Beautifully Knight (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #5)

Code Blue

-TONY-

The world stood still. And it spun out of control.

Time didn't tick. And it passed me by.

My heart didn't beat. And it raced.

My lungs didn't breathe. And they heaved with pain.

Everything was nothing. And nothing was everything.

I was numb. And I ached with a throbbing, piercing, all-consuming hurt, unlike anything I'd ever known.

Despite all my father's flaws, the one thing that I could always credit him for was strength. He had a tall, intimidating presence with a commanding voice that demanded the submission of everyone around him.

He took up space and stood out in a crowd. He was invincible and unshakeable, unbending to the point of rigidity. A force to be reckoned with.

He wasn't the frail, unconscious man currently lying on a tiny hospital bed in front of me. I wasn't sure who this sad soul was, but he wasn't my father. No matter what the name on the whiteboard at the foot of the bed said. This man was a stranger. A stranger who I feared far more than I'd ever feared my father.

"I don't want to come across as uncaring or cold. I know your mother seemed to think that—"

"She's not my mother."

I dragged my eyes from trailing the millions of wires and monitors and over to the skittish student doctor who held a tablet that was nearly as large as she was.

She pulled her eyes from the screen and glanced up at me, tilting her head back. "Oh. I'm sorry. Are you not Mr. Holloway's son? I just assumed because you favor him—"

I turned my eyes back to land on my father's yellowed, sweat-covered skin. His hollow cheeks. Thin frame.

I didn't see any resemblance between us. Not today.

"I am his son, but his wife isn't my mother."

"Oh," she repeated herself slowly. "I'm sorry."

My relationship with Mallory was really irrelevant to our current situation.

I knew that.

And yet I couldn't stop myself from detouring from the inevitable news that I was sure had been the cause of the loud, painful wails that had caught my ears long before I'd arrived at the room and found it eerily void of visitors.

I didn't want to hear it.

That would make it real.

"My parents divorced when I was a kid. He remarried when I was in my twenties."

"I see," The resident made a quick note and cleared her throat. "I won't make that mistake again."

I nodded slowly and fixated my attention on the tufts of thick, dark hair that sprung above the oxygen mask and served as the only recognizable clue that I was actually in the right place.

Those shiny dark locks were unmistakable. As was the gold wrist watch that glistened on his hand that hung off the side of the bed.

"So Mr. Holloway—"

"Tony's fine." I interrupted again with more unnecessary information. Stalling. "And, uh, if you're making notes, he's Mr. Holloway. I'm Mr. Knight-Holloway. My wife and I went the hyphenated route. Made a new name for our daughters."

"Okay, Tony," the doctor nodded her acknowledgment politely, though I was sure that I was irritating her. "I, uh, well, as I was trying to say earlier, I think I came across rather harshly to Mrs. Holloway, but that's not my intent. I just want to be sure that we're all on the same page here. Maybe if we talk, then you can convey what we discuss to her. I understand that it's hard to process all of this information from strangers. Sometimes it's easier amongst family."