Chapter 2

Half an hour later, the doctor returned to see Alec sitting on the couch, staring out the window. She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Mr. Hardy?" she asked.

Startled, he turned quickly to face the doctor.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to let you know that we just finished reading the CAT scan results."

"And?" he asked, clearly desperate for any bit of news.

"It shows that there is a bit of swelling around the brain. We want to relieve pressure around the brain so that, should there be more swelling, it has more room. It'll require a surgery and she might go into a coma."

Alec nodded, tears beginning to pool in his eyes.

"Does she have any next of kin we could notify?"

"Yes, two sons, ages twelve and three. I'll tell them, though. Thank you."

"I'm sorry it wasn't the news you were expecting, but we just want to make sure she's getting the best care possible. We want her to heal and be able to do everything she did before." The doctor said.

Alec nodded again and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He tried again.

"Thank you, doctor."

"You're welcome, Mr. Hardy. I'll give you an update as soon as we know anything more."

Once the doctor left, Alec couldn't hold it in anymore. He sat back down, put his head in his hands and cried.

"I'm sorry, Ellie. This is my fault. If I…if I'd been able to stop sooner…" he said between tears.

His mind went back to just an hour before and he tried to make sense of it. The more he thought about it, the more he tried to figure out what he could've done differently and the more he realized he had done the best he could. As much as it felt like it to him, the accident wasn't his fault. Ellie was getting the best of care and now he had to be strong for her. The faces of Tom and Fred filled his brain.

"I gotta find a way to get them here. They need to see her."

Filled with a new purpose, he got up and went to the receptionist's desk to ask where he could get a taxi.

"I'll call one for you."

A few minutes later, a taxi pulled up in front of the hospital. Alec told the taxi driver Ellie's address and buckled his seat belt. As the taxi driver drove, he tried to strike up a conversation with Alec, but Alec wasn't really in the mood for a conversation. All he wanted was to pick up Tom and Fred so they could see Ellie. The fifteen-minute drive seemed to take forever, but the taxi finally pulled up in front of the house.

"Wait here. I'll be right out." Alec said.

He knocked on the door and waited for Tom to open it.

"Who is it?" came Tom's voice.

"It's Alec. Open the door, please, Tom."

The door opened and there stood twelve-year-old Tom Miller. Three-year-old Fred stood at the foot of the stairs.

"Come on, boys. We need to get you two to the hospital."

"Has something happened?"

"Yes. I'll tell you when we get there. For now, we just need to get to the hospital. Let's get Fred's car seat from your mom's car."

Tom nodded and took Fred's hand. Once both he and Fred were outside, Alec took Fred's hand while Tom locked the door. The three of them walked hand-in-hand to Ellie's car where Tom pulled out the car seat. Then Tom got into the taxi and installed the car seat into the middle seat before helping Fred into it. After the three of them had buckled up, Alec turned to face the driver.

"Back to the hospital, please." Alec said.

The taxi driver nodded and pulled out of the driveway and onto the street. Alec debated whether or not to tell them now what was happening, but decided against it because he felt it a personal matter. They'd be at the hospital soon enough, anyway. He could tell them then and still manage to give them some privacy. The ride back felt quicker than the ride to Ellie's home and before Alec knew it, they were pulling into the ER entrance. Alec paid the driver while Tom helped Fred out of the car seat and then uninstalled the car seat. Once that was done, Alec led Tom and Fred into the hospital. Their first stop was the waiting room Alec had been in.

"Boys, I need to tell you something. This is very serious. Your mom is in surgery right now because her brain is swelling. They told me she could be in a coma when she gets out of surgery. I didn't want to tell you before because I felt you deserved the privacy of me telling you when it's just the three of us."

"Is mommy going to be ok?" Fred asked.

"Yes, Freddy, she will be. She's just going to sleep for awhile so she can get better."

"What happened?"

"We were driving home when a car hit my car in the middle of the intersection. Your mommy hit her head on the dashboard and fell asleep. An ambulance came and brought your mommy and me here so they could take care of us. I waited here and the doctor told me they wanted to take a picture of your mom's brain. That's how they found out about the swelling. I promise you both that she is getting the best of care here."

"Will we get to see her soon?" Tom asked.

"I'm not sure. We'll know more when the doctor comes back to talk to us."

"Who's going to take care of us while she's in the hospital?"

"I will. I'll move into the guest room and take care of you both."

"Thanks, Alec."

Alec hugged both boys and the three of them sat down on the couch.

"I promise everything's going to be all right."

About an hour later, the doctor came back.

"These must be Ms. Miller's sons. Hi, I'm Doctor Anderson and I'm taking care of your mom."

"I'm Tom, and this is my brother Fred."

"Nice to meet you both. Let me start by saying your mom's surgery was successful. She's in a medical-induced coma right now while her brain heals. We don't want her to wake up too soon and not be fully healed. We're transferring her to a room right now, so if you don't mind waiting here just a few more minutes, I'll send a nurse down to take you to her when she's settled in."

"Thank you, Doctor Anderson." Alec replied, shaking the doctor's hand.

Once the doctor left, Alec turned to the boys and knelt down so he was eye-level with Fred, who looked about to cry.

