I know I should be updating Years and NOT be making another multichapter but BLAH I want to :P and plus I still can't finish my chapter yet.
As thrilled as he was to be going home, Sam Swarek was dreading the idea of seeing his kitchen again.
It had been four months since he'd last seen it, and even longer since he'd cleaned it. God only knew what had grown there while he'd been undercover. He hoped Andy, or anyone for that matter, found his key and cleaned it for him before some thing of a biological threat started growing there.
Home still beats the streets, he thought, shifting in his seat, turning to the window.
Through the occasional break in the clouds outside he could see patches of the blue-gray sky above. Bright, early morning sunlight reflected off the clouds, blinding him. He turned away, blinking as dark spots appeared in his vision.
"I hear it's s'posed to rain today, for the next few days really." a shacky but deep voice beside him said. Sam looked to his left as an older man sat heavily into the aisle seat. The man was withered and wrinkly, he reminded Sam of his Great-Grandfather.
"Never thought I'd say it, but I can't wait." The man continued. It was a hot summer's day and Sam could honestly admit that he had no memory of the last time it rained.
"Rain could be a nice change of pace," Sam commented calmly.
"Of course," The old man continued, apparently talking more to himself than Sam, "just about anything would be nice after this heat. I was starting to go crazy." He shook his head and laughed a weezing laugh.
"Yeah?"
"Shit. Yeah." He shuddered.
Chuckling, Sam nodded Yup deffenitley like my Great-Grandfather! he thought to himself as he chuckled.
Half an hour later, the bus came to a slow stop a block away from Sam's house.
Rain pounded against the bus as it braked, slowed, and finally taxed to a stop.
Sam fidgeted in the aisle, fighting the wait until the doors open and he was free to go. He just wanted his life back, he wanted his job, his friends, his family and he knew he was going to finally tell Andy how he felt. Screw the state of his kitchen; he just wanted to go home.
"Bet we're lucky," The old man said, leaning over Sam's shoulder to look out the front window.
"If this were any worse, I don't think we'd have been on this bus in the first place."
"Probably." Sam agreed.
The door opened with a shish and clunk and Sam slowly made his way off the bus. He gave a quick wave to the old man before getting off the bus.
Oh, my phone. Sam thought suddenly, pulling out his old cell phone Frank gave back moments ago. As he was walked he flipped it open, expecting no missed calls or messages. The rain splashed onto the screen as he walked, making it harder to ready the words. Sam rubbed the phone on his pant leg and cupped his hand around the screen as a sheild. Looking at it closely, he saw he'd missed a couple of calls.
One was from Andy and the other was from a number he didn't recognize. Without bothering to check the voicemail one of the callers had left, he pressed 3 for his speed dail, held the phone to his ear, and waited.
No luck, voicemail.
Must be at The Penny, he thought, making a mental note to check his voicemail once he got home and to do the dishes.
He closed the phone and slipped it back into his pocket and continued walking.
Sam couldn't help but grin to himself, as he walked up the front steps to his house and unlocked the door.
It was good to be home.
He was only a few steps into his house when his phone began to ring, vibrating in his pocket. Sam fumbled for his phone, counting off the rings - he only had seven before it went to voicemail - he yanked his phone from his pocket and flipped it open just in time. "Hello?"
"Sam Swarek?" The voice was fuzzy with static likely interference from the rain and not one he recognized.
"Yes?"
"Mr. Swarek, my name is Katherine Young. I'm a doctor at the Victoria Mercy Hospital. I have you listed as the emergency contact for an Andy McNally. Is that correct?"
Sam blinked a few times, surprised. "Yes," he said, finally finding his voice again.
The doctor sounded relieved. "Okay. Good. Well, she's here at the hospital with us. We've been trying to reach you, and she's been asking for you."
"What?" Sam's brain had been stumbling over the 'emergency contact' bit, and was only just starting to catch up. "The hospital? Why?"
"It would really be best if you could come here, Mr. Swarek."
"...Okay?" Sam ran a hand through his hair, "Okay. I can " He craned his neck, trying to see through the rain and out onto the street. "Uhmm... I''ll need to get gas for the truck, but tell her I'll be there as soon as I can."
"I'll be sure to let her know. Thank you, Mr. Swarek."
Sam hung up his phone with just a faint, goodbye. The hospital? What is she doing there?
And then he remembered the voicemail, and the call he'd missed from her.
How long ago had she called? For one reason or another, his phone was incapable of telling him which number had left him a voicemail unless he was already listening to it, so there was no way for him to know whether it was from Andy or the hospital.
Flipping his phone open once more, he hastily punched in the buttons necessary to call his voicemail up, then pressed the phone to his ear.
"Sam?" The voice was neither Andy's nor Dr. Young's, and tinged with raw panic. Sam pressed his phone closer to his ear.
"God, I hope you're the person she was asking for. You, uh, don't know me but I'm one of Andy's Andy McNally's neighbors. She's, uhm, she's had an accident."Sam's heart froze and his grip automatically tightened on his phone.
An accident? That was more than the doctor at that stupid hospital had given him.
What kind of accident? A hundred different scenarios began rushing through his head, distracting him, he nearly missed the rest of the message.
