"Let's go, Randy! Let the valet parking do their job. Leland is more important." the sharp New Jersey accent could be heard saying traveling through the open doors of the E.R. and into the waiting room. Sharona and Randy had arrived, and soon came into view, taking seats next to Natalie and Adrian. The four sat in stunned silence for a long time, the only words being spoken being Natalie's quiet questions to Randy about the conditions of Julie's fugitive standing. Sharona had answered for her husband in the same quiet voice as Natalie's, telling her that Julie would be staying at Natalie's former neighbor's house with an unmarked police car out front until other arrangements could be made.
Natalie immediately balked at the idea that Julie needed supervision since they had just proven that she hadn't murdered Josh, but then Randy spoke up and told her in a tired voice to take it or leave it. It was either Mrs. Baylor's house with a police car out front, or Julie would be going back to the station for the night. Adrian opened his mouth to say something in Natalie's defense but Randy had only held up his hand and told them that he'd been on the phone with Harrison Powell and arranged an emergency meeting between Powell and the judge. With any luck the charges against Julie would be dropped in twenty-four hours and she would be a free woman. But for now, this was the way it had to be and Natalie needed to respect that. Natalie frowned but said nothing, knowing this wasn't the time to argue.
It was almost an hour before any of them saw or heard from Leland's family. Finally, Jared came down the hall and invited them to the private waiting area where he, Max and T.K. were awaiting word on the outcome of Leland's surgery. Natalie was the first to hang back, unsure if T.K. would be comfortable having her there, but Jared insisted. They were all his dad's friends, and they all deserved to be there.
The four followed Jared down a short hallway to a smaller, more private waiting room. Max was in one chair and T.K. next to him, her high heels underneath her chair and her face was marked with concern, her eyes red from crying. T.K. glanced up eagerly when the door opened and all of them entered, but every one of them saw how her eyes dimmed almost instantly when she saw them. "I thought you were the doctor," she said quietly.
Jared's voice was calm and measured. "He said it might be awhile before we got any updates, and hey, if they aren't out here talking to us, I assume the surgery is going well."
He went to sit on the other side of his stepmother and indicated to her that he had invited the four of them back to wait with them, but if she wanted them to leave and go back to the other waiting room, they would leave. "I know all of you have been fighting lately, but these are dad's friends. I thought they should be here with us."
Jared pulled out a tissue from the box Max had swiped from the nurses' station and handed it to T.K., who wiped her eyes. "You're - you're right, Jared." she murmured. "That's why I asked Adrian to ride with Leland in the ambulance. I'm...sorry I didn't think to come get you all sooner, but..."
Sharona sat near T.K. and was the first to speak. Her nurse's voice was quiet and calm and soothing with no indication of any anger or judgement. "Hey, no, honey, we totally get it. You've got too much on your mind right now to worry about us."
Randy crossed the room and crouched down in front of T.K. This was his friend and his mentor's wife. It was up to him to take care of anything she might need and anything in general until the commander was out of harm's way. "Do you need us to get you anything? Sharona's worked here before, she knows where to get something to eat that doesn't taste like dog food."
T.K. smiled. "No - no, thank you. The boys have asked me that more than enough times."
Randy patted her on the shoulder and stood back up. "You let me know if you change your mind." He took the seat next to his wife and motioned for Monk to just pick a chair and sit down. Natalie and Monk ended up sitting across the little aisle from T.K. and Max.
There was silence in the room for a considerable time with Max's video game starting up being the only sound that was heard. Jared immediately glared at his brother, looking meaningfully at T.K. and Max murmured an apology. He would have powered off the game and stuffed the portable device back into his backpack had T.K. not put a hand on his arm to stop him. "You're still on that level that's giving you trouble? Level - 12, isn't it?"
Max looked at Jared and then at his stepmother. "Uh...yeah, level 12. How do you...?"
This time T.K. did laugh. "Your dad and I aren't stupid, Max, we know you play video games after he tells you to get to bed."
Natalie snorted and Sharona stifled a giggle. Randy and even Monk smiled at the affronted look on the youngest Stottlemeyer's face. But, luckily, T.K. was still smiling. "Let me tell you, after a week of hearing you always lose, I'm as anxious for you to win this as you are. Show me what you're supposed to do."
