Scars of Steel

06~March of 1970

March 22, 1970
Manhattan Presbyterian Hospital

A day had passed since Maria had woken up in the hospital. She had spent the first day  recovering from everything that had happened, and slowly beginning to remember the smaller details from the night of the explosion.

The police had came, wanting to question her and Howard, but he refused to do it until his family was safe at home. This was met by some opposition, but Howard remained stubborn as he didn't want his wife to be under that kind of stress so soon after her awakening.

The officers eventually caved and agreed to return upon his call. They knew Howard by reputation, and what the police had heard about him all pointed to signs that he wouldn't allow for his wife to so much as make small talk with them.

"I could've handled it, you know."

"You could have. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't have been hard on you. God knows what the press is putting out right now, and until you are alright and things have died down a bit i'm not planning on saying jack," Howard replied to his wife after shutting the door in the officers' annoyed faces.

Maria accepted this sourly as she knew her husband had more experience with these types of things and that arguing with him wouldn't change his mind.

The tension between them was thick for the rest of that day and recognizable to anyone who so much as entered the room. The nurses who came to run various tests and go through routine check-ins made their visits brief, anxious to get out of that heavy atmosphere.

Although Maria had said that Howard was forgiven, she still held grudges that would take a while to get rid of. Howard knew this, and also knew that there was nothing he could do about it other than simply being there for her.

Every so often Maria would throw in little jabs to him. "I found out the other day that in Scandinavian your name means 'Noble Watchman'. You do have quite great senses, don't you Howard?"

He would simply sigh and give few worded responses to her comments. He knew that she wouldn't let this go. Combined with her pregnancy hormones, this aggression wouldn't be going away for quite a while.

Currently, Maria and Howard were filling out her discharge papers and signing a various assortment of forms. Howard insisted on reading the fine print for everything, even though it annoyed Maria to a great extent.

"Hey, here's a form where we have to confirm our ages. Why don't you read the fine print on that?"

Howard ignored this and continued to scan over the paper he was reading. He knew what he was doing, he told himself as Maria slapped the form into his chest for Howard to sign.

Maria's doctor loudly knocked on the hospital room door before entering with a nurse who looked much out of place, perhaps an intern. Howard took note of this and would make sure that they were doing things the correct way.

"Are those forms almost done? I know there were quite a few, but as soon as they're completed you should be able to leave your room and visit your daughter. In the meantime, however, I can give you a run-down on how she's doing."

This caught both of the parents' attention. They hadn't heard much about Adalyn's current state and were desperate to learn more information or better yet see her themselves.

"Yes, yes of course. That would be amazing," Maria smiled at the doctor as she slid aside the forms she had just signed.

"Alright. Now, first and foremost, I want to tell you that Adalyn is going to be alright," the doctor said, hoping this would help to relieve the parents of some of their stress.