Bad news

The hospital was thrown into chaos once the ambulance arrived. Skye's situation was worse than they thought and she needed to be operated on.

"You can't be in the operating room, sir. Please wait outside." A nurse told Ash as he was about to follow an unconscious Skye in.

He pulled his hair out of frustration, everything was going downhill, and the happiness he felt when he found Skye turned to worry for her life. 

"Boss, I-"

"What am I going to do? She- she's being operated on and I just- God please save her." 

Dean was stunned. That was the first time he saw his ever-so-composed boss looking vulnerable and disheveled. He had no idea Ash loved Skye in such a way. "She'll be fine. I don't know much about her but she survived over two weeks in those brutal conditions, she'll pull through this too." Dean comforted Ash, not as his boss but as his friend.

Despite being two years younger than Dean, Ash gave him a job that he had no prior experience with and took care of him like a younger brother in his own way. Witnessing someone he considered his family break down like that made Dean tear up as well. He kept reassuring Ash, "Don't worry."

"If anything happens to her, I won't forgive myself."

"Nothing will happen to her," Dean reassured him.

"It's all my fault, if I hadn't-"

Dean grabbed Ash's shoulder so they could face each other. "Ash, listen to me, she'll be fine so please don't beat yourself up. Would you want her to see you in this condition when she's out? Pull yourself together... Everything will be fine." He pulled him into another hug.

They stayed in each other's embrace for the longest time until Ash finally cooled down and stopped crying.

"Don't tell anyone you saw me crying?" Ash warned with pouty lips.

Dean chuckled at Ash's request, he clearly didn't want to be seen as weak. "I won't."

Just then, his parents came rushing in.

"We came as soon as we heard. How is she?" Liza asked the moment she saw her son.

"She's in surgery right now," Ash replied.

"What happened?!" His parents asked simultaneously.

"She was stabbed." Ash lowered his head. Saying it out loud felt like a knife was being plunged into his chest.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." James comforted Ash using the same words Dean had used earlier.

"It's okay, son." Liza pulled Ash into a hug despite having a smaller frame than him. She just wanted to comfort her son.

None of them said a word for half an hour until an alarm went off in the operating room Skye was in and a rapid response team was dispatched in.

"What's going on?" James asked the question that was on all their minds.

The alarm going off came as a surprise that they didn't have time to react or process the situation.

"Miss- miss, is something wrong in there? We're the patient's family." Ash quickly asked one of the nurses who was rushing into the operating room.

"Sir please wait here, as you can see this is an emergency." The nurse briefly said before dashing into the room like the others.

Ash struggled to focus on what was being said as he heard the word "emergency". Overwhelmed, he lowered himself onto the seat and buried his face in his hands, trying to keep his emotions in check. Skye had already been in surgery for almost three hours, and now there was an emergency. It seemed like everything was falling apart.

They were all thrown into disarray as the situation went from bad to worse. James and Dean paced back and forth in front of the OR while Liza rubbed the back of a downcast Ash. 

It was as if a cloud of sadness was hanging over all of them and the only prayer in all their minds was for Skye to make it out alive and unscathed.

Another hour passed and nothing happened. They were all getting anxious, especially Ash who hadn't moved an inch since the alarm went off. It was like the life was getting sucked out of him by the second.

In their moment of despair, the light outside the operating room turned green. Seeing the statement that the surgery was successful felt like a wave of fresh air swept past all of them. They could finally breathe.

The nurses wheeled an unconscious Skye out of the operating room and led her to the recovery room.

Ash wanted to follow her but he had to speak to the Doctor first. "How is she doing now?" He asked.

"The stab wound was deep and the knife cut one of her arteries leading to excessive bleeding. During the surgery, she slipped into shock which is why the alarm went off. Thankfully, the surgery was successful with minimal complications and she should wake up soon."

"Thank God." They all heaved a sigh of relief on hearing Skye was fine despite the troubles but their momentary happiness was cut short.

"Although the surgery was successful, something else went wrong." The Doctor started, "The content in her stomach was nearly empty and it appeared as if she hadn't been eating for a long time. Her body lacked proper nutrients and vitamins to cope and pairing that with the physical assault visible on her body, she..."

"She what?" Ash impatiently asked as fear gripped his body.

"We did all we could but... she lost the baby."

Time seemed to stand still for Ash as he heard the words come out of the Doctor's mouth. "How- how is that possible? She wasn't pregnant." Ash asked in disbelief.

"When a woman conceives, the pregnancy starts to count at the time of her last period. During the surgery, we found out that the patient was a little over two weeks pregnant which is medically stated to be four weeks due to the ovulation period.

Despite being the most delicate stage, the signs are not all too visible at this stage which is probably why you were not aware of the pregnancy until now.

The lack of proper care, the force on her body, lack of not eating, and the stabbing all led to her miscarriage." The doctor explained.

Ash spaced out for a minute. Their last night together was eighteen days ago and neither of them thought to use protection but hearing the doctor's words, it all made sense.

He fell on his knees and broke down into tears. 

"Why?"

"Why?"

He lost his child before he even knew Skye was pregnant. He couldn't protect either of them. "It's all my fault." He cried.

"It's not your fault, don't blame yourself." Dean tried comforting Ash despite being on the verge of breaking down himself.

"How can I face her after this? She won't forgive me... I- I wasn't strong enough to protect her... to protect our child." Ash was drowning in self-hatred as he said those words.

"She won't hate you," Dean reassured him.

James and Liza were also crying in the corner. They never expected their son to go through the same horror they went through before they had him. Liza in particular had completely broken down and couldn't say a word.

"I understand the pain you feel right now but you have to remain strong. You can't let her see you in this state because if you lose yourself, who'll be there for her? She'll need your support when she wakes up so pull yourself together, son." James told Ash before turning to Dean. "We'll stay here in case she wakes up so take him to get cleaned up and don't let him come back unless he has cooled down." He instructed.