Disclaimer: not mine
Crash Part 1/4
It was just like any other nondescript Wednesday in early spring time. Harm and Mac were at their respective workplaces while the children were all in school. Usually Harm was able to leave work and pick the children up but his boss, senior partner Sam Donald, had asked to meet with him to discuss the new protocols he wanted to establish at the office. After a quick phone call to his stepfather earlier in the day, Harm sat down across the old oak desk from his boss and perused the pages of protocols the man was proposing.
For the first 45 minutes Harm had been in his boss' office, his cell had sat happily in his jacket pocket. Now, in just the space of five minutes, it had vibrated six times with someone seemingly desperate to get his attention.
"Answer it," Sam said with a wave of his hand.
"Sorry, Sam," Harm apologised retrieving the device.
Before he could hit the button for call history, it buzzed once more and his mother's number came up on the screen.
"Oh, Harm, thank goodness you answered, I've been trying and trying..." Trish rambled breathlessly.
"Take a breath, mom," he said somewhat concerned, his mother was one of the most level-headed people he knew. "What's wrong?"
"Harm, I'm so sorry...there's been an accident...Frank had an accident," she said, her panic coming down the line.
"Is he okay?" Harm said getting to his feet.
"Apparently he had chest pains when he was driving," she said. "And they're not too sure whether he crashed the car because of the pain or whether he had a heart attack, I think he's doing okay at the moment. They've taken him to Scripps Memorial."
"Are you there now?" he asked, pacing the room.
"No, I only just got the call," she said still breathless.
"Okay, I'll come and get you and take you there," he said, "I don't want you driving in your ..."
"No, you can't do that!" Trish yelled. "Frank had the kids in the car, remember, he picked them up for you today!"
"Shit!" he exclaimed not thinking about where he was and who he was speaking to. "Are they alright?"
"The paramedics didn't say much but I think David fared best, he was seated behind Frank but the girls took the brunt of it on the passenger side..." she said, the phone trembling in her hand.
"Are they alright though?" he repeated, desperate to hear an affirmative reply.
"I think they have some bumps and cuts and maybe fractures, I didn't quite get all the information," she said apologetically, her head all over the place.
"Have they been taken to Scripps too?" he asked standing still in the middle of the room, his legs feeling like lead one moment and jello the next.
"No, to Rady Children's Hospital," she said, "David didn't need to go but considering the circumstances they took him as well."
With permission from his boss, Harm left for Rady's immediately while Trish headed to Scripps, both promising they'd call the other as soon as they knew where things stood. It had taken Harm only a moment to discount calling Mac as she was an hour away at Camp Pendleton and he didn't want her driving back in a panic.
Ushered into the treatment area, Harm's heart was racing at a million miles a minute. It didn't surprise him that David ran and flew into his arms the moment he saw him. It was only then the boy's tears started.
"Oh, daddy," he said, sobbing into his shoulder. "It was horrible."
"I can imagine, sweetheart," he said, kissing his head before pulling back to study his face wanting to make sure for himself that his boy was okay. "It would have been really scary."
"It was!" he agreed, nodding frantically. "Grandpa made this strange noise and then we hit the pole. I think he's dead."
"He's not dead," Harm said kissing him once more. "He's not dead."
"But they didn't bring him here," David replied, tears streaming down his face as he gripped his daddy's neck tightly.
"No, they took him to an adult hospital, this one's just for kids," Harm explained, scanning the room for his girls.
"Ella's there," David said pointing to a cubicle about twenty feet away.
Harm went to put his son down but it was clear there was no way David was letting go of his father. Instead, he moved him around and settled him on his hip as he made his way to his precious daughter.
"Hey, gorgeous girl," he said, after pulling back the curtain and moving to the bed.
"Hi, daddy," she said slowly and pitifully. Harm's heart tightened a little more. It had been a long time since she had called him daddy, unless of course she was trying to get him to agree to something.
"How are you doing?" he asked, caressing her face, being careful to avoid the bruises and the cuts caused by flying glass.
"I don't know," she replied honestly, her chocolate eyes filled with tears and looking even more like her mother. "Everything hurt after the accident but they put some medicine in this thing..." she said indicating the port in her arm. "So now I just feel...I don't know."
"Do you know what you hurt, baby?" he said, trying to keep his own tears at bay. There were many things he could withstand but the pain of his children was not one of them.
"My head, shoulder, arm, leg, chest," she said slowly as she fought the pain meds to stay awake.
