The morning had slowly drifted into afternoon with no phone calls; no clients; nothing. With the others out for the day, Vin and Buck settled on Chris' couch to watch the sports network. Buck had just settled in with a beer and sandwich when the phone rang. It was Chris' main line and not the office line. Buck let the answering machine get it.
You've reached 555-0178. Leave a message.
"Chris, it's Cassy Whitlock from Mercy. I know you screen your calls, but if you're there I need to speak with you." There was a pause. "Chris, it's urgent. Your sister's in the hospital."
Buck dropped his sandwich on the coffee table, jumped over the couch and grabbed the phone. "Cassie, it's Buck Wilmington. You said Hallie Grace is in the hospital."
"Yes," Cassie answered him. "She was brought in about an hour ago with injuries from a car accident. The only reason I knew to call Chris was a picture in her wallet with a phone number on it. It's an old phone number so I'm glad I knew the new one."
Buck swallowed against the lump in his throat that could have been a piece of sandwich or grief at picturing Hallie Grace in the hospital. Neither he nor Chris had seen her in four years. She hadn't bothered to come to the funerals of Sarah or Adam.
"I'm on my way," Buck said and waited on the line long enough for Cassie to give him the room number.
After hanging up, he grabbed his jacket off the back of the couch.
"What's going on?" Vin asked, looking up from the game on TV.
Buck palmed his keys. "Find Chris and have him meet me at Mercy. Tell 'im it's Hallie Grace."
"Who's Hallie Grace?" Buck heard Vin ask before he shut the door.
Buck came off the elevator on the third floor in a huff. The entire way to Mercy he thought about the last time he saw Hallie. She was taking a job out of state. She sent him a letter from her home in Texas. When Sarah and Adam were killed in the car explosion, Buck went in search of her to no avail. Now, out of the blue, she was here and in the hospital.
"Buck," Cassie Whitlock met him at the nurse's station. Buck remembered when she and Chris had dated. It was one date, with only a promise of friendship and not another date. Both had accepted the deal quite well and Cassy had turned out to be a pretty good informer when they needed information on a case. All the guys were familiar with her. "She's in room 325," Cassie explained as they walked down the corridor.
"What exactly happened?" Buck asked as they walked.
"EMT's were called to a scene of a car accident. Her car went over an embankment." They stopped in the doorway and Buck looked in to see Hallie's body illuminated by a soft light coming through the blinds. "She has a couple cracked ribs, a black eye, some cuts on her hands where the glass shattered. Her left ankle was trapped and it's bruised pretty badly but not broken. The worst of it involves the head injury that occurred when she hit the windshield. We'll have to run more tests when she regains consciousness."
Buck swallowed against the lump in his throat. His eyes stayed on Hallie the entire time Cassie ran down the injuries. "Is she in a coma?"
"No, just sleeping. We'll know more when she wakes up." Cassie rested her hand against Buck's arm for only a few seconds before removing it. "Let me know when Chris arrives so I can talk to him." Cassie left, her doctor's coat swaying against her black skirt.
Buck entered the hospital room and grabbed a chair that stood in the corner of the room next to the room's individual heater. Buck set it down next to her hospital bed and took the first good look at her he'd had in four years. Her strawberry blonde hair was clipped close to her jawline; it had been against her shoulders the last time he saw her. The black eye didn't hinder the beauty of her face. Hallie Grace had always been a beautiful girl; her face always brightened by a smile while her green eyes danced. Buck watched an IV drip an undisclosed clear liquid into a tube that disappeared into white tape and gauze on her hand. Her right hand lay limp against the hospital blanket. Instead of grasping it like he wanted to, Buck covered it with his own. It was warm. "Hey, Hallie Grace, you just sleep now ok. I'm right here and Chris will be here soon."
