Dolce Vita

"Roman it's Kim, somethings wrong with Sloane we're on our way to the hospital right now. Text me when you get this."

The minute he saw that be had a voice mail from Kim Roman knew something was wrong. Kim never called him, he knew she would only do so if it was an emergency. Sloane being in the hospital certainly qualified as an emergency.

He shoved his feet into his shoes, nearly falling over twice in the process, grabbed his sweater and his keys and took off in a run out of the dressing room without so much as a word to his teammates who were getting dressed for practice. While everyone glanced around the room in confusion to his odd behavior Roman got into his car and sent Kim a text. Barely two seconds later she responded with the hospital name and 'hurry' and Roman was sure he burnt rubber leaving the parking lot.

By some miracle he didn't get pulled over for speeding and as he slammed to a stop in a parking spot at the hospital Roman put the car in park and leaned back in his seat. He let out a loud sigh, pushed his hands through his hair and let his eyes close for a moment. He wasn't sure he could go in there, his body felt glued to his seat but he knew he had to. He wasn't sure what was wrong but he needed to be there for Sloane. So he forced himself to pull the keys from the ignition, get out of the car and walk into the hospital.

Before he knew it he was outside the door, he couldn't see Sloane but Kim was sitting in a chair and she made eye contact with him. She got up and met him at the door, she was trying to be calm but her eyes gave her away; she was terrified.

"The Dr hasn't come back with any results yet. She's being stubborn, I'm gonna go get some tea or something." Kim told him and when he nodded and looked into the hospital room she reached out and gave his hand a squeeze before leaving him alone.

He stood in the doorway for a few quiet seconds, his feet frozen to the ground. He took in a deep breath, let it out before walking into the hospital room. Sloane was sitting up in the bed, hair braided, and IV in her arms and a machine attached to her stomach. She had her arms wrapped protectively around her stomach and she looked up when she heard his feet on the floor.

She smiled gently and told him, "You're supposed to be at practice."

"This is more important." He told her, standing at the foot of her bed. He looked at the machine to her right, he didn't know what it was but it scared him nonetheless.

"It's nothing." She told him, patting the arm of the chair beside her. He moved slowly toward it and sat down, leaning forward to rest his forearms against the hospital bed. Sloane reached out and took his hand in hers and told him, "I'm fine Roman."

"The baby?"

"He's fine too." She told him, using her other hand to reach out and run through the hair on the side of his head.

He looked up at her and asked, "What happened?"

"I got a cramp." She told him, and when he shot her a look she sighed and admitted, "Okay it was more than a cramp."

"You said you weren't feeling well this morning." Roman stated, watching as she nodded slowly.

"It was just back pain and I didn't think much of it because that's normal."

"But?" He asked.

She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment and when he gave her hand a squeeze she told him, "But then the cramps started and then it became pain and then I was bleeding but everything's fine now it's all gone"

He shot her a look and she let out a sigh as he told her, "Everything's not fine Sloane you're in the hospital."

Her eyes started tearing up and she pulled her hands away from him, reaching up to wipe her cheeks. Roman watched her in shock, he should have known. Sloane was always so good at hiding her emotions, at pretending things were okay, he had never been sure if it was because she didn't want to deal with her real emotions or if it was because she didn't want to burden someone else with her feelings.

He got up, sat beside her on the bed and reached out to pull her hands away from her face. He used the pads of his thumbs to wipe away any stray tears before he held both sides of her face with his hands and leaned down to kiss her softly.

When he pulled away from her he told her, "I'm sorry. I'm just scared."

"Me too." She told him quietly.

"When I got that message from Kim… Sloane I don't know what I'd do without you. If something happened to you… to either of you. I couldn't handle that." He told her softly, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. When she smiled at him he reached out and tugged gently on her braid. She put her hands in her lap and Roman placed his on her stomach. He leaned down and kissed her stomach before he looked at her again and told her, "I have never been that scared in my life."

"I'm sorry." She told him quietly, looking down at her stomach. He placed his index finger under her chin and lifted her eyes back to his.

"What for?"

"This. I mean… there has to be a reason for this to happen and I just can't help but think it was something I did." She admitted softly.

He shook his head at her and told her, "You didn't do anything. You couldn't have."

"I should have payed more attention. I should have recognized the signs, if I had just listened to my body instead of being stubborn and thinking I was… invincible or something maybe I could have prevented all of this." She told him, and Roman simply reached out and kissed her again.

"It's not your fault Sloane. We could have never seen this coming. This stuff happens, you couldn't have predicted it or stopped it. Don't blame yourself."

She gave his hand a squeeze and said, "Thank you. For that and for being here."

Roman nodded and he looked down at her stomach before he joked, "He's not even here yet and he's already driving us crazy."

"Definitely your kid." Sloane told him with a grin.

He raised his eyebrow at her and with a smirk on his face he asked, "You think that's funny do you?"

"I really do." She told him with a wide smile. He let out a soft chuckle, rubbed his hand on the top of her stomach and Sloane watched him with a smile as he started talking quietly in German. It seemed to be his favorite thing to do and Sloane was so certain that this baby was going to be Roman's little buddy, his best friend and she couldn't wait to watch that, to watch them both grow together.

"My mom always did say she hoped that when I had a kid he brought me as much trouble and grief as I gave to her growing up." As he told her this she smiled softly at him.

