Josh's POV
Two days later and the swelling in Maya's brain has almost completely disappeared and they're hopeful that today may be the day, meanwhile our son was doing alright but he wasn't out of the woods yet. I just hoped Maya would wake up and maybe seeing her would push him to fight just a little harder.
Katy and Shawn are with him while I'm sitting with Maya; our friends had yet to come in today since it was still pretty early in the morning but around ten they'd probably all start filing in. I lean back in my seat and pull out my phone, deciding to go through a few Facebook messages from my own family. They wanted to be here but I didn't want to crowd Maya with people she didn't know too well. They'd have a chance to meet our son after they got out of the hospital.
"Josh" Maya croaks making my eyes widen as I drop my phone sit up.
"Maya" I exclaim. "Hey sweetheart. How are you feeling baby?" I ask softly, squeezing her hand.
"What-what happened? Where's the baby?" she asks as her hand finds her flat stomach. "Josh where is he?" she demands frantically.
"Shhh" I soothe, running my hand over her hair. "He's in the NICU. Honey you gotta calm down you've had a rough few days."
"He's alive? He's okay?"
I nod. "He's alive and he's hanging in there. His lungs are a little underdeveloped but he's doing well, he's getting stronger every day."
"Josh what happened?" she asks confused. "All I remember is driving to my mom's house-."
"It was a hit and run. You got t-boned when someone ran the red light and rammed right into you. The baby was in distress so they did an emergency C-section and delivered him. You had some swelling in your brain and you have a concussion."
"How-how long have I been out?"
I sigh, squeezing her hand. "Not counting the day of the accident, about three days sweetheart."
"Three days?" she squeaks.
"I know, I know" I whisper, running my fingers through her hair. "It's a while-."
"A while? No kidding it's a while. I've already lost three damn days of our son's life and a hit and run?" she exclaims. "Hit and run my ass. I fucking knew Derek was following me" she shakes her head.
"I know sweetheart" I nod. "I'm so sorry."
She looks down at me confused. "Sorry? For what?"
"For not believing you. For leaving."
"Josh" she sighs, squeezing my hand in return. "Baby you were right. You had to go to work. I didn't have to leave the house but I just wanted to spend some time with my mom. I wasn't thinking. This is my fault as much as it is yours" she insists before glancing around. "Where is my mom? Has she been here?"
I chuckle. "She called me and picked me up the day of the accident. Her and your dad only go home to sleep and bring me clothes. They've been amazing Maya. And uh our friends have been in and out too."
"Our friends?" she questions. "Riley?"
I laugh, nodding my head. "Yes, Riley and Lucas and Zay. They've all been here nonstop. They hopped on the first flight here as soon as they heard."
"Wow" she cries, wiping at her eyes. "When can I see our boy?" she asks hopefully.
I smile, leaning forward to kiss the top of her head. "I'll go tell the doctor you're up and I'll let them tell you. Okay? I'll be right back sweetheart."
"Promise?" she asks frantically.
I smile, nodding my head. "I promise."
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Maya's POV
The doctor checks me over and seems happy with the results of my examination and all the tests but of course I don't care about myself. I want to see my son. "So when can I see my baby?" I ask impatiently.
The doctor chuckles, glancing towards Josh. "You were right when you said she was stubborn." I shoot Josh a glare but he simply smiles and shrugs his shoulders innocently making my heart swell.
Almost dying certainly reminded me how lucky I am to have him in my life. I would definitely never let him go.
"You can go see him whenever your fiancé wheels you up there" he says making my eyes widen as I look over at Josh. Did he just-?
"Thank you doctor" Josh smiles, shaking the man's hand before he slips out of the room leaving Josh and I alone. I quirk an eyebrow at him and he simply laughs. "Your parents came up with that particular lie" he explains. "They were worried that they'd make me wait to see you."
"My parents?" I gape. "Wow."
"Yea apparently they like me so" he shrugs. "Are you ready to go? I'll go grab a wheelchair and we can head on up there."
"I'm more than ready" I reply making a smile pull at his lips as he nods in understanding and goes to retrieve a chair for me. Once he returns he helps me even though I felt stable as ever on my feet but I sort of figured that he wouldn't allow me to argue.
"He's hooked up to a ventilator" he explains as we roll onto the elevator. "I just want you to be prepared. With the progress he's been making they think that maybe in a week or so they should be able to ween him off of it and we might be able to take him home."
"So he's doing well?"
"For now. They told me not to get too optimistic yet. They said that until he's off the ventilator I shouldn't get too excited but he's our son so I have no doubt" he explains making me smile.
He pushes open the door to the NICU and wheels us over to our son's bed and my breath hitches in my throat when I see him. He looks so helpless lying there with tubes up his nose, attached to a machine that was helping him breathe. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. I couldn't believe that this was happening to my sweet little boy. "I think he has your nose. He's opened his eyes a few times and Riley insists that they're all you but I disagree greatly" he explains making me chuckle as I look up at my goofy boyfriend.
