The Runaway

Eight: Prometto

"Am I just fooling myself

That she'll stop the pain?

Living without her

I'd go insane.."

—

1988.

Hamburg, West Germany.

2:30am

The beeping of heart monitors and the smell of disinfectant alerted Prince's senses to where they were in the early morning hours of August 30th. Despite being seen in the Emergency Department in Frankfurt, Prince's concerns regarding his fiancée's health were brushed off due to normal blood work. She was discharged, only to get progressively worse in their new destination.

"You can't fall asleep on me, amore mio." Prince whispered lovingly, stroking her knuckles as they both laid in the tiny hospital bed together, despite the nurse's orders for Prince to stay off the bed. "Getting dressed really took everything from you, didn't it?" He asked, scooting his body down and frowning when she nodded to confirm the answer to his question.

They'd spent all day in bed because she couldn't keep anything down. Her throat was so raw that she could barely swallow her own spit. Moving made her cry. The water droplets from the shower felt like acid, and for the first time, their shower session was nonexistent. He couldn't touch her.

But yet somehow, someway, she was able to put on clothes that hurt her body for the sake of his image, despite the fact that she could barely get her favorite pair of pants over her hips without her bottom lip moving. Her clothes were soon replaced with a hospital gown. her arm gained gained an IV, and her once empty IV pole beside the bed was now filled with bags of fluids and medication to help her from throwing up everything in her system, which also made her sleepy. Tests had been ran, they were normal.

The couple's fingers were intertwined when a young looking doctor in her late thirties or early forties walked into the room with a smile. "Hi. My name is Dr. Brookes and I'm one of the residents here. Do you mind if I sit and chat with you?"

Prince slowly got off the bed and watched as his fiancée welcomed the doctor in with the same expression. The door was closed and a small light was turned on. The couple remained holding hands as Dr. Brookes sat down and cleared her throat. "I've been looking at the results of some of the tests we've taken so far, and they've came back normal. No evidence of any infections, diseases, or anything of that sort." She started. "Your urine sample however, does indicate that you are pregnant. Do you mind if we do a quick ultrasound?" She finished, gesturing towards the machine in the corner of the room.

"No. Of course not." Prince's fiancée said softly, wincing with every word as she watched Dr. Brookes walk over to her side of the bed.

Without needing to be asked, the woman unnamed raised her gown that exposed her abdomen and groaned silently at the motion.

"Ready?" Dr. Brookes asked, putting the wand on the young woman's stomach once she nodded. The wand moved from left to right as the two individuals anticipated to meet their baby for the first time, to hear his or her heartbeat. The anticipation was enough to make Prince's breath hitch the longer he stared at his fiancée's ring and waited.