Anything For Rachel

Chapter Thirty Three.

Octavia pursed her lips, but Cromley shook his head at Calvin. "You've been outnumbered before, Majesty." He said confidently. "I've seen you battle out of five armed attackers completely on your own."

Calvin groaned, stopping to turn and face him. "That was different." He countered. "And this is at a minimum twenty one men here." He shook his head and looked up at the water stained ceiling. "We have seven people, five that can fight."

It wasn't the news I wanted to hear. The rest of their arguing back and forth was background noise to the constant worries running through my head. What if they decide to take her someplace else and we miss our chance entirely? How would I be able to force air in and out of my lungs with no idea where on this earth my daughter is and who she is with? I could feel the bile rising from my stomach and I got up quickly and narrowly made it into the bathroom soon enough before the lunch that Calvin and I had gone to get earlier came right back up.

"Rachel," Calvin whispered as he held back my hair. "Are you ok?" He asked, rubbing my back with his other hand.

I flushed the toilet and lowered down onto the cold white tiles and tried to steady myself. "I need to get to her." I whispered, shaking my head back and forth. "I need her, Calvin. I can't be away from her anymore."

Calvin scooped me up and held me in his arms against his cold chest and shushed me quietly. "Baby, I will fight all twenty, thirty, or one hundred men by myself if it means getting her back to you." He assured me. "Why don't you and Logan go get some air while we discuss our options?" He asked. "You both don't need to hear all of this. It's only going to stress you further."

I wanted to say no, but my heart couldn't take any more bad news, and fresh air sounded good to my troubled mind. "Fine." I muttered.

He kissed the tip of my nose and set me on my feet, waiting to be sure I was steadied before he let me go. "Logan," He called, and I had to shake my head at how odd his name sounded coming out of Calvin's mouth. "Rachel needs some space, can you go with her outside for a while?" Logan narrowed his eyes, but then he sighed and walked to my side, getting the door for me. "Don't go far." Calvin called before we went out into the hall and began walking down the strangely squishy carpeted stairs until we got outside.

The chill in the air cut through my thin white sweater, but it felt good. The coldness helped me to steady my mind, and made it easier for me to focus on something other than the gut chewing despair and longing for Rose. I sighed deeply and my breath hung in the air in front of me, fanning away from me slowly.

Logan walked out from under the awning that covered the drive in front of the hotel and he looked up at the sky, shoving his hands into his pockets. I followed slowly behind him and mirrored his actions, my hands just barely fitting into the tiny pockets on my jeans. I cursed under my breath and Logan looked down at me, a half smile on his face.

I shook my head at him. "I just can't stand that girl's pants pockets have zero room in them." I blurted out. "I mean look at yours." I said pointing at his hands in his slightly baggy sweat pants. "You could fit both of your hands into one pocket, but girl's pants you can hardly get your fingers in the pockets, much less your whole hands."

Logan laughed a little and then shook his head, looking back up at the stars that were losing some of their brightness as the time for the sun to take back over inched closer and closer. "You aren't really upset about your pockets are you?" He asked and I sighed.

"No." I muttered. "I'm upset because I can't help always feelings like my life is falling apart all around me." I told him, then shrugged, pulling my hands out and pulling my sleeves further down over them instead. "Plus, you know, the pocket situation is a little annoying."