Hope | ✔

Chapter 10: Panic

"You have no idea how fast my heart races when i see you."

"I can sign Jaimie-mae out," Madison argued.

"You aren't really her legal guardian though," Justin pointed out.

"Well, do you expect her to stay here for two more days until her mother gets back? There's no reason to stay for two more days. We can't leave her here by herself."

"Fine. Talk to the nurse and see if you can do that."

Jaimie-mae watched Fabian's mom as she walked up to the front desk. Her small wedged heels clicked against the ground and the sound was so very familiar. She shook her head to rid herself of the memories and she took a small shaky breath.

"Hey, are you alright?" Fabian asked quietly as he stooped down to be a little closer to her.

"Huh?" She turned her head to look at him. "Oh yeah. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

She gave him a small hesitant smile. "Yeah, im good."

Jaimie-mae looked back towards the front desk and watched Madison and the lady in scrubs converse back and forth with each other. Soon Madison's face grew a small content smile and she turned around and came back towards them.

"I signed her out."

Justin shook his head with a smile. "What can't my wife do?"

She grinned at him and walked out the sliding doors of the hospital. Her family followed closely behind but Jaimie-mae kind of slipped back. She hiked her backpack further up on her shoulders and breathed in the fall air. It was much better than the hospital air.

Jaimie-mae fliched when she felt a hand grab her forearm gently. "Sorry, i didn't mean to scare you. You can come in the car with us. My parents can drop you off."

Jaimie-mae felt like they had already done too much for her. She didn't want to take up anymore of their time. "That's okay. I can walk. Its a nice day today."

Fabian's face fell a tiny bit. "It's no problem, really. We can drop you off."

Fabian could practically see the gears turning in Jaimie-mae's head. "Stop overthinking it."

Jaimie-mae looked at him strangely like he had just read her mind. She quickly tried to deny it.

"By the look on your face, i know i was right. Just get in the car. If you must, you can overthink in there."

Jaimie-mae rolled her eyes at him but followed his instructions. Mason climbed in and then she did. But when she noticed how much Fabian was struggling she got out, shoved his crutches into the back and held his arm gently to ease him down into the car.

"Thanks."

She nodded silently in reply and climbed in after him, closing the door behind her.

"Where am i taking you Jaimie-mae?" Justin asked as he pulled out of the hospitals parking lot.

"Spring boulevard please."

"Okay."

The car ride was silent except for the sound of Mason's game. As Mason played the game, Fabian noticed that at certain sounds Jaimie-mae would shift uncomfortably or she'd flinch. He watched nervously out of the corner of his eye as she closed her eyes and tried to relax. 

A sudden pop sound from Mason's game made Jaimie-mae go rigid so Fabian immediately turned to Mason and put his hand over his arm.

"Mason, put the game away for a second," he whispered.