"Okay," he whispered reaching down to kiss her head. "You rest while I go see your sister."
"She's in the next thing," David said pointing to the right.
"Don't go, daddy," Ella whispered in a shaky voice, the first of her tears falling.
"I'll just be a minute, El," he said kissing her once more. "I need to see Ruby."
Rationally, Ella knew her dad had to go but she was far from rational in the state she was in and only cared about having him with her. With great effort she raised a bandaged arm. "Please, daddy, don't leave me."
Not wanting to distress his eldest daughter but desperate to see his youngest one, Harm took a deep breath. He took her hand and nodded briefly and it was all it took for Ella to drift off to sleep.
"Sweetheart, I know you want to stay with daddy," Harm said addressing his son. "But do you think you could be a big help and sit here with Ella and hold her hand while I see Ruby?"
"Sure, dad," he said proudly. He loved being a big help.
Moments later he was standing beside his baby girl, caressing her face, desperate for her to wake so he could hear from herself that she was okay.
"Mr Rabb," came a voice from behind him. "I'm the doctor looking after your children, Adrian Frawley."
"Dr Frawley," Harm said turning around and offering him his hand.
"Adrian, please," he said, picking up Ruby's chart. "Now, Ruby has suffered a broken humorous and collar bone. We've taken x-rays and the orthopaedic surgeon plans to operate tonight. She'll need a plate and some pins."
"If it's only breaks why is she unconscious?" Harm asked, turning to face his daughter once more.
"She's asleep, not unconscious," the doctor corrected. "She was in a lot of pain and had a lot of very small cuts caused by glass which produced a minor amount of bleeding. The bleeding seemed to distress her more than the fractures and to prevent her from doing more damage to herself we have given her a mild sedative."
"Ruby is as tough as nails, except when it comes to blood – hers or someone else's," Harm said with a hollow sounding laugh. "When will she wake up?"
"Whenever she's ready," Adrian explained. "It was only a very mild sedative; just enough to allow the nurses to clean her up and remove all traces of blood."
"Good, okay," Harm said with a nod. "What about Ella?"
"Well, Ella has similar issues. The impact caused her shoulder to dislocate as well as a fracture to her lower arm. She has three cracked ribs and a bump to her head. She is complaining of leg pain but x-rays are inconclusive at this stage."
"So is she heading for surgery too?" he asked, hoping the answer was no.
"Not at this stage," he said. "We're monitoring her at the moment for signs of concussion and to make sure she maintains her breathing. When she is deemed well enough the orthopaedic surgeon will sedate her so he can reduce the dislocation and set her arm."
"What about her ribs and leg?" he asked as they moved towards Ella's cubicle.
"Rest is the best thing for her ribs, as for her leg, we'll deal with that tomorrow, after she's had her arm and shoulder attended to," Adrian replied as he ushered Harm closer to Ella. "Now, this young man hasn't been admitted but he does have some bruising from the seat belt and might be sore for a few days."
"Okay," Harm said with a nod fighting the urge to throw up. All three of his babies had been injured and while all could be fixed and there would most likely be no ongoing problems, he knew just how bad things could have turned out.
"Are you okay, daddy?" David asked as Harm paled at the thought of what had happened and what could have been.
"Yes, Davy," he said picking him up and holding him closer once more.
"Mr Rabb, you should sit down for a minute," Adrian said, pulling a chair closer to him. "This has to have been quite a shock for you."
"I'm okay," he said but even to his ears it sounded like a lie.
"Let me get you some water," he said before departing.
With the doctor gone, David played with Harm's tie before resting his head on his shoulder. It had been one hell of an afternoon for a seven-year-old too.
"When will mommy be here?" David asked quietly.
Harm cringed. It wasn't a phone call he wanted to make. He contemplated calling his mother first and updating her and finding out about Frank but figured his wife would already be angry with him for not calling her immediately, so slowly he took out his cell and called her.
"Hi, honey," Mac said brightly when she answered. "You must have ESP I was just going to call you. I'm finished here and heading home. It's been a great day."
"Glad to hear it," he said quietly. He thought about moving outside to have this conversation but with David attached to him and Ella stirring he knew he couldn't leave.
"Everything alright, Harm?" she asked as she stood by her car, her husband just didn't sound right.
"Yes, and no," he said slowly. "Everything is okay now but Frank and the kids had a car accident earlier this afternoon..."
"What? How? Are they alright? Where are they? Why didn't you call me sooner?" she yelled and Harm had to pull the phone away.
