CYOA Page 210
Sep. 11th, 2013 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12You don't need time to think about it -- you knew when Joel was giving you the reason he changed his mind about you. You understand how he must have felt, because you're feeling it now.
"I want to go back," you tell Joel. "I know we won't let anything bad happen to her. I don't want to raise her or anything... I mean, that wouldn't be the worst thing ever, but really? I just want to know she's okay. And I'd like to be a part of her life. I want us to pick her parents ourselves -- especially you, cuz you get those... bad feelings about people."
Joel chuckles. "They don't let the real bad ones live in town, from what I can see."
"Maybe not evil... but you don't like everyone. You can see the bad in them -- you can tell when people are lying. Even if they're good liars."
"Not a hundred percent of the time. But that's a good idea. We can argue over who gets to keep her."
"Or maybe she can have like, five sets of parents. Spend a week with each one."
"Five? Damn. Don't you think that would get a little confusin' for her?"
"Okay, so... two or three sets."
"How 'bout one. One house. Kids need stability."
You frown. "She has that now, at the hospital. Are we messing her up by taking her away from that?"
"Psh. No. Kids are also adaptable. 'Specially babies. She don't even know her ass from her elbow yet."
You giggle at that. "I thought that's something you say about a stupid person?"
"I did say that, yes. But in her case, I mean it literally."
You suddenly fling your arms around Joel's neck to give him a real hug. "Thank you so much, Joel! You have no idea... I feel like a huge weight's been lifted off my shoulders."
He hugs you back. Kisses the side of your head. "You're welcome. I prob'ly should've realized you wanted to take her. Instead, I just made you feel guilty about it."
You pull back and settle yourself next to him again. "No, you were fair, I think. I mean, you're allowed to have an opinion. But... isn't there any part of you that wanted to take her? Just a teensy bit?"
"Nah. Can't stand the little brat."
You slug his arm. "Liar! You're forgetting that I caught you singing to her."
"Yeah? An' why do you think I was doin' that? To shut her the hell up."
"Uh-huh. She wasn't always crying when you did it," you remind him.
"Those other times I did it 'cause you asked me to."
That's true, actually. But you know he totally enjoyed it. "Whatever. I can't wait to see her. Can we go right now? We could take a nap after we get--"
"No. We'll get there by midday at the latest. That's soon enough."
"Unless they already sent her off with someone!" Oh God, I hope not...
"I doubt it. Even if they found her a home, I don't think they'd let her go just yet."
"Oh -- the trial run thing. Right." You hope he's not just saying that to make you feel better. "What if they did promise her to someone? Maybe they won't take kindly to us barging in there and fucking that up."
"How 'bout we don't worry unless it happens."
He's so fucking reasonable! "You're right. We should clean up and go to bed. I want it to be tomorrow already."
Joel chuckles. "The sun ain't even all the way down yet."
"I don't care! I want to get up before dawn if we can... so we can be ready to go at first light."
"Yes ma'am."
No guarantee you'll be able to fall asleep so early, but then, you are on a weird schedule now. You probably haven't slept for more than four hours at a time the past few days. Man... this is gonna be a long night!
* * * * * *
You end up waking a little later than you wanted to, but still a bit earlier than usual -- and you normally don't wake Joel up, but today you do. You're so excited that you're full of energy, and you keep urging him to hurry his ass up, no matter what he's doing. You may be overdoing that a little, because you could swear he's deliberately taking longer to do things now. Like being super fussy about how the bags get loaded up. And he folds-and-rolls the blankets like three times each before deeming them each good to go. It's driving you crazy!
Once you do get underway, you declare NO BREAKS -- you can break at the hospital. And you can take a longer break there, so you might as well push the horses now. Joel says he needs to 'take a trip' (i.e. take a shit), but you tell him he can hold it. He doesn't argue. Then you feel guilty and mean, so you tell him yes of course go ahead... and he says he doesn't actually have to go! He was just curious to see if you'd 'let' him. Ha ha.
