Page 82 of Uncharted

“Quite a large family you have,” he noted, and Mika pushed his chair back so the doctor could check me over. There were, of course, standard questions about pain or discomfort, if I had been experiencing any burning in the area or anywhere else. Apparently, there was an entire issue about bile leakage I was going to have to watch out for, which had to be one of the topmost disgusting sentences I had ever had the displeasure of hearing.

He was partway through the care routine I was going to have to follow, a routine I was half listening to because I knew Colin was going to get his hands on it and make sure I followed it to the letter, when more noise entered the room. The group was just as loud as the last one, but every single one of them, save for one, had a thick twang that, between it and the amount of noise they made, gave away who they were related to.

“Oh, for the love of…” the doctor muttered, but blanched when I smirked at him.

“They’re following your order; they’re all related by blood,” I said, pointing to Jake. “To him.”

“My God,” Mika whispered in awe as the family descended on Jake.

To the doctor’s credit, he did a good job of trying to get through the rest of his exam and explanation while Jake’s family surrounded him. It was hard to focus, but I could tell they were trying to get information about what happened from Jake, but were also scolding him for getting hurt again. I was squirming because despite my gunshot wound, Jake had taken a thorough beating and all while he was still recovering from the last beating he’d taken.

“We have a medical professional on our team,” Mika finally told the doctor. “With Reno’s permission⁠—”

“You have it,” I piped up, twitching at the conflicting conversations happening.

“You can hand it over to him,” Mika finished, looking a little twitchy himself. “I’m sure our team is still outside; just have someone talk to them. They’ll get you the contact information.”

“I’ll need a disclosure agreement,” the doctor said, scribbling something down. “I’ll send a nurse in later to get it from you while she checks on you.”

Lauren piped up. “And why does a nurse have to be a woman?”

“Because currently the only nurses operating on this floor are women,” the doctor said, tucking his pen away. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Why aren’t they looking at you?” his mom wondered.

“They did already, Momma. Reno only just woke up,” Jake explained.

His mom turned to me, and when I realized she was moving toward me with unbelievable speed, I panicked. Only for her carefully to bend over me and scoop me into a tight hug, squeezing me against her chest. Pressed against her breast, I blinked at my brother who was staring at me as if he didn’t know what to do either, but that I was also completely on my own.

“Ya saved him,” she whispered huskily in my ear, voice thick with tears. “I knew ya were special when I met ya, when he first talked about ya, but I didn’t know how special. I’m so glad you’re in his life, sweetheart.”

“He…saved me,” I said hoarsely, a strange thickness forming in my throat as I breathed in the scent of flowers and a hint of what I thought might be honey.

My eyes stung as she squeezed me tighter. “Saved each other, more like. He’s told me about you enough. You take good care of him; I always thought so. And now you’ve gone and saved his life. I don’t care what happens, you’re a part of us so long as ya wanna be, ya hear me?”

“I do,” I said, unable to stop my chin trembling as I lay against her chest and breathed in the smell of her. Feeling the warmth of her body around me, and the surprising strength she had.

She pulled back and looked me over. “No need for tears, honey. Ya did amazing.”

“No,” I said in a choked voice, swallowing hard. “It’s not…it’s not that. Thank you.”

“Momma,” Jake called softly. “Leave it be.”

A hand slid into mine, and I looked into my brother’s face, and I saw bittersweet understanding. That was the sort of thing we should have grown up with, the sort of thing that was robbed of us before we were even old enough to know better. It hurt more than I expected, but there was something beautiful about getting to experience it for real, for once in my life.

“Ghosts,” Mika said quietly, laying his head on my shoulder. “Ghosts and ghosts.”

“Yeah,” I said, leaning my head against his. There were ghosts in our lives, haunting the corners of our minds. A father who didn’t want us and wasn’t there, a mother who didn’t want us but was there. Being glad our mother liked beer because it meant we could return bottles for change to get something to eat while she was passed out on the floor or the couch. Parenting each other, protecting and caring for each other while the smell of cheap cigarettes filled the rundown house she’d ruined after inheriting it from our long-dead grandparents. The pain those ghosts had etched into our adult years, the mistakes we’d made because those ghosts whispered in our ears and made choices for us.

Ghosts, and ghosts.

I reached out before she could back off. “Thank you, truly. You’re a wonderful mother.”

That was apparently all it took for the rest of his family to come over. His father also gave me a hug, and it was just as bittersweet and welcome as the last, and I was left with stinging eyes and a tight chest all over again. Lauren came next, plopping down on my left side and ruffling my hair, telling me that if I wanted lessons to be a better shot without having to use a shotgun up close, she was more than happy to help. Kind of a weird offer, but hell, I knew her brother; I loved her brother, so I wasn’t expecting anything normal from her.

Darren came next, standing next to my bed and laying a hand on my upper arm. Even he, the more reserved person in the family, couldn’t seem to help touching people. His eyes were troubled, and he tried to speak, but I beat him to it. “I tried.”

“Ya didn’t have to try this hard,” he said, accent breaking through for the first time in all the times I’d heard him talk. “You really didn’t.”