Chapter 3

"Mr. Blackthorn?", a voice called in the dimly-lit distance of his mind.

Colin had fallen asleep again almost as soon as the doctor had left the room, a side effect of the medications they had him on. The memory of feeling warm blood dripping on him came back – BethAnn's blood. It was more than he could comprehend, and left him with more questions than when he'd started.

"Mr. Blackthorn", the voice came again, more insistent this time.

Colin struggled to rid himself of the induced sleep in his body, and opened his eyes slowly as the figure of a female nurse began to focus in his vision. Even after only one night in the hospital, it was still all foreign to him.

"There's some one here to see you", the nurse informed him. "Are you up for visitors?"

"BethAnn?", he asked hopefully.

"Who's BethAnn?", the woman wanted to know.

"She's the young lady that I came in here with last night", Colin identified the name. "How is she? Where is she? Any chance I can get to see her?"

"All in good time, I'm afraid", he was silenced. "But there's a young woman here that says her name's Brianna Halton. I assume you know her?"

"Brie? Yes, I know her", Colin felt his spirits sag. "Are you sure it's me she wants to see?"

"That's what she says. Should I show her in, or ask her to leave?", she gave him the options.

"No, if she came all the way here, I'll see her. But I sure would like to find out how BethAnn's doing. Who do I ask?"

"Probably Dr. Wilson", she gave him a name that meant nothing. "He was the attending doctor last night when you were admitted."

"I've already asked him, but he wouldn't tell me very much. Guess I'll just have to wait until he's ready", his tone of resignation announced.

Moments later, Brianna came through the door displaying a look that Colin couldn't quite figure out. If her attitude matched her face, he wasn't sure that he really wanted to see her. But as he'd already resigned himself to endure whatever she was about to throw at him, he relented. Giving her a phony smile, the ordeal began.

"Did they tell you anything about how BethAnn is?", he broke the ice.

"Not a thing", she kept her initial answer short. "What happened? How the hell did she end up in here?"

"We were taking a taxi back to your place, got into an accident, and the next thing I knew, I was in this bed. They won't tell you anything about her either, huh?"

"Nope. I figured that while I'm waiting, I'd pop in here and see if you were still alive. Did she talk to you last night?"

"How do you mean?", he felt completely confused. "Of course she talked to me. Isn't that what usually happened when two people go out together?"

A man that they both assumed was a doctor walked into the room before Brianna could ask anything more, but it wasn't Dr. Wilson, who had talked to Colin earlier.

"I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind. Your name is?", he addressed Brie, his pen in hand as he raised a clipboard to make notes.

"Brianna Halton", her terse voice answered. "Where's BethAnn? What's happened to her?"

"And how do you know this BethAnn?", he tried to sound officious, like a police interrogator.

"She's my roommate. Has been for over three years. Are you going to tell me how badly injured she is?"

"Let's go slowly here", he demanded. "I was told that you know the young lady that came in with this gentleman. Our identification information is a little sketchy, so let's see if we can get this straightened out, shall we? Your friend's full name is?"

"BethAnn", Brianna told him. "BethAnn Marina Walls."

"And she's how old?"

"Twenty three", that same short tone came back.

"Is she allergic to any medications, do you know?"

"Not that she's ever told me about. My friend here was told that Beth's in poor shape. How bad is she?", Brianna posed the question that was tantamount to both of them.

"Let's finish this first", the doctor insisted, "then I'll see how much I can tell you. Who should I list as next of kin?

"Her mother, I guess", he was answered, "but I have no idea what name she goes by, or where she lives now. BethAnn's parents split up a few years ago, and there's not much contact between family members. I think her mother's called twice since we started college, almost four years ago."

"Is your friend pregnant?", he went on.

"BethAnn isn't pregnant", Colin volunteered, now feeling quite uncomfortable with Brianna's look of distain, and the attitude she'd brought with her.

"Yes she is – or was", Brianna contradicted. "Is she going to be able to keep the baby?"

"She is?", Colin jumped in before the doctor could answer. "Why didn't she tell me? It is my baby, isn't it?"

"Of course it's yours!" he was reprimanded for thinking that it might not be. "Beth doesn't sleep around, Colin. As for why she hasn't told you, let's leave that for later."

"Doc?", Colin redirected his attention. "How bad is she? Is she going to be alright? And what about the baby"

"She's got a few broken bones", the doctor broke down and informed the two. "Her right leg's broken in two places, and her arm in one. It's her hip that I'm worried about, now that we know she might be pregnant. Her right pelvic bone is badly cracked, and that might be a bit of a problem when she delivers", he gave out as much information as he comfortably could.

"When?", Colin picked up on that part. "You mean, the baby's going to be okay?"