The way is clear, as you've traveled it twice now in the past twenty-four hours. Some new threat could pop up, sure, but it doesn't -- the universe is on your side today. It's not yet midday when you reach the city. You remember the way; you command your horse to gallop, and Joel has no choice but to follow suit if he wants to keep up with you. You secure the horses in the grassed-over courtyard where they've spent most of their time the last few days.
"I didn't see the guard out front -- did you?" you ask Joel.
"No. Maybe he was real close to the door."
It's all shadowy there, under the overhang... but you still feel like you would've seen him. You run, until Joel calls out to you, reminding you that it's not a good idea to run toward someone with a gun who might very well be the shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later sort. Especially if he didn't see you approaching this time.
But you needn't have bothered slowing down; he's not there. And the doors are locked. You look at Joel, perplexed.
"No idea," he answers your unspoken question. "Maybe he ain't workin' today an' they don't put anyone else on guard duty."
"You said there's no other way in down here, right? When you checked it out the first day?"
"Right. There's windows, though. Some are boarded up, but not all of 'em."
"There's no patients on this floor, though. So unless someone's doing surgery and we go interrupt--"
"No windows on that end."
"Okay, so... we break one somewhere?"
Joel chuckles. "Why don't we wait a few minutes an' see if anyone comes an' checks down here before we go breakin' in, yeah?"
You pound on the door, then press your face to the glass so you can see inside. "It looks the same in there..."
"Mm. So they didn't all just decide to pack up an' move right after we left?"
"Don't joke about that! That would be horrible."
You wait approximately forever (later, Joel would estimate it as five to ten minutes) -- and finally, someone comes and unlocks the door! It's the guard! You could practically kiss him! "Thumb! So glad to see you!" You never did learn his real name, but he seems to like the nickname. "Where were you? Why was the door locked? That's not normal this time of day, is it? Never mind -- none of my business -- we need to see Ellie -- do you know where she is?"
He was surprised to see you, then he seemed amused at your enthusiasm, and now he looks confused. "Ellie? The little baby that was here?"
Your heart plummets to your toes. "What do you mean 'was' here? Where is she?"
"Not sure. I thought you two... you went home yesterday."
"Well, we're back." Duh! "Do you know where Dr. Johnson is? Or maybe Kimberly? Can we just go in and look for them? Or someone?" You glance at Joel. "Whoever has her prob'ly hasn't gotten too far, right?" Back to Thumb. "Do you know when she left? Was it yesterday or today?"
He waits a few beats to answer (you suppose you can't blame him... not like you're giving him much chance to talk here). "Why do you wanna see that kid, anyway?"
"Because we made a mistake! We want to take her home with us. I need to find her!"
He smiles -- no, grins -- which is infuriating as fuck! "Uh... well, you won't have to go too far. She's still here. I'm just a jerk."
You stare at him for a moment before it sinks in. "You're... what?!" You look at Joel -- he looks amused, too. "Why is everyone fucking with me today?" you wail -- but you're laughing, too, because omigod she's here! "Okay, I'm gonna go find her -- here --" The dude didn't even ask you to ditch your weapons this time, but you thrust your gun at him in case he wants it and scurry through the doors. The plan was that if he wanted to scan you, you would wait outside with the horses while Joel went in to collect Ellie. He might find that strange, but you figured he wouldn't force you to be scanned if you're not even going inside. You sort of blew that with your eagerness -- like he'd really believe you wouldn't want to go in after that little... display of emotion?! -- but it doesn't matter, as he's not standing in your way; it must be enough that he knows who you are.
You head directly for the stairwell, because the elevator might be fun, but it takes forever, even when there's no one else using it. Thumb SHOULD have stopped me, really, you muse to yourself. I could've gotten infected out there. And if he lets Joel in with all those weapons -- like, how well does he really know either of us? We SEEM harmless, but maybe that was our plan, to earn his trust... then come in here and blow shit up?
You're just devil's advocating here, of course, but you can't help thinking that maybe Ellie isn't quite as safe here as you assumed. ...or am I just trying to justify changing my mind?! Seriously -- that's like, Joel-level paranoia.
