⚠️deadname mentioning
(Please read A/N at the end)
Yoongi walks out of the hospital elevator with a hand in his pocket and a smile on his face. He's greeted by nurses and doctors as he passes, waving and nodding in acknowledgement.
He rounds the receptionist's desk and Garrett smiles at him. He also sees Kyra there but ignores her entirely. Just the sight of her makes him upset.
After what she could have done to Onyx, he doesn't think she should even be allowed in the building.
Call it a personal decision.
"Good morning, Director Min. How are you?" Garrett greets.
"I'm good, Garrett. How are you?"
"Good. You've got some mail." He replies, picking up the envelope from the desk.
He holds it out and Yoongi looks at it, confused as to why he'd be receiving paper mail from anybody.
Kyra subtly looks up from her desktop, spitting the envelope in his hands. As not to look suspicious, she looks back at her screen but continues to listen in.
Anybody in the hospital that wants to get in contact with Yoongi knows to email him or go to his office. Those are the quickest, easiest ways to speak with him.
Sending mail in is reserved for departments like H.R. or even other medical centers.
As soon as Yoongi sees who the letter is from, he kind of understands why he's getting paper mail. It's addressed from the board of directors of the hospital.
"Thank you." Yoongi says as he feels the thickness of the envelope. "Have you seen Hyde by any chance yet today?"
"Not since I got in this morning. He told me to tell you to page him when you got here, though. I couldn't tell it it was good or bad. He's masking really well today."
Yoongi sighs and licks his lips.
Of course, he is.
"Alright, thanks. I'm going to go see what all this is about."
"Okay. Let me know if you need anything." Garrett calls to him as he walks down the hall.
"I will." Yoongi starts opening the letter as he walks down the hallway.
As he's taking his keys out, he starts reading the first couple of sentences. He realizes what the letter is for and folds it back up. He quickly unlocks the door to his office and steps inside.
He tosses his bag onto the futon and holds the letter with both hands, eyebrows furrowing as he reads the paper.
We are currently investigating the incident that took place last week in the emergency department of St. Juniper's Hospital.
During said incident, Nurse Kyra Walters, under the attention of Dr. Jacob Hyde, wrongfully assigned medication to an infant under one.
It has come to our attention that you are one of four employees present at the time of the incident. Due to the tender circumstances of the case, we will need your statement given, written or verbal, in order to proceed.
This is time sensitive and will be recorded for matters of the state, as this is something that needs to be reported to the local medical board.
Proper consequences and legal action are dependent on details of the case. Your cooperation is appreciated.
Thank you and best regards,
Kathy Gates,
Board of Directors
St. Juniper's Hospital
Yoongi blinks several times before folding the letter back up. He hates the way that they word things. They always half explain and then confuse him further without explaining anything else.
It's as if they want to give details but then later decide not to but don't go back and change anything already typed.
With a heavy sigh, Yoongi goes to sit as his desk. He takes his phone out of his pocket and calls Dr. Hyde. As he rubs his forehead, he realizes that he's using his personal phone.
Dr. Hyde answers anyway.
"Hello?"
"Yeah, I just got here. Garrett gave me a letter from the Board. I opened it but I'm still-. What the hell is going on?"
"Give me about five, ten minutes and I'll be up to explain everything to you. They called me this morning on a conference call and there's just a fucking mess that this woman's caused. I'll be up on a minute."
"Alright. I'll be in my office."
"Got it."
They hang up the phone and Yoongi grabs his work bag. He takes his laptop out and plugs it in before starting it up. He goes through his work emails from this morning and the night before, replying to who he needs to and archiving what he doesn't need.
As he works silently, he can't stop thinking about the letter. He knows that they're investigating Kyra. He just didn't think about the fact that they might need a statement from those that were involved.
He didn't think that all of this would be needed for a decision of termination.
But then again, he's never been in this situation nor has he ever known anybody to be. He's not really sure how any of this works.
Two quick knocks draw him from his thoughts. He looks at the time, eyebrows raising by how quickly time went by.
"Yeah, come in."
Dr. Hyde opens the door and steps inside.
"Good morning, Director Min." He smiles.
Hyde couldn't be more proud hearing those words out of both his mouth and everybody else's.
Yoongi's worked very hard to get to the position that he's in now. He's done so much work, put in so many hours, proven himself time and time again.
He's let everyone know that he's more than capable of doing anything that they put in front of him. He's a stand up guy, a revered surgeon. He's one of the best in the field, let anyone in the hospital tell it.
Hell, anybody on the state board.
"Good morning, Dr. Hyde."
"How are you this morning? How's your family?" Hyde asks as he walks to sit in the chair in front of Yoongi's desk.
"I'm good, a little confused by this." He holds up the papers. "But what else is new? My family's good. My parents are getting over the last leg of their cold. Try why want to make sure it's out of their system before they come around Onyx."
"And how is he? How are his stitches? How's Harper? I know that she was really worked up about everything. As any parent would be."
"Onyx is fine." Yoongi nods. "We spray a little anti-itch stuff onto his stitches so he doesn't pick at them. He's okay with Jewel. They sleep in the crib together still. And Harper is... well, she's still kind of wary about everything, honestly. She's nervous to take him anywhere now and I'm a little concerned too. We learned to kind of manage one thing and now there's another so it's just a lot."
Dr. Hyde's smile begins to grow as he listens to Yoongi speak. It's funny because it's so familiar to him to hear. From one father to another, of course.
"I want us to be able to take Onyx out with us when we go grocery shopping or whatever but he's easily overstimulated so we never know how that's going to go. And now with that damn dog incident, he just might associate stores with danger and that will make it worse."
Yoongi sighs and rubs his forehead as he groans.
"I just want him to not feel so stressed out in public, you know? But it doesn't seem to be getting any better so I think at this point, Harper and I will just have to learn how to manage it for the time being."
Dr. Hyde has a mind to ask him if he's talked to Onyx's doctor about these things but he doesn't. Yoongi's very capable, very responsible. He's not blind, he isn't ignorant.
Hyde knows that Yoongi will get whatever things done that need to be dealt with.
"Has she said anything about it?" He wonders.
"Not outright." Yoongi says. "I think that she's noticed some things but she's been split in several different directions lately. With that guy taking her to court, Delilah's wedding, her not being able to physically come to work, there's a lot for her to think about. We've been talking about her going back to school to finish her final semester. I don't want her to be overwhelmed by anything."
Hyde inhales deeply in understanding but sighs at what he's about to have to tell him. It's frustrating for him too.
He and Yoongi don't talk as friends outside of work. It's not that they wouldn't. The opportunity has just never presented itself in that way. Their work schedules used to clash often. But even still, Dr. Hyde genuinely cares and wants the best for Yoongi.
With the knowledge that dating has previously been difficult for Yoongi, it's upsetting that these are the events transpiring now that he finally has a girlfriend. Now that he's found someone to be happy with.
"I think the most you can do is keep her grounded. You guys will have to keep each other grounded, actually, because this is going to be some lengthy shit." Hyde states.
"I know. I just want it to be over already, though."
"Our hospital board is reporting Kyra to the state's nursing board."
"What?" Yoongi isn't necessarily surprised by that news.
It's the timing that's surprising. It hasn't even been a full week.
"Yep. The night that everything happened, Freddy and I emailed them ourselves saying that we were going to do it if they didn't immediately. Kathy said that they were going to anyway but they need full evidence for this."
"Which means they need the people involved for statements. The state is going to ask for them anyway." Yoongi puts his head in his hands and sighs again.
"You and Harper can deliver them in whichever way that you choose. Whether that be verbal or written, we'll take it."
"Harper didn't see much but what she did see is all of what's wrong with the situation. Kyra walked into that room and said that she was holding bacitracin."
Hyde scoffs at the situation. "I really can't believe that she did this shit. I'm so sorry, Yoongi."
"It isn't your fault. She needs to be held accountable for her own actions. When it comes to situations like what happened with my son, she shouldn't have to hovered over. The protocol is the same with every patient. You check the damn log before administering medication. Every single time."
