My first prompt for Angst Fest.
(39) Where the hell were you?! (41) Is that blood? (5) Please don't leave (44) I'm not going anywhere
She never calls him. That is the first sign that something is wrong. Seeing almost twenty missed calls from the mother in law would be alarming for anyone, but for Robin it just wasn't something that would happen, it sent alarm bells ringing. Something was seriously, seriously wrong.
He quickly unlocked his phone, waving goodbye to one of his colleagues as they slipped out of the now virtually empty conference room. Robin clicked on his voicemail and waited for it to kick in, he felt nervous in a way that he'd never quite felt before. After a few seconds, which to him seemed like a lifetime, the ringing stopped and he keyed in the option which played him the messages. Once he'd done that he heard her voice in a way he'd never done so before.
He stood still, listening intently to each and every word she spoke, planning on taking in the details of what she was saying. As soon as he heard the words hospital, hurt and come quickly, he was cutting the phone off, slipping it in his pocket and abandoning all his work papers as he ran out of the doors.
He almost rushed straight into the elevator but decided to stop at his secretary's desk, "Belle! I'm leaving the office for a family emergency, something's happened, I don't have time to…"
"Go Mr Locksley, I'll sort out all the paperwork. I hope everything is alright."
"Thank you, me too," Robin nodded, picking up the pace again
as he almost smashed the button to call the lifts. As soon as it pinged, he rushed inside and hit the ground floor button, not being able to stop his foot from tapping as he prepared to run straight to his car. He hadn't even listened to the message properly, but he didn't need to for him to know that something major had happened. It was just the tone of Cora's voice, that had been enough.
The loud ding of the doors had him spurring to life, his feet working faster than his brain as he sprinted out, heading past security and towards the parking lot. He reached his car in record time and put the keys into the ignition. Technically he didn't know if he would be considered fit to drive, but he didn't have time to dwell on that now, not when something serious was quite clearly happening.
He drove to the hospital whilst somewhat on autopilot, he had little recollection of the drive over, all he could concentrate on was getting to his wife and children. He didn't even know if it were one of them that were hurt, but he was guessing from the fact that it hadn't been his wife who had called him that it was obviously someone in his immediate family. "Excuse me."
"How can I help you?" the receptionist asked.
"I'm looking for someone under the name of Locksley, I don't know… I don't…"
"Robin!" He turned around, seeing his mother in law hurrying towards him with a cup of coffee in her hand, "where the hell have you been?!" she almost screamed, alerting some of the other people in the waiting room.
"I was at work, I came as soon as I got your message. What's happening?"
"You were at work?! Do you not have your phone at work? I called
you so many times! You should have had your phone. Now she's had to go through all this without you, and the children…"
"Cora! I'm sorry I didn't pick up the phone, but I'm here now. Tell me what happened!" he yelled, his eyes searching his mother in law's, trying to find out some inclination of what was going on. It was then that he spotted it, the red mark on her top, "is that… is that blood?" he breathed, "whose blood? Who…"
"Did you not listen to any of my messages?"
"I heard you say that you were at the hospital and that was all I needed to hear. I need to know that my family is alright." He didn't think that he could take it much longer, why wouldn't the woman just tell him what had happened? He was feeling almost frantic. Was that his wife's blood? Or one of his children's blood?
The older woman sighed and shook her head, "there was a car accident."
Robin felt as though his heart stopped beating for a moment
as he stared at the other woman, trying to take in what she was saying to him. He felt as though he might throw up and could barely breathe, he reached out to lean against the wall, still watching his mother in law as she swallowed heavily, clearly trying to work herself up to telling him the full story. "Cora."
"Regina was on her way to pick the children up from school and someone ran a red light," she admitted, tears welling in her eyes. In the entire time he had known her Cora Mills had never cried, he'd never even seen her get emotional, except from maybe when Regina gave birth to their eldest daughter, Autumn. "They crashed into the side of her car."
He took a second to process what she had told him before his questions came spilling out. "Where is she? Is she okay? The kids weren't in the car were they? Where are they?"
"Robin, one question at a time, you're making my head hurt,"
she complained, making him follow her towards the lift which he could only assume led to the floor Regina was on. "Regina is alive, but I wouldn't exactly say she was well. She's in surgery at the minute, they are operating on her. As for your children, they weren't in the car. Henry has gone to collect them from school and he plans to take them back to our house."
Robin closed his eyes and tried to get his emotions under check, how was he supposed to react in a moment like this? He was trying not to break down over hearing that his wife was in a serious condition. He couldn't lose her, she was the love of his life, she and their children were his entire world. His girls couldn't lose their mother and he couldn't los his wife. He didn't know how he'd go on if he didn't have her by his side, if she wasn't the last person he saw at night and the first person he saw in the morning. "What are they doing to her in surgery?"
