《 Skip a Beat 》

Precious seconds

Tina stared at the cold, bleak grey walls in the waiting room. They stared right back.

The desolate corridor was populated by only the five of them, and the foreboding sounds coming from the room with the grey door behind them. Tina could hear them now. There was lots of clattering noises, rustling, and the sound of something being wheeled across the floor.

Multiple voices spoke over the top of each other- there had to be at least five people in there. Nobody was saying anything she wanted to hear. There was panic in all the voices, and one overlapped all the others at one point, yelling "Get that thing over here! Now!", followed by rapid squeaking noises and numerous clicking sounds. More voices followed.

"Clip that on. All of them."

"Get the wires."

Tina tried to block out the voices. Listening to them wasn't going to do her any good.

But she didn't think that anyone could have pretended not to hear it when someone hollered "We're losing him!"

Tina's blood chilled. Nobody looked toward each other, all too frightened to move, let alone talk.

Chaos behind the door escalated in response to the cry, and there was more yelling that followed.

"He's dying!"

"Holden, get over here!"

"He's got about a minute... less... for Merlin's sake Jordan, turn the damn thing on!"

"You forgot the cable! Clip it in!"

There was more clicking sounds, then the sound of something whirring, as if it were powering up. Quiet, muffled voices followed. Tina stopped listening and focussed on her breathing, still watching the grey wall on the opposite side on the corridor.

On her left, Theseus was doing the same thing. Both of them were lost in their own worlds, trying not to think about what was happening to Newt in the room behind them.

On her right, Queenie sat with Jacob next to her, gently clasping his hands as he murmured soothing words to her.

Leta was on Theseus' left, trying not to stare at anything but her shoes. She wished she had been there to help him. Tina had, she found out a while ago. Tina had been the reason that everyone held a shred of hope that he'd survive. But even Tina might have been precious seconds too late.

Leta shook her head. She wouldn't think like that. She'd force herself to stay positive. Newt had gone through so much- he couldn't die now. Theseus sensed her sudden movement and turned to face her.

"Are you okay?" he whispered. Hospitals felt like a place for whispering. Nobody talked loudly. Nobody smiled. Nobody laughed. Then again, nobody expected them to. Hospitals were sad places.

"I'm fine."

Anyone who could have heard her would've been able to tell that she wasn't fine. Theseus knew that she wasn't fine. He wasn't fine, either. No one was. But everyone knew that, so nobody pushed each other to talk. Theseus included. He studied her for a moment before turning back to face the wall.

On his other side, Tina had dried her tears since they'd entered the hospital, shoulders back and head held high once more, though everyone could tell that she wasn't fine either. She was probably the least fine out of all of them.

She couldn't erase the image of Newt's mangled leg, the sound of his voice screaming at her to run, and, gods damn her, she couldn't erase the feeling of his lips brushing against her cheek before he die-

Tina cut her own thoughts off. He wasn't dead. He'd make it through. She wouldn't give up on him now. It had been 24 hours since Tina found him bleeding out on the amphitheatre floor, and he'd been rushed to the nearest hospital as soon as possible. All five of them waited outside while Merlin knows what the surgeons were doing behind the door.