Sam ran into Frasier as he ran out of the bar and up to the street.
"Sam, where are you going in such a hurry?"
"Nora and Tony were in a car accident. They're at the hospital. Diane's calling my dad."
Sam drove them to the hospital and explained what he knew to Frasier. Diane called her father-in-law.
"Stan, listen, Tony and Nora have been in a serious car accident. Tony is awake and talking, but Nora keeps losing consciousness."
"I'm going to call Dorothy and I'll be at the hospital as soon as I can."
Stan dialed his ex-wife, "what do you want Stanly?"
"I'll just cut right to it. Nora and Tony have been in a car accident. I guess Tony is doing well, but Nora keeps going in and out of consciousness."
"Dear God," Dorothy was terrified, "I'll call my mother and try to get a flight out."
"Okay, I'll keep you posted." After they hung up Stan drove to the hospital.
Dorothy told her husband, Lucas, and he had his private jet get ready. Dorothy called her mother, "Ma, Nora and Tony have been in a car accident. Tony is doing well, but they can't keep Nora awake."
"I'll be there as soon as I can." Sophia hung up and went to tell Rose and Blanche, but they already knew.
"Uncle Lucas is sending a plane for us," Blanche said, "he said that he'd call me when he had all of the flight details."
Every member of Nora's family, blood related or not, was waiting by the phone for news. Rebecca shut the bar down and the Cheers gang went to Nora and Frasier's house to wait with the kids. Diane went to the hospital along with Stan and the two joined Frasier and Sam in Tony's room. The young man was distraught because he didn't know if his mother was okay. That's all he wanted to know and no one could tell him because they didn't know either.
"Dad, Uncle Sam," the boy was so relieved to see them, "did they tell you anything about mom? They won't tell me anything."
"They don't know anything yet. I'm sure with her medical history they have to run more tests than they did on you."
Just then there was a light knock at the door. An officer walked in and asked if he could get Tony's statement. "I didn't see the car coming. Honest," Tony was starting to panic, "I was driving us home and the car in front of us swerved to the right. The car came towards us so fast," Tony began to cry, "it's my fault. It's all my fault."
"There isn't one thing about this crash that is your fault," the officer said. "The car in front of you had little ones in it, so their mom swerved to avoid being hit. The driver that hit you was drunk. He's the one at fault. I would also have the car looked at and see why the passenger side airbag malfunctioned."
Frasier thanked the officer and waited until he left to say anything. "He's right, son. None of this is your fault. In fact, if you hadn't been driving then you would be where your mother is now and we both know that she wouldn't want that."
"Excuse me, are you Anthony's father?" a doctor asked.
"Yes, I'm Frasier Crane and this is my wife's brother, Sam Malone. The nurse at the desk said something to me about medication for the trauma. I'm on board with that if it will help."
"Great," the doctor said, "I will get some filled for your son. I would like to keep him overnight for observation."
"May I stay with him?"
"Sure, but his tests all look good. Just want to be on the safe side."
"I understand and thank you."
"Doc," Tony called the man who was leaving, "I was wondering if you knew anything about my mom?"
"Her doctor is going over her test results and will be with you shortly." The doctor knew that the young man was desperate to find out anything about his mother and felt bad that he couldn't tell him. When the same doctor returned a half-hour later, the three men were confused. "Okay, her doctor asked me to talk to you and I'll explain why. First, she does have a pretty bad concussion and while they haven't found signs of another stroke they are concerned about one. There's some swelling in her brain and she has a few broken ribs that punctured her lung. She has a spinal compression fracture and a herniated disk. They are prepping her for surgery and that's why I'm here. They also found internal bleeding."
"What are her chances?" Tony found the courage to ask.
"I won't lie, your mother is in very critical condition, but she has a great surgeon. In fact, after I leave here I'm going to scrub up to lend a hand. Your mom has a very healthy heart and her mechanical valve is working great. I promise that we will do whatever we can to help her." The doctor left and the three men were beside themselves.
Lucas and Dorothy arrived at the hospital followed a half-hour by Rose, Blanche, and Sophia. Michael and Kate even flew in but left their families behind for the time being. They were all in Tony's room while they waited for Nora to get out of surgery. Twelve hours after Nora had been taken into surgery, both doctors came into the room.
"She did very well," Nora's doctor said, "but she has a very long recovery ahead of her. I don't know if you remember, but I'm the one who treated Mrs. Crane when she came in for her stroke and heart surgery."
"I thought I recognized you," Frasier said.
"Well, we were able to stop the internal bleeding. Her left lung had been punctured and collapsed, but we were able to repair it. We inserted a chest tube to remove the excess air. We also repaired her spinal fractures and herniated disks. We drained the fluid from her brain and repaired the damaged artery. Now while all of this sounds good and is good, we have to remember a few things. One is her medical history. We are monitoring her very closely in case of another stroke. That is what we are concerned about the most. Another stroke could worsen her brain swelling. She's going to remain listed as critical for the time being and I also placed her in a medically induced coma. She needs a great deal of rest and I'm worried that if she wakes up too soon that she will be unable to rest. She's in recovery right now and I'll have a nurse let you know when you can see her. Once she's awake and alert we'll run the same physical and speech tests we did after her stroke. Now her back will make that difficult and everyone is going to have to be extra patient with her. We'll go over a recovery plan more when she's alert."
"Thank you both for everything," Frasier said and the two doctors left. Frasier rubbed a hand over his face. "Tony, try to go to sleep." Frasier turned and found his son had fallen asleep the moment the doctors had left. "Well, that worked."
"Frasier, anything or any help you need, just let us know," Diane said.
"Yeah we're here for you all," Daphne added. She and Niles had shown up about an hour ago.
"If you would like, I can look for a psychiatrist or counselor for Tony to start seeing," Niles offered.
"Thank you, Niles. I would actually appreciate that. I appreciate all of you," Frasier turned to his brother-in-law, "Sam, what are you thinking?"
"That if that driver lives and I ever see him again, I'll kill him."
Frasier stood there for a moment, "while I can't condone or encourage that, I do appreciate the sentiment."
"Would you like us to call and explain things to everyone?" Diane asked.
"Yes, thank you."