Jason and Sonny arrived at Clay's apartment and knocked on the door. They could hear laughing inside as they waited for Stella to open the door which sort of pissed both Jason and Sonny off in a way. As she opened the door her smile instantly disappeared.
"What are you guys doing here? I thought you were supposed to be on some sort of mission." Stella asked with a bit of attitude.
"Headed somewhere?" Sonny asked, noticing the packed bags piled next to the door.
"That's none of your business. Now… are one of you going to tell me why you're here?"
Without answering her question, Sonny stepped into the apartment and started looking around which really set Stella off. Jason just leaned in the doorway with his arms crossed watching and listening to her yelling at Sonny. He didn't have time for the petty bullshit game she was trying to play. He was just about to step in to grab Sonny so that they could get to the hospital when he heard Sonny starting to raise his voice.
"You have got to be kidding me! Why is this guy here?" He asked Stella. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked Gordon next before even giving Stella a chance to reply.
Jason ran into the bedroom to see Gordon sitting on the bed, Sonny standing right in front of him, ready to bash his face in, and Stella yelling in the doorway about her and Clay were done and that Gordon was there to help her pack her stuff.
"Come on Sonny, let's go. We don't have time for this shit. We need to get to the hospital." Jason said knowing that if he didn't get Sonny out of there soon there was a good chance someone would be leaving with a smashed in face.
It took Sonny every ounce of self-control to compose himself and walk out but he did. Not before shooting Stella a death glare though.
"Wait, hospital? Why?" Stella's attitude did a complete 180.
"Clay was in an accident, don't know much besides that. Don't bother showing up." Jason was giving her more of a warning rather than telling her. He and Sonny then walked out of the apartment and straight to Jason's truck.
"Girl's got some balls to call that scumbag and invite him to CLAY's apartment to help her pack, let alone allowing him to sit on Clay's bed. I swear to God if she shows up at that hospital…" Sonny couldn't even finish his sentence, he was getting to angry.
"She's not going to see him. We'll make sure of that. The kid is literally fighting for his life and she's inviting guys over to his place." Jason assured him.
"It's not just any guy though Jason. It's the one guy Clay had a bad feeling about while we were deployed. We shared a bunk, I saw how his mind ran wild every single time she mentioned his name, and believe me, it was mentioned a lot."
"Don't worry man. We'll take care of it." Jason again assured him.
As they arrived at the hospital they found the rest of the group sitting in the waiting room.
"Hey. Where's Stella?" Ray asked, assuming she was going to be with them when they rejoined the group.
"She ain't coming." Sonny replied without making eye contact as he walked over to an empty seat.
Ray and the rest of the group looked over at Jason for an explanation.
Jason knew it wasn't really his place to share Clay's business but there was no way he was getting out of this one without an explanation.
"She and Clay got in a huge fight tonight. We got there, she had her bags packed." Jason paused. "Gordon was there with her. Sonny found him sitting at the foot of Clay's bed."
"Wait…the guy Clay was worried about during our last deployment?" Lisa asked.
"Yup. That's the guy." Jason said.
The group remained quiet until Sonny broke the silence. "Any word on Clay?"
"Nothing really. He's in surgery now. They said he's in pretty bad shape and it could be a few hours before there's any more updates." Blackburn told him.
They all sat there, finding their own ways to pass the time while they waited for an update. Ray looked over at Jason at one point and could see the battle going on in his mind. He stood up and walked to the opposite end of the room where no one would be able to hear them.
"Jason, can I talk to you for a minute?" Ray asked him as he made his way to the far side of the room.
Jason looked up at Ray and followed him.
"What's going on?" Ray asked as they sat down.
"What do you mean what's going on?" Jason replied.
"In your head. You know what I'm talking about." Ray began to push.
Jason remained quiet for a moment. "I don't know what to do about this whole Stella and Gordon thing. If I should tell him or not. What to do if she actually shows up."
Jason watched as Ray carefully contemplated his response. "What if it was you? Would you want to know?" Ray asked him.
"I don't know. From what it sounds like they're done. She was packing her bags, he told her to leave the key on the counter. If they stay 'done' then I have nothing to worry about. It won't matter. I just don't know if this will change anything and if it does what do I do then? I don't know if I would want to know or not."
"Well, then I guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when it comes. Who knows, maybe Sonny will just blurt it out and you won't have to deal with it."