"We won't know until we do an ultrasound. I'll let Dr. Wilson know, and he can set it up."

Brianna spent a few moments in deep thought, then turned to the doctor to request a few minutes alone with her roommate's boyfriend. With that, the doctor left the room, but that look of shock on Colin's face was something that she wasn't quite ready for. She'd been so sure that BethAnn had told him, but now, it became obvious that she hadn't.

"I ... I thought you knew already", she tried to wiggle out of his distain. "She said she was going to tell you, and I thought she had, last night. That's why I wondered if you two had talked. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news."

They let the subject sit idle, with Colin now wondering about BethAnn's injuries, and explaining some of the details of how they'd ended up in the hospital in the first place. Over the next fifteen minutes, he filled in as much information as he could, including the fact that BethAnn had taken the brunt of the impact, and that Colin had acted as a cushion.

"Your friend's awake now", Dr. Wilson popped his head in to announce. "She's asking for you. Should I let her know that you'll be in to see her, or should I wait?"

"No, we'll be right there", Colin jumped at the chance to see his lover again. "Where is she?"

"I'll send the nurse in with a wheelchair for you", the doctor offered. "Oh, by the way? Be prepared for a bit of a shock when you see her. Her arm, leg, and hip are covered in a cast, and her head is heavily bandaged. We picked out a lot of glass, and there'll probably be some scarring when they're taken off. Try not to be too long with her, though. She's under fairly heavy sedation, and she'll tire easily. I understand that she's pregnant? I'd like to schedule an ultrasound as soon as I can, to see how the baby's doing, so I may cut your visit short if I can get the equipment brought up."

"Thanks, Doc", Colin expressed his appreciation for the man's efforts. "Any chance we can be there for that ultrasound? I'd really like to see my baby – our baby."

"We'll see", was the non-committal response.

Dr. Wilson hurried on his way, leaving Colin ad Brianna in his ward room. By the look on her, she had some words to say, and Colin wasn't so sure he really wanted to hear them. But there was something inside Brianna Halton that left her with a poor disposition and a worse attitude. Whatever it was, he decided that it was time to get it out in the open.

"Something's the matter, Brie", he began to pry into her past. "You seem to have a real hard-on for men in general, and me in particular. I have no idea why, but can we talk about it, at least? You were all twisted that first time I met you, yet seemed to calm down over those four or five days you were up. Now that it's me in your element, you've gone back to being that quarrelsome woman I had to rescue from herself, back in November. Not sure what I did to piss you off this badly, but I'd kind of like to find out."

"It's not you, Colin, but your gender", she started to explain herself. "You guys get into a girl's pants, get your rocks off, the disappear. BethAnn's struggling to get an education, and now going through recovering from a bad accident. She's pregnant, and in no position to raise a child on her own. Oh, and don't give me some line about how you want the baby, or that you'll be there for her, because that's a load of crap.

"When I was in high school, there were a couple of girls that got pregnant, and every one of them had to raise and care for the baby by themselves. They wouldn't say who the fathers were, but I have some ideas. But did they lift a finger to help? Not fucking likely! Didn't even have the decency to stick around to see if it was a boy or a girl!"

"So because of something that happened six or eight years ago, you're writing off the entire male population?", Colin had to find out, and maybe he'd be able to put another piece of the puzzle in place.

"No, it goes further back than that", she went on with her story. "When my mother got pregnant with me, my father did what was considered to be the honourable thing, and married her. That lasted less than six months, because by the time I was born, he'd already left. That bastard was out the door and gone long before I took my first breath. In twenty three years, he's never visited, never called, never written, and never even acknowledged that he has a daughter! Do you have the faintest idea what that's like?!"

"Actually, I do", he reminded her. "My mother left Dad and me without a word. So yeah, I have a pretty good idea what it's like. You spend half your time wondering what you did so wrong that someone you trusted and counted on would desert you, abandon you, and never have anything more to do with you. Am I right?"

"Yeah, something like that", she conceded. "And now it's starting to look like my best friend is about to go through the same crap. You can say whatever you want, Colin, but you'll never convince me that you'll stick around to help with her child. Men just don't do those sort of things."

"And you're basing that statement of what? Your own experiences?", he snapped angrily. "Maybe BethAnn might not agree with you. Ever think of that? Because I sure as hell don't!"

"She'll agree with me alright. Her father stuck around until she left for college, but within a week of her leaving, he did, too. In the four years we've been roommates, he hasn't called once, or written, or acknowledged that she's alive! Her mother's phoned maybe twice in that time, and neither conversation was all that encouraging for the poor girl. Her own mother, for chrissake, can't find the time to call and ask how she's doing?"

