The Runaway

Chapter 4.

Volkov

"What did he say?" I ground out angrily at Luca.

He swallows what seems to be a lump in his throat, "he said he wouldn't be opposed to meet at 'your old place'."

Our old place?  What the fuck is that supposed to do? That was before we had kids, that was before responsibilities killed our friendship. 

"Tell him Thursday, we meet at midnight." I say through my teeth. If he wants to hit me where it hurts, I'll hit him there harder.

—————————

Sawyer

My morning sickness hits me like a rock, except it's in the middle of the night. I had just gotten through another round of nausea when I laid down, but then it came again and I had to run to the washroom this time.

I'm leaning over the toilet now trying not to cry, because I absolute hate throwing up—when I feel Ryder beside me.  He takes me into his arms it almost feels like everything gets a bit better. "Sorry." I belch, "sorry baby." I ramble. 

"Hey I don't need a sorry, are you okay darling? Do you need anything?" He asks, but I shake my head and grab his hand for more skin on skin contact. 

He places his other palm on my forehead and the coolness immediately feels good against my hot, damp forehead. "You done baby?" He asks pulling me closer into his arms.

I'm so tired I feel like I can't speak so I nod instead. The nausea has subsided and going back to bed sounds great. So he stands up and picks me up bridal style and heads over to the bed.

Ryder lays me down and I immediately circle my arms around his neck to pull him down beside me. Although he doesn't, he stays stiff as a board. I whine and try to pull him down harder.

"I'm going to go grab a few things Sawyer, I'll be right back." With a huff I finally let him go and turn over onto my side. My eyes cant seem to open again so I let them officially stay shut.

————-

I wake up what seems like a few minutes later, Ryder sits down beside me at the edge of the bed and softly places a rolled up wet cloth on my forehead. I sigh in content at the newfound cold source.

"Hey baby I think we should really get you checked out." Ryder reprimands softly.

"I'm fine." I snuggle into the blanket and try to hide my little shiver. "Let's go to sleep."

My eyes close again but Ryder doesn't join me in beds. "Somethings wrong." I hear in the background and then I'm out like a light.

———

"Everything is alright, I can promise you that." A deep voice consoles next to me. I wake up with a start, is that Papà? No, please no.

The bright lights send a flash of pain through my eyes instantaneously. "Jesus." I groan. When I open them again Ryder is at my side holding my hand and on my other side is a doctor, but where the hell are we?

"Welcome to St. Greens hospital." The doctor grins, "as I was saying before to Ryder, everything is okay, we ran some tests and we figured the illness came from your close contact with outdoor germs for a long period of time, too soon."

"Oh." I sigh in relief, "is the baby okay?" I rub my stomach, I don't even see a bump yet but It feels right.

"Oh yes, the babies fine." He smiles one more time and then takes his leave.

"Gave me quite a fright there baby." Ryder kisses my knuckles.

"I'm fine, I'm sorry." I giggle and take a look around, "so this is what a hospital looks like, huh?"

"Yeah." Ryder sighs glancing around, "not the best thing, hey?"

I shrug, "bright colours, bustling nurses, seems to me like they're doing the best they can with what they have."

Ryder acknowledges what I just said and looks out in the hall. "Probably underpaid for their hours as well."

"Who?" I ask.

"The nurses, sometimes they're here 24/7 but don't get the pay or respect they deserve." The thought makes me feel sick to my stomach.

If I hadn't already had a dream job in mind I would want to be a nurse and help people.  But I've already set my mind on being a teacher.  I didn't get the experience of going to school, so I want to make the experience so much better for the next generation.

"Ready to go?" Ryder stands.  I nod in reply, yeah I'm definitely ready to get home. 

—————

Dianna

"Mila?" I whisper shout into my neighbours home.  "Mila are you home?"

The door swings open just a bit wider and Mila comes into view.  Her hairs a mess, her sweatpants have stains and her T-shirt has holes.  I would say she isn't doing the best right now. 

"What?" She asks grumpily. 

"I have a weird mom intuition thing going on." I whisper again and push her further back into the house.  I close and lock the door in utter relief,  I think I got over here without being seen. 

"Sawyer and Ryder didn't get kidnapped." Milas head turns to me uninterested, almost like she can sense my bullshit from 30 feet away.

"The percentage of that being true, is highly low Dianna. I got over my denial, you should get over yours." She states sadly. All of their family pictures seem to be turned over on the mantle, like looking at them right now hurts to much to bear. 

"I'm not in denial Mila." I swipe at my damp forehead. "Alarms would have went off, guns would have been blazing and people would have swarmed us if they were truly kidnapped. Mila, please." I whisper.

She turns to me and looks to be calculating what I'm saying, "fine." She states, "it wouldn't hurt anyway. Tell me what you're thinking."