Addison was in her daughter's room, draped across the uncomfortable hospital furniture, when Lanie woke up.
"Hey," Addison whispered, quickly scooping up her hand. "Hi…"
Lanie rolled her head across the pillow, her eyes carefully absorbing her surroundings.
"Do you know where you are?" Addison asked.
Her gaze drifted back towards her mother as she nodded hesitantly. "The…hospital?"
"Yes," Addison answered.
Eyes darting around the room, she frowned slightly. "Why?"
Alex came into the room behind them, placing one hand on Addison's shoulder and the other over Lanie's hand. "What do you remember?" he asked gently.
She shook her head. "School? I went to school…I wanted coffee. Cassie was…No, I introduced Cassie to Rich in the cafeteria. She made me skip class, she didn't want to talk to him by herself."
Addison bit down quickly on the inside of her mouth to stop herself from crying. "You didn't like my coffee," she whispered.
"I didn't like your coffee," Lanie confirmed quietly. "It was gross."
Alex walked around to the other side of the bed and grabbed the chair, dragging it so that he could sit down next to them.
Lanie looked from Addison, to Alex, and then back again. "Mom? What's the matter?" she asked.
Addison tasted blood in the bottom of her mouth as she bit clear through her lip. Alex and Addison exchanged glances, trying to decide non-verbally how much was okay to tell her about. Digging her fingers into the fabric of her pants, Addison thought, How am I supposed to tell my daughter that her best friends are dead?
"Mommy?" Lanie whispered.
She hasn't called me Mommy since she was eight or nine years old.
"Sweetheart…" Addison hesitated, unsure of how to continue. "What do you remember about being in the cafeteria?"
"Did something happen? Mom, please…"
"Honey," Alex said, "what's the last thing you remember?"
"I told you," she answered, starting to cry quietly. "I told you, I was introducing Rich to Cassie, she was being weird about it, I…What happened to me? Mommy, tell me, please, tell me what happened?"
"There was…an incident," Addison began, no longer able to keep her own tears at bay.
"You're crying," Lanie said, reaching up to wipe the tears off her mother's cheeks. Her forehead scrunched as she struggled to think. "Something happened…I was leaving, I was going back to class, and I didn't leave. Why?" she finished, looking to her parents again.
"Sweetie…you didn't leave because…you couldn't," Addison said.
Alex reached over and grabbed her hand. "Why don't you get some rest, and we'll talk about this all tomorrow, okay?"
"No," Lanie answered, her eyes wide. "I have to know, Daddy, it's…It's bad, isn't it?"
He nodded silently, unsure of what to tell her.
"Doug O' Malley…"
"Aunt Izzie's son," Lanie interrupted.
"Yes. Doug…He…" Addison broke off, shaking her head.
Alex put one arm around Addison's shoulders and stretched the other one across Lanie's body to hold her hand.
"He…brought a gun to school, Lanie," Addison murmured.
She looked her body up and down. "But…he didn't hurt me. Why am I…" Her head snapped back against the pillow as she sucked in a sudden breath, her grip on their hands hands tightening.
"Get back!"
"Rich!"
"I didn't mean it, I…not Rich…"
"Get out of here! Get out of here!"
"Extraordinary is my legacy."
"Extraordinary is my legacy," Lanie whispered.
"Lanie?" Addison touched her shoulder gently.
Lanie took in several shuddering gasps of air as her grip loosened. "That's what he said…after he killed Rich…I…I was holding him when he died. I was…holding him…"
She began to sob uncontrollably, and Addison pushed her chair aside and climbed right up in the bed with her, drawing her into her arms.
"And Doug…" she bawled, "Doug was holding me with the gun to my head, and I…" Her tears took over again, and she buried her face in Addison's shoulders, her fingers entwining in her mother's hair. "He shot himself in the head," she sobbed, her voice so muffled that they had to strain to hear. "He shot himself, and he dragged me with him…when he fell…and he's dead. He's dead, Mom, he's dead…they're dead."
Lanie's grip on Addison's hair tightened, and Addison lowered her face so that it was resting on top of her daughter's head. "I'm here now, it's safe."
Alex went into the bathroom and came out with a damp cloth, which he placed careful on the back of her neck. Addison kept Lanie's head close to her body, cupped in the palm of her hand, as she rocked Lanie back and forth.
"Mom…where's Cassie…?" Lanie asked as her sobs lessened slightly. "Is she okay? Was she hurt?"
Addison pulled her face back into her chest, praying that she could draw all of the hurt out of her daughter and into herself. "Cassie…Cassie was shot, sweetheart, she didn't make it."
"Oh no…" Lanie wailed, latching back onto Addison's hair. "Not Cassie too…"
They stayed that way for a long time, Lanie sobbing into Addison's chest and Alex rubbing light circles across her back. They stayed that way until Lanie's sobs ran dry and she slipped back into sleep.
Alex touched Addison's arm softly. "Let's go out in the hall for a little bit."
She shook my head, not wanting to leave her daughter alone.
"Let's take a break, just for a minute. Get something to drink, something…"
Nodding reluctantly, she carefully lifted Lanie's head and slipped out from underneath her before lowering her head down to the pillow so as not to wake her up.
Taking Addison's hand as she stepped down from the bed, Alex led her out into the hall and down the way to the vending machines. "That was rough," he said, feeding a dollar into the vending machine and punching for a cup of coffee.
The machine spit out the styrofoam cup and filled it up with coffee. Alex cracked open a couple creams and some sugar, dumping them into the cup and mixing it quickly before handing it to his wife.
"Coffee," Addison shuddered, warming her hands around the cup as she sank into one of the waiting chairs.
Alex pressed the button for his own coffee, bringing the cup over to sit beside her and drink it black.
"Where do we go from here?" he whispered.
Addison took a sip of the scalding hot liquid, relishing the burning sensation that filled her mouth before her tongue went numb. "I don't know," she admitted. "This is nothing I've ever done before."
"Me either." Setting his coffee down on the table, he folded his hands under his chin and leaned forward.
She draped a hand across his back and they sat together in silence, neither of them sure how to fill it.