Her words echo as the next message begins to play, this one from El:

“Liam, don’t panic but I’m on my way to the hospital.” Her voice is shuddering and my knees nearly buckle. “I fainted but don’t worry. I’m sure everything is fine. Please call me.”

She has been crying, I can hear it in her voice. I know she must be scared out of her mind all alone. Fuck, I need to get to her.

I’m running down the hallways towards Anders when the third message plays.

“Getting checked in so they can check on the baby; they just want to make sure everything’s fine. Sorry for calling so much, I just want you here.” She needs me and I was fucking about on the ice. My heart hurts and it’s hard to breathe; all I can think about is getting to her.

“Ruin? What’s wrong? What happened?” Anders grips my shoulders as I try to push past him. I hear him shouting for Edge but his voice sounds like it is underwater.

“Ellis – she fainted. She’s in the hospital.”

“Shit, okay, let’s go.” Anders pulls away from me and starts to jog alongside me towards the parking lot. I don’t notice when Edge joins us but my captain throws him my keys. “Edge, you’re driving.” I don’t even remember giving him my keys.

I need my keys.

I need to get to the hospital.

“No. You’ll crash and you will be no help to anyone if you’re dead.” Either I said it out loud or he read my mind, but I can’t think past my own worry enough to question him.

“Need to see her.” I need to know my Sunshine is okay. If I don’t breathe properly soon though I’m going to need the hospital bed beside her.

When I do steadily breathe again I will probably be thankful that Anders didn’t take us in his car; if it smells as badly of booze as he said then I would have thrown up. I feel on the verge of it already.

“Liam, I need you to listen to me.” Anders voice starts to come into focus as we drive out of the lot, but I think it’s the shock of him calling me Liam instead of Ruin.

“What?” I ask.

“If you are in this state when you see her, she is going to be scared. Do what you need to now before we get there.” What does he mean?

“Liam if you need to shout, do it now, if you need to cry go ahead, but you need to fucking breathe.” Edge’s voice is calm and collected, breaking through my spiral.

“Shit, okay. FUCK! AHHHH!” I yell out until my throat is hoarse but I can also feel my heart rate starting to steady. Just in time too, because Edge has just turned into the hospital parking lot – so fast I think we go in on two wheels.