Dan paces up and down through the hospital corridor while pressing his newest iPhone make against his ear. His face is pale, and his heart is more or less beating ten to the dozen. Dan can't think straight, so that's why his mother on the other end of the mobile gets him to repeat himself more clearer.

"Lacey's coming!" Dan frantically says. Although his frantic for two reasons; the first is obviously his daughters premature birth...the second being Charlie's life. Both of his greatest loves are at risk.

He can't seem to grasp what is exactly is happening.

"What you mean Lacey's coming? Dan, sweetheart, have you had one of those dreams again? Wake Charlie up, she'll let you feel her bump. Lacey isn't coming." Dan then breaks down in a flood of tears, something Isla hasn't heard her son do for quite a while. The last time was probably Dan getting over his dead lover-turned-enemy.

"Babe?" Isla concernedly says while Dan's father reaches over the daintily bedside table and turns the gold lamp on, he looks at his wife for an explanation...just simply because he doesn't like the tone of her voice.

"Charlie's in pain and the doctors won't let me inside the theatre. They're taking Lacey out...right now..." Dan then shakes his head while he stares at the door of the patients waiting room.

This is normal procedure for women who are in an abnormal pain, the fathers aren't in the theatre because the doctors need more room. That, and if anything was to go wrong then it'll be less traumatic for the father...than if he was in the room when the inevitable happens.

"Get the fucking keys!" Isla immediately shouts, clinging her phone against her chest so Dan doesn't hear. She then pushes herself up with all of her might, before then swinging her legs around to the side of the bed and standing up. It's the worst newfound adrenaline that she can have, especially knowing that your son's family is in pain.

"Isla?" Dan's father calmly says while she shakes her head. She'll tell him on the way to the hospital, but for now she needs to know what it's exactly happening so she can try helping Dan make sense. She knows it isn't much, but maybe Dan will worry less, she's a lawyer and has studied family cases from all types of backgrounds including health.

Not to mention with her own personal experiences...

"What happened?" Isla tries to remain calm while she frantically goes to her wardrobe and takes out her slip on shoes, while her husband briskly walks out of their bedroom and down the stairs.

"What happened?" Dan repeats whilst looking angry, only because that he has to explain. Of which he doesn't want to. He knows Isla is just trying to help, but right now more than anything he wants her reassurance. He wants his mum to tell him that everything will be okay...even if it isn't.

"Yes. Babe, can you explain to me why Charlie's in the hospital? What happened..." Dan shrugs his shoulders back while the double doors seem to blend into the distance more and more. He feels miles away from Charlie but he knows that she's only a few doors down on the other side.

"One minute we was laughing over a shitty dinner...and the next thing Charlie was double over cradling her stomach and screaming. I don't know...what happened." But what Dan does know is killing him.

"The doctors can't keep anything from you. Demand that they tell you what has happened, ask a nurse rather than a doctor. They'll be more tempted to tell you everything. Doctors hold back shit from family members, trust me I know." The last time Dan was at hospital was because of his mother's surgery to remove her cancer.

Thankfully it was a success, however Dan vowed never to come back to hospital for health purposes again. But here he is...

"Lacey isn't the one who is not well." Dan whispers while he leans his head against the wall. He can't face looking in the other direction anymore.

"The doctors say that something has spread inside of her. They won't tell me what, because they don't know which one it is yet. It's what you think it is." Isla's eyes widen for a minute as she stumbles backwards and then sits on the bed. She stares at herself in her wardrobe mirror and shakes her head.

"No..." she lightly whispers while Dan bursts out crying.

"Once they get Lacey out they're taking her to an MRI scan, after that she's going straight into surgery. They had to knock her out." Dan then starts to panic as he realises multiple dark things that could happen.

"What if Charlie doesn't live! Then she will never of seen Lace! What if she dies and leaves me here? I cannot be a single father. I need her! They can't just keep her knocked out, she need to know that she's a mother!" Dan then heads straight towards the door. He's psyched up to get doctors to ease up on Charlie's morphine or whatever they've put Charlie on.

"She isn't dead, Dan! They're saving her just like how they saved me! Pack it in and fucking remain calm, for Lacey's sake." But of course Dan's worrying about Lacey too. Even though multiple doctors and nurses reassured him that the baby is okay, he is dying to hold her. To see her. So they can both cry about wanting Charlie...

He doesn't even know if she's born or not. Ten minutes ago she wasn't...but who knows now.

"I should be in there." Dan sobs while he tries to dry his eyes. He knows that his mother is right, he has to stay sane in this insane scenario. For Lacey...for Charlie.

"I know, baby. Just...just call Aubrey up. Okay?" Isla only knows of Aubrey because Charlie's favourite pastime is slagging her off.

"No. I'm not...no." Dan for a second is speechless that his mother would even ask such a thing. She knows full well about Charlie's love to hate relationship with Aubrey, it's been that way since Charlie's mother warned her about Aubrey.

"That woman is the only other person apart from us who cares about her. Like it or lump it Aubrey's always been there. Call Aubrey up. You on the other hand...just stay strong."

"How the fuck can I stay strong? Charlie might be fucking dying for all we know! Something could've gone wrong with Lacey..." Dan then cups the palm of his hand against his head forehead in embarrassment, while a group of midwives walk past the room. His eyes catches onto the youngest midwife while she gawks through the open blinds, nether of them show any expression.

"That's for you to figure out. Me and dad are just leaving now, okay? We'll be with you in thirty minutes." As soon as Isla says 'thirty-minutes', Rod in the background calls out 'forty-seven'. But neither of them notice.

"Love you..." Isla whispers while trying to hold in her tears. Dan doesn't say anything back. Instead he hangs up the phone and sits down.

Not before too long the doors to the waiting room opens...