This is a bonus chapter for today. Be sure to read Chapter 24 which was posted earlier.

Chapter 25

Frank was standing by the window in Danny's room, surveying the city and waiting for the grim news he had just delivered to his oldest to sink in. He braced himself for the inevitable questions to begin and thought back to the evening before when he and his entourage had finally arrived at NewYork-Presbyterian…

Friday, 8:55 p.m.

The chief of staff was already waiting for him as the Police Commissioner was quickly escorted a private room just outside of the emergency department. At this point all he knew was that both of his sons had been found unconscious by the New York State Police at the scene of a single vehicle accident just off of route 219, about twenty miles northwest of the city. They had both been deemed as critical on site and had been life flighted here to the closest major trauma center. From the initial reports Garrett had managed to track down while they were still en route, Danny had to be extricated from the car and had a broken left arm and possible internal bleeding. Jamie was found unresponsive on the ground away from the vehicle with probable serious head injuries, but the rest of his condition was unclear.

"How are my boys?" Frank had demanded in a booming voice the second he cleared the doorway. There would be time for formalities later.

"Commissioner," Dr. Michael Gregory quickly addressed, the tension in the room was palpable. Frank Reagan was a very powerful man in the city, and his presence demanded immediate respect. "Sir, we are currently treating both of your sons. The oldest, Daniel, was the driver and came in unconscious with a broken arm and chest injuries after being pinned in his vehicle. Our scans detected internal damage, so he has been taken to surgery to repair that. The last report I have from the general surgeon is that the bleeding was not too serious and has been stopped and his vitals are strong. Our orthopaedist will be going in once that is done to fix and stabilize his arm, then he will be taken to recovery as soon as they are finished with him."

"And my other son?" Frank prodded with some relief at the news that Danny's injuries did not appear to be as serious as he'd feared. "Jamie, how is he?"

"I am Jamison's attending. He remains unconscious, but his vitals are also stable now. It appears though that he suffered multiple head injuries and he has just been brought back from CT where we performed a thorough scan. There is some swelling in his brain but it does not appear to be critical at this point, and I would expect him to be waking up soon. He'll need to be watched carefully over the next 48 to 72 hours to make sure there is no bleeding or pressure increases. He does have significant bruising with a fractured cheekbone and some facial cuts that will need to be addressed by our plastic surgeon. A Sergeant Williams from the State Police is waiting for you. He will explain what they found on scene. It does appear that Jamison got out of the vehicle under his own power at some point and then collapsed against a concrete guard rail. I believe that is most likely how he suffered the second trauma to his face. I can take you down there now to see him if you'd like."

"Yes, please," Frank breathed in relief, nodding to Garrett on his way out of the room. "Give my father a call and let him know what we've heard in case the girls make it back to the house before I've had a chance to tell them." His boys were battered a bit, but this could have been so much worse, he consoled himself as he followed Dr. Gregory down the hall to a treatment area. He took a deep breath to steel himself before he stepped in and moved closer to the form lying still on the gurney. Despite his preparations, he still hissed as he took in Jamie's swollen face with it's deep purple bruising and heavy cut across his cheek that looked like it had been steristripped together for the moment. His neck was still encased in a cervical collar and at the moment he bore little resemblance to the young man his father knew and loved.

"He's been trying to come back to us," a friendly nurse with a respectful smile addressed him from the opposite side of the bed. "Mumbling something about the car for the last several minutes, but he's not quite there yet. Maybe if he hears a familiar voice it will help."

Frank nodded and reached down for his son's hand before softly running the back of two fingers across his unmarred right cheek. "Jamie," he spoke clearly in a tone that had been imprinted on all of his children's hearts since the day they were born. "Son, it's Dad. You were in a car accident but you're going to be okay now. You and Danny are both safe here at the hospital. Do you understand? Can you hear me?"

Jamie responded with a small groan and something unintelligible but his fingers gave Frank's hand a small squeeze and his father was encouraged.

"C'mon now, Jamison," he admonished a little more firmly. "You can do better than that, son. I know it. You need to open your eyes and speak to me." Well that might be a little tough, Frank thought with regret, he doubted Jamie would be looking at much through that swollen left eye anytime soon.

