Chapter Text
Geoff was going to kill me.
It all started when I’d volunteered for the task of leaving work to go pick up my bosses daughter from school.
Geoff had originally been given the task by his wife Griffon. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but he was late for an important meeting. So Ivolunteered to pick up his eight year old daughter, Rosie.
Long story short, I’d been in a pissy mood, and I figured that leaving the office to pick up Rosie could cheer me up at least a little bit.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I pull up to the school next to Rosie, who is standing there on the sidewalk with a bright purple dress on, and her dark brown hair pulled back into two pigtails.
"Hey, Rosie!" I call out to her, forcing myself to be cheerful.
Although I am pretty thankful that I’m not still at the office, editing the Minecraft Let’s Play. It’s been a long day so far.
"Hi, Mikey!" She beams, hopping into the backseat and adjusting her bright pink backpack on her lap. She quickly pulled out a folded piece of purple construction paper. "Guess what I made in school today!"
I put my fingers on my chin in a playful attempt to wonder what she had drawn. “Hmmm…A unicorn?” I guess.
"Nope! Strike one!"
Damn. Only two more guesses. “A dinosaur?”
"Nu-uh!" She shakes her head violently. "One guess left!"
"Uh…" I consider my options for this last guess. Then I realize that I may be taking this way too seriously. Maybe I’ve been stuck in the office for too long and finally went stir crazy. "Is it a-"
"I’ll give you a hint!" She says, seemingly desperate for me to guess correctly.
"Okay, thanks! I was pretty concerned there for a moment." I smile at her. Rosie’s awesome kid, and she seems pretty pumped that I’m taking her little game so seriously.
I finally turn the car back on, and begin to drive away from the school. “It’s from a video game that you, daddy, and the rest of the boys at the office like to play!”
That doesn’t narrow down the options very much. We play a lot of games. But I try to think of the ones that Rosie would be familiar enough with to draw.
"Is it from Minecraft?" I question, knowing that it’s one of her favourites.
A huge grin spreads across her face. “Yes!”
"Is it a creeper?"
"Yeah!" she cheers loudly, "Look at it!"
Thankfully we pull up to a red light few moments after I guess the right answered, so I was able to turn around in my seat to look. She unfolds the paper and holds up the drawing to show me.
It was a lot better than I expected. It actually has little squares that are all different shades of green, and she has the face drawn pretty accurately. She even has little red roses drawn at it’s feet. I’m sure Ray would love it for that reason alone.
"Holy shit! Good job, Rose!" I praise her. Then mentally scold myself for cursing in front of her. She doesn’t seem too fazed by it though, and just gives a happy and heartfelt thanks.
While driving I continue to ask her about her day at school, and she gushes about drawing her creeper in art. I’m not looking forward to going back to the office, so listening to Rosie talk is amusing enough to distract me from the thoughts of spending the rest of my day there.
What else will I be doing today? Finish editing the Let’s Play, record a new one, record a new AHWU, and then probably edit something else? Goddammit.
While talking about a girl named Emily that she sat next to class, Rosie suddenly stops and lets out a high pitched shriek.
I jump in my seat and look at her huge grin in the rear view mirror, which reassures me that she’s fine. But I roll my eyes at her yelling. Kids get way to excited about things sometimes.
"Can we please, please, please go to the playground!” She begs, putting her hands together in a praying type motion. I look out my left window and see that we are indeed passing a children’s playground.
I slow down a little bit, considering it. Stopping at the playground means not having to go to the office so soon. “Okay, but only for a few minutes!”
The young girl’s cheering starts once again.
*
When Rosie jumped out of the car and shouted to me that she was going to make it all the way across the monkey bars, jokingly calling back to her “break a leg!” probably wasn’t the best response.
"Mikey! It hurts really bad!" Rosie sobs as she clutches her arm to her chest, and tears stream down her face.
At least it wasn’t her leg, I think to myself dryly. But now is no time for humour, Rosie might be seriously injured.
"I don’t think it’s broken, it might just be sprained." I say to her, observing her arm, and praying that I’m right. I carry her back to the car and place her in the back seat again, making sure to be careful of her injured arm.
"Do I need to go to the hospital?" She asks.
Sometimes Rosie can be a lot smarter than me. I haven’t even considered the hospital. Taking her there first could be much more beneficial to me. If she does end up having a broken bone, taking her back with a cast on is a lot better than taking her back with a broken and untreated arm. But then again, I’m still screwed either way, and Geoff is going to rip me a new one regardless.
"Yeah, that may be for the best." I mutter, and help her put on her seat belt. "You going to be okay?"
"It hurts a lot, Michael…" She whimpers, but then slowly puts on a brave look, "But I should be able to handle it until we get to the doctors."
"You’re a pretty tough kid!" I grin, while ruffling her hair, which earns me a smile from her.
