Chapter 79

FLASHBACK:
“Benjamin, Mom knows something is up. You will have to tell her,” Alexis told Benjamin.
"No, I don't. I am going to get an annulment; therefore, there's no need to tell her anything," he replied, checking his mirrors as he drove.
"Then why are you still wearing the ring?"
Benjamin glanced at her hand, still unsure why he couldn't take it off. "I'll remove it later."
"Benjamin, she could be your one."
He shook his head at her. "If she were, then I wouldn't have grown attached to another girl."
Alexis looked at him and then frowned. "Benjamin, she's a patient, and she's married."
"She's divorced," he gritted out.
"Some divorced people get remarried again, she may still love him. The babies could bring them back together."
"He doesn't care about her or them. Besides, she said they weren't his," he stated.
Alexis just shook her head. "You're seeing this only from the way you want to see it. What about the father of the babies? I'm just asking that you look at the whole picture, she may still care about him."
He started to tell her to stay out of it, and that she knew nothing when her cell rang.
"Hey, honey, I thought—" Alexis stopped talking and grasped his arm. "We're ten minutes away from there, keep her calm. Benjamin, Milton just got a flat and his car is off on the side of the road."
Before he could even respond to her statement, she continued. "One of his victims of domestic abuse is in his car and she's in active labor; she's about two months early." Benjamin nodded at her as she told him where Milton was.
"Tell him to check and see if she's crowning," Alexis repeated what he said to Milton. Just after she finished, he could hear a muffled woman's voice yelling in pain, but he couldn't make anything out.
"Milton, you idiot! You have to take her pants off to see if she's crowning! And I told you to keep her calm," Alexis gritted out.
She looked at Benjamin and shook her head, rolling her eyes. His brother-in-law gave him a lot of shit, but he was a good guy deep down. But clearly, after that day, he would have to assume his head was full of rocks. Benjamin couldn’t believe he attempted to look and see if she was crowning without removing her pants.
"That's them," Alexis stated. Benjamin pulled the car over to the side of the road and Alexis ran to Milton's car as he got his bag from the backseat.
"And this is..." The others seemed to fade when his eyes landed on Pandora looking scared, with tears tracking down her face. He couldn't seem to say a word to her.
"Benjamin," his name dropped from her mouth in a mix of pain, fear, and relief. The rest was a blur of him getting back into his doctor persona and praying and hoping everything was going to be okay.
Finally, he lifted her out of Milton’s car and she looked at him almost as if she didn’t understand how it got there. Benjamin got in and told Milton to drive. As the car moved, it became too dark in the car to see even with the lights on.
Benjamin barked at Alexis for his contacts as he took his glasses off. He glanced at Pandora, and yet again, he saw Dora. He shook his head, knowing that over the last few months, more so since he found out she was divorced, he had wished that it was her he had met, made love to, and married in Vegas.
‘It's her, it was her,’ his mind chanted, sounding angry that he did not believe it. But it couldn't have been her, could it? He opened his mouth and then closed it quickly as Pandora almost doubled over in pain.
As he went to look for something for her to put on, he berated himself for his thoughts. “She can’t be Dora. This is stupid—just because you want her to be can’t change reality,” he mumbled to himself and pulled at his hair.
He put on a clean pair of scrubs, and looked at himself in the mirror, "You're fucked," he told himself, knowing that it was too late. He couldn't save his heart from her or the boys. If and when they didn't need him anymore, it was going to break his heart.
He walked back into Pandora's room, and Alexis gave her a sad look. She knew he was deeply in love with Pandora.
He showed Pandora the gown, pad, and underwear that he got for her, and she asked for help as her eyes scanned the room for Alexis.
‘You're in trouble if you help her, but you're already over the line; what's a little more?’ He groaned and dropped to his knees, helping her with the net panties they used for new moms. He then helped to remove her top as his eyes flickered to her.
He saw a warm soul. ‘I could kiss you right now and die a happy man,’ his mind shouted. His eyes flickered from her mouth to her eyes; the pull was strong and he felt himself move closer.
"Fuck!" his mind yelled.
"I'll get you a wheelchair," he muttered, knowing he needed to get away from her. He wheeled her down, stopping as he pleaded with her to let her come in to watch over them with her.
When she told him she needed him, too, his heart leaped with the hope that just maybe, they could make this work. He pushed her into the NICU, placing her chair between the boys. As he told her what was wrong with them, he found that he had to breathe deeply.
He just wanted to hold them and be with them. He wanted to make everything better; he wanted to make it all okay and he couldn't.
As he took her through everything, Micheal's alarm sounded and he jumped up quickly. For the first time, his heart didn't stay calm; it just about leaped out of his chest. He wiggled his foot but it didn't work so he moved his hand to his chest and kept shuffling him.
When the alarm stopped, he closed his eyes, stopping the tears that wanted to come out. Still holding back his tears, he turned and explained to Pandora what just happened. The fact that he saw the heartbreak and worry on her face only added to his own. He knew that he may have to step aside as her doctor. He couldn't look after her like he needed to and it was killing him.
- - - - -
"Benjamin." He wiped his tears as Emily walked in, frowning at him. "What happened?"
He shook his head at her, but she rolled her eyes and placed a cup of coffee down on his desk.
"Pandora had her babies," he muttered.
"Shit… they're five, no at least six weeks early?"
"Six weeks," he said and Emily shook her head.
"Are they okay?"
He nodded and then shook his head as the tears started to come down again. "They have to be," he finally said.
"When did you fall in love with her?" she asked, taking hold of her hand.
"The very second I came into contact with her."
Emily snorted, shaking her head in disbelief. "I need to bottle your charm and sell it. Tell her; to lay it out on the table."
"What if she rejects me?"
"What if she says she loves you, too?"
This time he snorted, making Emily sigh. "Benjamin, I know Pandora and she would never be with someone unless she felt something for that person."
"I know, but the babies… what about the dad?"
"Talk to her about it; just between you, me, and these four walls, I get the feeling Pandora may have made a tiny mistake. I think she might have had a one-night stand, and is now ashamed because she has no idea who the father is."
He frowned at her as his mind went back to the fact that she was in Vegas. "She was in Vegas," he said.
"I know," Emily responded.
"I got married in Vegas."
"You did?"
He nodded. "I have no idea who my wife is, or where she is for that matter." Emily looked at me in shock. "I want it to be Pandora."
"Was it?"
He went to shake his head but only shrugged. "She reminds me of her; only Dora, my wife, had a darker complexion, and a different hair color."