"It isn't just that. She should have been after the first incident. But that would have been a mess with that woman and going to the media. It would have played out in a way that would've portrayed this entire hospital in a negative way that we aren't even in."
"We can't argue with religion, Hyde. Kyra knew she was wrong then and she knew what she was getting off on. But this is different. She's not getting away with this shit."
"Not after the statements are in. They'll give her a chance to respond but what can she really say? That she 'made a mistake'?"
"It was a completely avoidable mistake that could've cost my son his life. Had she done her job, she wouldn't even be in this situation. She did everything but her job. She always does everything but her job."
Yoongi stares at the papers on his desk, feeling himself getting upset about the situation again.
"Ugh." He leans back against his chair and groans. "I just want to be able to go home and ignore the world with my family. Why can't I do that?"
"You can. Right now, it seems like you can't. But you just have to learn to get through this and leave everything else at the door. Trust me. Leave outside, outside if that makes sense. Before you even step foot into your home at the end of the work day, just leave it at the door. Unless there's something you guys really need to talk about or something that's really bothering you guys, leave this shit here. I'm telling you. Take it from me."
Yoongi nods and pushes his hair behind his ears. It's going to be difficult to leave this particular situation outside of the door since it directly involves his family.
"Oh my-. My parents are going to flip."
"You haven't told them?"
"No. I was trying to avoid it because I know how they'll get."
"It's their family, too. Justified."
"Yeah... it's just-. Ugh."
"You're stressing yourself out when you don't have to. You've got good family for a reason. You've got a good woman, your parents are great. You've got great friends. The only people that truly need protecting are your son and Harper. Split the load, Yoongi."
"Speaking of that, actually, have you heard anything back from Dr. Mitchell?"
"About the service situation? Not yet. She said that she has an appointment today with the head of security today to run back footage to see what happened."
"Alright. Just keep me posted."
"She'll probably update Harper before she updates me or you. But last time I went to raid her office for peppermint patties, I did see that she was interviewing for pharmacists and techs and Harper?
"Yeah." Yoongi smiles proudly. "That's what her final semester's for."
"Really? You know the hospital gives out scholarships, right?" Hyde informs.
"No, I didn't know that. What are the qualifications for them?"
"I'd have to look further into it but I think she has to be an employee for like six months or something like and there's other criteria she has to meet as far as her job goes in order to give the money to her but I don't think it's anything that she can't do."
"We were just talking about paying for schooling a couple days ago so whatever you have to help, let us know."
"Of course." Hyde takes his pager out as it beeps. "And my downtime's over. Emergency in the E.D."
"That can't be good."
"Nope." Hyde hops up and says walks to the door.
"See you later."
"See you. Let me know if you need anything."
"Thank you. I will."
Hyde closes the door behind him, leaving Yoongi alone with his work and thoughts.
Checking the time on his watch, he realizes that he has a briefing in fifteen minutes for a surgery that he'll be performing the following day. He pulls up everything that he'll need for it and gets the PowerPoint together.
He's on autopilot as he works, thinking more about different ways that he can mitigate the chaos in his personal life.
There's so much going on and it would help if there was a way to streamline it. It feels as if he has multiple tabs open and they're all singing different Sesame Street songs. Ones that he doesn't know all of the words to so he can't really keep up with.
One thing at a time. He tells himself.
I can go home tonight and talk to Harper about giving our statements to the Board. The first court date in the custody case is in two days. Delilah's wedding is in two weeks.
We can do this. Everything will align just fine. We just have to get through it.
######
"Aah!" Onyx lets out a high pitched squeal as he chews his strawberries and cream oatmeal.
He claps his hands as his mother smiles at him. She laughs and claps with him.
"It's good, isn't it? Want some more?" She holds up the spoon and Onyx opens his mouth.
"Here comes the airplane." She puts spoon up and swerved it as she brings it back down.
Onyx giggles furiously, pulling on his onesie as he laughs. He kicks his legs as he opens his mouth.
"Good job, papa." Harper encourages as he gets all the food off the spoon. She claps for him and he claps with her.
"Mommy's going to rinse your bowl out and put it in the dishwasher. And then we're going to get you a bath, okay?" Harper picks him up off the counter and sets him on the kitchen floor.
He finishes eating his oatmeal before he starts crawling around. Jewel meets him in the living room and sniffs his face. The cat licks the oatmeal from his cheeks and Onyx moves his head, laughing.
"Eewww, Jewel nooo." Harper groans.
She's ignored by the cat as he continues his task. Onyx falls out and onto the floor and Jewel follows.
The infant brings him into a hug, pulling his bejeweled collar down with him.
"Aht, Onyx, be careful." Harper warns. "You'll hurt him."
Jewel meows and lays with Onyx, conceding to his hug.
"Jewel, you okay? He giving you too much lovin' over there?"
"Meow." The cat responds casually as he lies there.
He sniffs the baby's nose and mouth. Onyx watches him curiously.
"He smells like oatmeal still? Want me to wipe his mouth? I'm coming." Harper says as she puts the bowls into the dishwasher.
She grabs a wet wipe from the package and and walks over to wipe her son's mouth. He sits up when she's finished and teaches up for her.
"You want to see what time it is? See if Dada's gonna call soon?"
"Babaaa." Onyx says, grabbing the necklace around his mother's neck.
"Dada." Harper tells him. "This is Dada's."
"Dadaa."
"Good job, Bear. Let's go get you a bath and then by then, Dada should be on his lunch. He's going to eat lots of good foods. Mommy made him a chicken salad with avocado and some bacon pieces. And Mommy packed him tea so he can have his little bit of caffeine."
Harper talks to Onyx as she walks down the hall into the nursery. She grabs him some comfy pajamas and sets out his lotion and hair oil.
"You want to yellow ones or blue ones?" Harper asks him as she holds them up.
"Badaa." He replies.
"Yellow? Okay, we'll go with yellow. Do you want a Simba diaper or Timon and Pumba?"
Onyx puts his fingers into his mouth, humming in response.
"Timon and Pumba? Alrighty then."
Harper strips Onyx of his clothing and runs the bath water. He sits on the floor in his diaper as she fills his baby tub. Jewel comes into the bathroom and jumps into the large tub. He laps the water from the faucet and Harper sighs.
"Jewel... now I know I filled your water bowl."
He ignores her and keeps drinking from the faucet. Harper waits until he's done to finish filling the tub up.
She sets Onyx in it and he splashed at the bubbles. He gets droplets of water on Jewel and to Harper's surprise. The cat doesn't hate it. He lies inside of the tub next to the baby tub as Onyx splashes around.
"You want a bath, too? Does Yoongi give you baths or do cats bathe themselves? You bathe yourself, right?" Harper asks with a tilt of her head. "I don't know. Might as well. You want a bath?"
She runs the water at a lukewarm temperature and fills the palm of her hand with it. She wets Jewel's fur to see if he's going to side eye her or not.
When he doesn't, she shrugs and grabs some of Onyx's baby soap. She gives Jewel a bath while her son plays in his tub.
As she's rinsing the water from his fur, he shakes himself out. Harper squeals at Onyx pauses his kicking.
Harper sits there, open mouthed and in mood shock. Onyx laughs at his mother's expression.
"What are you? A dog?" She says, drying her face with a paper towel.
"Meow."
"I'm telling your father." She says, continuing to rinse him off. "Who am I kidding? He's just going to laugh at me, too. Gonna call it payback or something from when Onyx peed on him."
She mumbles to herself as she finishes cleaning Jewel. She wraps him in a towel and he curls in front of the heater in the bathroom.
"Alright. Your turn, sticky boy." Harper washes her hands before starting to bathe Onyx.
He watches her, smiling and humming as she washes his body. She starts to wash his hair and he frowns. His face twists up and she frowns with him, mimicking his facial expression.
"What's wrong, Mr. Man? You don't like getting your hair washed? Mommy doesn't like washing her hair either but she's gotta do it. That's how it stays clean and grows really long."
