"Alright… almost done."
Trina held tightly onto the ends of the exam table as Kim finished stitching up a cut she had gotten on her upper arm. She gave a small hiss but kept still so the work could be done properly.
"I swear if I ever see that stupid brute again I'm gonna make him sees stars with my bo staff."
"You can scheme your revenge later once your arm is properly healed, Trina." Kim gave a serious look. "You can still do patrols but you are off limits from fighting for a bit, understand?"
Trina nodded, giving a sheepish look.
"Yes, Mom."
"Good."
Kim finished up her work, wrapping the affected area with gauze.
"Give it two to three weeks and then you should be good as gold."
"Cool. Guess I'll be leaving the fighting to Takashi for now?"
"Oh, yes." Kim nodded, getting up to put away her tools. "Though, honestly, I think you both can take it easy for the next week or so with night patrols. The police can handle things just fine."
"Yeah but they like our help with taking on the tougher guys."
"And I'm sure they'll be fine without Kame and Phoenix for a bit."
"True…" Trina sighed. "But… we can still go out looking, right?"
Kim looked to Trina, gentleness in her eyes.
"That, you can most certainly do. Just… be careful."
"Of course, Mom." Trina smiled. "Long as I have Takashi by my side I'll be fine. Besides, I still got a promise to keep and I don't intend to break it anytime soon."
Kim walked over to Trina, kissing her head.
"Bob would be so proud of you."
Trina smiled, closing her eyes.
"I like to think he would be." She sighed. "He's gotta be out there somewhere, Mom. He's got to."
Kim brought her arms around her daughter.
"I'm sure he is we… just don't know where."
Trina nodded, huddling close to her mother.
"And I'm determined to find out."
Knock knock knock!
Kim and Trina looked to the door of the exam room, both raising an eyebrow.
"Who is it?" Kim asked.
"It's Takashi. Can I come in?"
"Yes."
The door opened, Takashi making his way into the room, the young man panting.
"Yeesh, run a parkour sprint without me or something?" Trina asked, tilting her head. "What's got you out of breath?"
"Ran all the way from my house. My mom called me saying to inform Kim about a transfer patient that's coming our way from Sacred Heart Clinic in San Fransokyo."
"That so?" Kim crossed her arms. "What's the situation?"
"She didn't give me the details. All she said to tell you, was that the patient requested for you to treat him of his ailment and that he only trusts you to do so… and that it's Bob."
Kim's eyes went wide at this, as did Trina's.
"You're… You're not joking. It's…?"
Takashi nodded.
"It is him. Mom's sure of it."
Kim and Trina looked to each other, a spark of hope in their eyes before looking back to Takashi.
"When will he be here?" Kim asked.
"In a few hours. Beth's driving the ambulance." Takashi answered.
"2 hours. Got it."
"Well, let's not waste any time then." Trina got off the exam table, a grin on her face. "We got a welcoming party to arrange."
oooooo
Obake grunted as the ambulance hit another pot hole.
"Aren't these things supposed to be equipped with good shock absorbers or something?" he asked, looking to Shaylin.
"Sacred Heart Clinic is a bit of a low budget hospital, so, don't expect us to have the best of the best. Trust us, we wish these things could take hits better." Shaylin gave a flat look. "So, all I can really say to you is suck it up, buttercup."
Obake rolled his eyes.
"Fine, fine… Though I bet you I could remedy that."
"You can prove that to me once you're better." Shaylin leaned against the wall of the ambulance. "... By the way, I'm curious about something."
"Hm?"
"With your sense of right and wrong basically numbed into non existence because of that tumor what exactly drives your decision making? Just curious."
Obake looked up at the ceiling, sighing.
"My main drives were just being able to be pleased by outcomes that suited my needs alone with no regard to anyone else. It's… a weird way to live and I know it's not normal. It's a bit of a task to force myself to actually look over and think critically if something is right or wrong to do."
"I could imagine. You… didn't wind up doing anything stupid, did you?"
Obake grimaced.
"I'm not going to confirm or deny that… I will say this, anything I've done in the past year, I was manipulated into doing without even realizing it. With having my sense of right and wrong numbed it made me more susceptible to ideas that any normal person would think were insane to do. With proper motivation and phrasing, I did exactly as Liv wanted me to do… and made me think it was all my idea." Obake closed his eyes. "It's… It's complicated."
Shaylin frowned.
"I see… You basically weren't yourself anymore."
"No… but that's going to change." Obake grabbed at the blanket around him. "I just need to be in my right mind first before I do anything else."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Hey, Shay." The driver spoke up. "We're pulling into Saga. We'll be at the hospital in about ten minutes."
"Thanks, Beth." Shaylin looked back to Obake. "So, excited to see your family again?"
Obake nodded.
"And a little terrified… I haven't seen them in over a year and… I'm just not sure what they're going to make of things I'm going to tell them or what they're going to make of me just reappearing in their lives out of nowhere."
Shaylin reached a hand over, giving one of his a gentle squeeze.
"I think overall they'll just be relieved to know you're okay."
Obake sighed, not making eye contact with Shaylin.
Then what will they make of me when they find out I almost destroyed an entire city?
The ambulance soon pulled into Saga Regional Hospital. Obake closed his eyes, bracing himself for whatever was awaiting him outside the ambulance.
"It's going to be fine." Shaylin said as she got the doors of the ambulance open, adjusting the gurney for transfer.
Obake still kept his eyes shut as he was transferred out of the ambulance and into the hospital. The gurney was moving for a minute or so before it was stopped, a soft hand grabbing gently at one of Obake's.
"Bob…?"
Obake opened his eyes slowly before they went wide at the sight of seeing a woman looking over him. A woman with long brown hair that was done up in a side braid and had the gentlest blue eyes he ever knew. A woman… he thought he'd never get to see again.
His free hand shook as he brought up it to one of her cheeks, taking in all her features.
"Kim…"
Kim nodded, smiling, leaning into his hand.
"Yeah… Oh my goodness… it's really you." She moved in closer, resting her forehead against his. "We finally found you."
Obake bit his lip, his eyes glassy with tears as he gently nuzzled his wife.
"I'm home."
Kim nodded, pulling back gently.
"Don't worry. I'm going to get you fixed up and all better once Shaylin gives me all the details. Everything's going to be okay."
Obake nodded.
"Is Trina here?"
"She is. She'll be with us soon. She's just putting something together with a friend of hers."
Obake chuckled.
"She's keeping out of trouble, I hope."
Kim chuckled a bit herself.
"For the most part. But that's a story for another time." Kim looked to Shaylin. "Ready to give me those details?"
Shaylin nodded.
"Let's get Bob here transferred to his room then we'll have our conference over treatment plans." Shaylin showed a backpack she had on. "Got all the specifics for treatment right here thanks to Bob. Least, that's what he told me."
"Don't ask me where I got them." Obake said, closing his eyes. "Well, not right now anyway. I'll explain later."
"Understood." Kim leaned in, kissing his head. "You just worry about resting up."
Obake nodded, smiling a little.
"Easily done."
Kim smiled back, stroking his hair for a moment before letting the nurses take him away, following Shaylin to a different room.
"So, how complicated are we looking in regards to procedure?" she asked.
Shaylin hummed in thought before answering.
"Nothing you can't handle but it's… definitely a weird one."
Kim shrugged.
"It's my husband."
I'm not even surprised in the slightest.