Queen Bee

December 2007 (2)

Following closely on the heels of Marshall's body guard that Charmin had arranged for me through Paul, I felt incredibly frustrated that this man was seemingly just refusing to run! We need to fucking run! Why is he going so slow?! This is quite literally a life or death situation! I have to get my fucking baby! "Are we close?" I asked for probably the hundredth time already, peering over his broad shoulders from behind as I attempted to find the hospital room I had never even seen before. 

"Just down this hall." The large man stated, zero emotion detectable throughout his voice. 

"Is this internal medicine? I was told he's on the internal medicine unit-" 

"Yes. It's internal medicine." He stated once more, cutting off my panicked rant as he obviously was becoming annoyed with me. Flashing the back of his head a dirty look, we quickly made a left turn. Scanning my eyes over the large unit sign as we walked, I finally read the big, bolded words, 'Internal Medicine'. Peering around the man once more, I immediately laid my gaze upon Nate. 

"NATE!" I screeched. Refusing to stay behind the body guard any longer, I quickly bolted past him as fast as I could, running directly towards the skinny, blonde, twenty-one-year-old. Giving him absolutely zero time to react, I reached him in record time, throwing my arms around him so fast I nearly knocked him over. 

"Angel, fuck, I'm so happy to see you." He croaked, tightening his arms around my back as I squeezed him even tighter. 

"How are you?! Are you okay?!" I quickly asked, pulling my arms and head away from his neck as I attentively inspected his features, my hands cupping his swollen cheeks. 

"Yeah..." He nodded, his somber eyes looking down towards his feet. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"You're a good brother, Nate." I stated seriously, my eyes laser focused on his face. "None of this is your fault."

"Thanks..." He quietly responded, obviously not believing a word of what I was saying. Instead of arguing, I just threw my arms around him once more.

Holding him tightly against me for a few more moments, I began gently releasing him. "Where's Des? Where's the kids?" 

"In the room." He replied, gently jerking his head towards the door. 

"Marshall's awake?" I clarified, my brows lifting slightly. 

"Yeah." He nodded. "I just had to come out to get some air." 

I nodded back in understanding. "What's he look like?" 

He shrugged. "Not great, but... The doctors say he should be fine. They want him to stay here for a few days, though." 

"Yeah, 'course, 'course..." I trailed off momentarily. "You think I can go in?"

"Mhm." He nodded once more. "He knows you were comin', he was askin' for you."

"Really?" I asked, my knitting together as confusion took over my features. 

"Yeah. He knows you needed to come get Des." 

"Okay." I nodded. "You comin' back in?" 

Sighing deeply, he nodded once more. "Yeah, I guess." Turning himself around, I followed his lead as he walked directly towards the nearest door. Extending his palm, he reached for handle, turning it slightly as the wood gently creaked open. 

Trailing behind Nate slightly to his left, I saw a large curtain that was drawn, Kim, the girls, and my baby boy. "MOMMY!" Des screeched, immediately bolting towards me as soon as he laid eyes on me.

Quickly squatting down, I allowed him to run to me, crashing his body against mine as his arms tightly squeezed my neck. "Hey, sweet boy." I whispered, wrapping my arms around his tiny back. Within an instant of Des running to me, it quickly caught all the girls' attention. Wasting no time, they too began barrelling towards me, all three of them crowding themselves around Des as each of them tried to hug me as best they could. "Hey, girls." I whispered once more, extending my arms as far as possible so I could engulf all four of them at the same time. "You guys okay?" I asked in that same gentle tone, running a soft hand down Lainey's back.