Missy's heart pounded as she ran through the gleaming hospital corridors.
The place smelled clean. Too clean.
It hit her nostrils as soon as she entered, reminding her of all that time she had spent in the hospital with her Mom, years and years before Wade or even Emily had come onto the scene.
Hospitals were never a good memory for her and that smell….it reminded her of times when Missy would sit here day after day worrying…in pain…then finally the time when she had walked out alone, her face streaked with tears…feeling hollow and abandoned.
It wasn't much different to the pain she was feeling right now if she was honest.
Her high-heels click-clacked down the empty hallway and she skidded around the corner, emerging beside a waiting room where two familiar faces stood, almost huddled together, their faces sallow and worried-looking.
They turned to look at her as she burst through the swing doors and into the waiting area.
"Where is she?" Missy uttered loudly, her eyes flickering between Vanessa and Weasel.
The bespectacled barman worried at his lip and it was Vanessa, the woman she had once thought Wade might have a relationship with, who stepped forwards.
The dark-haired woman's hand grasped Missy's arm gently.
"She's through there…" she said, gesturing with her head to the door just a few feet away from them. "The doctors have been in with her for a while-"
But Missy didn't even wait for Vanessa to finish her sentence, she tore her arm away, striding over and bursting into the room.
Her heart stopped.
Or at least it felt like it did.
For there, lying on a white bed, looking almost blue, was Emily. She was swaddled in blankets, with a silver blanket laid on top of her, her eyes closed.
Missy, barely noticing the two doctors standing at the foot of the bed in white coats talking in hushed voices, rushed over to Emily's side.
Her eyes seemed to flood with tears as she grasped up her daughter's hand. It was as cold as ice and felt even smaller than it normally did.
Missy gave a loud, uncontrollable sob.
"Mommy's here," she uttered in a whisper. "Mommy's here, baby."
How could she have let this happen?
To the person she loved most in the world?
All this was her fault.
As much as she had blamed Wade she knew none of this was on him. She had snapped…without even realising the damage she had done to their relationship now.
She wished to god that he was here with her…..here…to hold her…to tell her that everything was going to be ok.
But he wasn't….
And once again…that was no one's fault but Missy's.
She leaned forwards, brushing back the short tuft of brown hair from the toddler's temples.
At this two doctors gazed over at her, stopping their conversation abruptly.
"You're Emily's mother?" one of them murmured in a soft tone, as Missy's eyes flickered up towards them.
She brushed away tears, giving a shaky nod. "Yes, yes….I am."
The doctors' were both men, one younger, with short brown hair, and the other older, in his fifties most likely, with greying-stubble and glasses.
The older doctor stepped forwards, pursing his lips for a moment, before staring directly into Missy's eyes.
"How is she? W-Why isn't she awake?" Missy blurted out, before she could help herself.
But the doctor gave Missy a reassuring look.
"She's just sleeping right now," said the man in a slow careful voice. "Emily was out in the snow for a long time. She's very, very cold still but her temperature should rise back up to normal in about an hour or so."
Missy breathed hard.
"So she's ok?" she said, her heart thudding inside her chest.
This was good news right?
But the doctor's faces were both unreadable as Missy glanced between them, worry flooding over her once again.
It was now the turn of the younger, brown-haired doctor to step forwards.
"Like we said, Emily had been our in the cold for a long time and it looks as though it may have caused further deterioration of her hearing. We would need to do some more tests of course but…." The doctor trailed off as he took in Missy's face.
Missy was standing there still….like a rabbit caught in the headlights….
"….this was a likely eventuality somewhere down the line anyway," he continued. "Especially with her history of poor hearing….but I'm afraid to say, that over the next six months or so….without the help of some sort of hearing aid….Emily will like lose most, if not all, of her ability to hear."
Missy took a step backward, placing a trembling hand to her mouth.
She didn't know how to react to this news.
She had been warned years ago that this day would likely come….but not so soon…
Emily was only three years old for Christ's sake!
"We urge you to make Emily use her hearing aids…in both ear if possible-" said the doctor, with a hint of urgency in his voice.
But Missy shook her head.
She knew how much Emily hated her hearing aid.
She had pleaded with Missy…begged her to stop using it.
And Missy was in no way about to start forcing her own daughter to wear those things.
After the last time…Missy had vowed never again.
"No…." uttered Missy, in what was merely a whisper, shaking her head. "I-I can't…."
She looked back at the sleeping Emily, surrounded by beeping machines and tubes and wires….
"I'm so sorry, sweetheart." she said with a murmur. "This is all my fault…."
Wade Wilson trudged up the street, snow still falling all around him.
His heart seemed to pound in his chest…fast and unnatural….
Wade felt sick….dizzy…
It was if his entire world had been turned upside down in a matter of hours…
Missy had left him on the street…. just like that. Told him to stay away from them.
And that had broken his heart.
He cared for Emily more than anything….surely she knew that?
But yet again, Scott had wheedled his way into her life and manipulated her….messed with her head….
And now….well. he was going to pay.
Wade was furious with that man who had done all this.
The man who was to blame.
It hadn't taken Wade long to find his address. The merc was friends with some of the city's most untrustworthy people….but one of the things they COULD be trusted with, was to find info out on people when he needed it.
And now here he was…outside Scott's place.
The merc came to a standstill, staring up at the tall red-brick house.
It was in a nice part of town….three stories, with a several small stone steps leading up to the large green front door.
