A loud clang of tal on a hard surface nearby brought Athena out of the state of black and bleak unconsciousness into the realm of the living.
Eyes closed, she inhaled softly, allowing her brain to take a check of how her body system was, both inward and outward. The sharp pain in her left leg, as she tried to adjust herself, inford her it had been treated the best it could, and that she would be able to walk soon; this was because the pain disappeared as soon as it ca.
Aiden must have hired as many doctors as he could. A laugh bubbled up to her lips at the worry that must have wrecked her friend, but she held it in as she heard noises around her now, her nerves restoring to default mode.
"Kathleen! See what you have caused now?!"
Athena paused her lips at her son shouting at his sister. It rarely happened, and she was curious to see what the matter was. Slowly, she popped open her right eye, as the noise had co from that direction, and saw Nathaniel picking up a tal tray from the floor. She noted the two white pills close to it too and concluded that they were probably for headaches.
Athena squished her nose, intrigued, when she realized that the doctors had expected her to actually wake up around this ti. Their confidence was quite interesting, and she was curious to know who her doctors had been.
She smiled when Nathaniel’s gaze connected with hers as he attempted to drop the tray on the stand beside her bed. A pause where shock fleeted past his features, and then the tray fell to the ground again with another clanging sound that buzzed loudly in Athena’s ears.
"Mom!!" The boy scread, speedily climbing onto the bed, however conscious of not lying or stepping on his mother, for the bed was a large one. At his shout, Kathleen, who had been sulking earlier, lifted her head in shock too.
Seeing her mother’s smiling expression, she ran the remaining distance to the bed. She tried climbing, believing that what her brother could do, she could do too, but she kept flipping dramatically.
"Nate, help !" She scread in frustration when she failed for the third ti, forgetting their earlier squabble.
Nathaniel stretched his hand, and holding her hand tight, drew her up to the bed. Beside them, Athena was watching with faint amusent.
"My son is a strong man now..." She said, ruffling his hair. But due to her posture, she couldn’t do much, so she shooed them away to a certain distance on the bed and then propped herself up, with a pillow behind her, against the headboard. Then she surveyed the room.
It was the most luxurious private room in the hospital, reserved for presidents and rulers of nations. If she was here, then Herbert had given the order. She didn’t know what to think of that.
"How are you doing, Mom? How are your legs?" Kathleen asked, crawling closer to her mother.
Athena stretched her hands toward them, but the twins hesitated to burrow under her arms, fearing for her safety.
Athena chuckled softly. "I am fine, you two. Don’t you see?"
Nathaniel and Kathleen could see that their mother looked better, even chirpier for soone that had survived a near-death experience and had her leg almost broken, but they still doubted. They knew their mother to be so optimistic sotis; they didn’t know if this was one of those tis.
When she winked at them, however, they couldn’t resist rushing into her arms, tears slipping from their eyes before they could help it. By her sides, they sank their nostrils into her hospital gown, not minding that it slled of dicines and the hospital atmosphere, happy that their mother was alive. They cried and clutched her tighter while she tapped their backs reassuringly.
"It’s alright, my darlings. Mommy is fine. I am sorry for making you worry."
Nathaniel shook his head, lifting his head away from her a little. "Don’t apologize, Mom. It’s not your fault."
Athena’s smile dried up then. "It’s actually mine. If I had taken the threat in the hospital seriously the first ti it had occurred, I wouldn’t have been in this situation now. I would have been able to avert it, to avert the deaths of many patients."
Nathaniel and Kathleen didn’t know what their mother was talking about, but they refused to let her dwell in self-bla. "Mom, please stop it. The gang was at fault here, not you. You don’t have to feel guilty either about the deaths of the patients."
Athena sighed and rested her head on the headboard, grabbing her children closer to her. She still blad herself, of course, but her children didn’t need to be aware of that.
"Where’s Gianna and Aiden?" She asked a few minutes later, realizing that her children had been alone in the ward.
"Aunt Gianna went out to get sothing for us to eat. Uncle Aiden went out with Grandpa to make so research into the hospital event..." As Nathaniel spoke, Gianna walked into the room with bags of takeout.
"Please don’t drop the food!" Athena scread when she saw the slackening of her friend’s jaw and hands. Fortunately, Gianna was fast enough to recover from her shock. She laughed and shook her head thereafter, mirroring the actions of the children.
"First ti waking up after such an ordeal, and your first problem is that I shouldn’t drop the food."
Athena said nothing, only staring longingly at the takeouts Gianna was bringing out of the bag.
"You are lucky that I got this for you, that I had joined my faith with the aweso doctors who believed you would be awake by noon. If not, you would have just relied on hospital food."
Athena scrunched her nose and took the takeaway that Gianna handed to her.
"It’s your favorite," Gianna added, before beckoning the twins to get away from Athena so that they could each have space to eat their food.
"Thank you, Gia..." Athena murmured, already munching the very much peppered food. She inhaled and exhaled in satisfaction when the effect of the hot spices kicked in, brightening her senses and alerting her further. "So, tell ... who are these doctors? Are they from the Whitmans’ hospital?" She asked, needing to know.
Gianna shook her head, opening a takeout for Kathleen. "They were sent from Ewan. They ntioned you might know them. They are twins—Matthew and Mary."
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