Title: Foresight
Author: fbi_woman
Rating: T
Type: 9-1-1, Abby/Buck, angst
Spoilers: None, set at some point after she returns from Ireland.
Disclaimer: I don't own 9-1-1 or any of its characters or anything associated with it, not affiliated with Fox, etc etc.
Summary: An accident turns life upside down and gives new perspective.
A/N: This is WAY out of my comfort zone from a storyline perspective, and I have no idea what you guys are going to think of it, and there's probably going to be some cliché/corny stuff, but hopefully you'll stick it out with me.
Deep down Abby had known there was a strong possibility she would get a call like this someday; she just hadn't wanted to let herself think about it, and she certainly hadn't thought it would happen any time soon. Even now, she wasn't sure that she was actually thinking about what it meant, she was just sitting there in a weird state of dazed disbelief. Time seemed to be standing still and everything had gone quiet. Maybe she was dreaming. Was she dreaming? She must be, because nothing about this felt real. It was just a bad dream; she just needed to wake herself up somehow.
A gentle hand touched her shoulder and like the flip of a switch, she suddenly became acutely aware of everything happening around her. She was sitting on the floor, her back against the wall, cell phone in her hand. Looking over, she saw her co-worker, Tracy, kneeling beside her and watching her with concern.
"Do you want me to give you a ride?" Tracy asked gently. "I don't think you should drive."
Glancing around, Abby noticed several people in the nearby call room casting worried looks her way, and with a sniffle, she realized she was crying. The weight of reality was starting to settle around her and she knew then that it wasn't a dream. It was very, very real.
"Abby? Do you want me to drive you?" Tracy asked again.
Nodding blankly, Abby let her colleague help her up off the floor and lead her to the car. As she stared out the window, watching the city pass by, she kept replaying the whole scene in her mind.
Abby was in the middle of a 911 call when out of the corner of her eye, she saw her personal phone's screen light up. At first she didn't think anything of it; it was probably Buck, she would just call him back on her break. But as her call progressed, she couldn't help but notice a list of missed calls and messages starting to pile up on her cell and she could feel her anxiety rising. There was clearly something wrong, and someone was trying to get a hold of her urgently. Once the police arrived and the caller hung up, Abby grabbed her cell and dashed out the door. When she looked at the screen and saw most of the calls were from Captain Nash, she stopped dead in her tracks and felt a cold rush of dread wash over her. She knew from a slew of previous calls that there was a major fire happening at an apartment complex this afternoon, and with a heart wrenching jolt of fear, she understood that Bobby's calling her right now could only mean one thing: something had happened to Buck.
She was about to call him back when his name popped up again as an incoming call.
"Hello?"
"Abby, it's Captain Nash."
"Is he okay?"
There was a pause, and he sighed. "I don't know."
Tears began to spill down her face and she stumbled backwards until she was leaning against the wall for support.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" she cried. "What happened?"
"You probably heard, but there was a huge fire at an apartment building. We were trying to help evacuate some people trapped inside… the floor gave out under him and he fell a couple floors, and before we could get to him, the floor above started to collapse as well. It's hard to know exactly what happened, but when dug him out, his helmet was severely damaged, so I think a beam or something must have landed on him. He's alive but he's unconscious. We don't know how bad the damage is. I'm at the hospital right now and they took him to run brain scans, but I haven't heard anything yet. Waiting on the doctor."
She slid slowly down the wall until she was essentially sitting in a fetal position, crying silently.
"Abby? Are you there?"
She tried to speak but all that came out was a strangled sob.
"We're going to get through this. He's in good hands, and we should know more soon. You know how stubborn he is, he's not going to give up without a fight."
"I… I'm coming to… to the hospital," she stammered through her tears.
"Okay. I'll be waiting."
She ended the call, but then she just stared down at her phone. She knew she needed to get up and get down there, but it was like her mind couldn't process that message. She was simultaneously overwhelmed and numb in a way that seemed to just shut down her body altogether. It felt like she was in limbo, where it appeared that nothing was happening and yet everything was falling apart. Maybe she was dreaming…
Tracy dropped her off at Emergency, and with a quick thank you, she rushed through the doors and almost collided with Bobby, who had obviously seen her coming.
"Where is he? Did they say anything?" she asked frantically.
"They said the doctor would be here to give me an update any minute now, you haven't missed anything."
"Captain Nash?"
They both turned to see a doctor looking their way expectantly.
"See? Perfect timing."
Abby followed Bobby over to the man, her heart pounding wildly. As much as she wanted to know what the doctor would say, she was also terrified of what she might hear.
"Captain Nash, I'm Dr. Patel. You're here for Evan Buckley, correct?"
"Yes," he confirmed, shaking the doctor's hand, "and this is Abby, his girlfriend."
The doctor smiled sympathetically and shook her hand as well. She tried to force a smile back, but she wasn't sure it worked.
"How is he?" she said nervously.
"Well, he's a lucky man, that's for sure. That helmet saved his life, and he only sustained a broken arm and collarbone from the fall. The scans aren't showing any bleeding of the brain, which is good, but he does have cerebral edema. He has suffered a traumatic head injury, so it's not unexpected to have swelling of the brain, but it is something we'll have to keep a close eye on. We have him on a respirator and he's getting medication to help reduce the swelling, but if the intracranial pressure doesn't decrease, we may have to remove part of the skull to relieve the pressure. At this point in time, I'm not anticipating that we'll need to take that route, but it is a possibility."
For a minute, she thought she might be sick. This morning he was laughing while she teased him about his stereotypical avocado toast, and now a stranger was telling her they might have to take part of his skull out. How the hell did that happen so fast?
"Is he awake?" Bobby asked, "Can we see him?"
"You can see him, but he's in a coma. It's not that uncommon for a coma to follow a traumatic brain injury, it's likely a result of the swelling and increased pressure."
Abby's heart fluttered. "But he will wake up, right?"
"He should, yes. It's impossible to predict when, though. It could be a few hours, a few days, or a few weeks."
He should?! That was not the level of reassurance she had been seeking. Bobby asked something else and thanked the doctor, but she barely heard the exchange through the haze of panic and heartache. Ever since Bobby called, she had been oscillating between feeling like she was on the verge of a breakdown, and feeling oddly detached from her body. Right now she was experiencing the latter, mindlessly following Bobby through the halls without even knowing where they were going. He stopped at a nurse's station, and as she snapped back into awareness, she noticed a sign on the wall indicating that they were in the Intensive Care unit.
The nurse motioned to a room to the right, and Abby was there in a flash. She halted abruptly when she saw him, her breath catching in her chest. He was badly bruised, one side of his face swollen, and he was hooked up to so many things. She approached him cautiously, as if a sound or sudden movement would be catastrophic, and gingerly sat in the chair next to the bed. She was back to teetering on the edge of an emotional meltdown, and when she finally took his hand in hers, she shattered.
A/N: Don't worry, I promise there will be a happy ending, and I won't drag it out too long.