Abdicatin' Royalty

Abdicating Angel

"I love you, Jaime!" All that went through my mind were those mesmerizing words, each syllable soft and sweet like the warm cinnamon rolls he so amazingly bakes. Each letter perfectly crafted to spell it out and each tantalizing time I subconsciously repeated it, it felt more surreal but I knew that it wasn't.

Slowly, I tried to flicker my eyes open but they were so heavy and they hurt a lot but I still persisted. The faint glimpse I got was of Adrian, asleep in Hugo's arms on the navy blue sofa and Hadley was sitting to my left. What was odd was that someone was squeezing my right hand. Christian, no doubt.

I faintly felt my hand squeeze his while my head turned in that direction. "Jaime," he whispered but the haziness from the drip blurred most of it out. When my eyes finally allowed themselves to be opened, I saw his face lighten up. "Hey," he greeted - both overjoyed and on the verge of crying.

I smiled and all that I could utter was a groggy, "I love you too." He smiled as the tears fell. I started to feel the hollow inside me and it caused both dread and an overwhelming excitement to fill me. "The baby?"

His smile faltered a little but it didn't completely disintegrate, instead he let out a scoff-like laugh. "He's amazing," was all he said and that's what caused the smile to completely vanish. After repeatedly asking what was wrong, he caved with. "It's stupid to ask because I don't actually care about the answer, I care about him. But, Jaime is this baby mine?" Groggily I repositioned myself, ignoring Hadley and Hugo completely. "He's got green eyes," he stated like wanted to cry again.

I shrugged, "so?"

"Jaime, Vincent has green eyes."

I shrugged again. "So does my dad."

He sat up straight like it was some sort of cuss word but I couldn't blame him, Lautaro passed on in February - he's Christian's biological father. He and his dad were inseparable until he emitted himself into a mental hospital. "Does your dad have straight dark hair, an abstract tattoo on his left shoulder and Roman numerals on his..."

"Forearm," we said together and I nodded.

"He and uncle Edwil have been arguing since we arrived," Hadley stated.

"Eddy's here?"

Christian nodded. "And our moms are with the baby."

I casted Eddy and my mom out of my mind as more excitement bubbled inside me. "Where is he? I need to see him." Christian went on to explain that he needed a little extra attention before he could be brought up to me. Because he's a premature baby, his lungs aren't fully developed yet but that only increased my impatience.

"Can you at least find my dad," I asked Christian and he nodded as he stood up. "Christian," he stopped and turned back to me, "just my dad!"

"They're in patient room 180," Zachary voiced, finger still pressed into his earpiece.

Seeing him made Marco's motionless, bleeding and traumatizing body reappear in my mind. "Zachary! Where's Marco?! Is he okay?"

He merely shook his head. "They haven't released any information about him yet. Doctors say that the number one concern is you and the infant."

With a heavy, frustrated sigh I forced myself to think of a way to get an update from Marco... Did I even need to think about it? "Zachary, please page Dr. Lalique Titus for me. Only Dr. Titus." He nodded as he spoke into his earpiece. "How is he," I asked turning to Hugo, Adrian still asleep in his arms.

"He was real frightened when you didn't wake up to have the baby. Christian called Hadley first then she called me and then his parents." I turned to Hadley and gave her a small nod and in return she nodded back. "We still don't know how uncle Edwil found out. There was nothing in the news about it."