Locked

Chapter Five

Entering the hospital proved more uneventful than V imagined. Apparently two teenagers and two children – one deathly ill, were not uncommon to the nurse at the reception whom V had sneaked past earlier.

"We're here to see Doctor Wellingstone." V rushed to the point.

The young nurse was quite pretty, however years of working the reception desk had made her beautiful smile fake, severely diminishing her overall attractiveness.

"Do you have an appointment?" She said sleepily, hardly registering the group and merely staring in between them into the distance.

"Yes, we do." V stated, getting a little impatient. "It's under..." she hesitated, than almost whispered, "Claymore."

Now it was Will's turn to look confused and wary. She had never told him her last name, mostly because people like them didn't have last names. She would have to talk to him after all this was over, after enquiring after the stack of coins.

Will leaned forward onto the desk, getting his face a little closer to the nurse's.

"It would be great," he started off with, "if you could hurry things along for us." He motioned to the sleeping Clara, "We're in a bit of a hurry."

The nurse seemed a little taken aback by him, but then her smile widened. This genuine smile did wonders for her features. Laugh lines appeared, making her common brown eyes sparkle with delight. She twirled one finger around her long brown ponytail.

Oh dear lord. V rolled her eyes, she's flirting with him.

The nurse cocked her head, "Just let me check." She rummaged around her lists and piles of paper. Running her elegant finger down the list, she stopped at a tiny handwritten note in the margins.

"Here we are." the smile disappeared, replaced by confusion. "Doctor Wellingstone wishes for the group under Claymore," V winced at the name, "to set themselves up in room 307."

The nurse put her hands up, "I guess I'll have to take you there, this is a mighty big hospital. We wouldn't want you getting lost now would we?" She spoke only to Will, who seemed to be enjoying the attention.

The nurse led their little group through the halls. V figured this was not part of the girl's job description, as she was attempting to touch Will's arm for any reason at all. But V wasn't jealous. Was she? She'd never seen Will as anything more than a, if not annoying, dear friend. V fell behind a little. Carrying Clara for this amount of time was getting tiresome. Will must have noticed because he excused himself from his new lady friend, and ran back to V.

He lifted Clara out of her arms, and she felt lighter than a bird. Will didn't return to the nurse at the front, instead he stayed in the rear with V. V noticed Eddie had seized the chance to woo the nurse, who was looking a little hesitant to let an eleven year old street urchin – no matter his attempted charm, touch her.

"Don't you want to return to your friend up there?" V said with a little more contempt than she expected.

Will flinched a bit at the tone of her voice, but he recovered; "No." He said flatly. They walked the remainder of the journey in silence.

Finally, as V's mind was whirring about, jumping from conclusion to conclusion, the nurse announced their arrival at room 307. She opened the door and led them inside.

V would be forever grateful to Doctor Wellingstone; he had acquired a nearly private room for them. The nurse must thing we're rich or something.

This floor of the hospital was an interesting area to say the least. The architects had decided to try something out; they had made the rooms as usual, but had not constructed the dividing walls to accompany said rooms. Each room had its own door as per usual, however curtains hung in the place of walls. V assumed this made the doctors travels easier as they didn't even have to leave the room to attend a new patient.

Will settled Clara on the bed. Before the nurse left she wiggled her fingers at Will in departure.

V collapsed into an armchair near the door. Nobody spoke, all of them exhausted by the past few days – and not from physicality. The room was warm, and comfortable. Will sat in a small chair next to the single bed in the room, studying his hands. Eddie was already nodding off, seated on the floor, knees to his chest, back to the wall. V decided this was as safe a place as any, and figured a little snooze wouldn't harm anyone. She was nearly asleep in the armchair, when a doctor came through the door.

Will stood up defensively. V noticed this, and then noticed the doctor who had entered. "Doctor Wellingstone! Thank you so very much for your help!"

"Good to see you again Miss." V was thankful he hadn't uttered her last name, again. The doctor must have noticed the other occupants of the room, but he didn't say anything.

He handed V a clipboard and walked over to the bed. Will stepped out of the way and went and sat with Eddie on the floor. V looked down at the papers the doctor had just handed her. He knew she could read and write because of her father. The papers asked her to fill out information about the patient. While the doctor poked and prodded Clara, who was now awake but so sick she had no idea where she was, V filled out as much as she possibly could about the little girl.

Doctor Wellingstone finished his initial examination of Clara. He turned and grabbed the clipboard from V. She was about to ask how Clara was, but from the half-panicked-half- perturbed expression on his face, V let him leave. After the door had shut, V sank back into the armchair. Will came over, but decided against enquiring after the diagnosis. He returned to his little chair by the bed. With that, a wave of exhaustion consumed all four of the friends. Even with all the problems plaguing her, V managed to sleep soundly for the first time in days.