Chapter 113-Unfinished Business

Marcus POV

I’ve never felt more helpless than I did at this moment. I stood behind the glass watching the nurses care for my babies. They lay in incubators, hooked up to wires, fighting for their lives. I couldn’t help them. There was supposed to be only two. Each sonogram, each doctor visit she had only showed two. How could two additional babies stay hidden for months?! I was furious; she was at an even bigger risk than we thought. It made sense now why she would be tired more often. My anger couldn’t help them, it served no purpose now. I stood watching, and praying I didn’t lose them all. The nurses wanted me to name them, but I refused. Amari and I hadn’t decided on names still and on top of that we had two more to consider.

For now they were Smith baby A-D: three girls, one boy.  I couldn’t’ help them. I couldn’t help my wife who lay in a coma. Uterine rupture. She’d lost a lot of blood by the time we’d gotten her to the hospital, and the babies were no longer protected in the womb. The doctors did an emergency C-section. There was too much damage done, they told me, in order to save her life they needed to do a hysterectomy. She’d never have children again. I’d wanted to be the one to break the news to her, but she never woke up. No one could tell me why she was in a coma, and why her body seemed to get weaker with each passing day. She was dying. I had all the abilities in the world, except the ability to save my family.

“When is the last time you left the hospital?” Dax asked coming to stand beside me.

“I haven’t,” I replied, running a weary hand down my face. “Cece brought me a bag so I could shower in your mom’s room.”

“I get you don’t really need rest, but you do need a break. Let one of us stay with them.”

“I’m fine son. I want to be here when your mom wakes up, or when these people tell me I can finally hold one of my babies!” I added angrily gesturing towards the NICU.

When allowed in, I could only touch their little hands, they weren’t able to be removed from the incubators yet.

“When’s the last time you’ve eaten?”

“Aric brought me something yesterday. I told you I’m fine.” I replied turning to face him finally. “How’s Finley doing?”

Dax had been staying at the house. It was the off season for him, and even though he was supposed to be in training still, he took time off. His coach understood and the team sent flowers. All the kids had been doing a great job of splitting their time here and helping to take care of Finley and the house.

“She’s fine. She and Zana have been studying for finals since her suspension was lifted.”

I saw red thinking about that night. It was the actions of that sorry ass principal that landed us here. If I wasn’t so concerned about Amari and the babies, I would have gone back to drain the life from his worthless body. Zana’s mother actually did something to protect her daughter for a change. She pressed charges against the boy that attacked Zana and filed a formal complaint with the school board against the principal. He had been temporarily reassigned pending the outcome of the hearing. More needed to be done, but that was not my top priority right now.

“Dad, really, you need to go home. Get a decent night’s sleep. I’ll stay here and if I detect any movement from Mom, you can be here before her eyes even flutter open.” Dax gave me a crooked grin.

He was right, I knew that, but I couldn’t bring myself to go home without them with me. It didn’t seem right.

“Have you been in to see your mom?” I asked changing the topic.

“Yes, she’s still sleeping. Her room smells good with all the flowers.”

“A lot of people love her, and want her to wake up.”

“She will Dad,” he said pulling me into a hug. “She’s strong, always has been. She’ll get through this.”

I pulled away and gave him a pat on the back. “Your mom did an amazing job raising you kids.”

“Yeah, she gets a little credit,” Dax replied with a wink, “but most of this is just my natural awesomeness.” He gave me a large grin that brought a smile to my face. The boy definitely had my sense of humor. “Come on, let me take you home. Just for a few hours.”

“Ok, let me check on your mom first and I’ll meet you at the car.”

“Or…the nurses station,” he replied, giving a wink to one of the ladies behind me.

I walked away laughing for the first time since Amari was admitted. That quickly died when I entered her room.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

I rushed forward, grabbed his arm and yanked him away from my wife.

“Temper, temper. The change has seemed to make you more violent than when you were human,” Mulo retorted, easily breaking free of my grasp.

“You just bring out my good side. Now get the hell out!”

A slow smile spread across his face and I acted on the urge to rip it off. Mulo easily dodged my attack.

“I don’t want to hurt you boy, so I suggest you simmer down.”

His arrogant attitude only served to fuel me on more. I rushed him, knocking the flowers off the counter, and slammed his head into the mirror.

“What’s to stop me from punching a hole in your chest right now and ending your miserable life?” I growled.

