Braxton (Station 47)

Chapter 3

THREE

brAXTON

Not even a little ashamed, I listen to their conversation through the door. ER trauma rooms aren’t the most secure.

“I actually came to talk to Nathan’s father.” The tears in her voice cause me more pain than I want to admit. Unfortunately, I’m too pissed to pay much attention to the despair in her voice. “He doesn’t know Nathan exists, but I can’t leave my son alone.”

Alone? What does she mean alone?

“I can’t leave my son with no parent at all. My parents are great, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t ask them to raise him. I know they would, but I can’t ask that of them.”

That’s it. Unable to stand out here listening without having answers, I shove the door open and storm inside the room that’s barely big enough to hold the bed and Hannah. My 6’2” frame fills up all the remaining space. “He’s mine, isn’t he, Tina?”

Both women look up at me with similar expressions, mouths open in shock that I’ve come in here with absolutely zero chill. But, along with shock, Hannah’s narrowed eyes are full of censure. She told me to stay out, but after hearing that last little bit, there’s no way I could stay away. I have to know if what I suspect is true.

Tina doesn’t get the chance to answer, because the door opens behind me and the nurse who stuck her head into the room we were standing in earlier is there, holding the hand of the little boy who looks so much like me.

“Mama!” he yells, dropping the nurse’s hand and running for the hospital bed. I reach out and wrap an arm around his waist just before he reaches his mother. I’m not sure of her condition and him jumping all over her might cause more damage.

Once he’s held tight on my hip, I take a few steps closer to the bed so he’s beside her, watching as she reaches up with a skinny arm to brush her knuckles down his cheek. “Hello, my sweet boy. I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“Mama owie?” He asks her the same way he did me earlier today. “Na-fan no owie.”

Smiling up at him, she holds out her arms and he lurches away from me to get to her. I want to hold onto him, to keep him against me because I haven’t received an answer to my question yet, but I know he wants to see her, to feel her as much as I want to feel him.

“Yes, baby. Mama has an owie, but I’m so glad you don’t have one.” He stretches out along her side, resting his head on her shoulder and popping his thumb in his mouth. Tina presses her lips to the top of his head and he smiles around the thumb, his eyes fluttering, then drifting closed. He’s asleep in less than thirty seconds, which is impressive. But, then again, it has been one hell of a rough day.

It’s hard for me not to say anything, but I wait patiently for her to answer my earlier question, even though she’s kept her lips pressed against his hair and her eyes closed like she thinks if she can’t see me, I can’t see her.

Hannah steps up on the other side of her, so I don’t have the chance to say anything or ask again. “We still need to call your parents. Do you want to call them, or would you rather we do it?” She gives me a dirty look out of the corner of her eye as she says this and I know I’m going to be in for a lecture before I leave here tonight. And yes, tonight . I am definitely sticking around until they kick me out.

“I’ll call,” Tina says quietly, and even though I haven’t seen her in a while, I still know her. She’s worried about what her parents will say when she calls. I didn’t listen to their whole conversation, since I had to wait to come eavesdrop until Rhett left to go get us something to drink from the machines down near the cafeteria, but I must’ve missed something.

Her phone is sitting in a clear plastic bag on top of the small table at her bedside, so I reach over and grab it, handing it to her and trying to ignore the way she refuses to meet my gaze. She has so many things to answer for. I can’t imagine why she wouldn’t tell me she was pregnant. I was never the type of guy who would tell her to get rid of it or refuse to step up and take responsibility.

“C’mon, Braxton. Let’s give her some privacy to make the call.” Hannah can tell she’s uncomfortable too, and as much as I want to refuse, I know it won’t get me anywhere with her. She’s not the type to back down for any reason. Kaydence says it’s because she’s a badass bitch, but I’d say it’s more her just being stubborn.

I let Hannah lead me out of the room, and it takes everything in me not to stop and go back when I hear Tina’s teary face says, “Mom, I was in an accident.”

“Didn’t I tell you to stay out here?” Hannah stands in front of me, arms crossed over her chest. Her voice is clipped with her anger and I fully expect her to start tapping her foot when I don’t immediately answer. “Well? Didn’t I?” She practically growls. “I can’t believe you, Brax.” After thinking about it for a second, she shakes her head. “No, actually, you know what? I absolutely can believe it. You give zero thought to consequences. You never have.”

That’s the problem with someone knowing you since they were sixteen and you were six. She knows more about me than just about anyone else. Damn , she’s hot when she’s pissed off at me though. “Oh come on, Hannah .” I can accept that I say her name in a snide tone, knowing she used the nickname my sister gave me when I was little because it sounds so much like brat . “If you just realized there was a possibility you had a kid out there you knew nothing about, would you be able to sit on your fucking hands and wait to ask questions and get some answers? That little boy looks just . Like. Me. Surely you can see that.”

