Take Me Back | ✔️

17. UNDER THE CONDITIONS

ALL OF US SAT ON THE CHAIRS of the hospital. I've always come to hate hospitals since I was in high school. I hated being here—knowing that Sam was inside of the rooms, badly injured, and I couldn't even see her. It was always only her family and Alex who pretended to be her bodyguard each time she was sent there.

Now, I'm sitting here, yearning to see her while they had banned anyone to see her as she was still in surgery.

A woman, came to the three of us, dressed in blue-green scrubs as her dark hair was tied into a bun. "Are you the family?"

Before I could even shake my head and say that Sean, her brother, haven't arrived yet, Alex had stepped closer pointing to me and nodding, "Yeah. He's the fiancée of Sam. How is she?"

Nodding, she continued, "Because of her severe blood loss from her gunshot wound to her shoulder and then, having another one to her chest, she's in a critical condition. There's a lot of bleeding in her chest, and the bullet had penetrated a pulmonary artery."

There was ringing in my ears but I still managed to find my voice. "Will she... will she be okay?"

"Right now, it's hard to say," she said. "We're still stabilizing her and finding the bullet. I'll update you once we have news."

Alex sat in front of me, a coffee in between his hands but he wasn't drinking at all. He was just staring at it intently while Polly was beside him, her hand on his back, caressing him, comforting him.

The woman had a crush on him and here she was, watching him be incredibly worried on another woman.

One that we both loved still.

"We came as fast as we could."

The three of us stood, seeing Sean and Adriana in front of us but that's not them that caught my attention. It was the boy in-between them who had the same eyes as Jason. Hazel eyes. And like him, the green was more prominent than the blue mixture in his eye color.

But other than that, he more like a masculine copycat of Sam. Brown hair, small pink lips, and square jaw. The nose on the other hand, looked like it came from Sean's which was obvious since they were related.

This is him. Gabriel. Sam's kid.

"Hey," Adriana was in front of me, catching my attention as she wrapped her arms around me. "It's good to see after these years."

She pulled away and proceeded to hug Alex while Sean came up to me and hugged me also. I don't mention the stitches by his hairline, knowing the story already. "I wish we could've had this reunion on a better circumstance. Anyway, you should meet someone—" he placed his hand on Gabriel's shoulder. "—this is Gabriel, Sam's son. Gabe, this is your other uncle whom you haven't met yet. His name is Travis."

I knelt down to the height of him. He looked like a six-year-old, maybe a seven as he stepped closer and I came to observe him more. He gave me a smile and held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Gabriel. Are you the one that's mommy's friend?"

Taking his small hand, I shook it. Who wouldn't like this kid? "Yes, I am, Gabriel. It's nice to meet you."

He smiled, shyly before pulling back and running to Alex who met him by grabbing him, carrying him up so he was able to wrap his little arms around his neck. "Uncle Alex, where's mommy?"