Downplay| Jordan Clarkson & Quincy Brown

•f o r t y t w o •

April 20, 2023

11:02 AM

She was furious.

It was taking everything in Yara to keep calm as Quincy sped down the highway. Six hours ago, Yara had been woken up by a call from Jordan, he was at the hospital with Elijah. His mom had called him and told him something had happened to their baby at home. Immediately, Yara and Quincy had sprung into action. Jordan hadn't told her much as the doctors were still examining the child and that made her even more infuriated and anxious.

As Quincy took a right and turned into the hospital parking lot, Yara wiped tears away that were building in her eyes. No mother ever wanted to receive a call like that, ever.

"Shug, Jahi is alright, that's what's most important right now." Quincy tried to soothe her, but he was angry himself, Yara had brought her concerns to him and he'd hoped for the best. They should have trusted their guts.

"No, Q what's important is finding out what the fuck happened?" Her voice was quaking.

Quincy finally pulled into a parking spot and before he could turn back to his fiancée , he heard her door slam as she jogged toward the front. He understood her anger, but he also knew that they had to deal with this a certain way. Jahi had been hurt and they needed to figure out how and where to go from there, yelling at each other would only create more chaos. He sent up a silent prayer before he got out, locked the car, and ran after Yara into the reception area.

When he made it inside, he saw that there was a doctor in dark blue scrubs talking to her and immediately went to her side.

"So, where is my son? What happened?" Yara queried, visibly distraught.

"Ms. Underwood, I'm Dr. Pravesh and I've been treating little Elijah. He is just fine. There was an accident, but his grandmother brought him in as soon as possible. Aside from some bruises he's okay and I can take you to see him now. However, I did have some questions." The doctor looked over at Quincy "I'm sorry, are you two together?"

"I'm Quincy Brown, her fiancé. When can we see Jahi and where is Jordan?"

"In just a moment you can, and Mr. Clarkson is with the child and my colleague at the moment. We just had some questions we wanted to ask, Ms. Underwood would you and Mr. Brown mind following me?"

"We?" Quincy queried.

"A representative of child protective services Ms. Melissa Reagan would also like to speak with us, is that alright?"

Both nodded, their nerves increasing tremendously before the doctor guided them through the floor and up the elevator, three stories to the pediatric unit. Once there, she directed them to a conference room where another woman in a red dress and navy blazer was sitting with her eyebrows furrowed.

"Mrs. Reagan, this is Yara Underwood, Elijah's mother and Quincy Brown her fiancé. I informed them that we just wanted to ask some questions before I let them see Elijah."

"Yes, nice to meet you both. I'm Mrs. Reagan from the department of child and family services. I am usually called in when things are flagged as unusual. I've already spoken to Mr. Clarkson as well as his fiancée and his daughter, Callie, Elijah's half -sister pertaining to what happened last night. I have my suspicions but I just wanted to speak with you to decide which actions would be best, if any should be taken at all."

Yara's throat felt like it was closing on her. Sensing her discomfort, Quincy squeezed her hand supportively as he pulled her chair out for her before taking the seat beside her.

"Can you give her a minute, this is all very nerve-wrecking and we just want to see Jahi." Quincy explained as he rubbed Yara's back , half in part to support her and the other half to steady himself.