Everyone moved around us after the shots went off, but all I could do was hold onto Rose. Rose gaps deeply as I hold her tight to me, grounding myself here but keeping myself from lurching into the building myself.
I watch people move into the building but Rose slips from my fingers when one office comes back out, holding a buddled up dirty blanket. I chase after Rose and skid to a stop when Rose reaches the officer, practically ripping the bundle out of his arms. He tries to stop her but Rose's sob of happiness stops him as she pull the blanket away to find Toby nestled there, surprisingly quiet and eyes wide while his cheeks are red and tear stained.
I wrap my arms around Rose and Toby while practically crushing the two to my chest. Toby's so quiet compared to Rose and I gaze down at him, reaching down to stroke his chubby cheek while he sucks on his thumb.
Rose looks up at me with a watery smile and dips her head down to kiss Toby's head before turning into my chest. I rest my chin on her head and look over at the building again, watching a cuffed Tasha be escorted out of the building.
Tasha catches my gaze as they escort her to the car and I tighten my grip on my family, glaring dagger at her as they load her into the car. Rose turns her head and catches a glimpse of Tasha before the car door shuts.
"I hope she rots in hell," Rose growls, adjusting her grip on Toby. I nod my head but don't respond, just kissing the top of her head. A paramedic comes over and speaks to the officer that hovers by us before approaching.
"We need to check your little guy out, why don't you come to the rig and we'll take a look at him," the paramedic says gently, putting a hand on Rose's back and tries to stirs her towards the ambulance. I nod and move with Rose to the ambulance, looking around out of habit. My eyes snap to the building to find two other paramedics rolling someone out on the gurney and I freeze for half a second when I see who it is on the gurney.
Mama's gasp was haunting on the other side of the phone, but it wasn't a surprise to me.
"He's alive?"
I pinch the bridge of my nose and nod to myself, resting against the door jam.
"Yes, Mama. Randall is alive. Shot, but alive."
Mama sighed and mumbled under her breath before turning the topic back to safer waters.
"How is Toby doing? He wasn't hurt was he?"
I turn and look at Rose asleep in bed with Toby curled towards her. She wasn't even in bed completely, one leg dangling off the edge while her arms were wrapped around his little body. It was comical and beautiful at the same time.
"He's ok. A little dirty and wound up, but he's fine. Asleep at the moment. It looks like one of them tried to keep him fed and changed."
Mama exhales and I can tell it's in relief. "Good. I'm glad to hear that. And you? Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, just a bit tired."
Mama doesn't stay on the phone long after that before hanging up, telling me that she is going to call in the morning. I set my phone down and wander into the bathroom to shower, washing my hair quickly before joining Rose in bed. I carefully tuck Rose's leg up onto the bed and pull the blanket up to her hips. I lean down and kiss her cheek before climbing in on the other side, running my fingers through Toby's soft curls. I rest my eyes on him as I feel the last few days catch up with my body, falling into an easy sleep within minutes.
I wake some time later to a rough yank on my hair. I crack my eye open to find Toby's fist wrapped in my hair, pulling his hand towards his mouth. I smile and gently pry my hair from his hand before pulling him onto my chest, kissing his nose.
"Hey buddy," I say softly, rubbing my finger over his cheek. He gives me a gummy smile before plopping his head down on my chest, patting his hands on me. Rose and I like to assume that's his way of cuddling, putting his head down and patting us with his hands. I put my hands on his back and kiss his head, breathing in deeply. We had given him a bath as soon as we got home and I love the smell of him afterward. The mix of his baby smell and the lavender bath wash we use for him.
I hum and rub my hand over his back. "Papa's got you. You're ok," I say but I don't know if I'm saying it to comfort my infant or myself. I rest my head against the pillow with a heavy sigh. I feel like I've failed. I'm a Guardian and I couldn't keep my son safe. He was able to be taken right from my fingers and I couldn't stop it.
Rose's sudden shifting in bed pulls me out of my musing and she rolls over before jolting awake. I remember when we started sleeping with Toby in the bed, I was so scared of rolling onto him in my sleep. But any time I roll, I wake up. I guess Rose was in light enough sleep to roll over and wake up. Her eyes are frantic before settling on me and Toby, a sigh of relief slipping her lips.
I reach out and stroke her cheek, pushing her hair back off her face. "Go back to sleep Roza. I've got him."
Rose nods but scoots closer to us, resting her forehead against my shoulder, her hand going to Toby's foot. I smile and rub his back a little, trying to coax him back to sleep. Between that and Rose rubbing his foot, he should be a goner in a few minutes.
I can't believe that I'm even here, I think to myself as I stand outside of the hospital room. The two police officers stationed here keep giving me odd looks. I can see Randall on the bed, his eyes closed in the dark room. I take a step forward but one of the officers puts his hand out to stop me.
"I'm his son," I state, hoping that that would be enough for them to let me in. They both glare at me before a voice croaks from inside the room.
"It's ok boys. He can come in."
I nod at the two before stepping into the room with my hands shoved into my pockets. It was easier to keep from strangling him with them in there. I come to a stop at the end of the bed and look down at the pitiful man who kidnapped my child.
"I assume you want answers," he says roughly. By looking at him I can see that he looks bad, his arm in a cast and a thick bandage sticking out from under his hospital gown.
I nod and cross my arms over my chest, fist clenched against my sides. Randall doesn't say anything right away but he watches me as I stand there.
"What-why…" I start but I can't finish my statement. I have too many questions to ask. "Why did you do it? I get that you hate me, but my son? He's innocent in all of this! He's a baby!"
