? But there was no telling what would happen afterwards. The stuff she'd read was putting her off immensely.

"Well, what are we supposed to do now? You have any idea what'll happen if Drake returns to this? He'll hit the fuckin' roof." He smoothed his hand over his head and exhaled some of the worry out. His stomach felt like it was in knots. Noticing that Kristin looked just as worried made him feel worse, she was thinking hard. The quietness ate at them for almost a minute before her worry started to get the best of her. "I have no idea what I'm doing, Dave." She spoke in panic before biting her lip. "She needs to be checked over properly, by a doctor in a hospital."

"Are you serious? There's no way you could get her in there without bein' seen, Kris." He rearranged the blanket he had folded under Nicki's head before talking again and laughing humourlessly. "Unless of course you got sealed off rooms and someone on the inside you could trust to willingly break the law as we're doin'." He shook his head at his own sarcasm and huffed. "What the hell do we do? I mean, how long is she gon' be outcold for? What if it's somethin' to do with the baby? We just don't know."

Her husband's dribbling sentences were all floating around in her head as she thought. That's when it came to her. It was a huge risk, there was no doubt about that but it might be their only option, asides the plan Drake had left with Jackson but the risks scared her too much. She wasn't prepared to go through with it. Pulling her phone out she searched through her contacts, landing on the desired one before clicking 'call'. The calm quiet made her breathing seem even louder as she waited for answer on the other end, when she finally heard the familiar voice everything suddenly got loud again as she spoke.

"Dell?"

~

She had no idea how her colleague pulled off such a stunt but she couldn't help smiling at him as he set the chart up on the end of Nicki's bed. They were at the basement level of the hospital, otherwise known as the Vampire ward. Each and every room was separate and had maximum security to ensure staff and patient safety. As well as an abundance of specially trained nurses, there was only five doctors in the whole hospital who could accommodate the medical needs of Vampires. Dell was one of them. He smiled nicely and began to talk.

"From what I can see so far, she seems stable for now. I mean, her health is pretty poor but I'm not surprised with how it sounds they've been living for the last few months. I won't know for sure until I examine her properly."

"I know, I can't even imagine how hard this has been for them. So, what do you think is wrong with her?"

"I'm guessing she just fainted. But the tumble she took might have bruised her up a bit. Other than that I honestly have no idea as of yet." He looked over at her. "I'll try and get her looking a bit healthier whilst she's here and I'll evaluate her when she's awake after I've done a quick examination."

"So, do you know how long she'll need to stay for?" The beeping machines filled in the silence as he thought.

"It's hard to say." He rubbed his chin. "Like I said, I need to check her over more thoroughly and I need to try and sneak some Obs and Gynae equipment down here as soon as possible. I wanna be sure everything is okay with the baby too."

She looked at Nicki's quiet body sympathetically, her hand resting over her bump. Dell had smartly lay her on her side to stop the weight of the baby pressing on her organs. "And you're absolutely positive nobody else can enter this room without your permission?" Her eyes met his again as she tried assure herself this was the right decision.

"I'm the only one with the key to this room. She's my patient and permission is needed from me to get access to her, okay?" He smiled at her worrying.

"Okay." She breathed out with relief. "Thank you so much for doing this and sneaking her through the back. I know I was asking a lot of you but we were desperate."

"I'm more than happy to help. And before you ask, your secret is safe with me. Nobody will find out about her. I promise."

She smiled gratefully and stood up from the chair . "Can I have the spare key? I wanna keep checking on her throughout my shift. I don't her waking up alone and panicking."

"It's a restricted ward, you can't just come down here whenever you want. There are codes and access requirements." He looked at her apologetically. "But I'm assuming her partner will want to see her?"

Her body froze with fear. She had no idea how Drake was going to react once he found out she was in a hospital. Let alone that another human was now aware of their situation. All it would take is for Dell to hand over the key to a clinical director and tell them what lay behind the door and that's it. Their lives would more or less be over.

Vampire doctors and specialists earned a shitload of money but their lives were constantly at risk, hence the reason there were very few in existence. The five doctors at this hospital were all great at what they did but Dell had something the other four didn't. He had an interest in Vampires and a passion for them. He wanted to help them and understand them better. The money, to him, was just an added bonus. That's what finalised her decision to ask for his help. She knew he could be trusted.

"Kris?"

"Hm?" She jumped back to the moment. "Oh, yeah." She nodded and pushed her hair behind her ear. "Yes, of course he'll want to see her."

"Okay, well once you have him with you, wait out the back and page me. We can use the car park elevator and I'll let you in through the back office." She nodded and looked back at Nicki's small figure. She felt so guilty even though technically this was none of her fault.

"But you think she's gonna be okay?"

He stared at her for a couple of seconds. The concern was as visible on her face as it was evident in her voice. "Look, I'm about to do a basic check over whilst she's still out for the count. If you want you can stay? If it'll put you mind at rest?"

"Really?" She asked timidly, getting the worry of what damage had been caused out of her mind would help her sleep a lot easier tonight, so she agreed to stay.

She stood quietly by Nicki's head as she watched Dell working. He did all the routine checks first and found nothing completely out of the ordinary, other than the fact that she was fairly underweight. He scribbled notes down and moved to the same side of the bed as Kristin. Feeling like she was in the way she stepped back and moved to the end of the bed.

"Everything seems okay, nothing alarming to report apart from her weight. That's a worry." He carried on moving around as he spoke before laying the chart on her bedside table. "And there's no evidence of any trauma to the head. I checked that and her midsection whilst I put her gown on." Although there was still regulations in dealing with Vampire patients, Dell had to toss them aside in this case. He was the only one caring for her medically as of now.

