Mark felt a bit uncomfortable again. This time, because he didn’t like gossip, and while Leah meant well, this wasn’t something Mark wanted or needed to know. Luckily, a new client stepped inside and he could finish his meal in peace.
* * * *
Francis texted him from the hospital and said he’d stay with Henrietta and Charles until Moira made it to Woodruff. She’d take the first flight she could, but it would still take her until the next day to get there.
After his shift, he didn’t feel tired enough to go to sleep, so he went home and took a shower. Then he ate, put together some healthy enough sandwiches from the stuff he had at home—it showed how much time he’d been spending with Francis at the Graham house—and grabbed some drinks and fruit before packing it all into a small cooler, and drove the hour to Woodruff.
He knew a lot of the staff and despite being in his civilian clothing, they told him where to go. Mostly, because he asked a nurse who had already fallen in love with Francis.
Mark knocked gently and stepped into Charles’s room. There were two beds, and Henrietta was asleep on the other one.
Francis was napping in an armchair in the corner, and Mark didn’t blame him; it was almost 2.30am.
He quietly sat in a chair by the window, and put the snacks on the table between his seat and Francis’s. Then he tilted his head back and closed his eyes.
He woke up to a rustling sound. Francis beamed at him as he unwrapped a sandwich.
“Thank you,” he mouthed at Mark. “Wanna swap chairs?” He accompanied the silent words with a gesture.
Mark chuckled, then got up and waited for Francis to give him a kiss before moving into the other chair. He could use some more sleep, after all.
“Just sit on my lap if you want rest,” he whispered to Francis who looked pleased and nodded.
Mark closed his eyes again and barely woke to put his arms around Francis when he climbed into the chair with him.
* * * *
Moira arrived the next afternoon, well after Mark had had to leave to go to work again. He hated not being there for Francis and the Grahams, but Lotte had gone into labor the previous night and the baby wasn’t cooperating yet.
He’d gone to the maternity ward to bring Jason some coffee and sandwiches from the cafeteria. He’d been baffled, then happy, and the exhaustion had seemed to lessen for a while.
“It’s been fifteen hours and she’s resting so I came out here. How did you know?” Jason asked before biting into his sandwich.
“Thought I’d check in before I go to work. I would’ve left it at the nurses’ station.” Mark patted Jason on the shoulder. “Good luck, man. Tell Lotte I said hi.”
“Will do, thanks, man.”
Lotte and Jason’s baby was born five hours later, around the same time the doctors told Francis, Henrietta, and Moira, that it wasn’t safe to move Charles anymore.
* * * *
Charles did, indeed, have pneumonia and within few days, it was obvious he wouldn’t make it for much longer. He slept most of the time and his pain was being managed, but his breathing was slow and rattled despite the medications, and his test results kept getting worse and worse.
Henrietta was heartbroken, but so was everyone else. Mark had one day off during those days, and he spent it with Francis in Woodruff. Moira had paid for hotel rooms for herself and Francis, and made them go rest together.
She wanted to have lunch with them the next day, but Mark got called to work early because of a situation at a farm escalated from sibling rivalry into a standoff between two brothers and the cops for a while. It was a mess, and Mark had to put all his concentration in it to stay safe.
When he finally had escorted one of the brothers to Mercer for their better jail, he checked his phone just to see a message from Francis.
“Moira is taking Henrietta to Ann Arbor once everything is done. I need a new job.” It was a matter of fact way to put how upset he was, but Mark understood.
When, a few hours later, Francis sent another one, something cold wrapped around Mark’s heart.
“Rita wants me to go work in NJ at the clinic she just started at. They need a pediatric nurse.”
Mark stared at the message and felt numb. Then, a call came in and it was all hands on deck supervising at a house fire and he put his phone on silent and continued to work.
The fire had been spectacular and since it was tourist season, there had been gawkers blocking the long driveway to the site and… yeah. He was exhausted by the time he went home that evening.
