Chapter 1
John was waiting in one of the many hospital waiting rooms for new on Riley. Riley, only two hours ago had cut her wrists in the bathroom while he was talking to Cameron. He stood against the wall, eyes fixed on the ceiling , think why would she do such a thing. Before Riley cut her wrists, she had an awkward talk with Cameron. Riley and Cameron had never seen eye to eye mainly due to Cameron's belief that she was a threat to his safely. On Riley's side, Cameron seemed to be a overprotective and intimidating sister.
John took his eyes off the ceiling and looked around the full waiting room. Everyone in the room looked exactly how he felt. They all looked lonely and worried. John watched as a doctor came through the door to his right and walked towards a worried couple. They stood up and listened to what he had to say. John watched as the woman fell to her knees and bust in to tears while the man sat back down holding his head in his hands, also began to cry. It was obvious that they had lost someone close to them, possible one of there children or something. John tried not to look as they displayed their grief at the loss of a loved one. He didn't notice Cameron walking in to the room.
Cameron walked in to the room, stopped and looked at the people around. They all seemed to be sad. Her eyes wondered from person to person, trying to assess why they all seemed sad. Her eyes fell on two people in the room, a man and a women crying. Cameron tilted her head to the side as she always did when she didn't understand something. These two people were displaying grief, an emotion that occurs at the loss of something special. To Cameron's understanding, grief was something done in private where they could learn to accept their loss. However, these two people were crying in front of all these people. The woman in particular was almost screaming. Cameron moved her gaze from the two and spotted John standing away from the group, standing against the wall. She walked over and copied his position, turning her back to the wall and leaning against it.
"John?, you look upset". John jumped at her surprise appearance. It was obvious he was upset, his girlfriend had just tried to kill herself and he was waiting to see if she had succeeded or not. " Riley tried to kill herself, of course I'm upset" . He turned his gaze to the grieving couple, who were now being escorted by the doctor out of the room. Cameron watched also as they left the room. Once they had gone, she turned to John. "Why were they crying". John moved his gaze back to the ceiling. " They lost someone, a kid I guess"
John heard footsteps and another doctor appeared. John looked hopefully at her for a few seconds, before she disappeared back down the corridor. He returned his gaze t the ceiling. Cameron was disappointed by the lack of response and quizzed John some more. " Why were they crying in front of everyone, they lost a child, wouldn't they display their grief in private?" John removed his gaze from the ceiling and looked at the floor, catching a glimpse of Cameron's chocolate eyes still fixed on him. " Sometimes, knowing your about to loose someone or have lost someone, it hurts so much that you can't contain their grief within themselves, they break down, it all comes out at once"
Cameron tilted her head to the side again. She had never experienced grief before. She turned and looked at the floor and scanned her memory backs. Sarah had cried after they had destroyed Cromartie, but why would Sarah cry about that. Cromartie wasn't important to Sarah, he had tried to kill her son on more then one occasion. She looked further back in her memory backs. She remembered when Sarah was close to crying before, when she shot Enrique. Sarah was angry and upset by his death. Could Sarah's anger at her have cancelled out her grief over Enrique's death. Cameron closed her files and looked back at John. He still seemed worried about Riley, so she decided not to ask more of John. "Thank you for explaining".
Cameron and John didn't talk for another half an hour. The room was becoming unbearable for John. His mother had always avoided hospitals when possible, afraid they could be identified. He took several deep breaths and looked around the room again, trying to push the thought of Riley dying out of his mind. It was another several minutes before a doctor came through the door and walked towards him. "Excuse me, were you the one who brought Riley Dawson in?" John looked at the expression on the doctors face and was relived to see her smiling. " Yeah, is Riley goanna be alright?". " She will be fine, we had to give her some blood but luckily for her, the blood type is common, if you follow me, I'll take you too her" The doctor turned and walked off. Before following, John gave looked at Cameron, who looked extremely disappointed at the news. " Let's go".
Cameron frowned and followed John behind the doctor. Cameron didn't like the fact that Riley survived. It meant she was still a security risk to John. She had hoped that taking a longer rout to the hospital would have let her bleed to death. The doctor stopped outside one of the wards at he end of the corridor. " Only one of you can see her and only for a couple of minutes, she needs sleep". John walked passed the doctor, looking at Cameron who just stared back. John found Riley at the end of the ward in the last bed next to the window. Riley lay there, looking like a ghost, pale while. John sat down next to the bed." Hey, how you feeling?"." I've been better" was the reply her got. John looked at her wrists, which were tightly bandaged. "What do you think you were doing?". Riley looked up at the ceiling, she took a long time to answer. " I tried to end it John, I just tried to get out, no one cares". John sat up. " I care. Is it because I saw your burse, I wasn't going to kill you foster dad or anything, I might have yelled a bit but nothing else". Riley smiled slightly at this. "He didn't hit me, I told you. I just, err, I'm tired John, I'll call you when I get out of here"
John looked stunned, he had waited hours to see if she was ok and now she was telling him to leave. He got up and walked to the end of the bed. " See you later then". She didn't reply.
John pulled up outside the house. He and Cameron had sat in silence the whole way home. Cameron got out and walked in the house without looking at him. He slowly got out of the car and walked towards the house himself. Kicking the door open, he went upstairs and turned on the shower. After spending hours in a hospital, he wanted to refresh himself. Getting in, he began to wash.
