Chapter 32"AJ will be here in about three more hours," he said sitting back down next to her bed.
"Where's Toni? I don't want to talk to or see AJ. I need Toni. I need my best friend," Kristen said still crying.
"Kristen you need AJ right now more than anybody. You two are going to have to go through this together."
"Go through it together?" Kristen asked sarcastically. "I'm the only one going through this! I'm the one who is laying in this bed bleeding to death and in pain and probably dying of some weird sickness not him!"
"You have the flu. You're not dying of some sickness. I know that you are the one going through the physical pain right now but you both are going to be going through the emotional pain together. Not just you. When he gets here I'll leave you two alone so you can tell him yourself what happened. He doesn't know anything yet."
"I want Toni right now Howie! What the hell don't you understand about that!" Kristen yelled at him.
"I'm guessing that the drugs they gave you are making you act like this but I will call Toni. Be right back," Howie said getting up and leaving the room to call Nick's house.
"What?" Nick asked answering the phone.
"You and AJ are just so cheery early in the morning aren't you?" Howie asked sarcastically but Nick didn't say anything in response. "Okay is Toni there?"
"Where else would she be this early in the morning?"
"I'm taking that as a yes. I need you to get her up and get her on a plane to Atlanta as soon as possible."
"Why?"
"Because Kristen is in the hospital and she wants Toni here."
"What!" Nick yelled sitting up in bed really fast which caused Toni to wake up.
"What's wrong?" she asked him tiredly.
"Kristen's in the hospital," Nick said and Toni flew out of bed wide awake and was getting dressed as fast as she possibly could. "What are you doing?" Nick asked her confused.
"Where is Kristen at? I'm going to go see her."
"I swear you two think on the same exact line because she wants you there."
"Well duh Nicky. I am her best friend."
"I know you should go but your 'best friend' hasn't talked to you in almost a month."
"That's because she's busy."
"I hate to break up this little argument," Howie said hearing their conversation and interrupting them. "But just get her here as soon as you can," he finished saying then hung up the phone. He tried going back into Kristen's room but she was upset and didn't want him there so he waited in the waiting room for AJ to get there. A few hours later AJ came running into the waiting room out of breath.
"This is the third hospital I've been to in this town trying to find you. Where is she? Oh my God. You've got blood all over your clothes. That's Kristen's blood isn't it? Is she okay? Where is she!" AJ yelled spazing out.
"AJ calm down," Howie said putting his hands on AJ's shoulders. "She's fine but she's not feeling to good, mentally or physically."
"What happened?"
"I told her I wouldn't say anything. It's her place to tell you. Last time I was in there was a few hours ago and she was in a pretty bad mood and kicked me out. No offense, Bone, but she yelled at me because she didn't want to see you. She wants Toni."
"I don't care what she says she wants right now. I need to see my wife! I want to know what the hell happened! I want to know and see for myself if her and my baby are alright!" AJ yelled. When Howie heard him say the thing about his baby he just stared at him not knowing what to say. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" AJ asked worriedly then paused and thought for a few seconds. "You already told me that Kristen was fine but you never said anything about the baby. The baby, my baby, isn't okay is it?" AJ finally asked afraid of the answer that Howie would give him.
"I'm sorry I can't lie to you AJ. I was going to let Kristen tell you herself but you brought it up. AJ she hasn't been taking care of herself on this tour and she had a miscarriage."
"No. No I don't want to hear this. This is just a really bad dream and I'm going to wake up any second now."
"AJ, it's not a dream. That's what the blood is from. She called me at the hotel and I got a taxi and I just held her in my lap the whole way. She wouldn't stop bleeding."
"Fuck!" AJ yelled and started punching the wall busting open his knuckles which started to bleed.
"AJ stop. Look at what your doing," he said grabbing AJ's wrist. "When you get upset you always have to show it. Now you need to learn how to control yourself and be there for your beautiful wife who is going through much more pain."
"Howie this is the second baby I've lost. Do you have any idea how much that hurts?" AJ asked with tears coming out of his eyes.
