splendid (splendid) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-09-15 01:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, max rockatansky, splendid angharad |
Who: Max Rockatansky madman & Splendid Angharad splendid
What: Awkward hospital visit.
When: Backdated to August 2nd
Where: Splendid's hospital room
Rating/Warnings: General Audiences/Baby cuteness, some talk about dreams, but otherwise tame.
Status: Completed GDoc
Labor had been hard. Not that Splendid expected anything less, but there were some things that she'd expected not to happen. She was sore, tired, but elated that her son had finally been born. From the moment she laid eyes on him, it was love at first sight, a feat considering everything that she'd been through up until that point.
She didn't blame him, she wasn't mad any longer although there was still some bitterness in her heart that a man she considered to be practically family had done what he'd done to her.
Splendid could put that in the past, and focus on her future now with her son, Valerian Ezekiel Angharad.
Currently he was cradled in her arms, sleeping soundly while she sat in one of the chairs in the room. If everything went well, she'd be released tomorrow, and to be quite honest, Splendid was hopeful that she'd be going home first thing in the morning after she saw the doctor.
Her eyes went down from the television to look at the little one in her arms, and she couldn't help but smile down at him. Furiosa and Capable had helped her immensely before and during her labor. She couldn't ask for better friends here.
The knock on her door made Valerian jump slightly in her arms, and she shushed him by rocking him gently. "Come in." She called, although a moment of panic hit her. What if --
Splendid's panic disappeared the moment she saw Max there in the doorway, and a smile pulled up the corners of her lips. "Hello, Max. It's good to see you."
~*~
Strange looks were usual for Max. He didn't mind the stares he got as he shuffled down the hallways of the hospital to the main elevator banks, punching the floor for Labor and Delivery without looking at the people sharing the space with him. Normal people would have been congratulated on a new birth. People would have asked if he'd had a son or a daughter, a niece or a nephew, or if he was merely visiting a friend.
Max wasn't normal people though and normal people could sense it about him.
The ride was peaceful, quiet, and he didn't ask for directions at the nurses' station to find Splendid. Her room had her surname on the outside with the first initial of her name on a plaque. They had metal detectors at the front of the hospital; Max had seen Security in too many locations to count. He wasn't worried about her safety in the hospital. All he was worried about was how she'd take his visit.
Max hadn't told her he was coming. All he'd done had been packed up the music box which had appeared while he slept and made sure he looked presentable enough to go into a public place without arousing suspicion. He already got looks, last thing he needed was to encourage them by looking as if he were some kind of drifter. Max had a home in a trailer park. There was a permanent address with his name on it.
The fact he never stayed there was none of anyone's business.
Knocking, he waited until he heard her say he could come in before pushing the door open, his eyes on the floor as he moved inside the room. It felt too intrusive to look at her holding her child in the hospital he'd been born in. Max remembered how he'd felt when his son had been born---seeing Jesse after had been the best moment of his life. They'd created a whole new person together.
Sprog had been a chance for them to contribute someone better to the world.
It was Max's fault he'd never lived long enough to reach his potential.
"Sorry to blow in on you. Brought you something dear for your boy. Figured you'd have all the usuals like dummies and a pram. This one came from---woke up to it, I suppose I should say. Played it for my boy. He slept well as long as I did. Not much, but, to me, it's dear."
Expensive was relative to someone like Max. He didn't have much use for things. To him, the only things which classified as dear were the ones which could not be replaced. He limped to where Splendid sat holding her child and offered the music box to her from the palm of his hand. It shone brightly from the polishing he'd given it and its tiny crank gleamed as if inviting her to turn it to see how her son would care for it.
~*~
Shaking her head, Splendid still offered him a smile. "Oh I don't mind, you're more than welcome to visit." Of course, it might not be proper protocol for her to follow, but she wouldn't have told him had she not wanted him there. She didn't think he was intruding upon her space, and she didn't want to make him feel unwelcome.
