Back in the emergency department, Queenie was suddenly aware of a warm sensation near her arm. Looking up, she came face to face with Jacob, who smiled weakly and handed her a cup of coffee.
His was placed on the dingy wooden table next to her, barely brushing her left arm.
Queenie returned the smile and hugged her coffee cup close to her chest, savouring its warmth. "Thanks, honey."
Jacob only nodded and sank into the chair next to hers, clasping his hands together. Queenie resumed her original position, bowing her head.
Jacob watched her, concern across his face. After a moment, he softly asked her, "Queenie, hon, are you okay?"
After a feeble attempt at a smile, she gave up and rested her head on his shoulder. "I don't know, Jacob, I just... I shouldn't have argued with Teen. I didn't mean all those things I said. I was mad, and- and I was scared, for Tina, and worried, for Newt, and..."
She gave a heavy sigh. "Oh, I don't know. What if she hates me now?"
"Queenie, she doesn't hate you, okay?" He paused, and took a long while thinking in silence. Finally, he continued, "She knows you didn't mean it, okay? It's alright. Don't worry."
Queenie looked back to face him, thoughts whizzing through her head.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
She let out a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding and slowly took a sip of her coffee, savouring the bitter liquid sliding down her throat.
Hesitating, she set her cup down and looked back at him. Jacob appeared confused, but his expression melted away to a fond smile.
"Aw, you're sweet," cooed Queenie.
The pair sat together in silence, with only the beeping of the heart rate screen echoing through the room, for a long time- Queenie couldn't tell how long- until Leta briskly walked in. Queenie was about to ask if she was hungry, but then she caught a glimpse of who was trailing in after her.
Jacob and Queenie shot to their feet as Nick Holden strode in, a navy clipboard under one arm. He greeted them with a wide grin.
"Look who I ran into in the hallway," teased Leta, earning her a slightly embarrassed smile from Nick.
"I was just on my way here, actually," he answered, fiddling with his cuff.
"Do you have the..." started Jacob, but Nick swiftly answered him, announcing that he did indeed have a few test results.
"Dr Mallord was meant to be here..." he continued tightly, glancing around the room.
By a stroke of luck, right at that moment, Mallord hurriedly loped in, multiple papers in his left arm and grey hair slightly askew, then stood right behind Nick.
The latter, still oblivious to the man in question standing behind him, was muttering things about Mallord saying that he would be there, and how he had most of the information.
Jacob, Leta and Queenie watched him, smirking.
"Sorry, got a little held up," Mallord said pointedly, causing Nick to jump with fright.
Trying hastily to regain his dignity, Nick turned around and straightened his bow tie. "Ah... well you're here now."
Nick glanced toward Newt for a fleeting moment, then back at Mallord. In a much quieter voice, he said, "His heart rate is 79 bpm." Mallord scribbled something on his clipboard.
Leta, Queenie and Jacob stared at him, knowing grins being replaced with uneasiness and trepidation. Very clearly, he could sense that they were desperate for news, and shuffled his papers before looking up at them through thin, round spectacles.
"I'm sorry. I should have seen this coming," he started gently.
The trio swapped panicked glances, and Mallord, sensing their fear, hastily continued.
"We ran an x-ray on him, and..." he hesitated, then shook his head, deciding to start again from a different angle.
"An injury like this takes a lot of time to heal. A lot of time. When Mr Scamander recovered from the first surgery, he didn't seem to experience much pain at all. I believe that he'll be paying the toll for that now."
"But... he is okay, isn't he?" asked Leta quickly.
Mallord looked confused for a moment, then nodded vigorously. "Oh yes. Yes, he's definitely going to live."
Leta, Queenie and Jacob breathed a huge sigh of relief in unison, Jacob might even have cracked a tiny smile.
"But," added Mallord, "from the test results that we have received so far, he's obviously placed too much pressure on his injured leg while it was healing. When he collapsed, one of the metal rods in his leg shifted."
An uncomfortably long silence elapsed while the news sank in.
"Will you have to do another operation?" Jacob finally asked.
Mallord pursed his lips. "Yes. Exercising the leg when it's only just started working again can lead to consequences. The metal needed time to secure itself into place. It didn't receive that time."
The heavy silence was broken only by the incessant beeping of the machine.
Leta looked to her right. Newt was still lying soundly in the bed, two white blankets pulled up to his collarbone. The heart rate machine was connected to Newt by a long, clear plastic pipe. A couple other contraptions were attached to the sides of or underneath the bed. Newt's chest was slowly rising and falling with each breath he took. Every time Leta looked towards him, a twang of panic zipped through her veins, as if he'd never wake up again... as if-
"He will wake up sooner than last time, don't worry," murmured Mallord, following her gaze. "It'll be a much shorter surgery, straightening the rod again."
He hesitated again, as if scared of speaking, but then went on. "And I think it would be best to operate quickly, if I have your permission to start."
The trio gaped at him.
"Wait, now?" blurted out Jacob.
"Well," answered Mallord, starting to look a bit tired, "yes. If we leave a piece of metal sticking at an odd angle in his leg, it could grow to become a serious problem. The sooner, the better, I say."
"Well, then, yes. By all means," chipped in Queenie, offering him a sweet smile.
