The cabbie took Alex to the emergency entrance of Presbyterian Hospital, on Broadway. She hurried to the doorway and stopped in it, looking around. There was no sign of her family, and she frowned, then nodded a little at that. Of course. They're coming from downtown. A man with a scruffy grey beard and clothes that looked like he slept in them started eyeing Alex as she stood there, and she started moving again, giving him an quick glare, then walked up to the receiving desk. A tall man in a long brown coat was already there, talking to a nurse with a patient voice at the station - a dirty blonde in blue scrubs - and Alex took a moment to look around.
The waiting area was crowded enough that she didn't bother to count all the people - there were over a dozen, at least. Several of them were in obvious pain, and some just looked worried. Probably waiting for somebody. Like me.
"Miss, can I help you?" the patient voice asked, and Alex turned back to the nurse and nodded quickly.
"My brother came in on an ambulance. I'm looking for him."
"What's his name? We get three ambulances coming in here an hour, on average." The nurse turned to her computer terminal, raising her fingers to the keyboard.
"Justin Russo. He was hit by a car." Alex tried not to fidget as the nurse typed. After a moment, she nodded and turned back to Alex.
"He was brought in about fifteen minutes ago. They've taken him for a CT scan." The nurse paused, then said, "He was unconscious when he was brought in. Would you be able to fill out paperwork for him?"
Alex shook her head quickly. "I don't think so - I'm seventeen. Our parents should be here soon, though. How bad is he hurt?"
"I'm afraid your parents will need to speak to the doctor about that when they arrive. But we won't really know until after the scan," she added her expression softening a little as she took in Alex's obvious distress. "Have a seat in the waiting area," she said, nodding toward it. "The doctor should have an update in about half an hour."
Numbly, Alex nodded, then turned, walked to the waiting area, and sank down into one of the plastic chairs, picking one that left a couple of empty seats between her and anyone else. There were magazines on a table beside her, and she picked up a copy of Us, flipped it open at random, looked at the bright pictures of pretty people without really seeing them. The nurse doesn't seem worried. Is that good? Or is it just because it's no one she knows?
Each time the doors opened, she looked up, expecting to see her family, disappointed when it wasn't. The fourth time they opened, it was finally them, and Alex shifted her feet to stand up and rush over to them - and then stopped as she saw Lexie. What the hell was I thinking? She lifted her magazine to hide her face, but it didn't matter: they went straight to the front desk, her mom immediately starting to talk to the nurse. Max was sticking close beside her, his face showing a worried expression Alex had rarely seen on him. Their dad was missing - probably still parking the car. Lexie trailed behind and looked around, spotted Alex and mouthed something while pointing toward the RESTROOMS sign.
Alex had no idea what Lexie was trying to say, but the pointing was clear enough. Alex nodded to her, got up, and headed into the women's restroom to wait. It felt like ten minutes before Lexie came in, but according to Alex's cell phone, it was only two.
Before saying anything, they hugged each other and held on tightly for several seconds. Alex spoke first, saying, "Did they tell you guys anything yet? All they told me was that he was unconscious, and they were taking him for some kind of scan."
"The doc's supposed to come out in a few minutes to talk to us," Lexie said, then, "How are you? God, I know I'm half a basket case right now, and it's probably twice as bad for you." She gave a weak smile, tears shining in her eyes.
Alex nodded, not trusting herself to speak just yet. Instead, she hugged Lexie again, taking comfort from touching anyone who understood at that moment, even her own duplicate. "Yeah," she finally said as she released the hug. "I... I was mad at Justin when he left. He said I love you, and I didn't say it back to him, and... he's got to be all right. He has to."
"Hey," Lexie said, grasping Alex's upper arm. "It's not your fault. And he knows you love him, even if you don't say it. Don't blame yourself, okay?" With a weak smile, Alex nodded, and Lexie smiled at her, then went on. "Okay, so... I'm going to give you the same clothes and stuff I have. And then we'll just have to take turns, I guess." She swallowed, then gave Alex a guilty look. "That's okay, right? I mean... I know I don't love him the way you do, but he's still my brother."
"It's okay," Alex answered. "I'd try putting both our brains in one head or something, but we'd probably mess it up, and we don't need that right now. This'll have to do."