Before they could finish their conversation, a nurse entered the waiting room looking for the family of Clay Spenser. Jason and Ray quickly rejoined the rest of the group.
"Let me start by saying that he did make it through surgery. He's in bad shape and will be hurting for a while but we have no reason to believe he won't make a full recovery in time." The nurse started
"How bad?" Sonny asked.
"He came in with slight hypothermia but we managed to quickly get his body temperature to a stable degree. He has a slight skull fracture and a broken cheek and jaw bone, all of which will heal on their own, a broken vertebrae in the c2 region, which luckily hasn't seemed to effect his spinal cord. He dislocated his right shoulder and broke his left wrist and right ankle. Five broken ribs, a bruised lung and slight internal bleeding. We managed to find the cause of the bleeding quickly. We have placed him in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator to allow him to better heal. He's going to be in a world of pain when he wakes up and we don't want him to do anything to jeopardize the healing process."
"How could he jeopardize the healing process?" Blackburn asked.
"From what we were told, he woke up in the helicopter on the way here and started panicking which affected his breathing and caused him to be intubated. We're trying to avoid that. The plan is to begin weaning him off the ventilator in the next two days and then to start waking him up a day or so after that."
"Are we able to see him?' Jason asked.
"Of course. Follow me." The nurse replied as she led the group to a private room in the ICU.
As they entered the room Clay was almost unrecognizable. The whole left side of his face was bruised and swollen. He was covered in cuts, some that required stiches. Nobody could miss tubes down his throat or the neck brace keeping him immobile. His right arm was secured to his body to keep his shoulder in place and his left arm and right ankle were heavily casted.
The nurse that led them to the room noticed the looks on everyone's faces. "Look. I know it looks really bad but given what had happened, he's pretty lucky. He.."
"You call this lucky? He's in a coma, on a ventilator, so bruised and broken we can barely recognize him!" Sonny exploded before Davis took him out of the room to calm him down.
With Sonny out of the room the nurse continued her sentence. "He will wake up. We have no reason to believe he won't make a full recovery. It's going to take time. It's not a 'feel better in a week' type of thing, but he will get there."
"Thank you ma'am." Blackburn said as the nurse left the room, leaving the team to have some alone time with Clay. As soon as she was gone Sonny and Lisa re-entered the room.
"I don't like her." Sonny mumbled in typical Sonny fashion, causing the team to crack a smirk for the first time since hearing the news.
"It's not her fault dude." Ray replied "She's just the messenger.
"Yea…well, I still don't like her." Sonny replied.
The team just rolled their eyes and then each took a seat. They all stayed by his side for the next few hours. They decided they would all take turns staying with him so that he would not be alone at any point in time. Jason and Sonny took the first shift.
As the rest of the team was walking out of the hospital, Davis spotted Stella walking in. "Hey guys, I'll catch up with you later." She told them as she separated herself from the group. They said their see you laters and went their separate ways.
As soon as she was far enough away she yelled over at Stella. "Stella! Hey wait up a second."
Stella stopped, not sure what to prepare for. She recognized Davis from a picture Clay had shown her but had never actually met her.
"Look. I know I'm not 'supposed to be here' but I just wanted to see how he was doing, tell him I'm sorry." Stella told her.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Jason and Sonny are up there with him now." Davis told her.
"Of course they are." Stella rolled her eyes. "Can you at least tell him I was here next time you see him. I don't even know if he wants to see me."
Lisa looked at her. Clearly she had no idea. "You have no idea do you?" Lisa asked her.
"No idea about what?" Stella asked.
"Clay's in bad shape. The doctors put him in a coma." Davis started to tell her when she noticed the tears forming in Stella's eyes.
"Hey. He's going to be ok. It's only for a few days to let his body heal a bit. Once he's awake I'll ask him if he wants to see you but until then I need you to stay away and if he doesn't want to see you then you need to respect that and step away for good. Ok?" Davis told her as she put Stella's number in her phone. "I'll let you know if anything changes."
Stella shook her head and then thanked Lisa before she walked away. She had no idea what type of shape Clay was in. Knowing now made it harder to stay away but she knew listening to Davis would be the best for everyone. She had already finished moving all of her stuff out of Clay's apartment and locked the key inside on the counter like he had asked. She slowly walked back to her car and got in. Once she was inside she started crying. She hated this situation. Once she took a deep breath and pulled herself together she decided to head back to her place, thankful that she still had a few months left on her lease, and wait to hear anything from Davis.