Onyx stops frowning at the sound of his mother talking to him. She realizes that he'a calming down as he hears her. So she continues to talk to him.
Even if it's just nonsense.
"You know, when Dada comes home, he's going watch the stars with us." Harper tells him. "He's going to go say hi to grandma and grandpa first to make sure they're okay. Because they were sick. They had the sniffles real bad. Then he's going to get all cleaned up and come over."
Harper rinses her son's hair as she's draining the water from the tub. Her phone starts ringing as she's grabbing her son out with his little towel.
"Oh, I wonder who that is. Come on. I left my phone in your room."
Jewels stays put in the bathroom against the heater, closing his eyes as he dries off.
Harper picks her phone up and looks at the contact.
"Oh, it's Mommy's boss." She answers the phone for Dr. Mitchell as she sets Onyx on the changing table.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Harper. How are you?"
"I'm good. How are you?"
"Good. I'm good. I'm calling to see if you can do your interview for the pharmacy tech position tomorrow morning, if possible? I know you'll be home with the baby so if it's not a good day, then we can wait. The head pharmacist is also going to be present on the video interview with us."
"Oh-. Um.." Harper puts the phone on speaker so she can finish getting Onyx together.
"That should be okay. He's pretty calm so it's not going to be a problem at all." She dries him off and puts his diaper on him.
"Okay. And how does around 7:30 sound? Is that an okay time for you?"
"Yes, that perfect actually."
Yoongi will still be home and mostly ready so he'll be able to keep an eye on Onyx while she's in the interview.
"Okay. So tomorrow morning at 7:30. I'll see you then."
"See you."
"Don't sound so nervous, Harper. I've seen your career profile. You'll do great. You're amazing."
"I'm trying. Thank you."
"It's no problem, honey. Talk to you tomorrow."
"Okay. Bye." Harper waits for Dr. Mitchell to hang up before gasping out loud.
"Did you what that, Bear?" She picks her son up and spins with him. "Mommy's going to have an interview tomorrow. For her first job in her career field. This is so exciting." She kisses his cheeks and he squeals with laughter.
"And then Mommy's going to go back to school in the fall so she can get her degree and be a pharmacist. Isn't that so cool? It's not a surgeon or anything super fancy like Daddy but it's still so cool. Mommy couldn't do his job. Thinking of his job makes Mommy sick." Harper sticks her tongue out and he giggles.
"You know what?" She realizes. "That's why he's so unbothered by your blowouts. He's looking at the insides of living people all the time." She looks at her son.
"I'd puke." Harper says to herself.
Her phone starts ringing again and she gives Onyx a look of surprise.
"Oh. Who could that be this time?" She picks her phone up as she lays him back on the table. "Is it Dada?" She says as she looks at the contact.
She holds the phone so that Onyx can see the screen as she answers.
Yoongi's face pops up and he smiles the second he sees Onyx. The infant kicks his legs and squeals.
"Hi, Bear. How you doin'? You just got out of the bath?"
"Yeah, I gave Jewel one too."
Yoongi starts laughing as he walks to his mini fridge. "You did what?"
"He was sitting in the big tub while the water was running and Onyx was splashing him so I gave him a bath. Why not?"
"Did he hate you for it?"
"No, actually. He seemed to like it."
"Really?" Yoongi says. "Hmph. Good to know. Where is he now?"
"In front of the bathroom heater balled in a towel."
"Of course."
"We should buy him pajamas." Harper says as after a gasp.
Yoongi can't help the giant grin on his face. "Why do you think he'll keep them on?"
"Why not?" She wonders, setting her phone down to lotion Onyx. "They'll be cute. Then we can take family photos or something. Oh! We can get your dad to do them. I bet he'll love that."
"Oohh. Yeah... yeah, we could do that. I think that he's been sad lately because he isn't able to take pictures like he was before with work."
"He can take pictures of us. We can all take pictures for like family holidays and then we can get pictures of Onyx every couple months to track his growth. Put it all in a scrapbook."
"What's the next holiday that's coming up?" Yoongi asks as he grabs his food.
Harper blinks at the screen, grabbing their son's pajamas.
"What?" He says, noticing her blank stare.
"It's February."
"Mmmm- oh! I didn't forget."
"You forgot." Harper states.
"Nooo. I didn't. Things have just been a little crazy lately."
Harper deadpans and he smiles at her.
"I promise you that I did not forget about Valentine's Day." He sits at his desk and props his phone up.
"So why did you ask what the next holiday was like you didn't know?" She narrows an eye as she finishes putting Onyx's pajamas on.
She clips his pacifier to his onesie and he grabs at it. She hands it to him and he puts it into his mouth.
"Because I meant for holiday pictures. You want to take family pictures on Valentine's Day?"
"Well, why not?" Harper picks Onyx up and grabs her phone. She walks into the hallway and Onyx reaches for the device.
"Hold on, Bubba."
"I don't know. I've just... never seen it done before. So it didn't come to mind."
"Your father has never done Valentine's pictures for families?"
"For couples, yeah. Like parents, yes. Not while families, I don't think. If he did, I've never heard him talk about it." Yoongi opens the salad and pours some dressing onto it.
"There's a first for everything then, Papa Bear." Harper says as she sets Onyx on the living room floor.
She props her phone up for him so he can see Yoongi as she sits down too.
"We can wear our matching pajamas to the shoot and bring Jewel too."
"Mm." Yoongi hums as he shakes his salad to spread the dressing and mix it well. "The lights. Onyx is going to hate that."
"We can dim them." Harper suggest. "Or put some sunglasses on him for some of the shots."
"I'm sure my dad will have some suggestions too. If anything, he can always edit them to be brighter or something like that. I don't know how that works. He'll figure it out." He waves it off, knowing that his father with handle it when the time comes. "What have you guys been up to all day?"
"This morning I finished some paperwork for Dr. Mitchell. Onyx and I played with blocks and on the play mat while Sesame Street was on. Jewel came over and occupied him for a little bit. I read him a book about caterpillars and butterflies earlier. He loved that one. Oh! And Dr. Mitchell called me right before you and I have an interview tomorrow morning for the pharmacy tech position."
"Really? That's great. What time?"
"7:30. The head pharmacist wants to be present during the interview and that's when they're available."
"Oh, that's good. I'll still be home. I'll be able to keep an eye on Onyx while you're in the interview."
"That's what I was thinking. At least that's one thing out of the way."
"Did you check the mail?" Yoongi asks suddenly. "By any chance?"
"No I didn't get the chance to. I went to get it but I haven't looked at any of it. The thought makes me nervous." Harper says as she picks at the carpet.
"You shouldn't be. You're going to be okay. Everything's going to be fine, baby. I promise you."
"You shouldn't promise that." Harper says quietly. "You can't guarantee that everything will be okay. You can't guarantee that everything be fine. Nobody knows that information."
"I'm not going to break my promise to you."
"But who knows if you can keep it? Things aren't in your control. They're in nobody's control. None of us are in control. And I don't want to believe your promise then something happens. Because then you'll be the person that I blame. Even though I know that it's not in your control." Harper explains how she knows her thought process will works.
"But you promised." Harper finishes.
Yoongi understands where she's coming from. It's admirable that she's so self-aware. It's good that she's willing to explain this part of her mind and how it works.
She trusts him so she'll believe him even though she knows the risk. But she has faith in Yoongi. So much of it.
So she won't allow herself to believe him for this particular scenario. There's too much at stake for her.
"Then let me rephrase. We'll do what we can to sway the odds in our favor. I'm not going to lose you or Onyx through any of this, okay?"
"Okay."
"All I ask is that you continue to give me the same patience and passion through all of this.. I know that it's going to be a lot. I know that it's going to be trying. But just.. don't leave me. Please."
"Why would I leave you? There's no reason."
"There isn't now. But I don't want you to feel like we're drifting when things start to get tough. If there's ever a time you feel like there's too much going on and we're not getting enough time for each other, you have to tell me."
Harper realizes that, in a sense, Yoongi is just as fearful of all of this as she is. He's just as wary, just as nervous. Their emotions are manifesting in two different ways, though.
