Chapter 10

As we walked into the doors of the hospital, I felt Luna tense up immediately. I wasn’t sure why, so I squeezed her hand, playing the role I had just gotten myself into. “I think we need to go to the front desk and ask them about your father” I said steering Luna in the direction the signed pointed to.

“How do you know where the front desk is?” She asked me, still seeming a little disoriented from her nap.

I chuckled at her disorientation, knowing full well that I needed to take advantage of it and get closer to her so that she would trust me. The sooner this is over, the better. “Because I looked at the sign that said ‘Front Desk’ and had an arrow pointing the direction.”

“Oh, yeah that was a smart idea. I’m sorry, Alex. I guess I’m just not used to this sort of stuff. I’ve never been in a hospital before. The whole idea of hospitals, with all the sick people, sort of freaks me out.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “You don’t have to do this alone. I’m here for you.”

“Thanks.”

We finally saw the front desk and Luna walked up to the counter.

“Can I help you?” The nurse at the front desk asked in a monotone voice. Luna just stood there, staring at the nurse, my mouth slightly open like she was going to say something, but couldn’t find the words. “Ma’am, can I help you?” The nurse asked again, this time with a slight tone of irritation in her voice. Still Luna just stood there. “Ma’am if you don’t need anything, then I need you to go sit down. There are other people waiting.”

“Not wanting this night to drag on sooner than it had to, I stepped up and said, “This is Luna Smith. She received a call a couple of hours ago saying that her father had been in an accident. She-”

“What’s the father’s name?” the nurse asked, cutting me off. Getting irritated with the insolent woman, I nudged Luna forward slightly with my hand.

“Edward. Edward Smith.” She said, finally seeming to be able to speak again.

“Ahhh, yes. Mr. Smith. There’s some paper work I need you to fill out. It needs to be done ASAP. These are the forms, take a pen, a clipboard and have a seat. After you’re done filling it out then you can see your father.”

“But, can’t you tell me how he is?” Luna asked.

“Fill out the forms ma’am.”

“But I-“

“Ma’am, these are the forms you need, take them, fill them out, and then come back here to turn them in.”

“But my father, he-”

“That’s all I can do for you now. Fill out the paper work and then come back here, but not before it’s all filled out.” Seeing that Luna seemed to be on the verge of tears, I grabbed the mountain of paper work and pulled her over to one of the empty chairs. I really don’t have time to deal with her crying if all of this paper work needs to be filled out. Sure, being a shoulder for her to cry on would up my points in her book greatly and it would get me closer to gaining her trust so I could get the information I needed, but I’m tired and it looks like it’s going to be a long night ahead of me, so crying I just can’t deal with right now.

“Everything is going to be okay, Luna. We’ll get this paper work filled out and then we can go and see your father.” I handed her the first sheet of paper and the pen and she got to work on the information that needed to be provided.

I watched her sit there and stare at the sheet for five minutes, not writing anything, just staring at the paper. “Luna,” I said, “You know that the sooner we get this paper work filled out, the sooner we can go and see your father.”

“But, Alex. I can’t sit here and fill out information about my father when I don’t even know what. . .” She cut herself off abruptly, burying her head in her hands as the stream of tears started to trace their tracks across her face. Oh dear lord. I don’t freaking have time for this shit! All I want to do is get the freaking information out of her so that I can go back home to Russia, build my rocket, make it to the moon, and then shove it in my sister’s face. Is that too much for a freaking guy to ask for?

Pulling myself away from my thoughts, I wrapped my arm around Luna’s should and pulled her into me. Her tear immediately started to stain my shirt and I couldn’t help think that at least it was a shirt I didn’t care for. I sat there with Luna in my arms, telling her that everything would be ok, for what seemed like hours. Finally she leaned back and looked at me, her eyes puffy and red from crying so much and said, “Thank you, Alex. Thank you for being here because I’m not sure what I would do without you.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Luna. I’m here for you. Always. It’s what friends are for.” At least that’s what I’ve been told. In my line of work you don’t have friends. You have sources and you have targets. That’s about it. Luna rested her head back on my shoulder and I feared she would start crying again. Thankfully she didn’t, instead I heard her intake of breath, like she was getting ready to tell me something. Something very important. This is it. She’s going to tell me what I need to know. Could it really be as simple as just giving her a hug? A hug was all I needed to do to make her spill everything? As I sat waiting to hear what she was going to say, I started to feel antsy. Almost as if I could sit still with the excitement I knew her words were going to bring me.

“Alex,” she started to say, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it Luna?” I asked, trying to hide the eagerness in my voice.

“It’s about. . . We’ll, it’s about my family.”

Immediately I felt the happiness drain away. I should have known it wouldn’t have been that easy. “What about your family?” I asked, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice this time. Well, if I wasn’t going to get her secret plans, at least I could get more information about her. Apparently I still needed to make a deeper connection with her, in order to get what I needed.

“Well, you see. I kind of. . . Well. . . I. . . I kind of-“

“Is there anyone in the waiting room who is related to a Mr. Edward Smith? Anyone related to a Mr. Edward Smith?”

The sound of the attendee’s voice cut through me like a knife. Are you freaking kidding me?! Every single damn shot I get at getting information from this girl gets ruined. This is really starting to piss me off. Luna shot up out of her seat faster than I had ever seen her move before, with a look of relief on her face. Something about the look she gave me made me wonder if it was because she was finally going to get some information about her father, or if she was just happy to not have to tell me what she was going to say. As I wondered this, Luna walked up to the attendee and said, “I’m Luna Smith. Edward Smith is my father. Is there anything you can tell me about him?”