"Let's go sit down, they're alive," Martha assured the adults. "But we have a lot to go over with you. Now are Rani's parents here yet?" she asked as all of them sat down.
"Not yet, their flight doesn't get in for a few more hours," Alan answered.
"I'm Rani's emergency contact when her parents can't be reached," Sarah Jane added. "Please tell me that they're going to be all right."
"And when can we bring them home?" Carla asked. "I mean sometimes injuries look worse than what they really are at first, yeah?"
Dr. Kramer sighed. "Mrs. Langer."
"Call me Carla," Carla insisted.
"Carla, I wish I can tell you that your son is going to be okay but we're not at that point yet. The alien that hurt Clyde inflicted very serious injuries," he began.
"It had to be the same alien that injured Rani, because her injuries are very serious as well," Martha told Sarah Jane as gently as could.
Sarah Jane's heart sank. "How serious are their injuries?"
"They both have severe concussions, internal injuries, and internal bleeding. We need to operate on Clyde to stop the internal bleeding in his abdomen and to set two fractured ribs one of them is puncturing his right lung. We need to operate on Rani to set three fractured ribs her right lung is being punctured by one of her ribs as well. Her spleen is badly bruised and is beginning to bleed. We need to remove her spleen to stop the bleeding and before it decides to rupture. We also need to operate on her brain to stop her brain from swelling and hemorrhaging, since medication isn't taking care of the swelling or bleeding," Dr. Kramer stated.
"Oh my God," Carla's eyes welled with tears again.
"We're going to do everything we can for the kids and then some," Martha assured her. "They'll be in good hands."
Sarah Jane signed the consent forms for Rani's surgery; Carla signed the consent forms for Clyde's surgery.
"Are they awake yet?" Sarah Jane questioned. "And if they are, are they frightened?"
Martha sighed again. "They both slipped into comas probably as soon as they lost consciousness."
"No," Carla's tears began to fall again.
Alan hugged her and did what he could to comfort her.
Sarah Jane felt like she was going to start screaming and never stop. No, they're supposed to be okay. We got them out of there the danger is supposed to be over, she silently thought as her tears began to fall again.
"What's a coma?" Sky asked Luke and Maria.
Luke explained it to her while he fought back tears. The realization that he very well may lose two of his best mates had begun to sink in.
"I want to see my baby," Carla demanded through her tears. "I won't take long I know you have to get him to the OR, but I want to see him first."
"I want to see Rani," Sarah Jane said. "They have to know that we're here for them."
Martha and Dr. Kramer nodded.
"But only you two for right now and only for a few minutes," Martha said.
Carla and Sarah Jane nodded and were escorted to where Rani and Clyde were being prepped for surgery. They were in separate rooms.
Sarah Jane kissed Rani on the uninjured part of her forehead and gently stroked the uninjured part of her face. "I'm so sorry that I didn't reach you in time. If I had this never would have happened I promise you. However, don't you worry about a thing, Rani, you're going to be all right. It will just take time that's all," Sarah Jane continued to talk to her not mentioning that Clyde was hurt as well. She wanted Rani concentrating on recovering and coming back to them. She didn't want her worrying about Clyde when the worry could hinder her recovery.
Carla had taken the same approach when she talked to her son and didn't mention that Rani was badly injured as well. "You come back to me, baby, I love you and I don't even want to imagine a world without my Clydey in it," she kissed him and continued to talk to him until he was taken to surgery.
Sarah Jane was in the wide hallway watching as Rani was taken to the OR when the orderlies brought Clyde out of the room he had been prepped in. "Clyde, you're going to be okay," Sarah Jane called out hoping that he could hear her. She didn't touch him or go near him since she didn't want to delay the life saving surgery.
Carla joined her seconds later and they both watched as the two children were taken to emergency surgery.
Two hours later Alan left in his maroon four door car to pick up the Chandras at Heathrow airport. Since he knew it might take one hour to get there if late afternoon traffic were bad. How am I going to tell them that it's not what we hoped for? How am I going to tell Rani's parents that she's in a coma and in emergency surgery? He knew exactly how they were going to react. If it had been Maria that had been critically wounded he wouldn't be able to function. He was barely holding it together with two kids he had seen everyday since moving back to England with Maria being so badly hurt. Two kids that he helped Sarah Jane protect when they needed the protection. He had helped Sarah Jane protect all of the kids at one time or another, and it had angered and frustrated him that they couldn't protect two of the kids earlier that day. He fought back tears as he continued to drive towards the airport.
He finally made it to the airport and parked his car with fifteen minutes to spare. Alan tried to read a magazine to pass the time while he sat in an orange plastic chair in one of the waiting areas. However, he couldn't concentrate, so he phoned Sarah Jane.
"Are they still in surgery?" Alan asked as he waited for the Chandra's jet to land.
"Yes," Sarah Jane answered. "Has Haresh and Gita's plane landed yet?"
"Not yet," Alan said and checked his watch. "We still have eleven more minutes before it lands. I tried reading magazines but that didn't work very well."
Sarah Jane smiled through her worry and sadness. "Magazines and books never help at a time like this."
They talked on the phone until the Chandra's jet landed and then they hung up with each other.
Alan walked over to Haresh and Gita the second he spotted them. "I'll help you get your luggage in my trunk," he offered straight away.
"Alan," Gita gently grabbed his arm to stop him from heading to gather the luggage. "Slow down the luggage can wait. Now how is my baby?" she inquired about Rani.
Alan sighed and motioned for them both to sit down.
Rani's parents remained standing.
"Alan, just tell us please. The flight was bad enough since we didn't know everything yet," Haresh pointed out. "Is Rani going to be all right? Is Clyde going to be all right?"
"Right now they're both in emergency surgery," Alan gently told them everything.
Gita gasped and faltered as she almost lost her footing. Haresh gently held her up and got her sitting down in one of the orange plastic chairs. He sat next to her and put his right arm around her.
Gita's hands began to shake as tears streamed down her face. "No not our Rani, Haresh, not our little girl."
Haresh hugged her as his own tears threatened to fall. "Gita, she's going to be all right. She's strong and she has youth on her side."
Gita didn't say anything as her tears fell harder and she cried in her husband's arms.
Once Haresh had Gita calm enough, Alan helped them get their luggage into the trunk of his car. He then drove Gita and Haresh to the UNIT hospital.
"Where is this intergalactic prison located?" Haresh asked Sarah Jane moments after Alan, Gita, and he had entered the waiting room.
Sarah Jane observed him and didn't like the look in his eyes or on his face. "Why are you asking?"
"Why do you think I'm asking?" Haresh growled. "Prison is too good for the brutal alien that hurt my little girl. I'm going to kill him."
"And that will heal her and make this go away how?" Gita questioned. "Haresh, darling, think about what you're saying."
"I am thinking," Haresh argued.
"No you're not," Gita disagreed. "Rani needs us right now not our anger. I know how you feel because I want to rip him to shreds but it won't do any good. Let the alien police deal with him."
Haresh sighed but finally complied.
Three hours later Martha and Dr. Kramer walked into the waiting room again.
-to be continued