In My Blood (Completed)

CHAPTER 19: Family

In the morning, the nurses brought a breakfast platter along with a new pair of glasses for Luke, whose prescription he’d been wearing wasn’t quite right. Apparently he’d shared his favorite color with the pediatric nurses during the eye exam and Luke was soexcited about his rectangular green frames--and seeing more clearly, for sure.

The chief researcher returned to let Beca know that her blood sample checked out, and his team was already hard at work replicating the vaccine for others. With the compounds Beca’s dad used, they were confident that they might be able to come up with a cure if the fungus is caught in the early stages. That news caused pride to bloom in Beca’s chest, and she graciously accepted the gifts his team provided--new iPhones for Beca and Chloe, iPads loaded with games and cartoons for the kids, and a brand new version of the Jeep they’d ridden across the country--this one a forest green color with all the bells and whistles, packed with donations of clothing.

By late morning, the hospital discharged them and they climbed into their new car, Beca fiddling with the navigation system (Farewell, paper maps! You were a pain in the ass most of the time but usually reliable!) before they hit the road to drive north. They stopped midway at a diner for lunch before making the long last leg toward Portland. Luckily the ride didn’t seem long--at least, to Beca and the kids, thanks to the radio (for Beca, who was fascinated by the new music she’d missed) and the iPads for the kids. In the backseat, with their new peacoats keeping them warm over their sweaters and jeans and boots, they huddled together and played on their electronics, happily exploring the features and showing each other funny apps or taking pictures with the camera. It was such a happy sight to see whenever Beca peered through the rearview mirror.

*

Although there was no longer a need for watch shifts or security sweeps, ingrained habit still caused Chloe to rise fairly early. It was still a strange change of pace that would take some getting used to when the nurses arrived with breakfast already prepared for them, but it was undeniably a welcome change. She fired a quick grin and thumbs up at Luke, who beamed at her with his new glasses over some fruit and a waffle that he'd positively drowned in syrup.

While Beca spoke with the researcher, Chloe helped the kids wash up and brush their teeth after breakfast. In what was undoubtedly a first for them, getting ready and dressed for the day was actually a more prolonged activity, due entirely to the fact that the kids had more clothing choices than they'd ever had available to them before. While they'd dressed for function and survival before, the kids now spent a solid ten minutes debating over the different shirts and sweaters that had been provided for them. It filled Chloe with endlessly affectionate warmth to see the kids being able to express their own personalities through their clothing choices for the first time. Luke was overcome with excitement to find a sweater that matched the same shade of green as his new glasses, while Nell was delighted when she stumbled across a purple sweater in the pile that was easily nicer than any of her salvaged belongings. She knew they were likely to spend many more mornings in such a fashion when they were informed that their new Jeep was packed with more clothing donations for all of them.

It was strange to have a phone in her hand again--when was the last time they actually had functioning cell towers back east? Even so, everyone she still cared about was still further east and out of contact anyway, no matter how nice the new phone in her hand was. She briefly considered dialing the phone number of her childhood home--how strange, she mused, that it was one of the things that had stayed seared into her memory after all these years--before she decided against it. There was no guarantee that the number would even be the same now, and she didn't think she could bear to learn the truth over something as impersonal as a phone call. Instead, she typed in the number on her phone's keypad and only hesitated briefly before saving it as a contact titled 'Mom and Dad.'