HEAT |OMEGAVERSE| ⚣ ✔️

The First of Many

Been sick and lazy, but I did manage to finish this, got a lil emotional writing this one 🥲
Anywho, thanks for reading
Much love, Rose 🥀

JASPER'S POV

"How far away are we now?" I ask quietly, for probably the twentieth time since leaving for the hospital.

"Jasper, my love—considering it's only been two minutes since the last time you asked, we'd now be down to twelve left." Alex responds, and I can sense a bit of agitation creeping into the edge of his words as we get stuck further in traffic.

I let out a small sigh as I stare out the windshield, realizing there is quite a few miles of bumper to bumper coverage ahead of us. Alex's hand squeezes my thigh, drawing my attention to him, and my eyes lock onto his briefly.

"Sorry if I sounded upset," he murmurs, directing his focus back to the packed road in front of us. "This is just another one of the many reasons I hate the city." He lets out a weak chuckle, but I notice the grip he has on the steering wheel. If there's anything to test your patience in this world, it would be inescapable traffic on a highway.

After quite the early and eventful morning with him in our new place, we even made sure to leave the house by eight so we could avoid getting caught up. Unfortunately what couldn't be foreseen, was an accident happening four miles ahead of us. Thus, leading to the basically stand-still traffic for almost forty minutes now.

"It's okay." I reply softly, placing my hand on top of Alex's, lacing his fingers in mine. He brings the top of my hand to his mouth, and places a kiss on it, igniting a warmth through me as a small smile forms on my lips.

Slowly but surely over the next agonizing thirty minutes our exit finally comes into view, and Alex flicks the blinker on, merging into the off-ramp. He navigates us through the city streets for another ten minutes before pulling into the parking area for the west wing of the hospital.

I'm more than anxious to see Oliver, and quite frankly terrified of receiving any bad news. The only positive thought I keep reminding myself of, is how great Dr. Heidi says he's been, and that he's progressing the way they hoped he would—considering he was born prematurely with a wound on his back.

My heart still hurts every damn time I think about it, my poor son. It hurts more than my own wounds to know he's having such a rough start in life that he didn't deserve. That maybe, if I had done something different, if I hadn't fought Alex on leaving, that I wouldn't be in this situation.

The turning thought that this is all my fault hasn't left me alone since I woke up in the hospital. And the guilt of not being able to keep my son safe, even while he was inside of me—is like no other. While the tour of our new home had me distracted for the night, being back here is a pain staking reminder of my mistakes.

So lost in my self-deprecating thoughts, I hadn't noticed that Alex had both parked the car and stepped outside of the vehicle. My eyes snap up to meet his as my door opens, his hand extending out towards me.

"Jas?" He asks softly, and I take ahold of his hand finally.

The cold fall air reminds me that we are finally in November, and also that I'd skipped over my favorite holiday while recovering from my injuries. I had hoped that I'd be able to something with Alex for Halloween, but fate decided I'd be asleep for it.