At three-month-old Hela Bannish is dropped in her father and the rest of his bandmate's dressing room with a note done in a beautiful, well-practiced script:
"Loki, there is something wrong with our baby and no one is listening. I fear she is dying...
They fled through the dunes of Southern California and arrived in Yuma as the sun was breaking over the mountain line. But Hela's screams had become so much that Darius headed for the hospital instead of the closest place to eat and Angie and him and Loki trailed with the baby's things Angie hit the nurses station first and the nurses looked terrified at the sounds the baby was making and Angie had to snap look at me, focus. FOCUS. You need to get a Pediatric doctor up here right now, if you don't have one your ER doc that can call the Helicopter to TMC PEDs Needs to get up here NOW. This little girl was just dumped on her father with no medical history and she is screaming and puking and it is ALL WRONG." She slapped her hand at the desk and the nurses scattered. Two grabbed Darius and Loki and started getting Vitals as a doctor in the quiet ER rushed and he nodded, She does need to go but wouldn't the Children's Hospital in Phoenix be better? "
Darius looked up at him, "This is dad, say hi Loki." Loki waved and turned back to his daughter. "Dad doesn't drive he's afraid of breaking his arms, he's a pro drummer. Hela is his first and he didn't know about her till about 4-5 hours ago. I don't even know what time it is. My wife works in Pediatrics at TMC. She's got Dr and Nurses waiting for her, call, get the helicopter here, GET HER THERE I'll get dad there!" Darius Roaredpulling out his badge and the Doctor nodded and Loki fell into him crying as they rushed her off to take an x-ray series while they were getting a helicopter jump from the base's med lift. They gave Hela some juice but it came up just as they said and Loki took her and gave her her binky, which as always she sucked on furiously as she cried. Loki kissed her red hair, "It's an okay baby girl. It's okay."
Twenty minutes later they could hear the beat of blades through the air as the helicopter landed, They'd suited up Angie and she had gotten all the consent she needed from Loki and she took Hela and She and the other flight Nurse and the Flight Surgeon headed for the helicopter and they boarded and then headed off. Loki finished the hospital paperwork, turned in all her medical info, and he and Darius were released he shifted a few switches on the dash and hidden lights in the truck started turning and blaring.
"This is your Undercover truck?" Loki asked just a little shocked as Darius stopped at the Mcdonald's and they got a ton of food and hit the highway which would connect just outside Casa Grande on the way to Tucson.
"Just stay buckled up. Not a lot of people travel this road I can get up to pretty decent speed just open my food for me. I can't take my eyes off the road." Darius said and Loki started opening breakfast burritos and handing them to Darius between eating his McGriddles and licking his sticky fingers. "Thank you, Darius. I'm sorry... Stuff just happens to me. I don't know why."
"No Loki. The dog was stuff. The litter of kittens was stuff. Hell, I'd say the broken dishes were stuff. This is a baby. This is something you knowingly created with a human being whether drunk or not. But you've stopped your issues with the drinking. You've never looked at drugs. You got it good kid and you are very talented. Someone is gonna scoop you up if we ever stop touring."
They drove for hours it seemed like when the familiar landscape suddenly shifted and they were racing through the streets While Angie was trying to call them and neither of them had the brains to answer the phone. They pulled up in front of the PEDs ER entrance and Loki jumped out, "I'll be right in Loki, you hold that girl."
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Angie rushed out to meet Loki and they got him in scrubs so he could hold his baby. Her nurse was trying to get her interested in her binky again but she just wanted daddy and she snuggled into Loki's shoulder. The nurses just stared at the tall thin man and smiled. "She's been screaming since Mexicali Loki they are bringing in a Pediatric belly surgeon, she's got something wrong with other intestines Loki. We'll all stay right here, everyone is waking up and coming in right now." Angie said softly as they all watched in amazement as the little girl fell asleep. She had settled and no one was going to move her till she had to go into surgery. They got Loki a chair and he just rocked and sang to her patting rhythms on her back.
An hour later their specialist came in after studying the films and she eyed the baby. "The magic of dads..." She said softly as she spoke to Loki and Darius and Angie about the surgery and after they made sure Loki understood exactly what was going on with it they let him sign the permission and they pre-sedated her in his arms and then they lay her out and took her back as they joined the rest of the band and their wives or the rest of the PI office and their wives or girlfriends and foods copious amounts of food as they let Loki have one of the couches and Darius the other as they ate and talked, and Loki felt like he had a true family now... and he and Hela would come out of this on the better side. She'd be in the hospital for at least two weeks. That would give him and the group two weeks to get him and Hela a trailer and all settled in before she came home... He looked at Angie kissing Dar and he smiled.