"Well, she looks a lot better than she did a couple weeks ago, I mean, she was sleeping on a wooden floor. The pressure wounds on her elbows and hips just weren't healing at all." She grimaced remembering the sight of the painful wounds marking her skin.

He inspected her arms after Kristin had mentioned her previous injuries. "Yeah, they look like they're healing pretty well."

"Is she hurt anywhere from the fall?"

"I haven't checked all over yet. Like I said, I already examined her head and her midsection, there's a couple of light bruises on her stomach but they look aged and I know the baby is still moving." He smiled. "Gave me a couple of kicks whilst I was checking her over."

"What about her back? Dave said she fell pretty hard and he found her facing up."

"I guess we'll start there then." Moving around to the other side of the bed he pulled the sheets down off of her body. It was quite a task trying to get her lethargic body undressed and dressed again, especially whilst trying not to be rough with her. Kris watched him and how gentle he was handling her as he rolled her gown up at the back. The small gasp that escaped his lips made her frown.

"What is it?" Quickly darting around to his side, she covered her mouth instantly at the sight before her. "Oh my God." The moment was joined by a short silence before he opened his mouth.

"These are honestly the worst I've ever seen." He shook his head angrily as his eyes scanned the many scars etched into her skin. There was a strange beauty to the silvery lines before him but that didn't excuse the brutality of what he was seeing. It looked as though she'd been slashed multiple times with a scythe, the healed wounds going in all different directions. Some were small scratches and others wide and long, telling him that they would have been quite deep cuts at the time of their occurrence.

"The worst what?" She finally found her voice as the shock began to wear off.

"Vampire markings."

"All Vampires have these?" Her horrified look was unseen by him whilst he continued to inspect the scarred skin.

"Not like this." He shook his head once more, tracing his fingers gently over them. "Usually it's just a small mark, like a symbol significant to both mates and then they initial one another."

"So you're saying these markings are done by their mates?" Her mind was totally boggled. She couldn't imagine Drake ever causing her so much pain.

"Exactly, see." He stopped tracing her skin when he found the obnoxious and ugly initials marked deep into the flesh covering her left shoulder. "Her mate's initials."

Kristin looked at them and shook her head adamantly. "No, no that can't be right. They should read A.D.G. For Aubrey Drake Graham, he's her partner."

"Not according to these markings." He bent down to read them more closely. "She belongs to a guy with the initials M.T.R."

"Belongs?" She repeated in disbelief. "That's disgusting."

"I didn't make the rules, Kris." Stealing a glance at her she noticed the same expression on his face. "It's just the way things are for them. Once they're marked that's it. Even if they, for some strange reason, aren't together anymore. No other Vampire will show interest in one that is already marked."

"Well, Drake did." She sighed sadly. "But why are her's so...Hostile-looking? It seems more like she was a-"

"Attacked?" He cut her off before she could finish.

"Exactly, so you see it too?"

"Yeah." He took a breath and stared at her scarred back. "Look at how big and shaky the initials are. It's almost as if she wasn't holding still when he was doing it. Usually they're delicate in appearance, like hairline scars. But this..." He trailed off. "This is a mess."

"You think it was done against her will?"

"That's definitely what it looks like to me. Especially if you're saying these aren't even her mate's initials."

The silence swallowed them up as he pulled her gown back down and covered her with the bed sheets again. Kris was completely heartbroken by the previous sight, how anyone could do something like that to someone they're supposed to love? It was completely beyond her.

"Look, I have some other things to take care of right now, Kris. I have to ask you to leave." He smiled as he stood by the door. "I'm gonna see of I can somehow get the the right equipment down here to check on her baby too." She followed his lead and exited the room, studying him as he locked the door and placed the key back around his neck.

"I'll see you later on, I guess." He began speaking as they headed down the busy corridor. The blinds were closed on all the glass sides of her room, ensuring nobody would be able to see inside.

"Yeah, sure. I'll drop back in on my way home to see if she's awake or not."

"You're still on duty?" He looked at her sideways as they made their way towards the elevator. "Won't they have noticed you disappeared, like, 2 hours ago?"

"Yeah, I paged a friend. She's covering for me."

He laughed a little before remembering. "I can use my pass to scan you out. You're not supposed to be down here." He did as he said he would and swiped his card to enter the elevator. Their journey up was silent until they reached the floor above, where they both exited the lift and tried to appear normal before going their separate ways. She was still doubting whether this was a smart idea but she guessed they'd soon find out when Drake returned.

~

Back at the house, Dave was struggling to sleep. Like Kris he felt this was all his fault. He should have helped her up the stairs, or made her eat something first then maybe she wouldn't have fainted. When it was arranged that Dell would help out, Dave offered to stay home with Jackson. Kris would be more useful in this type of medical emergency. Hearing the familiar sound of Jackson at the foot of the stairs he was glad of the distraction but still kept his parenting unaffected.

"Jackson, you better move back up them stairs before I get up." His smile soon faded when no noise followed. Turning around in his seat he spoke again. "Boy, didn't you hear-"

His sentence halted completely when he was fully turned around. His gaze locked into a stare with two haunting eyes belonging to the shadowy figure towering high next to Jackson.

"Daddy look." He spoke eagerly. "Drake came back."

...

*I apologise about any errors or typos. :/ This chapter is literally all over the place lmao :/ But I hope it makes sense to other people reading lol & thanku so much to those who left comments on the previous chapter. :) Sick Love is next on my update list.*