Randall looked down at his lap before sighing and looking back up at me.
"I owed some people a lot of money. And I meant a lot of money. Natasha found me through a friend of a friend and reached out to me. She said that if I helped her, she would take care of the enforcers that were coming after me. She didn't tell me exactly what it was, but I figured it out quick after she asked me to watch your house."
I kept my jaw shut and ground my teeth together. If I want all the answers I need to keep my mouth shut. Randall tries to adjust himself and I watched him struggle. I didn't feel sympathy for him right now.
"You have a beautiful family. I'm envious of that," he whispers and I'm not sure if it was to himself or me, but it pisses me off.
"You could have had one too! You had four kids and all we wanted was a Father who gave a fuck! Mama loved you and you beat her!" I roar, my arms coming uncrossed from my chest as my hands slammed down on the bed rail. It rattles under my hands and I can hear the officers step into the room, but Randal's gaze doesn't leave mine as he waves them off.
"I know that. But I had a problem. I was drunk and it's not an excuse."
"You're right, it's not," I bite out.
Randall nods his head and sighs. "Anyways. The longer she made me watch you and your wife, the worse the taste in my mouth I got. I wanted out, but I couldn't. The enforcers were too close and Natasha would have had me charged for helping her get out of court. When she took your son, I tried to talk her out of it, but she was set on."
I shook my head and turned away for a moment, hooking my foot under it and drag it away from the wall. I sink down in it and rest my elbows on my knees.
"So what went wrong?" I ask, pointing at his shoulder.
"The shot wasn't for me. She was aiming the gun at your son."
I feel every muscle in my body tense up and my heart jump into my throat. She was going to kill my son.
"And what? She missed?"
"No," Randall snaps, "I stepped between them. As you said, he's a baby – innocent – he didn't do anything. Regardless of our relationship, he's your son. I couldn't let her kill him. Tasha seems like she has a few loose nuts."
"You got that right," I mutter under my breath.
I sit in silence for a few more moments before a nurse pops her head in the room with a soft smile.
"I'm sorry, visiting hours are over. You can come back tomorrow if you like," she says, her smile soft and eyes tired. She must be coming off her shift soon.
I nod and get up and head towards the door when Randal pipes up. "I meant what I said. You do have a beautiful family."
I stand there for a second before nodding my head and continuing out the door.
I wander through the house looking for Rose after sitting in the car longer than I care to admit. Following the sound of Toby's noises, I wander into the bathroom and find them both in the tub. Rose looks up at me when I come into the frame and gives me a soft smile. I give her a smile in return despite my sour mood and come close to her, crouching down and sitting on the floor beside the tub.
Rose sighs as she leans back with Toby and laughs as his hands slap against the water. He loves bath time, and he never wants to get out of the water.
"Did you get what you needed?" Rose asks, poking her tongue out at Toby. The harder she makes faces at him, the more he squeals and laughs. A beautiful laugh that is contagious and uplifting. Hearing him laugh makes any bad day ten times better.
"What do you mean?" I ask as I pick up a rubber duck and plonk it in the water next to them. Toby spots it immediately and bats at it with his chunky hands. Rose and I both laugh and she moves her legs so her knees are bent and she sits Toby back against her legs.
Rose turns her attention away from the little man and looks at me with a raised brow.
"I know that you went to the hospital, Dimitri. Please tell me you didn't kill him."
I frown and lean against the tub, swirling my hand in the warm water. The thought had occurred to me on my way over. I could have killed him and for a minute I wanted to, but I knew that it would make me no better than him if I did.
Leave it to him to still dictate what I do in my life years after he'd left it.
"No. I didn't kill him, Roza." Rose sighs and rests her head against the back of the tub, tracing her fingers over Toby's stomach as my hand makes it way to her torso.
"Do you think I failed?" I ask quietly.
Rose chuckles for a second before becoming serious again. "How could you have possibly failed, Comrade?"
I look at her and see her questioning me with her eyes, eyes I see every time I wake up in the morning.
"How did I not fail, Roza. First Tasha found us and broke into our house, now with Toby being taken… I just feel like I'm a failure as a father and as a husband when I should have been protecting you."
Rose sits up and leans over the edge as best as she can with Toby in her lap, her hand fisting itself in my shirt and pulling me towards her.
"I never want to hear you say that you failed or that you're a failure ever again! Do you hear me? You did not fail, you did everything you possibly could to protect us. It's not like you pointed a sign and said 'here we are, come and get us'. You uprooted your life to move here so that we could have a family. I cannot see a man who's failed as a husband do that, and I cannot see a man who has failed as a father the way you worked to find Toby while trying to take care of me. You are an amazing man, husband, and father. And by going to that hospital and not stooping to Randal's level proves that exactly!"
Her speech renders me speechless. The look of fierceness in her eyes is startling despite seeing it before. Usually not directed at me. My mouth opens and closes a few times, but nothing comes out. Rose leans forwards and presses a kiss to my forehead before lifting Toby and rising out of the tub, stepping out around me and wrapping both of them in a towel.
I clamber to my feet and follow her out of the bathroom and into our bedroom, sitting down on the bed next to where she has laid Toby out on the bed, rubbing baby lotion into his skin while cooing down at him. Rose presses a kiss to his belly before looking up at me.
"I couldn't be prouder of the man I married. No one can live up to how proud I am of who you are and how much I love you."
This story is slowly coming to an end. I think there will be about 5 more chapters before the end.
This chapter has not been edited beyond my proofread, so apologises in advance!
Let me know what you think of the chapter!