Yoongi's emotional letdowns have led him to be more direct, more firm in his approach. It doesn't necessarily deter him. He's just become very selective. But once he's made his pick, that's it. He's gunning for it, head first into the deep end.
Doesn't matter if the waves are too harsh. Doesn't matter if he didn't remember to bring a life jacket. Doesn't matter if he knows that he hasn't been swimming in a while.
He'll renew his skills, brush up on his knowledge.
Yoongi won't just 'stay afloat' to survive. He'll learn the patterns of the sea. He'll memorize every pattern of the waves: the highs, the lows, the crashes.
He'll learn all of it until he learns to ride them. Until the storm becomes quiet sloshes of calm seas.
Until he can learn to swim again.
"Will you do the same?" Harper wonders.
"Of course." He smiles softly. "I'll always come to talk to you. Before the sun rises every morning, before the moon peaks every night."
Harper smiles as Onyx moves to sit in her lap. She'd never thought she'd be smiling so much like this again.
Everything about Yoongi feels so refreshing. She loves it all. Everything about him.
The way his lips part when he sleeps but he doesn't snore or mouth breathe. The way that he holds her while they sleep.
The way that he reaches out for her in the middle of the night when she gets up for a glass of water. His eyebrows will twitch and he'll keep his arms where her body was.
She loves the way that he loves her son. He's so attentive to him. He cares for him so much. He pays so much attention to everything around him.
It's a wonder how people think that Yoongi is oblivious to things. It's such an odd way to describe him, she thinks.
The way that he pushes her curls out of her face while they're talking tells her everything that she needs to know. He does it now before she even gets the chance to. Before they've made their way to getting caught in her lashes or tickling her eyelid, he's already pushed them up and out of the way.
Everything about Yoongi Min is so soft. Even down to the way he got upset that day.
He didn't yell. He didn't raise his voice. He didn't buck at her. He didn't hit her. He didn't aggressively stare at her in an uncomfortable way.
Yoongi's tone just became stern but his voice stayed soft. It held its delicate baritone sound. Harper wasn't able to register his frustration in his body language.
She had to listen to what he was saying, she had to feel the tone of his words in her mind to truly understand.
"Sometimes I want to say that you're really sappy." Harper tells him. "But I really like it so I'll keep my mouth closed."
She admits as her cheeks warm. She looks away from her phone and he grins.
"Maaa." Onyx looks up at her.
"Yes, baby?" Harper gives her attention to her son.
He pulls himself to his knees using her arms and the fabric of her shirt. He lays his head on her chest and she pokes her lips out as she hugs him. She rocks side to side, closing her eyes at her sweet boy's gesture.
"Is it almost time for a nap for him?"
"No. I think he just wants some love." She kisses his head. "That's okay, too."
"His lashes are so long. I can see them from here."
"They're thick, too. He's such a beautiful boy." Harper kisses his head again, rubbing his head of curls with her thumb.
Yoongi watches their interactions as he eats his salad.
Onyx sucks on his pacifier as he puts his hand on his mother's arm. He rubs the skin as he stares at the phone. He looks at Yoongi as he hugs his mom.
The man looks back at the baby boy, watching as his body relaxes. With each inhale that Onyx takes, he becomes less tense.
It's incredible what a mother's bond can do for a baby. He's witnessing it first hand and is still in awe.
All of the worrying that Harper does about her parenting and Onyx relaxes with just a simple feel of her skin. A simple hug is enough to reduce his anxiousness.
Yoongi feels a pressing sense of security looking at them. It's a candle lit path of warmth tying him to the Taylors.
It's like he can physically feel when the chemicals release in his body, making him want to be as close to them as possible. Wanting to know that they're safe. Urging him to provide for their happiness and well-being.
Wanting to get it done himself because he doesn't trust anybody else's capability in providing for them. He also doesn't want anybody else to provide for them in that way.
Yoongi wants to be the one to do everything for them. They're his family. Harper is his woman. Onyx is their son. They are nobody's but each other's.
"When I come home, I'm going to go check on my mom and dad first. Make sure they're getting fresh air and feeling better. Then I'll shower and come over."
"You've got a surgery tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah. It's nothing too crazy."
"Everything that you do at work is crazy." Harper teases. "When you come home, dinner's going to be almost ready. We can just eat and get to bed since you've got to be up early."
"It's going to be a long surgery." Yoongi drinks from his water bottle. "I'm going to need a really good night's sleep to be able to function for the rest of my shift after."
"Is this something that I should be keeping in mind?" Harper asks softly as her head tilts to the side.
Yoongi opens his mouth as his eyebrows twitch. He realizes how that sounded and his face flushes.
"I didn't mean it like that." He says as he looks off to the side, smiling in embarrassment. "Not that I'd be disappointed at all if, you know, that did happen." He stammers.
"I was just saying that tomorrow is going to be a long day. So I really should-." He sighs.
Harper grins at him and he looks away from the phone.
The way that she's able to fluster him so easily makes him smile. He's more consistently bold than she is but she has random moments of boldness that always throw him completely off.
He loves it.
"Delilah texted me earlier today." Harper suddenly remembers. "She asked me to remind you about your final suit fitting with Luca and Taehyung."
"I know. It's in four days. I didn't forget. Taehyung added me to a group chat with Luca's brother and other friends while I was in a meeting earlier. It's to plan and keep everybody updated on the bachelor party."
"Bachelor party?"
"Mhm." Yoongi responds as he looks at his desk calendar.
"That's usually the night before the wedding, right?"
"Yes. I don't know if Delilah is having a bachelorette party, though. I'd ask her. She's been on and off about it for months."
"I don't understand the purpose of bachelor parties." Harper voices. "What's the point?"
"To celebrate the groom's future wedding. It's like a personal send-off for his friends to give him."
Harper still doesn't understand the point of them but says nothing further. She's never understood them. Or maybe it's just the way that they're portrayed in the media that she doesn't like.
They're always the mention of 'celebrating the man's final night of freedom' as if he hasn't been in a committed relationship for a long time before that.
To Harper, bachelor nights are always portrayed as if the value of the relationship prior to marriage meant nothing. As if the man had no real obligation to his partner prior to them being wed.
It's described as if 'all of the games really end' once people are married as if they shouldn't have ended a long time ago.
She doesn't like the idea of that at all.
"Oh." Is all that Harper says.
She really wonders if Delilah is having a bachelorette party now. She's never been to one but she always sees them played out differently than bachelor parties.
Maybe they're just events that she has to experience for herself rather than allowing movies to warp her knowledge and perspective.
"Dadaaa." Onyx reaches for the phone.
Harper grabs it up, holding it up for him to see Yoongi.
"Dadaa!" Onyx screeches causing his father to laugh.
"Yes? I'm right here."
"Mmm." Onyx hums before he starts cooing and babbling.
Yoongi nods and listens intently as he's spoken to.
"Mhm mhm. You had a good day? Did you have some oatmeal? Some applesauce?"
"Ooo!" Onyx squeals.
"Yeah? You did? Was it good?"
Onyx grins and giggles as Yoongi talks back to him.
"It was?! Did you save any for me?" He waits a few seconds for Onyx's response. He gasps quietly right after.
"No? You didn't save any? Oh, that's so mean. I always save you applesauce. Matter of fact, how about when Daddy gets off work, I'll go to the grocery store and we can get a bunch of new flavor baby foods to try, huh? Sound good? And Mommy can take a nap and recharge while we eat."
Yoongi winks at Harper and she smiles.
"Thank you. I've been really tired today. I want to take a nice bath, too. Take the time to just..."
Relax. She finishes the sentence in her mind.
Though maybe I shouldn't. I just had time not too long ago to do all of this. Yoongi sat in the bathroom with me. He ran me a nice bubble bath. And even last night, he had Onyx while I took time for myself.
I listened to music while I had the time to shave. I took time to do the skincare routine that I hadn't touched in months.
Maybe that's too much. Tonight would be too much.
"I'll just take a shower and then we can put Onyx and Jewel to bed together."