Much like Capable and Furiosa, she considered him to be a friend, although she couldn't exactly place why she thought like that. Perhaps in time she'd figure it out, but maybe it was nothing other than a genuine connection.
As he presented the gift to her, Splendid's brows rose slightly. This was --- more than she could've ever asked for to be perfectly honest. "Max, I --" She started, then let out a soft sigh as she reached for the music box.
Placing it carefully on her thigh, Splendid turned the crank a few times, and then released it. A light smile still played on her lips as the music played, and she looked down at Valerian to see what his reaction would be. He stretched and made a cooing sound, which caused Splendid to laugh softly.
"Thank you." She looked up at Max with a smile, "I think he likes it." She nodded as the music continued to softly play. "Have you been having dreams, Max?" Splendid looked away, back down at her son. She'd heard about the dreams on the network, though she hadn't experienced any until a few nights ago herself.
They were unsettling in a way she couldn't explain, like a life she'd experienced before but wanted to forget.
~*~
Music was strange to Max's ears. He felt often as if he should be used to hearing nothing more than the rumbling of engines or the thunder of wheels on tarmac. The sound from the music box both soothed and disturbed him at the same time making his face contort as he fought back thoughts he didn't want to have, memories he wanted to forget, a life he could never live again. Splendid's son cared for it though which was all that mattered to him.
Moving to lean against the AC unit in the room, Max shrugged his shoulders, "Dreams are always strange for me. Sometimes they're insanity. Madness. Others? I see---a life I didn't live. A life I did. All of it gone."
He went quiet as he watched her hold her child, content enough to be allowed to spend time with her in the clean solitude of the room. She was a little less put-together than usual which made her seem more human. Max appreciated that as he often felt a little less human himself and with someone like her? Someone who transcended the best of them? It was hard for him to even manage to stay in the room with her much less force words.
Speech had always been hard for him.
Action was easier. There were things which had to be done, could be done, should be done; Max could do any of them if his body would let him. He could press on in many cases where someone else would have given up. His fortitude, sheer stubbornness or maybe even grit was one of the few things he took pride in these days. Max didn't have much else left to him. He'd not even been man enough to save his own family from dying.
"Dream about you sometimes. On occasion. Not very nice dreams. Nicer to see you in person."
Max shrugged again. All his dreams were unpleasant. It didn't bother him to admit as much.
~*~
Splendid looked down at her son, slowly swaying back and forth in time with the music. Her dreams, or the ones she'd had before she'd gone into labor, were of a wasteland where water was scarce and the man that controlled a large water source was a monster. She could remember him pointing to her in the lineup of newly arrived girls.
The sense of dread she'd had when he'd pointed at her was what had awakened her, and then she felt the first contraction. Taking in a deep breath, she gave a small nod. "I had dreams the night before I came here." It felt weird admitting to them, but they had happened all the same.
She'd seen a lot of people on the network talking about dreams, and she had to wonder if that was what they were talking about.
"I dreamed about a life, a place that I'd never seen before, about a man named Immortan Joe who -- I don't think he was a good man at all. Actually, I know he wasn't." A line appeared between her brows, and she frowned.
Turning her attention away from her son, Splendid looked over at Max, her head canting to the side. "If they're anything like mine? I could imagine they're not that nice." She didn't want to know anything more, just from what little she'd dreamed it didn't appear that anything good happened there.
Of course, dreams were just dreams, a lot of different things could happen in them.
"Thank you, again. For the music box. I'll play it for him every night."
~*~
No one seemed to dream of pleasantness from what Max had seen or heard or read. His head hurt when he began to focus on it overmuch. Max didn't care for thoughts of Splendid remembering the evil world he saw in his mind. Everything was dead in that world. She was too alive to have memories of a dead world. Some people simply didn't deserve the hand they were dealt in life.
Splendid was a person who should have been dealt better cards in Max's mind.
"Sorry your dreams are bad. Shouldn't be. Mine? Deserve them. Yours should be better. A person as alive as you should dream of something other than a dead world. Not fair, but what is, hhm?"
