Chapter 28: 27: Shocked. Confused. Angry.

Trigger Warning: Miscarriage. If you do not want to read this chapter, message me and I will give you a summary :)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: SHOCKED. CONFUSED. ANGRY.

July 26th, 2020

3:28PM

Avery was laying on the couch, watching an old rerun of Full House when she felt an intense pain in her stomach.

The pregnancy pain had been bad lately, though her doctor said this was normal. Her uterus was just expanding, the doctor had told her. So it was normal to experience such bad cramping as she was.

Avery tried to push the pain aside by focusing on the television in front of her. It was difficult to focus on the episode of Full House that she'd seen at least a hundred times, because the pain was not subsiding. No matter how Avery moved, the pain stayed the same. Her doctor had given her certain ways to position her body to relieve the pain, though none of them were working. She reached over and grabbed the heating pad next to the couch, hoping that would be the cure to her god awful cramping. Avery tried to focus on her breathing while the large, blue pad heated up, though that was not working, either.

"Fuck." she aggressively breathed outward, turning the heating pad on its highest setting. It did not take long for it to heat up, and even while it was on the hottest setting, it was also not helping with the pain, which Avery noticed was getting worse.

She attempted to sit up on the couch, with the hope of standing up and walking to the bathroom. It was difficult to move, as Avery placed her feet flat on the floor. Placing her hand over her stomach, she slowly stood up, yelping out in pain in the process. The twenty-two minute episode of Full House that began as soon as her pain started, ended once Avery finally got herself into the bathroom. That meant it took her twenty-two minutes to try and heal her pain, and also walk slowly into the bathroom with her hand clutching her pained stomach.

She sifted through the medicine cabinet in attempt to look for some kind of medicine she could take. All she had were her pregnancy related vitamins, but Avery figured those were not going to do much. Whenever the pain got this bad, the heating pad always helped to subside it. Avery was confused on why the heating pad did not help this time, and why the pain was growing worse. Throughout her entire pregnancy this far, the pain was never this bad.

Though she knew it would not help much, Avery popped the vitamins into her mouth. She tried to focus on chewing, instead of the drastic pain in her stomach, though that was no use, either. No matter what she did, she could not focus on anything else, aside from the crippling pain.

Avery stood up taller from where she leaned over the sink, in attempt to walk out of the room. Though as soon as her eyes found the floor, she gasped.

There was blood. Blood trickling down her legs, forming a small puddle on the floor around her feet. It was bright red blood, the kind her doctor warned her about in case something like this would ever happen.

"No," Avery choked out, immediately feeling tears stream down her face. "No!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

The pain was only increasing. But Avery forced herself out of the bathroom, towards where her phone was plugged in on the couch. Her feet gave out once she reached the couch. She fell to her knees, screaming in pain as the blood kept dripping down her body. She was able to reach her phone, and despite its battery only showing twenty-five percent, she dialed 911.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"My - My baby," Avery was starting to feel dizzy. "I think I'm having a miscarriage."

"Ma'am, what's your address? Sending an ambulance your way."

Avery quietly repeated her address to the operator, feeling like she was going to pass out at any second. When she was off the phone, knowing that an ambulance was coming her way, she started dialing the number of the person who got her into this whole mess.

"Hello?" the voice said over the line, clearly not expecting a phone call from Avery.

"Meet me at the hospital," she weakly instructed. "I'm losing the baby."

♥♥♥

4:15PM

Rowan was not planning on seeing Avery today, given his mother wanted to spend some time with him and Wes. Something in his gut was telling him that he should go and check on Avery, considering he had yet to hear from her, and it was nearing 4:30PM. The drive to Avery's apartment took longer than it should have; Rowan was hitting almost every red light on the way there. He was confused to see an ambulance blocking the entrance of the complex, so he had to take the backway. It was not hard finding a parking spot, though as he walked up to the building, Rowan could not help but wonder why there was an ambulance in the parking lot. He noted there were a lot of elderly people living in the apartment complex, so he figured that something must have happened to one of them.