“Your wife. You’re upsetting her by the way, so back up!”

I stumbled back from him just as a nurse entered her room. She started to call for security, but Mulo stopped her. He whispered a few words and sent the woman on her way.

“You said she’s upset. How the hell do you know that?”

Mulo casually flicked pieces of glass from his hair, before giving me a smug grin. “We both know the answer to that question.”

“She..she’s in a coma, there’s no way…”

“You’re a smart man, or at least she thinks you are, so stop acting otherwise. Of course I can still talk to her. Like right now she wants me to stop being an ass.”

I looked over at Amari who remained unchanged on the bed, and back at the source of all my grief.

“She’s dying. Those babies, the ones you wanted so badly, they’re killing her.”

“What?!”

He rolled his eyes. “Love, I’m really starting to have doubts about the man you’ve chosen,” he said speaking to Amari’s sleeping form. Taking a deep breath, he turned back to me. “You are a vampire, your children, have your blood and therefore are vampires, need I go on?”

I dropped down into the chair beside the bed. “When she had the rupture…”

“By golly, I think he’s got it.” I looked up at him, but refrained from punching him this time. “She was fine as long as they were contained within the womb, but now that I think about it, delivery would have had this effect most likely anyway.”

As he pondered over that thought, I got angry again. This time I didn’t act on my urge to punch him.

“They didn’t do this, you did!” I spat. “You and your insane need to always meddle in her life. You kidnapped me! You nearly killed her once and now she is dying because of you! Get. Out.”

That smug grin spread across his face again. “Now Marcus, I’m only here to help.”

I lost it. I charged forward, but he came at me at the same time. Our bodies collided, the momentum sending us flying out the third story window.

Punches were being thrown midair as we free-fell towards the ground. My head hit the concrete below, dazing me for a moment.

“You may be content to sit by whining, and watching her die, but I’m not!” he growled burying his fist into my cheek.

He came at me again, I blocked his punch with my elbow then threw one of my own. My wedding ring cutting his lip in the process.

“She wouldn’t be dying if not for you!”

He grabbed my head, slamming it again into the concrete. The pain made my ears ring, but my anger kept me going. A crowd was gathering, I heard the screams of people yelling for security. Somewhere among the noise I heard Dax. I threw another punch straight up catching Mulo in the chin. He tumbled backwards but quickly recovered.

“I should have left you with the witch! It’s where you really belong. She wouldn’t be in that bed if you could have kept it in your pants!”

He charged for me again, I braced for the impact, lowering my shoulder just enough to get the advantage. I tackled him to the ground, my fist making quick work pummeling his face.

“It was you!” I growled. “You acting like a good lap dog to that bitch!” I continued, pounding away on him as I talked. “Everything that has led us to this point has been because of you!” I grabbed him up and threw him towards the building. “No more!”

Mulo hit the wall hard, pieces of concrete crumbled to the ground from the impact. He stood, wiped his mouth, flinging the blood onto the ground.

“Let’s finish this then,” he said, rolling his neck. “Winner take all? Because she’s not here to save you now.”

The cops had arrived, a larger crowd had gathered. We were being instructed to stop and get on our knees. We both ignored that command. I took a step forward then felt a sting in my shoulder. I looked back to see two prods sticking out of my shoulder, I’d been tased. I pulled them out, letting the wires drop to the ground.

“I’m not the one that needs saving,” I stated, taking a step forward.

“We shall see,” he replied before advancing towards me.

My forward motion was stopped, I was being pulled to the ground. I looked over to see Elton on one side, Edson on the other. Across from me Mulo was being restrained by Aric and Bynni’s husband TK.

“Stop this Dad! This isn’t what she’d want.” Edson said, using more pressure to keep me down. I continued to struggle against them, Bynni appeared, sitting on my chest as a final anchor. I lay my head back in defeat, breathing heavily. I could hear Aric trying to keep Mulo contained.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Bynni scolded. “Do you know how pissed Mom is going to be when she wakes up?!”

“She’s not going to wake up thanks to him! She’s dying!” I screamed back.

A hush settled over all of them.

“She’s not going to die,” Mulo said. He broke free from Aric and TK and was gone before we could react.

The kids let me go, when I got to Amari's room the bed was empty and he was gone.

***A/N--Thanks DJ for the added special effects for this chapter!***