Davina's pov
11:00 p.m.
I feel like maybe.. just maybe this is a bit unnecessary. I'm at the hospital, but they refused to let me around a single person. I don't know if it was the blood all over me or if it was the fact that Kayson and Willow threatened everyone.. but they have me on a floor that looks more like a psych ward than a hospital, with not a single person within the entire floor other than the doctor and two nurses. This is the shittiest luxury I've ever had. I feel like royalty gone wrong. Like yes, please separate me from all of these other assholes.. but damn I'm not insane.
"Touch me and I'll cut off your fucking hand off." This was toward the doctor whose already tried to get this bullet out, and failed miserably. I'm in an immense amount of pain, and I only let that show in my anger. "Ma'am, I have to get this out. It could be laced and and end you and your kids lives." I whip my head around quickly to stare at Kayson who strictly told me I had no choice but to come here. I raise a fist to my forehead and flip him off, quickly trying to pull it off as scratching my head. "I hate literally everyone within a 100,000 mile radius right now. I could be fine with this bullet in my ribs." My breath hitches and i grip onto the crappy hospital mattress, feeling the doctor digging into my ribs. "We love you too, beautiful." Willow let's out a soft laugh, but doesn't make any move to come near me.
"Kayson. Come here right this very minu-OW YOU NUT FUCK!" I feel like my whole body is on fire, and suddenly I can't breathe. The machine that controls my heart rate and all that fun shit, goes nuts. I am almost positive I'm gonna have a heart attack and die right now, like I don't even know why this hurt so bad. I've gotten shot before, but they have always went in and made an exit.. that I'm aware of. I honestly really don't know. They normally have me knocked the fuck out for this part, not wide awake and in the mood for murder. I feel my chest tighten and my breath hitch, but my eyes blur in and out and I instantly can't see anything but the light above me. "I'm right here, darling." Kayson's voice soothes my mind, easing me out of my thoughts very slowly. "Come back to me, D." He keeps going, his voice pulling me back into reality, slowly but surely. "Focus your eyes on mine, baby. You're okay."
Immediately, my eyes focus on on the beautiful greens of his eyes. The dark green pulling me into another world. The light green making me feel safe. The mix of different greens pulling me into a world of peaceful, safe feeling forests. The world goes quiet and my only wish is that I could still hear Kayson's voice. I feel my hands squeeze tighter and my heart stutter, but my eyes don't move. "Davina." I suddenly hear the voice of the one person I've been missing all day.. but it isn't enough to pull me out of this spell I'm under. "Get out of it, D." I hear his voice again, my mind racing through the forest I'm stuck in. My heart races, my skin goes cold, my eyes burn, and my mind goes black. Nothing in sight. "Move, Kayson. You're freaking yourself out. This is just her body shutting out the pain." His voice is louder this time, but it's weaker. "Okay, my beautiful sister. I need you to come back to us."
Xander. I try to open my eyes, or maybe they're already open. It's still dark though. I start to get into my own head, freaking out a little more now that I can hear but can't move or see. "You can hear me, that's a plus." I hear the heart rate machine go crazy, letting out warnings that my heart is acting up. I suddenly feel the bullet lodged into my ribs way more than I did before. And it feels like it's killing me. It feels like it's laying on my lungs, causing me to not breathe the way I'd like to. "Punctured lung. It's lodged into her right lung." My whole body tensed at this revelation this doctor just fucking made, I'd say something but I'm struggling to breathe just a tad too much. "You're just realizing this? We've been here for an hour, doc." Willow's voice comes off angry, letting her cool facade die for a minute. "It just happened. She moved hardly an inch and it forced itself deeper." The doctor sounds scared, but not scared enough to call for help. "Xander?" I can't see. I can't move. I can only hear.. and speak. Hardly.
"Yes, D. I'm with you." I feel my heart rate slow a little, not enough to shut the damn machine up. I still can't seem to breathe right. The air in my lungs is not nearly as strong as it was just five minutes ago. I feel the need to cough, but it just sits at my chest, not daring to come out. I thought so anyway. The coughs start to come out like rapid fire, not stopping and not slowing down. It makes me lightheaded, and then I suddenly feel, hear, and think nothing. It's gone in the midst of what feels like a fucking panic attack.
- — - — - — - — - — - — -
Kayson's pov
12:00 a.m
Xander looks like he wants to fight or cry, and maybe kill the doctor. His hospital gown on and machines connected to him in every area of his body. Willow looks like she may burn a hole through his head. Me? I'm staring at the the nurse who just walked in, took the bullet out and cleaned the wound. In less than an hour. She was careful. She was much too young to look this experienced, but she managed better than the doctor had. She took care of Davina like her life depended on it. She did something far too complicated for what she's getting paid. I scan my eyes over to the doctor who's got a needle to Davinas arm, a phone in his hand, and no gloves on. "Im going to fucking kill him, Will." I mutter under my breath as we all stand in a line, all burning holes through the doctors face. "Not if I do it first." Willow rushes up to the doctor and hits the phone out of his hand. She's furious.