He liked the idea of her playing the tiny box for the boy. Her boy. He was a healthy one from the looks of him; Max remembered his son's face for a moment. It made him smile slightly. His thin lips weren't used to smiling. It crinkled the skin at the corners of his eyes as if he were that madman who'd squinted too much at the sun in the dead, dead world of the dreams.
Cautiously, Max murmured, "Remembered my son's face just now. Looking at your boy. Mine was blonde. Pale. Looked like his mum. Sometimes I forget. Jesse. Her name was Jesse. Still don't remember Sprog's name. Strange how a madman's mind works. What's his name? Your boy? May already know. May have forgotten. Can't tell. Crazy, right?"
~*~
Splendid lifted a shoulder. It was what it was. No one could control their dreams could they? "I don't think that anyone deserves bad dreams. I think everyone should get some peace at night." That she truly believed, sleep was reserved for that, or so Splendid had believed at any rate.
She glanced over at Max, her features soft, a smile on the corners of her lips. "I think that term of endearment got stuck in your head, so that's what you remember. I'm sure that, in time, you'll remember his name." At least she hoped so, for Max's sake. Maybe that would help him heal a little bit more.
Chuckling, Splendid glanced back down at her son. "I didn't tell you yet, so you're not that crazy." Her eyes darted back over to Max, "Valerian Ezekiel, that's his name." A small line of worry appeared between her brows, "I honestly hadn't thought about his name until -- after I had him. Sure, I'd been kicking around a few names, but…" she took in a deep breath and shook her head, "nothing stuck until then."
Splendid still didn't have it in her to say that she'd thought about giving him up, and that the thought had still be on her mind until the moment they placed him into her arms. "Would you like to hold him?" Max was a crazy man, there was no denying that, but he was a good man and she did not believe that he would ever harm her or her son.
If anything she believed that he would protect them with everything in him.
~*~
"Valerian Ezekiel," Max mumbled back, "Mouthful. Nice. Suits your boy."
He had no doubt Splendid's son would turn out to be nice as she herself was to others. Some people had a shine to them which was kindness. Splendid had that shine. Max thought he could use a little more people like her in his life. There was precious little kindness for him in either the world or his dreams. She might think he didn't deserve bad dreams, but she was the only one as far as Max knew.
Did he want to hold her child?
Strange question.
Splendid was amused with him seeing as she knew he wasn't crazy enough to have forgotten a baby's name. It stood to reason she thought it might be fine for him to hold the babe as he had no real history of violence. They had a---something outside the obligation which kept him coming to her office for check-ups. Max wanted to call her a friend, but it felt wrong in his mind much less his mouth.
"Yes."
He nodded at her as he reached to take the boy from her. His hands were huge compared to hers, the baby boy appeared barely larger than a child's toy in his arms rather than a real baby. It was strange to hold a child again. Max was good at it. Children were simple. They were easier for him than adults. Animals were easy for him, too. He decided it might be offensive to tell her that since she was a new mother and she might think he was comparing her boy to a pet.
Considering the child's features, Max remarked, "Looks like you. Will be pretty. For a boy. Thank you. Nice to hold a child again."
~*~
Chuckling softly, Splendid lifted a shoulder. "I just liked the name Valerian, but Ezekiel was my father's middle name." She didn't speak of her parents that often, although Max already knew that her parents had died already.
She held Valerian out for Max, smiling softly as he took her son. Again, she was not concerned that he would do anything to harm him, so handing him over wasn't that hard. Folding her hands in her lap, Splendid's smile grew and she gave a nod of her head. "You're welcome." It was true, for a newborn baby he was pretty. "Hopefully he'll start looking a bit more manly by the time he hits puberty."
Her lips turned down at the corners into a frown, and a line appeared between her brows. "I just hope he doesn't end up looking like his father." That was the first, and only time that Splendid had ever mentioned him. She refrained talking about him to anyone since it brought back a lot of memories.
