Homecoming Part II: Lotsa Lotz' Who: Drake Lee, Fiona Lee, and a decent chunk of NPCs What: Visiting the Hospital Where: Onslow Memorial Hospital, Jacksonville When: July 6th, Late Morning and beyond Status: Closed, Ongoing
There were certain commonalities in the world that were almost impossible to deny. One of them, in Drake’s opinion, was that all hospitals looked and smelled the same. They were plain and they smelled extremely sanitized. There were reasons for that, of course, and while he understood the importance behind them, he also couldn’t help but conclude that they only helped enhance one of the less thrilling parts about hospitals: just how unwelcoming they were. It really wasn’t the fault of the establishment. After all, statistically, hospitals probably helped more people than they failed… but it was an all too human trait to focus on the misfortune instead of shifting the focus towards the positive.
In Drake’s own life, hospitals hadn’t helped him that much. He was born in one, sure… but he had never broken a bone or needed to be rushed to the emergency room at any point in his life. He was lucky, in that regard. That luck seemed to fall under the umbrella of what his father named him, and how Evan wanted the name Drake to bless his infant son with luck. Too bad the luck didn’t work in his favor back then. He would have given a lot for those events to turn out differently… but they didn’t. They couldn’t. Now? Now he was hoping that his father-in-law would have the boon that his father did not.
Their morning had been uneventful, for the most part. Drake did not have much trouble sleeping, although the few times that he did return to consciousness and looked over at Fiona he did find himself hoping, with deep conviction, that Fiona would pull through the emotional turmoil. His wife was strong, he knew that… but he also knew how much the uncertainty of her father’s condition weighed on her. It was a weight that was only magnified by other factors, like how long she had been away, and even the fact that she was walking into his hospital room with a husband that her parents didn’t know about. Drake would, undoubtedly, be as supportive as he could be… but a lot was on Fiona.
While his wife was getting ready, Drake went and grabbed them something to eat. One of the perks of having the opinion of a local was that Drake didn’t have to worry about rolling the dice and picking a place that seemed good on paper, but didn’t actually produce the results that were desired. Fiona knew what places were great, and what places weren’t. She sent him on a mission after he got for the day. Truthfully, it was kind of a plot of Drake’s part because if he stayed in the hotel room it would have been very difficult to resist the urge to shower with his wife, which would have led to certain acts… and while those acts would have no doubt been consensual, Drake didn’t really want to meet his hospitalized father-in-law after he had sex with the man’s daughter. That… just seemed kind of disrespectful. More disrespectful than not meeting the man before he married Fiona? No, probably not… but… little steps. They were important.
Drake went with a Belgian waffle with whipped cream, strawberries, bananas and a healthy (or unhealthy, really) helping of syrup… enough to satisfy the man’s sweet tooth. It hit the spot, and it was tasty, to be sure. They’d probably visit the place once more before they returned to Colorado, for a sit down experience.
Once back in the rental car, Drake looked for Jacksonville’s major hospital: Onslow Memorial. While there was a noticeable decrease in the unspoken tension that lingered in the vehicle, Drake knew that it was still there. At times they would discuss something else, anything else, to ignore it. At other times, they would attack it in a more head-on manner. The bulk of the journey had been getting to Stormvale, and that part was over. Now they were on their way to the hospital… the final leg of the journey.
Drake had been taking charge of a lot of aspects of the trip up until that moment. He booked the flight, he got the rental car, he took care of the hotel reservations… hell, he even got breakfast that morning. But now that they were in the hospital, making the short walk to the information desk, Drake was quiet. Part of that silence may have been because of his discomfort around hospitals, sure… but the bigger part, more than likely, was simply because while he was indeed related to Fiona’s “Papa,” they had never met… and it seemed quite odd to be the one to start asking the questions. Drake knew that he had earned Fiona’s love more than a few times over, despite the relative infancy of their relationship… now he had to start working on doing the same with the rest of the Lotz clan.
His eyes drifted a bit, looking for the gift store. Somehow, he doubted that his father-in-law would want a giant teddy bear… but if he was desperate enough, Drake wouldn’t pretend that he was above using it for bribery.