"Do you know how it feels to have a bullet wound?" He looks down at her, his face twisted in what looks like fear and disbelief. He shakes his head and tries to continue with the needle. Willow grips his wrist tightly, pulls the needle away from her arm lightly and sets it on the tray next to where the nurse was before she left. "Do you want to find out? I can make it happen quicker than you can blink." I've never seen Willow this angry, she's got fire in her eyes and a tone that sounds so incredulous it scares me. The doctor smirks for a second before he steps closer to her, tilting his head and crouching down to her level. "Dear, I've got just a hunch that you'd do no such thing." He was wrong. She's already whipped out her gun and stuck it to his head by the time he's finished with his sentence.
"Pardon?" She tilts her head now, mimicking the doctors earlier actions. He looks terrified, but he refuses to back down. "Do it. You'll be locked up in the matter of minutes." He smiles a crooked smile and looks over at me. "Get your friend. I've got a job to do." I furrowed my brows and look down, up, around the room. "Will. Try throwing him out of the window." She looks over at me and then over to the window and back at me. "See how strong it is first." I walk over to the window, trying to keep somewhat eye contact with the doctor. "Should break pretty easy." I nod and look at Xander whose got his eyes stuck on Davina. More specifically, Davina's stomach. It draws me out of the conversation completely, I can no longer play this game with the doctor or Willow.
Xander takes a step to the bed and lays a hand on her stomach, feeling the babies like he never has before. Only then, does he turn around to me. "They're kicking, man. You should feel this." Xander manages to mutter out, his eyes burning into mine. "Nah, man. Take a minute. Bond with them." He won't make it to see the babies, and I know that for a fact. I wish nothing more than for him to see them before he goes. I wish nothing more than for him to watch them grow up, teach them how to piss their mom off. It's just a sad truth that I have no idea I'll ever recover from. He knows what I mean too, because he gives me a heart breaking look that I wish I never saw. "It's unfair, Kayson." I frown and take a step to stand beside him. I hang an around his shoulders and drop the side of my head on his. "They'll know who you were, Xander. I'll never let them forget about possibly the best uncle ever." I try to force a smile but it only looks like a pained expression.
Davina starts to move around and flutter her eyes rapidly. Though, I don't think she knows that Willow has just thrown a grown man out of her hospital window. I give it a few seconds though. Broken glass fills the room, and a bright smile appears on Willow's face. "Damn Willow, save some for me." There she is. Davina's voice fills the room as she looks up tiredly at Willow and I, Xander getting her full attention a second later. "The girl is right here." Davina grabs onto his hand a places it on her left side. "And the boy is right..here." She slides his hand a little to the right and smiles weakly. And as if to make matters worse for everyone's emotions. He starts to cry. His eyes glass over and his lips go into a thin line. "This fucking blows." His voice cracks, but he refuses to let a single tear fall from his cheek. Wiping it away at any chance possible.
Davina pulls herself up fast. Too fast. She closes her eyes and sucks in a sharp breath. Then she starts to cough. And the cycle repeats after any sudden movements. But she keeps going just so she can give Xander a well needed hug. "I'll bring them to you when they're born." She frowns and wraps her arms loosely around his fragile body, letting her head sit adjacent to his heart. "Wherever you happen to be." He wraps his arms around her and ticks his head into her hair, letting out silent, painful cries. She pulls away from him slowly, taking his face in her hands. "We're going to be okay, Xander. Especially once I know you're not hurting anymore."
That's when I see Willow go to their sides and wrap an arm around both of them. Sniffling the whole time. "Don't cry, Xanny. It makes our bloodline look bad." A small laugh escapes the three of them, sweating the mood a little more.. Alive. That's all we needed in this moment. A joke of some sort. Something to take the ease off of what we know is coming. What is going to happen whether we all like it or not. "You know, you're technically a Hale, Ms. Falix." I widen my eyes at the name and look closely at Davina's face, trying my best to read her expression. "No. I'm a Carletto. Soon to be a Creed. Don't disrespect me like that." She smiles up at him and then moves her eyes to me, making Xander do the same. "Come here, Creed." But it's from Xander.
I've been moving all around this room the whole time, but suddenly I can't bring myself to go. I don't know when our last talk will be, our last hug, or if he'll be happy with what we talked about last. It pains me to think about shit like this, but it's all that crosses my mind lately. How I'm going to lose the brother I've had with me since I was old enough to walk. How I'm going to have to live my life without him. I meet his eyes and immediately want to shoot myself. I want to find a cure for cancer. I want to fix him. I want to fix it so I don't lose another person to it. I want to cry for everyone whose lost pieces of their heart to cancer. I physically and mentally don't know how I'll move on.
