Re: Visiting the Hospital
Louis had been so distracted with the hugging, with Sam, with handing off the food and the small, wrapped gifts, that he hadn't noticed Cris' bandaged hand. He saw Daniel scent something, that registered, but it took another minute of listening to everyone else talk before he made any sort of connection with blood and bandages. He felt a high, reedy worry over Daniel, but it was a background sensation. He was holding it together so far, but Louis didn't like that look, or Cris' hand. The two things worked against his own tenuous happiness and his attempt at calm.
"Not bad at all," he said, still smiling at Sam, a throwaway answer. He didn't believe that grin, or her answer about the baby, but he was hardly going to prod at her when she was trying so hard to be well. That would be cruel.
That glance at Cris before answering about the baby spoke volumes, but he didn't pry there either. He wanted to make her feel a bit better, not worse. "It's somewhat healthy," he said, passing Cris the bag full of food. Cold curry chicken, potato salad. No ropa vieja, but black beans, yes, and something that looked suspiciously like cake in a black plastic box. There were a few more boxes underneath filled with a variety of savory, randomly chosen things. Anything that looked good had gone into the bag. It was food for four, at the very least.
Louis hadn't asked whether the baby looked like his brother. He had thought about that possibility all through Sam's pregnancy. When Cris told him the child had been born, when Cris seemed happy with the baby, when Louis learned the baby's name, he thought about it then, too. He worried before he got in the car earlier this afternoon, but he hadn't asked. In the end, Louis had decided it didn't matter unless Cris wanted it to matter, and he knew that Cris might. There was so much to fear for with this birth that he was still busy being relieved everyone was alright, and if Cris hadn't been so insistent about asking where Neil might be, Louis would have been glad never to let it worry him again. He had been so sure that it wouldn't matter to Cris, but now he knew it did. Not for the reasons it might bother another man, but still. He had put it out of his mind until he was sure everyone was safe - now it came up again.
"Of course," he said. "Lead the way, please." He offered Sam a hand.