I’m a terrible babysitter.
*
Attempting to keep my cool at the hospital was a lot harder than I originally thought. The annoying secretary was starting to piss me off, and I knew I couldn’t start screaming profanities at her with Rosie right there.
"Please fill out this form, and we’ll get to her as soon as we can, sir." She says to me, with a bored look in her eyes. "We’re very busy today."
There’s literally only three other people in the waiting room, but I decide to just be civil and do what she says. Getting into a fight with the hospital staff isn’t going to change how horrible this day is.
We finally turn back to the waiting room and sit down in an empty row of seats, and begin to fill out the form. I already know all of the answers anyways, but asking her the questions might keep her mind off of the pain in her arm. I ask her all of the ones that aren’t related to her injury, then make some up when I run out.
"Full name?"
"Rosie Ramsey." She responds.
"Age?"
"Eight."
"Favourite animal?"
She giggles, “That’s not on there, Mikey!”
I grin, “Of course it is! Now answer.”
"Giraffes."
I pretend to write it, then continue to ask her pointless questions that aren’t on the paper. It seems to help, and it even makes her laugh when I ask her outrageous ones.
I’d just finished filling it out when my cell-phone rings. I have to bite back a curse when I see the name “Geoff” flash across the screen.
"Is that Dad calling you?" She asks, peeking at my phone.
"Yeah, I’m going to go into the other room to talk to him, okay? You’ll be alright out here?" I question, while standing up.
"I’ll be fine." She smiles, and turns her attention to the TV in the corner, that has some kind of stupid kids show playing.
I answer my phone, and brace myself for a lashing. Regardless of the fact that myself and Geoff are good friends, he’s still my boss. Breaking his daughters arm will not go over well with him.
"Where the hell is my daughter, you prick!? You’ve been gone for a half hour!" Geoff’s voice rings through my phone.
"Calm down, I have Rosie here with me and she’s fine…" I trail off, and then add a quiet, "More or less."
I give the form to the secretary, holding back the urge to glare at her, and quickly make my way to the second waiting room. Thankfully it’s empty.
This hospital is pretty old fashioned looking. All the chairs are the same green leathery material. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all white and it hurts my eyes to look at them for to long. Can’t they at least put up some pictures on the walls?
"What the fuck do you mean more or less!?" Geoff screams at me. I move the phone away from my ear for a few seconds, until I judge that it’s safe to move back.
"We’re at the hospital." Giving him calm and straight forward answers might keep me out of trouble for a little while.
It appears to work, since I hear Geoff take a long and loud sigh/groan. “Just tell me what happened, dude.” He whines, with a frustrated and exasperated tone.
I begin to tell him the shortened version of the story. “Rosie wanted to go to the playground for a few minutes so I let her, and while she was going across the monkey bars she fell and I think she might have sprained her arm or something. Don’t worry though, we should be out of here soon, so there’s not really any need for you to drive all the way up here.”
"I give you one fucking job, dude. One fucking job! And you manage to fuck it up in the form of my daughters arm!" He mutters.
"Don’t blame me, Geoff!" I yell, "I’m just as pissed as you are! Hospitals suck dick!" Honestly I was more worried about Griffon wanting to kick my ass than Geoff. She could be pretty brutal when she wanted to be.
"Okay, let’s just calm down. I know it’s been a horrible day for you." Geoff states. Listening to him attempt to be calm and reasonable lifts a huge weight off of my shoulders. Maybe Geoff won’t kick my ass when I get back to the office. "I’m going to go tell Griffon. I’m more concerned about her arm than I am about murdering you. We’ll beat your face in once you make it back here with my daughter in one piece."
Nevermind.
"Thanks, Geoff." I mutter, saracastically.
"You’re a real son of a bitch, you know that, right?"
"Don’t be an asshole. I’ll have Rosie back safe and sound as soon as I can, okay?"
"That’s all I ask." Geoff says, and hangs up.
I feel grateful to work at a company where I can call my boss an asshole and not get fired for it. But then again, I also work at a company where he and his wife can beat the shit out of me and nobody will bat an eye.
I put my phone back into my pocket angrily. The highlight of my day so far has been seeing Rosie’s creeper drawing.
I remember that I left her in the main waiting room all by herself. Even though I’m pretty sure that she can’t injure herself while in a hospital, I don’t want to take any risks after that phone call with Geoff.
Why does life have to be one huge cock sucking headache?
I walk back into the room and see Rosie sitting where I’d left her, perfectly fine. But not by herself.
"Rosie?" I yell out to her. Both she and the man sitting next to her stop talking and looked up to see me.
He looked to be around my age. He had an attractive face, pale skin, a large nose, and messy light brown hair that stuck up in all different directions. It looked as though he’d just crawled out of bed and said “fuck it”. I also noticed that he was wearing tight black jeans, and a green t-shirt that had a creeper face on it.