Since you didn't help Joel move her stuff and drop her off, you have no idea where the baby is; either the second or third floor, and you're leaning toward third, so you start there. You poke your head indiscriminately into rooms, politely exchanging greetings with people if the rooms are occupied and they notice you. Some look quite happy to see you and want to chat, or at least ask you what's up, but you're in a hurry! What if Thumb was wrong and she's not here after all?
Eventually, you find the right one -- there she is! She's on a bed, which is being used as a changing table, and Kimberly is fastening a new diaper on her (do you have perfect timing or what?). The sweet scent of baby powder wafts toward you. Kimberly must've heard you approaching because she turns around before you announce yourself. "Ellie?!"
"Hey!" you greet her happily. Then you notice something-- "and hey, you finished the dress!"
"Yeah! This morning." She tugs it down over the diaper so you can see it properly. "I messed it up a little... right here, and here... but it beats her birthday suit, right?"
Birthday suit? Whatever-- "It's amazing! So cute! And she likes it?"
"So far so good... it's really soft. Probably a bit warm in the sun, this time of year, but not like she'll be doing much sunbathing."
Wellllll... You step closer, suddenly feeling a little shy. "May I?"
"Of course!" She moves out of the way.
"Heyyyyy, little one," you chirp at the baby as you lift her. You lay her against your left shoulder the way she likes, and you just want to squeeze the shit out of her, but you restrain yourself.
"What are you doing back, anyway?" asks Kimberly. "Did you forget something?"
You look at her and snicker a little. "Yeah -- her. Well-- actually, more like I couldn't forget her."
Her eyes widen. "You mean..."
You nod excitedly. "Yeah -- we're going to take her home with us." Not want to -- going to. You just dare anyone to tell you otherwise.
"Aww yay!"
That's encouraging... "Just so someone at home can adopt her," you add, "and then I can see her a lot and stuff."
She gives you a knowing look. "Mmmmmmhmm. Someone at home. Not you."
You laugh. "I'm only sixteen, you know. And there's tons of people at home who want kids, or like kids... and she'll have lots of little playmates... she's going to have a great life, yes she is," you coo into her little knit cap. You hear Joel's footsteps in the corridor. "Finally!" you call to him before he even reaches the doorway. "What the fuck took you so long?"
"I took the elevator."
Ha! "Look at this!" You pull Ellie off your shoulder and hold her up so he can see her dress. "Isn't it pretty?"
He chuckles. "Don't think I've ever heard you gush over a dress before."
You roll your eyes. "But isn't it sweet and adorable? Kimberly made it!"
"Very nice, yes." He doesn't give a shit, of course!
Ellie starts squirming, so you pull her back against you. "Do you think she remembers me?"
"Nope. Newborns' short-term memories only go back five hours."
"Really? Weird. How does anyone even know that?" Then you notice that certain twinkle in his eye... "Ohhhh you're messing with me, aren't you. Stop doing that!" you laugh.
Kimberly laughs. "I'm sure she remembers you. She looks pretty happy right now."
"She does, huh. ...I think she wants you, Joel. See how she's like... trying to look at you? She knows your voice!" You hand her over to Joel. For some reason, it doesn't make you jealous; maybe because there's also been times where she seems to want you instead. Plus, you just love seeing Joel with her. It's adorable as fuck.
"I'm gonna go wash my hands and get back to work," Kimberly announces. "Will you be hanging around a while?"
"A little while, yeah," you reply. "I didn't really get to say goodbye to people before, so I'll do that this time."
"Cool. See you around, then! I'll let everyone know you're here. ...I'm really glad you came back. I'll miss her, but I'm glad."
"Thanks," you say, blushing stupidly. After she leaves, you realize you forgot to ask her when Ellie last ate. Oh well... she'll let me know when she's hungry... You can't stop smiling, and you probably have the dopiest expression on your face, watching Joel snuggling her against his shoulder. "I'm really glad we came back, too," you tell Joel. ...As if he doesn't already know this?
He smiles back. "Me too, baby girl."
...and you believe he really means it.
If you'd like to start another adventure, return to page 1.
Carlos
Date: 2020-07-14 12:31 pm (UTC)Re: Carlos
Date: 2020-07-14 01:20 pm (UTC)