Lexie pulled out her wand, said, "Alex looks just like me, so her dress the same should be." Light shimmered back and forth between the two girls, and then Alex was wearing the same outfit as Lexie - a black fringed jacket over a white long-sleeved tee and purple cami, blue jeans with stars painted up one leg, and black suede boots with a fleece lining. Alex looked in the mirror, nodded to see that the spell had also changed her makeup and hair to match, making the two look fully identical.
"Okay," Lexie said then. "You go first. I'm going to find a waiting room or something to hang out in, instead of sitting in here, so text me for the switch."
"Will do. And thanks again." Alex gave Lexie a quick final hug, then headed out of the bathroom and quickly walked to her family. Her dad had joined them now, and they were in the waiting area, visibly worried and impatient. Max had taken the seat by their mom. Both mom and dad were filling out forms, having divided the stack between them to speed things up, so Alex sat down beside Jerry. He looked up at her as she did, took her hand and squeezed it, giving her an 'it's going to be okay' smile. She held onto his hand for a second before releasing it, grateful for the little reassurance.
They finished the forms, and Jerry took them back to the nurse, then returned to sit back down. With him no longer busy, Alex leaned against him, let her dad put his arm around her. They stayed like that, all four uncharacteristically silent, until a tall doctor with light brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard came out, spoke to the nurse for a moment, and she pointed him toward the four of them. They all stood up and walked to meet him halfway.
"Hello. I'm Doctor Townes," the man said - unnecessarily, since his name tag already told them that much.
"I'm Jerry Russo, Justin's father." Jerry and the doctor shook hands briefly as Jerry asked, "How's my son?"
"His condition isn't life-threatening, but he has a broken collarbone, a dislocated shoulder, and he's suffered a concussion. He's in a coma right now, but that's not unusual, and the CT scan doesn't show any major bleeding in his brain, so we don't think he's going to need surgery for that. He's breathing on his own, and still has normal reflexive responses, which is all good. We'll have to do follow-up scans to see how the injury is progressing, though."
"When will he wake up?" Theresa put in, and the doctor looked to her. "I'm Theresa, Justin's mother. These are our other children, Alex and Max," she added.
Doctor Townes nodded to them. "We can't really say. He could wake up any minute, or it could take a day or two. From what the CT scan showed, I doubt it will be much longer than that."
"But it could be longer?" Alex asked. "How long could it be?"
"It's hard to predict," the doctor replied, turning his gaze to Alex. "The greatest danger right now is secondary injury - we'll need to keep him here for a few days to make sure that there's no bleeding or swelling that could cause further injury to his brain. If there is, his prognosis becomes much worse."
Nice job not answering my question, Alex thought. She opened her mouth to ask another question, but before she could, Jerry asked, "What does 'much worse' mean?"
The doctor paused a moment before answering. "He could die, Mister Russo, or he might suffer permanent brain damage." He held up a hand quickly then, adding, "I don't think that's likely, though. The ambulance got him here quickly, and the initial scan looks very promising. His other injuries are minor, but we'll need to keep him here for two or three days at least, to make sure his head injury doesn't worsen."
Jerry swallowed, then nodded. "Of course. Whatever's going to be best for my boy."
Theresa and Alex both nodded along with Jerry, then Alex spoke up again, this time speaking to her parents. "Can I stay here tonight? Please? I don't want him to wake up and be alone."
Jerry looked at her for a moment, then to Theresa, who nodded. "Can she stay, doctor?"
"He'll be in intensive care until he wakes up and we can properly assess him. I'm afraid she can't stay in there. Once he's woken up and can be moved, if he has a private room, she can stay there with him. To get a private room, you'll need to request it." Alex blinked back tears, and Theresa moved closer to her, put a hand on her shoulder.
"Does it cost extra?" Jerry asked, and both Theresa and Alex glared at him.
"Of course," the doctor answered with a wry smile. "Visiting hours in the ICU are noon to two, four to six, and eight to ten, so you'll be able to see him at eight."
Theresa and Alex stepped away while Jerry asked the doctor a few more questions. Theresa ran her hand down Alex's arm, asked, "Are you okay, mija?"
Alex started to nod, then suddenly shook her head, shutting her eyes tightly to fight back tears. "No," she got out. "I'm scared."
"Come here." Theresa put her arms around Alex, held her close. "We're all scared. But we're here for each other. It's going to be all right."
When she could, Alex made an excuse to slip away, found Lexie, and let her know quickly what was happening. "They're going to go have dinner in the cafeteria, since we can't see Justin until ICU visiting hours start at eight anyway."
