Katie walked towards the hospital unit of Starman, a slight pep in her step as she carried four cups of coffee in a holder; one for herself, one for her friend Ash, one for co-worker Jacob and one for her wife, Zoë. She had gotten a text saying that Zoë was in the hospital unit today, which she thought was a bit weird but went along with it since she was the boss, after all, she often spent days in the sensory room. What was also weird was the all caps of Ash's text, "DUDE. YOUR WIFE IS IN THE HOSPITAL UNIT, COME ASAP SHE NEEDS YOU." Ash was the type of person to exaggerate from time to time, so Katie didn't think much of their use of caps, especially since they had been using that way of typing ever since they owned a phone.
When she opened the door, she was surprised to hear nothing but silence in the usually busy and bright unit. She also noticed no one in the reception, not even Sam in her usual desk. She pushed open the door to the main room, hearing a long beep and seeing only three kids asleep in bed and, surrounding one bed were all the doctors, nurses and..... the kids, Skye, Billy and her parents in law??
Michael turned to look at her, prompting the others with tears in their eyes to do so and Katie's smile to drop. The frail elderly man put his hand against a wall and pointed his cane at her.
"How could you not have known she was sick?! My girl is gone because of you! Her heart stopped because of you!"
Katie's eyes welled with tears as she heard the mans sharp words and set her eyes on her wife's lifeless body in the bed, dropping the coffee and collapsing herself.
"Why didn't you come faster?!"
"Where the fuck were you?! All she wanted was you here!"
"Katie? Katie, can you hear me? Are you ok?"
"Katie! I'm here, can you hear me?"
Katie jolted out of her sleep, tears streaming down her face and sweat drenching her clothes, and Zoë right next to her with her hands on her shoulders. Katie looked up at her as her chest heaved, before falling into her arms and hugging her.
"You're ok. You're here."
Zoë smiled, holding back a chuckle. "Yeah, I'm ok and here, amore. What's happening here?"
"A bad dream, A really, really bad dream."
"I gathered that. What happened in the dream though? This is the worst one yet."
Katie sighed, tilting her head back. "It's really bad, Zo. It's awful.
Zoë gave her a soft smile. "I can handle awful. What happened in it?"
"Well, started off great. I was surprising you, Ash and Jake with coffee at work."
Zoë smiled. "This is supposed to be a bad dream? Coffee from my wife at Starman?" Her smile dropped upon remembering the state her wife was in. "Sorry. What happened though?"
"Ash had told me you were in the hospital unit, didn't think anything of it since you could be anywhere in the building. But when I went in, you were gone. Your dad got so mad at me for not being there and not knowing you were sick, and then everyone started yelling at me for not arriving sooner. And then I woke up."
Zoë's eyes darted around for a few moments, biting her lip as she processed what she was told. She then looked back at Katie's tear drenched face, and gently held her shoulders again. "Hey. I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not sick. Are you worried that I am? Did my dad say anything?"
Katie shook her head. "Your dad's the best. He's always been great to me. But my biggest fear since what happened is something else happening with you and me having no clue about it until it's too late. And also that your dad can be pretty scary when someone or something hurts you."
