They Call Me the Coroner | Top Gun: Maverick

Impeccable Timing

"Tesha! What happened?! My house is ransacked! Are the kids okay? Where are you?"

I sigh and press my fingers to my forehead, bouncing my leg. A nurse walks past me and gives a sympathetic grin.

I squeeze my eyes shut, remembering the mess we left in the house. The cabinet in the bathroom is barely hanging on the wall due to my panic while gutting it of its contents. The floor is covered in toothpaste from where I stepped on a tube. A toilet paper roll is undone as well where it fell and rolled for miles.

The bedroom is just as bad. Drawers flung open and rushed through. Clothes in the floor. Chargers and notebooks and pens dumped out of the junk drawer.

"Hello!?" Kim yells.

"Calm down. Everything is fine, now. Fallon had an allergic reaction to some pizza. I remembered Henry had some allergies so I figured you had something to help. We searched the house and found one of those...what'd you call them?"

"EpiPen?" She gasps.

"Yeah, that. Thats why your house is messed up. Then, we took her to the hospital to let a doctor check her out and make sure nothing else is wrong."

I can hear her start to pick things up. "She's never had a reaction to anything like that. You sure it was allergies?"

"Of course, Kim! What else would it be?" I grumble into the phone.

"Have they said anything yet?" She huffs. Her keys jangle in my ear.

"No. And you better get here. I don't have all the necessary information to sign the papers." I hang up.

I twist my hair and bounce my other leg. Kim tries to call me again, but I ignore it. My phone goes on do not disturb.

My face drops into my hands and I want to scream. The sight of the blue baby in my arms is burned into my memory. Her limbs unmoving. Her eyes open in confusion.

Perhaps babies know more than I think they do. I could see fear in her eyes. I could see her begging me to help her.

I could see pain.

I shake my head and thump it back on the wall. We gave her the EpiPen and I ended up having to do CPR too. She seems okay now, but there's just one problem....

There's still the fact that I almost killed her.

A tear stings my eye. 11 faces flash before me. I rub my jaws hard and grumble in frustration.

"Miss Dupont?"

I jerk and find the doctor with Fallon in his arms holding her hands out to me. I can't move. I can't hold her. I feel my face contort into something like terror. I attempt to shake it off, but my body is frozen.

"She's just fine. Nothing wrong. She has a few allergies we need to discuss."

"Thank God, she's alright." I choke on the words. I am glad. Relief wells up inside me. But I don't want to touch her. What if I still have pizza sauce on my fingers or something?

He bends down and Fallon tries to get in my lap. She pets my hand with her soft fingers, looking up with bright eyes.

"Is her mother going to be here soon?"

I can't find myself capable of any other action than a nod. He puts a hand on my shoulder.

"What happened was a shock I'm sure, but it wasn't your fault. With no previous reaction, you couldn't have known this would happen. And she's alright now so there's nothing to worry about, okay?"