"Okay. What about you, though - if we switch right now, what are you going to eat?"
"Don't worry about that," Alex said, waving it aside. "I'll get something from a vending machine later. I'm going to head up to the ICU and see if there's a window I can look in through or something. Oh - dad's being a tightwad, and doesn't want to have Justin put in a private room. I think mom will want him in one, though. Can you help her argue him into it?"
"Sure," Lexie said, nodding. "I'd like to be able to see him too, after all."
"Good." Alex smiled a little. "Text me when you guys head up, so I can clear out of the way."
Lexie shook her head. "Uh... I don't think you're allowed to use a cell phone there. Just keep an eye on the clock, and clear out around five 'til. If we come up before then, I'll try to warn you somehow."
"Okay." They traded hugs again, and Lexie went off to join the family, while Alex took the elevator up to the ICU's floor. The ride up felt slow, and she spent the time looking at the map that was posted inside the elevator, trying to ignore the nervous twisting sensation in her stomach as she did. I don't think I can stay at the dorm tonight. Not without him. Alex had a sudden urge to go back home, to their parents' home, to sleep in his room there. No, I can't do that. Mom's too much of a worrier. She'll get up in the middle of the night and make up some reason to go in Justin's room, because she's worried about him and wants to be in there to think about him, and find me in there, and if she notices there's two of me, then, well...
Miranda, she thought suddenly. I'll bet that paper she gave me was her number. Alex fished the paper from her pocket, unfolded it. Sure enough, it was a phone number, along with an email address. She reached for her cell automatically, then stopped, remembering that she wasn't supposed to use it here. The elevator dinged then, and she got out and turned right, keeping her eyes open for a courtesy phone as she went. There was one outside of the ICU, but she didn't use it yet. Instead, she went to the windows, looked in... and there he was.
He didn't look right. Never mind the monitors hooked up to him, the bag hanging with its tube running down to his arm, the bruises and bandages. Justin never slept that way, on his back, arms at his sides. He should be sleeping on his side (with his arms around me), not like that. Alex felt an urge to tap on the glass, even raised her hand up and rested it against there, but there were two people working in there, and other patients besides Justin, and if she did, they might kick her out.
So Alex watched silently, staring at her brother through the glass, slowly crying. Justin's chest rose and fell, and sometimes he moved a little, and it was good to see that he was at least still alive. There was a clock on the wall, and she checked it sometimes as time slid by. At fifteen 'til, she went back to the phone, wiped her face dry, pulled out the paper with Miranda's number again, and pushed the buttons. She got a recorded message, then noticed the sign by the phone saying "Please dial '9' first for an outside line. Local and toll-free calls only."
It rang three times, and Alex was sure she was going to get voice mail, when she got a "Hi." It took Alex a moment to speak, since she was expecting it to go on with the standard "I'm unable to take your call" kind of thing, but it didn't.
"Hi, Miranda? It's Alex," she said finally. "I... I kind of need a place to stay tonight."
"You can stay here," Miranda said from the other end. "Did something happen?"
"Yeah - not like that, though. Justin got hit by a car," she blurted, then had to stop as tears suddenly threatened.
"Oh... oh my God. How bad is it?"
"They don't know yet for sure." As she spoke, Alex took hold of the handset cord, started to twirl it. "They think he's going to live, but he's unconscious, and he might be that way for a day or two. He's in the ICU, so I can't stay with him, and... I don't think I can sleep in the dorm by myself."
"Of course. Do you need me to come get you? Where are you?"
"I'm at Presbyterian Hospital - the one closest to campus. But I can get back to campus on my own. It won't be 'til later, though - they have visiting hours until ten, and I want to stay as long as I can."
"Okay. Do you know where Jefferson is? I'm in 421 there. I've got a roommate, but I'm sure she won't mind."
"Thanks," Alex said with a small smile. "I can find it. I'll be there by eleven."
"Okay. Just call up from outside, and I'll come down to let you in."
Alex nodded. "Yeah, I know the drill." Not that I've done it that often, since I can teleport into Justin's room, but I know it. "Thanks again."
"Of course. I hope he gets better quick."
"Yeah." Alex smiled weakly, said, "Me too. Bye."
After Miranda's answering goodbye, Alex hung up, then went back to the window, looked at Justin, who was still the same, then at the clock. It hadn't quite taken all of three minutes to make the call, she discovered. Okay. Seven more minutes, then I have to clear out. She sighed, thinking, This is gonna be a long night.