A/N: Hehe, I know I should stop posting new stories. But I can't help it. I mean, I am working on the next part for most of the stories out there. But anyway, if you follow my tumblr I've hinted at this occasionally where I've been working on a little angsty fic. It won't be very long, maybe just 3-5 chapters. But be warned, it is angst and shit happens. (If you're wondering, I wrote this not long after watching John Q).
"Hey Zoe, you excited for today?"
Zoey grinned and bounced in her chair. It was the first day of cheer practice, and the first day a Zombie would be cheering with the Mini Shrimp. Bucky and Addison has been working to get her on the team for two years and they had finally allowed her to come, after agreeing to watch her audition tape and actually loving it.
Unfortunately, Zed had summer football training that same day and wouldn't be able to watch her on her first day. "I'll take extra good care of her, I swear," Addison told him. Then, to Zevon, she said, "Your daughter is safe with me, don't worry."
Addison dropped Zed off at the school before driving with Zoey to the dance studio further in Seabrook. Zoey sat in the front seat and sang along with the radio. She was so adorable and full of life at seven in the morning, Addison couldn't help but grin.
The first day of cheer camp was mostly introductions and light warm ups, mostly to see who could do what and where people could be placed. Once they figured out everyone's positions, they'd break for lunch then get started on learning moves.
Zoey was amazing. She worked harder than the other kids and didn't goof off like they had. She smiled and cheered and had as much fun as she could. It was great seeing all the kids laughing and having a good time, and some of them even including Zoey into their conversation.
Z: How's Zoey?
A: She's making friends! And having lots of fun!
Z: That's awesome! Mind if I swing by after practice ends in a few?
A: You have to bring me some lunch.
Z: Your on lunch rn
A: I want a milkshake
A: Will you buy me a milkshake pretty please?
Z: I can't see you and I know you're doing puppy eyes
Z: You know I can't deny you anything
Z: I'll bring for Zoey too
A: And fries?
Z: Yes baby, and fries
A: YAY!
Z; I'll see you at two, gotta get back out there
A: I love you! See you later!
"Addison!" Zoey bounced over to her excitedly. "This is my new friend, Willow."
"Hi!" Willow said excitedly.
Addison smiled at the two young girls. "Hey, how are you today?"
"I'm having lots of fun," Willow said. "You're a fun teacher!"
"Thank you," Addison said with a grin. "You guys still have a bit of free time before we go back to work. You don't wanna go run around on the playground or something?"
Zoey and Willow shook their heads. "Is it okay if we tumble?" Zoey asked. "I wanna work on my split!"
"And Zoey says she can help me with my cartwheel," Willow added.
Addison nodded. "Do you guys wanna do it inside?"
"Yes please."
Addison stood up and walked with them back to the studio doors. "I was just texting your brother," she said to Zoey. "He's gonna bring us food because he knows your crushing your first day."
Zoey grinned widely. "Zed's the best!"
"He is, isn't he?"
Zoey turned to her new friend and said, "Zed has been dating Addison for like two years now. But they act all couple-ly and gross all the time, like a married couple."
"My brother too," Willow said. "Except he hadn't had just one girlfriend. He's dated pretty much any girl who'd go out with him."
"Boys are gross," Zoey stated.
"Someday you'll change your mind about that," Addison stated. "You'll start dating and your older brothers will be super protective of you. I will too, because as your cheer coach it's my job to protect you both. Even when we're not cheering."
The two little girls tumbled for a bit more while Addison stood off to the side, watching and making sure neither broke anything. Fifteen minutes later, the other kids began to sprinkle in, followed by the high school volunteers and the cheer coaches. They had the kids get into lines and stand in set, waiting for their next instruction.
It felt like she watched it happen in slow motion, where she could move or do anything but watch. Zoey was in set one second, then her face contorted in pain and she hunched over. She held a hand to her chest before collapsing to the ground face down, the sound resonating through the silent studio.
Addison was moving before she knew it, running to the young Zombie with Bree and Bucky on her heels. Addison slid to the ground, most likely giving her knees a bad burn and not caring. She rolled Zoey onto her side and looked at her rapidly bluing face. Her eyes were crossed obscenely and her body convulsed and twitched in Addison's arms.
