Chasing the Moon

As soon as I stepped out into the hallway, I was pulled into Zach's tight embrace. He was mumbling something over and over in my ear, but shock is a funny thing. He eventually pulled away to look at my face. It was stained with tears.

"Gabby, they're dirty filthy liars," he promised me. "Come on, I'll take you home and we can forget all about this, okay?"

"You're not taking her from me."

I looked over to Aiden, who was standing in the doorway, and Zach's eyes whipped over to him. He narrowed his eyes at him, just begging him to come closer and find his death.

"You're not taking her," Aiden repeated again, stepping up to Zach's challenge. Zach let out a low, raspy growl from the bottom of his throat.

"I don't want her around liars," Zach hissed, pushing me behind him as I wept softly. I couldn't even begin to care that Zach was this close to murdering the father of my children. With my back to the wall, I slid down to my knees out of desperation as I threw my face into the care of my hands as I cried into them.

"Baby..." I heard Aiden whisper softly, regret laced into that one name. "I'm so sorry."

No apologies would change anything. I wanted so much to tell him off; to tell him this was his entire fault; to tell him I hated him. But I knew I couldn't. I loved him even though he'd taken part in ruining my life. I glanced up at him through bloodshot eyes and I saw him visibly cringe away. His eyes darted to the floor before him and he shifted from foot to foot.

"I wish I were a liar," Aiden told Zach softy. "That way I wouldn't have to see so much betrayal in my love's eyes focused at me. I'd give anything to fix this, Gabby, I swear. But I can't. What do you want me to do?" He leaned around Zach, trying to read my face. I stared up at him, so laden with misery.

"I don't know," I whispered, bringing my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. But, as I desperately held myself together, I couldn't help but be torn apart.

"I'm positive that you're carrying my children, Gabriella," he murmured softly, apologetically, answering my unspoken question. I only nodded as I held myself tightly. "And I know that you're scared, but I promise that I do love you. If we stay here, my mother can help us out. She went through the same thing and she told me a hybrid child is very delicate and is hardly born without complications unless you're granted some extreme amounts of good luck. We're highly susceptible to heart failure and other complications in the circulatory and respiratory systems, it seems. Zach can come visit you. And Nicholas. Just not Marshall, please. He'd probably raise more Hell than need be."

I couldn't disagree with that at all.

"Aiden, do you have any heart or lung problems?" I asked him, peering up at him secretly. He caught my gaze and I quickly buried my face into my knees yet again, as though I was a small school girl who had been staring at her crush and then discovered by the same boy.

"I did. And I do," he sighed softly. "I have this congenital heart disease. It's not too severe or anything. It's just a ventricular septal defect. It's not too uncommon." He shrugged.

"I hope you know that I have no idea what that is," I told him sheepishly, smiling slightly. He laughed a little.

"I figured as much. After all, you did skip out on school," he joked. "Well, ventricles are the two lower pumping chambers of the heart. I have this slight hole in the wall between those ventricles. The hole lets the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood mix, which isn't too good. Because of the stupid disease, I got pneumonia an awful lot as a kid and since my heart has to work harder than normal, I get breathless easily and I didn't grow at the expected rate. It's not as bad as it could have been and I got off really lucky. You're lucky you weren't born a hybrid because the girls tend to not make it so easily." Aiden had a serious look on his face. "Let's just count our blessings."

"But Hailey-April is a girl name," I pointed out, a sinking feeling in my stomach. Aiden's lips pressed into a grim line.

"I know," he whispered, closing his eyes for a moment. "We'll just have to be very careful."

And for a second I pictured a baby girl with Aiden's light brown eyes wide open and dull, lying still in a cradle. The image made me cry suddenly and Aiden pushed past Zach to hold me close, promising me it'd be okay.

But how could he be so sure when there was the possibility that our babies could die before they'd even lived a year?