"At least, I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that." Splendid carefully pushed herself up from her chair, and moved over to the tray. Picking up the water pitcher she poured herself a glass. Sitting the pitcher back down, Splendid took a sip of water, and then moved to sit back in her chair. "Anytime you feel like you need to hold a baby, just come see me. I don't mind the company. It's nice to have friends, or people I can count on anyway. I tend to see those as the same thing." She laughed softly and took another sip of her water.
"So, how's my replacement doing?" It'd been a couple of weeks since Splendid had been at work, and she was curious as to how the other woman was doing.
~*~
Holding a child could quiet the mind like nothing else. All the world shrunk to the size of the bundled infant in his arms; Max could forget there was anything else other than this perfect human body formed in miniature. It startled him to hear her ask about the replacement social worker. His body went tense though his hold on Valerian did not change at all.
Max didn't want to talk about her.
"Not you. Don't care for her. She---doesn't respect. Space."
He darted a glance at her, gave a strained half-smile. There was nothing he could say to her which would explain more. Max didn't like talking about the people who required him to be more than a required appointment. I had rare interests in other people. Splendid. Capable. Piotr. They were exceptions to the rule for him. It made him feel more comfortable to see those who came from his dreams as well as normal people who didn't mind he wasn't normal.
Splendid worried her child would look like his father. Max focused on that as he studied the baby. Valerian seemed to study him in turn before his eyes grew heavy, shut, slumber falling over him as it could only do for the very young or the very old. Sleep so peaceful was reserved for those beginning and ending life. Max knew it was outside his ability to attain any more than his freedom from the system's machinations.
"Miss you. Easier with you. Don't want more than words. Don't care if can't make many of those. Want you to have time with boy. Will be fine. Learn to handle it."
~*~
"I'll have my time with him." Splendid smiled softly with a nod, watching the two of them and feeling quite content. It was nice to have good friends, she doubted she'd ever get over the fact that she had such good people in her life. "I'm not concerned about any of that." She would have all the time she needed with him for the next couple of weeks, and her evenings would be spent with him as well.
Splendid had to return to work, but that was just a given. Even though she had some money put back she wasn't able to live on that alone. "It won't be too much longer and I'll be back. I'm sorry that you're having to deal with someone like that."
She truly was sorry that he had to deal with that, but there was very little that she could do except be there for Max in the here and now, and well, once she returned back to her job. Idly she wondered if her other clients were doing alright. She couldn't help but to worry about them, they were important to her, although Max's comfort mattered more to her than any of them.
It would've struck her as odd that she thought that way, but she did see him more as friend than a patient these days. Perhaps she was treading on dangerous ground with that sort of thinking, but she'd deal with it one day at a time.
"Well, just so you know anytime you just want to talk, or need some quiet? Give me a call, text me, or whatever. I'm always here for you, and I mean that."
~*~
Splendid would spend time with her son. Max could tell. She loved the child. That made him a lucky boy given how many children were born to women who didn't want to be mothers at all. It helped him feel better around her to know she could love a child. Women who could be mothers were their own kind of sacred to Max. There was something sweet about being in the company of someone who loved their young.
"Thank you. Splendid. Will do that. Now? Will enjoy being with you. And Valerian. Good boy. Very good boy."
He moved to sit on the floor next to her space, leaning his back against the leg of the chair she had occupied. Valerian barely stirred as Max made himself comfortable. Floors were easier for him to sit on than furniture. Max always felt too big for furniture. There were only rare pieces which made him feel as if he weren't in danger of breaking something or ruining it. He was happy enough to stretch his bad leg out while leaning against something solid.
It was the first time he'd felt truly relaxed with anyone in years.
"Stay with you. Til he sleeps. Good day. That's a good day."
Max enjoyed the idea of being a part of their little family for a brief period of time. It was nice. Splendid would accept him for the time being; Valerian would trust him enough to fall on to sleep. No one needed to know Max was a patient she had to see on the mandatory. It was likely they would see him only as a friend of the family. No one would suspect otherwise thanks to the courtesy Splendid showed him.
Max considered it a very, very good day indeed.