"Yea? Anything else you'd like to take credit for?" I tease.
"If he survives this" he takes a deep breath. "We'll really be alike." Suddenly I remember that only a couple of decades ago our son was Josh, lying in a bed in the NICU fighting for his life. I take Josh's hand and bring it to my lips.
"He's your son" I insist. "He'll get through this just like you did."
"I hope so" he breathes out, squeezing my hand. "But we uh we need to name him. We can't keep referring to him with pronouns."
I chuckle, nodding my head. "Well" I sigh, relaxing back into the wheelchair. "Why not your middle name?" I ask making his lips part in shock as he looks down at me.
"What?"
"Yea" I nod. "Doesn't it mean 'he who God protects?" I ask and he nods numbly. "Exactly" I smile. "Then I think it's perfect."
"Maya we don't have to give him my middle name. He's already going to have my last name."
"Oh is he?" I giggle. "When did we decide that?"
"The day we met and I realized that you're my soulmate" he says seriously. "We can give him your name for now if you want but then when we get married we're gonna have to change the kid's last name along with yours."
My heart swells as a whole lifetime with Josh by my side flashes before my eyes. Being with Josh forever, nothing sounded better than that. "He needs a middle name. I don't really have any idea for that one" I admit.
"What about?" he pauses, biting his lip. "Maya what about James?" he asks with a soft chuckle.
"What?" I gape, allowing a giggle to fall from my lips. "As in, the professor that you taught under? The professor that failed me?"
"I like to think of him as the professor that brought us together" he argues. "You have to admit that without him we wouldn't be together and we certainly wouldn't have a son together."
I laugh, looking towards my son with a soft smile. Gabriel James Matthews. It had a ring to it I had to admit. "Are you serious?" I ask, glancing back up at Josh.
"Why not? Plus it sounds good with Gabriel and Matthews."
I smile, nodding my head. "Okay. Gabriel James Matthews."
"It's perfect" he says, looking down at our son. "Hi Gabriel" he waves making my heart swell.
Just me and my boys.
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Josh and I hand over the final copy of our son's birth certificate to the nurse since I was finally conscious enough to sign it and we'd finally decided on his name. "A lovely name" the nurse says politely.
"Maya Hunter" an officer interjects, sauntering into the room. My heart skips a beat as Josh squeezes my hand reassuringly. "We heard you were awake. We wanted to give you a while to acquaint yourself with your son. We hear he's doing well."
"He is" I nod as the nurse slips out. "What can I do for you officers?"
"Well we've already spoken to your boyfriend and he's told us that you believe that a disgruntled ex may have caused your accident."
"Um yea" I nod, wincing at the slight pain that stabs through my head. "He uh he wasn't too happy about me dumping from for my teacher's assistant" I admit shyly. "I stuck things out with him for a while but he hit me one evening and I left and never looked back."
"Okay. I must ask ma'am, the child isn't his is it? This isn't a custody battle gone wrong?"
"God no" I shake my head. "No, the baby is Josh's. Josh and I have been together for eight months and I was just under seven months pregnant at the time of the accident."
"We moved a bit fast" Josh interjects with a chuckle. "But the baby is mine. No doubt in either of our minds about that."
"So he's simply upset about you breaking up with him and moving on?" the officer asks and I nod.
"That in combination with his drinking problem" I explain. "At the end of our relationship we had more beer in the house than food" I admit sadly. "He's come up to me at school a few times before I was put on academic suspension for my relationship with Josh. He was the one who outed our relationship actually as well."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Well the blunt threats are sort of a giveaway" I reply with an annoyed shrug. "Look, he's been following me and he called me a few weeks ago. He's been harassing me since the moment we split up. I already see that you don't believe me but I'm telling you the truth."
The officer shakes his head. "I'm not disputing your story miss. My job is to be skeptical. We'll keep an eye out for him but I'm afraid we simply don't have enough evidence to bring him in on any charges."
"Hold on, he almost kills my girlfriend and my son and he gets off the hook for it because he ran and we have no solid proof? That's bullshit" Josh shouts angrily.
"Sir I know it's frustrating but until we can soundly tie him to the crash there is nothing we can do. I'll leave you both now. Have a lovely evening" he adds before leaving the room.
"This is bullshit" Josh shakes his head. "He's not getting away with this shit. He almost costed me everything" he rambles.
"Josh, baby relax" I say calmly, rubbing his back. "I'm right here and Gabriel is going to be fine. Take a breath."
"Even if you're both okay now, what stops him from doing something else? He's gotta know he didn't manage to kill either of you. What's stopping him from trying again?" he asks worriedly.
I truly wish I had an answer that would comfort him but I had nothing. There was nothing we could do. "Nothing" I say softly. "There's nothing stopping him" I admit as an overwhelming sense of dread and worry washes over me.
This wasn't over. It wouldn't be over until Derek was behind bars and right now, that seemed impossible.