The next few days were decently repetitive. It was wake up, talk about breakfast, eat breakfast, talk more, watch some show or program that interested them, and sometimes, if it was Oscar, take a stroll around the hospital to stretch his legs.
The rest of the day in order was pretty much the same as the morning. Ruby often took long naps, sometimes reaching to 4 hours on end.
When Oscar asked about it, a nurse explained how it was likely because of the exhaustion her body was experiencing due to the strain of her pregnancy, her body healing, and the damage of the wound.
He would watch her while she slept, thinking about the past, the present, and the future. Other times, he took walks and made mental notes on the progression of his health.
By the end of the week, he had pretty much recovered and was officially discharged and made a visitor. This meant he only received one free hospital meal a day, had limited visiting hours, and was now wearing his outfit from before, only it was fresh and clean.
Sunny had sewn the hole in the back of his pant leg. The visiting hours had a decent length to them, but he hated being unable to be with her all day long.
That Saturday, he was taking a walk around the lobby, trying to reach someone in the group. So far, he'd gotten four voicemails and absolutely no information on where the rest of them were.
He pressed on his contact for Yang, probably for only the second time in his life. The call screen lit up and he held it to his ear, hoping desperately for an answer.
"Yo! This is Yang Xiao Long!" the electronic recording of Yang's energetic voice replied, "Sorry ya had to call me at the wrong time. I'm prolly off killing Grimm or messing around. Please leave a message and I'll try to call ya back!"
His heart sank out the sound of her voicemail. He had halfway expected it after it had rung seven times in a row without picking up. But hearing it was still another disappointment.
If he'd gotten five voicemails, then he had a good reason to assume that all the other contacts would come back the same. There was absolutely no way that five of them just happened to be unable at that moment to pick up their scrolls
Were they waiting at the town before this one? Had they come here but not found them? Had they managed to get out of that raging blizzard at all?
There was always the optimistic hope that they lost their scrolls in the storm and were currently safe, but that was a stretch.
He sighed with exasperation and slumped into one of the chairs. He let his scroll drop onto the seat of the chair next to him, which his hand was resting on, and did nothing as it slid off the smooth surface and clattered to the floor.
Then he stared at the large clock on the wall above the entrance. The long arm ticked so slowly, trying to make its way forward with its limited capability. The shorter arm barely moved at all, restrained by the slow mobility of the longer one.
He was nearly hypnotized by the automatic movement of those arms when someone behind him began saying his name. The words barely registered in his mind until they were practically shouted into his ear.
He jumped in his seat, now sitting up rigid, and stared with startled eyes at whoever was yelling.
He felt a wave of guilty realization wash over him when he met eyes with the man. "S-Sammy?"
Sammy slowly nodded, hands in his pockets and back straight with disciplined posture.
"How's your girl, kid," he asked in that flat tone on his.
"Much better, s-sir," Oscar stammered.
How did I forget about him?! I mean, he brought me all the way here and I expected that he left or something? Ah, I should really thank him!
"Why 'sir' all the sudden?" Sammy said, "You called me Sammy just before."
"Oh, uh...yeah, sorry about that," Oscar said nervously, "T-thank you so, so, so much for bringing us here. You saved her life!"
Sammy gave a nonchalant shrug. "There wasn't a reason not to."
"Yeah, but..," Oscar protested, "You could have not done it. Then I would've lost her and my children. Thank you."
The raw sincerity in Oscar's voice seemed to flip some kind of a switch in Sammy. It wasn't a very big switch, but it was still noticeable. His eyes faded from a hard, emotionless gray to a softer, slightly warmer shade.
Oscar wasn't even sure if the color had changed, but the emotion behind it seemed to somehow effect it. Sammy offered him a hardly visible smile and held out his hand.
It was large and calloused, with numerous minute scars distributed around it.
"I suppose you're welcome, son," he said. His voice held a tiny spark of emotion in it. Sincerity with a bit of honor and thankfulness.
Oscar reached out and gratefully shook his hand, a wide and relieved smile on his face. Then Sammy slid his hand back into his pocket and gave a low, stiff yawn.
"I suppose I'll just leave now that I know you two are fine now," he said. Oscar wanted to object, but then he realized that there wasn't a reason. He didn't want to ask any more from him after he'd helped them so much already.
He did know he needed somewhere to go after Ruby was discharged, in case the others didn't get back to him in time. He'd be far too embarrassed to ask anyone else for help when he'd already gotten help from Sammy.
He could just hope that they came back before they needed a place to stay and see how things played out.
"You have somewhere to go, boy?" Sammy asked as if reading his mind. Oscar almost jumped from the suddenness of the question and its shocking resemblance to his thoughts.
"U-um, well..," Oscar stuttered, but was cut off.
"Figured," Sammy interrupted, "Don't fret about it; I'll be back soon with good news."
He cleared his throat before tipping his head at him and turned away towards the exit.
"W-wait!" Oscar called after him, "Where are you going?"
"To get you two a place," Sammy grunted back, "I'll be back soon."
Oscar struggled to find the right words to reply. He came up empty-mouthed, however, and could only watch as Sammy left the hospital and disappeared from view.