As he raised his eyebrow she explained her smile, "Well she raised a pretty amazing guy so she did something right and one day I'd really like to thank her for that."

"Yeah?" When she nodded Roman told her, "She's gonna love you."

"You think so?" She had to admit she was nervous at the thought of meeting Roman's mother. She didn't know how to feel, she wanted her to like her but she also knew there was a chance she wouldn't. Now that she was preparing to become a mother herself Sloane knew that she would do anything to protect the growing life inside her and she knew almost every other mom out there would do the same. She wondered if Roman's mother hated her, she had come in unannounced and gotten pregnant and sometimes she wondered what his mother thought of her. If she thought she was in it for the money, if she was using him, or something of that sort.

Sensing her thoughts Roman told her, "She's really excited to meet you. She's always asking how you are but she's too nervous to actually contact you."

"She is?" This was shocking.

"Yeah she just isn't sure how you feel about it all. She was really disappointed in me at first, which I get, but I think the more time she had to adjust to it the more excited she got to be a grandma. I also think she's excited to have a girl in the family finally, you know… being a mom of two boys and all." He told her with a smile.

"Do you ever think of how weird this all is?" When she asked this Roman raised an eyebrow at her and she explained, "I mean… we've known each other like five months and we're about to be parents and we're starting this family together. You know more about me than probably almost everyone in my life and I've known you for the least amount of time."

"Yeah we really made a mess of the whole traditional relationship thing didn't we?" Roman asked her with a smirk.

Sloane grinned over at him and then shrugged her shoulders, telling him, "Traditional is boring. I think I kind of like how we did things."

"Yeah?"

She nodded, "Yeah I mean it was all a shock and it's been hard but every time I think about it I try to imagine my life if I hadn't met you or if I hadn't gotten pregnant and honestly it sucks. I love the little life that we've made no matter how backward, unconventional or untraditional we did it."

"Me too. You and him are the best things in my life, and I'm so proud to call you guys my family." When he told her this she leaned over and kissed him, long and slow. He smiled against her lips, and then as a joke he tugged on her braid again making her pull back and laugh.

"Not fair. I can't tug on your hair." She informed him, making him chuckle. He reached up and pulled a hand through his own hair before he shrugged as if to say 'too bad' to her statement. She couldn't help but tell him, "You are really good at ruining sweet moments you know that?"

"So I've been told before." Sloane smiled up at him when he said this, but she leaned forward, grasping her stomach as she let out a loud groan of pain. The machine beside them started beeping loudly and Roman panicked, asking Sloane, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I can't... oh my god." Her hand was gripped so tightly around his that he had to practically yank it free to get up and run out into the hallway to get help.

Two nurses and a Dr came running in after Roman, and as they all looked at an ultrasound one of the nurses asked, "Is it an abruption?"

"Looks like it."

"What the hell is going on?" Sloane grabbed onto Roman's hand as an attempt to calm him down as she rolled onto her side with the help of a nurse. It did little to calm the fear inside of him however.

"The placenta has detached from the uterus and it's cutting off oxygen for the baby." The Dr said, looking directly at Roman. He turned his attention to Sloane and told her, "We need to deliver now."

Panic washed through her and she tried to sit up, but both Roman and the nurse beside her made her lay back down as she said, "No it's way too early. This isn't… we can't… he's not ready."

"We don't have a choice." He stated, telling the nurse beside him, "Get an OR ready."

As they started wheeling her down the hall Sloane looked up at Roman, who was walking beside her and said, "Don't leave me."

He shook his head and as they moved into an elevator he pushed her stray hair off her forehead and told her, "I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."

She squeezed his hand tightly and tried her best to breathe. In and out. In and out. Roman was sent to scrub in while they got Sloane ready for surgery. Everything seemed like a big blur to her, and her head felt like it was spinning.

"This can't be happening. This can't be happening."

She couldn't breathe anymore, her entire body hurt and she felt like she was drowning. Everything she feared was coming true right in this moment. Every part of her was terrified, completely shaken. How could this be happening? She had never been into self pity but Sloane couldn't figure out why, didn't she deserve happiness? Didn't they?

Roman felt like his body was made of jello as a nurse lead him through two sets of doors and into the OR. He stopped, a few feet away from Sloane, and stared at her. She was panicking, he could tell from there. Every feeling she was feeling inside probably matched everything he was feeling and then some.

She turned her head, her teary eyes meeting his own and that seemed to kickstart his body again. He took the stool beside her head, gripped her hand, pressed a kiss to her knuckles and looked down at her with a smile. He told her, "You're gonna be fine. Both of you."

He wasn't just saying it for her, he was saying for himself as well. They needed something to believe in, some ounce of hope to cling to right now. Roman wasn't sure he could say anything that would help, he wasn't sure he could say much of anything at all at this point. He didn't know how to process this, things were moving too fast and he didn't know how to slow it down and think, how to breathe.

He looked down at Sloane, who was looking up at him and he smiled. He leaned down, kissed her forehead and told her, "I love you more than anything."

She smiled, but didn't respond, and panic washed through him again as her grip on his hand loosened and her head fell to the side. Roman was pulled out of his chair as monitors started beeping loud and quick, he fought against it as he was pushed out of the OR by a nurse and it wasn't until they were in a hallway outside that she told him, "You can't be in there right now. They need to work. Someone will update you as soon as they can."

"This can't be happening."