"She was asking for you, said you just got back and that she wanted to see you - before she left with the EMTs - at least, I thought it was you " The message cut off there, ending with a beep. Sam closed his phone without deleting the message and slipped it back into his pocket.
Don't overthink it, he told himself, laughing darkly at the irony, as he turned and flung his front door open. The doctor said she's been asking for you. The message said she asked for means she's conscious. It means it's not serious.
Please, don't let it be serious.
What felt like an eternity later, Sam finally found himself at the hospital. He dumped his truck in the first available spot and rushed for the emergency entrance. Once inside, he scrambled for the intake desk, hitting it with all of the force of a small hurricane. "Andy McNally, where is she?" He demanded gruffly.
The nurse behind the desk looked at him, her expression hard. Rising to her feet, she reached for a stack of charts piled before her and began rifling through them. Her movements were painfully selecting one, she began to pull it from the stack...Only to stop when it was barely halfway out from under the pile.
She looked back up at him, tilting her head to one side and scrutinizing him closely. "Are you family?"
"I'll take it from here, Jackie. That was my case." Sam and the nurse both looked up as a young woman wearing a doctor's coat extended one slim hand, reaching for the file. The nurse handed it over.
"You got here faster than I expected given the rain," the doctor said to Sam, offering him a warm smile as she pulled Andy's file in towards her chest. "I'm Dr. Young."
"Sam Swarek," Sam replied, for lack of a better idea as of what to say.
Dr. Young was slim wearing blue scrubs. Her last name fit her looks though, she loooked young maybe 25 or so, her long brown hair was pulled back into a low pony-tail. She had dark green eyes that Sam could tell got darker though her experiences on the job. Dr. Young moved away from the desk, motioning with a tiny jerk of her head for Sam to follow.
"You got here just in time. We just finished getting her a room, and were about to take her upstairs."
"She's being admitted?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"It's just for observation." Dr. Young said simply as she stopped just outside a door.
Sam opened his mouth to ask for more information, but Dr. Young held up a hand and motioned towards the door.
"She's just inside. I'm going to get an ETA on her trip upstairs, okay?" She smiled. Though it seemed bright and cheerful, Sam could see a bit of pain behind her eyes.
Then she strode past him and back down the hall, leaving Sam standing dumbly just outside room One-Nineteen. The door was open just a crack, just enough that he could see inside. Andy was in a hospital gown, her lower body covered by a blue knit blanket. An IV line trailed from her arm to a bag hanging on a metal pole beside her bed, and she had a cardiac monitor clipped onto one hand. She was sitting upright and didn't look hurt, though she was kind of pale. A girl of about twenty was sitting on the far side of the bed, sandwiched in the space between it and the wall. She didn't look like a nurse.
"Who're you?" He demanded guardedly as he pushed into the room, glaring hard at this stranger. She stared at him, clearly confused.
Her tone was defensive as she said, "Nicole Berry? I'm her neighbor."
Andy looked at him. "She called nine-one-one, Sam. And you."
Oh. Well.
Sam turned to apologize, but Nicole was already waving him off. "Never mind. I'm gonna go grab some coffee."
She gave Andy's shoulder a gentle squeeze before getting up and walking to the door.
She paused just inside the doorway and pointed at Sam before adding, "I'll bring you decaf." And with that, she was gone, leaving Sam and Andy alone in the room.
Sam's gut twisted, as he turned back to Andy.
"You're slow," she chided with a small, smile. "Nicky called you almost three hours ago. But I'm glad you're back."
She's okay. She's gotta be okay. Nicole probably just overreacted and called nine-one-one without really needing to.
And they're just admitting her to cover their asses. Having reassured himself, if nothing else, Sam raised a hand and said, grinning, "Hold on, I have the perfect excuse: I just got home, back from talking with Boyd and Best about my case. I had to get gas on the way here AND then there were a lotta people wrecked out on the highway on the way here. You'd think no one knew how to drive in the rain?" Sam pulled up a metal stool and sat down with a small smile.
He ran a hand through his hair and looked at her again. "Andy, what happened?" Her gaze dropped, her head and shoulders drooping as she shrank back into her pillow. Sam felt his stomach sink. Something is wrong. Oh, God, something really is wrong.
Softly, Andy said, "I had a seizure."
A seizure?
"A what? But why?"
"The doctors say it's not unusual."
"A seizure isn't unusual? What the hell are they on?" Sam rose to his feet, ready to storm back to that lobby and start yelling. "'A seizure's not unusual' my ass! You're a perfectly healt- "
Andy reached up and grabbed his arm, cutting him off, and said, "They say it's not unusual with what I have." Her hands so much paler than usual, so much coolder and tinier than he remembered, so much weaker than they ought to be tightened on his forearm. All of the anger in him disapeared with that simple gesture. Andy was scared. Whatever the hell was going on, she was terrified. Sam unclenched his fists, letting his arms fall limply at his sides. He found himself looking at her hands instead of her eyes. There was no good way this conversation could end: she was in the hospital without visible injuries after having a seizure.
Andy continued quietly, "They ran some tests."
Sam didn't say a word.
He just kept looking at her hands.
Her voice was thick with tears as she finally said, "It's cancer, Sam. I have cancer."
Sssssssshhhh BOOM!
And that my friends was the sound of the bomb Andy just dropped.
I hope you guys liked it! :DDDD
Review letting me know!
