Loose Change~ Montgomery De La Cruz / Zach Dempsey/Scott Reed

Part 4 Chapter 8a

tw: mentions of past sexual assault, mentions of past parental abuse, mentions of heavy mood swings, mentions of death, references to school shootings

a/n: to clarify, Ophelia got pregnant early November. Episode 6 takes place late April. She is a little over six months.
The photo above shows what some woman look like at six months. I had pictured Ophelia to be wearing leggings with baggy dresses, or baggy jackets to go completely over her stomach.
Since she ended up losing the weight she gained at Liberty(from exercise and stress) it isn't as easily noticeable to most Liberty students.

*****

"Thank god you're here," Mrs. Dempsey breathed. She pulled Ophelia into a hug as soon as she entered the waiting room. "Your mother is on her way. She had to drop off Honor."

Ophelia was breathing heavily. "How-How is he?" She could barely speak. Barely think.

"Much better," Mrs. Demlsey told her, sighing with relief. "No longer in critical condition. They performed surgery on his leg. But the fact it was still in a cast preventing it from being scrapped too roughly when he fell out."

Ophelia's eyes widened. Her heart dropped. "He-He fell out of the car?"

"The top of his convertible broke off completely," she explained. "He wasn't wearing a seatbelt. He was thrown out."

"Oh my god..." she breathed. She took a step back.

Scott stood just behind her. He had walked her in. He placed his hands on her arms, trying to smooth her.

Mrs. Dempsey glanced at him. "And who is this?"

"I'm Scott," he said. "I, um, know Zach."

"Ah," she said, nodding. "Yes. Baseball."

"Yeah...and football."

She said to both of them, "Thank you for coming. I'm going to head into where they have him. You two can take a seat."

Scott helped direct Ophelia to the waiting room. He kept his hand on her leg, moving it up and down, trying to sooth her.

"It's okay," he said. "You heard her. He's fine."

Ophelia didn't say anything. She wrapped her arms around herself. Her eyes were bloodshot.

"He's okay," Scott said, again.

Ophelia cringed.

"Do you think it was on purpose?"

Scott stopped. "What?"

"Was it on purpose?" she whispered. "Do you-Do you think he was mad and he-"

"No," Scott told her. "Zach's not like that."

He panicked as he saw a tear run down her face. He wiped it away quickly. "Hey, hey, hey," he tried to console her. "It's okay. He's okay."

She shook her head. "He's not okay. He's in the hospital."

"Ophelia," he breathed. "He's okay."

She put her hands over her face. "I got him upset. I made him drive home."

"You didn't make him drive home."

"He would've stayed at the party if it wasn't for me," she told him, her words muffled beneath her hands. "I did this."

"You didn't. You didn't." He just kept telling her, "You didn't, Ophelia."

She turned to him, suddenly wrapping her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. He reacted quickly, holding her.