Ava stood.
Her eyes unblinking, holding his gaze.
So you go outside for almost two hours, only to ask for my name, then come back and ask me tomarry you?"
With a rueful smile, she imagined twisting his arm.
If she were 16, she'd probably be more excited than Marcus. Her blue eyes would have sparked with an intensity, that would make her stomach tight, then she'd throw her self on him and say "Yes", more than once.
But for the love of Baltimore, she is twenty-three and experienced with this sort of terrible vulnerability from men, that made resenting them easy.
First it was Thomas, her high school Teacher.
And Anthony, her childhood Crush.
Then Lucas, her son's Father.
They were all selfish forbidden humans.
But unlike them, this man infront of her was mad.
She was too certain that he was driven by something she could not comprehend.
Whatever it was, was tempting his destruction ,almost eager for it.
Men want what they cannot have. She shook her head, wanting to believe that he had taken some sort of illegal substance outside.
"Did you take anything outside." Her face lit up with genuine concern, catching her breathe slowly.
"Dr Phyl said..."
Almost immediately, a woman raced inside, tired and breathless, it was Stacy, the nurse whose shift Lyn bought, so she could spend more time with Marcus.
"Are you Alfred's Mother? There's been an emergency.
Fear gripped Ava. Anger followed, then regret.
Turning to Marcus, she said, " l wish you never came here. Dr Phyl would never have been distracted."
She fled away from him. Her hands trembling in a way she didn't care. Again, she was frightened like a desperate child in need of her mother.
Fear rising up her throat, so strong, she began to choke.
She needed strength.
She needed money more to leave this hospital this minute.
A sound of pain hissed from her lips we she saw Alfred. He had had another seizure, too severe, he was gasping rapidly for air.
Two young doctors and a nurse surronded him. One tried to inject something into his drip, while the other held his hand down.
Yanking his head back and forth, Alfred struggled against their strength. The searing pain around chest, took his breath away. It looked like his eight year old body was too small to bear the pain.
The seizures were tearing his muscles apart.
His lips bleed deeper than the bruises around them, and the layers around his eyes darkened quickly.
Alfred was almost unrecognizable.
As he looked upward the space above him, his vision doubled and blurred.
Then for a brief moment, he lay helpless.
Ava thought he was dead. The only sign he still breathed, was the gentle rise and fall of his chest.
Fighting despair and fatigue, Ava asked the young doctors when it started.
"About an hour, thirty minutes ago."
"Why didn't anyone call me."
"You were busy." Ava thought she misheard something.
"W–What did you say?"
"We were ordered not to disturb anyone attending to Mr Marcus . Dr Phyl said anyone who Mr Marcus reports, will be fired and..."
"Enough!" Ava tried to breathe through her fury. She knew loosing her temper may trigger another episode for Alfred. It was even a mistake that she had yelled in the first place. For the sake of Alfred, she had to work on her temper. And she's been doing just fine until...
Now!
Turning to the young doctors who spoke to her, she said calmly, fully in control of her heart.
"Listen to me both of you, l understand you're doing your job, and only taking orders from your Boss. He is my boss too, remember? But, you are not zombies. Dr Phyl had no right to make such decisions for you. It was an emergency. The right thing would be to have called me immediately. "
"He is my only family. He is all l have. What if h-he had di..." Ava couldn't complete what she started. Her tears were statement enough that her son was deserving of quality health care.
Her anger had quietened.
But her resolve grew stronger, and she knew she needed to leave this place—immediately.
She didn't even pause to think through options.
Ava knew there weren't.
This hospital lacked compassion and urgency to treat a certain kind of people.
Thinking calmly, she was grateful Alfred was here, cos without Dr Phyl, he probably wouldn't be alive, but much more than what she thought, she knew Alfred needed better medical care, or she might loose him.
Tired and spirit-spent, she sat on a chair and put her hand on his head, stroking and straightening his full hair as far as her hands could reach.
"I shouldn't have left your bed-side Alfred," She spoke gently, trying desperately not to cry.
"You did what you needed to do. See, how he sleeps calmy, and that's what's most important."
Ava looked slowly away from her son, to a woman who wasn't as young as the other nurses she had met a week ago. She looked somewhat 50 or a little below that.
She recognized her to be the woman who had told her of Alfred's crisis.
"Hi!" I'm Stacy , and Alfred is as daring as his mother. Stacy said softly. Her face lined with warmth.
"Ava!" Smiling too, Ava nodded slowly. Her kindness made giving her a response, easy.
"Thank you for letting me know."
"I came in as soon as Dr Phyl said he had fired one of his nurses this evening. Imagine getting ready for work, suddenly, your phone beeps, only to be told to get to work as quickly as you can? So annoying!"
"Is he always this way? Dr Phyl?" Ava asked weakly, giving a surprise laugh , suddenly aware, she wasn't the only staff he treated this way.
"He's so consumed by his career now, that there's no room left in his heart for emotions. Between ten years when this hospital started, and now, a lot had changed within him.
Stacy covered Alfred with a blanket, dabbing beads of perspiration on his forehead with towel, close to his pillow.
The room was cold, still his body was warm from the seizures.
"He didn't have much then as he does now, and he used to treat his patients like they owed him nothing in return. It all changed very quickly. Now, it's as though they are in debt..."
"Of something he offered to do willingly." Ava completed. Her expression, giving way to despair, and despair, to selfpity.
Stacy lifted her head to study the young woman.
She was unlike any woman she had ever known.
She was very beautiful.
Her skin, flawless,and her cheek, chiseled in such a way that staring at her,was easy.
She didn't only have the kind of beauty that would have all the men of Baltimore, groveling at her, and the women, pine with jealousy, she also had a will that was bold and endearing, and a gentleness that was kind.
Her face was weary and she knew why.
"I had heard of the new cleaner Dr Phyl employed, who worked like her life were a ransome, but l never imagined it to be you, until today , when l was told you were working in Mr Marcus' private suite.
"So you've seen me before?" Ava queried.
"Yes, 2 weeks ago. The first day you brought Alfred here. I had gasped at your beauty and even told a colleague, that l had seen a woman more beautiful than her."
Ava smiled weakly.
It was the first time a woman said something kind to her.
Ava had seen other women stare at her while she walked on the streets and malls of Baltimore, but none had ever passed a compliment, like she did of their dresses.
Her eyes shone with gratitude to Stacy.
She wanted to speak, but she noticed Alfred's eyes opening gently. She was grateful, the light in the ward was dim,otherwise, it would have triggered another episode.
Leaning close to him, she heard him say something faintly and very unexpected...
"Mommy?"
"I'm here Munchkin." Ava's face was red. Her tears full of distress.
"Where is Mr Marcus?"