After arriving at the hospital, Jack walked into the waiting room and took a seat at one of the available chairs near the window. He looked around disgustedly; the place was small and outdated, nothing like Grey Sloan. After about an hour and a half of waiting with no updates other than, "She's sleeping we'll have someone come out to talk to you", he had enough. He silently questioned the ability of the doctors there while simultaneously texting Maya and thumbing through a magazine about fitness. He stretched back in the uncomfortable chair and yawned, exhausted after the trip. He checked his phone for the time, ignoring a barrage of texts from Maya and Dean. He groaned when he realized that it was midnight New England time. He tiredly walked up to the desk and asked for an update. "Look", he started yelling at the receptionist, "I get it you're busy, but I've been on a plane, and in an Uber today. I have no patience for whatever, 'you'll know when you know' bullshit you're trying to pull lady. I've been here an hour and a half and I want an update on my wife. Is that so hard?"
The receptionist stopped typing for a second to look up at him, her glare meeting his, "I could find out faster if you'd just take a seat like I asked you to the last time you came up here"
"Take a seat? My wife is in there, could be dying, and you want me to take a seat? Without even so much as an update, a real update? How about we switch? How about your husband or wife is back there and I tell you to take a damn seat. Then we'll see how you...", Jack argued, stepping back when he felt a hand touch his arm. He turned around to see a blonde haired doctor with her hand on his arm. "What?", he snapped
"Are you Robert Sullivan?" she asked kindly. Jack could barely register what she was saying. She sounded so nice compared to him, and all of a sudden he felt bad for snapping at her. He nodded slowly as the doctor calmly took his arm and led him to a chair. "Come on, how about we sit down? My name is Dr. Talia Collins; I'm one of your wife's doctors. You must be Andy's husband. I'm so sorry we kept you waiting. I know you must be all kinds of nervous", Talia introduced and apologized as Jack held out his hand to shake hers.
Talia accepted the gesture and Jack was touched by her kindness towards him. Especially after everything he had said to the receptionist. He was overcome with guilt for lying to her about his identity and decided, using his better judgement, to tell the truth. After all, what could possibly go wrong? He already knew Andy was here. "Dr. Collins, can I be truthful here for a second? I don't believe I was on the phone", he asked, taking the very big risk.
"Of course Mr. Sullivan", Talia answered with the same amount of kindness twinged only with a hint of concern in her voice.
Jack cleared his throat and for a split second thought about continuing on with the lie. Once Dr. Collins knew he wasn't Robert, she could throw him out of the hospital and refuse to let him see Andy. He shook the idea and instead confessed the truth, "I'm not her husband, I'm her best friend. My name is Jack Gibson. I'm a lieutenant/interim captain, whatever you want to call it, with the Seattle Fire Department. She's from there too. Please don't kick me out or anything. You don't have to tell me anything about her, I just want to see her"
Talia looked stunned but smiled and took a deep breath. "Follow me. I wish more people would have friends like you", she opined as she led Jack through a set of doors and down the hall. "Is Robert on his way?", she asked.
"He died two months ago", Jack explained to Talia as they walked past patient rooms and the cafeteria. "He fell through a floor and died. She couldn't take the pain and left", he added while Talia typed notes into her iPad about Jack and what happened. "Will you let me see her?", he asked
Talia nodded and obliged to his request to see Andy. She explained to him that there was only so much she could tell him about the accident without Andy's approval. "Are you okay with that?", she asked as Jack nodded in approval. He was fine knowing that and eagerly awaited to see her. He didn't know what she would look like and pictured her having chopped off her hair and dyed it some crazy color to avoid being recognized. He was shocked to see that she still had the same hair and color when he looked at her through the glass. He waited patiently outside as Talia went into her room. He watched her wake up slowly but surely and caught bits and pieces of her conversation with Talia.
"Great. More tests" Andy grumbled, half asleep
Talia shook her head and chuckled as she checked her fluids, "It's nice to see you too. How are you feeling tonight? Pain on a level of 1-10?"
"Oh God, 8. It feels like I got hit by a truck", Andy answered. "Correction, one of those big trucks with eighteen wheels. It feels like I got smacked around by one of those"
"You were t-boned by another car Mrs. Herrera so your pain is right where I would expect it to be at this time", Tali chuckled. "I can up the morphine dosage if you need. Are you feeling well enough for a visitor?" she asked as she checked Andy's vitals. All looked clear and good.
Andy sighed and squinted at the light, "If it's the guys from the station, tell them to go back to work. They're all on shift tonight and we can't afford to have them calling out. I was just headed to the hardware store and then I almost died". Andy opened her eyes all the way as Talia turned off one of the lights in her room. "Life really sucks sometimes. Now, who's the visitor?" Andy asked.
"He says he's from Seattle, and not for nothing but he's kinda cute. If you don't invite him in, I will", Talia explained, chuckling as she typed a few notes into her iPad.
"Seattle?", Andy asked sleepily as Jack moved into the door frame, bearing his signature smirk that only he could give. "Jack? What? What are you doing here?"
Jack smiled as he walked over to her bed, "They called Robert's phone and I picked up. I heard you were in a pretty big accident so I came here to see you. I've been waiting two months to see how you were"
"Some person I am, I abandoned you", she admitted, sighing, as he squeezed her hand. She looked different up close. He could see the bags under her eyes from not sleeping and she was thinner than she used to be, which wasn't a good thing considering she was already the lightest person on the team prior to her husband's death. She looked hardened but he knew and he could see the Andy he knew and loved somewhere under all of that pain. "She'll be herself again someday" he thought as she squeezed his hand back and closed her eyes, letting out a long, slow breath. "Why did you come back for me? Why did you care?", she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "The station, Maya, your promotion? Why drop it all?"
