Sorry for being slow at updating AGAIN, I'm so glad that you still keep reading & reviewing. The reason for the slow updating isn't that I don't know what to write, but merely that I just couldn't get these two next chapters the way I wanted them, I find them both a bit boring... Hope you all manage to get through them without falling asleep ;) Chapter 12 up here, chapter 13 will be up tomorrow. I wonder if you will recognize the young doctor in this chapter ;) He will be a part of the story for a while I think, I have some plans for him, but nothing certain yet. Please read & review... I really need your openion on this. And if there are logical errors when it comes to how things work in the states, I'm sorry for not being more into that :)


Chapter 12

Jordan looks like he's about to say something when he suddenly collapses at her feet. Angela tries to catch him, but just isn't fast enough. "Jordan! Oh my God! Jordan!" Her screaming makes Pattie and Graham hurry over to her.

Pattie is terrified at the sight in front of her; Jordan lifeless on the pavement and her daughter on her knees next to him trying to wake him. Angela looks up with desperation in her eyes. "Mum, he's hardly breathing!" Tears are pouring down her face, but she doesn't seem to notice. Patties stomach ties itself into a giant and painful knot as she kneels down beside her daughter and realizes that she is right, but even worse is the bluish tone of Jordans skin, like he's not getting enough oxygen . Angela strokes the hair back from his face. "Mum, I think he's got a fever, we must do something!" "Don't worry honey, we'll get him help! Graham call an ambulance!" As Pattie turns her head a confused look appears on her face, her husband must have gone back into the house. Danielle is the only one standing there, with a scared look on her face. "Danielle, go back inside and check if daddy's called an ambulance. If not, you do it, ok?" She smiles reassuringly at her youngest daughter and manages to sound much more calm than she is. When neither Danielle nor Graham returns within a few minutes, Pattie decides to go back to the house to look for them.

"I'll be right back!" Pattie jumps to her feet and runs inside. Angela doesn't even seem to notice. "Graham?" She finds him at the kitchen table reading his newspaper. At the sound of her voice he looks up, clearly irritated. "What?" He snaps at her. "Did you call an ambulance?" Graham just stares at her. "No!" "But…" Pattie tries. "And I'm not going to. That boy is drunk or stoned or whatever. It's not our obligation to solve this. Heaven knows what kind of diseases he might have! Have you thought about that Pattie? What he might pass on to our daughter? Have you thought about that??? Or are you as caught up in him as she is?" "Graham!" She looks at him in shock. "You can't be serious! And anyway this is not the time! Jordan needs our help, no matter what you think! And talking of obligations, it is our obligation to help! As humans!" Her voice has turned into a shrill. "I'm out of here!" Graham picks up his car keys and head for the door. Shortly she can hear his car start and drive away.

Danielle enters the room with the phone still in her hand. "Why did dad leave?" "Uhm, he had a meeting." Pattie knows she doesn't exactly sound very convincing. "Ok…." Danielle hesitates for a second. "The ambulance will be here in 10 minutes. Shouldn't we go back out to Angela?" Pattie nods. "You go ahead, I'll just try to get hold of Jordans dad, his last name is Catalano, right?" Danielle shrugs. "I think so, but I'm not sure…"

It causes her physical pain to listen to the ragged and shallow breathing. Angela keeps talking, words just pouring out of her. She keeps begging him not to leave her, telling him how much she cares about him. "I'm so sorry Jordan…." She's frightened half to death of what might happen, and the feeling of guilt for knowing he was ill and not doing anything almost tears her apart.

Jordan tries to focus on Angelas voice, he can't hear the words, but the sound surrounds him. It makes him feel save in a way, he clings to her voice like it's his only lifeline. He wants so much to open his eyes, to look at her, but it all hurts too much, and he's so tired, it feels like a relief to just let himself float away into the darkness.

Danielle watches her sister from a few feet away. She is scared and confused, she has only met Jordan a couple of times and doesn't know him at all, but still, anyone in this condition would have freaked her out, and seeing how frightened her sister is and how desperate she sounds just adds to it.

