What The Water Brings In

7

A/N: I haven't sent this chapter to a proofreader, so don't be afraid to note any errors as in-line comments. I'd greatly appreciate it.

The waiting room was eerily quiet when no one else was in it with me. The space did not have any windows, so the storm raging outside could easily be forgotten. I could also believe I was the only person in the whole hospital with the lack of noise. Not wanting to be alone in such a large complex, I quickly ran through an inventory of everyone I knew that was in the hospital. Nurse Becks was just with me. Jackie, who may or may not be Sean's biological mother, was tucked into her room until she fully recovered from the drowning and the effects of the sedative. Johnny Galloway was probably still in the cafeteria, waiting for the roads to clear up so he could go home. I didn't know where Sean was, but I was confident he was on the grounds and in the company of Dr. Pickett.

My heart ached upon thinking of Dr. Sean, hating the pain and loneliness he must have been suffering for being an unwanted baby. I couldn't afford to dwell on those thoughts; I had been given clear instructions on what I had to do next, and I didn't want my voice breaking with emotion on this phone call. I doubted Mr. Blackbourne would have approved.

My phone came out of my bra, and I remembered I still had Dr. Green's phone. He had left it on Jackie's room, and I picked it up for him before we parted ways. I set the purple cased phone on the coffee table on top of the magazines, promising myself I wouldn't forget it. I would have stuck it in the other cup of my bra, but I feared the electrical shock it could emit if anyone tried to gain his attention with a red or green line.

Mr. Blackbourne's text conversation was far down in my phone; I had to scroll almost to the bottom to find it. We didn't text nearly as much as I did with the other boys.

Sang: Are you busy?

It was just a normal text message, not one from the customized app with the violin as the icon. I didn't want to interrupt, for Mr. Blackbourne was a very busy man...

...which was why I jumped in surprise when my phone immediately started to buzz with an incoming call. The caller ID said Mr. Blackbourne and displayed a picture of him sitting at the piano in Music Room B, his fingers at the keys. I had snapped the picture as he played an impressionist piece about clouds. I tried to be sneaky about taking his picture to complete my contacts list of my guys; I was too nervous to outright ask him permission like I did the eight other boys. Mr. Blackbourne probably knew what I was doing nonetheless, for the picture had that millimeter lift of his lip at the corner of his mouth.

He must have not been too busy for him to answer my text message with a phone call. "Hello?"

"Miss Sorenson."

"Mr. Blackbourne," I automatically answered back.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

"Yes. I'm fine," was my default reply.

"Did help arrive?" His tone was firm and slightly rushed. He had a thread of nervousness running just under his surface. This was the most rattled I had ever heard him to be, and I didn't like it. I wanted to reassure him, let him know he did not need to worry over me. I just wasn't sure on how to do that, and I wasn't quite sure if it was true or not, whether he really did need to fret over my wellbeing. How pathetic could I be for needing him to worry over me if Dr. Green was the one hurting?

I took in a deep breath and answered on the exhale. "Nurse Becks and Dr. Pickett came just in time. Dr. Green managed to draw Ms. Jackie's blood, but he didn't get to keep it."

"I take it Ms. Jackie is his patient and alleged mother?"

"That's right."

"Where is Dr. Green now?" he asked me. I could hear paper shuffling in the background, like he was at a desk in an office.