A/N: Man, things have been insane. I haven't been able to write till this weekend and I'm glad to finally produce a chapter. Sorry it took so long, but I had a Biology Midterm and a History Midterm on the same day. Also, I got a bit of a writer's block and I couldn't write even if I tried. Thankfully, it passed, at least I think it did. lol
Anyways, finally here to update, I hope you guys enjoy this update!
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Robert sat beside Victoria, waiting for her to wake-up. It's been hours since her operation and she still hasn't woken up. Maybe he was being a bit impatient, he could admit that much, but he just wanted to make sure she was truly okay.
Due to Jin and Raymond's connection, Victoria's room was quite big and was able to accommodate the people who had been there since she was brought in. It was a bit much, but everyone was far too worried to just stay put in the hotel. They were still waiting for Megan, Victoria's mom to come.
"Robert, I'm going to pick up my wife, we'll grab some food, did you want anything specific?" Jin questioned, placing a hand on Robert's shoulder to get his attention, knowing his words might not register to the young man before him.
"I'm good sir, I can eat whatever you decide to get." Robert turned to Jin, not wanting to seem rude.
Jin gave him a soft smile, squeezing his shoulder before walking out of the room with Javier. The door opened once more with Angelina, Manuel, and Frank walking in.
"She's okay, right?" Angelina questioned as she tightly gripped her husband's hand, standing on the other side of Victoria's bed.
"Yes, she's just recovering." Robert answered. It felt surreal, answering these questions as Victoria lay beside him, recovering from her injuries. He never thought he would be in this position and honestly, he never wanted to be in this position again unless she was giving birth to their child.
"He's dead, right?" Frank directed his question to Amelia, who was sitting on the couch that was against the wall with the windows.
Amelia nodded her head. "I double-checked and everything. They're doing an autopsy on him now."
"Maquina did a final sweep through his home when the cleaners came, I personally sent Arthur to assure that whatever we need from Theo, whatever he had on us was taken." Alexa added.
Frank nodded his head in approval.
Manuel locked eyes with Mats who nodded his head towards Robert. He gave Angelina a kiss on top of her head and whispered that he was going to talk to Robert. She simply nodded and let go of his hand reluctantly, but she understood.
"Robert, let's go out for a walk." Manuel suggested.
"I'm fine, I'll stay here." Robert didn't even turn his head towards Manuel. He really didn't want to leave the room and he understood their concern, but he wanted to be there when she woke up.
"Son, she's going be okay, you look exhausted, just take a walk and we'll call you if she so much stirs." Raymond assured him.
Robert didn't want to disrespect Victoria's father and he was a bit intimidated by him if he was being honest. Standing up, he let Angelina take his seat before following Manuel and Mats out of the room.
"Are you going to keep pretending your sleeping?" Amelia questioned in an amused tone.
Victoria wanted to laugh, but she was certain that it would not bode well with the stitches in her body. "Fuck you," she hoarsely replied as she opened her eyes. She saw Raymond take out his phone, but before she could say anything, Amelia spoke for her.
"Please don't call Robert, it is quite obvious that she didn't want to wake up with him in the room." Amelia stood up, walking over to her cousin's bedside. "You're such a coward, but I'll let it slide cause you were shot."
"Thanks, I can just feel the love. Can I have water?" Victoria turned to Angelina.
Angelina took a cup and poured some water as Frank adjusted the bed so that Victoria was slightly sitting up. Adinda, who was now standing beside Angelina, placed a straw inside the cup, to ease the process for Victoria. After drinking water, she looked around the room and smiled at everyone.
"So, I'm alive," she told them.
Raymond and Charlene couldn't help but shake their head at their daughter.
"You're lucky to be alive, please don't give us a scare like that again. We just found you." Charlene scolded, the tears forming in her eyes.
Victoria frowned. "Please don't cry, I honestly didn't mean to get shot."
"For once, that's actually the truth. She wasn't being careless, well, not entirely, but I'm sure it won't happened again." Daniel smirked. "Glad you're back cuz."
"We're all happy you're alive, but are you really going to pretend to be asleep till he leaves?" Angelina questioned, giving her a disapproving look.
Victoria's eyes traveled to everyone in the room. Daniel, Charlene, Nathaniel, Raymond, Amelia, Alexa, Adinda, and even Frank wore such a disappointed expression, she couldn't understand why. This was her relationship with Robert, something that had nothing to do with. Okay, maybe she did understand why they were giving her that look of such great disapproval. It wasn't the most ideal way to deal with Robert, but again, she couldn't say goodbye to him face to face. This was the best way. Once he leaves for the Polish National Team, she can disappear and she was quite excellent at that.
"God, you haven't changed, you're still that child all those years ago who thinks running away changes her problems." Amelia was tired of Victoria's little act. She couldn't keep acting like everything would go away if she disappeared, not caring about the people she hurt in the process. It was fucking stupid and it pissed her off. They were all adults now, no one should hold her hand when it came to this, walking away like a coward was not the Cruz way.
"Feel like your opinion was not called for," Victoria quipped.
"Leave us," the tone of Amelia's voice brought chills down everyone's spines, they followed her order with no arguments. Victoria did not break eye contact with Amelia, she was never afraid of Amelia and it wasn't going to start now. Alexa stayed, knowing Amelia would prefer if she did.
"Honestly nothing you can do that can further hurt me." Victoria wasn't backing down and it worried Alexa. Amelia may have changed, but when she was challenged, she hardly backed down.
"Mia," Alexa stood in between the two, shaking her head. "Don't, if she wants to make this mistake, that's on her."
"Listen, you want to do this disappearing act, fine. But at least have some guts and act like you actually love this man. Face him, don't be a fucking coward. You're a Cruz, we're not cowards, we do not run away from our problems." Amelia sidestepped Alexa, her eyes locked on Victoria. "I understand that you can't come to terms with saying goodbye to Robert, but that should say something to you, maybe you don't want to walk away. Don't be an idiot, no one knows you're connected to Maquina."
Victoria didn't even know what to say to Amelia because she was right, she didn't want to leave, nothing in her wanted to do it. But she was trying to be rational and protect the person she loves most from any horrible faith she could possibly hand him. Sure, it may be unfair that she was making the decision herself, but if she doesn't walk away now, she would never do it.