He felt both joyful gratitude and humility. He couldn't say he was troubling him, since he obviously looked and sounded like he had nothing else to do. If anything, letting Sammy help him and Ruby was a favor to him. But he still felt that feeling of humility that hit him whenever someone helped him out without him even asking.
After the feelings of thankfulness and humbleness somewhat faded, the fear and worry of the others began to settled in again.
If they hadn't made it, that would be a massive problem. If they'd made it but didn't know where he and Ruby were, that would be a bad, but not as bad, problem. If someone from the previous town had directed them to this huge one, that'd be wonderful. He just had to hope that was the case and they had a difficult time getting here.
Knowing them, they'd probably logically assume that they'd gone to a hospital. He doubted there was another one, since this city wasn't huge enough to need another one. At least that was what he thought.
He switched from sitting on the chair with his arms spread out to nervously pacing in front of the chairs. He got a couple glances, but people pacing with their arms behind their back wasn't a foreign occurrence in hospitals.
Just then, his scroll vibrated. He snatched it out of his pocket and looked at the screen, smirking when he saw the smiling picture of Ruby's face on it.
A text message appeared.
When are you coming up? it said, I miss yoooouuu!😢😟😔
He chuckled and quickly began texting back his answer, smiling the whole time.
I'm on my way up. 😁👍
He tucked his scroll away and left for the elevator, taking one last glance at the doors in case either Sammy or any of the others might have shown up. He didn't care if the chances were slim. He just wanted to make sure.
He walked into the elevator, which was conveniently open, and selected the seventh floor. The button lit up and the doors started sliding shut. Just before they did, though, a woman rushed over with a baby in her arms.
"Hold the door, please!" she cried. Oscar stuck his arm out and managed to stop the doors just in time. The woman breathed a sigh of relief and stood beside him.
"Thank you," she smiled gratefully, adjusting her hold on her bundled child.
"No problemo," he replied with a polite nod.
The woman reached over with her free hand and pressed the button to the 3rd floor. They watched together as the doors slid shut. When just a tiny sliver was left between the two doors, a pair of fingers appeared between them.
A doctor shoved the doors open and squeezed himself inside, a considerably impressive act. He stood beside Oscar and the woman with the baby, brushing off his arms.
"Sorry about that," he apologized, "I really need to get onto the 2nd floor for the results of a blood test coming in right now."
"Oh, okay," Oscar said, "It's fine."
"What's on the 2nd floor?" the woman asked curiously.
"It's the cardiovascular floor," the doctor answered, "The funny thing is that I used to be quite squeamish about blood as a kid. Isn't it hilarious that I work on that floor now as a doctor specializing in that field?"
The woman giggled and began gently bouncing her baby to occupy it. It had started lightly fussing and began quieting down from the movement.
Oscar pressed the 2nd floor button, noticing that the doctor had forgotten. The doctor saw him do this and smiled widely.
"Thanks, sonny!" he said happily, "I completely forgot! I often times forget the little things."
"Wouldn't that sort of be a bad thing if you're a cardiovascular doctor..?" Oscar asked, a little concerned.
"Oh!" the doctor laughed, "Not those little things. Just other miscellaneous things that aren't related to medical things. Otherwise that would be a problem, now wouldn't it?"
The elevator smoothly ascended up its path. Oscar inwardly smiled at the childish amusement of the sensation that lightly fluttered his stomach from the elevator's motion.
It finally reached the 7th floor and opened, but when he took a step forward to exit, two men and a very pregnant woman rushed in.
"The 5th floor!" one of the men shouted desperately, "We need to get her to the labor ward!"
"What the-!" Oscar gasped as he was shoved backwards into the wall of the elevator by the running group. The woman grabbed her stomach and crouched down in pain.
"AH!" she moaned, "Hurry up or I'll strangle both of you!"
The man slammed his hand on the 5th button and resumed his frantic breathing.
"I told you she needed to get to the labor ward!" the other man growled at the one who could logically be assumed to be the woman's husband.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he apologized fretfully.
"Hey, I need to get off-" Oscar began, trying to pushed through the two men. He wasn't able to reach the door in time before it closed.
Now the elevator was decently crowded. The woman with the child was shielding it from the clutter of humans while trying not to mess up her hair from the side of the wall.
The pregnant woman kept groaning in pain while her husband rubbered her shoulders in nervous, short movements. His brother kept muttering negative insults at him while he glared at the number on the small screen that indicated the level they were on.
The doctor patiently stood smushed in the corner, hands in his coat pockets. Oscar was now in front of everyone, close to being pushed against the doors. The din behind him was irritating, but that was just what hospitals were like, right?
Thank goodness he rarely came into hospitals.
The elevator's bell rung when they reached the 3rd floor. Oscar fell forwards, unable to stop himself, and smacked chest first onto the hard floor. An unexpected few pairs of feet trampled him over when he tried to get up, preventing him from rising.
He painfully rolled over just in time to watch the elevator, stuffed full to capacity with the woman and the baby, the doctor, the crazed-labor-trio, and a family with wide, excited eyes, start closing.
