I'm (Not) Sorry

Chapter 11

If there's one thing I hate more than hospitals, it's police stations. I hate how quiet it is, I hate the serious conversations, I hate the atmosphere. Mostly, though, I just hate all the cops walking around.

Lin and I sat in our little cell, waiting for someone to take us in for questioning. As to what it was about, I had no clue.

"We got into some trouble," I said quietly. "Didn't we?"

"No," Lin responded flatly. "We'll be okay. We just gotta explain what's going on, and we'll be fine."

I slowly nodded and took a deep breath. It was morning... Jasmine was gone. I would never see her again. It was all over. I didn't try hard enough.

Our cell door opened, and a police officer walked in.

"You're going in for questioning in a bit, but there won't be any charges pressed."

Lin and I exchanged looks. "...Why?"

"Someone was brought in last night," the officer explained. "She told us what's been going on, so you both are off the hook."

"She?"

My eyes widened. Was it really her? Did they find Jasmine? Was Dallas in prison? Jasmine wasn't gone? No... No, that couldn't be true. The car sped off, and I couldn't get there. It was my fault she wasn't back. Jasmine wasn't-

Oh my God.

I could have screamed- I couldn't believe what was in front of me. Who was in front of me. We were all speechless. That is, until I finally said something.

"JASMINE!"

I got up and ran to Jasmine, hugging her tightly. It was her. It was really her. I wasn't having some nightmare about Dallas beating her to death in front of me. She was safe in my arms again, and I truly wasn't letting go that time. Have you ever had something so shocking happen to you, time just freezes? Like, you get lost, almost... That's how I felt hugging Jazzy again. It was just me, her, and that baby she still was managing to carry. Damn, do I got a strong girl.

Jasmine was sobbing just as badly as I was. If you didn't know any better, you would've thought we were suffocating each other. We just didn't wanna let go. Once we finally pulled away to look at each other, I put my hands on her growing stomach. For once, I didn't know what to say to her. I just looked at her.

"Ant..." Jasmine whispered. She leaned on me and kept on crying. "Oh my God, Ant... I..." She hugged me again. "I can't believe it's... I'm..."

"I know," I whispered back. "I can't believe it, either."

We held onto each other for a while. I looked up at Lin, who was tearing up, too. Jasmine saw him and cried even more. She ran to him and gave him a tight hug. (The one she gave me was tighter, though.

"Thank you..." I heard her whisper as Lin started crying a bit. She turned to me and gave me another hug. "Thank you..."

I noticed that her voice was raspy and weak, like she had been screaming a whole lot. I didn't doubt that. I put my hands on her stomach again; it was a lot larger than when I last saw her, which I guess was a good sign. Before I even asked my question, Jasmine had the answer.

"I don't know how it's doing..." she whispered. "Everything seems normal, I guess..."

"We're getting you to a hospital to find out," I told her. "That is, if me and Lin ain't going to jail for reckless driving."

Jasmine smiled softly. "I missed that... Your sense of humor... You..." She started crying and wrapped herself around me again. "Oh my God, I missed you..."

"I missed you, too, baby..." I started crying again, too. "I missed you, too..."

I sat alone in an office, waiting for someone to come in to question me, and hopefully bringing an attorney with them. Lin was in another room, and Jasmine was being taken to the hospital to make sure nothing was wrong with her. I had no clue where Dallas was. 

"Mr. Ramos," a woman said as she walked into the room. "I'm your attorney, Helena Scott. I'll be here with you during questioning. Officer Reagan should be here soon."

She sat down next to me as I shifted in my seat. Helena was a black woman with green eyes like mine. The way she talked reminded me of my mama. She had to be worried sick about me. I'm such a dumbass.

"So, Anthony," Helena said. "How long was Jasmine missing for again?"

"Month and a half," I answered quietly. "Why?"

"Just need my information." She took a few notes before looking at me again. "You and Mr. Miranda were speeding in an attempt to catch up with her and Dallas, correct?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I didn't want anything to go horribly wrong. I wanted to be there, y'know?"

"I do know." Helena gave a soft chuckle. "You're glad to have her back, ain't you?"

"Ecstatic," I said flatly. I really was happy to have Jasmine safe again; I just wasn't thrilled about the whole police station thing.

"Well, you sure sound the type," she teased. "Lighten up a bit. You're stressing. I can tell."

This woman definitely did act like my mama. I liked her a lot, especially since she was being really gentle about it. She wasn't pushing me to answer and all that. She just eased through our conversation and paid attention to signals I was giving off. I really liked that.

I was asked pretty much the same questions by the officer, the only difference being that they were a lot more formal. I couldn't wait to get the questioning over with and go to the hospital to see Jazzy. It'd be the only time I wanted to go to a hospital. I walked out of the office, where Lin was waiting in the hall for me.

"And I thought proposing my idea for Hamilton was terrifying," he said. "That guy was rough on me."

We were escorted out of the police station, having a flat conversation on our way out. Waiting outside for us was none other than Phillipa Soo. I wish I could describe how she looked. It was like a mixture of relief, anger, disappointed, and impatience all packed into one.

"Well, you saved Jasmine in the most idiotic way I can think of," she said as we approached her. "She just got to the hospital, though. There's a lot of people there to see her." She looked at Lin with a smug, teasing smirk. "Wanna drive?"

"Shut up." Lin laughed softly as we walked to Pippa's car, both me and Lin sitting in the backseat. I replayed the ride in the police car over and over again as we drove to the hospital. At least I was getting to see Jasmine again, though... Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.