Radioactive - Book 1: Birth 🪼

Twenty Three

"Nalak. Nalak, wake up."
Nalak is pretty much dead to the world and I really hate to leave him without warning since R decided to do the same thing not some days ago, but I have to go see R at the hospital. I go find the complimentary writing pad that the hotel has and write a note for him to let him know where I've gone. I stick it on the bar and head out. Hopefully his emotions don't get ahead of him and he misses the note.
I know what it's like when your first swell happens but this poor kid probably couldn't handle making a simple decision in his state. Not only was he in his first swell but also his last which meant that every hormonal issue will most likely come up and he'll be in hysterics for a while until I can get him some Nexenaf to calm him down. Lord knows it helped me when I had my first swell. I'm happy they developed it for men since Midol really didn't work the same for us. Maybe they would also help him with his night terrors since they are triggered by his emotions and such. Poor kid was screaming half the night and in tears the other half.
No wonder he couldn't go to sleep for a week. Every time I thought he'd gone to sleep about twenty minutes later I would hear him scream and then sob into the pillow of the couch. Every time I went to check on him though, he would apologize and say he'd be alright but I knew he wasn't going to be. Eventually, it got so bad that I even offered to let him sleep next to me in my bed. I'm not usually like this with random children but Nalak seems to have gotten under my skin in a good way. I don't know if it's his connection R and how loyal he was to him, the fact that even though he knew R was an Empty, he didn't make fun of him, or maybe it's just the fact that I feel I need to let him know that he's not alone anymore. I'm not sure what it is but I would usually never offer something like that for anyone other than family. Nalak though... I guess Nalak was like family...
All I know is that once he was in the bed, he didn't let his guard down for a minute and had his foot continually touching my leg all night as if to make sure that I wasn't going to leave. Once he finally fell asleep, I guess the comforts allowed him to sleep without a hitch because it seemed that the nightmares stopped after that. I know that those types of dreams can really pull the strength out of you (I should know since I've been in that kind of state myself) and so Nalak's inability to wake up immediately this morning was most likely due to all things combined.
Nevertheless, he will be fine and once R gets better, I can reunite them and deal with the other issue that I'm having.

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I walk into the hospital and head to R's room. As I open the door, Lexara turns to me and her smile fades.
"Mr. Fountain."
"Dropped the formalities, I see?" She makes a face at me. "How is he?"
"He's doing very well. He's actually on the lowest dose of pain meds and he hasn't whimpered a bit. He's very strong."
I walk over to my son and move some of his golden hair from his face as he sleeps soundly.
"He's always been that way..." I say in regards to his strength.
"I hope you won't bite my head off about this but it occurred to me last night something I've been meaning to ask you."
"Okay."
"R is your child isn't he? As in he's yours."
"Yeah, so?"
"It makes more sense now. I mean, people love all of their children whether it's mother-children, father-children, or Trad-children, but I've noticed the one who birthed the child (except in Trads) have this strange super attachment to their kids. I know because I'm the same with Diamond, but there's something very special about R, isn't there?"
"He was my last natural swell. After Ramey we began Tradding for personal reasons. Happy? Is your scrutinizing brain happy now?"
Lexara makes a face at me and stands up, holding the clipboard in her hands.
"I'm going to be frank with you since you don't seem to think I deserve respect so I'm going to skip the formalities and tell you what's on my mind. I've tried to be as nice as I can with you but all you seem to do is tear me down and threaten not only me but my family. You also seem to think that you can just throw me around wherever you want me to go. Damn your connections in the RDC and damn you. I've done everything I can to try and help R but you shoot me down every time. I made a mistake, so what? I've been trying to recover from that since then. Why won't you just give me a chance to prove that I'm not out to destroy your family?"
I clench my fist and try to keep calm.
"You made a mistake and you have cost... you have cost a lot. I appreciate you helping R out when he needs it but you really don't understand what you have done."
"I would if you would just tell me."
"Telling you would only cause more issues."
Lexara threw up her hands. "I give up. Really. Trying to figure you out is impossible!"
"It would be best if you stopped."
"Dad?"
I look over as R opens his eyes a little and I smile.
"Hey, you feeling better?"
"Yeah..."
Lexara leaves and I pull the chair up to sit beside R on the bed.
"When can I get out of here?" he asks and I smile.
"Not until you can go without pain medication for a day. That might not be too long though since you're recovering pretty fast... I... I met up with Nalak last night."
R stiffens. "Nalak?"
"Yeah... He's really worried about you. You gave him a horrible fright, Ramey."
"What do you mean?"
"I know you still have some lavender will you so please throw it away and let him locate you. He's been so lost and scared."
"Why? I told him to go to the Badlands without me."
"Ramey, do you really think he would do that? Not after you practically abandoned him and left him not a trace of you or where you were going. I know you want to help him but you're only hindering him. He's been out looking for you all this time and hasn't had a wink of sleep because he's been plagued by nightmares."
"How long has it been?"
"Almost a week. When I was walking home last night, I found him in the alley, shivering and practically skin and bones. He hasn't slept in a week because of the nightmares he's been having."
"He... he's not here, is he?"
"No, he finally went to sleep last night and didn't wake up. I thought that would be too cruel to a body that needed to rest like his."
R seems hesitant as he looks at me sheepishly. "Is he going to be okay?"
"He'll be fine. He's Nalak..."
"Yeah." He says with a sad laugh. "Dad, I did something that I don't know how to fix."
"I'll see if I can help."
"I... He tried to eat me and he was really bad this time. I'd just recovered and he tried to eat me so I told him not to touch me with deep anger and instruction. Now he literally can't touch me. When I try to touch him, he automatically moves back and if we don't try, he seems to keep pulling away. What do I do, Dad? How do I fix it?"
I sit back in the chair and think for a second when I hear my phone ring. I pull it out and see that it's Nalak himself and I stand up.
"Let me think on it for a second, alright? I need to take this call."
I walk out of the room and down the hall.