Work Text:
No good calls come after nine at night.
It's an old chestnut, but Chris knows the truth of it deep in his soul. Truthfully, any time the phone rings after sunset with no warning has ice running down his spine, always has since that night when he was sixteen, when he got the call-
Claire, Jill, Barry, Jake, everybody knows to call before the sun goes down, or to text him first. It's irrational, but it's his one concession to the child that still lives somewhere deep inside, buried under layers of armor.
So when the phone rings at 10:03 pm, he freezes in place and misses the first few rings. His hand shakes as he reaches for his phone - his personal line, the one only a dozen or so people have - and he braces himself as he answers.
"Mr. Redfield, this is Albany Medical Center, I'm Nurse Kate, I'm calling because you're Jacob Fox's next of kin, is that correct?"
It takes a minute before he can get the words out, but he manages. "That's right- is he- what's wrong?" He's scrambling, trying to force himself into mission ready, to push past the panic into the calm steadiness of authority, but he can barely think past the ringing in his ears and the desperate begging of please, please let him be okay.
"There was an accident-" and there it is, the words he never wanted to hear; he can't breathe, he can't think, can't do anything but wait for the next words, "Mr. Fox is being treated now, he has relatively minor injuries but he is unconscious at this time." After a long pause, she speaks again, her tone the businesslike but kind one that seems ubiquitous to nurses. "Mr. Redfield, are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he manages, even though he thinks she knows he's lying, "I, uh, I'll be there as soon as I can. Will he be okay?"
"I can't tell you that for sure, but we're doing everything we can. I'm sure they'll be able to tell you more when you get here," she says gently, "Do you have a way to get here?"
"I'll get there." He's already grabbing for his keys, knows what a bad idea it is to drive like this, doesn't care, because it's Jake, because he needs to be there, because what if-
The nurse stays on the phone with him, even though she must have a thousand other things to do; she talks to him about Jake, asks how they know each other - he says work and then classified and she laughs - asks how long they've been together, tells him about a nice restaurant that just opened up that he ought to take Jake to when he's feeling up to it, and by the time Chris pulls up to the emergency department parking lot, he's steady enough to walk in without feeling like he's going to throw up.
He takes a deep breath and steps inside.