A frown reaches my lips and I move my feet one slow step at a time until I get to him. His once, strong, fit body.. smaller than Davina's. "Don't take this the wrong way, but if I hug you I'll physically fall to pieces. So please don't touch me." I give him a half smile, trying not to look too closely at the bags under his eyes. Trying not to pay attention to the wheeze in his chest. Trying to ignore the dried blood on his lips, from previous coughing fits. "I can't not hug you man. No fucking way." He smiles as big as he can and opens his arms for me. I shake my head and look away, scared to see anything else abnormal in him. "Kayson. It's okay to cry about this." Willow rests a hand onto my shoulder, rubbing it to support what's all over my face. I swallow down the emotions, feeling something similar to thorns slide down my throat as I do. I close my eyes and look up, refusing to let them see this. "If you don't hug me, I'm going to hug you."
I've yet to cry about this except for after I'd proposed to Davina. I'd rather cry in the company of just Davina, hell half the time my tears are for her. "I can't." My strong voice breaks as I say it. "I-" And then he's hugging me. His arms are wrapped tightly around me, as right as he can anyway. "We lost mom to this shit. I know it isn't easy to lose someone else." His chin rests on my shoulder, the cloth laying over my shoulder suddenly damp. My arms are still hanging down, my hands fidgeting as I fight off any amount of emotion at all. "Hug him back, baby. It's okay to be sad." Hearing Davina's voice is all it took. The shake in her voice. I wrap my arms around him tightly, dropping my head onto his shoulder.
Tears fall out of my eyes rapidly, but I keep it quiet. I keep it to myself and Xander, whose crying hard into my shoulder. "I'll be waiting in the car. I love you Xander. I'll swing by tomorrow with some pizza and root beer." I smile at the thought of spending some of our nights eating junk food and watching the most dreadful movies ever. "I love you, D. Don't forget to talk to them about hospice." Then my smile was wiped off my face. I pull away from him and look into his eyes quickly. "You mean you'll come home?" I was pretty used to the hospice care. My mom was supposed to come home and enjoy her last month at home, but it took her two weeks before they said it would. She never got to come home. She never got to enjoy her last moments in the comfort of her own home. I'll be damned if that happens to Xander.
"I'll do that when I come by tomorrow night. Once I've cleared up this whole 'running from the cops' thing." Xander widens his eyes and slowly turns to Davina at the door. "You ran from the cops?" Davina smiles proudly and nudges Willow in the shoulder. "She did the driving." Then it was Xander's turn to be proud. "God, I love you people." He laughs and looks back at me, a small smile painting itself on my tear stained face. "Our girls are badass, bro." I nod and look down, my bottom lip between my teeth. "Borderline psycho, actually." I keep my head down and look over to Davina with a hidden smile. "I'll kill you." She smiles a little and winks. I shake my head and begin to walk her way, keeping my eyes on the ground now. "I think you're lying, darling. Now give me your hand."
She furrows her brows and looks at me, her eyes meeting mine, making me lose focus of the floor. "Are you feeling okay?" She asks it as if she's seeing something I can't see. "Mhm. Your hand, Davina." She pulls her hand away from her side and lays it on mine, the ring I got her laying on the only finger that doesn't have a tattoo. I close my hand around hers after I look at the ring in disbelief. "Kayson?" We stand by the exit of the door, hoping to exit soon. I ball her fist up and leave out her pointer finger, making the finger lay on my chest. I move it in circles like I always do for her, hoping this tightness in my chest eases. "Oh. Baby, let's go home. I'll drive."
She starts drawing circles on my chest, on her own now, making me close my eyes and let out a deep breath. "Just give me a minute, darling." I feel the tightness in my chest grow tighter and then it loosens up. Over and over. I refuse to let myself get even more vulnerable. So all I do from that point is pick Davina up lightly and start walking away. She hides her face in my neck just in case anyone from the station is here for her. "You know you could've just told me you needed some comfort.. normally you don't want it. So I didn't know.." I walk us out of the hospital and to the car we sped here in. She tries to start the car once she gets in the driver's seat but I pull her onto my lap once she does get in. Doors closed and window tint dark. It's just us. "I just want you touching me, Davina. That's all I need.."
With that, I wrap my arms around her and rest my cheek on her shoulder, my nose on her neck. "Why don't you talk to me about this? It's been a while since we found out about Xander.. and you've yet to say anything about it to me." I just let out a deep breath into her neck and pull her in a little tighter. The silence is loud. The silence is deafening. "I don't want to be the one to fall apart, Davina. I only want to be here for you when you do." She pulls my head off of her shoulder and rests her hands on my cheeks. Our eyes meet and my head falls against hers. "You can't be here for me if you don't let yourself fall apart every once in awhile, love. If you ignore your own feelings for too long.. it'll only hurt you worse. Especially in this situation."
I part my lips as if to try and say something, but nothing comes out. So I do what I always do when I'm speechless. I kiss her. It isn't a list filled, 'fuck me' kiss. It's a kiss so full of passion that the back of my eyes sting and my throat threatens to close. She kisses me back as if she needed it as bad as I did. As if my feelings have flowed into her body. "I don't want to talk, darling. I want to sit in your arms with nothing but the sounds of our beating hearts. It's all I've got left to keep me together."
- — - — - — - — - — - — -
Chapter 48!!
Wooo woop🥳
It's getting better
Comment a 🪦 if you've read this far🤍