Donna knocked on her door at half past one in the morning and Dominika was instantly pulled out of the light sleep she’d slipped into. Her head felt like it was made of lead as she sat up slowly, the room spinning around her.

“Okay” she called back, rubbing her eyes “I’m up”

“Half an hour till we leave” Donna murmured from behind the door, and Dominika heard her footsteps pad away back down the hall. She dressed herself quickly in the nearest clothes she could find, pulling her hair back into a messy ponytail. It hung un-brushed and tangled down her back but she didn’t care about her appearance at that moment. She threw a few things together quickly and stuffed them into the black suitcase she’d brought with her to America. Pulling it behind her, she trudged down the stairs, waiting impatiently in the foyer for the car to arrive that would take them to the airport. It was pitch black outside and still now that the rain had eased.

When Gerard’s parents joined her and opened the front door, the gust of fresh wind that hit them was like an arctic slap in the face. A long dark car was parked in the driveway, its tail lights glowing red in the shadows. The driver hopped out of the cabin quickly and came running to get their bags. He greeted Donald quietly and gestured for them to get in the car. Dominika slid into the back row of seats and Donna and Donald sat side by side in the row ahead of her, their hands laced together tightly.

The trip to the airport was short and silent, but it seemed to drag on forever. Dominika was filled with an encompassing sense of urgency she didn’t quite understand. Gerard wouldn’t land in the country for another two hours and the flight to New York was only around forty minutes, they would make it in time to see him before he was taken into theatre, so why did she have this pressing need to be there, now? She tried to distract herself with counting the street lights as they passed but the game quickly bored her and she sighed softly in the backseat.

“We’re almost there” Donald said reassuringly, sensing her frustration “be glad we chose to take such an early morning flight, there’s barely a single other vehicle on the road. Peak hour and this place would be a car park”

Dominika knew he was trying to take her mind off where they were going and she appreciated the effort although it wasn’t really helping.

The airport was lit up like a beacon in the dark as they approached, the strips of white lights lining the runway twinkling off in distance of the air field. The wind had picked up again and it blew Dominika’s coat up as she stepped out of the cab and onto the curbside. This must have been a back entrance because there was no one visible anywhere. The driver placed their suitcases on the pavement just as a blonde woman in a navy blue uniform walked through the glass doors out of the terminal, smiling warmly at them.

“Vice President Way? Looks like you’re early! Come right this way please, the plane is ready to go. I’ll let the pilots know you’re on your way”

They followed the woman silently into the terminal and through a heavy alarmed door to a long, narrow hallway with no windows. At the end was a set of stairs Dominika recognized as the retractable ones used to board aircraft. The woman paused at the base of the staircase and offered her hand to Donald. He shook it warmly and thanked the woman, Donna doing the same before they started to make their way up to the main cabin of the plane. Donald had already explained to Dominika the night before they were using an official government light plane used to transport various important political figures domestically around the country. She was grateful they wouldn’t have to contend with other people on the flight, one of the many advantages of a private plane.

Dominika settled into the two-seater row behind Gerard’s parents and stretched her legs out on the seat, praying she’d at least be able to catch a few minutes of sleep while they were in the air. Flying put her on edge but she figured she could have slept anywhere after her sore lack of sleep that night. It was just past two in the morning after all. She rested her head against the window shade next to her and closed her eyes, trying to relax as the sound of the engines kicking to life boomed either side of them. The plane hummed with a gentle vibration and the feeling was comforting along with the warmth of the cabin. Before they’d even left the ground, Dominika had fallen into an anxious sleep.

---

When the plane touched down on the runway in New York she was jerked awake. Anxiety began to fill her as she realized it was now not long at all before she would see Gerard. She was terrified to see the condition he was in, but a sense of relief also filled her at the thought they would be in the same country again for the first time in weeks. She would probably only get to see him for a moment before he was whisked away to the theatre and she planned to treasure every second. The wait in the hospital could be hours for all she knew.

They were taken straight from the plane to another waiting black car with tinted windows that drove them straight into the heart of the city. Dominika stared out at the streets lined with high-rise buildings blankly. On a normal day, she would have been excited and overwhelmed to see New York City for the first time, but today her mood was dark like the sky outside.

They rolled up outside a tall building with a grey exterior. When she spotted the large red cross painted on the front she clambered out of the car eagerly behind Gerard’s parents. The first thing to hit her when she walked into the building was the strong scent of bleach and disinfectant, that horrible combination that seemed to linger in every corner of every hospital she’d ever been in. She wrinkled her nose as they approached the reception desk and the smell grew stronger.

A woman with black hair and tanned skin sat typing at her computer behind the counter, a set of glasses perched on her nose. She looked up at them as they reached the desk.

“Hello. How can I help you?” she asked.

“We’re looking for Corporal Gerard Way, I believe he would have arrived a short time ago” Donald said, placing his hands flat on the countertop.

The receptionist turned back to her computer for a moment, fingers glancing briefly over the keyboard. She clicked the mouse a few times and frowned, turning back to them.

“I’m sorry, it says here that he arrived ahead of schedule and they squeezed him in an earlier surgery slot. Are you his family?”

“Yes, but we were supposed to see him before he went into theatre, he’s been on deployment and we haven’t seen him in close two months…” Donna interrupted, her voice panicked.

“I understand, ma’am, but it looks like he was flagged as an urgent case and they needed to get him in as soon as possible, it would have been for his benefit”

Donald patted his wife on the shoulder reassuringly as the receptionist continued.

“You might have a long wait ahead, he’s scheduled over two slots so the surgeon obviously anticipates a long operation. We have a private waiting room set aside for you, please follow me and I’ll show you where it is.

They were led to a windowless room several floors up lined wall to wall in plush armchairs. A television in the corner was set to the news channel and the weather report played quietly in the background. A clock high on the wall seemed to tick by ever so slowly as they sat and waited for news, for anything.

Tick…tick…tick…

Notes

Only another 24 hours for you guys and Gerard is back in the story!
Thanks for reading <3 xo