We love the reviews and hearing what you thing of our story! We love that you guys love it so far! I can promise better times ahead for Andy. If you want to read about them, I urge you to check out the Home Team! Please let us know what you think as well as any ideas you may have! Happy Reading!
-D.H. Caldwell and HAS5245
Andy slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by the familiar walls of Station 19. She was confused, had this all been a nightmare? Robert's death, the running away? Was it all fake, and she finally woke up? There was only one way for her to find out. Andy climbed the stairs and walked into Robert's office where sure enough he was standing there with a bright smile on his face. He looked completely unharmed and he wore a white tux with a tie. Andy looked down and she discovered she was in the pink dress she wore at her wedding. She ran towards him and wrapped her arms around him as he twirled her around. She rested her forehead against his and kissed him, only breaking apart when he broke apart. She hugged him again and rested her head on his shoulder, crying. She took in the scent of his cologne, and wondered again if this had all been a horrible nightmare. She dried her eyes and looked up at him, gazing into his eyes, "I'm so glad to see you. I had the worst nightmare"
"About what?" he asked, guiding her to a seat. Andy looked down and discovered that neither she or Robert were wearing shoes. This was unheard of at the station. She shrugged it off, focused solely on seeing Robert after two agonizing months without him. He brushed her hair out of her face and they kissed one more time before Robert asked once more about her dream, "What was your nightmare about?"
Andy reached up and put a hand on his face, shaking her head, "You died trying to save me and left me. I lost you, and I tried to fix it by running away". Her serious expression soon turned to a smile when she remembered something she did years ago with Ryan; something so insignificant that it had slipped her memory. "Such a childish solution. I ran away once with Ryan. We were eight when his mom died, and we only made it as far as under my porch", she laughed while simultaneously and unknowingly playing with the wedding band on her finger. "I couldn't live without you. I never thought I would have to but then I did"
"I know", Robert smiled as she put her head on his shoulder. He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "Are you comfortable?", he asked.
"More than I've been in two months. Let's go home, please", she pleaded, almost in tears as she stood up and grabbed his hand. She smiled bittersweetly as he touched her shoulder and eased her back down into the chair, shaking his head. Her smile turned to a frown about as quickly as it appeared. She looked at him with a look of longing in her eyes; longing to put this whole ordeal past them and go back to the condo. "What are you doing? Robert?", she asked frustratedly as he stood in the middle of his office smiling at her.
Her look broke him. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears as she attempted to cling onto what wasn't really there. He had seen that look after Pruitt died and Andy spent three days in their bed, not sleeping. He cringed, seeing the pain in her eyes and wanted nothing more than for her to be with him, safe and sound. He didn't want to have to do this to her, but he knew that she didn't belong where he was just yet. Robert sighed as he reached over and put a hand on her shoulder, "Andy….honey", he started, trying to explain the situation to her. "Please let me explain", he begged as she shoved his hand away coldly.
Andy was practically sobbing now but was puzzled that she couldn't feel the tears hitting her face. Where was she? All she knew was that she was scared, pissed off at Robert for being dodgy, and so very confused. She angrily shook her head and stood up, jabbing a finger into his chest, "Don't Andy me. What the hell is there to explain? You left me and you won't tell me why. Were you angry with something I did?", Andy yelled while he just stood there smiling. "What the hell is going on here?", she roared, her voice shaking.
"I didn't want to leave you", Robert answered truthfully as he pulled her into a hug. "I miss you greatly Andy, but you don't belong here yet. You still have your whole life ahead of you"
"Belong where?", Andy asked, confused and now a little nervous. "Robert, what are you talking about?", she furthered. She was really starting to freak out now.
Robert sighed as they pulled apart. He grabbed her hand and led her to the door, talking as they went, "Go back Andy. Go back to Maya, and Gibson, and your mom. We'll see each other again, I promise. Go, wake up and go home Andy". She was left stunned as he kissed her on the cheek and walked back into the office. Andy was at a loss for words as the tears fell from her eyes. She wiped them away as she watched a woman with curly brown hair and a white dress hold her hand out for Robert. "Claire?", she thought as she looked to the other side of the office. "Where am I?", she wondered aloud as Ryan and her father approached her, both in white tuxes too. "Ryan? Dad? What is this place?", she questioned both of them. She locked eyes with her father and he gave her a bittersweet smile, placing his hand on her shoulder; same thing he did when he told her that her mother died. His eyes had the same sympathetic glow. In fact, his whole body seemed to glow as did Ryan's and Robert's. Andy felt like she was in some kind of fun house where everything was distorted and everyone dodged her questions. "Dad?"
"Go home Andrea. We love you tremendously, but Seattle is where you need to be. Wake up and go home", he expressed, repeating Robert's words. "You were in an accident which is why you're here. You don't need to be here though. I know you're hurting and I know it's difficult but go home. Let people help you, please Andrea. Tell your mom I hello", Pruitt pleaded as Andy cried.
"No, come back. Please come back", she cried as she watched her dad walk back into the office, followed by Ryan, Robert and Claire; all of them suddenly disappeared into a cloud of bright light. The cloud kept on getting brighter and brighter until it overtook the whole room, swallowing Andy with it.