That is, until he walked up to the door to buzz himself in, and out the door came a few EMT's and a person on a gurney. And the person on that gurney, was Avery.

"Avery?!" Rowan practically yelled, trying to keep up with the EMT's who were getting ready to escort Avery into the ambulance.

"Row?" Avery opened her eyes. Despite the gurney's fast movements, Rowan noticed how pale Avery's face was.

"Sir," one of the EMT's spoke quickly. "You need to step aside."

"I - " Rowan started, until Avery's weak voice chimed in.

"He's my fiancé," she weakly mumbled. "He can come."

It all happened so fast, but the next thing Rowan could reciprocate was that he was sitting in the back of the ambulance with Avery. He held her hand tightly as tears fell from her eyes.

"What happened?" was all Rowan could muster out, as he confusingly eyed Avery's pale face and bloodshot eyes.

"The baby - " Avery cried. "I'm losing the baby."

Rowan felt his heart sink. He squeezed Avery's hand, not knowing what to say. He did not know what to feel.

In that moment, all he was focused on was making sure Avery was okay, because by the looks of it, she lost a lot of blood. She was wrapped up in what looked like a blanket, though Rowan could see the obvious blood stains on it, as well as on the bottom of her legs that were poking out.

"Rowan," Avery cried. He squeezed her hand again. "We aren't going to be parents,"

"You don't know that," he whispered as he left a light kiss on her hand.

"I've lost too much blood."

Instead of responding, Rowan left another kiss to Avery's hand. It may have sounded selfish, but as the words we aren't going to be parents left Avery's mouth, Rowan could not help but feel a sense of relief. He never admitted it to Avery, but he was not ready to be a parent. He felt terribly for his fiancée in this moment, because he could see the pain she was in. So he pushed that selfish thought to the back of his mind, and focused only on comforting Avery.

"I love you," Rowan mumbled against the skin of her hand.

"I love you too," Avery whispered. She closed her eyes again and within seconds, the ambulance was pulling into the hospital.

Rowan stayed by Avery's side, holding her hand until she was safely placed in a hospital bed. Rowan was instructed to leave the room for a moment, while the doctors worked profusely to try and save Avery's baby. He sat in a chair just outside the room, so it was easy for him to hear what they were saying from the inside. From what he could make out, Avery had lost too much blood.

They were saddened to say that the baby did not make it. Rowan could hear Avery crying from outside the hospital room. The doctors did not tell him that he could come in yet, though as soon as he heard Avery sobbing once again, he swiftly walked into the room.

"Rowan," Avery sobbed. "I lost the baby,"

Rowan immediately engulfed Avery into his arms, where she sobbed against his chest. "It's okay," he whispered against her hair. "It's going to be okay."

"We'll give you two a minute," the doctor sadly smiled. He left the room in an instant, leaving Avery and Rowan there to mourn the loss of what was going to be their child.

Avery placed her chin on Rowan's shoulder, her sobs quieter. Rowan hugged her as tight as he could, careful not to hurt her since she was hooked up to various tubes that Rowan did not know the purpose for. Avery continued to cry, that is, until she abruptly stopped. Rowan was not facing the door, but as soon as Avery abruptly stopped crying, he could feel someone standing in the doorway. Someone that was not the doctor.

"What are you - " Avery choked out, her grip on Rowan tight. He tried to free himself from her grasp to see who was standing in the door, though Avery made it difficult as her nails dug into his skin.

"Avery," he was confused by her sudden, strong grip. "Let go of me."

She did not comply. But Rowan managed to free himself from her nails, knowing that there was going to be a mark on his back from that later. He turned around, surprised to see Jax Perry standing in the doorway of the hospital room.