Jared grinned and gave Max a thumbs-up when T.K. scooted closer to Max, and soon the two of them were fully engrossed in Max's game. He took advantage of that time to talk quietly to Natalie and Adrian. "Thank you for riding with dad in the ambulance, Mr. Monk," Jared said seriously. "My dad appreciated it, and he'll tell you as much when he wakes up."
Natalie and Adrian were stopped from replying when the door to the private waiting room opened and a nurse entered the room. Max immediately shut down the game console and let it lay in his lap. Both he and his brother took one of T.K.'s hands. "Mrs. Stottlemeyer?"
T.K. instantly stood, not caring in the slightest that she was in a hospital waiting room and she was barefoot. "These are Leland's sons and these are his friends," she said right away, indicating to everyone in the room in turn. "Yes? What's happening with my husband?"
Unfortunately, the mild-mannered nurse had no concrete update for her, she was merely there to inform T.K. that they had run into a few minor complications during the procedure but none expected to be life threatening and the end result would only be that surgery was extended for some time. She or a doctor would be back when they could with more updates. T.K. sat back down in her seat, mumbling a dazed 'thank you,' and before she even thought to stop him, Jared was out the door in search of the nearest doctor he could find that could tell them something more. Max was quick on his older brother's heels wondering if maybe he should call their mom.
Sharona was, again, the first one to speak and offer T.K. something that she desperately hoped passed for comfort. "It might not be any sort of bad complications, it might just be something they weren't expecting," she told her. "They said they didn't see anything as life-threatening, that's a good sign. It just might take a little longer, but that's okay. It's better when the doctors are thorough. Better safe than sorry."
Monk spoke for the first time since they all had filed into the room. "Leland's been shot before and he's always pulled through. He got shot in the shoulder once from a closer distance and he was only in the hospital for a few days and was back to work in a week or two. He's going to be just fine." He blinked. "Right, Natalie?"
Randy rubbed his hands over his face and glanced sideways at the commander's wife. "Uh, Monk, maybe T.K. doesn't want to hear about all the times her husband has been shot." Adrian bowed his head, and Natalie reassuringly took his hand. Her boyfriend could often be socially awkward, but he was trying, which was hard for him - particularly when he was in such emotional turmoil.
"No, T.K. does not want to hear about that," T.K. sighed. Randy wordlessly handed her another tissue. She took it gratefully and wiped her eyes. "I'm just...I'm just trying to remember if I kissed him goodbye or told him I loved him before he left for work this morning."
Sharona instantly got out of her chair and knelt in front of T.K. and from across the room, Natalie felt something twisting in her heart that felt an awful lot like guilt that she was no longer the friend T.K. needed her to be. "I'm sure you did, sweetie," Sharona assured Leland's wife. "You kiss him goodbye and tell him you love him every day. I know you do because I do the same thing with Randy and I worry about him just as much as you do about your husband. But for some reason if you didn't, Leland knows. He knows how much you love him and he knows you're here." Sharona quietly took another tissue from Randy and handed it to T.K.
T.K. crumbled the tissue in her hand. "Leland and I have been fighting lately...there are so many things I haven't told him..."
Sharona leaned forward and hugged her. "You'll get to tell him everything you need to tell him." T.K. clung to Sharona for a few moments and the room soon filled with T.K.'s sobs. "Everything is going to be all right, I promise," Sharona murmured. "He's going to be just fine. Everything is going to be just fine."
T.K. took a deep breath and patted Sharona's hand. "You're right. I can't think like this. Leland is going to be okay. He must be. And, I just need to pull it together because he is going to need me. Besides, it doesn't do Jared or Max any good seeing me fall apart like this."
Natalie quietly responded with the first words she had spoken to her estranged friend in weeks. "Jared and Max won't think less of you if you show it in front of them how scared you are for their dad," she murmured. "You don't need to be - "
T.K.'s sharp voice stopped that sentence before it even finished. "You worry about your family and I'll worry about mine," she snapped. "Randy told me about what happened in the theater." Sharona slapped Randy on the shoulder and Randy winced, rubbing his shoulder in pain and annoyance. "Don't misunderstand me, Natalie, I am very glad that Julie was saved and you all found the evidence to show that she didn't murder Josh. I never thought she did. Neither did Leland, and that's what you never understood. You've spent the last four months taking every single thing my husband did or didn't do as a personal attack against you and Julie and I live with him, Natalie! I had to sit back and watch every damn day as he got more and more frustrated and upset at both of you for not taking him seriously, and he got suspended, and neither you or Monk seemed to care!"