"They think that one of her lungs may have collapsed. Her ribs were severely damaged and they suspect that one of them may have fractured and punctured her lung. She also broke her left wrist and had a nasty head injury."
None of that sounded particularly promising and he could imagine that Regina must have been terrified when the accident happened, she was probably hurt and alone. She'd needed him and he hadn't been there for her. Just the thought of it made him feel sick, "why did the person run the red light?" He asked swallowing heavily as they sat down in a different waiting area where he assumed Cora had been told to wait.
The older woman looked at her cup of coffee before clearing her throat and moving her eyes to look at him, "it was a drunk driver," she confessed, "the man who crashed into my baby girl was driving under the influence. He shouldn't have been on the road," she cried, shaking her head out of annoyance.
Robin grit his teeth, you heard stories all the time where someone would be drunk and crash into someone, taking an innocent person's life, he'd just never presumed that something like that would happen to him, that he might lose his wife because of someone else's recklessness. He felt himself getting angry to the point where he felt as though he needed to hit something, instead he opted for biting the inside of his cheek. "What do the kids know? Where do they think Regina is?"
"I don't know, Henry was dealing with that she whilst I came here to be with her."
"Was she conscious when she arrived?"
"Only just, she was crying and asking for you," Cora sighed, burying her head in her hands. It was so strange seeing her like this, he couldn't believe it was happening.
He was about to comfort her when a nurse walked into the room, making sure to close the door behind her. Robin automatically stood from his chair as she approached them. "I presume you're Mr Locksley," she stated.
Robin nodded, "yes, how is my wife, is she alright?"
"Mrs Locksley just came out of surgery. The doctors are pleased with the way the operation went, but as you can imagine your wife will most likely experience a lot of pain because of her injuries. We'll keep her on pain meds and see how we're going once she wakes up, then we'll know more about what it is we're dealing with."
"Can I see her now? Can I sit with her until she wakes up?"
"Of course, although it may be a little while yet until the anaesthetic wears off."
"I just want to be with her," he stated, eager for the woman to lead him to the room where his wife was, he needed to see her, needed to sit with her and be there when she woke up. "Could you please take me to her?"
"Yes, this way."
Cora stood up also and they both followed the nurse through the hospital corridor until they came to a private room, "through there," she gestured.
"Thank you." Robin swallowed heavily before pushing the door open and moving into the room, his chair eyes landing on his wife who was laid in the bed, with a bandage covering one side of her forehead. Her cheeks were covered in tiny cuts, something he assumed was from the broken glass 1hitting her face. Closing his eyes he moved towards her, grabbing a chair and pulling it closer to the side of her bed. Once he was sat down he reached for her right hand, he brought it up to his face and kissed her palm as he closed his eyes and simply brushed his thumb over her arm. "Look at you hey," he breathed, nuzzling against her hand, "what we gonna do with you?" Robin sighed, close to tears as he focused on the feel of her unresponsive hand in his.
"She looks so small," Cora whispered.
"I know. I'm so angry that this happened to her, she didn't deserve this. She's never hurt anyone, she's the most thoughtful person I know."
They went silent for a while, Robin just watched his wife as she slept. Cora's phone began ringing and she slipped out onto the corridor, leaving Robin alone with Regina. It was in that moment that Regina began to wake up, her hand squeezed his, her fingers wrapping around him as her eyes slowly slipped open. She blinked a couple of times before turning her head and looking directly at him, "Robin," she rasped, her voice hoarse due to sleeping.
"Sushhh I'm here now," he breathed, standing up and sitting on the edge of her bed, "you're okay," he reached out and tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear.
"Please don't leave," she whispered, her uninjured hand grabbing him.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Hold me Robin, I want you to hold me," Regina cried.
He nodded and moved up the bed so that she could shuffle into his arms. He noticed that her chest was bandaged and she had a cast on her left arm, a bout of emotion welled up inside him as he kissed the top of her head. "I've got you baby, you're alright. Are you hurting?"
"It's not too bad," she sighed, nuzzling her head against his shoulder. "Where are the girls?"
"Your dad picked them up from school. I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you Regina, I should have been here straight away when you needed me. I didn't know, I..."
"It's alright," she winced, moving too suddenly in her attempt to comfort him, "you're here now."
"I am, and I'm not going anywhere."
She offered him a small smile before burying her head in the pillows behind her, her eyes falling shut, "can you ask my father to bring my babies to me?"
"Sure I can," he nodded, kissing the top of her head, "you sleep now though, you need your rest."
"I love you Robin," she whispered as she fell asleep once again.
"I love you too Regina, so much," he hummed, closing his eyes as he held her close.
An hour or so later Robin heard whispering coming from outside the door of Regina's room, carefully he slipped off the bed, making sure not to disturb her as he headed to the door. When he opened it he was met with the worried faces of his little girls.
