Promises
          Chapter 15 
 

"Who was that on the phone?" Michelle asked, handing Carlos a cup of coffee.
"That was Mr. Santos," he said. "He wanted to know where you were, but we got disconnected."
"His office phone has been acting up lately," she explained. "Can I borrow your phone and I'll try to call him on his cell phone?"
He handed her his phone and Michelle dialed Danny's cell number. She let the phone ring several times with no answer so she left him a message on his voice mail. She tried him at work and at home with no luck, so she left messages for him explaining Abby was in labor. After handing Carlos' phone back to him, she leaned back against the chair, wrapping her arms around her stomach. Her thoughts drifted to hers and Danny's unborn child. It wouldn't be long before they were here waiting for their baby to be born. She couldn't wait.

Danny sped out of his office parking lot. He looked around for his cell phone wanting to call Carlos back. He slammed his hand against the steering wheel realizing he had left the phone is his coat pocket, which was still sitting in his office. He had difficulty swallowing around the lump in his throat. Something had happened to Michelle. Was it the baby? Did someone make a move on her again? His mind raced with all kinds of scenarios of what could be wrong, cursing the traffic that happened to get in his way. He finally made it to the hospital and raced into the Emergency entrance, the same door he had taken Michelle to only a few nights before. Luckily, he saw Lillian.
"Where is she?" he asked out of breath.
"Maternity," she said confused. If he were looking for Abby, wouldn't he know to go to maternity?, she thought.
Danny's heart hit the ground. So that was it. There was something wrong with the baby.
When he reached the maternity floor he searched every hallway looking for Rick, knowing he would be with Michelle. He was about to approach a nurse when he saw Carlos sitting in a waiting room.
"Carlos!" he yelled rushing over to him. "Where is she?"
Before he could respond, Michelle stood up from beside him, smiling. "Danny, I'm glad you made it."
"Michelle," he gasped before pulling her into his arms. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said confused. "Except it's hard to breathe when you're holding me this tight."
He pulled away and looked her up and down to make sure she was okay. She looked in his eyes and saw fear. "Danny, what's wrong?"
"I thought it was you," he tried to explain as his voice broke off. He swallowed his cries as he pulled her to him again, only easier this time. "I couldn't get a hold of you and Carlos said he brought you to the hospital."
"Yeah, because Abby is in labor," she explained.
"What?" Danny asked.
"Didn't you get any of my messages?" she asked. "Carlos told me you called, but you were disconnected. I assumed your office phone was acting up again so I tried your cell phone, but didn't get an answer. I left you a messages at work, home and on your cell phone."
"I ran out of the office so quick I forgot my cell phone in my coat," he explained.
"I'm sorry," she hugged him. "I'm sorry you were worried."
"I'm just glad you're okay," he sighed.
"I apologize for the misunderstanding," Carlos said.
"It's okay," Danny said, leading Michelle back to a chair to sit down. "It was my fault for jumping to conclusions and hanging up on you before you could tell me the whole story."
"I'm going to walk around for a little while," Carlos explained. "Call me when you need me."
"Thank you," Danny said.
Danny let out another sigh of relief as he held Michelle close to him. "I was going crazy thinking something had happened."
"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking into his eyes. "I should have called you earlier, but I wanted to see how far along Abby was before I called. I didn't want you to come over here and then have to wait for hours. And I left the house so fast myself, I left my cell phone in the bedroom."
"It's okay," he said. "I'm just glad you at least came with Carlos."
"What choice did I have?" she groaned with a smile. "I promised my husband I would be a good girl."
"And your husband appreciates it," he smiled. "So how much longer will it be before the newest Bauer makes an appearance?"
"I'm not sure," Michelle's smile faded. "Abby was in a lot of pain and I didn't really feel like staying in there for long. Rick said he would let me know."
"What, were you scared thinking about when you have our baby?" he asked with a smile.
"Truthfully," she began. "I'm terrified. I don't even want to think about the labor part just yet. I'm having a tough enough time dealing with the morning sickness."
"Did you eat breakfast this morning?" he questioned.
"No," she murmured.
"Michelle," he groaned.
"I know, I know," she said. "But I felt really nauseous this morning and then Rick called. I haven't had time to eat."
"No time like the present," he said standing, pulling her with him.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"To get you something to eat," he replied. "And I don't want any arguments."
"But what if Abby…" she began.
"What did I just say?" he looked her in the eyes. "No arguments. We won't be gone for long, anyway."
"Okay," she sighed, following him to the elevator.

Many hours later, Danny and Michelle were back in the waiting room along with Meta, Phillip and Harley. Everyone was getting a little restless waiting. Danny had walked Carlos to the elevator telling him it was okay for him to go. He would be with Michelle for the rest of the night, but he wanted him to stop by the house to check things out and to call him if anything looked suspicious. After the elevator doors closed, he walked back to the waiting room finding Michelle leaning her head against the wall with her eyes closed.
"Sweetie," he whispered sitting down next to her. "You're exhausted. Why don't we go home for a little while and when the baby is born we can come back.?"
"You do look tired," Meta agreed. "You just got out of the hospital yourself. You need to take care of yourself."
She shook her head, "No. I want to be here when the baby is born. This is my first niece or nephew and I want to be here."
"You were in the hospital?" Harley overheard. "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm fine now," Michelle began nervously. "I just had a stomach flu that I couldn't shake."
Phillip looked at Michelle questionably and Danny caught his eye. Rick had confided in him about Michelle's mysterious illness and the cause, but obviously they were trying to keep a tight lid on this. He couldn't really blame them. In fact, he had offered Rick any help he needed in finding who was behind it, but Rick had reassured him the police were working on it with Danny's help, something which concerned Phillip. He knew that if he were Danny, nothing would stop him from finding who had hurt his wife. And from the short time he had known Danny Santos, he knew they were a lot alike.