Darkness Before Dawn

edge of the bed as a crutch, lift up her sheets and crawl in beside her.
    I adjust my body toward her and wrap my arms around her, burying my face in her neck before I lose it again. The bed creaks from my shaking body, and I have to remind myself to loosen my hold around her so that I won't crush her tender body.
    I hear the door open but don't look up, I'm assuming Dean is leaving and I don't care to watch him walk out.
    "I'm Dyann. I'm taking over for Ronda," a woman's voice says, making me lift my head and wipe my face quickly.
    I blink a couple of times trying to focus on the blonde nurse in the green scrubs.
    "Which one of you is the husband?" she asks, looking between Dean and I.
    I clear my throat. "Me," I reply while glaring at Dean, daring him to say anything.
    He shakes his head and puts up his palms defensively.
    "What's your name?" Dyann asks me.
    "Cole. Cole Brennan," I respond, not missing a beat and not caring how ridiculous Blake's last name may sound as mine.
    Dyann nods and gives me a small smile while jotting something down on her chart. "Mr. Brennan, I'm sorry for your loss. I'm just going to adjust Mrs. Brennan's morphine, and I'll be out of your hair in a bit."
    Despite my confusion at her choice of words, my heart constricts in my chest. What loss? Is Blake not okay? Please tell me she's okay. "What loss?" I ask hoarsely.
    Her eyebrows pinch together as her green eyes look from mine down to her chart and back to mine. "Oh...the um...the baby," she responds quietly. "I assumed you knew?" she continues with a worried look on her face as she adjusts Blake's morphine and pillow.
    I clamp my mouth shut with a sharp nod when she apologizes one more time before walking out of the room.
    I'm frozen in place, my heart hammering against my chest as I continue to stare at the door she closed behind her. Her words echo in my head: The baby. The baby. The baby.
    I shift my body to face Blake again, ignoring Dean who still hasn't moved an inch from his spot by the bathroom. I lift up one of Blake's hands in mine and kiss the palm.
    "Baby," I whisper as I caress her bruised cheek. "It's me." She doesn't respond, doesn't move. The only sound in the room is coming from our breathing and the beeping machines she's hooked up to.
    Dean clears his throat, making my eyes snap in his direction. "I'm going to go out into the hall."
    I glare at him. "Who did this to her? Connor said you were trustworthy, so how the fuck did this happen?" I spit.
    "I told you, I tried to get there as soon as I could. She didn't come outside to meet me where we agreed and-" his voice cracks and he shakes his head, unwilling to finish his story.
    "The baby?" I ask in a hoarse whisper.
    "Was yours," Dean replies firmly. "I'm sorry." His hazel eyes are laced with regret, which makes me believe him, but not hate him any less.
    "You can leave now," I quietly inform him, and he nods in agreement.
    "I'll be back later," he replies.
    I get up, careful not to hurt Blake, and stomp over to Dean until I'm right in front of his face.
    "Listen to me, you little shit," I say quietly, hoping to scare him, but one look at him and I know I don't scare him at all. "If you EVER refer to yourself as Blake's husband again, I'll fucking kill you."
    His lips curl up in response. "Well, I don't think of myself as her brother and I had to be family," he explains with a smirk and a shrug that I don't care for.
    "Get out! You've done enough. If I never see you again, it'll be too soon. In case I'm not being clear enough, don't come back!"
    Dean takes a step back and looks at me, at Blake, and back at me again before he turns and leaves, closing the door behind him. I lie back down and turn my body to Blake's again, braiding our fingers together and burying my face in her hair. I inhale her, the hospital smell on her overpowering her natural scent, but I don't mind.
    "I'm so sorry," I whisper into her hair. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."
    I stroke her face lightly before running my hand to finger comb her hair some. She looks so pale, so small beside me. It cracks my heart to even fathom what they've done to my girl. And a baby. She was pregnant with my baby this entire time? I shake the thought away from my head, not wanting the pain of that loss to overshadow my happiness of having her back in my arms. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I take it out to see Aubry calling me back from earlier.
    "Hey," I croak, picking it up on the first ring.
    "What's up