"If you want to take a bath to relax, you can."
"I'm home all day. I don't think I need to relax. You're at work all day and you don't even come home to do all of that. It's fine."
"My job doesn't overstimulate me in any way, though. I take pressure pretty well. I have to in order to be successful in my occupation. You're stay-at-home mom and a work-from-home mom right now. That's a lot to do. Even for one day, that's a lot to keep track of. You've been doing it for a week. Take a break. You need it."
Harper bites the inside of her lip, contemplating what he's saying. She doesn't think that her being a mother to her child warrants any round of applause or anything like that. But Yoongi isn't the first person disagree with her.
His mother did as well.
She doesn't think that she should fully indulge into their words. But maybe she could use a little more time with herself some days.
"You need a break too, Yoongi."
"I do. But our rest manifests in different ways right now. You need time to yourself to charge because you're with Onyx, Jewel and on a laptop for most of the day. And I'm okay with just coming home to you guys because I'm away all day. That makes sense and it's not something we can't do to compliment our needs. But we'll still get to take a break together, baby."
Valentine's Day is on the 14th and Delilah's wedding is on the 17th. They've got upcoming leeway to make and take the time for themselves.
"We can watch House. I'll restart it from the beginning and I promise not to give any spoilers." Yoongi offers with a smile.
Harper giggles as he crosses his heart.
"Okay. I guess I'll really see what all the hype is about."
"You're gonna love it. It's the best show ever. We can start it tonight after your bath once we get Onyx down for the night."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? You've got a surgery in the morning." Harper asks him.
She knows that he's the type to stay up and watch episode after episode like he's never seen them before. He enjoys the show just that much.
"Oohh, yeah. Dang it. Uhm... we should probably wait until tomorrow night then. That way we can binge watch."
"Sounds like a plan, hospital man."
Yoongi laughs at her as he picks his phone up. He looks down to Onyx whose become fascinated by the necklace that his mother's wearing.
He's holding it in his hands, staring at the compass. He's intrigued by the intricacy; the tiny symbols, lines and numbers interest him.
Onyx doesn't seem to be a big jewelry puller, he knows. Harper has mentioned that he holds onto things more than he tugs at them.
There's no risk in him breaking anything or snatching it from himself. Yoongi thinks.
He really likes my watches when I wear them. He's always staring at them or smacking the face of it. He's just a curious infant.
"Have you gotten any update on selling your house?" Harper plays with Onyx's curls as he continues to rub her arm.
"My realtor emailed me yesterday about it. He said that it's going to be up on the market by the end of the week. I had to e-sign a bunch of paperwork for him. I'm not going to have the time to go out there and get everything to put in a storage unit so I'm actually going to ask my parents if they can help me with that. I'll rent the truck and everything. Just like being present when the movers are there, I can't do."
"When are you thinking about getting that done?"
"I don't know." Yoongi rubs his forehead. "I'll have to find good storage space first and then do it."
"We could go on one of our days off." Harper suggests. "That could count as one of our break days but we'll still be being productive."
"Mmm. Yeah, we can do that. It's not going to be for another few weeks anyway. My parents will be fine by then. They can take Onyx and Jewel for the day."
"Delilah's wedding is the last event that we know we have planned so we can plan to do it after that."
"We need to get a wall calendar for the apartment. It'll be good for both of us to be able to see these things written out. The only calendar I have is here and on my phone. And I barely touch it unless it's to talk to you or my parents. Or Hailey and Tae but still."
"Oh my god. Speaking of Hailey, let me text her." Harper says as she suddenly remembers.
"Did you guys plan something?"
"No. She's going with her father to one of his appointments today."
"Oh." Yoongi says.
"...oh." He then grumbles once he realizes what she said.
Harper sighs. "Yeah, I know. But I understand where she's coming from with it, you know? It's like how I felt with... him. She's going to feel bad or guilty if anything happens to him that she could have prevented."
Even if they wouldn't do it for us, we'd still feel the weight of the guilt of what we could have done yet didn't.
"I understand." Yoongi replies. "I just wish that the situations never had to come up in general."
"Me, too." She quietly responds as she texts Hailey.
With a heavy sigh, she exits out of the thread after sending the message.
"Me, too."
######
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Hailey sighs quietly as she sits in the chair. She crosses her legs, glancing at the clock on the wall.
Time really feels like it's dragging when you're in put in awkward positions.
Her phone buzzes in her coat pocket and she pulls it out to look at it.
Harper🐞: Hey. I know you're at the appointment but I just wanted to say don't let anything they say get to you. And that we love you so so soooo much <3
Hailey smiles at the text and starts typing to reply.
"Ahem." Her father clears his throat across the room, holding onto his cane as he looks at her.
She finishes her text, sends it and looks up at him. She's expecting him to say something with the way that he just made his presence so known.
As if she could forget the stifling tension in the room due to it.
When he doesn't say anything, she locks her phone and looks back at the clock on the wall. Time still slowly ticking away.
"How long does it usually take for the doctor to come in here?" She asks as she stares at it.
"I don't know. Changes from time to time." Her father's voice has a sickly rasp to it. His forceful clearing of his throat did nothing to change that,
"Thought that'd be something you would know." He continues.
Hailey looks at him, waiting for him to continue. Her expression is blank.
"You're a nurse, aren't you?"
"Yeah but I work in pediatrics and emergency services. We never take this long for anything. Not at my hospital anyway." She crosses her arms, looking away from him.
"You St. Juniper's employees just think y'all the best thing since sliced bread, don't you?" He chuckles a little.
Hailey doesn't.
This entire conversation feels forced. She doesn't really want to talk to him right now. She's conflicted about whether she should. Or what she wants to say, rather.
"St. Juniper's has been proven, at both state and country level, to be one of the best hospitals. Down to the little things like wait times just for a doctor to come in."
"You make it real hard for anybody to want to talk to you, you know that?"
Hailey's jaw slowly clenches as she stares at the clock. She says nothing, continuing to let the silence ring is his ears.
If it's bothering him this much, maybe she prefers it this way.
"You talk to Judas at all recently?" He asks.
Hailey stops blinking and stares at the clock. Her breathing halts and she wonders if she's dreaming. She wonders if some sick part of her brain has suddenly dreamt all of this up.
Maybe none of this is happening at all. Maybe she's dreamt every piece of it up. Down to the incessant detailing of this annoying ticking clock.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because if it just so happens that you're not a match, then-."
"No." Hailey cuts him off.
She swallows thickly as her nostrils flare. She inhales deeply before slowly releasing it. She feels the temperature of her body begin to rise at the thought of her father ever having contact with her brother. The fact that he even thought to ask about him, the fact that he even fixed his filthy lips to speak on him pisses her off.
"I haven't spoken to Kadeem lately." She lies. "I don't know where he is or what he's doing. Last time I heard, he was going overseas."
Hailey's father inhales and sighs deeply. He rubs his hands together, trying to put the chill off of them.
"And when did you hear this? Recently?"
"No."
"A couple months ago?"
"Years." Hailey lies again, looking him directly in the eyes.
Her father nods slowly, looking away from her. He crosses his arms, looking off to the door.
He feels the aggression rolling off of Hailey and doesn't need the backlash from her at the moment. Not before the doctor gets into the room anyway. Definitely not before the appointment is over.
A knock on the door answers his silent prayers. The doctor opens the door and steps inside with a clipboard in her hand.
"Hello. My name is Dr. Angelli. How are you today?" She speaks to Hailey's father.
"As well as I can be. Thank you for asking."
"Of course. And how are you?" She turns to look at Hailey.
"I'm good."
"And you're his... youngest daughter, right?" Dr. Angelli asks. She looked at the paperwork before she walked in but sometimes her memory betrays her.
"Yep." Hailey informs.
"Ah, okay." Dr. Angelli sits down at the desktop and logs in with her information.
"Approximately how long does it take to find out if I'm a match?"
"Anywhere from one to six months."
Hailey's eyebrows raise in shock. She looks from her to her father.