"I know it has to but personally I wouldn't know from experience. I guess you should know right now that the doctor doesn't think Kristen's body will be able to carry a baby for a full term pregnancy."
"She can't have kids?"
"I don't know. I'm sure she can it will just be a little harder for her."
"I want to go see her."
"You need to get your fist fixed up and pay for the hole in the wall," Howie said when Toni came running into the waiting room.
"Do you know how many freaking hospitals are in this town! Next time you get my ass up early make sure you tell me exactly where I'm supposed to go!"
"Don't worry I had the same problem," AJ said.
"Why are you out here and not with Kristen seeing how she's doing?"
"Because according to Howie she would rather have her best friend instead of her husband," he said sarcastically going to the front desk to get some bandages for his bleeding knuckles.
"Well whenever he is done with that tell him to go get Nick out of the rental car so he knows that this is the right hospital this time. What room is she in?" Toni asked. Howie told her what room she was in and she ran down the hall and slowly opened the door and closed it behind her.
"Hey sis, how ya doing?" she asked standing next to the bed. Kristen opened her eyes and looked at Toni and started crying her eyes out again. Toni bent down and wrapped her arms around Kristen being careful of the IV's and hugged her. "What happened?"
"I lost the baby. I had a miscarriage," Kristen said crying.
"I'm sorry. Does AJ know?"
"No, and I'd like to keep it that way so please don't tell him Toni."
"Kristen this isn't going to be an easy thing for you to keep from him. I think he's going to know something is wrong when your stomach isn't growing and in six months he won't have a child. I also think that he's going to want to know why your blood is on Howie and you're in the hospital."
"I don't know Toni, okay? I just need to get pregnant again."
"How? To get pregnant you have to have sex and if you plan on doing that any time soon it's going to hurt like hell."
"I don't care! It couldn't hurt any more than the first time I ever had sex! I think I would live through it!"
"Then what? Are you going to pray that you have the baby three months premature? Kristen will you please just think logically right now because this isn't making any sense! There is no possible way for you to be able to hide this from AJ!" Toni yelled and Kristen started crying even harder. She knew that there was nothing she could do to make everything all right again like usual. "Kristen, AJ is here for you. He's going to be going through as much pain as you are with the loss of the baby but he will still be here for you."
"Okay, sure," Kristen said sarcastically.
"Do you want me to go get AJ and bring him in here?"
"No, I want to be alone. I don't need AJ." Toni stood there staring at Kristen for a few seconds not knowing what to say about her comment.
"Alright, if you say so," Toni finally said. "I'll let you get some sleep. Love you girl and I'll see you tomorrow," she said kissing Kristen on the forehead then leaving the room and going back into the waiting room where AJ, Howie, and now Nick were waiting.
"Good now I can finally go see her since she talked to you," AJ said getting up.
"You might as well sit back down. She doesn't want to see anyone right now," Toni said then she went and got on an elevator to the ground floor and walked out of the hospital. Nick got up and followed her.
"Why'd you walk out?" Nick asked catching up to her outside.
"Because I'm pissed and needed some fresh air. Any other questions?" Toni asked getting an attitude with Nick.
"Yeah what pissed you off? And just tell me. You don't need to get an attitude about it either."
"It's Kristen okay! She has everything she's always dreamed of yet she acts like she has nothing at all! She is married to a guy who adores everything she does whether it's good or bad yet she wants to keep a fucking miscarriage from him!"
"She had a miscarriage?" Nick asked interrupting her.
"Yes and she is trying to figure out a way for AJ not to find out! She's always wanted to become a professional singer and once she does it's as if she forgets about all her loved ones. She is taking everything she has for granted!"
"Toni calm down," Nick said putting his arms around Toni's waist and pulling her as close to him as possible. "She was just overwhelmed with all the excitement in her life and now that she has a down fall she doesn't know what to do. I'm sure she'll be back to her normal self again once she gets home," Nick finished saying. The only thing was that he hoped what he said was true or else both Kristen's friendship with Toni, and her marriage with AJ would soon fall apart.
