Keep On Walking (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 3 of the Hardships Saga)

Chapter Twenty

❝choice (pronounced tʃɔɪs or chois), noun
an act or instance of picking one of seperate possibilities.
eg. He had to make the choice between his daughter and his wife.❞

Lynette came to the door. "Hunter, wha- Elle!"

"Grandmama!"

"But..."

"She's in remission, Ma," said Hunter, smiling.

"Remission? Oh my goodness, that's wonderful!" She smiled. "Hunter, I'm gonna go to Walmart and get some groceries. This calls for some gumbo."

"Oh, yay! Gumbo!" said Elle, readjusting her beret. She walked inside, and Cole ran to her like he hadn't seen her in forever- which to him, he hadn't. "Cole! Oh my gosh, I missed you so much!"

Phoenix wandered out of his room. "Ellie!"

"Hey, Nick!"

He hugged her tightly, and Elle looked at Hunter. "Papa, can I go see Mama now?"

"Honey, maybe not today. She got really sick all of a sudden, and she needs to rest."

"Oh. Tomorrow?"

"Maybe. We'll see."

"Good."

After dinner, Elle and Phoenix went to bed, and Hunter sighed. He'd need to stay up for most of the night to look after Ryan. Lucky came by and left again, until it was Hunter, alone with Ryan again.

"N-No..."

It's started, he thought to himself. "Ry?"

"It h-hurts... please, no..."

"It's Hunter, my darling, not Markus."

"I'm... not hallucinating..."

"Wait, what?"

"Hunt... please... do something," she said weakly. "It hurts..."

He sat down beside her. "What hurts?"

"My h-head... and... my legs..."

"I'll get you some ibuprofen," he said. The look of pure agony on her face put him through Hell. Still, he went to the kitchen and brought her back two pills and a glass of water. She downed them, but coughed violently. "My chest..."

"Shh," he said gently, taking her hand. "I've got you. Okay?"

"What happened?" she breathed.

"You had a seizure while we were watching TV."

He could feel her heart fluttering weakly. "The sooner you have this baby, the better," he muttered, and she shook her head.

"Two more months, that's all," she said.

"No. We're putting you into induced labour next week. I can't watch you go on like this."

"But... but the baby..."

"She'll be okay. Robin will be okay." He swallowed. "I just don't know about you."

"Papa?"

Ryan's eyes widened. "I am hallucinating. I swear, I just heard Elle say 'Papa'."

"No, honey," said Hunter gently. "She's in remission. She's back home."

"Mama? Is that you?"

"Oh my gosh," breathed Ryan, tears filling her eyes. "Ellie? C'mere, darling."

Elle approached the bed slowly. "Mama?"

"Hey," she said softly. "It's... it's good to see you again."