After her mother left the hospital, Taylor decided to go to sleep. The nurse came in and put her into bed. It made Taylor feel like a little kid all over again- and she hated the feeling. Slowly, she faded off into what started out as a light sleep and gradually grew deeper.
Taylor was by a pool, just relaxing and basking in the sun. It felt good to get a break from the city. After all, she needed a vacation. She decided that she was going to take a dip in the water and she slipped into the pool. Suddenly it felt like there were weights holding her legs down and she drifted into deeper water. She fought to keep her head above water. Her arms felt like they wouldn't work and the more she tried to keep her head out of the water, the more the weight of the water drug her down. She gasped for air and slowly she was submerged, unable to call out or resurface until she blacked out.
Taylor's body began to shake and quiver. It was apparent that she was having a nightmare. Her breathing became faster and faster. Then she entered a full fledged seizure. She was not in control of her body as it shook violently in her bed. With each movement her body edged closer to the side of the bed, and with no one around to stop her she hit the floor and began thrashing around like a fish out of water. A nurse who happened to be walking up the hall saw Taylor on the floor.
"I need a doctor in here!" She cried out as she rushed into the room to try to prevent Taylor from injuring herself.
Additional nurses and the doctor rushed into the room. Then, as suddenly as it began, the seizing stopped.
"I want a CT Scan STAT!" The doctor ordered, "And someone get her mother on the phone." He added as he began to do a quick assessment of Taylor's condition.
He looked at the nurses.
"Come on Ms. Taylor, you've got to help us here." He said under his breath
They were able to get Taylor to CT scan, her body lie still on the table after they had administered medicine to hopefully prevent any further seizures. After the scan they moved her back to the ICU and watched and waited.
Beth Taylor rushed to the hospital. They hadn't told her much on the phone other than the fact that Taylor had suffered a set back and she needed to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. When she reached the ICU a nurse asked her to be seated and she would get the doctor.
After about 5 minutes a well dressed doctor came out to speak with her.
"Mrs. Taylor?" The man asked
"Yes?" Beth stood up, noticeably worried.
"I'm Dr. Elliott." He said. "Let's go some place a little more private shall we?"
He led Beth to the same room that she had been brought into before. He motioned for her to sit as he closed the door.
"Earlier today your daughter had another seizure. We got a CT scan afterwards and it shows that there is what we call a Sub-dural Hemotoma. Which means that she has blood pooling in her brain. We put a tube down her throat to breathe for her. And we are also monitoring for electrical activity." He paused, "As I'm sure you know, the next 24 hours are going to be crucial. I'm sorry that I can't give you any more definitive answers, but I think that you need to spend time with your daughter."
Beth's reaction was like being hit in the chest with a bag of bricks. Tears began to stream down her face. It seemed that now the situation was far worse than it had been in the week following her daughter's injury.
She followed the nurse to Taylor's bedside.
"Is there anyone you would like us to call for you?" The nurse asked
"My son." Beth replied, "He should be here as well."
"Do you have his number?" The nurse asked
She nodded and fumbled around with the piece of paper to write down Adam's phone number. Then she looked at her daughter, once again hooked up to all of the machines with tubes running every which way.
She wished that it weren't her daughter lying in front of her. Taylor had gone through so much. Just when it looked like the worst was over, this setback came and knocked her back down again. But Taylor was a fighter and Beth believed that she would recover.
"Why am I being so selfish?" Beth asked herself, "What more do you have to go through? I can't even imagine the rolls being reversed."
Beth sat in self pity. Her daughter was in a frail state and at this point Beth doubted that she would make it through the night. She couldn't blame her daughter for giving up the fight, but deep down she did blame her for not fighting harder. It was agonizing sitting in the ICU.
It took about an hour before Adam rushed in. He was still in his scrubs because he had been called at work.
"Mom, what happened?" Adam asked
He escorted Beth out to the waiting room where Beth explained what had occurred. Adam's heart sank as he looked back towards his little sister's hospital bed.
"I know how hard this is." He became choked up, "But mom, maybe it's best if she did…" He couldn't bring himself to say it
Beth cried harder as she fell into her son's arms.
"I can't lose her too Adam." She cried, "I can't."
Adam cried with her, "I know mom, I don't think I could either."
Walsh wandered up the hallway looking for Taylor's room. When he reached it he was shocked to see that it was empty. He walked up to the nurse's station.
"Excuse me." He said as a nurse looked up.
"May I help you?" She asked
"Can you tell me where Alex Taylor's room is? I stopped by where I thought it was, but the room's empty." He said
The nurse's face dropped. She thought for a moment and watched his confused expression.
"She was moved to the ICU." The nurse said
"ICU? I thought that she was doing well?" Walsh was confused
"There was a problem this morning." The nurse replied
"Is she okay?" Walsh asked, the concern showing in his voice
"I don't know. I can show you to the ICU." The nurse offered
"No, I know how to get there." Walsh replied, "Thank you."
He turned and walked back down the hallway. As he walked he took out his cell phone and dialed.
"Lt. Johnson?" His voice cracked. "It's Billy." There was a pause. "There's a problem with Alex." After another pause he said, "Maybe you should meet me at Mercy in the ICU."
He closed his phone and headed upstairs. As he approached the ICU waiting area he saw Taylor's mom and brother. Both of them appeared as though they had been crying. He took a deep breath and entered the waiting room. He didn't want to feel like he was intruding.
Beth saw him and cried out, "Billy!"
He rushed over to her.
"What's wrong? I came to visit and found out she got moved up here." He asked as she hugged him
The look on Beth and Adam's faces let Walsh know that it was not good news.
"She had a seizure, and her brain is bleeding." Beth replied, "They're not sure if she's going to survive the next 24 hours."
Walsh's heart sank as Beth burst into tears. He looked over to Adam, who was also crying. It was hard to fight back the emotions and Walsh too had tears streaming down his face. Alex Taylor was one of his best friends, and losing her would be a huge loss to him.
It wasn't too long before Lt. Johnson arrived.
"What's wrong?" He asked almost out of breath from the run that he made to get to them
"Taylor's not doing good Lieu." Walsh said
Lt. Johnson searched for words.
"She was fine when I left here this morning!" He exclaimed
"She took a downward turn." Walsh added
Lt. Johnson didn't want to believe it, but Beth shook her head. Lt. Johnson sat down in a chair.
"What's the outlook?" He asked
"Grim." Adam said
Lt. Johnson ran his hand through his thinning hair.
"Billy, can you hold it together enough to call everyone?" He asked
Walsh nodded.
"Okay, Beth, is it okay with you if we call the Squad?" Lt. Johnson asked
Beth nodded in agreement; it was times like these when the extended family could offer love and support. And she knew that they would want to be there.
The first call that Walsh made was to Kim. He got her answering machine.
"Yeah Kim, its Billy. When you get this message, you need to get to Mercy. Taylor's not doing well."
He ended that call and immediately tried Jimmy.
"Jimmy?" Walsh asked, "Yeah it's me. Listen you need to hurry down to Mercy…"
The same call got made to everyone on the Squad. After about 5 minutes he had either talked to everyone or left a message. Now there was one last thing to do- pray…