"Thank you," said Mallord. "I'll let the nurses know, and they'll bring Newt up to the operating theatre." With that, he gave them a nod and turned away, lumbering back outside into the corridor. Nick hung around for a minute.
"Where's Tina? And Theseus?" he inquired to the trio. They swapped glances.
"They were called away on an auror mission," said Jacob finally.
"Ah." Nick seemed to look somewhat uncomfortable at his answer. "They after Grindelwald?"
"Mm hm."
"Well, I hope they keep safe. I'll see you guys soon," he answered, giving them a small smile.
"Thanks, Nick," said Queenie, watching him quietly shut the door behind him. She immediately turned to her companions, the smile fading from her face.
"Are you guys coming down to watch?"
Leta and Jacob switched glances, then earnestly agreed.
The trio left the hospital ward and started briskly down the deserted corridor.
They approached the end and turned left towards the lifts, where Leta narrowly missed colliding with a nurse heading in the opposite direction.
"Sorry," the woman quickly apologised, starting to move away.
Before reaching the end of the hall, though, she stopped, her back facing them, then slowly turned around again.
Raising her finger to rest it by the side of her pert little nose, a knowing smile played on her lips.
"I've seen you guys around before. Do I know your names?" the woman asked sweetly.
The three of them spun around, surprised that she recognised them.
Eager, to leave, Queenie hurriedly responded, her face automatically breaking into a radiant smile. "Queenie, Jacob and Leta," she confirmed, gesturing to each of them in turn.
"Ah. I'm Kerry."
They were about to continue down the corridor, but she spoke again, and they had no choice but to loiter around as she asked, "Where are you three off to?"
"Our friend is in surgery," explained Jacob hurriedly.
Kerry's greeting smile faded at once, and her shining chestnut eyes dimming to a dark brown.
"You're going down to watch?"
"Yeah."
Her smile had disappeared completely now, and her white lips were pressed together in a line.
"See, I don't think you're allowed down to watch a surgery," she said, her tone more clipped than before.
The trio exchanged confused glances, rebuffed. Kerry was assessing them with eyes like tiny beads.
"No, I think... are you sure? We were allowed to go down last time he went through surgery," said Queenie finally, trotting up to the nurse. A frown creased her beautiful face, but her voice remained sweet as ever. Innocent.
"Yes, I'm quite sure," Kerry replied coolly. "Visitors aren't allowed to watch any procedures."
Whipping her gaze from Queenie to Kerry, the former starting to look more and more irritated, Leta eventually decided to intervene.
"Last time we sat through the whole thing," she said quietly, her tone blade-sharp.
Leta received no response beyond a disapproving scowl, so she continued.
"Look, that's our friend down there. I don't see why we can't see him."
Kerry raised a manicured eyebrow. "Friend?"
"Brother-in-law," Leta corrected herself quickly.
Kerry instead switched her gaze to Queenie and Jacob, the latter having come round to the former's side. They glanced at each other, and after a few seconds, Jacob spoke up too.
"Uhh... her brother-in-law too," he declared confidently, nodding toward Queenie.
Leta snapped her head towards him, then realised her mistake and hastily looked back at Kerry. Queenie immediately broke into a staged grin again, her green eyes flashing.
Kerry seemed unfazed, a tiny smirk quirking on the side of her mouth.
"Um, point is... I don't see why we can't go," added Jacob quickly.
The nurse raised an eyebrow, folding her arms. She opened her mouth, but Queenie, finally losing it, swiftly cut her off.
"I don't see what the problem is! They had no problem with us sitting through a whole day of surgery, but we can't go down for two hours?" Queenie argued, any trace of the helpless, simpering young woman long gone.
Leta and Jacob watched on, concerned. Kerry scowled and swept a few strands of onyx-tinted hair behind an ear.
"Yes, Miss. I'm sorry, but you'll have to return to the ward," she snapped, not sounding sorry at all.
Queenie glared at her for a long time.
She glared right back.
Finally, she huffed loudly and stalked back down the corridor, Leta and Jacob fast on her heels.
She muttered soft insults all the way back to the room, and the three of them collapsed into the chairs, thoroughly miffed.
Nobody spoke for a long five minutes, but they did, Jacob was first to say something.
"Gosh, I hope Newt's gonna be okay," he muttered. The other two nodded vaguely.
"You guys hungry?" he added gently, trying desperately to change the topic. Both of them shook their heads.
"I have coffee," murmured Queenie, taking a sip to emphasise her point. Jacob turned his attention to Leta.
"It's 2:30pm. Are you sure you don't want anything? I can go down to the cafe and get some coffee if you-"
"No, I'm quite alright, Jacob. Thanks," Leta insisted, a whisper of a smile on her face.
Jacob sighed softly and leaned back in his chair, his own cup of coffee forgotten.
Aw, Newt. I hope you'll be fine after this surgery.
"Me too," mumbled Queenie.
Herro :3
School has begun... it hurts :(
but here's another chapter for you all because I love you <3
I also have a meme I made...
Something mildly hilarious and sad at the same time...
This is a chapter set in a hospital (clearly), and I wrote it while sitting in a hospital, in my mum's room. She recently had a surgery for heartburn removal, and it's taking a while for everything to settle down. We're staying positive though. Things should become a lot easier after a little while.
You could even call it a learning experience for this book.
Cateye992, out!