"BethAnn didn't tell you she was pregnant because she thought you'd run like a raped ape", Brianna continued. "Right now, Colin, she needs you, and she's scared that if she gets too dependant on you, you'll leave her high and dry. What really gets to me, though, is that she's so damned much in love with you that she doesn't know her ass from a hole in the ground! That girl would follow you to the end of the freaking earth, but we all know that it won't do her one bit of good, will it? You'll still leave her, eventually. In that respect, you're just like every other guy there is!"

Colin gave his adversary a few minutes to calm down before he went on, and when he did, it was with a calm and quiet tone.

"Brianna, how much do you know about wolves?", he started to illustrate an analogy.

"They're killers, or so I'm told. So are you. What's that got to do with any of this?", her anger remained.

"Wolf behaviour is very similar to that of humans. They're monogamous, and once a male and female are mated, they remain together for life unless one of them dies. Then, and only then, will a lone male consider finding another mate. In the case of a female, there aren't many that remain single for long.

"When the pups are born, the female rarely leaves the den, which leaves the job of feeding and defending her to the male. If she leaves for any reason, the male stays with the pups, and as they get older, he's as much a part of teaching them how to hunt and survive as the bitch is.

"A typical wolf pack is made up of a mated pair, their oldest adult offspring, and any yearlings that haven't left the pack yet. Like a lot of families, there's a distinct hierarchy to a pack's make-up. All defer to the oldest male, then to the oldest female. As a survival unit, they've developed a social order that's insured the specie's survival for thousands of years."

"Interesting, but that has absolutely nothing to do with BethAnn", Brianna came right back at him.

"It has everything to do with BethAnn, Brie", he flatly stated. "I've seen, first hand, how a wolf pack works, and their methodology has always impressed me. BethAnn and I are like a mated pair of wolves. If she's interested, I'd be thrilled to spend the rest of my life taking care of her. And just like a wolf, I need to take care of our offspring, too. It's not just something I want to do, or that I'm supposed to do, but something I need to do for the survival of our family! She's carrying our baby, Brie. Not just hers, or mine, but ours. And just like my father before me, I'm as committed to that child as he was to me."

"Like I said, interesting topic, and a very informative lecture. But it's just talk, and everyone knows that talk is cheap!" she tried to defeat his argument.

"Do you believe in marriage?", he came at their discord from a different direction.

"Not really. I mean, look what it dd for my mother. Not a damned thing! My father left without a word, and all that bullshit he'd spouted at the church didn't mean jack-shit. Why?", she stated her opinions.

"Because I don't, either, and probably for the same reasons you don't. Like you said, talk is cheap, and as far as I'm concerned, all those promises they make you say are a bunch of empty crap. But in spite of that, there actually are people in this world that make a commitment to each other, and follow through.

"My neighbours, Don and Betty McMullen? They've been together for over half a century, and they're still going strong. When I told Betty that I was coming down here, she suggested that I marry BethAnn. She knows about my mother, so she has a good idea what I think of that idea, and why. But she also told me that she'd have followed Don to hell and back, even if he hadn't stood before that altar. That's commitment – and that's how I feel about BethAnn."

The argument was interrupted when the nurse came in to let them know that Dr. Wilson had finished his tests, and that they could go and see BethAnn if they wanted to. Colin couldn't wait to go, mostly because he was more than just a little concerned for his girlfriend, but also because his patience for Brianna Halton had been stretched to its limit.

Colin was helped into a wheelchair, then taken to where BethAnn lay in her ward bed. What they found when he was wheeled into BethAnn's room was a little more than he was ready to see. The woman lay on her back in a cast that covered continuously from below her knee up to her shoulder, then went down her right arm. Half her body was contained in plaster, and those bandages that Dr. Wilson had mentioned on her head and face gave the impression that he was looking at someone that had been mummified.

"Love your outfit", he joked about the bandages on her face. "How's my girl, other than being stuck in that one-piece body suit?"

"I feel like I lost a fight with a moose", she mumbled, unaware that he'd used the same analogy earlier that morning. "Umm, the doctor says that I got pretty badly cut up. There could be a lot of scars. Are you going to want to look at me when they take these bandages off?", and the worry of rejection filled the air.

"It's the girl inside that I'm in love with, not the packaging", he tried to reassure her.

""How about you? Nothing broken?", she carried on, genuine concern for her lover quite evident.

"Some bumps and bruises, and a few cuts, but nothing much more than that. It looks like you got the worst of it. Gawd, Beth. I'm so sorry. It should be me in that cast, not you", he gave his side of their injuries.

"Why should it be you?", she wondered. "When we got hit, I was the one on that side of the car. It wasn't your fault."

"Maybe so, but a guy's supposed to look out for his girl, isn't he? Looks like I did a pretty bad job of it", he tried to apologize once more.

Before BethAnn could say anything more, it was Brianna that spoke up.

