~~
Reece
~~
“My blood?” I looked at Trinity confused for a moment. “Why would you be covered in my blood?” I started to look around me then, and really take in what I was seeing and what was going on.
Everyone in my family, and I do mean everyone, was there. And several of them had blood on them in various places. For most of them it was on their hands, but a few of them had blood on their clothes or their faces. It looked like it had been smeared there, not like they were injured, and it wasn't as much as Trinity had gotten on her from hugging me like she had. She was almost drenched in the stuff. Though it was all smears as well. Nothing major aside from that.
Another thing that I noticed when I looked at everyone, was that they were all looking at me with tears in their eyes. Even big strong Trevor, who I knew was nothing but a giant soft teddy bear, was crying as he looked at me. He was the next to speak as well.
“Man, Reece, we thought we had lost you.” He was gripping my right leg as if it was a lifeline, or like he would disappear if he wasn't holding onto something that was solidly here. Or maybe like he thought that I was going to disappear if he didn't hold onto me. “You can't scare us like that, buddy. Never again.”
.....
“I'm sorry.” I felt horrible, and for more than one reason. Not only did I feel an intense wave of guilt spread through me at the pain that I had caused them, but I was also in pain myself. I could barely move without an intense wave of pain searing through my body. Whatever injuries that I had received were closed, but they still hurt like a fucking bitch. I wasn't going to let them know that though. It would just make them worry even more.
“Don't be sorry, Reece. You didn't do anything wrong.” Riley took my hand and held it firmly. He was like a brother to me. And so were Landon and Trevor. They were my family just as much as the others were.
“Yeah, Reece, we know you didn't almost die on purpose.” Landon grinned and then Trinity smacked him on the arm as Zayden's voice squeaked out amid his tears.
“D..D...Daddy, y..you're not going to d..d..die, are you?” He, along with all my children, had been crying heavily. His eyes were red and swollen and he looked like it was hard for him to even see me.
“No, Zay, I am not going to die.” I placed my hand on his and watched the tears stream down his face. “I can't leave you, buddy. I love you, and your siblings, and Mommy too much. I want to be right here with you all forever.”
“I don't want you to leave, Daddy.” Zaley sobbed, pressing her face against my arm and getting even more blood on her head.
“I'm staying, sweetheart. Daddy is here forever.” I pulled her closer to me, hugging her and suppressing the painful sound that tried to escape my lips.
“I love you, Dad.” Reagan leaned in then, throwing his arms around me as he hugged me tightly. “I love you, Dad, and I couldn't even think about what our lives would be like without you.”
“Nghahh.” I groaned in pain when he hugged me. The sound of pain that I had made caused Reagan to instantly want to pull away from me. I wouldn't let him though. I pulled him back and pressed him tighter against me. “No, don't pull away. It hurts, yes, but that just reaffirms to me that I am alive. That I am here with all of you. I don't mind the pain, son. I want to hug you. You need me right now, and I will be there for you. I love you, Reagan.” He stopped struggling and then resettled into the hug after a moment. His arms tightened, gently, and he hugged me for a long time.
“I love you too, Dad.” He was crying again. I knew that he would probably think that this wasn't manly or whatever when he came to his senses, but I would remind him that men have feelings too, and it's OK to express them.
When Reagan finally did pull away from me, he was quickly replaced by Rika. She was distraught as well, and covered in more of my blood than anyone aside from Trinity and Reagan. She had obviously hugged me while I was still unconscious. She was hugging me again right now too, this time around my neck like Reagan had just hugged me.
“Daddy!?” She sobbed into my shoulder, her tears flowing steadily. “I am sorry. I am sorry that I acted like a brat before. I am sorry that I was being too rude and selfish. I..I..I thought that you were going to die and that I was never going to get to tell you that I was sorry for the way that I acted. Please, Daddy, don't ever leave us.”
“I won't, baby girl. I promise. And I know that you were just feeling upset before. You're a good girl, I know that you are. I love you.” I hugged her and kissed the top of her head as she sobbed. Neither of us said anything else. She just cried on me while she settled down.
The quads came next. It was all more of the same. They were crying as they held onto me, telling me how scared they were. They had needed someone to hold them up to me though. I was sitting too high on the hospital bed for them to hug me properly without them climbing on top of me directly, and I am sure that that would have hurt a lot. Zaley, the smallest of my children, had definitely needed the help. She was so much smaller than her brothers.
Talia, standing stiff and still, looked at me like she didn't know what to do. She was looking like she felt alone and isolated, but that didn't make sense at all. And she clearly wanted to hug me, but she wasn't making the effort to come to me yet.
“Talia?” I called to her, prompting her to hug me next. “Come here, sweetheart.” I hoped that would do the job, but she just started to cry while she was looking at me. She wasn't moving yet. “Come here, baby girl. Let Daddy hold you for a minute.” That seemed to break through to her and she rushed forward on a sob as she called for me.
“Da-ha-ddy.” She hugged me gently, despite her rushing to get to me. She was being conscious of where I had been hurt. She didn't want to cause me any more pain than I had suffered already. “When I saw you disappear earlier, when you got hurt, I wanted to follow you and save you, but I couldn't. I am sorry, Daddy. I am sorry that you got hurt. You might not have, if I wasn't there. You might have been safe and-.”
“Hush now.” I stroked her back soothingly as I tried to calm her down. “You had nothing to do with it. I am sure that it would have happened no matter what. Please, Tally, don't blame yourself. I am here now, I am safe and alive, and that is all that matters.”
She cried the same as Rika had. She sobbed against me and her shoulders shook. It broke my heart that I had caused this level of heartbreak in my family, and I vowed that it would never happen again. I would make sure that I never left them. Never.
After the kids were done with their sobbing hugs, I got a few more. Mom hugged me and held me close. I knew that she had been remembering when my dad died, and how painful that had been. Samuel was hugging me as well. He had known me since I was little, and he would not like to see me die so young. My little sister hugged me next, crying over the fact that she didn't want to lose her only big brother. She had hugged me much the same as the kids had. My Little Bunny's parents hugged me as well. They treated me as a son after all of these years. And even Trevor, Landon, and Riley hugged me. They were longer and closer hugs than we usually shared, but they were nothing when compared to the ones from my children.
The group in the room started to leave then. Everyone wanted to give the injured man time to rest, and that was a good thing too, since I was still in so much pain. The kids told me that they would see me tomorrow, before they left with their grandparents. They were going to get cleaned up and go to bed, since it was very late after all.
Now, it was just me, Trinity, Griffin, Lana, and Vincent, who had stayed against the wall and silent the whole time. It was suddenly very quiet in the room.
“Reece?” Griffin broke the silence. “If the pain is too much, I can give you something for it.”
“No, that's fine. I don't need it. The pain is already starting to lessen. If it's bad tomorrow, I might take it, but for now, I am OK.” I refused his offer. As I had said, the pain reminded me that I was alive. That time in that dark place, when I felt nothing, I knew that I was technically dead, and I didn't want to feel like I was back there again. I would keep the pain, and the knowledge that I was still alive.
