Passion's Instinct

Thirty Three

Natalie

'Somebody get life support, quick! She's dying!'

'The baby could very well die too,' the doctor replied, calling in assistance as the nurse grabbed emergency supplies from the nearby table. I didn't know what was going on, but everyone around the hospital bed where I lay rushed around, panicking.

'What's happening?!' I cried, searching around for some sort of familiarity. There was no one I knew in there, no one that could comfort me, and no one that could tell me what was going on.

'Where's my husband? Where's Hayden?' I asked the doctor, who was preparing to start some sort of operation at my side.

'Hayden?' he questioned, giving me a curious look. 'Who's Hayden? All I know is Benjamin, your husband.'

'B-Benjamin?' I stuttered, a sharp pang of fear hitting the pit of my stomach.

'Yes, of course. Benjamin Millipied, your husband.' He leaned down to me, holding a needle pointed up so close to my face, I was staring at it cross-eyed. 'What are you going to do with that?' I asked nervously, feeling the temptation to push it away. 'You are very confused,' the doctor chuckled, 'probably because you are tired. Don't worry, Natalie. I'm putting you to sleep.' And with a cackle, he jabbed the needle in my arm, his face turning to a different man's. I screamed as everything went black. After that, everything was a blur.

"Natalie. Natalie," I heard whispers beside me, and I twitched, breathing fast.

"No! Stop it, don't touch me!" I cried. I felt a clamp on my arm and I opened my eyes, sitting straight up and looking around the room. It was dark, and a man's silhouette sat beside me.

"Natalie," he whispered. "I'm not gonna hurt you." I recognized the voice as Hayden's and settled down, relaxing as he pulled me down on him. He rubbed my arms soothingly as I shivered in his. "Hey, what's going on?" he mumbled into my ear.

"I just had the weirdest dream... well, I should say nightmare. In the nightmare I was in the hospital. Doctors and nurses were running around frantically, and... I was so confused! They said something about a baby dying." I looked up at him, and he pressed his lips to the top of my head as I looked back down and continued. "That made me scared enough, but when someone said something about someone else being my husband, I started to freak out." I half-laughed. "It was just so weird! When the doctor put a needle in my arm to put me asleep, his face turned to someone else's. After that, everything went black."

Hayden furrowed his eyebrows. "Thats weird." He shifted, laying me down beside him and covering me with the sheets. "Well, you don't have to worry about any of that happening," he said, kissing my forehead.

"Hayden."

"Yeah?" he asked, laying back on his side, facing me.

"But that could happen. You know, the baby..."

"Natalie, our daughter will be the healthiest, most beautiful baby girl when she arrives. Don't you worry." He closed his eyes and turned to lie on his chest, burying the side of his face in his pillow. "Goodnight."

"Night," I replied, turning over.

I didn't know why, but that nightmare really jarred and scared me, badly. For the next hour I was awake, dwelling on the fact that a baby died in the nightmare, because since I was pregnant in real life, I thought it was significant. Hayden laid next to me, asleep, not a care in the world or worry at all about anything right now. I was just so disturbed by that nightmare, but told myself not to worry.