MMA System: I Will Be Pound For Pound Goat - Chapter 510

Chapter 510: Chapter 510: The Waiting Game
Damon sat on one of the benches in the hospital corridor, his elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped tightly. It had been nearly an hour since they brought Svetlana in.

The doctor had told him she was stable, but they needed to run a few tests just to be sure. She was still out when they took her back for observation.

An hour wasn’t long.

Not by hospital standards.

But for Damon, it felt like a lifetime.

His mind wouldn’t stop running through possibilities.

Trying to piece together anything that made sense.

She hadn’t been sick. She hadn’t complained about feeling weak or dizzy. There was nothing leading up to this.

He couldn’t make sense of it. And when he couldn’t make sense of something, his thoughts turned against him.

He’d called back home not long after they arrived.

Victor answered on the second ring. Calm but serious.

Macey was in the background, asking questions.

Damon explained everything he knew, which wasn’t much.

Victor didn’t waste time.

“I’ll be there soon,” he said.

A flight was already being booked by the time they hung up.

Damon knew Victor wasn’t the type to stand still when something was wrong. And right now, something was wrong.

He sat there in silence after the call, his leg bouncing slightly.

The hospital was quiet, which only made the waiting worse.

He leaned back against the wall for a moment and let out a slow breath through his nose.

What could make her faint like that?

She was healthy. She trained. She wasn’t dealing with any sickness he knew of.

And she wasn’t reckless.

If something was wrong, she would’ve told him.

He was sure of it.

Or at least, he thought he was.

Damon rubbed his hand over his face, trying to clear his head.

He hated waiting.

But there was nothing else to do right now.

A doctor walked toward him, clipboard in hand, expression calm.

“Mr. Cross,” he said as he approached, “Ms. Steele.”

Damon was on his feet before the doctor even stopped walking.

“How is she? Is she awake? What happened? Is she okay?”

The words came out quick, tight. He didn’t realize how fast until the doctor gave him a faint grin, holding up a hand.

“Easy,” the doctor said. “One at a time.”

He glanced at the chart again, then back at Damon. “She’s fine. She’s resting now. We ran some basic tests her vitals are stable, everything is looking good.”

Damon nodded slowly, trying to process it, but the doctor kept going.

“She fainted due to a combination of fatigue, low blood pressure, and a slight drop in blood sugar. Pretty common in early pregnancy.”

The doctor looked up from the chart, expecting something from Damon. “She’s going to need to stay hydrated and keep her energy up. Nothing serious, but it happens.”

Damon nodded again. “Yeah… okay. That’s—”

Then he froze.

Pregnancy?

His mind stalled. The rest of the words didn’t land.

The doctor was already turning to leave when Damon reached out, catching him by the arm.

“Wait,” Damon said. “Pregnancy?”

The word came out flat, like it took him a second to understand it.

The doctor paused, looking at him for a beat longer this time.

“You didn’t know?”

Damon shook his head slowly.

“No.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of the doctor’s mouth. “Well, congratulations then. She’s about six weeks, give or take. She’s in Room 214. You can go see her now.”

He gave Damon a light pat on the shoulder before moving on down the hall, leaving him standing there, still processing what he’d just heard.

Damon stood in the hallway, frozen. The sounds around him, footsteps, distant voices, a phone ringing at the nurse’s station, faded into the background.

Pregnant.

Svetlana was pregnant.

The word repeated in his head, hollow at first, then heavier each time it echoed back.

He felt like the walls were closing in.

The hospital corridor that had seemed wide and clean only a minute ago now felt tight. Too close.

He took a step back, leaned against the cool plaster of the wall, and stared at nothing for a while.

His pulse thudded hard in his throat, and his breathing slowed like he was holding it without meaning to.

He let out a breath, tried to steady himself, but the weight on his chest didn’t move.

He’d fought wars in cages.

He’d stared down men who wanted to hurt him.

He’d survived things no one else knew about.

But this was different.

This was something he hadn’t planned for.

Something he hadn’t prepared for. And deep down, it scared the hell out of him.

How was he supposed to be a father?

He didn’t know what a good one looked like.

He’d never seen it. Never felt it

When he thought of the word “father,” it wasn’t strength or safety or love that came to mind.

It was fists.

It was shouting.

It was fear.

His father had been a cruel man.

Violent.

Controlling.

The kind of person Damon swore he’d never be.

But standing here now, that promise felt fragile.

He didn’t know if it was enough.

When his father died, when Damon got the news saying he was gone, it felt like closure.

For a while, he thought he’d moved past it.

Focused on fighting. Focused on Svetlana.

But now?

Now it felt like that past was breathing down his neck again.

Like no matter how far he ran from it, there was still a part of him that was his father’s son.

And what if he failed?

What if he became what he hated?

What if he didn’t know how to be anything different?

And it wasn’t that he was worried he’d become abusive.

He knew he wasn’t that man.

Not even close.

But how was he supposed to be a father?

He didn’t know the first thing about it.

No one ever taught him.

He had no example to follow, no blueprint for what being a good dad looked like.

It was like standing at the edge of a cliff with no idea what was at the bottom.

Lost in the noise of his own head, he barely registered the nurse approaching until her hand touched his arm.

“Sir, are you okay?” she asked softly, her expression concerned.

Damon blinked, snapping out of it like someone had flipped a switch.

He forced a breath in through his nose and nodded.

“Yeah… I’m fine. Thank you,” he said, his voice steadier than he felt.

The nurse didn’t move right away. She stood there for another moment, studying him like she didn’t quite believe him.

But after a beat, she gave a small nod and moved on, leaving him alone in the hallway.

Damon straightened up and ran his hands over his face briefly before turning down the hall.

He moved toward Svetlana’s room, his steps heavy but sure.

Room 214.

Whatever came next, he had to be there for it.

Even if he had no idea how.