Chapter Twenty-Two: Recoveries and Adjustments

"Babe?" Bobby breathed, coughing heavily. He hadn't coughed like this in a while. His bionics prevented him from getting anything bad in his lungs. But his chest felt like it was on fire. His whole body hurt.

"Boo Boo Bear!" Lori exclaimed.
"Lie back. Don't move." Lori said gently.

"What do you remember?" Lori asked.

"Nnnggg… There was a bomb threat… I… That kid! How is that kid!" Bobby gasped, roaring in pain as he sat up suddenly, tearing the burns on his back.

"Whoa! Whoa! Bobby, calm down!" Lori said urgently.

"He's fine. He's in the hospital, he has some minor burns and a small concussion. But the doctors say you probably saved his life.

"Given where he was, he would have taken a huge amount of shrapnel and rocks and other stuff. You nearly died to save him." Lori said, tears filling her eyes.
"Aw, Babe… I'm alright." Bobby smiled at her. He definitely wasn't alright. But he was alive, and for now, that was enough.

"Bobby… Have you considered maybe getting… A safer job? I know how proud you are that you're a police officer, that you're protecting people.

"But maybe you could be a security guard and protect people at a golf club. I know I mentioned that my golf club is still looking for a new head of security. Billy is retiring and they're hoping for someone with procedural experience. I told them that you might be looking for a new job." Lori said. Bobby sighed. Being a security guard. It was hardly the high-octane job that being a police officer was. But it also meant that he probably wouldn't have to pull a gun on anyone. He wouldn't have to break up fights. He wouldn't need to run into buildings that were about to explode.

"I guess so. I don't want to die. I want to be around for a long time to watch my… Our kids grow up. Lapis and Luis are already so smart and so talented. They were turning three this year. Lori had gotten pregnant fairly young. At the age of 20, she hadn't really been ready to have kids. But she and Bobby both had big families who could help take care of the kids. And now at 23 years old, Lori was confident that she was a good mother, even if she was a young one. She was busy. A professional golf career meant that sometimes she wasn't in town, especially during the summer, when it was golf season.

But she was at home as often as she could be and Bobby, despite his busy career came home every night. And if he wasn't able to tuck the kids into bed, he made sure there was always someone there who could. He agreed with Lori though. Being a police officer, as thrilling and as big an honor as it was, was too dangerous. He'd known the danger when he got the job. But somehow, he still hadn't been prepared for this eventuality.

-0-

"Sammy!" Luna exclaimed, hugging Sam tightly.

"Lunes, this is Elenore. Isn't she beautiful?" Sam breathed, smiling adoringly at her daughter. Elenore was uncannily similar to Sam, except her hair, which was brown and her eyes which were green. But other than that, she looked a lot like Sam. Luna held out Mason.

"This is Mason. He's quite handsome." Luna smiled. Sam smiled down at Mason, who yawned widely. He looked almost exactly like Luna, right down to the freckles on his face.

"Our little rockers." Luna cooed lightly, kissing Sam adoringly.

"Our little rockers." Sam agreed. Sam wheeled over to the bed adjacent to Luna's and got into it, bringing Elenore with her and holding her. The doctors were shocked at how fast both girls were healing. Luna never did pass out. She was woozy for a while, but she was recovering well.

"Ladies… I was told to come in and check on you." Amelia said, running blood pressure tests and checking Luna to see if she was feeling better than she had been right after she gave birth.
"Hey, Amelia." Luna waved at her.
"Glad you're feeling better." Amelia said.

"Your families are here and want to see how you're doing." Wendy came in to alert the girls.

"Hey, Wendy… Where is my phone?" Luna asked.

"Oh! It's on the table over there. Let me get it." Wendy said, grabbing the phone. Luna immediately called Lori. She was sure that Lori was still at the hospital with Bobby.

"Hey, Luna… How are you doing? Have you given birth yet?" Lori asked.

"Yeah! Me and Sammy have both given birth. My son is named Mason Lorcan Loud. Sammy's daughter is named Elenore Alyse Sharp." Luna said.

"Why are their last names different?" Lori asked.

"Because technically, we're not married yet. When we get married, we'll go through the adoption process and all four of us will be Loud-Sharp." Luna said. Lori smiled, humming lightly.

"I'm literally so happy for you guys. Your kids will be really happy with you. I'm sure." Lori said.

"Yeah, how is Bobby doing?" Luna asked.

"Oh… Well… He's doing fine. He's pretty badly burned across his back and legs. The hair on the back of his head had to be shaved off because of the burns. His front was burned too, but not as badly because he was lying on his stomach to protect a child. The child has some burns, but is doing much better than we dared to hope. Bobby has a concussion from the blast itself. The blast hit him before he managed to tackle the kid. But he laid down on top of the kid. I'm literally so proud of him. But Bobby is going to be taking a job as a member of security at my golf club. I've already cleared it with the owners of the club.

"They know that Bobby is young as police officers go. So he can't be head of security yet. They want him to get some experience in security work. I told them that he worked security at the mall from the time he was 15 to the time he was 17. But they still want him to work a while. So maybe when the next head of security passes their job on, Bobby will become head of security. But Bobby and I have agreed that it's safer for him to work a security job."

"Did you and he agree? Or did you agree for him?" Luna asked. She knew Lori tended to be the dominant figure in her relationship with Bobby and normally Bobby didn't mind. But Luna didn't want Bobby to feel like he didn't have a choice.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lori demanded. Luna sighed.

