Eva pulled into her apartment complex and noticed an unmarked police car sitting in front of the building she had just moved into a month prior. She had graduated college and as a gift Sylvie and Antonio had put the deposit down on and furnished an apartment for her. She pulled into an empty spot next the police car and parked. A figure emerged from the car; she had known him half her life and he was like an uncle to her, she got out to greet him. "Hey Adam, what's up?" she asked wondering what the heck he would be doing at her apartment.
"Hey Eva, we need to talk." Adam gave her a hug, he sounded serious she noted. "Umm, okay. What about?" He was starting to make her nervous. "Can we go inside and talk?" He pointed toward the apartment. "Sure, is everything okay?" Everything in her body was telling her something was wrong. "Let's just go inside." He placed his arm around her shoulders and led her toward the apartment.
Eva spun around as soon as the door shut behind her, "What's going on?" she demanded. Adam was staring at the floor, playing with his fingers, a nervous habit he had done since he was a child, he peeked up at her, "Your dad, Sylvie, and Julian were in an accident earlier." Her heart started to race, "Are they okay? Something's wrong isn't it?" She was panicking and on the verge of a meltdown. "Julian is fine, he has a couple scraped and a broken arm but he was strapped in his carseat, Sylvie was life-flighted to Med in extremely critical condition, it isn't looking to good, kid."
He stopped and gulped, "Eva," He stepped in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders and looked in her eyes. "Just tell me, you have to say it." She knew what he was going to say and she couldn't stop the tears. "The medics did all they could but your dad was pronounced at the scene." The floodgates opened and she pushed herself as far into Adam as she could. He wrapped his arms around her and just held her as she sobbed.
"Where's Julian? He has to be scared. I need to get to him." Eva pulled away from Adam and wiped her eyes, she needed to pull herself together for her little brother and see for herself that he was okay. "He's still at the hospital, they won't release him until they can find a relative." Adam pulled his keys out of his pocket. "Come on, I'm driving you to the hospital."
"I need to call my family to let them know." She was staring blankly at her phone, she felt like she was on autopilot. Adam glanced over at her in the passenger seat, "Voight is already talking to your mom and Kim went to talk your grandparents." He didn't want her to have to make all the notifications, it's wouldn't be fair. "I need to call Diego and Sylvie's parents." She felt void of emotion, it was weird she always imagined getting the call that her dad had been shot and killed, she just figured she would be a screaming mess but she felt numb.
She stared at Diego's number not wanting to destroy his first year at college; she hit the call button, "Sister! What's up?" he sounded happy and she instantly regretted not letting her mom be the one to tell him. "Diego" she found her emotions and the floodgates opened, she lost it, she couldn't continue. Adam pulled the car over and took the phone from Eva. "Diego, it's Adam, I need you to book a ticket home and get here as fast as you can." He didn't want the kid a mess on the plane "Okay? Is something wrong?" Diego knew there was if Eva was with Adam. "Please just do it, I'll explain when you get here, send me your flight info and I'll have someone at the airport to pick you up."
Adam let the car set there and just let Eva cry. "I need to see Sylvie and Julian." Eva sniffled as she tried to catch her breath from crying. Adam nodded and put the car back in drive. "I want to get an update on Sylvie first, I'm not leaving Julian after I get there."
Adam led Eva in the doors at Med and found Maggie at the nurse's station. Maggie spotted him and her face turned somber. "She needs an update on Sylvie." Maggie looked at Eva and frowned. "Honey, I'm sorry about your dad." Eva wiped the tears that were threatening to fall, "Thank you but please can you tell me about Sylvie, I want to see her and I need my brother." Maggie checked her chart, "the doctor needs to talk to you about Sylvie, let me put you in a room and then we'll deal with your brother, he's sleeping.
Eva couldn't sit, she was pacing back and forth, it had been twenty minutes and the doctor still hadn't come into update her. "What is taking so long?" she was getting agitated. Adam just watched her pace without saying a word. The door opened and a man in his fifty's entered. "Are you family of Sylvie Dawson?" he asked looking between the two. "I am." Eva raised her hand. "You're her…?" "Daughter, I'm her daughter, Eva Dawson." Eva spit out.
The doctor looked at Adam and then back at Eva. "Ms. Dawson, your mother was brought in with very critical head, spinal, and internal injuries. She was taken immediately to surgery to repair the damage, the damage was severe and your mother's heart stopped twice on the operating table, unfortunately the second time, despite all extraordinary measures, we were unable to revive her." Eva could feel all the oxygen being sucked out of the room, her lungs were deflating, and she felt dizzy. She felt arms wrap around her and everything went black.
"Eva…Eva" she could hear her name being called but it sounded like it was a million miles away. "Eva!" She slowly opened her eyes; Adam was kneeled on the floor next to her. Her head was spinning and she remembered Sylvie and her heart started to race. "Where's my brother?" she sat up too quick and her head felt like it was going to explode she felt sick and lunged for the trash can barely making it.
Adam handed her some paper towels from the sink by the kitchenette. "He's in his room still asleep, we can go there now. Are you okay?" he crouched down next to her. Eva looked him in the eyes; she could tell he was exhausted and tying not to show any emotion. "You can cry, they were your best friends too." She leaned over and wrapped her arms around him. "I'll cry later, my job right now is to take care of you and Julian, you are the most important things right now." Eva hugged him a little tighter. "Thank you."
Eva stood in the doorway staring at her little brother lying in the hospital bed. He looked so tiny and fragile, a far cry from the loud, boisterous, rough and tumble, four year old who found it hilarious to jump on her bed to wake her up in the mornings. "You don't have to tell him yet, maybe give it a day." Eva looked over at him and nodded. "How do you tell a four year old his mommy and daddy are gone forever? Me and Diego at least go to grow up with dad, he'll never have that."
"Very simplistically and carefully. You could let your grandparents or aunt do it." Eva shook her head, "No, I'm his sister, I need to do it." Adam reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "You're are a great sister and daughter." Eva sighed, "Who is he going to live with?" She stared at Julian, she couldn't bare losing him to Indiana. "Honestly, I don't know, they're releasing him to you tonight though. I guess they'll figure everything else out after they look at their wills." Adams phone buzzed and he looked down at it. "Your mom is here with your grandparents."
Eva walked over to her brother and pushed his brown curls out of his face, "hey monkey blue eyes, I'm coming right back for you." She whispered and kissed him on his forehead.