"You didn't tell me that it took that long."
"I told you that I wouldn't make it to the next year without the transplant. I didn't think that it mattered what the time with this was. I've barely got any left."
"Yes but six months?" Hailey looks at the doctor.
"The time varies." The doctor starts to explain. "The longest that it could take is six months. Three to four is the average."
She looks to Hailey's father, wondering why he wasn't the one to explain all of this to her prior to coming into this appointment. Hailey seems to be thrown for a bit of a loop by it all. So she explains the entirety of the process.
"The initial testing that we do is blood matching. Since your father is type A, you'll have to be type A or O. The paperwork you filled out, you're listed at type O, is that correct?"
"Yes." Hailey replies.
"Okay. So then that's good. That makes the chances of you being a compatible match greater added to the fact that you are his child, of course. Once we get the blood drawn and that's confirmed, we do tissue typing. The first blood test for this is to determine the tissue type, or HLA, of both you and your father to see how well they match. Every person's tissue type is different."
"With the exception of identical twins." Hailey says with a nod.
"Right, exactly. So the higher the HLA compatibility, the higher the success rate of the transplant over time. The second test that we'll do measures antibodies to HLA. This will only be done for your father and it's done monthly. HLA antibodies can be harmful to the transplanted liver and they can increase or decrease over time. So we do frequent testing while waiting for the transplant, immediately before and then following the months after the transplant as well. It's best for him to have a donor that will avoid the HLA antibodies in his blood in order this to be successful."
Hailey nods as she listens, just absorbing the information as it's given to her.
"And then lastly, we do what's called a serum cross match. This is the test that done multiple times before the surgery and also right before the surgery. Cells from your blood mixed with your father's blood serum. If his has antibodies against yours, they'll bind your blood cells. If his antibodies against yours are high, they'll basically kill off your blood cells in his body which isn't good."
"His body would reject the transplant as soon as it's done." Hailey concludes.
"Correct." Dr. Angelli is impressed by Hailey's knowledge despite not saying much back to her.
"Are you in the medical field?"
"Pediatric nurse."
"Aah. Here?"
"No, St. Juniper's."
"Oh, my husband takes our kids there." Dr. Angelli says. "I'm not able to take them. I'm always here."
"Really? Why don't you bring them here? Isn't the medical building just around the bend?"
"It is but St. Juniper's is closer to where we used to live. We just moved recently and they love their doctor way too much for us to leave. That, and he's had them since birth. I'm scared to go anywhere else, honestly."
"Oh, yeah that's understandable. The doctors in our office are super kid friendly. I mean, every pediatrician should be but you'd think those guys actually have kids the way that they act."
"None of them have kids?" Dr. Angelli looks surprised by the news.
"Nope." Hailey shakes her head side to side with a smile.
"Oh my-. That's so crazy. So my kids' doctor is-, excuse me for going off a tangent." She apologizes to Hailey's father before turning back to her.
"But my kids go to Dr. Kim, I don't know if you work with him often."
"I do. Almost every day." Hailey smiles.
"Yeah, so then you know that he's like, crazy good with kids. Especially infants. I can not believe that he doesn't have any kids."
"He doesn't want any, either."
"What? Oh my god. You'd really think that he had some kids at home or is family planning or something. Even the other doctor. There's another one that's there that my kids saw for a visit when Dr. Kim was out. He's got his nose pierced, I think. I'm pretty sure."
"Oohh, you're talking about Dr. Yu?"
"Yes." Dr. Angelli snaps her fingers. "That's his name."
"Nope. No kids." Hailey confirms.
"Oh, wow. See then that makes the place even better. Even without the experience or sympathy of having kids, they still really care."
"Oh, we love tiny humans. Having them? Absolutely not." Hailey shakes her head and Dr. Angelli laughs.
"You get your fix during the work day, huh?"
"Uh-huh. That's about all I need. And my friends either have kids or want kids. So I am perfectly fine being auntie."
Hailey and Dr. Angelli laugh together before getting back on track.
"Okay, where was I? Oh-, the transplant process. Okay, so yes. The last testing that we'll do before the transplant is the serum crossmatching. If everything checks out and everything goes good, then we'll be all set to do the transplant. But first there is the initial blood draw for blood type compatibility."
Dr. Angelli turns to the desktop and scrolls through the paperwork to make sure that everything has been filled out and signed for both Hailey and her father.
Her eyebrows twitch as she reads the information on the scans from their IDs.
"Hailey?" Dr. Angelli calls to her.
"Yes?"
"Is your ID card up to date?"
"Yes." Hailey says. "I got my address updated on it a few months ago. I was procrastinating providing the two pieces of mail with my name on it."
"Okay. Uhm... sex included?" Dr. Angelli asks softly, cautiously.
Hailey's lips part as she stares at the desktop. Her name stares back at her, accurate and current.
Hailey Kara Peters.
Her address is accurate and current. Her birthday has always been accurate on it.
The only thing that hasn't changed and cannot be currently changed on her identification card... is her legal sex.
"Uhm..." Hailey stares at the word 'male' as it appears on the screen.
It taunts her, digging itself into her brain. Screaming at her. Printing instead all over her forehead, scarring her skin. Laughing at her.
"It's uh..." Hailey looks away from the screen and anywhere else.
She looks at the wall by the door as her heart beats faster in her chest.
"That's up to date. For now."
Dr. Angelli sees the masked pain as it filters into Hailey's features.
"Is there a possibility of this changing anytime within the next couple of weeks?"
"I don't-." Hailey shakes her head. "I'm not sure." She replies quietly.
"I don't know. It's been months since we-. I mean since I put in the final paperwork. It's just... a process, I guess. I mean, I don't know." She looks down at her fingers, rubbing at the freshly painted acrylic.
Taehyung helped her repaint them this morning. She wanted a different color and didn't want to pay anybody for a polish change. So Taehyung woke her up this morning before he left for work and painted her nails the pastel orange that she wanted them to be.
Using gel polish and the blue light machine, he painted her nails carefully. Making sure not to get any on her fingers but to coat her whole nail, he did perfect.
He got a bit of polish on his own fingers but that's okay. He didn't mind.
Dr. Angelli bites her lip, trying to find words to comfort the young woman but not truly knowing what to say.
"This gonna be a problem or something?" Hailey's father asks. "That damn shit he pumping into his body, isn't it?"
He asks in disbelief. He scoffs as he looks at Hailey.
She looks at Dr. Angelli, not knowing the answer to the question or the depth of what the answer could possibly be.
"Uhm... well... this is why you were given packets of information to give to your donor prior to this appointment." Dr. Angelli informs Hailey's father.
"Nobody said anything about this. I was told that all I had to do was bring my son in here to get the tests done."
"Yes, your son, Mr. Peters." Dr. Angelli confirms, taking on a subtly more stern tone. "This is your daughter."
She looks to Hailey, who's staring at the wall, avoiding eye contact with either of them.
"Miss Peters, excuse me for asking this but, unfortunately, I have to." Dr. Angelli cringes at her own words.
"How do you identify? As in sexual orientation?"
"Straight." Hailey replies.
Her father shakes her head in the next to her.
"Okay, so your partner is male."
"Mhm. Dr. Kim."
"Oohh." Dr. Angelli could just melt at that.
It makes telling her the news a bit harder, being that it's coming from a more personal space in her own life.
"So, there are FDA guidelines with donating blood and organ transplants."
Yes. Hailey knew this. She knows this. It's not of the reasons that she doesn't donate blood now. The second that the see she identifies as transgender or part of the LGTBQ+ community, she's turned away.
"Because you are legally still male and you identify as straight as a trans woman, this puts you in the category of MSM."
Hailey's eyebrows twitch, getting a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She doesn't entirely know where this is going but she doesn't like it either way.
"What's that?" She asks quietly.
Dr. Angelli exhales, calming before she says what she's about to. It pains her to have to explain this.
"Men who have sex with men."
Hailey's heart could shatter in her chest if it were made of glass. Fragile, docile, too gentle, she's broken by the doctor's words.