"Just that you have a habit of making decisions for other people. You don't mean to. But you always have been in charge of the other siblings when Mom and Dad were away." Luna said.

"I literally didn't force Bobby to do anything!" Lori shouted, furious that Luna would even think that she would do something like that. But on the other hand, she was starting to doubt herself. Had she 'encouraged' Bobby a little too intensely? She sighed.

"Sorry. I literally didn't mean to lose my temper. How are you and Sam recovering from giving birth?" Lori asked. She remembered she had trouble giving birth the first time and Lapis was born with underdeveloped lungs and heart.

Lisa had had to keep her connected to a machine that helped her keep her heart going and breathed for her. After a while, she was able to implant bionic heart and lungs that were small enough for Lapis. They weren't as strong as adult bionic heart and lungs. But as Lapis aged, Lisa would implant larger hearts and lungs for her. She would make sure that Lapis would not miss out on athletics if that was what she wanted to do. And already, Lapis was showing impressive physicality. She learned to walk early and within two months of learning to walk, she was able to run a little bit.

She reminded Lori of Lynn. Lynn was a real dynamo once she learned to walk. The rest of the family could barely keep up with her.

"We're recovering pretty quickly. I almost passed out because of blood loss. But I didn't even need blood transfusions. I'm still a little dizzy, but I'm drinking and eating enough and I'm sure I'll be fine." Luna said.

"That's literally great. How is Sam doing?" Lori asked.

Luna passed the phone to Sam, mouthing that Lori wanted to know how she was feeling.

"I'm in a wheelchair right now. Doctors didn't want me to walk on my own. But I'm feeling a-okay." Sam said.

"I wanted to be with Luna as soon as possible. So they gave me a wheelchair to go see her. I wish I could organize wheelchair races in the hospital, get some exercise. But apparently that would open up the hospital to lawsuits." Sam laughed. Lori laughed as well.

Sam sounded surprisingly like Lynn. She was sure that Lynn wouldn't take even a day off if she gave birth.

"I'll let you go then." Lori said, needing to talk to Bobby. She hung up and went into Bobby's room again.
"Hey, Boo Boo Bear… I want to know what you want. Do you want to quit the police force? I don't want to feel like I'm forcing something on you." Lori said.

"Babe, of course I'm sad to leave the police force. Being an officer is something I've wanted to do for a long time. But it's just too dangerous. I knew it would have some dangers. But the town of Royal Woods is becoming a city really quickly and violence in the growling city was beginning to escalate. Violent crime still wasn't a major thing. It happened more than it used to. But robberies were becoming more common and as a result, people were buying more expensive insurance on their lives and property.

"Babe… I know I'll feel sad about leaving the police. But I'll be safer and I'll have more time to spend with my family once I do. I promise this is what I want." Bobby said gently. Lori nodded, kissing Bobby lovingly. He really was healing quickly. His burns were beginning to scar over and Lisa assured him that she would bring more healing serum laced nanomachines in three days. That was about the amount of time that it would take for most of the nanomachines already in him to work their way out.

In addition, the nanomachines that he already had in him as a result of his nanomachine organ were working overtime on his healing. And those were much higher order nanomachines. He hadn't had Neurotech put in, which would have enhanced his natural healing further. But he was already healing quickly. After a long moment, a doctor came in.

"If you'll allow me a few minutes with Mr. Santiago, I need to examine him and make sure that his burns are well cared for." The doctor said.

He had a soft, gentle voice. He smiled politely at her as she left.
"Thank you, Mrs. Santiago. You can come back in in about fifteen minutes at the longest." The doctor said. Lori sighed, waiting outside the room for the doctor to be done. He had Bobby take off his hospital gown. He gasped as he saw Bobby's back, arms, back of his head and legs.

"How did you heal this quickly? You've been here less than 24 hours. This is incredible. I've never seen natural healing this fast.

"Even the other people that Doctor Loud had injected with her nanomachines aren't healing this fast." He said in shock. Bobby sighed. He wasn't sure how much he was allowed to talk about. He didn't know if Lisa's nanomachines and bionic organs were a secret. He'd tell the doctor a bit.

"Well… Doctor Loud gave me some treatments a while ago that enhanced my natural healing. Lisa is my sister-in-law." Bobby said. The doctor nodded.

"Do you remember what treatment she gave you?" The doctor asked.

"Well, you can talk to her about it. I'm not sure how much she wants me to tell people." Bobby said uncertainly. Lisa hadn't been specific about. The doctor nodded. He brought out some antiseptic and sprayed it across Bobby's back, legs, head and arms to make sure that there were no infections. Then he let Bobby see Lori again.

-0-

Luna sighed as she was helped into the house by one of their androids. Sam was helped in as well by another while a third. The androids helped Sam and Luna over to the couch, having them sit down.
"Please remain seated while we set up the cradles for the infants and make dinner." One of the androids said. It took Mason and Elenore upstairs and got them settled. Another one started cooking using recipes that it had programmed into it by Lisa.

Luna sighed. She was nervous about having children. What if something happened that they weren't ready for. Sam put a hand on her hand.

"It'll be okay. We've got this. You've been taking care of kids for years with how big your family is." Sam reassured. Luna nodded.

"I know. I'm still nervous." Luna said. It was nice that Sam could read her so well. She kissed Sam lovingly on the lips and held her hand, just waiting for dinner to be served.