The Legend of Us: A Legend Trilogy Story

Part 4

I jolt awake in my bed, my dreams of this evening's events looming in my head like thick city smog. The clock reads 3:47 A.M. My feet freeze as I touch them to the wood floor of my apartment bedroom. I silently creep into the hallway, checking for things that aren't there. My head pounds and my blankets call to me- but I need to escape the piercing blue eyes that haunt my dreams. I sit down on my couch, wrapping myself into a fuzzy gray afghan. I don't even notice drifting off to sleep...
I'm awake. Where am I? My living room. My apartment. Is that banging my head or is it real? The door, it's the door.
The heavy steel door creaks as I open it ever so slightly. I'm so tired, I don't realise it's not daytime yet. I'm so tired, I don't notice it's 4:58 A.M. I'm so tired, I forget to ask, who's there? As I rub the sleep out of my eyes, I'm met with a pair of piercing blue eyes.

"I'm sorry." Day breathes before I can say anything. "I'm sorry and I'm selfish and I was too blinded by my anger to realise that you did what you did for a good reason. I'm sorry for accusing you that way, and for the yelling. I was overwhelmed." he says.

"Oh, uh, me too, I guess." I say sleepily and open the door wider. I suddenly remember that I'm at home, that I slept at home. That John isn't here, with me. 

"Uh, what time is it?" I ask him, nervous that I've been so long without him.

"It's almost 5 A.M. I think. I probably should've let you sleep but, I couldn't wait to talk to you."

But I'm not listening. I prop the door open then rush back inside to get my things. I need to get back to the hospital.

"J-June?" Day calls from the doorway. "I've got to get back, thank you for coming, waking me up. I can't believe I slept this long." I call back. I rush back towards him, slamming the door shut as I go. 

"I'm going back, they'll start morning testing in about an hour." I say more to myself than him. 

"I'm coming with you. I need to apologize to Anden as well, and I never got to actually meet him." he says, and I'm paying more attention now.

The hospital isn't too far from my apartment building in Batalla Square, but it still feels like an eternity before we actually get up to John's room. He's still asleep in the bed, as if nothing ever happened. I watch Day peer into the window, his eyes bright and his expression nervous. John starts to stir, and I go to open the door but Day interrupts me. 

"I'm gonna go grab some coffee." he announces, and takes off down the hallway before I can reply. I step into the room.

"Mama?" John calls out  groggily, his hair a mess of blonde tangles. 

"Hi baby. Did you have sweet dreams?" I ask him as I unhook his numerous amounts of tubes and wires. I sit down and he crawls into my lap, playing with my hair and telling me different stories. Too soon, the nurses come in to start his morning rounds of chemotherapy. Day is nowhere to be seen.

A couple of hours pass and John is asleep again, the color drained from his little face from all the mornings' pricking and poking. I hear a light knock. Day leans against the doorframe, holding out a cup of coffee, eyes asking to come in. I nod and gratefully take the steaming cup from him. When you're constantly between running a military, being a mom, and practical nurse, coffee becomes an everyday necessity.

"Where'd you run off to?" I lift an eyebrow and question him.

"Breakfast." he manages, half-heartedly.

"For three hours?"

"No, not exactly. I took a walk, did some thinking. Right before you came in here to see John, I realized I'd never been more nervous in my life. I got scared." he confessed.

"What in the world were you scared of?" I pressed, not understanding how meeting a five-year-old could be so intimidating, especially for someone like Day.

"I guess I'm scared for what he'll think of me. If he'll like me, that's all. I don't know, but this is a big deal. I don't want him to think I just show up out of nowhere and- and.." he stops and sighs.

I understand now, and this tiny moment makes my heart melt. That's the Day I remembered, so genuine, so concerned and protective of his family.

His family. Is that what we are now?

A nurse bustles into the room, interrupting us.

"Sorry Commander. More required blood work." she says quietly. I stand quietly and fall back into usual routine, waking up John slowly and distracting him from the nurse, turning on the TV, making him comfortable. For a moment, I forget about Day.

"We ready?" the nurse asks a bit too sadly when she's all prepped to start taking blood. John swallows, grabs my big hand with his tiny one, and shuts his eyes tightly. While she inserts the needle he doesn't move a muscle, but breathes calmly. Soon enough it's over, and he's fussing over his green band-aid.

I push his hair out of his face, and tuck him back into bed. I notice he looks slightly less exhausted than he did this morning. I also notice that when he sees Day, a curious expression plays across his face.

"You know, that was really amazing." Day piped up. I turn to him, but find him looking straight at John, not me.

"I've fought in a war with men who couldn't do what you just did. That was extremely brave." Day continued.

John's face lit up, and I could see his chest puff up with pride. "You fought in a war?" he asked, glowing with awe. "Oh yeah, I sure did-"

"With actual guns? And fighter planes?" John exclaimed, not able to contain his excitement any longer.

And the rest was history. Day and John laughed and talked and shared stories for what seemed like forever. I'd never seen John so interested in having a conversation with someone, let alone be so animated after a morning of chemo. It filled me up with joy to see them get along so well.

Note: sorry about any grammatical or spelling mistakes, also, know that I didn't go back and edit this and there are some parts that I don't like and wish to change in the future. Hopefully I'll get around to writing more, as I'm sick right now and have a lot of time on my hands. Enjoy! <3