The twins, Arrow and Hope, stared at him whilst his eldest, Autumn, talked to Cora. The five year olds hurried over to him, throwing their little arms around him as they hugged him tight, "daddy where's mommy?" Hope asked, her blue eyes peering up at him.
"Mommy is sleeping in there, so you need to be extra quite okay," he stated, making sure that his girls weren't accidentally going to disturb Regina, she needed all the rest she could get.
"Dad," Autumn called as she stopped talking to her grandmother and hurried over to him, hugging him from the side. The eight year old looked the spitting image of her mother, she had the same dark eyes and hair, the only thing she inherited from her father was the dimples. "Can we go see mom now?"
"Yeah let's go," he nodded, guiding his daughters inside Regina's room, feeling Arrow clinging to his side, her blonde curls the only thing he could see of her as she kept her face pressed against him.
Cora and Henry had followed them into the room and both sat in the visitor's seats, leaving Robin and the girls to move closer to Regina.
Autumn stared at Regina and he saw the tears begin to well up in her eyes at the sight of her mother just lying there. She hurried over to her and carefully climbed up onto the bed before cuddling up to her. "We're here now mom and we all love you," the girl whispered.
"Can we sit with mommy too?" Hope asked, her blue eyes peering at her mother curiously as she edged closer to the bed. Arrow on the other hand was still clinging furiously to Robin. He helped Hope up onto the bed and the little girl sat beside her sister.
The slight movement must have stirred Regina because she slowly opened her eyes and turned to look at the girls sat next to her on the bed, "hi babies," she smiled, reaching out for them. "Are you all okay?" she questioned.
Hope touched Regina's face gently, "are you okay mommy, granddaddy says you're hurt."
"I did get a little hurt baby, but I'll be okay now, the doctors are taking care of me."
"What about daddy? Is daddy taking care of you?"
"Of course, that's what daddy does, he takes care of all of us doesn't he," she smiled bopping the girl's nose before turning to Autumn. "How was school today? Did you lean anything interesting?"
She just shook her head and buried her head against her mother's shoulder as her arms wrapped around her. Regina sighed and stroked her back gently, trying to reassure the girl.
Robin could tell that she was crying and shook his head before picking Arrow up and holding her close, she wrapped her arms around his neck as she cautiously peeked at Regina. He didn't know why she was acting as though she was scared of her own mother, but he had a feeling that she was probably just worried about her.
"I think I'm missing a little girl here, I don't suppose any of you have seen her around have you? She has blonde hair and blue eyes," Regina grinned, clearly trying to get Arrow to look at her. "She's missing out on lots of cuddles from her mommy."
Arrow smiled a little as she whispered in her daddy's ear, "can you take me over to mommy please?"
"Of course I can," he chuckled, walking over to Regina's bed and placing their daughter down with the rest of her siblings and her mother.
"Daddy you need to lay with us!"
"I don't think I'll fit sweetheart," he chuckled, perching in the visitor's chair closest to the bed.
He watched quietly as his children and Regina spoke to one another, including Cora and Henry now and then. After about an hour he could tell that his wife was beginning to feel tired again, she'd gone from conversing with the kids to giving the odd nod and hum in response to what they were saying. She was also struggling to keep her eyes open and concentrate on what the girls were talking about. "Okay girlies, I think it's time we let mommy sleep don't you?"
"Robin, we can take them home for you," Henry offered, "if that would be easier, I can imagine you want to stay with Regina."
"That would be wonderful thank you," Robin nodded in agreement, he'd been quite reluctant to leave her alone in the hospital, but knew that it was probably getting late and the children needed to have some supper and get to bed. "Are you sure it's no problem?"
"No of course not. Girls, how do you feel about a sleepover at grandma and grandpa's house?"
"Yeah!" Hope cheered, "but will mommy be okay?"
"I'll be fine sweetheart, your daddy will be here to look after me."
"Okay. I hope you come home soon mommy," she whispered, leaning in and pressing a kiss to her mother's cheek before slipping from the bed and hurrying over to her grandfather.
Once the children had gone, Robin moved over to the side of Regina's bed, "you look exhausted," he sighed, tucking some of her hair behind her ear so that it wasn't in her face.
"I feel it," she murmured, reaching out for him tiredly, "can you lie with me please? I don't think I can sleep without you."
"Sure, I'm not going anywhere," he reassured climbing up onto her bed and allowing her to move stiffly into his arms. "You scared me so much," he confessed, trying to keep his emotions in check as his fingers ran up and down her arm, "I thought I'd lost you."
"You can't get rid of me that easily," she joked, cuddling closer to him as her eyes fluttered closed. "I love you Robin."
"I love you too Regina, so much and I promise I will always be here for you no matter what. I'll never leave you."