"How is he?" Pattie kneels down beside Angela again, not needing to wait for a reply to both see and hear that there's no improvement. "I tried to call his father, but the phone is disconnected, I…" Angela raises her head. "Mum, what if he dies?" Her shoulders shake from suppressed sobbing, but she tries to keep her voice calm. "Don't think like that sweetie!" Pattie takes off her jacket and puts it over Jordan. Even if he seem to have quite a high fever, the ground is icy and cold, and the poor kid doesn't need any more health problems. "Where's dad?" Luckily the ambulance arrives and Pattie doesn't have to answer.

The paramedics pulls Angela aside, gently forcing her to let go of his hand, and start working on Jordan. Pattie embraces both her daughters, and they remain in each others arms as they watch the hectic activity in front of them. Jordan looks like a doll when they lift him over to the stretcher. They place an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose and sticks an needle into his hand to give him fluids. "We're ready! Any of you riding with him?" Pattie strokes Angelas hair. "You go, dear! We'll be right behind you!" Angela climbs in after the stretcher and the car starts moving immediately.

"You can sit here, hold his hand if you want to, but be careful with the needle." "Is he going to…" She isn't able to complete the sentence before her voice breaks. "He's very sick, dear, but his breathing has improved a bit with the oxygen. Is he your boyfriend?" The paramedic is just trying to make conversation, there's nothing new to the situation. This is something he has been through so many times. Making conversation usually calms the next of kin, and that's important if they are going to be of any help. "Uhm, no….we kind of broke up….but I still love him!" Angela takes her eyes of Jordan for a second and looks sadly at the paramedic.

At the hospital Jordan is rushed off, leaving Angela all alone with her thoughts, and a number of forms for her to fill out. All the questions makes her realize how little she actually knows about his life. Angela sinks down on the worn couch hiding her head in her shaking hands. Her eyes feel soar and dry, and there's a quivering in her stomach that almost makes her sick. She has never been more scared in her life. The thought of loosing Jordan has made everything else feel trivial and immature, caught up in her own little world of misery she has not been able to see how he needs her too, and that everything he has done lately, has been an effort to make things right between them. Even knowing how he struggles with words, and his reluctancy to talk about feelings, she has been pushing him, trying to make him run that extra mile for her, without giving him anything in return. She can't seem to remember any of the good reasons she felt she had for not talking to him. What if she never gets the chance to talk to Jordan ever again? What if he…. Angelas mind keeps revolving around that one word she dreads to say out loud. Without noticing she starts praying to a God she never actually thought existed.

Pattie and Danielle enters the room, running over to Angela, and at the same time a young doctor walks in from the opposite direction. "Jordan Catalano?" His Australian accent is prominent. Angela nods, she just can't bring herself to say anything, he looks so serious. Pattie puts one hand on her shoulder, as to tell her that she'll take care of things. "How is he, doctor?" "Are you family?" "No, Angela here, and Jordan are friends, and he was outside our house when he collapsed. I've been trying to get hold of his father, but without any luck. My name is Patty Chase by the way, Angelas mum." He smiles, it makes him look even younger, and Angela can't help to think if he really is old enough to actually be a real doctor. "We share the same name, I'm Doctor Robert Chase!" He says holding out his hand. "Let's go to my office!" Dr Chase walks out of the room, apparently expecting them to follow.

Dr Chase waits for the three of them in the door to a small, but nice office. The picture of a beautiful brunette holds the place of honour on his desk. "My wife, Allison!" He says, noticing them looking at the picture. "She's a doctor too, but she's on maternity leave." He turns another picture to show them two beautiful twin baby girls. "Sorry! I tend to get a bit carried away when it comes to my familiy!" Dr Chase sits down and opens the file in front of him. "Hmmm…… Jordan has pneumonia." Angela can't help but to let out a sigh of relief. "People don't die from that, do they…" Saying the d-word is like letting her guard down, and tears start welling up in her eyes again. "It's normally not a very serious diagnosis in a young and healthy person." "And this is a normal case, right? Øl,1rtffff!" She wants to scream it in his face, but it ends up more like a whisper, and she grabs the armrests of her chair so hard her fingers get num. "What exactly does that mean?" Pattie puts her hand on top of Angelas.

