Breakfast arrived sometime during my turn in the shower. I could smell the bacon as I got dressed. I'd picked out a white t-shirt, black sweatpants, and a maroon hoodie. My shoes were ruined so I was barefoot. I stared at myself in the mirror as I brushed my hair. Looking for any signs of werewolf.
My stomach ached I was so hungry; it had been what like a full day since I'd ate last? I brushed my teeth quickly and joined everyone. Emma was still out cold in her bed but everyone else was huddled around a table loaded with bacon, scrambled eggs, waffles, fruit, and bottles of water, orange juice, and milk.
I walked to my hospital bed first to set my stuff down. Tess saw me and came over. She sat down on the edge of my bed and watched me as I stuffed my dirty clothes into my bag.
"EJ says you're still trying to figure out my accident," she said once I was sitting on the bed.
I nodded.
"Alright," she took a deep breath. "Well, the 'complication' as EJ put it has a good part and a bad part."
"Good first," I said.
She smiled, "The good part is when we were making sure everything was okay, we found out it's a boy." Tess rolled her eyes as she smiled. "The last thing we need around here is more testosterone."
I chuckled.
"So, what happened was we were walking around the territory, EJ and Ashe were showing me around. I think Ashe was trying to convince me to get EJ to stay. But that's beside the point. They were showing me around and we got to this little blacksmith type shop where they build a lot of their tools. I started feeling some pains. But I didn't know if they were labor pains or not so I didn't really react right away. I kind of thought I'd see if they went away or not. Then a really nasty pain shot through my stomach, knocking the wind out of me and making me drop. A bad move in a blacksmith shop, I fell onto some tools and my side got impaled by a stake or something. EJ had to pull it out of me. I think it hit the baby because he started panicking and scratching me from the inside. I've healed enough now that everything's ok but it was scary, something could've easily happened to the baby. I think EJ is still worried that something did."
"Tess why are you embarrassed by that? It obviously wasn't your fault. No one can control where they accidentally collapse," I said.
She shrugged, "It's embarrassing to not be able to keep him safe just walking around."
"It's wasn't just walking around though," I disagreed. "You were in pain, something out of your control was going on."
Tess shrugged and changed the subject, "Come on, let's get you breakfast I can hear your stomach from here."
I nodded and stood with her. Tess set her hands on my shoulders.
"Chloe don't ignore the little things," she said seriously. "I know you're just like me. We both need to learn to pick up on the warning signs before things go sideways."
I nodded and walked to the table with her. We picked up plates and I piled two waffles and a few strips of bacon on my plate.
"I found them," Elijah said as he walked up to the table with folding chairs on both arms. I hadn't noticed that he had walked away. Elijah gave one to each of us.
Derek set his chair next to mine and smiled softly at me.
"How're you doing?" He asked me. Conversations started all around the table so no one was listening to us.
"I'm fine," I said suspiciously as I ate my bacon.
"Not feeling off at all?" Derek pushed. He wanted to know if I was werewolf again.
"I'm not," I said. "Relax Derek, whatever happens happens we can't change it."
Derek nodded but I knew he wouldn't listen, he had no idea how to relax. He kept a subtle eye on me as we ate.
"What's the game plan now that we're here?" I asked Elijah in between bites of my waffle.
Elijah looked at Ashe and Tess before answering.
"Honestly I don't know. I planned on Tess and I going back home after our visit, I didn't know you guys would end up here."
"Well you all can stick around here for a little while," Ashe said.
Elijah looked genuinely surprised at Ashe, "Really? You were ready to kick Tess out the moment she arrived but these kids can stay for a few days?"
Ashe rolled her eyes, "You complain when I'm rigid with the rules and you complain when I'm not and trying to help you. There's no winning."
A man came in the front door and waved to Ashe. She held up a finger telling him to wait and continued talking.
"If you're staying for a few days though, I prefer you all stay here in the infirmary. Several of you are still in bad shape." She then lowered her voice and added with a glare at Elijah, "And some of you aren't wolf."
With that comment, Ashe walked up to the man and followed him out.
"Elijah," I said worriedly. Derek's arm snaked around me protectively.
He didn't seem phased by this at all. "She doesn't actually have a problem with it. If she did then she wouldn't have gone and got you guys. Just be careful who you talk around."
I'd lost my appetite now, I pushed my plate away from myself.
"What's the plan after leaving here?" Jeremy asked. "You probably don't want all of us around the house when you've got a newborn."
"We should give Matt a call and see what's going on with them," Elijah said. "Maybe it's time for you guys to get back to the real world and finish your schooling."
There was an excited jump in Derek's heart rate. He wanted to see Simon again. This was probably the longest they'd ever been apart.
"I don't wanna go back to school," Jeremy whined. "I haven't been there for most of my life and I'm doing just fine."
Derek rolled his eyes, "How do you plan on getting a job without a diploma? Or do you just plan on mooching off people forever."
Jeremy glared at him, "I'm not mooching off anything. I didn't ask you guys to take me away from the Edison facility. I was living it up there. I was a success. A god among the subjects."
Derek scooted his chair back like he was about to stand. "Alright then let's bring you back there."
Jeremy jumped back as Derek moved and made him and his chair fall back onto the floor.
I heard snickering while Elijah scolded the two. I turned around to see Emma laying in bed but her eyes were open, watching us. I smiled at her and she smiled back. Tess pushed the plate of fruit towards me and nodded towards Emma. The boys were still bickering and didn't notice as I took it and walked over to her.
"Want some?" I asked as I walked up.
Emma sat up to give me room to sit, I set the bowl in between us. She picked out the strawberries with her good hand.
"How's your arm?" I asked.
"I can't complain I did it to myself," she spoke barely above a whisper.
I smiled and rolled my eyes, "I think you still can."
"It hurts. A lot."
"Maybe Elijah can give you some more pain killers," I suggested.
She shrugged.
"Do you want to talk to Jeremy?"
Emma looked over at Jeremy and back at me. "It's not what he thinks."
"Then explain it to him Em, I'm sure he's ready to listen."
She took a deep shaky breath.
Dang Thatreader2003 lol you're guesses were pretty spot on, she had an unexplained pain that would probably be fixable with access to doctors and she was in a way trying to be independent by figuring it out before speaking up.
