A/N: PLEASE READ! Before I get a million comments about this, please read this disclaimer: in this chapter there are some medical scenes. I don't know if they make sense medically, and I don't know when the medical discoveries were made, but just go with it. Thanks!
Josie opened her eyes and took in everything around her. The car was destroyed, and the windshield was shattered. Her mother wasn't in the car anymore. Her head was throbbing. She put her hand against her forehead, and her hand was covered in blood. She wanted her mom.
Mom, where's Mom, Josie thought to herself. She looked around and saw Rose's shoes in the window. Josie jumped out of the carseat and ran around to the front of the car. Rose was badly hurt, and Josie knew it. "Mom… Mommy… Wake up!"
She started to cry. Rose wasn't waking up. She was dead. But Josie needed to call 911. Her father always taught her that if anything happens, you have to call 911. She got back in the car, and dialed 911. An ambulance showed up and one of the paramedics started taking care of Rose, and told Josie she was alive. The other paramedic came up to Josie. "Sweetie, you hit your head. Can I put a bandage on it for you?"
"N-No," said Josie. "Just please, take care of my mom," said Josie.
"Okay," said the paramedic. "Your mom is in the ambulance, so you can get in, and we'll drive you both to the hospital."
"Can you please call my dad?" Josie asked.
"Of course, sweetie," said the paramedic. They started driving, and finally they arrived at the hospital.
They took Rose out of the ambulance and wheeled her into the hospital. A doctor came up to the ambulance where Josie was standing. "I heard you're the brave little girl who called 911." Josie nodded nervously, tears running down her face. "You saved your mother's life. And your father is inside."
Josie took the doctor's hand and jumped out of the ambulance. She slowly walked into the hospital and saw Jack inside. "Dad," Josie ran over to Jack and hugged him. He held her tightly and she started to cry.
"Josie, what happened?" Jack asked calmly, his hand holding a piece of gauze on the cut on her head. He tried his best not to sound angry; it wasn't Josie's fault.
"Mom was driving me to the doctor because my fever was worse. We were driving, and I said I thought I was going to be sick, so she was distracted, and a truck came out of nowhere. It came out of nowhere." Josie started to cry again.
"Oh Josie, I'm so sorry," said Jack. "But let me be clear. None of this is your fault. It's not anyone's fault. Okay?"
"That's not true," said Josie. "I distracted her. It's my fault."
"Come here," said Jack, and Josie sat next to him. "This isn't your fault. The man in the truck had an aneurism, which means his brain stopped working. It was not you, it was not Mom."
Josie began to cry. "Are you sure?"
Jack kissed her forehead. "Yes, I'm sure."
Josie was getting her cut treated, when Jack saw a familiar face. "Jena?"
Jena turned to look at Jack. "Jack, what are you doing here? I thought Rose was bringing Josie."
Jack stood up and walked over to Jena. "Rose and Josie got into a car accident. It's really bad, Jen. I don't think Rose's going to make it," he said, holding back his tears.
"Okay, let me check on her, okay? I'll come back." Jena walked away, but turned back around. "She'll be okay, Jack. You have to believe that."
"I hope so," said Jack.
After they dealt with Rose's most severe injuries, Rose was brought to a room. Jena came to find Jack. "Rose is in a room. You can see her, if you'd like," she said.
Jack hesitated and looked at Josie. "Go," she said. "I'm okay, I promise."
Jack walked with Jena to Rose's room, and he entered. "Oh my god," he said, his voice cracking. Rose's face and arms were covered in cuts from the windshield, her hair was stained red from the blood, her shoulder was completely purple, and there was a tube down her throat to help her breathe.
Emma showed up an hour later. "Jack, what happened?"
"She and Josie got into a car accident. Josie's fine, but Rose and the baby are barely hanging on."
"Oh my god," said Emma. "Listen, I'm going to stay with Josie. You do what you have to do right now, okay?"
"Thanks, Emma," said Jack. Emma smiled and left for the emergency room, where Josie was being treated.