All this was so much nicer than the tiny apartment Missy lived in and Wade felt a bitter sting as he realised how well-off Scott must be, and how he certainly did not have to scrape-by to make ends meet like she had.
Wade's eyes were dark as he climbed up the snow-covered stone steps.
Footprints lay ahead of him….a man's footprint's.
Scott's footprints.
He was here then….
And he was going to pay for what he had done tonight.
Wade's hand instinctively went to the blade inside his pocket, making sure it was still there.
He was going to finish what he started, if it was the last thing he ever did.
It took Wade less than a minute to silently shimmy open the lock and creep quietly inside.
He took a deep breath.
The hallway was dark, but a little further ahead Wade could see a warm crack of light pouring out from underneath a door.
He was here…
Wade moved forwards…her heart steady, and his breathing regular.
He did things like this every day….this was nothing to him…..just another job.
He pushed open the heavy wooden door to find himself in a brightly-lit living room with a plush cream carpet, expensive looking drapes and a sleek sofa, all perfectly placed inside.
The room was empty, but the large flat screen TV was on, and an cold, unopened beer bottle sat neatly on the table, a slate coaster placed beneath.
Oh, he was definitely here.
Wade, took a step or two into the room….
He could feel an anger bubbling up inside him….
This man who had treated both Missy and Emily so poorly lived like this….
In utter luxury.
Of course he did.
Because that was just the way the world worked.
The merc gave a sudden growl as there was a creak at the far side of the room and a second door was pushed open.
He pulled a knife from his pocket, stalking across the room….ready to use it.
It had never been his intention at first….but now….
Scott appeared around the door, a bottle opener in his hand.
At first he didn't see Wade, but a second later he gave a yelp as he was thrown into the dark-wood cabinet behind him.
A large blue vase wobbled for a drawn-out second, before toppling to the floor with a crash, as Wade grasped Scott by the shirt collar and held the blade up to his face.
"You're a fucking piece of shit, you know that?" snarled Wade furiously.
His could feel his blood boiling.
The vein in his temple throbbing.
"You have fucked with them for the last time," he continued harshly, as Scott lifted his hands up to his face.
"Please…" said the dark haired man with a whimper, his eyes widening in shock.
Wade could feel him trembling within his grasp. Scared. Petrified for his life.
And so he should be.
Wade had never been this angry…..he knew that there was no stopping him now….he was going to kill this guy….
It wouldn't be his first, of course….but his last was years ago…..back when he was a Special Forces Operative….back when he was hired to do it. To kill….
Today this was different….he was emotionally attached to this one…and now… he was too far gone….
Scott gave another pathetic whimper…he wasn't so strong or cocky now that it was just the two of them here.
"Just give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you?" growled Wade darkly, holding his face close to Scott's, about to press the blade into his throat…
The guy would never be able to give him an answer good enough.
His outcome was inevitable.
Wade might as well get it over and over with…
"Dadda?" came a sudden small voice from behind him.
A child's voice.
Wade instinctively swung around, letting go of Scott, thinking for a moment that it was Emily.
But it wasn't.
The merc's heart stopped beating for a second, as his eyes locked onto a small child, no older than two. She had a bob of dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes, and was clutching a large blue dog tightly to her chest.
"Dadda?" she uttered again, looking with wide eyes between the two men…. and more importantly at Wade's knife.
The merc stopped still, unable to move, staring straight at the little girl.
She, in that moment, reminded him so much of Emily….this toddler being the same age as Emily had been, when he had first met her and Missy in their hallway, all that time ago…
"Please…" came Scott's sudden voice from behind him. "Do what you like to me….but don't do anything to hurt her….I'm begging you."
At this Wade dropped the knife to his side.
This wasn't what he wanted.
What if this had been Emily watching someone threaten Wade like this…..someone coming into their home…where they felt safe…..?
Suddenly a woman a little younger than Missy appeared behind the little girl, stopping dead still the moment she saw Wade.
She was petite, with dark brown hair and expensive earrings, and her hands instantly went to the little girl, pulling her back towards her…..just like Missy had done with Emily earlier this evening.
It was in this moment that Wade knew he was done here….
He couldn't do this.
Not anymore.
With that, the merc shoved past the woman and the child…and without a second glance, stalked back out into the cold snowy night.
Wade's head spun….
He had almost killed a man…right in front of his own daughter…
If he'd have gone through with it…
God, he'd been so stupid.
Wade knew that he should have just followed Missy to the hospital….gone to see the little girl he considered his own daughter tonight…and not come here.
His stomach filled with regret as he walked down the snow filled street.
Glancing at the blade in his hand, he tossed it suddenly into a nearby hedge. This shouldn't be how it was…
It was dark out now, the snow still falling thick and fast.
Wade, shoving his hands into his pockets, pulled out his cell phone.
He needed to call Missy to apologize…to tell her loved her, and that he was on his way.
But as she stared down at the screen, his vision suddenly swam in front of him…
The merc blinked a couple of times, stopping in his tracks.
But it was only a second before he swayed suddenly on the spot, nausea and dizziness overwhelming him.
….. and a second more, that his body hit the snow-covered ground with a thud…..
…as everything went black…...
Thanks to AngiMK, pyroleigh, Guest, jonstar1034, Legolas Girl 31, srosal1, Guest, ChibiSpyStuff, dancindonna, petite yoyo, Ranging Raven, Kisses N Cyanide, Carlypso, Smaug the Golden, QueenBeee222, HarleyQuinnHearts and Mia for reviewing the last chapter.
Well…what did you think of this one…. ? More coming soon if you want it.
Please review.
