Time Truly Divides || Newsies Time Travel AU

Chapter 2

TW: Mentions of injuries.

Medda was at the hospital with the boy when the police came to talk to her. She wasn't exactly sure how they knew she'd be at the hospital but didn't want to ask. The boy hadn't done much more than lie there so at least it brought her something to keep her busy.

"Miss Larkin, do you have any relation to this boy?"

"No," Medda answered before explaining the situation - for the third time - to them from finding him outside her house to him being taken to the hospital.

"And why are you here?" the police officer asked, a tone in his voice that Medda was quite used to hearing from Race when he thought something was stupid.

"I don't want this boy to wake up and think that nobody cared if he did or not."

The police officer nodded, scanning over the notes they had jotted down in their small book before flipping it shut and sighing loudly.

"Alright, if we don't find his parents, he'll most likely be placed into foster care," they explained. "If we do find them, there'll be a welfare check and we can see if his home is suitable or not."

"If he's put into foster care, is there a way that I can take him as a placement?"

"He'd probably go to an already registered foster home," the police officer explained.

"I'm already registered as a foster parent. I have two bedrooms I keep for emergency placements so space isn't a problem."

The police officer nodded and opened his book to make a quick note before closing it again and sliding it into his pocket.

"I'll see if it's possible."

"Thank you," Medda said with a polite smile.

"No worries, ma'am." As soon as the police officer left, Medda let out a long sigh.

"I don't know how you put up with him," the nurse looking after the boy commented. "He seems like a real pain."

Medda blinked in confusion. "He hasn't woken up, how could he be a pain?"

"Not the boy. That cop," the nurse explained. "The boy's been a great patient."

"Oh, the cop is," Medda agreed. "How's the boy doing?"

"He's stable. We had to perform a surgery on his wrist so it would heal correctly. Other than that it was just stitches to most of the cuts. It's a surprise he hasn't woken up yet."

Medda nodded as the nurse spoke. "Is there a reason he hasn't woken up?"

The nurse sighed then shook her head. "I really shouldn't be telling you this but he hadn't had any family come visit him so if you care about him, that's good enough for me.

"We aren't sure why he hasn't woken up just yet. Since he hasn't we don't have a full idea of any damage to his brain. It took quite a hit but from scans we can't see anything too bad, no long-lasting damage. It looks like he's just got a really bad concussion. The only reason I can think of for him not waking up yet is exhaustion. His body might just not have the energy to wake up and deal with the injuries."

"So there's no lasting brain damage from the concussion," Medda echoed. If she was going foster the boy, hopefully, she'd need to know these things.

"No. He'll probably have some light and sound sensitivity but that's normal with concussions," the nurse explained. "It'd go away once the concussion is gone."

Medda sat in a chair beside the boy's bed, doing a take of him. Most of his cuts were covered by bandages, with the exception of his wrist, which was in a cast, and his leg, which was in a boot. What really got Medda's attention was the additional tube going into his arm as well as his IV.

"Why does he have an extra tube in his arm?"

"His body's lacking in nutrients so we are making sure he gets extra. Since he can't eat, he's getting them through the tube."

Medda nodded in understanding.

"I have to go check on some of my other patients," the nurse said, putting down the boy's chart. "If he wakes up, press the call button and I'll come."

"Okay. I'll do that."

The nurse smiled politely before leaving the room, closing the door half-way as she did so.

Medda looked at the boy when the nurse left. It was hard to tell his age, he looked so small in the bed that Medda thought that he might have been twelve or thirteen, maybe fifteen if she was being gracious. She was sure though that he wasn't older than Crutchie or Race.

"Momma." Medda looked away from the boy to the door where Race was standing with a disposable cup in either hand. Without knowing what was in them, Medda could tell which one was Race's.

"What are you doing here, baby?"

"I came to bring you coffee. I lied to get in here. Crutchie wanted to come but he promised Elmer he'd help him study."

"What do you mean you lied?" Medda asked. While Race had many things that led to him getting in trouble with Medda, lying was never something she had to deal with from him. He just felt too guilty and would admit it in no time at all.

"I said that I'm his half-brother so they'd let me in," Race explained. "You'll be glad to hear that I'm a great liar."

Medda smiled and took the coffee cup from Race. "Thank you for this, it's really kind of you."

"No problem, Momma," Race smiled. "I know you've been here with the big a lot so I thought you might need some more energy."

Meds smiled and looked back at the boy, sighed and took a long sip from the coffee cup.

"Is he okay?" Race asked after a moment of silence.

"He's concussed and has to be fed through a tube to help his body try and build up energy to wake up," Medda explained. "That's what the nurse told me."

"Will he be okay?"

"The nurse said he would be fine. Just some injuries to wait to heal and some physio to get his hand back to normal."

"That's good. Right?"

"Yes, that's good."

Race nodded with a small smile on his face. He didn't want the boy to have a lasting effect due to his injuries, he has a heart. Even for random boys he doesn't know.

"And what about fostering him?"

Medda sighed and took Race's free hand. "I've told the police that I'd like to foster him. They don't know if I'll be able to foster him but I'll ask again once he's woken up and been discharged."

Race nodded. "Alright. I hope you can foster him. Some homes suck and..." He trailed off. "They just suck."

"I know, sweetie."

Race looked over at the boy, he'd been previously trying to avoid looking at him properly. He didn't want to see the injuries.

"Is he- Can he feel any pain?"

"I don't know," Medda admitted.

Race nodded slowly. "Do you think he can feel any pain?"

"He's on medication and you can't feel pain fully while asleep so hopefully he can't."

"I hope he can't," Race agreed. "It ain't fun being in pain."

"I know it isn't, sweetie."

Race smiled as a comfortable silence fell over the two. It was a nice change in comparison to what the previous few days had been.

A pick-up in the beeps coming from the heart rate monitor caused a stop to the silence.

"What's going on, Momma?" Race asked.

"I don't know, sweetie," Medda said, looking over at the boy.

Race stood up, considering going and getting a nurse to see if the boy was okay. He was stopped in the doorway just as he was about to leave when an unfamiliar voice spoke.

"What's going on?"

~~~
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