gone. - DISCONTINUED.

{22}

I laid awake in the hospital bed, seeing that already the sun was rising and it was only 6:30am. My room smelled clean, which wasn't the normal for a New York City hospital. But then again, they had me in the maternity ward despite I was nowhere near close to being due. I rubbed my eyes, of the hour I've been here I only catnapped for about 15 minutes. I haven't heard about the condition of the other girls, but some of them were admitted overnight like I was and others were released immediately after being treated. I leaned back against my pillows, closing my eyes once more and hoping that I could drift off to sleep and soon.

After about 10 or so minutes, I heard a light knock on the door, and I turned my head to see him standing in the doorway. "You can come in." I answered before he even asked, and he nodded, stepping inside of the room and sitting in a chair beside the bed, making a face at the lack of comfort. "Better than your old room?" He questioned and I shook my head. "Nah, but definitely better than all those hotel rooms." He chuckled at that. "Only because they feed you real food here, huh?" I laughed some, nodding my head. It was true, they gave everybody in the maternity ward diner-like menus, with milkshakes and burgers, even cheesecake. I wanted to take advantage of that, but I wasn't even going to be in here that long and I didn't wanna get disappointment if it was still as nasty as regular food.

"How do you feel?" He asked finally and I shrugged. "My eyes hurt, but that's besides the point. I can't feel my wrist, but that may change in 10 or so minutes." I motioned to my cast, which was supposed to be in a sling but I couldn't sleep or lay comfortably with it on. "My face stopped hurting, and I haven't slept since that nap I took earlier in the day." He shook his head. "I wouldn't have asked if I would've known you'd be telling me how all your life you had to fight." I glared at him, ignoring his sly smile. "Yeah, well. You feel a lot after being tied up for what, an hour and a half?" I scrunched up my face in thought. "I forgot. Anyway. I wish I knew how they got in." He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "They broke the lock. How, wish I knew. Does it matter? No, cause all the shit is burned up." He answered, a sharp tone growing in his voice. I frowned. "Where would we go?" I asked quietly. I remember him telling me outside that he'd 'fix' this, I just didn't know how. He rubbed his face sleepily, shrugging. "There's another unit we use. Travel back and forth. In California."

I furrowed my brows. "That's halfway across the country..." I mumbled, thinking aloud. "It is, smart one. But there's more stuff there, though the operation started here. But it's bigger, they've all been except you." He answered, moving his hand from his face. "Got a hotel suite for now until shit's situationed." I nodded, messing with the bed sheets. "Is Laylani okay?.." I asked again, chewing on my lip out of nervousness. She looked really fucked up. "She's in bad shape. But stable, I think she's asleep. I dunno, Ferg hasn't left her room yet." He answered, twisting his braids. "She gonna pull through?" He nodded. "They'll be alright. There's been worse." It was quiet for a little while, and I noticed he was starting to fall asleep. "Oh, um.." I started, not sure how to word it. "When you were..handling that situation. And you said you lost your blood..." "My brother." He said before I even finished my sentence. "You had a brother?" I asked, surprised. He nodded. "They gunned him down on the street. Hit and run. None of them got arrested." I felt like I heard something about it before, but I didn't want to talk about it any more if he wasn't up for it, so I sat up, leaning my hand on my side. He furrowed his brows. "What's the matter?" He asked and I shook my head. "Bruise on my side. From when they threw me on the floor." I made a face, waiting for the pain to subside. "Oh...how's my baby?" I looked up at him, not expecting him to be the one to question it. "They ran tests earlier, said everything would be fine, and there shouldn't be any complications.." I laid back down, feeling him watching me.

Again, it got quiet, and it was uncomfortable. I peeked over at him and he was leaned on his arm, eyes closed, chest rising slowly. "Rakim." I said, loud enough for him to hear but still in a hushed manner. "Hm." "It was a girl." His eyes fluttered open, blinking at me in confusion. "The baby." I repeated. "It's a girl." His eyes travelled from my face to where my belly showed through my hospital gown, or lack of. I could tell he was processing it. "A girl." He said finally, and I nodded. "What an interesting life she'll live." I spoke in a small voice, giving a weak smile. "Yeah..." I motioned for him to come near me, and he got up slowly, sitting beside me. I grabbed his hand, holding it. "You'll be fine." I spoke. "You'll live past 19. We'll be fine." I stayed up for a little while afterwards, which he was perfectly fine with speaking to me while half asleep and losing my train of thoughts mid sentence. I could barely remember what we did end up talking about before I finally fell asleep. But one thing I don't plan forgetting was that after what I said, for once...

He smiled. Not a slick one, a slinger's smile. But a real one.