"Dad!" Jamie managed to finally blurt out clearly as he struggled to wake himself. Frank began to grow concerned after another minute though as the boy's breathing had become ragged and his movements were stronger and more erratic. Dr. Gregory quickly stepped back into the room as the monitors showed a dramatic increase in Jamie's respiration and heart rate. He was suddenly combative and trying to pull himself up on the table, clutching his father's hand with one eye open and unfocused. "Dad! Joe was," he gasped as three sets of hands were now trying to restrain him. "I saw him, Dad! We were accident in... with Chevelle… of the Blue Templar because... It's back... Joe and Sonny… Joe… he was going to shoot Danny. You have to him stop! He wants to kill us… he wants be over!" Jamie cried as he was shoved back down and Frank could vaguely hear the doctor ordering the nurses to push something immediately. "No! Tried but dead now! Sorry! Didn't mean... but had gun and was going to Danny hurt!… No, Dad, please don't th'm let… m'm… so s'rry..." His words began to slur again as his body sank back down on the bed and he was still once more. Frank was still trembling in disbelief at Jamie's outburst as Dr. Gregory pulled him away from the bedside.

"Commissioner, can you tell me what that was all about?" he demanded. "Who is this Joe person and why does he want to hurt them? There were no indications anyone else was with them in the car."

"It's his other brother," Frank said in shock as he looked up in the doctor's eyes and gave a heavy swallow. "He was killed more than seven years ago in the line of duty by members of a group named the Blue Templar. And the accident Jamie was talking about… the one with the Chevelle… that was more than five years ago. He was speaking about these things as if they happened today. His brother never hurt him, they were very close. What's wrong with him?"

"You're sure?" Dr. Gregory mumbled, and then explained himself when he saw the look in Frank's eyes, "well of course you are. I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to question you about that. It's just that I didn't expect this type of issue given the results of the scan we just saw. We must have missed something," he said shaking his head, "or there is a problem just developing."

"What type of problem?"

"Your son is displaying signs of retrograde amnesia… problems with past memories and expressive aphasia… he's mixing up his words. He's combative and that can also be a sign of a traumatic brain injury. He needs to be sedated heavily immediately to reduce any elevated intracranial pressure and to prevent a secondary injury. Second impact syndrome is a condition causing rapid and severe brain swelling and often catastrophic results." The doctor was scanning Jamie's chart and making notes as he went. "He needs to go back to CT right now in case there's a bleed," he called over to the nurse. "Call down and get him booked back in immediately and push that second round of sedative. Be sure to stay with him and watch his respiration rate carefully in case he needs to be intubated."

"Dr. Gregory, Jamie is sensitive to any kind of IV narcotic," Frank warned. "Even in small amounts… the effects can sometimes last for a long time. Isn't that dangerous with a head injury?"

"Yes, it can be but I'm afraid we don't have a choice right now," the doctor explained somewhat irritably. He was not used to his orders being questioned. "We need to stop further damage from occurring if we can. Right now he is still breathing well on his own so we will hold off on ventilating him unless that becomes necessary. This could be a long process, Commissioner Reagan. Brain injuries like this with an extended retrograde amnesia and aphasia can be difficult to treat. In Jamison's instance it looks as if he sustained multiple blows to the head from opposite directions. The combination of a severe initial injury, secondary insult, and diffuse swelling that doesn't show up immediately on the scans is associated with a poor outlook, particularly in adults. I'm sorry, I wish I had better news. We'll be moving him to the ICU on the fourth floor when he comes back up. You can go wait upstairs. Your other son will be brought into recovery right across the hall from there."

Frank stood in shock as he was abruptly left alone in the corridor as the doctor and nurses rushed away with his son. Jamie had been awake and talking; injured and confused, yes, but he had recognized his own father and responded to him. How could he seemingly be recovering one instant and then considered critical and swept away from him in the very next? It was with a very heavy heart that Frank pulled out his cell phone and dialed his father at home while he made his way towards the fourth floor. They needed to find Linda and Eddie and get them over here as soon as possible.

So poor Frank is still in the dark about what is really going on and everyone thinks that Jamie has been completely scrambled at this point. Next up, Danny comes clean with his unhappy father who takes the investigation on himself and soon realizes that no one is out of danger yet.