"Can you slow down!" Tori yelled gripping the arm rests tightly as Noah zipped through traffic
"No, I can't I just heard my sister's in labor I need to be there, I need to get there before it's too late"
"We'll get there, but I would prefer if we got there in one piece!"
"This is what my mom was calling me about! Why didn't I answer!"
"Cause you were drunk" Tori said under her breath as she leaned her head against the cool window
"I should have answered the phone, if I answered the phone I would have been there already"
The room was quiet, Jess passed out in her hospital bed, Liam pacing violently outside the door his phone held close to his ear, Miranda sitting passed out her head resting on her hand while Emma sat on her lap the two sharing the last remaining chair, Alison holding her head in her hands while, Noel's face hid behind his cell phone screen. No one spoke, they didn't know what to say. What do you say when something like this happens? What are you supposed to do? How are you supposed to act?
The door swung opened as Noah and Tori ran inside, Tori tripping over herself and crashing to the floor causing all eyes to dart towards her.
"Sorry" She whispered picking up her glasses sliding them back onto her face
"Mom, Dad?" Noah said quietly sensing the tension in the room "What's going on? Did I miss it?"
"Noah come with us" Noel ordered guiding Noah and Alison outside the hospital room "We need to talk"
"Hi" Tori greeted shyly "How's it going?"
"It's alright" Emma repeated shifting anxiously on Miranda's lap careful not to wake her "She hasn't really been sleeping well these last months I guess it caught up with her"
"Oh, how's Jess?" Tori asked desperate to keep the awkward silence to a minimal
"How do I look?" She groaned her eyes flickering opened
"Hey babe, how are you feeling?"
"Like crap" Jess admitted wiping a tear from her face
"Can I join you?" Tori asked walking over towards the bed
"Please"
Tori crawled next to Jess burying her head into Jess' shoulder intertwining their hands. She knew something was wrong, she knew something had happened to Jess' daughter, but she didn't know what she could do to help, all she could do was lie next to her and hope that everything would turn out alright.
"Thanks" Jess whispered holding back her tears
Out of all the people that were with her during this hard time, Tori was the only one who knew how to make her feel better. She didn't try and talk about what had happened, she didn't try and play therapist and get her to confess her feelings on labor, she just laid there her head buried in her shoulder waiting for the moment when she was ready to talk.
"What are you talking about? Is she okay?" Noah asked
"She's okay for now, she's in the NICU" Alison explained
"She'll survive right?"
"The doctors are going to do everything that they can to save Jamie"
"Can I see her?"
"Not yet, but as soon as the doctors give us the green light. We'll go visit her" Noel promised "But for now we need you to go in there and reassure your sister, show her that she's not alone" Noel pulled Noah close to him "And get yourself cleaned up, you reek of alcohol"
With that Noah bolted back towards the room leaving his parents alone in the waiting room.
"I think I'm gonna head back to Jason's for a few hours, you know get some sleep" Alison said taking a few steps away from Noel
"When are we going to stop this?" He asked reaching for her hand
"Stop, what?"
"Walking on eggshells around each other, pretending that we don't even know each other. I miss you Ali, I want you back"
"I know" Ali said slowly "But, Noel I've told you this a hundred times we can't be together if I'm in love with someone else"
"But she'll never love you back! She'll never leave Paige and you know that, deep down you know that you'll never have Emily and yet you keep holding on to the hope that one day you'll be together"
"Noel let go of my arm, you're hurting me!" Ali yelled pulling her arm from Noel's tight grip "I can't chose who I love but I can sure as hell chose whether or not I'm going to fight for them!"
"Amy Maria Fields-McCullers please stand"
Amy rolled her eyes quickly as she rose to her feet.
"Ms. Fields-McCullers you are found guilty of recruiting members for a gang, you will be sentenced to twelve months in juvenile detention"
"Amy" Paige said shaking her daughter gently causing her to jerk awake
"No!" She screamed her heartbeat racing
"Shh….. you were screaming, baby it was just a dream"
"It's not just a dream" Amy said breathlessly "It's my reality, I could be sentenced to a year in juvie tomorrow"
"Everything is going to be just fine, you're not gonna end up in juvie. I promise you"
"Is Mom coming?"
"Why wouldn't she?" Paige asked sitting on the end of her daughter's bed
"I know she has work, and she hates to cancel on her patients"
"She won't have to cancel on her patients, she's not working tomorrow. She'll be right there next to me, and we'll both be with you no matter what the outcome"
"I'm scared" Amy said tears dripping from her eyes "I don't want to go to juvie, I was just trying to help my brother, I didn't convince anyone to join a gang. It's not my fault that Connor's dead!" Amy whined her tears now overpowering her
"Oh baby" Paige pulled her daughters into her arms
"I don't know. I don't know! I..I..I'm telling you everything I know which is basically nothing!" Liam stuttered attempting to explain the current situation
"Liam, how can you not know what's going on! She's your daughter" Toby said angrily
'She's your daughter' those simple words repeated over and over again in his mind. His parents still didn't know, Jess' parents didn't know. In fact no one knew that he wasn't the father, no one except for Alison who was already sworn to secrecy about the fact that Emmerson was Jamie's biological father.
"Liam!" Toby screamed into the phone pulling Liam from his thoughts
"Dad, I don't know anything, but once I know more I promise I'll call you, and then I'll call mom"
She waited on the steps for the door to open, the door that she had walked through thousands maybe millions of times throughout her childhood, a door which held so many memories of her past, of her mother, her father, her brother.
"Why didn't you just walk in?" Jason asked gesturing Ali inside
"Cause I can't just walk inside your house that's like an invasion of privacy"
"It's your house to Ali, how many times do I need to tell you that?"
"Aunt Ali!" the young girl grin running towards Ali her arms opened
"Hey Gina, long time no see, its late shouldn't you be in bed?"
"I'm old enough to stay up all night" She laughed
"No, you're not you idiot. Damn little kids are so freaking stupid"
"Avery!" Jason yelled "Apologize"
"No thanks"
"Avery! Don't make me ask again!"
"What are you gonna do? Your gonna call Mom and tell her to take me back? I would just be heartbroken if you did that"
"Please don't do this" Jason begged "Why do you have to keep lashing out? You're acting like a child your twenty years old stop acting like a spoiled brat"
"Screw you!" He yelled rushing towards the door plugging his headphones into his ears
"Avery!"
"Ms. Kahn" the doctor said quietly not wanting to wake the others in the room
"Yes?" Jess yawned sleepily
"She's in the clear, she's gonna make it through the night"
"She is" Jess said excitedly sitting up in her bed causing Tori to slide onto the floor
"Damn it" Tori whined "Why am I always falling?"
"She's okay"
"Pipe down" Miranda groaned bringing her hands to her ears blocking out the sounds of their voices "It's like 12, I want to sleep"
"Miranda, Jamie's gonna be okay" Jess smiled
"Emma! Emma!" Tori yelled shaking Emma's shoulder "Jamie's gonna make it through the night"
"She's okay?"
"For now she's okay" Jess admitted happily "Liam!" She screamed as he entered the room
"Geez, if you want a soda to I'll get you one"
"Jamie's okay, she's gonna be okay tonight"
The soda can slipped from his fingers crashing to the ground spraying the room with diet coke, sprinkling Noah's face with the sticky substance.
"What the hell?"
"She's okay!" Jess grinned
"Good cause, I don't feel so well" Noah admitted his knees buckling beneath his weight causing him to tumble to the ground
"Noah!" Tori said nervously running to his side "What's wrong with him? What's happening?"
"He's having a seizure!" The doctor admitted as he called for help
