Triad Love

Breath of Fresh Air

Max's heart sinks as he watches Novah fight for her life and it wasn't looking like she was winning. She closes her eyes as her breathing gets shallow. He begins to shake her hand and scream her name, begging her to come back to him. As he's screaming her name, the ambulance pulls up to the hospital. The back doors swing open as the EMTs remove her and rush her inside.

Once in the ER, Max is told to stay behind to answer questions. Max is talking to the nurse and police explaining what had happened when his phone begins to ring. Max looks at the caller I.D. and realizes it's Melissa. Taking a deep breath, he answers. "Hello, Melissa." He can hear her panicking on the other end of the line. "Max, is everything okay? I heard there was a shooting outside your building." Max runs his hand through his hair and sighs as tears roll down his cheeks. "No, we're not okay. Melissa, it's bad." He can hear her gasp on the other end. "What happened?" he can hear her running around grabbing her stuff to leave her apartment. "Better yet, I'm on my way. I'll be there soon." Melissa says as she hangs up on him. Max look at the police and weakly smiles. "I apologize. Where were we?"

After what seemed like forever, Max is finally done talking to the police and waits for Melissa to arrive. He finds a chair and sits down. Everything is finally hitting him and he feels so broken. He keeps kicking himself for leaving her alone with him. He leans over, putting his face in his hands, as he hears a familiar voice call his name. He looks up to see Melissa standing next to him with tears in her eyes.

He stands up and Melissa runs to him and hugs him, crying. He can't help but cry with her. When they finally break their hug, Melissa grabs his hand and asks again. "What happened?" Max tells her everything as he feels the anger toward Sam and himself come back. He's about to apologize for leaving Novah alone with Sam, when a doctor comes out to talk to them. "Are you here for the female shooting victim?" The doctor asks. They both nod, unable to speak, filled with fear. The doctor smiles and puts a hand on Max's shoulder. "She's doing great. She's resting but she asked for a few people. A guy named Max and a woman named Melissa. I assume that would be you?" They nod, smiling and hugging each other. Max shakes the doctor's hand and thanks him. The doctor nods and walks away.

Max takes Melissa's hand as they walk towards Novah's room. Once they reach the door, they begin to cry again. She looked so weak and broken laying in that small bed. Max is the first to grab her hand as a nurse walks in. Max turns, fearing her response, but asks anyway. "Is the baby okay?" The nurse walks over and puts a hand on his shoulder. "The baby is doing great. The doctor estimates she's about 7 weeks. "Max looks at the nurse and sighs a big sigh of relief.

Melissa can't help but cry again, realizing that not only is Novah going to be fine but so will her baby. As she wipes her tears away, Novah begins to wake up and look around. Max stands up and kisses her forehead. She looks up at him and begins to cry. "I thought you was dead." Novah says between sobs. Max sits on the bed next to her and holds her close. As she cries into his shirt she abruptly looks up at him with a concerned look on her face. Max already knows what she's about to ask. Nodding he says, "Yes, the baby is fine." He leans in and kisses her lips. ":You're both going to be fine." As he says it, he can see her relaxing into his arms.

Novah holds her other hand out to Melissa. As she takes her hand, they both begin to cry, again. "Novah, you can't ever leave me. Do you hear me?" Novah laughs at her best friend and then winces as her chest begins to burn. She blinks through the pain as it hits her that she was shot in the chest. She puts a hand to her chest feeling thankful that her and her baby are going to make it.

After a few hours, Melissa leaves to go home and sleep. She hugs Novah and Max then waves good bye. Max sits back down and takes Novah's hand. "I told the police about Sam." Max says, eyeing Novah waiting for her response. Novah looks at him and nods. "Good, he needs to pay for this. If I had known he was going to be this crazy, I would have never slept with him." Max's jaw locks, thinking about Sam touching her. Novah is his and only his. He wasn't planning on sharing her anytime soon.

Max laughs to himself, when a knock on the door snaps him back to reality. "Come in." Novah says and in walks a police officer. "Excuse me ma'am, but can I come in and get your statement?" Novah nods, waving him in. He moves to stand at the bottom of the bed and takes out a notepad. Then he looks up at her waiting for her to start. Novah blinks back tears and starts from the beginning.

Once everything was said and done, the police officer nods and puts his notepad away. "I wanted to let you know, that we have Sam in custody. He says it was an accident and that Max attacked him. However, you're story is very similar to Max's and the doctor's who helped you at the scene." Novah began to look panicked at first and then relaxed as he finished talking. "Well, I'm glad you caught him. I was scared he'd come here." The police officer nods with a smile and holds up his hands. "You have nothing to fear, ma'am. He won't be getting out anytime soon."