3 Years

77 - Clone

Mike was brought back in after a few hours, and the nurse explained that he was asleep from the anesthesia used and that his test results would come back either hours later or tomorrow.

Nini had to leave to go eat lunch with the twins, and she didn't want to leave them alone for that many hours straight. That meant Ricky was all alone.

So many thoughts were running through his head. He's looked over the schedule that Nia made and was trying to organize enough time to be able to split himself up enough, so he got to see everyone, but it was becoming difficult: he didn't want it to seem like he was abandoning Noah; he had to re-establish some sort of a relationship with Nini and create one in the first place for the twins; there was the new job at Slices to help pay for everything; and he had to spend more time with his dad to ensure he was healthy and safe.

I need to somehow clone myself. Ricky felt like boulder after boulder was being thrown at him while his arms became weaker and more tired; his body felt heavy under the weight of it all, and he was sure that if he couldn't create some sort of plan soon, then he would be crushed and defeated by it all.

He was too afraid to leave his dad alone. One, because he knew that he probably wouldn't be let back into the room without an ID, and two, he was terrified of something bad happening without him being here.

His repentance was eating him alive, and he just couldn't figure out how to fight back. He figured apologizing to his dad would be the first step. Ricky could faintly see his reflection in the window and realized how ridiculous his thought process was; it was that iconic scene from every movie that would try incredibly too hard to be insightful. It was odd that it wasn't a bad place to start though.

Ricky stared at the floor and began mumbling different sentences to himself:
"I'm sorry."
"I want to make it up to you."
"None of this is fair."
"Please don't leave yet. I'm not ready."

He wasn't sure what he would do if any of this turned out to be fatal; that was a scenario his mind wouldn't allow him to ignore. "Dad, I'm sorry," he repeated. "I feel like this is somehow my fault; if I managed my time better and planned out how to split myself up, maybe this situation could be a little better."

Ricky was mostly scared because he wasn't sure how long his dad had been laying there for; it could've been a lot worse had he not chosen to come over when he did.

Another slow hour goes by, and Ricky hears a knock at the door. "C- Come in," he stammers, wiping his tears. He was surprised to see EJ and Gina come in with Aidan between them. "H- Hey," he said, standing to greet them. After quick hugs, he asked, "What are you guys doing here? And how did you get in?"

"Big Red told us the news," EJ said. "We're so sorry, Ricky."

"And the desk called Red to let us in. That dude was crazy," Gina commented, lightly chortling.

"Yeah, I wasn't allowed in without Nini or Red either," Ricky added.

Ricky moved out of the way for the other three to get closer to the bed. "Mom, what happened to him?" Aidan asked.

"He, um... fainted, was it?" Gina said, looking at Ricky to clarify.

"Yeah. Yeah, I, uh... That's what happened."

"Any more news?" EJ wondered.

"Uh, not yet. He just came back from a test a few hours ago, so we're waiting on the results; they can either come back sometime later today or tomorrow."

"Have you eaten anything since you've been here?" she asked.

"Um, not other than breakfast. That was a few hours ago though."