Chapter 20

It was dark.

Way too dark. Her eyes felt heavy; opening them was hard work. She could hear a distinct beeping sound but she didn't focus on it for too long because her body ached all over. It was too painful to even move.

The noise was coming from her right-hand side. Voices. She could hear them but she couldn't see who they were.

“Can't believe he did this, can't believe this happened to my baby.”

“Would you stop crying, Anne? Tears are not going to solve anything.”

“I can't fucking bear to see her in pain. It looks too real.”

Lena wanted the voices to go away, to stop. They were contributing to the small pain in her head. God, even breathing properly was proving to be a problem. It felt like she'd inhaled smoke and she coughed, immediately feeling skin on her body.

Her mouth was like sandpaper, dry and tasteless and she couldn't talk without coughing. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open. All she could see was white. White walls, white ceiling.

Her first thought was she was in heaven.

Then her head turned and she saw the IV that was attached to her hand, and the beeping sound was coming from the machine. Bodily clad in a plain white hospital gown, she almost sobbed, panicking.

“Wha...” She tried to speak, but her throat was too dry.

“She's awake!” she heard a voice exclaim in relief.

Her eyes snapped to the crowd of people in front of her. Then it all came back to her. The hospital, Jackson, fire, baby. She recognized the voice as EJ's.

They all rushed towards her, hands everywhere. With her free hand, she gestured to the glass of water beside her bed. Gabe grabbed it quickly, bringing it to her lips. He helped her up on her elbows as she drank greedily from the glass.

The dryness eased a bit and she could talk. “What am I doing here?”

“You don't remember?” George asked with wide eyes.

“Kind of, but it's blurry.” She swallowed, staring at him.

“Damon brought you here. Do you remember?” Anne queried, and Lena could see streaks of tears running down her face. She'd been crying.

“No.” She shook her head. “Damon. Where's he?” Her eyes searched the sea of people in front of her, for signs of her boyfriend. “Why isn't he here?”

The silence deafened her. She groaned when she moved and pain ebbed over her body. Her lungs felt heavy. Damn, the fire really messed her up. She didn't think she'd be able to go near a gas cooker, or anything with fire in it without thinking of how she'd almost died.

“Lie still, you idiot. Don't hurt yourself any more than you already are,” Caroline scolded; her eyebrows etched together in worry. Lena had very well given them, at least her, the scare of their lives when they’d gotten the call that she was in a fire. Slowly, reluctantly, she was beginning to believe the stupid theory her best friend had about this Jackson guy.

“What do you remember?” Chris asked. It seemed everyone was there, all except Sophia and Damon. Gerald wasn't present either, he'd supposedly gone to get everyone something to eat. She was thankful Ella wasn't here to see her like this as well. She wouldn't know what to tell the curious child.

She hesitated, leaving the hospital part out. “I'd decided to go to the house,” she said softly, referring to her parents' house. “But on my way, I met Jackson. He asked me to get into the car and I did. God knows I didn't think he'd tried to kill me.”

“Do you ever think?” Gabe snapped, obviously angry. “You're not blind, Lee. I'm very sure you've seen how apprehensive we all are around him. Common sense, which you obviously don't have, should've told you to stay away. You're going to get yourself killed.” He stood and left, not stopping to look back to see the water forming in her eyes.

Lena didn't know what to make of his outburst. He was hurt, she knew but that didn't ease the hurt forming in her heart. He was right, though. If she kept listening to her heart, she was heading smoothly on the route to getting killed.

“Munchkin, don't let it hurt too much,” EJ sighed tiredly, coming to sit beside her on the small hospital bed. “He's just worried about you. Hell, we all are. You almost died, you know? That shit’s scary.”

She'd only known EJ for a couple of weeks but in between that time, he'd managed to work his way into her heart. Which was why his words were more than enough to tip her off the edge. The tears fell freely, more so when he leaned forward to hug her. “He can't be here right now. There are things he needs to sort out. Give him time,” he whispered in her ear, low enough for just her to hear.

He pulled away with a kiss on her forehead, giving her a knowing look. Just like Gabe, he stood, turned and left.

“You're too naive for your own good,” Caroline muttered, leaving the room too.

One by one, they fled. First George, then Chris. Claire followed, leaving only Anne. The older woman's eyes were red and puffy, and she sniffed loudly. “I should spank you.”

Lena tried to smile. “Aren't I a bit too old for that?”

“Of course not. You're still my little girl.”

Her heart warmed. “I'm sorry, Anne. I realize now that I should've known better, but it's just that everybody's keeping me out of the loop, and it's frustrating. I want to know. I had to find out somehow.”

Anne's hands gripped hers. “Ignorance is bliss sometimes.”

“Bullshit.”

Anne narrowed her eyes at the curse. “Shut up. Sometimes it's better you don't know certain things. Saves you a lot of trouble.”

“But my life is already in trouble. Jackson told me himself that he's interested in me.”

“What?” The older woman widened her eyes.

“Don't look at me. That's what he said,” Lena tried to shrug but pain flowed through her entire body. She winced.

“Stay away from him, Lena, I'm serious. He's bad news. You're lucky Damon got there on time, otherwise you'd be six feet under now.”

She left, throwing those words in Lena's face.

He'd actually tried to kill her. That had been the surprise he was talking about. She shook her head in frightened wonder. How had he done it so quickly? He hadn't known she was going to the house until he'd seen her and she'd been with him all through in the car till he dropped her off. He didn’t make any call, she would've known. So how? How had he managed to send someone that fast? Something smelled fishy.

The door opened again and her eyes snapped up, expecting a certain someone. Disappointment etched on her features when she saw who it was.

“Amanda.”

“Yeah. It's me.” The doctor walked in, fully clad in her work attire, her heels echoing throughout the room. For what felt like hours, Amanda stood, watching her.

“Are you out of your mind?”

Lena rolled her eyes, “Oh please, not you too. Save it. I don't wanna hear it.” She turned her face to the side, refusing to look at her.

“Don't wanna hear what? How insanely careless you were? What were you thinking, girl? You act like you don't care about what happens to you anymore, that's okay. But at least think of the little person inside you.”

At the reminder, Lena's hands flew to her stomach, a small sob escaping her. Her child had almost died. She'd almost killed her baby. She didn't even want to think of what would've happened if Damon hadn't gotten her out as quickly as he had.

“God—” it came out in a small sob “—tell me she's okay?”

Amanda's brows raised. “She?”

“It's obviously gonna be a girl.”

“If you say so. Well, she's okay. Luckily, you didn't inhale smoke big enough to cause any real damage, but you're weak. You need food, rest, and you need to avoid stress,” She turned her notepad. “You're free to go home tomorrow. I've also prescribed some drugs for you. I didn't think you'd want anyone to know, so I didn't say anything to the rest of the family. But you have to buy those drugs and take them. You hear me?”

Lena nodded. “Thanks.”

Another nod, and Amanda left. Alone, all Lean could think about was Damon. Why wasn't he here? EJ hadn't specifically said what things he needed to sort out and she was left with all kinds of thoughts running through her head. Wasn't he supposed to be here? By her side? With their child?

Granted, he didn't know of the latter's existence but that would change soon.

Her head ached. Hell, her whole body ached. Trying to come to terms with the fact that someone actually tried to kill her was very unnerving. She definitely hadn't signed up for this kind of drama when she'd decided to be with Damon.

Dying was the last thing on her mind right now, especially whilst pregnant.

First thing she was going to do the minute she left this shitty place was go see what things Damon had to sort out that he hadn't thought to see if she was even alive.

Then she'd slap some sense into him.