People Like Us Part III [MxFxM]

08

Nathan liked flying about as much as he liked riding in a car. Meaning, without something to concentrate on to distract himself, he hated it and it made him nauseous. But, unfortunately, there were certain times in life when flying was necessary, because it wasn't like they could drive all the way to Mandan, not with River like he was. However, Nathan would've preferred having just about anybody else in the helicopter with him other than Dr. Nhik. He would've taken sitting through it with Adrian over the other doctor, even. Luckily for him though, Nhik decided to more or less behave and not bother anything, leaving Nathan to sit through feeling uncomfortable and swallowing down the sour taste at the back of his throat every so often. At one point, either because Dr. Nhik was curious about how River was doing or because he thought it would help Nathan somehow, he told Nathan to check on how his son was doing by tapping into his soul. It did help a bit, giving Nathan something to focus on, until he started to recognize some of the ground beneath them as North Dakota.

It felt sort of surreal to be back there again, after so long. Nathan really hadn't anticipated going back ever, really. There wasn't much of a reason to. His parents came to visit them in Oregon, and so did Victor and Lako. Same with Andrea. Varian and Nathan rarely travelled themselves, probably because of all the kids and now grandkids. So returning to Mandan wasn't anything he considered, once they left it. It'd be interesting to see, definitely. He didn't imagine it changing very much overall, but certain things would obviously have to be different. The hospital, for instance, probably had to be updated with new technology and whatnot. More advanced than Tillamook's hospital, at least. Concentrating on the landscape below made Nathan a little more sick though, so he didn't keep his gaze on it very long before he was averting his eyes, trying to focus on something so he wouldn't throw up all over the interior of the helicopter.

He couldn't have been happier when they finally landed, determined to get out of the flying vehicle and onto solid ground. There was a team waiting outside of the hospital that moved in to take River to the V.C. ward, bringing Nathan with them as they moved to get his son set up in a room and monitored as soon as possible. His stomach was still turning a bit even as he followed these new people through the hospital he used to work at, not spending much time to look around and keeping his focus solely on River. A couple times he had to swallow back the urge to go find the nearest bathroom and shut himself into a stall for a couple minutes until the sick feeling passed, knowing that if he just stood still and relaxed for a minute that the motion sickness would go away. So he forced himself to keep up with the team that was taking River, briefly thinking that he should've found some sort of medication to take before getting into the helicopter.

Unfortunately, though Nathan knew it was necessary, as soon as River was settled into a room, Dr. Nhik pulled him away for a brief tour of the hospital, giving Nathan a chance to see all the improvements and updates in the different wards. While Mandan's hospital still wasn't as big as some others in larger cities, it was still more updated than Tillamook's was, as Nathan suspected. It reminded him of the fact that if they hadn't called Nhik in to help, Nathan would probably be back in Oregon setting up some sort of funeral. The thought had his stomach disagreeing with him again, and Nathan quickly altered his train of thought, instead focusing on paying as much attention to Dr. Nhik and the hospital as he could. He was there to keep helping River, not imagine what could've happened if they hadn't had help.

By the end of the little tour, Nhik had to give him a special pass so Nathan could get through security in the V.C. ward, which was a lot tighter than Tillamook's was. No one could enter the ward without a password or a name tag showing they had clearance, and while part of Nathan felt like it was a little overkill, he could understand the reasoning behind it. And, it meant that no one could possibly get in to see River who shouldn't be there. So he couldn't exactly complain about having to use some sort of pass to see his son. It'd been years since he worked in Mandan, he'd be surprised if anyone there even remembered who he was. They wouldn't just see him and automatically know him, not like most of the staff in Tillamook. The idea of being somewhere where people didn't know him was unusual, too. After everything with Ace and his textbook, and then the Endorphizyme, and Nathan's current work with HIV and AIDs, he'd gotten particularly well known in both his hospital and the vampire world in general.