"And, unfortunately, there is a three month deferral period, from the most recent sexual encounter, for those who fall into this category."
Dr. Angelli bites the corner of her lip seeing the look on Hailey's face. She has to maintain her professional stance in order to keep herself from tearing up.
She can see the young woman ripping herself apart from the inside. She can see the pain on her face. The hurt on her eyes. The rejection in her heart.
"It's a legal requirement because of HIV, right?" Hailey asks, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, it is."
"Does it matter that I don't have it?" She wonders. "Can't you test my blood and see that? My boyfriend's? Does that change anything?"
"No." Dr. Angelli answers softly, wanting to cry herself. "I'm sorry. If I could change it myself, then I would but I can't."
"No, it's not your fault." Hailey shakes her head. "It's just-... it's how the world works, I guess. So, what? I have to.. not be sexually active with my boyfriend? For three months?"
"Yes. It's no sexual contact at all."
Hailey scoffs and looks at the floor as she bites the skin of her lip.
"It isn't that difficult of thing to do." Her father states. "Men go without sex for longer all the time. And what about that stuff he take?" He asks the doctor. "The stuff that makes him like this?"
Dr. Angelli shifts her eyes to Mr. Peters. His insensitivity is bothering her, his ignorance.
"Do you mean the hormones that she takes?"
"Whatever you want to call it, yeah. I don't want any of that in my body." He turns to Hailey. "You're going to have to stop taking it. I can't have all that estrogen in me. That's not good for my body."
"The dose that Hailey would be taking this far into her transition would have little to no affect on her liver long term. There's also little to no research done about women on hormones giving donor organ transplants."
"I see a doctor once every few of months to check on my liver and kidneys because of the possible risk with the hormones but they're fine. I'm healthy."
"I doubt that. Been on that damn poison since he was a kid." Hailey's father looks him up and down.
"I was 13, Dad. I knew what I was doing."
"No, you didn't. You didn't know nothing. You think just because you was into all them books, you know what you're doing in life? Look at you! Look at what you've done to yourself! And she just let you do it! You could've been so much. You had so much potential. You could've went to play ball, Daniel! I look at you now and I don't even know who you are anymore." Her father looks at her in disgust.
"My name's not Daniel!" Hailey yells at him as she stands up. "I never wanted to play basketball! I don't know even anything about it! The only reason I ever joined the team was because I wanted you to actually pay attention to me. Not because I was your son but because I was me!"
Hailey's eyes well up as she yells at him. Dr. Angelli sits back in her chair and puts her hands in her lap as she looks at Hailey's father.
"Mom never hurt me! She never abandoned me! She supported me through everything! Through anything! You talked about Daniel being your 'scholar boy' as if the brain isn't still in my head! You think I didn't know what I was doing? I looked everything up myself because I was too scared to ask any of you to help me! Mom found out because she saw my search history after I told her I wanted to die because of you! And you know what she did? She took me to a doctor first thing the next morning for education about it."
Hailey's hot tears roll down her cheeks. Her lip trembles as she tries to keep most of her composure.
"The next week, you found the pamphlet in my room and beat me for it. You beat me bruised and swollen! And mom took me Kadeem and she left. She would've taken Noelle but she didn't want to come. She's just like you."
Mr. Peters stares at Hailey with no remorse in his eyes. No guilt, no hurt, nothing.
"I beat you because I loved you. This ain't what you were born to be. This is a mess. Look at you! Maybe if your mother had beat some sense into you, you'd have turned out better. She's the devil. She did nothing but help make sure to bring you and Judas to hell right along with her. Maybe you can live a proper life and redeem yourself now that she's gone."
Hailey smacks her father across the face, shocking both herself and him. He puts his hand on his cheek and Dr. Angelli raises an eyebrow at him as she stands up.
"Hailey, honey, I think that it would be good for you to get some air." She puts her hand on her lower back, escorting her out of the room.
She walks her down the hall as the nurses and doctors avoid Dr. Angelli's piercing gaze on them. It's a warning, really. One that they know better much better than to cross.
She gets into the elevator with Hailey and rides it down to the first floor. When the doors open, they both step out and take deep breaths.
"I'm sorry." Hailey apologizes. "For my outburst. That was rude of me."
"I saw no outburst." Dr. Angelli replies, clasping her hands in front of her as she walks. "All that I saw was a young woman reacting to the abuse she's endured for years. I saw overdue consequences to actions. A strong young woman wearing thin from turmoil."
Hailey sniffles and wipes her tears before they fall.
"I know nothing of your childhood or your relationship with your father. But as a parent, I will say, that no child deserves to be spoken to the way that you were. Nobody deserves to be, actually. Nobody deserves to be treated the way that you were and are."
They stop by the doors of the building and turn to one another.
"You don't have to do anything that you don't want to do, Hailey." Dr. Angelli says softly. "If this will be too much for you or will put your mental health through the wringer, there's always the donor's list. The choice is entirely up to you, honey. You don't have to make a decision right this second. You've got 90 days to make it. At the end of the day, after everything, your livelihood matters, too. Your well-being and quality of life is also important. No matter who doesn't choose to see it, you still matter. You know your heart better than anyone else. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise."
Hailey nods as she stares at the floor.
"It was lovely to meet you. And if you do decide anything, whatever you decide, here's my card." Dr. Angelli takes it from her pocket and hands it to her.
"I would prefer it if I were the point of contact as opposed to others who work in this building. Whatever you decide, give me a call, okay?" She puts her hand on Hailey's arm comfortingly.
"Okay, thank you."
"You're welcome. Can I hug you?" Dr. Angelli asks.
"Mhm." Hailey gives her a small smile before reaching out to her.
Dr. Angelli hugs and squeezes her, gently rocking side to side.
"I think that your mother did a fine job raising you. And I'm sure I'll never meet your brother, but I bet he's just as swell."
"Thank you."
"Of course, honey." Dr. Angelli says as they release each other. "Have a good night."
"You, too." Hailey replies as she cops her coat up.
She opens the door and steps outside, breathing in the fresh air. She pulls her phone from her pocket as she walks to her car. Taehyung texted her four minutes ago.
T🐻: Are you on your way home yet? How did it go? Call me as soon as you can, please
Hailey looks at the time before calling her boyfriend's phone. It barely rings before he answers.
"Hey."
"Are you okay?" Taehyung asks. "I feel anxious. How'd it go?"
Hailey bites the inside of her cheek as she gets into her car. Her eyes water again and she sniffles.
"Oh, Hailey." Taehyung says softly as she begins to sob.
Taehyung looks at the time on his watch before closing his laptop. He can finish the rest of his work at home.
"I'm leaving work to come right now. Don't drive like this. I'm on my way. Just stay on the phone with me. I'm coming to you right now."
Hailey puts her head in her hands and cries.
That's all that she can do.
As Taehyung drives as quickly but safely, as he can to get to her, she bawls.
When he arrives, he parks his car next to hers and gets out. He opens the driver's door and Hailey just hugs him. She falls right into his arms, hugging him as right as she can.
"It's okay, baby. I'm here. It's okay. What happened? What did he say to you?"
"My mom, my brother. My hormones. My sex. I can't do anything right, Taehyung. Why isn't anything right with me? Why can't I fix anything? Why is everything so wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong with you, Hailey. Nothing. Your mother is at peace in a beautiful mausoleum. Kadeem is across the country right now directing a music video and you're a nurse in a hospital, Hailey. She's so proud of you both. This is all she's ever wanted, remember. Your happiness. Don't let that evil ass man and his demon spawn tell you otherwise."
"I just want to go home." She lays her head on his chest. "Please just take me home."
"I will. I will. Come on." He helps her out of the driver's seat and gets her into the passenger seat.
He locks his own car up before taking Hailey's car and driving back home. He gets her into the house and sits with her as she showers.
He rubs her down with lotion before she gets dressed and gets into bed. She lies there, staring blankly at the wall as she tells him everything that Dr. Angelli explained to her.
He's upset by the whole thing. All of it.
