Love Unscripted

so I ran. I didn’t see.” I swallowed hard. “I didn’t see the other car. It was my fault.”

I was glad to finally be up and off the street, even though I was lying on a stiff board. I know they tried to be careful but I was still jostled a bit when

they rolled me into the ambulance.

The cameras flashed repeatedly off the glass in the ambulance. Great, more embarrassing publicity - just what Ryan needs!

I felt a needle stick me in the arm, but the discomfort was minimal. Needles, tape, questions, shoes removed… my head swirled.

The sirens blazed to life and we were finally on our way to the hospital. About time!

I sighed, relieved we were moving. My eyes glanced over at the paramedic; he had menacing silver scissors in his hand. No sooner did the

ambulance get going, he stuck the scissors into the pants leg of my jeans and started cutting.

“What are you doing?” I panicked as he cut my jeans, the same jeans I was wearing the first day I met Ryan.

“Stay calm, Miss Mitchell. I need to assess the level of your injuries.”

I closed my eyes while he cut up the front of both legs of my jeans, all the way to my waist. Next he cut through the layers of my shirts, snipping

my white lace bra open between my breasts. He cut my underwear and pushed the tattered, wet remains of my clothing out of his way, exposing my

naked body. I felt like I was being raped and there was nothing I could do about it.

All my clothes were cut, one by one, piece by piece, from my body. Tears formed and dripped out of the corners of my eyes.

He started ru

my left wrist when I cried out. Damn, it’s definitely re-broken.

He was listening with his stethoscope and when he ran his hands over my ribs the pain it generated made me moan out in agony. He squeezed

my legs; I was glad that it didn’t cause any major pain. I could feel every touch of his warm hands. I was naked, fully exposed, and freezing.

He hooked me up with that a

“I’m freezing.” My teeth chattered. I was glad when he finally covered me with a nice, thick blanket.

“Unit 1784 inbound, ten to twelve minute ETA…”

“Is the driver okay?” I asked when he finished talking on the radio.

“Let’s just worry about you right now,” he flatly replied.

“What did I hit?” I murmured.

“It was an SUV ma’am,” he answered.

“I remember silver. Was it silver colored?” My eyes squinted, trying to remember the details.

“Yes, it was.” He nodded.

I sighed, relieved that I could remember.

The paramedic and his partner wheeled me through the glass doors of the emergency room where I was immediately rolled into a curtained

room. Nurses and doctors descended like flies and I was moved from the stretcher to the hospital gurney.

I spent the next five hours being poked, prodded, X-rayed, and MRI’d. I had a new IV stuck in the top of my right hand and a clip to measure

something was snapped on my finger. Everything was taped securely in place. I had a rectal exam, a vaginal exam, was stuck repeatedly with

needles, and they took my blood pressure with that stupid automatic machine a thousand times.

During the moments that I wasn’t being poked or quizzed, I allowed myself to cry. I felt so alone; I just wanted to see Ryan. I needed him to hold

me.

Eventually my left arm was wrapped in a cast, from my hand to my elbow. The doctor gave me a blue wrap because he said the color matched

my eyes. I think he was just trying to calm me.

An older female orderly wheeled me back into the emergency room, returning me to the same little curtain area I was in before. A doctor and a

nurse came in a few moments later; the nurse was pushing a large machine into the room with her.

“Ms. Mitchell, I’m Doctor Willsten. I’m the attending OBGYN. We have the results of your urinalysis and you’ve tested positive for being pregnant.

We’re going to do an ultrasound of your uterus.”

“What?” My thoughts spun wildly. I shook my head in disbelief. “Um, that’s impossible. I can’t be pregnant. I take birth control pills. You must be

mistaken.”

He smiled as he wrote something on a clipboard. “You know that birth control pills are not one hundred percent effective in preventing

pregnancy. Have you recently taken any other types of medications? Any over-the-counter products?”

I remembered how sick I was after Thanksgiving, but that was weeks ago. “I had a bad sinus infection and bronchitis at the begi

December. My doctor gave me antibiotics.”

Doctor Willsten looked up from his paperwork and smiled at me again. “That will cancel out the effectiveness of the birth control medicine.”

I heard a commotion coming from outside my room, distracting me momentarily.

“She’s this way,” I heard a female voice say. I pulled the cover up higher to my neck in case reporters or photographers were going to come

ripping around the corner.

The weight of a thousand worries lifted off my chest when Ryan came ru

“Honey, are you all right?” He kissed my face, my forehead. I knew I had a busted lip. I could feel it was swollen. “Oh Honey,” he cried out softly.

His eyes looked me over to assess the damage.

Tears of relief streamed down my cheeks; all I could do was nod my head.

“I was just about to review the extent of her injuries with her,” the man with the Doctor Carlino nametag a

wait outside for a moment, sir?”

“No,” I said fiercely, holding Ryan’s hand with my good hand. “He stays. This is my boyfriend.”

Doctor Carlino nodded. “We have reviewed all the test results and I’m happy to inform you that your injuries are minimal. Your left ulna is

fractured above the wrist, but as you see we’ve already addressed that with a cast. Your ribs are severely bruised, but luckily there are no fractures.

You’ll be quite sore for several weeks though. The contusions on your skin will eventually fade. We will treat your injuries with pain management

medications. Your lip and face are swollen from the impact, but fortunately it doesn’t require stitches. And you’ve got a fair amount of bruising and

what we call ‘road rash’ but that will all heal with time. We expect you to make a full recovery.” He smiled. “My colleague, Doctor Willsten, has been

called in to assess the fetal risk.”

I looked up at Ryan; he was trying to soak that one in.

I gasped in a few ragged breaths.

“Ryan, they just told me I’m pregnant.” My voice was shaky with fear of telling him this news. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. My eyes flickered back to

his.

“Pregnant?” He shook his head slightly. “I thought…”

“The doctor said that the antibiotics I took a couple of weeks ago could have affected my birth control pill.” I felt a tear leave my eye. “I’m so

sorry. I didn’t know.”

“I’d like to do an ultrasound now,” Doctor Willsten a

My legs were draped in a sheet while the doctor inserted a long probe inside me. The anxiety of finding out that I was pregnant made my legs

shake.

“Ow…” I winced from the pain.

“Sorry, I know it’s uncomfortable.” My pain didn’t stop him.

The doctor was hitting a lot of buttons, taking some sort of readings. He marked an X at one end of a circle and another X on the opposite side.

I was staring intently at the monitor, wondering how the hell he knew what he was looking it.

“You’re about six and a half weeks along. Hmm.” He looked at a little calendar and counted backwards. “Christmas baby!” He smiled at us. I felt