Who the fuck is this guy? I didn’t realize that stranger danger could happen in the middle of a fucking hospital.
"Hi, Michael! Is daddy mad?" Rosie greets my return.
"Nah, It’ll be fine." I say to her, not really paying attention since I’m too busy glaring at the guy sitting next to her. "Who the hell are you?" I ask him.
"I’m Gavin! Nice to meet you!" He states, cheerfully. He has a thick British accent, and I can’t help but think about how attractive it is. Fuck, I need to keep my mind on more important matters.
"Why are you randomly talking to little girls that you don’t know? That’s creepy as hell, dude!" I basically shout at him.
"Don’t be mad at Gavvy! See his shirt? He likes Minecraft just like us!" She says, with a huge smile stretched across her face. She turns back to him and starts talking again, "Michael and my daddy play that game all the time with a bunch of their friends, and a bunch of people on the internet watch because they’re really funny.”
"Wait a second! Who is this guy!? What the hell makes you think you can just hang around with any little kids you find?" I demand from him.
He doesn’t take any offense to it and just smirks, as though he’s amused at my anger. “Don’t worry, lad. I just saw little Rosie sitting down here by herself and decided to give her some company. I can leave if you want me to.” He says.
"No, Gavvy! Please stay!" Rosie begs, and even grabs his arm as if she’s going to force him to stay. "Gavin’s really nice, Michael! He’s my friend!"
"Looks like I’m staying," he grins at me, cheekily. I give an angry sigh. This British asshole is just the icing on the cake for such a shitty day.
"Fine. Whatever! I don’t care anymore. We’ll be out of here soon anyways." I mutter, and sit down between the two of them. I’m one hundred percent sure that letting Rosie talk to strangers won’t get me back into Geoff’s good graces.
She gasps as an idea strikes her, “Do you want to see my creeper picture I drew in school today!?”
"Yeah, that sounds top!" Gavin grins. I continue to glare at him, but he just smiles as though being a prick is the highlight of his day.
"My bookbag is in your car, Michael! Can you go get it?" She asks.
"I don’t think I should leave you alone with a stranger, Rosie…" I trail off. I have to be atleast a little responsible. Letting this douchebag hang around with us is already bad enough.
"But Gavin’s not a stranger!" She argues.
"Yes he is! You literally met him less than five minutes ago!" I argue.
Rosie scrunches up her nose and eyebrows, and prepares to yell at me. She’s just a stubborn as Geoff sometimes. “Don’t be mean, Michael! You and Gavin can be friends too, you’re just too rude!”
"Yeah, Michael!" Gavin adds, but with his accident it sounds more like ‘mi-cool’. I look away from Rosie to give him the hardest glare I can muster. I only relent when I see his smile fade and a worried look spreads across his face. "Okay, okay! I’m sorry! Why don’t I just go out to the car with you to get her bookbag. Barbara can easily watch Rosie.”
Watching him feel apologetic for being such an asshole brightens up my mood the tiniest bit. That doesn’t mean that I forgive him though. “Who the fuck is Barbara ” I ask. I don’t even care enough to monitor my language now.
He stops looking so apologetic and grins, “She’s the receptionist!” And points to a young woman talking to an older man in the corner.
She looked up at the sound of her name and walked over to us after saying a few words of goodbye to the old man. She’s a really attractive woman with long blonde hair and a pretty face. “For the last time, Gavin, I’m a nurse.” She smiles at him.
"Receptionist. Nurse. Same thing." He grins, while waving it off.
"Oh yeah, a receptionist? Is that who stands next to the doctor during the operations?" She asks.
"Close enough! Can you watch Rosie while Michael and I go out to his car and get something?"
"Yeah sure, but please don’t stray too far from the hospital! I really don’t want a repeat of last time." She pleads.
"Don’t worry, we’re just going to his car and then we’ll be coming straight back." He reassures her, and gives her a cute puppy dog pout look. "I really want to see Rosie’s creeper drawing!"
"Yeah, Barbara Please!" Rosie joins in, giving her the same look. When the nurse looks at their adorable pleading face, she can’t help but say yes.
"Go on then!" She says, but is grinning at the same time. We both stand up, and she sits down where Gavin previously sat. She and Rosie begin to talk happily, as though they’ve known each other for years. Apparently that kid can makes friends fast.
We walk through the waiting room, and Gavin gives a wave at the secretary. She gives him a bored wave back, before glaring at me. I’m about to glare back but Gavin steals my attention.
"So, Michael!" He grins at me, as we leave through the main hospital doors. "Let’s go on an adventure to get a creeper drawing!"
"Don’t make me hit you." I threaten.
I’m thankful though, because now I can tell off this asshole without Rosie around to scold me.