She's late
More than an hour actually, she said she was just going to spend a few hours with the Donna and Rachel that she'd be back by ten, she'd been dying to catch up with them "Where are you?" he can't help but ask as he watches the minutes fly by on the clock. The phone doesn't ring, the door doesn't swing open, she doesn't come home.
It's ten past eleven when he gets any sleep.
A few hours later she wakes up when the teetering pile of CD's that he'd been sorting out had fallen over. He looked through bleary tiered eyes at the alarm clock 4:26. He jumped when the phone rang, wondering why their home phone was in their room and not out in the kitchen like usual, until he remembers he took it to their room last night desperately hoping that she'd call.
"Didge?" he asked when he picked up, not even bothering to check the caller ID
"Mr. Napier?" an unfamiliar voice answer, all he can think is who is this and where in the world is Didge.
"I'm calling from the hospital. Are you acquainted with Bridget Parker?"
The words the come next are never words he thought he'd ever associate with his wife
Car crash the nurse says critical condition Oh god, oh god, oh god
He wants to be sick; he stumbled over his mobile as he jumped up. There are five missed calls on it, all from her. He checks the time of her calls as he rushes out onto the street
11:20pm
11:50pm
12:15am
12:30am
1:02am
He missed her first call by ten minutes, ten stupid minutes. She was alone, scared and dying and he'd been sleeping, He shook the guilt out of his head, he'd have time to focus on that later, it was time to focus on her.
XXXXXX
Twenty minutes later he's at the hospital, he's out of breath because he ran all the way, she'd taken his car to meet up with the girls in some fancy restaurant in Eden Hills, he'd offered to drop her off and pick her up but apparently she'd be fine
People are looking at him crazy, he would too if he was quietly sitting in one of those plastic chairs and some random guy came in and started yelling about his wife to the nurse at the desk.
He just has to know if she's still alive, according to the nurse she's still in surgery. All he can do really is sit and wait. Donna, Rachel, Ringo and Zeke have arrived standing several feet behind him. Donna's drinking the swill this place calls coffee, he can't help but think that she really doesn't need any more caffeine, she's already jittery enough, shifting from foot to foot, playing with her hair from time to time. She's the only one who dares to sit with him. She gingerly puts an arm around and whispers "it's going to be ok, she's going to be ok" over and over again, as if the more time she says it the more likely it is going to become true.
He knows she's freaking out so he wraps his own arm around her shoulder and tells her that he knows and that "Didge won't go down without a fight" she brightens up and at his words and rest her head on his shoulder. The others take that as their cue to come closer and fill the seats around him.
XXXXXX
This wasn't supposed to happen; they're both supposed to be at home, together. There's a hand on his shoulder and he jumps, surprisingly not waking Donna who'd fallen asleep on his shoulder, he really doesn't know how she can sleep. He turns a nurse is standing behind him looking alarmed.
"There was...nothing we could do, I am so sorry" she's saying, the words blur and fade as everyone jumps up, they're trying to talk to him he can only hear a few choice words. He falls back to his seat unsure what else to do he can only see Bridget
Bridget smiling
Bridget laughing
Bridget crying
Bridget lying beside a ruined car...dying
He wants to run, to scream, to yell out for her. But he can't really seem to do anything. He barely notices as Donna stirs and sits up. She looks in horror at all the devastated faces and cries.
Bridget's gone, Tadpole's gone. He's lost both his wife and his unborn child in one night
XXXXXX
The next few minutes are a blur of faces and words. He's not sure how he gets there but he ends up sitting on a bench outside the hospital staring aimlessly up at the sky. It's been a long day and he's almost falling asleep but he can't help but notice how beautiful the sunset is, orange and pink streaked across the darkening sky. He knows Bridget will never see another one and that Tadpole never got a chance to see one, never got to see the beauty of the world, or the cruelty, all because of stupid drunk drivers.
In a fit of anger he knocks over a garbage bin and punches a wall.
XXXXXX
His mother drives him home, neither of them talk, neither of them really know what to say.
He can't go into their house, it's their house. Almost everything reminds him of her. His mother told him he could stay with her and Paul as long as he needed; he was surprised when he saw that his room was there, mostly the way he left it, except for the boxes. Apparently they'd been using the room for storage.
He flopped down on his bare bed and didn't move until morning. He dreamed of her
"Come and catch me" she laughed running away from him, he finds he's unable to move his feet, she's getting further and further away until eventually he can't even see her "come find me" she laughed
"I'm trying, I'm trying" he repeats as he yelled out for her. She appeared again, right in front of him, he can almost smell that coconut shampoo that she'd been using lately, her perfume that she barely wore but seemed to stick around forever.
"Catch me" she laughed her voice echoing, he reaches out just mere centimetres from touching her when she's gone again all that remains is her laughter
He wakes to find that there's a blanket stretched over him; he throws it off and sits up. He's unsure what to do next, his reaches for his phone, there's a sudden onslaught of gut wrenching pain as he see the photo he had for his background. The pair of them on their weeding day, her looking beautiful like always, looking so happy, so bright and warm.
He tries to ignore the photo and just focus on the little numbers which tell him that it's 10:03am but he can't. He opts for throwing his phone at the wall; he immediately regrets it and runs to collect it. It's the only copy of that photo, he cannot lose it. After checking that his phones ok he gently places it on the bedside table and falls back into an uneasy sleep. Because in his dreams even though he can never reach her but at least she's there.