"Because I care. Not only that, but whether you want to admit it or not, you need me. And I sure as hell need you. You have no idea how happy I am to see you Andy Herrera", Jack answered as he leaned over to hug her.
Andy winced as his body touched her's, "If I admit it, will you let go of me Gibson? You're kind of, ow, crushing my chest".
He nodded affirmatively while letting go of her and apologizing, "Sorry about that. Mind if I join you?". Andy nodded and pulled back the covers. Jack leaned back against the pillows and made a face, "These beds suck"
"No way really?" Andy questioned sarcastically, pretending to be shocked. "You know I always thought it was like sleeping on a cloud, but I must be mistaken". Andy adjusted herself on the mound of pillows, trying her best not to move her bad leg too much. She grimaced as she tried to pull herself into a sitting position, choosing instead to use the bed remote as the extra work made the throbbing in her head get worse. Jack noticed this and sent her a look of concern, all the while hovering his hand over the call button. Andy noticed this and turned to him, eyebrow arched, "Touch that button and I'll kill you"
Jack chuckled as he held his hands up in the air in mock surrender, "Now, there's the Andy I know and love. You know, you're even more stubborn when you're in pain than you were during the captain's race". Andy rolled her eyes and shook her head as Jack continued, "Speaking of pain, how is it?"
"I mean if I don't move, or stare at any kind of light, I'm fine. They give pretty good drugs here so I'm doing alright physically. Emotionally, well, that's a different story", she explained as he put his arm around her. He checked her nightstand to make sure the box of tissues was nearby before he asked his next question.
"How have you been, emotionally?", he pressed gently, not knowing how much Andy would want to share yet. She was pretty intent on bottling up her feelings about Robert after she got discharged from the hospital in Seattle. He only recalled her crying during his funeral and when she ended Robert's care. Other than that, Andy put up her usual walls, the same ones she put up with Ryan and the same ones that she put up when her mother supposedly died. She wanted to work and remained silent like a ticking time bomb of emotion. Jack highly doubted that anything had changed in the two months she had been gone. In fact, he anticipated her walls to be even worse.
Andy sighed heavily and looked at him seriously, "How do you think I am?". Jack was poised to answer but Andy continued on, "Every man I ever loved has died. My father, Ryan, my husband; honestly I don't know how much I can take anymore", she admitted. Jack's heart broke and he could tell she was upset just by how she talked. She did that thing where her voice went up an octave with each word that she said. Jack hadn't seen her do that since the houseboat party where they drank about Robert turning himself into the Civil Service Commision. "It's exhausting Jack. I keep loving people and they either die, or they think that I'm crazy and ultimately decide that somehow I'm not worth keeping around", she finished as she rested her head on Jack's shoulder, hoping to calm the throbbing sensation. She closed her eyes trying to block out the pain and couldn't tell what was worse, the headache from the concussion or all the emotions she was holding back.
"Maya made a mistake and for what it's worth, she feels very differently about that now", he admitted much to Andy's shock. Jack sighed as he added to his comment, trying to be as reassuring as he possibly could, "About everyone leaving, well, you know that there's always going to be one constant in your life", Jack expressed as she let out a small chuckle, before frowning again.
"I'm so lucky I still have you", she pointed out. She looked at him seriously with the glint of unshed tears in her eyes, "So you better not get trapped in skyscrapers, or dive into pools with liquid nitrogen, or go on a quarantined train, and for the love of God, don't handle bombs. You're not mister tough guy or macho man, or whatever the hell you think you are. You don't get to make rash decisions that could cost you your life. You're my person and I am not, and I repeat, AM NOT, burying another man that I love". She hadn't realized she was yelling until Jack wrapped his arms around her. In that instant, she felt the safest she had ever felt in months and hugged him back as best she could.
Jack pulled away from her and smiled the same goofy grin that she missed. "I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me", he assured her as she breathed a shaky sigh of relief.
"That's good. I needed to hear that, because it's just us now. Maya hates me and my husband is dead" she acknowledged out loud for what she knew was the first time since leaving Seattle. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights as she uttered the words. She spoke them again, this time with more emotion, almost choking them out, "My hus-, my husband is dead"
"I know", Jack answered as Andy let the tears fall, tears that had gone unshed for two months. She finally broke, and the numbness that has sat dormant for months faded away just enough for her to feel some of the emotion behind Robert's death. Now, she couldn't stop crying from the grief and from the unfairness of it all. She felt like she had been cheated with her main sources of friendship and love in her life dying months apart from each other. "I know he is", Jack confirmed as he felt his shirt get soaked by her tears.
Andy let out a shaky breath and dried her eyes with a tissue. She forced a smile as she spoke to Jack, "You know what would make everything better? Coffee. Gross hospital decaf coffee. It's not Starbucks or even Dunkin's but it's better than nothing"
"Coming right up", he answered as she stood up from the bed and passed Andy her phone which was resting on the side table. Andy grimaced when she saw the partially shattered screen and the case that had formerly been white. The fake leather case was now covered in a mixture of wide scuff marks from the pavement and blood that had most likely fallen onto the case during the accident. It would definitely have to be replaced when she got out of here. Andy turned the phone over several times in her hand, wondering what to do with it before Jack spoke. "If you're wondering who to call first, maybe call Maya? She told me to tell you to call her", he suggested before walking out the door and down to the self serve coffee bar in the cafeteria where the coffee came in bags for the machine. Jack was personally grossed out by it and would have rather run out to a coffee place, but whereas they were rural and he didn't want to leave Andy, he opted for the bagged coffee instead.