December 15, 2000 Tampa, Florida

Nick’s leg bounced uneasily against the linoleum floor, the tip of his sneaker squeaking as it rubbed against the freshly waxed surface.

He was still soaked through from his dip in the pool and he was sure that he was leaving a pool of water from his jeans on the plastic seat underneath him.

He listened to the buzzing of the large fluorescent lights overhead, and the bustle of people going up and down the hallway but what he really wanted to hear was some answers. No one had been out to talk to him in well over an hour and he was starting to get anxious.

“Tina Mulligan?” an unfamiliar voice called into the waiting area and Nick glanced up to see a woman in blue flowered scrubs looking around blindly.

Nick jumped out of his seat, his shoes leaking water out of the sides with the force, “Yes! I’m her boyf...husband. I’m her husband,” he said, walking quickly over to the woman, “Is she okay?”

“Why don’t you follow me Mr. Mulligan?” the nurse offered, leading him by the arm out the door and down the hall.

“It’s Carter, actually,” he corrected and the nurse gave him a quick look which included a glance down to his left ring finger.

“We only allow immediate family back here,” the nurse came to a complete stop, her hand still holding Nick’s arm, “If you’re not family you’ll need to leave.”

“No, I am!” Nick shook his head quickly, “I just wasn’t sure what to call myself. We’re not married on paper but she’s more than just my girlfriend. She’s my family.”

At that moment Nick believed it too. He had spent so long telling himself that Tina was just another girl trying to have her fingers in the pot that was his life but that hour he spent sitting in the waiting room had opened his eyes to how important she really was to him, to their little family.

A doctor greeted him at the door of a hospital room and the nurse walked in the other direction, leaving the two outside of the door.

“Is she okay?”

The doctor nodded, then moved aside so Nick could see Tina lying quietly on the hospital bed behind him, “She’s fine,” the older man answered, “She’s got a nasty goose egg, and one heck of a headache but otherwise she’s doing alright...”

Nick raised his eyebrow, feeling like something was going unsaid, “Why do I feel like there’s a ‘but...’ coming?”

The doctor, a tall thin man easily in his mid-50’s, had a distressed look on his lined face, “The time that Tina spent under the water without breathing was a huge shock to the baby. She’s had some significant blood loss, which we’re monitoring.”

Nick had almost forgotten about the baby, he was so worried about Tina, “So, what does that mean? Is she going to lose the baby?”

“It’s tough to say,” the doctor explained, “she very well might, but she might not. We’re going to have to put her on restricted bed rest for the time being though, so we can keep an eye on things.”

“She’s only a few weeks pregnant!” Nick exclaimed, “She’s going to have to stay in bed for the next six or seven months?”

The doctor shook his head, “Not necessarily. If things go well and the baby’s condition stabilizes we will be able to change things but if the condition doesn’t improve, she could very well spend the next six months lying in bed. Or if things don’t go well she’ll be up and around but she won’t be pregnant and that is what we’re trying to avoid.”

Nick didn’t want to admit that the latter would almost be the better option in the long run when it came to lying around for the better part of a year, “Can I see her? Is she awake?”

The doctor nodded and moved out of the way of the door, “She’s just resting right now.”

Nick squeezed in the door, listening to the soft beep of a heart monitor that was keeping an eye on Tina’s vitals. Her eyes were closed so he was caught off guard to suddenly hear her voice.

“Hey.”

“Hi,” he breathed heavily then grabbed a seat.

She blinked slowly, eyes adjusting to the light in the room before turning to Nick who was sitting in a chair next to the bed. He looked pitiful; his jeans were spotty with some areas dry and others still wet, and she could tell from his entrance that his sneakers were still bogged down. She could only assume that he was wet from the pool because she didn’t remember much after slipping.

“What happened?” she asked, feeling the throb of the bump on her head.

“The doctors didn’t tell you?” he asked.

She nodded slowly, careful not to move too much, “I know what happened with my head. I don’t really know what happened between the backyard and here.”

His lips pursed quickly as he searched for the words, “Well you slipped, on the tile, and the next thing I knew you were falling. You hit your head... on the ladder I think... and the water just started turning red. There seemed to be so much blood, I could barely see you. I jumped in and pulled you out. At this point your mom had heard me yelling from their place and she came out and called 911 while I gave you mouth to mouth.”

Tina gasped, “You had to do CPR?”

“Well,” he paused modestly, “Your heart was beating but you had a bunch of water in your lungs. I got you to cough it out and then we just waited for the ambulance and tried to keep your head from bleeding too much.”

“Wow,” she whispered, suddenly seeing Nick in a new light, “I don’t know how I can ever thank you enough. That must have been really hard for you.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” he said firmly, “It was a gut instinct to jump in.”

“Where’s Parker?” she suddenly asked, not knowing what time of day it was.

“With your parents,” Nick answered, “I wasn’t sure how long we were going to be here, or when you’d get to go home so we decided that they would go pick him up from his play date then just stay at home.”

“Home,” she mused sadly, “I guess I’ll have a lot of time to stay at home in the next little while.”

“I’m so sorry,” Nick said with a groan, “I was frustrated to hear that.”

“Yeah I bet you were,” she pointed out sarcastically, “You were probably hoping I lost it.”

Tina could see in his face that he was trying to maintain his composure and not get upset, “No. That’s not right at all. I would never want something like that stolen away from you.”

“You just want me to do it voluntarily.”

“No!” he let out a frustrated sigh, “I realized something... when you were laying there on the patio stones bleeding. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you’d had an abortion. I would always wonder about the person that could have been.”

She couldn’t stop herself from smiling slightly, “I’m glad to hear that because as terrible as it seems like it’s going to be, I’m going to stay in bed as long as I have to, and I’m going to take really good care of myself because our baby deserves it. I have to fight for it; I can’t just pack it in.”

“And that is why you’re a better person than I will ever be,” he told her, reaching out to grab her hand.