"He found out about the baby, Beth. One of the doctors asked if you were pregnant, and I told him yes. How come you didn't tell him last night? How come it had to be me that screwed things up for you?"

"You ... told him?", BethAnn sputtered. "I wonder if I lost it in the accident? The doctor still wants to do an ultrasound. Shit, Brie! I don't know what to think. Maybe we'll get lucky and I'll abort, or something."

There was an air of self-pity about BethAnn's tone that raised the hair on the back of Colin's neck, and he found that his next words tumbled off his tongue all on their own.

"Why would losing our baby be lucky?", he couldn't fathom. "I want that baby, BethAnn, as much as I want you. Your roommate's been giving me the third degree about men always leaving their families behind and running away. But I'm not going anywhere without you. I realized that as soon as I found out you might be pregnant."

"I was scared. I was afraid that you'd leave, walk away and forget me, or think that I'd do the same things your mother did", her quiet, shaky voice came back.

"You're nothing like my mother", he admonished, now sounding very serious. "If I thought you were, I wouldn't be sitting here. But I am, and there's a good reason for that, too. I happen to be in love with you, and when the baby's born, I need to be there for both of you."

"You're not going to leave me?", she wanted established. "You want this baby? Really, Colin? You're not just saying that, are you?"

"No, I'm not leaving", he emphasized, "nor am I just saying that to make you feel better. And yes, I want the baby. It's our baby, BethAnn. It was conceived in love, and we'll raise him or her with just as much love as we can give our baby."

"Like I said before, Colin", Brianna cut in, "talk's cheap. The proof's in the pudding, and until I see it for myself, your words are just that. Words."

"We've had this discussion, Brianna", his anger at her attitude came out. "I'm like that wolf I told you about."

"Yeah, you're a wolf alright!" she spat back at him. "Screw Little Red Riding Hood, get her knocked up, then run off to Grandma's house for some more fun! You're no more ready to stay with BethAnn than a pig can fly! Honest to God, I sometimes think men should be taken out the back and shot! What a load of shit!"

"Brie?", BethAnn interrupted their bickering. "Let it go, okay? I'm not up to this, right now. If Colin says that he wants the baby, and that he'll stay, that's good enough for me."

"Oh come on, Beth!" she snapped right back. "We both know that he's all talk and no action. Men are like that. Look at me. I have a father, because if I didn't I wouldn't be here, and that's a biological fact. But have I ever met him? Does he have anything to do with me? No! He was like every other male, gone as soon as the damage was done! Left my Mom to do the hard part – raise me, and teach me all the things a girl needs to know! Who's to say that this guy won't do the same damned thing?"

"Funny", Colin quietly interrupted, trying to destroy Brianna's argument, "it was my mother that took off. Dad took on her job as well as his own, not because he had to, but because he wanted to. I understood that the whole time I was growing up, and that's what I believe in now. Are you saying that my Dad was wrong? That it should have been him that abandoned me? That he should have been the one to walk away?"

"Maybe", she defended her stance. "I still say that a man won't stick around when you need him. I've never met one that I could count on, or trust, since the day I was born."

Colin sat there in the wheelchair, silent, but the fury inside raised his blood pressure enough to display an angry flush on his face. That look in his eyes worried BethAnn, although it was directed at her roommate. There were indications that any gains the two had made towards friendship were now in serious jeopardy.

"I'm going down to the cafeteria. I don't need this shit", he finally declared, then spun the wheelchair around and rolled out of the room, leaving an awkward silence behind

"Thanks a lot, Brie!" BethAnn snarled at her roommate, once he'd left. "I think you just managed to chase off the man I love, the father of my baby, and the best thing that's ever happened to me. Satisfied now?"

"All I want is what's best for you, Beth, and you know it."

"Yeah? Well, you sure have a funny way of showing it! What the hell's going through your head, besides a lot of air?"

"I know what it's like to have someone abandon you, BethAnn. I lived that, all the time I was growing up. I don't want to see you have to go through the same shit, nor your baby."

"And that gives you the right to fuck up my life? To scare off the man that can give me the happiness you say you want me to have? He's been through the same kind of shit you have, Brie. He knows what it's like, and what you went through. If you're supposed to be a friend, remind me never to make any enemies!", and with that, BethAnn rolled her head away from her visitor, closed her eyes, and let the tears soak into the bandages around her face.

Brianna left her friend and roommate to her own reactions, taking the time to stare out the room's large window while she sorted out the mix-up inside her own head. Maybe BethAnn was right, and it was her, Brianna Halton, that was wrong? Was it possible that Colin Blackthorn was nothing like her own father? Would he be there to help raise the child growing in her best friend's womb? Was such a concept something that could actually happen? Her own experiences said that it couldn't, but were her upbringing the rule or an exception?