《 Skip a Beat 》

It's all in the details

Another two months passed, and Newt had agreed to be taken off life support.

The cuts on Newt's face and arms had cleared up completely, except the one on his temple, which had two stitches across it to stop it from reopening. The stitches in his leg were removed and some more metal pins were added in 14 days' time, in another surgery. Dr Mallord gave him some anaesthetic so he wouldn't feel any pain. Well, that's what Tina had been told. What it actually meant, which she only found out when they entered the viewing room, was that it meant Newt would be unconscious. Again.

When Tina stumbled through the viewing room doors for the second time and saw him lying motionless on the operation table, the tight feeling in her chest multiplied by millions. Déjà vu washed over her, and her heart coiled into a spring and sat knotted in her chest for the whole two hours.

What if this was all a nightmare and wasn't getting better?

What if he never got any surgery done at all?

What if this is all a dream and he's actually dead?

Tina dismissed the thought from her head. She was well aware of her consciousness, and she was sure that Newt would make it. He'd come this far, hadn't he?

Tina was correct. Newt was right as rain in 24 hours' time, and even though he probably wouldn't walk again (according to Dr Mallord and Nick), he was grateful that they'd tried to fix it. After the second operation, Mallord wrapped a white cast around his leg, which Pickett had taken a great affinity to drawing on with a red permanent marker.

Other than that, Tina couldn't recall much. They all felt like a messy whirlwind of visits to the hospital. Today was another one of those messy visits. It was mid-August, almost five months after Newt's admittance to hospital. Tina reached the end of the corridor and gently pushed the grey door open for the 17th time that month.

"Morning, Newt," chirped Tina as she strode through the door.

"Morning, Tina."

She rolled her neck and sat down on the corner of his bed as per usual. He looked a little better today. The colour had almost completely returned to his face. Pickett was perched on his cast again, trying to balance the weight of his trusty red marker as he scribbled out another drawing. Tina placed a stack of worn yellow files on the small wooden table, and it caught Newt's attention.

"What are those?" he indicated his head towards the pile.

Tina smiled.

Two months. It had been two months since Newt had started talking again, and the sound of his voice still sent tingles down her spine. He hadn't been able to speak for a long time- Tina had lost count of the weeks- and hearing him talk to her again, even if it was just a "Hey," or "Good morning," it still managed to make her smile. She would never admit it to anyone, but she loved the sound of his voice, and missed it more than she was prepared to admit.

A minute later, Tina realised she hadn't responded to him. Red creeped up her neck.

"Uh- work files."

Newt nodded understandingly.

Earlier that week, he saw a nurse flash past the door with a newspaper tucked under her arm. Newt only caught a glimpse of what the headlines were, but it kicked his heart into overdrive.

Notorious dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald escapes from custody in British Ministry

Chaos across all the ministries in the world would be amplified in response to that. Tina apologised profusely for bringing work with her, but Newt waved her off. She didn't need to apologise for working, but mixed feelings were roiling in his gut.