A minute later, Andy heard a voice call out to her in addition to light shining in her face. "Andrea, can you hear me?" the person asked as Andy slowly tried to open her eyes. Everything was fuzzy to her and she could hear multiple people talking at once, over the voice. This couldn't be right, everyone she had been talking to had disappeared. "Am I dead?" she thought as she opened her eyes further and the same blinding white light from the office appeared in front of her.
She listened closely and could hear the beep of a monitor, or rather the beep of several monitors in the background. Suddenly the world became a little clearer, "I'm in a hospital. I'm alive. Ok, let's assess, motor function", she thought as she moved her fingers and felt the sharp pain in her left leg. "Okay, I'm in pain. Good. I know my name is Andy and I know I work in Shaw Creek. My Mom's name is Elena and my Dad's name was Pruitt. Okay, memory's fine. Nothing wrong up there. Now, all I have to do is tell them my name", she analyzed before looking down to see a tube lodged down her throat. She figured that she must have been out for a while if they had to intubate her. She internally cringed, knowing full well what had to have happened for them to do that. She must have coded, that was why she had the dream about Robert and her dad and they told her to go home. She died and they sent her back to live her life. "Damn it, that's bright", she thought as she squinted at the bright lights of the room, wondering why they would ever paint an already overly bright room white. She looked down at the rest of her body and did her own assessment of her injuries, not fully trusting the doctors in front of her. She wanted to gag when she noticed her foot twisted in a direction that it should not be facing, and her chest hurt as she tried to breathe.
"Patient is awake and stable. Collins, prep her to head down to the OR", an older doctor ordered as he took off his gown and walked out of the room muttering something to the effect of, "Someone up there must like her very much in order for her to survive that"
A doctor with blonde hair smiled at her and shined a pen light in her eyes. She looked to be about thirty as well, maybe younger. Andy could see clearly now that there were more doctors surrounding her. One pulled the tube from her throat and another assessed her vitals. Andy felt like she was going to hurl. Her head killed her and every part of her body felt like one big bruise. She looked around and realized that she was in a room that she had seen before at Grey Sloan. "Ok, I'm in a trauma room. Think Herrera, how the hell did you get here? Think, think, come on Herrera. Wait, now I remember. I was driving and someone hit me. I was in a car accident" she thought as the doctor with blonde hair put the pen light away and said something to another doctor before turning back to her.
"Patient is reactive, so there's no sign of any serious head trauma. Call CT just so we can double check on that", the blonde haired doctor called out. "Welcome back Ma'am, you're at Enfield Memorial Hospital. My name is Dr. Talia Collins. You were in an accident. Can you tell me your name?" she asked, followed by a few more questions about the date and whether or not Andy remembered where she worked. The sheer volume of questions was making Andy's head throb. The bright lights were bothering her, so she figured she probably had a concussion. She was groggy from the morphine and felt like she was in some drug induced haze. She snapped back to attention, when the doctor repeated her initial question, "M'am, can you tell me your name?", she asked.
"Hold on a second, I'm trying not to feel like I just got off the tilt-a-whirl here. I'll get to you when I get to you", Andy thought as she made an effort to answer everything as systematically as she could while trying to ignore the pain that radiated from every part of her body. "It's November 26th, 2020. My name is Andrea Herrera but literally everyone calls me Andy. I'm from Seattle, Washington, and I grew up on 2301 Field Pine Place", Andy answered hoarsely but honestly, not skipping a beat. "I'm not allergic to any meds or taking any for that matter, just so you know", she added as Dr. Collins wrote everything down on her iPad. Andy cringed when she looked over and noticed a large bandage on her arm and an IV in her hand. Now she went from wanting to hurl to wanting to close her eyes and go back to whatever drug induced sleep she came from. "Wow, they give heavy drugs here", she thought as she fought off the urge to black out again. Talia must have noticed because she put her hand on her shoulder and smiled at her.
"Try to stay with us for a little longer Andy", Talia urged. "Is there anyone we can call for you? Any family?"
Andy felt her eyes open and close, and for a second, she saw brief flashes of her and Robert's life together. What she would have given to have him there with her, at a time where she felt so alone, scared, and confused. Andy tiredly answered Dr. Collins, "All I want right now is my husband. I just want my husband" In the back of her mind, she knew full well that Robert was dead, and the knowledge that she wouldn't wake up from this nightmare and see him by her side was rough enough.
Talia noticed her starting to get anxious as her heart rate went up. She squeezed her hand and reassured her, "We'll call him. Your phone was recovered at the scene so we have his number. He'll be here soon, I promise". Andy tried to explain that he was dead, but couldn't find the energy to. Talia kept talking, "You coded when you got in here, but we brought you back almost instantly. Now, we want to get you up to the OR to look at this fracture on your leg. You have a slight concussion from where your head hit the steering wheel and a lac on your arm from the glass that we already stitched up. You were pretty lucky considering how the accident could have been", the woman answered as she held Andy's hand. "You'll make it through this, I know you will. Just let me know if you need anything at all"
"Deal. Just call...", Andy answered weakly, not finishing what she was about to say before falling back into a deep sleep as they wheeled her up to the OR.