Keep On Walking (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 3 of the Hardships Saga)

Chapter Twenty-One

❝dead (pronounced dɛd or ded), adjective
to no longer be living.❞

He waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

But no matter how long he waited, it was far too long.

He watched people filter through the waiting room. He saw people cry, he saw people laugh, he saw children get bored and tell their parents that they were hungry, and he saw nurses come out and call out the names of hundreds of patients. But not Ryan's.

He checked his watch. It was almost eight pm now. Some part of him remembered that he hadn't eaten anything the whole day, but that didn't matter. With all the butterflies in his stomach, he wasn't sure he could keep anything down anyway.

Ryan would be okay, most likely, but what about the baby? She always kept her word, and if she said she'd hate Hunter if the baby didn't make it and she did, then... she would. But he knew what she said was true, what she had said last night while they were talking. She wasn't ready to die. She hadn't lived long enough to die now, for something like this. They could have more children. He would never find another angel like her in his lifetime.

"Ryan Hayes-Lockhart?" called the nurse suddenly, and Hunter stood up like he had been electrocuted. He walked to the nurse, who lead him to see a doctor.

"Well?" asked Hunter anxiously. "What happened?"

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She could feel her toes.

That was weird. She didn't think you could feel anything after you were dead. She felt... achy, too. Her entire body had a kind of dull, throbbing ache, which left her feeling tired, even though she seemed to have just woken up from some kind of deep sleep. She opened her eyes just slightly, and was blinded by the light. Slowly, her eyes adjusted, and she looked around.

The first thing that she realised was that she was lying in a hospital room. The next thing she realised was that she was in a room by herself... except for the baby lying in the crib beside her.

She heard a soft gasp and realised it had come from her own mouth. She had done it. They were both alive. Her sweet little Robin was lying in the crib beside her.

She could hear footsteps from down the hall, and saw Hunter walk in with a coffee and a bag. He saw that she was awake and smiled slightly, walking to her bed. "I am so, so proud of you," he whispered, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "You're amazing."

"We both made it?"

"Yeah. You did." He kissed her forehead gently. "You're still a little sick, but now we can give you the stronger medication, because it won't affect her anymore." He smiled. "I made sure that they did a DNA test on her. She's ours."

Ryan tried to sit up, but gasped, her hand flying to her stomach. "Oh!"

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you," he said. "They gave you an emergency C-section, and there were a couple of complications, which is why it took so long. But everything turned out fine." He helped her sit up. "Would you like to hold her?"

"Oh my goodness, yes," she said softly, and Hunter lifted the tiny child out of her crib. She stirred slightly, but Hunter murmured something gently, and she stopped. He gave her to Ryan to hold. And she held her daughter for the first time.

Her forehead had a dimple in it, and her tiny hands were peeking out from beneath the blankets. Soft, thick blonde hair poked out from under her beanie, and her brow was furrowed in a way that reminded Ryan strongly of how Hunter looked when he was playing a particularly difficult guitar solo. Her cheeks were a soft, rosy red, and her jaw was the same shape as Hunter's. Robin opened her eyes ever so slightly, and Ryan saw that the colour of them was exactly the shade of aqua that she saw in the mirror every day.