Tiny

Date/Timing: 23 April 1996
Setting: a hospital; Kimberley, NC, South Africa
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Rianne throws him out of her hospital room, tells him she's fine, go keep watch.
So Val kisses her temple—dodges a swat—flutters off to the neonatal ward.
Now he sits in one of those impossibly uncomfortable plastic chairs and waits for news.
The doctor's voice rolls around the inside of his head.
““—only one in five—””
He studies his hands, engine oil black under his nails.
Picks at the hem of his shirt, stained with mine grit and rust.
Sighs.
““No news is good news—”” said the nurse.
Runs a hand through his curls.
Frowns as dust mists down.
There hadn't been time for a shower—
They'd barely made it as was; their son slipping out only a handful of terrifying minutes after they arrived.
And the baby ....
A half-kilo and silent.
But! breathing, squirming.
Now—
““—only one in five babies survives being born so early—””
—it's up to the doctors on the other side of the door to keep him so.
Val smiles a wry smile.
Vosses are tough to kill.
Maraises even tougher.
Their son will be the one in five.
Val's sure of it.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Val
Category:Val's POV
Category:Rianne
Category:Rianne (ficlet)
Category:Pietr (mention)
Category:A hospital (setting)
Category:Ficlets with images
Category:Forging of a Skeleton Key storyline
Category:Kimberley