"Your mommy's just fine, now, Fred. She just has to sleep a bit so she can get better."

Fred nodded, trying to hold back the tears opened his arms for a hug. Alec obliged and took the boy into his arms and lifted him off the ground. All of a sudden, his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He set Fred back down and Tom immediately took his brother's hand.

"Thanks, Tom." Alec said as he took his phone out of his pocket. "DI Alec Hardy."

"Dad?"

"Andrea? Hi, sweetheart! How are you?"

"I'm ok. Is everything ok? You sound sad."

"Everything's fine. Is everything ok with you?"

"Yeah. Mom said I could come down for the weekend if you had room for me, so I wanted to ask if that was ok."

"That sounds perfect, sweetheart. When will you be coming down?"

"We have a three-day weekend this weekend, so I'll come down Friday after my last class and stay until Monday afternoon. Is that ok?"

"It's more than ok. I can't wait to see you, darlin'."

"Can't wait to see you, dad. I love you."

"I love you, too, darlin'. I'm looking forward to your visit."

"I'll talk to you later."

"See you soon."

Alec hung up the phone and returned it to his pocket just as the door opened and a nurse in a green hospital uniform entered the room.

"Mr. Hardy, I'm here to take you three to Ms. Miller's room. Follow me, please."

The three of them followed the nurse down the hallway until they came to an elevator. They took the elevator to the third floor and turned left and walked down a hallway until they came to room 331. Ellie's name was already in the space to the right of the door as they entered. Ellie lay still with oxygen prongs in her nose, an IV in her right arm and a heart monitor on her right index finger. Her head was wrapped in a bandage due to the surgery. Three small chairs were in front of the window directly in front of Alec and the boys.

"I'll leave you three here. Visiting hours have ended, but you can have a few minutes." The nurse said.

"Thank you." Alec replied, crossing over to the chairs.

The nurse left the room as Alec pulled one of the chairs over to Ellie's left-hand side where they could hold her hand.

"Ellie, I brought Tom and Fred over to see you. They wanted to say hello."

He nodded to the boys and Tom came over and took a seat as Alec walked behind the chair to where Tom was standing before.

"Hi, mom. It's me, Tom. I don't know if you can hear me, but I want to tell you I love you and want you to get better quickly."

He kissed Ellie on the cheek and nodded to Fred, tears in his eyes. Alec walked with Fred over to the bed and Alec helped him up onto the chair so he could see her.

"Hi, mommy. I love you."

He wanted to give Ellie a kiss, too, so Alec held him over Ellie's head so that he could kiss Ellie's cheek.

"All right, boys. Let's let mom rest now," Alec said. "We'll come back tomorrow."

Tom nodded and quietly made his way over to the door while Alec carried Fred since he was getting tired. It was 9:00 at night now, so Alec knew he had to get them home and put into bed before too long. He would call a rental car company in the morning and arrange for a friend to drive him to the rental place. In the meantime, he knew a friend who would give them a ride now, so he shifted Fred to where he could hold him with one arm and pulled out his phone. He punched a few numbers and waited as it rang. A few rings later, a male voice answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Paul, it's DI Hardy. I'm over at the hospital right now with Tom and Fred. Ellie and I were in an accident and Ellie's been admitted. Tom, Fred and I need a ride to my house since my car is there. Could you pick us up?"

"Of course. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Thanks. We'll be at the ER entrance."

Alec hung up the phone and led Tom into the waiting room and told him Paul Coates was on his way over to take them to his house since his car had been towed there and he needed to get a few things. He lived in a townhouse just a couple minutes away from Ellie's house, so there wouldn't be much difficulty getting the boys from his house to her house. Eight minutes passed and Alec decided to lead them out front so they could wait for Paul. Exactly ten minutes after Alec's phone call, Paul's car pulled up in front of them. Paul helped them install Fred's car seat in the back where he could sit by Tom and Alec would take the front passenger seat. About twelve minutes later, Paul pulled into the driveway of Alec's townhouse.

"Thanks again for the ride, Paul."

"Not a problem, Alec. I'll stop by and visit Ellie tomorrow."

"I'm sure she'd like that."

Once they had transferred Fred's car seat from Paul's car into the house, Paul drove back to his house. Alec quickly grabbed a few toiletries and some changes of clothes and put them in a suitcase. He looked at his car and determined it was safe to drive the two minutes to Ellie's house if he drove slowly, so he put his suitcase in the trunk. He quickly installed Fred's car seat into the back seat and buckled the now sleeping Fred into it. Tom decided he would take the front passenger seat. A few minutes later, they pulled into Ellie's driveway. Tom carried Fred upstairs to his bedroom while Alec carried in the car seat and suitcase. He left the car seat in the front hallway and carried the suitcase upstairs to the guest room. Once that was done, he walked to the next room, where Tom had just put Fred to bed.

"Go ahead and brush your teeth and get ready for bed. I'll call a rental car company in the morning so we have a way to get to the hospital. Good night, Tom."

"Good night, Alec. Thanks for taking us to see mom."

"You're welcome. I'll see you in the morning."

"See you."

Alec returned to the guest room and changed into his nightclothes before lying down in bed. Never before had he had such a hard time falling asleep.