"I hated to call in the middle of the night like this." The moonlight filtered in through the windshield as he slumped down into the passenger seat. He'd never noticed the deep lines in his brother's face. He suddenly older to him, more frail, more human.
"It's no problem, Jack. I'm glad you called. I would have been upset if you hadn't. The family needs to be there. Did Kyle give you any more information?"
Jack shook his head as he backed out of the driveway. He could still hear Kyle's voice echoing in his head. It had been years since he'd sounded so helpless, since he'd called him as a son would call his his father - like he needed him. "No," he said quietly, "he just said there had been some kind of problem with the surgery and ..." Jack let the breath leave his lungs slowly. "I really didn't want to ask too many questions."
"Right. No. No. Of course not. I'm sure he's upset. He thought the transplant was the answer. I mean, finding the donor was supposed to be the hard part. I'm sure he thought that it was all up from here."
"Yeah," Jack said sadly, "I guess we all did. He's going to need a lot of support right now and I know you have your hands full. I just felt like tonight, it was important that we all be ..."
"I'm always gonna be here for my family, Jack. Yeah, the situation with Vic has made things more complicated with Johnny and Katie, but whatever Kyle needs, we'll work it out. It's not easy to lose someone. Nobody should have to go through that alone."
His hand wrapped around hers tightly. In his head, he knew she was gone, but somehow, in his heart he wondered if he could hold on tight enough to bring her back.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered. He could think of nothing else to say and so he kept repeating the phrase over and over until the emotion chocked his voice out. The sight of her so still and quiet was wrong on every level. This was a woman he'd laughed with, fought with, screamed with and now ... he just sat here, willing it to be a dream, a most horrific of nightmares from which he would soon wake up.
And yet, even as he entertained the thought, he knew it wasn't. He knew this was reality - a reality he'd set into motion, a reality he was responsible for, a reality that, he was ashamed to say, in a way gave him what he wanted.
But it didn't feel right now. It didn't feel good. It just felt empty.
He cringed as he heard the voice echoing through the halls. Primal. Desperate. He lowered his head and slowly stood, finally releasing her hand and stepping back. "I'm so sorry, Summer," he whispered again before turning and walking from the room.
"Summer Newman!" She screamed the name frantically and slammed her hands down on the nurse's station desk. "What the hell is the matter with you people?! Someone called me and told me to come down here, told me my daughter was here and that I needed to get here as quickly as ..."
"Phyllis." He watched her turn, the anger and rage that had, until seconds earlier been keeping her together, fading as she looked into his face.
"Kyle?" Her voice cracked as she said his name. He could see it all over her face, the fear, the denial, the pain - every emotion vying for control. "Where's Summer?"
He looked around the room, searching for Nick or Jack, both of whom he knew had been contacted, but they were absent. It was just the two of them in the worst moment of both of their lives. "Why don't we sit down?" He reached for her arm gently to lead her over towards the chairs.
She reeled back, almost as if she'd been wounded. "I don't want to sit down. I want to see my daughter," she hissed. "I want to see her and I want to give her hell for scaring me like this. It's one thing to pull a few silly stunts, but this is serious stuff and she's taking years off my life you know? Years." She laughed, almost maniacally, her hands trembling uncontrollably. "So just tell me, Kyle, where is she? Where's Summer?"
He didn't have to answer.
"No! You're wrong!" Nick's voice bellowed through the corridor as a nurse hurriedly followed behind him.
"Mr. Newman, I'm so sorry. I'll get the doctor if you'll just..."
"I don't need to talk to the damn doctor because you're wrong. This is a mistake. I'm going to sue this hospital. You can't even keep decent records around here. My daughter is fine. She's young. She's healthy. She's not ... " His voice trailed off as his eyes fell on them.
"K-Kyle," he managed. "Summer, she's, she's okay, right? Summer's okay?"
His mind seemed to stall, every word he'd ever known suddenly disappearing into an oblivion he couldn't even comprehend so he said the only thing he could think of to say, the only words that had made any sense for the last three hours.
"I'm so sorry."