"Mac, gorgeous," he said in a soothing tone. "We think Frank had a heart attack and he is at Scripps Memorial. The kids were brought to Rady's. David is okay, just some bruising from his seatbelt. The girls took the brunt of the crash and have a few broken bones but they are both doing well, they are pain free and asleep right now."
"Oh my god, oh my god," she muttered trying to open the car.
"Mac, I need you to calm down, okay?" he said sternly. "You have an hour plus to drive in this traffic and I don't want you taking any risks."
"I need to get there," she said more to herself than him.
"Mac, stop!" he said loudly. "I know how hard it is. It took me ten minutes to get here and I think I broke 20 different road rules. I don't want to have to visit you in another hospital, okay? The kids are fine...just fine."
"Okay," she conceded with a sigh. "Okay. How's Frank?"
"I'm not sure, I'm just about to call mom and check," he said. "She was desperate to hear about the kids."
"Well, why didn't you call her first?" Mac asked, yelling once more. "She must be frantic. This call could have waited as I didn't know anything...call her, call her right now! Then call me back!" The line went dead.
Harm could only laugh. He was never going to win this one.
With his mother's phone going straight to messages, Harm figured she had to turn her phone off. He left a brief message about the kids before finding the number for Scripps and calling himself. With a few connections, Harm soon found himself talking to his mother in the Cardiac Care Unit.
"It wasn't a heart attack, as such," Trish said quietly. "It's a blockage and they need to operate. It will be a triple bypass and will take a few hours. He's conscious and aware of what's happening but more concerned about the children."
"Mom, tell him the kids are fine, the girls' have broken arms and bumps and bruises and Davy's good. They're fine," he said downplaying the extent of the girls' injuries.
"Thank goodness," she said tearfully, "Look, sweetheart, if I give Frank the phone can you tell him yourself. I've never seen the man cry and that's all he's done this afternoon – he's looking at the photo of the kids from his wallet and crying. He is desperately sorry and ..."
"Put him on, mom," Harm said and waited for Trish to move back to her husband's bedside.
'Son?" came Frank's weak and trembling voice down the line.
"Hey, Frank," Harm replied in a brighter manner than he felt. "How are you feeling?"
"Don't mind me," he said quickly and breathlessly. "The kids? How are the kids?"
"The girls' have broken arms and a few bruises and cuts; David just has some bruises from the seatbelt. It sounds like they fared better than you," he said, not liking the fact he was lying about the extent of his daughters' injuries but not wanting to distress the man as he headed for major surgery.
"I'm so sorry, Harm...so sorry," he said, his tears falling once more. "I'm so sorry I hurt them."
"It was an accident, Frank," Harm tried to reassure him. "You've had no heart problems before – you weren't to know."
"I feel so bad, so very bad. Please tell them and Sarah just how sorry I am," he rambled tearfully.
"I will, but there's no need to apologise," he said. "We don't blame you. We love you very much."
Trish's voice came on the line once more.
"He's a little distressed at the moment, Harm," she said by way of explanation.
"I can tell," he agreed. "Look the girls will be here overnight but at some stage I should be able to come across and sit with you."
"No, no, the children come first. Be there with them," she said firmly.
"Mac will be here and I don't like the idea of you being there alone," he said, hating the fact he couldn't be in two places at once.
"Only if it's not too much trouble," she conceded quickly. She was anxious to see her son's face as he told her the condition of her precious grandchildren, she had a feeling she wasn't being told everything.
Once his call was concluded, Harm called his wife once more, before splitting his time between the two cubicles. Eventually, a nurse pulled Ella's bed into Ruby's cubicle and while it was crowded, Harm was able to sit on the hard plastic chair with David safely tucked in his arms and finally breathe.
By the time Mac arrived all three children were asleep. She had called him from the car park, so Harm had the time to settle David at the end of Ruby's bed and step outside the cubicle to await her arrival.
"Where are they? Where are they?" she asked panicked as she ran to him.
"They're all in there," he said gesturing behind him. "And they're asleep. So just breathe, okay, just breathe." He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her close before kissing her head. The pounding of her heart resounded on his chest and he knew his was going the same speed when he arrived. "Now, before you go in..." It was only then he told her the full extent of the injuries and held her close as she came to the same realisation he had earlier – they were so very lucky.
"Okay," she finally said pulling back. "I think I'm ready to see them," she said wiping the last of her tears.
"Okay," he agreed, pushing her hair back from her face before kissing her briefly. "Okay."