Some of the anger drains from her body and she drops her arms to take one of my hands in hers. “Yes, I would absolutely want to ask questions. I don’t blame you a bit for being shocked and out of sorts, but this is a hospital and there are protocols that need to be followed. You can’t just go around listening at doors when she didn’t give permission for you to hear any of that.” Hannah pauses to take a breath, then levels me with a glance. “Just how much of that conversation did you hear anyway?”

Rubbing the back of my neck with one hand, I shrug and try my best to look contrite. I’m pretty sure I fail though. I’ve never spent a lot of time being sorry for my actions in the past and I’m not about to start now. “Not very long.” I explain how I had to wait for Rhett to leave because he wouldn’t have let me break the rules. Since she’s the one who brought it up though, I don’t feel bad grilling her about what I heard.

“What did she mean she can’t leave her son alone and she doesn’t want to leave him with no parents?”

The expression on Hannah’s face very clearly says are you stupid? while her words aren’t much nicer. “Have you ever heard of doctor/patient confidentiality? I can’t tell you anything.”

Well, that wasn’t helpful at all. “Come on, Hannah. I’m pretty sure I know what that meant, especially seeing how thin and sick she looks. Her medical bracelet says she’s a cancer patient, so I can only imagine the treatments aren’t going well and the prognosis is grim.”

“Then why are you asking me when you already know I can’t tell you anything?”

This time I’m the one with the are you stupid? expression. “Because I hoped you might say something to put my mind at ease. And, I’m hoping I’m wrong. Even if I’m pissed she didn’t tell me she was pregnant or even after she had Nathan, I don’t want him to lose the mother he clearly adores.”

Hannah doesn’t get a chance to respond because all of a sudden machines nearby start screaming and she takes off back to Tina’s room. A group of nurses come running to and my own heart starts to race at the codes being called in the room and the shouts of who needs to do what. Lee, the nurse from earlier, appears after a minute or so and shoves a crying Nathan into my arms. “Han said to take him out, but for you to stay close. Don’t leave the area, Braxton. She said you won’t like it if she has to chase you down.”

More shouting comes from Tina’s room and I wish I could be in there to know what’s happening, but I also know someone needs to be with Nathan and I’ll only be in the way in there. Lee runs back in without saying another word and I walk back to the exam room we were in earlier, cradling a sobbing Nathan against my chest.

Rhett walks in a few minutes later, and he isn’t alone. Hayes, Coop and Hawk are all with him. Their eyes all go wide when they get a chance to really see Nathan. Things were too crazy at the scene earlier for them to pay attention to what he looks like, and how much he looks like a smaller version of me, but they definitely see it now.

“Fuck me,” Grayson says. “Is that…is he yours ?”

I’m nodding before he even finishes the question. “His mom hasn’t had a chance to confirm it yet, but yeah, I’m pretty sure.”

“How? When?” Coop can’t seem to decide what he wants to ask.

Rhett starts to answer his best friend, but I shake my head, letting him know I got this. “Her name is Tina. She and I dated when she was enrolled at Nashville U. We were together for about two and a half years, but she went back home to Chattanooga after she graduated. She missed her parents and didn’t want to live full time in a city as big as Nashville. Apparently, she was also pregnant when she left and decided not to tell me.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Rhett is quick to clarify. “Have you had a chance to ask her yet? Or are you still just assuming he’s yours because you have similar coloring and the timing would match up?”

It’s pretty rude for him to call me out like that, but he has a point. “Okay, so I asked her, but she didn’t get to answer. And now, I don’t know what’s going on with her and it’s possible I’ll never know.” So, maybe I’m being a little dramatic. By this point, Nathan has cried himself back to sleep and I’m standing in the middle of an exam room with my fellow firefighters holding a child I didn’t know existed until a few hours ago and hoping his mom, my ex-girlfriend who I haven’t thought about in years, is okay.

“How bout we don’t continue freaking out about problems we aren’t even sure are really problems until we know a little bit more.” Hayes, as per usual, is the voice of reason. “What’s going on with his mom? Rhett filled us in some, but based on the commotion going on out there when we came in, I’m guessing things got bad?”

More questions I can’t really answer. “I’m not sure. Hannah pulled me out of the room to yell at me about eavesdropping on her conversation with Tina and all of a sudden her machines started going haywire and a bunch of people ran in. One of the nurses came out and handing Nathan to me, but she didn’t tell me anything.”

“Okay, so for now, let’s eat this food before it gets cold and wait for more information.” I start to interrupt him, but Hayes holds up a hand. “I know you hate not knowing and waiting is definitely not one of your strengths, but being a hothead isn’t going to get you anywhere with Hannah and you know that.”

Without waiting for me to argue or agree, Hawk starts handing out food from the bag and we settle in to wait, albeit impatiently. At least on my end.