He didn't even understand why that family had rushed so eagerly in and trampled him, but whatever the reason, he was now sprawled out on the 3rd floor.
He scrambled onto his feet, eager to get back into the elevator, when he suddenly realized that with all of the floors that thing had left to go to, it'd probably just be faster to use a stairs or something.
"Well, that was a little insane," he mumbled to himself.
It did take him a while, but he found some stairs to lead him to the 7th floor. The door it lead to had a yellow warning sticker plastered onto it, stating that it was an emergency door that would trigger an alarm when opened.
"Wait, what?" he said, confused, "But the lady at the desk said this was the only stairs..."
He looked closer at the sticker and noticed that the date in the corner read back to 32 year ago! Yes, some things had probably changed here in the last 32 years. Things like what was an emergency door or not.
He took a deep breath and tentatively creaked open the door, bracing himself for any sudden noises. To his great relief, nothing happened.
He fully emerged from it and entered into the familiar terrain that was had been his and Ruby's home for the last week. A few nurses and staff members smiled their greeting at him. He was starting to become well known on this floor.
He hurried over to room 567 and gave the wooden frame around the door a light knock.
"Come in!" Ruby's excited voice called.
He smiled and entered, feeling his smile widen fully upon seeing her. Sure, he'd seen her just this morning, but he hadn't seen her entirely awake. She had been all sleepy and bleary-eyed when he'd left for the lobby.
"Hey," he said, walking over and sitting down beside her bed, "You won't believe what story I have for you from my way coming up here." He looked like he was restraining himself from laughing.
"Yeah, what took you so long?" Ruby asked, "I thought it only took a minute to get up here."
"Well, see, a ton of people kept coming into the elevator," he explained, "And the elevator never went down until this group of people rushed in with a lady who was in labor. Then it really went down."
Ruby's eyes widened.
"What did she look like?" she asked. Oscar thought for a moment, holding his finger philosopherishly against his chin.
"I think she had brown hair-" he began, but was quickly cut off.
"No, no! I meant what her position was!" Ruby interrupted, annoyed, "Like, how was she acting? How much pain did she look like she was in?!"
"Oh, sorry," Oscar said, "She looked a lot like she was in the midst of pure agony, like it was wracking her body and forcing her into a state of inescapable torture."
Ruby's eyes widened, her face paling a shade lighter.
"Th-that bad, h-huh..?" she gulped shakily. Oscar suddenly realized the daunting fear that had probably sunk into her at this. She was going to have to experience what that lady had been in a few months.
"Wait, the babies!" he exclaimed. Ruby cocked her head to the side, confused at the abrupt change in subject.
"Huh?" she asked.
"The babies!" Oscar repeated. He grasped her shoulders and held them tightly, his face lit up again with that boyish twinkle in his eyes. "Is there a way we can tell how they're doing? If there're even two of them? What they look like?"
He slid off his chair and stood onto his feet in excitement.
"We need to get you to a-a...well, whatever it is they call doctors for pregnancy-!"
"Obstetricians," Ruby answered.
"Yeah, those!" he continued, "Then they can do a photo-video-camera thingy! The thing where you get to see the babies! A...uh...well, y'know, that thing!"
"An ultrasound."
"Yeah!"
Ruby let out a soft giggle and humorously rolled her eyes. She scooted backwards so her back was supported by the large white pillows that graced the head of the bed.
"Well, first off," she said, "They already did one of those the morning after I woke up and found out you were off in some other room."
"Wait, really?" he said.
Ruby nodded. "Yep. It was really cool. And yes, there are-"
"Wait, wait!" Oscar interrupted, waving his hand out for her to stop talking at once, "I don't want any spoilers!"
"Spoilers..?"
"Yeah! I wanna find out that information for the first time with you, not just hear about it! I wanna be surprised by seeing the actual live thing!"
"I suppose we could go in for one sometime soon," Ruby said with a shrug, "Do you want to?"
As to why Ruby had even bothered to ask that amidst Oscar's obvious excitement, she didn't know. She figured it was just a question she was mostly asking herself. The idea of getting up and moving around was not a pleasant one, but it would be nice to see his reaction of finally seeing their babies.
"How do we do that?" Oscar asked, "Can we do that now? Is that done on this floor or a different one?"
He was walking in circles around the room now, twiddling his thumbs as a way to channel his excited energy. Ruby giggled at his boyish behavior and then gave him an affirmative nod.
"We can talk to the doctor and stuff," she said, "We can probably get one set up real nice and soon."
Oscar gave a peppy little hop, as uncharacteristic as it seemed, and gave Ruby a big hug.
"Thanks, Ruby!" he said, "I can't wait to see our children!"
I'm sorry if the ending there felt weird, rushed, boring, or just not right or something...I wasn't really sure how to end it and I have limited writing time, so I just finished it like that.
WOW this Sammy guy is way too nice. I sure wonder what kind of place he's getting Oscar and Ruby, as long as he's doing what he said he'd do. The hospital stalling will end very soon, so don't worry. :) Prepare yourselves for the reveal! Boy or girl?! Twins or singleton?! Triplets?! AUGH it's in next chapter.
Thanks for reading and tune in for more chapters!