"In Jordans case it's a bit more severe. We think that the cause of his pneumonia is two broken ribs. You see, chest injuries can lead to pneumonia because of…." He trails off in an explanation filled with medical terms, and Angela drifts away into her own thoughts again. Dr Chase looks up from the file to see if they follow him. "Sorry, that got a bit technical." "Is he going to be ok?" Angela whispers, fearing that she doesn't really want to hear the answer. "He's in quite bad shape, the pneumonia, his broken ribs, the fact that he's very dehydrated, he will need a long period of recovery to regain his normal strength. He needs proper care…" Angela tries hard to hold back her tears. "Thank you!" Dr Chase smiles sympathetically at her, before he continues. "There's something else, though. From what you wrote in the forms here, Jordan lives with his father?" He looks through the papers in front of him one more time to be certain that he hasn't missed anything. "Uhm….yeah…."Angela tries desperately to clear her throat. "Ok, you see when we examined Jordan, we found a lot of both old and new bruises, scares and injuries consistent with physical abuse. We fear that his father has been beating him, over a long period of time. The extent of his injuries is so severe that we have alerted the police." Angela looks at him, shocked.

"You said you hadn't been able to get in touch with Mr Catalano?" Dr Chase turns to Pattie. "No…that's right!" She shoots her oldest daughter a worried glance. "Did you have any idea about this, Angela? Did you ever meet Jordans father?" Angela shakes her head, slowly. She's relieved that Jordan is going to be ok, but still the thought of him being beaten and tortured by his father, all the things he must hve gone through all alone, makes her throat feel thick. "Poor-poor Jordan! He said he'd been in a fight…" Angela finally manages to get out. "Shane didn't like believe him, though. Jordan almost never fights, he even hates it when people argue...I guess now I have like no problem understanding why that is…." She looks down at her hands. "I never met his father, but…." "Sorry to interrupt you, Angela, but who is Shane?" Dr Chase asks. "Jordans best friend, they grew up together…" Angela continues to tell them everything Shane had told her last night. Pattie looks more than a little concerned. "Angela, you should have told us! Maybe we could have helped!"

That does it for Angela, she isn't able to hold back anymore. "But, mum! It's not like I knew anything before last night, and Shane wouldn't say too much. He thought that I should allow Jordan to tell me about things himself, if he wanted to. I just had a feeling that the relationship between Jordan and his father wasn't actually great…. I feel so guilty! Do you really thing that I could have done something to prevent this???? How could you have helped???? Daddy hates Jordan….." The others can hardly understand what she's saying through the crying. "Everytime I tried to talk about feelings, Jordan always closed up, it's like he doesn't like people getting to close to the real him or something, and when he really wanted to talk, I pushed him away…." Dr Chase gets up from his chair and walks round his desk. He sits down on the edge of it, it front of Angela, placing his hands on her shoulders in a comforting manner. "I think you have done a lot for him, Angela. You obviously care for him very much!" "I love love him…" She sobs. "Then you should tell him, show him, he need you. From what you say, it seems like he doesn't have that many people to count on in his life. And he must trust you, or else he wouldn't have come to your house today, don't you agree?"

Dr Chase tries to incuourage her, he understands the guilt she feels, he's been there, he thinks he knows how she feels. Jordans story has captured him in a way he hasn't experienced in a long time. Ever since he was forced to quit his high profile job with Dr House, he has kind of missed the feeling of really getting involveld with the patient, in a hospital like this there's just no time for it, usually. Robert Chase decides that this time he'll make an exception, he'll take whatever time needed to help this young man. Abuse is, he regrets to say, a much to familiar subject for him.