"Zoey? Zoey can you hear me?"
"She's not breathing!" Bree shouted. "Someone call 9-1-1!"
Addison lifted Zoey up and stood with a huff. Bree and Bucky looked at her in surprise a horror. "What're you doing?" Bucky asked. "Wait for an ambulance!"
"She could die in that time," Addison stated.
She and Bree all but ran through the studio and into the parking lot with Bucky on their heels. Bree unlocked her car and Addison stuffed herself and Zoey into the backseat.
"Call her dad, we'll call Zed," Bree said to Bucky as she started the engine. Then, as she reversed out of her parking space, she called through her open window, "We're going to Memorial West! Check her paperwork and let me know!"
Addison kneeled on the car floor and laid Zoey down on the seat. 'What do I do? What do I do?' she thought in panic. 'CPR.'
Addison focused on the chest compressions and the breathing for the entire seven minute drive to the hospital. Nothing was working and Zoey wasn't breathing. Addison was panicking and shaking and put everything into trying to get her to breathe again.
Before the car and come to a complete stop Addison was tumbling out of the door. She pulled Zoey out and ran through the emergency entrance. "She's not breathing!" Addison shouted as she ran toward the front desk.
An emergency room nurse rushed up to her and pressed his fingers into Zoey's neck. "Come with me," he said quickly, moving at a pace just under running into the emergency room.
They got Zoey onto a stretcher and into what looked like an operating room. The nurses and doctors around Addison yelled instructions to each other, grabbing different equipments and instruments.
They cut open everything Zoey had on until they had unobscured access to her thoracic region, while two others attached a few wires to her exposed arm and her vitals appeared on screen.
"Cardiac arrest!"
"Her pulse is dropping!"
"How long has she been unconscious?"
Bree checked her watch and said, "Eight and a half minutes."
A female nurse began CPR on the young Zombie while several others prepared a defibrillator and connected Zoey to an emergency respirator. They attached adhesive electrodes to her chest and let the defibrillator begin its analysis.
The nurse checking her vitals stuck a needle into her arm then asked, "Does she have any allergies?"
"No, none," Bree said.
"There's a large mass inside her thoracic cavity," a doctor noted. "Lets get some antibacterials in her!"
"What's wrong with her!" Addison cried.
Instead of an answer, the first nurse to encounter them held his arm out to keep them back. "Is there any electronic devices in or on her?" he asked.
"Her Z-Band is like a pacemaker," Bree stated. "But if you take it off her heart rate will drop!"
One of the nurses lifted a pair of sheetmetal snips. "Be ready with the defibrillator once the Z-Band comes off."
A dark hair nurse pressed the shockers of the defibrillator to her chest. They cut off her Z-Band and the dark hair nurse shouted, "Clear!"
Zoey's body spazzed in response to the electrical shock. Her heart rate spiked and they resumed CPR immediately. Not ten seconds later she started breathing again.
"Zoey!" Addison and Bree both turned as Zed ran through the emergency room and over to them.
The male nurse raised an eyebrow at him. "He's her brother," Bree stated.
"What happened? What's wrong? Why do my baby sister in the hospital?" Zed rushed, completely out of breath.
"She's stabilized, which is good," the nurse said. "We'll send her in for a MRI or a CT Scan within the next few minutes, but the most important thing is getting her paperwork filed. Is there a parent or guardian?"
"My dad's on his way," Zed stated.
"I'll get you the forms."
Before the nurse was even out of earshot, Zed look at the two girls. Anger and sadness and fear all washed over his face and were evident in his words. "What happened why is my baby sister in the hospital?"
"She just collapsed in practice," Bree explained in exasperation. "We got her here as fast as we could!"
"You said you'd protect her!" Zed shouted furiously, his words aimed at his girlfriend. "You promised you'd keep her safe and now she's here!"
"Zed—"
"You lies to me!" he went on, his voice thick with tears. "Don't 'Zed' me."
Addison opened her mouth to respond but Zed just held up his hand for her to stop. "Just go," he said in a broken voice.
He turned away from her and moved to his sister's side. Addison looked at him in shock. She felt her throat close up as she fought down the tears. Addison turned and ran out of the emergency room, Bree calling and running after her.