Jena put her arm on Jack's shoulder. "We're going to try waking her up and checking on her, okay? Just hold her hand." She instructed the nurse to give her certain medications, and Rose started to open her eyes. "Rose, I know it hurts. I'm going to lower your sedation and check your neuro function. Don't fight the intubation, we need to check on you. Follow my finger with your eyes." Rose didn't follow her finger. Jena took Rose's hand. "Can you squeeze my hand?" Rose didn't squeeze her hand. "Can you move one finger?" Rose didn't move a finger. "Do you know who this is?" Jena asked, pointing to Jack. Rose didn't nod.
"Well?" Jack asked. "What's happening?"
"It's too soon to tell," said Jena. "We just have to wait and see." She smiled at Jack, and left.
Jack sat down next to Rose and took her hand in his. "Can you just… live? Can you live for me? Please? I need you… more than anything. I can't live without you, Rose. I can't." He put his head on Rose's hand and cried silently.
He spent the night with Rose, and Jena had a cot set up in her room for him. Emma was with the children, and Jena was watching Rose like a hawk. She was doing an exam in the morning when the machines in Rose's room started beeping rapidly. "Pressure's bottoming out," she yelled. Nurses and doctors started flooding into the room and doing different things. Jena picked up Rose's robe and felt her belly. "Belly's as tight as a drum!"
"She's bleeding out," said a doctor. "Get her to an operating room!"
The nurses and doctors rushed Rose out of the room and finally a nurse came for Jack. "I have instructions from Jena that I'm supposed to sneak you into the gallery. Would you like me to bring you?"
"Yes please," said Jack. He needed to be there for Rose.
Jack was standing in the corner of the operating room watching. So far, everything was going smoothly. But that wouldn't last long. All of a sudden, Jack heard a nurse yell, "we've got blood!"
All of a sudden, all of the machines started beeping rapidly again. "She's crashing!"
Jena was also yelling. "Baby's having decels," she yelled. "You have one minute before I have to get that baby out!"
The beeping continued for a minute before Jena pushed her way over to Rose. She quickly did a c-section and delivered the baby. She carried the baby over to an incubator. "Call pediatrics and tell them we have a preemie," a nurse yelled. Jack was watching from the gallery. Rose was barely hanging on, and their new baby was the smallest, most underdeveloped baby he had ever seen. How the hell did they get here?
"We have to intubate if we're going to save the baby," said Jena. She was finally able to intubate the baby, and she put the stethoscope against the baby's tiny chest. "I have a heartbeat!"
The doctors were working quickly on Rose, and finally one smiled. "Mom and baby are both doing fine."
Jack knelt down and cried into his hands. Finally, Jena put an arm on his shoulder. "Jack, Rose is fine. And so is your baby girl."
Jack looked up at his sister. "It's a girl?"
"It's a girl," said Jena. Finally they arrived at the nursery. "You can hold her hand, if you'd like."
"Thank you," said Jack. He reached into the incubator and put one finger in the palm of his daughter's hand. Her hand was the size of one of his fingers, anyway. "How's Rose?"
"She's still in surgery. Hopefully she'll be out soon."
"And how's the baby? How are her chances?" Jack asked.
"I'm not going to lie to you," said Jena. "Preemies like her hardly make it. But I'm going to do everything I can to help her. I promise."
"Thank you, Jena," said Jack.
Finally, Rose was wheeled back to her room. Jack sat by her side, holding her hand. "We've done everything we can, now we just have to wait," said Jena. "I'll give you a minute."
Jack moved closer to Rose and stroked her cheek. "We have another baby girl, Rose. She's really small - one pound two ounces - but she's strong. She's fighting against the… complications. She has strawberry blonde hair, like yours is now. She has the closest hair color to yours of any of the children. She hasn't opened her eyes yet, but I can tell she's looking for you. So you need to wake up, okay? Wake up."
It was an hour later, and Jena entered. "Jack, you have to go home tonight."
"I can't," said Jack. "I have to stay with Rose and the baby."
"No you don't. You have to go home to your kids," said Jena. "Jack, if you don't go home, not only will your kids be without their mom, but they'll be without their dad, too. You have to go home."
"You'll watch them while I'm gone?" he asked.
"Yes, of course," said Jena.
"And you'll call me if anything changes?"
"Yes, of course."
Jack sighed. "Fine, I guess I'm going home."
•••
Jack went home, where Emma and the kids were in the kitchen. Emma was cooking, and the twins were at the counter. "Hey guys," said Jack.