"How is he doing in school, now? You said he had at least started to come to turns with hiw reading disability?" Angela looks up at the doctor, a bit confused, not sure what this has to do with anything, but still answers. "He's doing better, I signed him up for this tutoring thing, and he actually like went. He doesn't cut class that often anymore either." Dr Chase nods thoughtfully. "Good!" They are interrupted by the phone ringing, and he excuses himself. "Dr Chase. Right, no, he's 18. Ok, uhm….well, somehow I'll find a solution, if not I'll call you back!" He hangs up and turns to the Chases again. "That was the investigation team. They are on their way over to Jordans house now, to search for his father. Jordan is 18 and regarded as an adult by the authorities. When we have established the cause of things, we must search into what can be done to help him on with his life in the best way possible. He'll be given funds to get through school, but he'll probably neet to get a job to get by. And the fact that he has some extra needs, complicates it a bit."

Dr Chase frowns concerned, and seems almost lost in his own thoughts when he continues. "No matter what. He is going to need a long recovery and he's going to need care. If his condition improves as we hope and think, we can keep him here for a day or two, then he'll have to go home, that will be a problem…" "He can stay with us for a while, at least until he's feeling better!" Pattie sounds determined. Angela glances at her mother, both shocked and surprised, there was no way she had expected that coming from her. "Of course that would be the perfect solution, but are you sure? What about your husband?" Dr Chase obviously remembers Angelas comment earlier about her father hating Jordan. "Graham will be fine with it! Jordan needs us, he's been through enough, poor boy. I can even work from home for a while to make sure he has everything he needs." "Where is he going to sleep?" Angela asks, and at the same time trying to shake off the feeling that her father won't be fine with this at all. "He can have your room until we figure out something else." "Angela can sleep with me, I don't mind!" Danielle speaks up for the first time since they arrived at the hospital, and Angela bends over to hug her little sister. Sure, she can be a pain sometimes, but with all that has happened, she is starting to realize how lucky she is to have a family who cares. "Thank you!" She whispers, close to tears once again. Dr Chase smiles at her, he looks relieved, like he really cares about what happens to Jordan.

"Can I see Jordan…" Angela can't wait any longer. "We have given him something for the pain, so I think he might still be a bit out of it, but sure! I'll get a nurse to take you there." She's up before the doctor can finish. "Angela, it may lokk scary with all the tubes, wires and instruments, but it's only there to help him. He's on mechanical respiratory support, but just as a precausion. Do you understand?" Dr Chase follows Angela out into the hallway, and as the nurse arrives, he returns to his office to continue making the arrangements with Pattie.

"Here it is! He's sleeping, but you can go in and sit with him if you like!" The nurse continues down the hall, leaving Angela. Taking a deep breath she slowly pushes the door open. Even if Dr Chase had warned her, she can't help but be a bit startled by all the equipment surrounding Jordan. The beeping sounds of the monitors seem incredibly loud. It's like entering another world or something. She takes it all in as she walks over to the bed. A bright white and sterile world, cold in all it's presence. The tube down Jordans throat looks painful. He's even paler than before, if that is at all possible, looking almost transparent against the white linen. His hair has been pulled back from his face, just a small part of his fringe falls down over one eye. The bruise on his cheek has turned a slightly yellowish colour. He looks so fragile, like he'll break at the slightest touch, reminding her of one of her grandmothers collective porselen dolls. Angela reaches out to gently touch his cheek, and is somewhat awestruck by the warmness of his skin, he looks so cold, so lifeless.

Angela drags one of the chairs over to the bed and sits down. Overwhelmed by emotions, she finds comfort in the mere fact that Jordans chest is moving slightly up and down. She feels totally drained of all energy. Carefully she takes his left hand between hers, and brings it up to her lips. There's so much Angela wants to say, but she's scared of breaking the silence, of disturbing him. Instead she lowers his hand again and leans down to rest her forehead on their intertwined fingers, wishing he would open his beautiful eyes and look at her.