None of this would have even happened had her father just stayed where the hell he was. Had he just continued to live out the rest of his sick days, none of this would have ever transpired.
Hailey falls asleep with Sid lying in the bed with her. He's cuddled up behind her bent legs as she sleeps in the fetal position.
Taehyung waits until she's asleep to get up again. He grabs his car keys and calls an Uber back to St. Mary's. He gets into his car and drives past his home to the expressway.
He's driving stone faced and pissed of for twenty minutes before he gets to his destination.
The part of the city where the houses are spaced houses apart and the driveways are too long for him to want to walk up.
He pulls into the driveway of a two story mini mansion home. On the way up, he counts three landscapers shoveling snow or walking up the driveway. He thinks it's a bit late for that but their choice.
He taps the wheel as he parks next to an all black Mercedes with tinted windows.
As he gets out of his car, he wonders how anyone manages to see out of those things.
He swings his keys on his finger as he walks up to the door. He gives a subtle head nod to the landscaper shoveling snow by the porch.
He rings the doorbell and looks into the camera that's on the porch. He puts his hands in his pockets as the light turns blue, signifying that the attention is on him.
"You know, you're really not beating these mafia man allegations." He says out loud.
The front door opens to reveal a man in butler style suit.
"Hi, Theo." Taehyung greets.
"Good evening, Mr. Kim."
Taehyung takes his shoes off and Delilah walks into the foyer. In her tweety bird pajama pants and yellow t shirt, she looks adorable.
"What brings you by so late?" She greets as she hugs him.
"Uuhh, frustration, actually. Is Luca around?" He looks around.
"Now wait. Before we get the big man involved, what's going on?"
"Hailey went with her father today to his appointment to get blood tests done to see if she was a match-. His office is this way, right?" Taehyung asks, pointing to the right side of the house.
"Taehyuunng." Delilah says as he starts walking.
"I'm not going to make any crazy suggestions. Just a very simple one because I'm so sick of this man coming back around. Why won't he just stay gone, Delilah? I don't get it. He's like a roach. I'm convinced him and Kyra are born from the same egg hatching."
"What did he say to her?"
"In short, he mentioned her mother. He mentioned Kadeem and deadnamed her for the final time. I am sick of it." He knocks on Luca's office door.
"It's open."
Taehyung opens the door to find Luca sipping a glass of whiskey. Delilah pokes her head from behind him with a smile.
"Tae." Luca says, glancing at the clock. "It's late, what brings you by?" He holds him arm out as Delilah walks over.
She perches herself on his lap and Taehyung sits in the chair in front of the desk.
"And you are still in your work clothes. Why?"
"Because I drove straight from work to go pick Hailey up from Mary's parking lot."
"Oh? Why was she there? That's out of the way."
"Her father's appointment."
"Agh." Luca rolls his eyes.
"Yeah. It didn't go well. I'm not even going to get into what the hell he said to her. It's the fact that she's still going to go through with the transplant. But there are extenuating circumstances involving her mental health that I cannot and will not allow her to put herself through for somebody that's going to stop talking to her the second it's all over with."
"What extenuating circumstances?" Luca's tone becomes deeply curious. His tone drops an octave as he leans back against his chair.
"Her legal sex hasn't been changed so she's still marked male on all legal and medical documentation. And because of the FDA's guidelines-."
"She can't donate blood." Delilah says.
"Right, exactly. But that's like a crucial part of the testing and transplant process. So for 90 days, I can't help her dilate which is a problem because using the actual dilators for extended periods of time like that is going to give her gender dysphoria. That's why I started helping her in the first place, outside of us just.. being together. Her father also told her that he doesn't want her to take the hormones either because he 'doesn't want estrogen in his body'. He's a fucking idiot."
"Oh, no, no, no." Luca says as he shakes his head. "She doesn't have to do it. Tell her that she doesn't have to do the transplant. No. She shouldn't."
"Is he not on the donor's list?" Delilah asks with a curl of her lip.
"He is. But he's a regular transplant patient. What good is that going to do?"
"Delilah, honey, will you go make Taehyung some of your special tea? He needs to calm his nerves." Luca asks.
"Yeah." Delilah says as she stands up. "I'll go start the kettle. Do you want some too?"
"Yes, please.
She kisses his lips and he smiles softly at her.
"Thank you, tesoro."
"I love you." Delilah replies.
"I love you."
Delilah leaves the office closing the door behind her.
"How long until he goes belly up?" Luca asks.
"I don't know. Hailey said he told her he won't survive the next year without the transplant."
"And the transplant process is how long?"
"Three to four months on average. Longest we're looking at is six."
"And this ridiculous process is how long for her? Three months, right? 90 days?"
"Yes."
Luca licks his lips as he stares at his desk. "I do not like her father. He is a wasted man. No true purpose or potential in his life anymore." He speaks plainly.
"But who am I to tell him that he should die where he lays? I know Hailey well. She thinks just the same. And he has done enough manipulative guilt to last her forever so she will do what he asks of her because her heart is much too tender."
Luca looks up at Taehyung.
"Do not let her do anything, Taehyung. No stopping the hormones. No stopping the way that she lives day to day with you, nothing. She continues to live her life as normal. Kadeem knows nothing, either. I will handle the rest."
Taehyung smiles as he looks at his friend.
"You say nothing to her, Delilah or Harper. They know nothing. Leave this to us."
"I know. Thank you, Luca." He stands up and so does Luca.
"You and Hailey are family to me, Taehyung. And matters of my family, I don't take lightly. Of course. Now let's go drink my wife's tea so you can get a good night's sleep. You look very tired. You should rest more."
"I try. Trust me. Lately, Sid's been trying to sleep on my side of the bed. He's hogging it all up."
"He feels the stress. He's just trying to help. Cut him some slack."
They leave the office and walk to the kitchen.
"I'm going to make you some to take home to Hailey, too." Delilah tells Taehyung. "She can warm it back up on the stove and have it for tomorrow."
"Thank you. I know she'll appreciate that."
"Oh, my baby. I just want them to be free. To have fun. To be able to live their lives and not just survive in them. They deserve so much more than the cards that they've been dealt."
Luca hears the way that Delilah talks about the women. He hears how much she loves and cares for them. Even Harper, who she's only met recently, she expresses such care for.
He's met Harper himself but only once. She's a quiet woman. She seems to stick to those she knows and is comfortable and that's it. She's a watcher, an observer, much like Yoongi. He just doesn't think she knows it.
Harper's smile was not forced while she was with them that night of the promotion celebration. Her spirit were bright and kind. Her eyes were happy and full of adoration each time that they landed on Yoongi. It was as if she was seeing the world for the first time again. As if she was experiencing love and happiness for the first time again.
Luca knows very little about Harper yet he cares for her anyway. She is a good friend to his wife, Hailey and Taehyung. She is a good woman to Yoongi.
"Between her and Harper, I want to throttle the men in their past lives. I hate them so much." Delilah finishes her thought.
"Delilaah." Luca calls her name.
"I'm sorry. Dislike. I mean I dislike them so much."
"You are too precious to feel things like hate. I don't want you to ever harbor such strong negative feelings. They taint you and bring you to low places. I don't want you to be there. You need to be above them always. You understand?"
"Yes, baby."
"Good." Luca kisses her cheek and she smiles up at him.
Taehyung smiles at his friends. He loves everything about them being so in love. He wants everybody around him to be just as happy.
Could that be too much to ask for?
A|N
#I only put deadnaming as a TW. But with Hailey's legal sex still being male and the doctor having to tell her about the MSM thing, should I have used a TW with that as well? I intend for it to be educational as well as part of the scene because it's realistic. But I'm not sure if it may be triggering to people. If it is, PLEASE tell me and I'll figure out how to label it because I'm not sure what to put in the beginning
#I'm so in love with Delilah and Luca. If I ever write an original story, it'll be theirs
#I've only mentioned Hailey's brother one time and it was in one of the beginning chapters while they were in the lounge. But we'll get to know a little more about him as well
#Thoughts? Feelings? Predictions? Let me knooww :)