"Where the fuck is my daughter?!"

Zacky was ready to scream the hospital down till he got help. He was so far off the edge that he was plummeting down what felt like a cliff- in fact, if he went any faster it would be his suicide he'd have to worry about rather than the deaths of his best friend, girlfriend and tiny baby daughter. Matt was just as tense, but unlike his friend, was calmly asking staff if they could help him. A nurse spoke to him softly for a moment, and when she disappeared, Matt put a hand on Zacky's shoulder and led him over to one of the hard plastic chairs in the waiting room.

"Zee, no ones dead, OK? Brian's got a broken arm and he'll heal, and Linzee has a few scratches and that's all. But, she could've been killed if...if Keira hadn't jumped in front of her seat and stopped her. This was just before Keira was flung through the front window and onto the road..." Matt said solemnly, and Zacky was torn.
He was overjoyed that Linzee was OK, and that Brian was going to mend eventually, but his girlfriend...his beautiful Keira had been thrown through the front window of Brian's truck.
"She's unconscious- and the doctors aren't really sure what's wrong with her. They're going to take you to see Brian and Linzee, but they won't let anyone see Keira yet, OK?"

Zacky nodded, and dropped his head into his hands. He was a terrible father, he concluded. He should never have let Brian and Keira take Linzee to the doctors, he should've been doing that- she was his child. He'd been almost neglecting her these last few days to deal with Keira, Val, his lawyer, Matt- throwing his baby at Brian so he'd have time for himself.
This wasn't what a parent did. Why did he have to be such a crappy one?

"I'm a horrible father, I never should have let this happen" he mumbled, as Matt put a hand on his back, trying to comfort him.
"You're not a terrible father, Zacky, in fact you're one of the best. You took in a child from a broken home when she landed on your doorstep with no questions asked- and you didn't take a dime from anyone else for it. Just because she almost got hurt doesn't mean you aren't doing your job right- it just means you're making mistakes, like every parent does"

Matt would've made the perfect father. Even if Val hadn't admitted that the baby wasn't his, he still would've looked after it like it was his own.
"What are you going to do about Val? I mean...she had someone else's baby, the baby I'm adopting- isn't that something you want to talk to her about?"

This time, it was Matt's turn to sigh as he shook his head, staring at the main entrance to the hospital. He was itching to get up and go home, just so he could talk to his wife and find out what was going on. He didn't know if he wanted to leave her, or if he just needed to sort his head out- but whatever it was would impact the both of them.

"Mr Baker?"
The nurse was back, and this time, she was holding two little clipboards, both with huge chucks of scribbled text on the front. Zacky stood up, nodding his head and without saying another word, the nurse gestured him towards a long corridor of rooms.
"Go home, Matt. Go talk to your wife and sort this out, I'll hold the fort down here" Zacky smiled and waved his friend off, who got up out of his seat and walked away without trying to stay. Zacky followed the nurse off into the rooms, listening mindlessly while she spoke.

"Your daughter, Mr Baker, only had a few scratches from the crash, but she did have a fever so we've given her some medication for that, and she'll be fine to take home when you want to. Your friend Brian's right arm was crushed against the dashboard, which we'll have to monitor but he'll survive. He's told us he lives alone, so you'll need to watch him for a few weeks before he can return home" the nurse said, leading Zacky into a private room where Brian was lying on top of the bedsheets, Linzee in a little cot beside him.

"Dude, I'm expecting fifty bucks for this gig. That twenty just doesn't cut it" Brian joked weakly as his friend ran over to hug him, carefully avoiding the broken arm that had been put into a plaster cast.
"Hey, I'm not the one you should be worrying about- I'm a twenty-seven year old man. Your kid is the more important one here" Brian told him, pointing with his good arm at the little girl in the cot. She was wide awake, but scared, and looking like she was on the verge of tears.

Glancing at the nurse, who nodded, Zacky gently lifted Linzee out of the cot and held her close, kissing her little head. He felt her arms clutch onto his shirt and her lips start to open and close like a fish unless those two little words fell out of her mouth.
"Da-da" she cried, looking up at him with those big blue eyes that suddenly filled with tears.
"Linzee, babygirl, it's alright. Daddy's here, sweetheart, don't cry. I love you baby- Daddy's got you" Zacky comforted as she began to sniffle, her forehead burning up again.

"You're a natural with Linz, Zee" Brian observed softly, as Zacky felt the nurse tap him on the shoulder. She looked a little more worried than she had when she brought him to see his daughter and best friend, and he could only guess that he was finally able to see Keira.
"Your, um, girlfriend is still unconscious, Mr Baker, and you can only look through the window, but I can take you down to her room if you want?" she asked, and clutching at his little girl he nodded.

The nurse didn't bat an eyelid when he carried Linzee out with him, who was stunned by the new surroundings of the hospital, her head would move everywhere to not miss a single detail of it. And suddenly he was right there.
"I'll give you a moment, Mr Baker" the nurse said, leaving him alone at a window, holding his daughter and staring at the woman he loved.

Keira had scratches all over her face, was hooked up to a drip and didn't visibly look like she was breathing, though the heart-rate machine said differently. Scraped away from her face, her hair fanned out across the pillow. She reminded Zacky of Snow White or Sleeping Beauty- or all the other Disney princess that fell asleep in their stories.
Linzee stretched out her little hand and pressed it up against the glass, looking out at the woman in the hospital bed.

"Mama" she said uncertainly, like she wasn't sure what she was saying. Zacky had only taught her 'Da-da', that had been her first word. Who could've spent so much time with her, and knew that he was head over heels for Keira that they'd bother teaching Linzee 'Mama'?

Brian.
That incredible idiot.

"Yeah, baby, that's mama. Not your mama, but a mama. And she'll always be here for you. Just like me" he whispered, kissing Linzee's cheek softly and turning back to the hospital room.

Please don't stop breathing, he thought to himself. If only for the little girl who called you her Mom.