"Jax?" Rowan's voice was thick with confusion. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Jax ignored Rowan and walked further into the room, on the other side of Avery's hospital bed. Avery's eyes were wide, her mouth slightly agape.

"Are you okay?" were the first words to leave Jax's mouth. Rowan just stood there, confused, with a million questions running through his head.

"When you called me - " Jax spoke frantically, still ignoring Rowan as he kept his eyes fixated on Avery.

"What?" Rowan looked back and forth between Jax and Avery. "You called him?"

"Rowan - " Avery's lip started to quiver. "I can explain,"

'Wait," Rowan's jaw dropped. His eyes frantically looked back and forth between Avery and Jax, and that's when his confused brain put the pieces together. There was no reason for Jax to be here, in the hospital room, after Avery had a miscarriage. There was no reason, unless the one impossible circumstance floating throughout Rowan's brain was true. "Is he - is he the father of this baby?"

"Rowan," Avery was sobbing again. She did not deny it. She did not say no, this is just a misunderstanding, like Rowan expected her to. She just sat there, sobbing.

"Oh my god," Rowan shook his head, refusing to believe it. "You - "

"Rowan," Jax sighed. He was not expecting Rowan to be here, which made this entire thing more complicated than it needed to be.

"Shut the fuck up, Jax." Rowan snapped. His breathing started to quicken. A million questions were running through his mind. Questions like, how did this even happen? And when? Rowan's entire being was taken up by betrayal as his eyes swiftly moved back and forth between Jax and Avery. He could feel anger, as a result of the betrayal, brewing within him.

"No," Rowan interrupted her. He was not going to let her speak. This was the one time that Rowan was not going to let Avery get her way. "You fucking cheated on me. You fucking slept with him and made me think, that this entire fucking time, that this was my child!"

"We were drunk, Rowan." Jax said, as if that made any difference. Rowan could feel his face getting red as his initial shock was replaced by anger.

"That doesn't mean shit!" he yelled. "How could you do this, Avery?"

"I thought it was your baby," Avery broke eye contact with Rowan. She focused on the blankets covering her body, because looking at Rowan was too difficult for her in that moment. "But then I did a test and - "

"So you knew it wasn't mine," Rowan was slowly putting all the pieces together. "And you purposely didn't tell me?!"

"I didn't think you'd still want to marry me," Avery admitted. She wanted to tell him, so many times. But she did not want it to ruin her chances of getting married.

"Fuck you!" Rowan was screaming now. At any moment, he knew somebody was going to come in and ask him to leave. "You should've told me!"

"Take it easy, Rowan." Jax intervened. Without thinking, Rowan raised his hand and did not hesitate before slapping Jax across the face. "What the - "

"Fuck both of you," Rowan angrily laughed. "I can't even look at you right now, Avery."

"Rowan, wait!" Avery sobbed. Rowan was out of the hospital room before he had the chance to be asked to leave. He passed by some doctors and a security officer on his way down the hallway. They were likely on their way to Avery's room, to see what all the noise was about.

Rowan did not realize he was crying until he walked out of the hospital. The wind of the warm Michigan day hit him as soon as he was out the door, and that's when he realized. He did not drive here; he rode with Avery in the ambulance, so he did not have a way home.

Before his shocked, confused, and angry mind could catch up to him, Rowan found himself ordering an Uber. But instead of having the Uber take him home, he instructed the driver to drop him off at the closest bar. The bar was not as busy for a Sunday night, which made it easy for him to get as plastered as he wanted.

And that is exactly what Rowan did. He drank until he could not see straight, and once he paid his tab, he ordered another Uber. But this time, he did not tell the Uber driver to take him home. The ride from the bar to his destination was short. Once he got out of the Uber, watching it pull away, Rowan's glossy eyes stared at the house that he knew all too well.

He walked up the familiar stone walkway to the Perry household, desperately hoping that Gemma was home.

♥♥♥

a/n: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

that is all

thank you for 100 reads <3