Madeline and Myles both ran up to Jack and gave him a hug. "How's Mommy?" Myles asked.
"Oh, she's okay," said Jack. "I came home to check on you guys."
"But why? If Mommy's sick you should be with her," said Maddie.
"Mommy's okay. She has a lot of doctors taking care of her, including Aunt Jena," said Jack, kissing both of his children. They both ran away, and Jack walked over to Emma. "Where's Josie?"
"She's upstairs. She refused to eat, and I've been checking on her every few minutes."
"I'm going to go check on her. She's been through a lot the last couple days."
"Okay, I can handle these two rascals," said Emma with a smile.
Jack went upstairs to Josie's room. "Josie, sweetheart?" Josie was laying in bed crying. "Oh, Josie," said Jack. He sat on Josie's bed and put his arms around her.
Josie cried for a moment, and then she gasped. "If you're home, does that mean… Mom's dead?" She started crying louder than before.
"No, Josie, no. Mom's not dead, I promise you. Aunt Jena told me to come home to you guys." Jack kissed Josie's forehead. "I promise, she's okay."
Josie looked down. "If she dies, I'll always blame myself."
"Look at me, Josie." Josie looked at him, and Jack looked back at Josie with a warm smile. "The paramedics told me what happened. How you called 911 and saved her life."
"I didn't-" Josie began, but Jack put a finger against his lips.
"Your baby sister was born today. And if you hadn't called 911, she wouldn't be here. Not only did you save Mom, you saved your baby sister."
"Did I really?" Josie asked.
Jack smiled. "Yes, you did."
•••
Jack had returned to the hospital, where he received the devastating news. Jena had told Jack that Rose was dead, and he was completely broken. Jena had also told him that it was more important than ever not to let go, and to stay with the children. He had to be there for them. Never let go.
He went home, where the children were desperately waiting for their father's return. "Daddy, you're home!" Maddie cheered as she jumped into his arms. With her were Josie and Myles. "Is Mommy okay?"
Jack sighed. "Come, let's sit down." Jack wrapped his arms around all three kids. "I have some bad news to tell you. Mommy died. She's gone." Sure, it wasn't the best way to tell the kids, Jack realized as soon as he said it, but it was the best he could do. It took everything for him not to cry as he told them.
Myles sat there silently. "That doesn't make sense. Mommy didn't die. She was here yesterday. She couldn't just… disappear."
Maddie started to cry. "Mommy isn't coming home again? But I need her! She's my mommy!"
Jack comforted them both, and turned to Josie. She was sobbing into her hands. "This is all my fault. I caused this!" she cried. She then looked at Jack angrily and started yelling at him. "You promised me she would be okay! You promised! You promised! You promised!"
Suddenly, Jack jumped up screaming. Josie's yelling was still ringing in his head. "Oh, thank god," said Jack, rubbing his eyes. "It was just a dream." Unfortunately, Jack soon realized that everything but the death part was true.
Jack quickly got dressed and went downstairs. "Good morning," said Emma.
"Good morning," Jack replied. "I'm going back to the hospital. Can you take care of the kids for me again?"
"Of course," said Emma.
•••
Jack had arrived in the hospital. He was terrified that his dream would end up being true. He entered Rose's room, where Jena was standing. "We extubated her last night, since she can breathe on her own."
"Oh, good," said Jack, and Jena left the room. He sat down on the chair next to Rose's bed, and he put his head down on her hand. He felt her hand move. He thought he must have been imagining it, so he ignored it. But then it happened again. Jack looked up and sat up and saw Rose.
She was awake. Rose was awake. "Oh my god, oh my god, Rose," said Jack. She smiled and closed her eyes slowly. "Rose, please say something. Just something so we know you're okay. That your brain is okay."
Rose opened her eyes and closed them again. "Ouch," she said quietly. "I have a headache," she whispered.
"Page Jena Dawson!" Jack yelled to the nurse outside. He looked back at Rose with a smile.
"Ouch, stop screaming. I told you I have a headache," she whispered.
Jack laughed. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," he whispered. "I love you."
Rose opened her eyes and smiled. "I love you too."
A/N: Some of this was adapted from Grey's Anatomy. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, stay tuned for the next one!
