Chapter 27

Fran quickly knelt next to her son. "Calm down, Baby Boy! We don't even know what the doctor was going to say."

Dr. Moore jumped in with, "Derek, what I was trying to say, is that I was sorry that I was so rough on you earlier and kicked you out, but we needed to be able to work on Penelope without any distractions."

Derek looked at him with pleading eyes and begged, "Is…is…my angel alive? Pleassse?"

Dr. Moore weakly smiled, "Yes, she is still alive."

Everybody let out their breaths and murmured, "Thank God!"

Derek bolted off the floor with such force, that he almost knocked Fran over. He swiftly grabbed her hand and helped her back up to her feet. "Sorry, Momma!"

Fran nodded her head and held onto his hand for support.

Derek barked, "What's going on with my princess? Is she going to be alright?"

Dr. Moore knew there would many questions and much discussion. "Guys, let's all have a seat and I will tell you everything that has happened and why it took us so long to stabilize her."

Immediately, the family found seats and sat down with bated breath.

Dr. Moore took a deep breath and started his explanation. "Alright, as I stated, Penelope is very much alive. From everything I can tell she appeared to have stopped breathing for a very short time from the attempted suffocation. Her heartbeat is strong and steady, and she is now breathing on her own. We did have to help her originally, but she came back fighting. Physically, she will have small bouts of shortness of breath as the swelling in her throat goes down. Her throat is very sore, and her voice will be a bit raspy for a bit as well. We had to remove the cast on her arm to reset the initial break because she was able to relay to me that she used that arm to try and ward off the attack on her. We gave her a new cast and some pain medication. Other than that, she has bruises and swelling on her face where she was struck several times. She also has bruises on her good wrist which was slammed against the handrail. Otherwise, she is still in pain from the original injuries, and now this added trauma to her body. She is extremely mentally and emotionally fragile from this attack."

The whole room was eerily quiet as everyone sat there speechless and dismayed for a couple minutes, trying to digest everything that the doctor had just relayed to them.

Derek's leg was bouncing a mile a minute and he squeezed Fran's hand for comfort. The rest of the group sat there as they waited for Derek to speak up first.

Derek gawked at the doctor and hesitated to ask his first question. "Ummm, Doc…Will there be any long-lasting damage to her brain because she stopped breathing?"

Dr. Moore looked directly into Derek's eyes as he replied, "I don't believe so, I don't think she stopped breathing long enough for any brain damage to occur."

The family breathed out loud with a sigh of relief.

Spencer quietly asked, "Will she have any permanent damage of any kind?"

"Again, I don't see any signs of that. Her arm will take extra time to heal because of the additional damage, but it should heal normally. The only long-lasting effects will be in her psychological well-being and healing."

Fran chirped up, "Is Penelope awake doctor?"

Dr. Moore gave her a small smile as he responded, "Yes and no. She was awake for a while, but along with the medication I gave her for the pain, I also gave her a sedative to help her calm down enough to rest."

Derek was still upset and beside himself with worry and guilt. "When can we see her, Doc?"

"Well, she should be out for a bit, so maybe a couple of hours at least. Why don't you all go home, rest and grab a bite to eat and then come back to see her."

"Oh no, Doc! I'm not leaving her alone again, ever! I did that earlier and you saw what happened."

The team and the rest of the family knew there would be no way to talk him out of that, so they didn't even try.

Dr. Moore nodded his head and knew that was a losing battle. "Okay, Derek. You can sit with her while she sleeps but the rest of you, please take my advice. And, Derek you should have someone take a look at that hand. I will see you all later, I have some other patients to check on."

Derek replied off-handedly, "No worries, Doc. I will go wash it off and it will fine. I don't even feel it."

The doctor said his goodbyes and left the room. After several minutes of discussion, it was decided that everybody would head to Casa Rossi. Fran and Dave told them they would make everyone lunch and that way the girls could unpack and get settled in. They promised they would bring back some food for Derek and Penelope when they returned. They all hugged and kissed Derek goodbye and departed.

Once they all left, Derek made his way to the men's room to use the facilities and splash some cold water on his face. Although he was relieved that his girl was going to be alright, he let off some steam in the form of kicking trashcans and letting out some tears while he slid down the wall and landed on the floor. After a while, he pulled himself together and headed to see his Goddess.

He opened her door slowly and found his girlfriend fast asleep. He quietly made his way over to the bed, frowned, and took note of her new cast and the bruises on her face and wrists. He also saw that her lip was swollen and there were a couple of remnants of glue from the duct tape that had been used. His heart immediately shattered for his lady love and could feel the anger within himself start to surge up again. She looked so broken and beat up. He couldn't understand why anyone could do such horrible and despicable things to the woman lying in front of him. She had such a beautiful and loving heart. She would never willingly hurt another living soul. His heart completely broke as he began to cry again.

Before he did anything, he leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. When he straightened up, he saw that some of his tears had fallen onto her bruised cheek. With his thumb, he softly wiped them away, so as not to wake her. He moved over to the recliner and sat down next to her bed. He slowly reached for her hand and squeezed it tenderly. He then slightly lifted it and placed another kiss on her knuckles before carefully placing her hand back down on the bed and held on for dear life.

There was no way he was ever going to leave her side again. He would die first before that happened. He now had almost lost her twice and there definitely would not be a third time. As he continued to keep vigil, he continually prayed and thanked God for sparing her once again. He also whispered to her over and over again how much he loved her and how sorry he was.

It was over three hours since he'd been sitting there just watching her breath while she slept. He noticed as she began to stir. He waited for her eyes to open but instead, she began to whimper and started thrashing around a bit. Without warning, she tried to sit up and screeched out, "Derekkkk!"

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