Nobody spoke a word of defense, not even Monk, as Leland's wife continued.
T.K's eyes blazed with anger and bored into Natalie's. "I cared that he got suspended. I cared very much because he is my husband and being a police officer is what he does. I married him knowing that and I love him every day knowing that. But right now, my husband is somewhere back there dying because he so cares about his friendship with you that he took a bullet for your daughter, and I do not have the energy capacity to think about anything but him.
So here is what's going to happen. You can stay in here with us, because your boyfriend is my husband's best friend, and as much as Adrian needs Leland right now, Leland needs him, too. You can stay and be Adrian's supportive girlfriend. But, you won't say another word to me! Do I make myself clear?"
Natalie's eyes lowered to the ground and she didn't care that she was being reamed out in front of her boyfriend and Randy and Sharona. She deserved it. "I'm sorry," she murmured quietly. "I'm sorry I've been a horrible friend to both of you and I'm sorry that I forgot your birthday. I feel... "
T.K.'s voice was low, almost shaking with anger. "What in the world makes you think any of this is about you?" she hissed. "Right now, this is about me and this is about Leland. Nothing else matters."
Sharona stood, trying to break the tension and murmured to T.K. that she was going to go get her a sandwich and she expected her to eat it. She would also find Jared and Max and bring them back. She crossed the little room and none-too-gently took Natalie by the shoulder and brought her with her. Adrian naturally followed, and the three of them waited in the hallway for Randy.
Once outside, Natalie stepped outside the view of the window and Monk bent over, putting his hands on his knees. Natalie reached forward and touched his back asking if he was okay.
"They think we didn't take him seriously. They think we didn't care." He said, with shame written on his face.
"Ah, Adrian. T.K. knows you care about Leland." Sharona replied.
"Sharona's right, Adrian." Natalie interjected. "T.K.'s comments weren't directed towards you at all, sweetheart. They were directed towards me; and, as someone who has lost a spouse…"
"T.K. hasn't lost a spouse!" Sharona snapped. "Leland's not dead! Don't think that way and whatever you do, don't say anything like that around her!"
A stunned Natalie lowered her head at the rebuke. "I…I'm…of course, I didn't mean…"
"I don't care what you meant. Just don't even think that way." She replied, looking back into the room and seeing her husband talking quietly to the commander's wife, handing her a still half-full box of tissues.
Tears filled Monk's eyes and he looked up at his girlfriend pathetically, "We're not going to lose him, are we?"
Natalie immediately wrapped her arms around him into a hug. "Oh, sweetie…no. We're not going to lose him…right, Sharona? I mean, Leland's strong and he's made it this far. Sharona's right, we need to stay positive. Leland's a fighter. He has too much to live for. Surely, he'll pull through. He's got to."
Sharona took a step back as Randy walked through the door and quietly closed it behind him. He explained to the others that T.K. wanted to be alone for a while and told them that they were all going to do as she asked and go back to the main waiting area for a while.
Around ten minutes later, Sharona brought T.K. a sandwich from the cafeteria and T.K. asked her to go check on the boys once she made it back to the hallway. It only took a few extra minutes to find the Leland's sons, near the lobby cafe. Max was on the phone, presumably with Karen, and Jared was leaning against the wall, half watching his brother and half staring into space. Jared was the first to notice the adults and immediately threw a wadded-up menu at Max. Max turned at once and was set to shout at Jared, but the words died on his lips when Randy's phone rang. Randy answered, spoke quickly, and hung up just as quickly, stuffing his phone in his pocket.
"The doctor came back to talk to T.K," he said seriously, holding up his hand to silence everyone. "She wants us to bring Jared and Max back to her right away."
Adrian's head started to spin and he immediately reached for Natalie's hand. This wasn't good, this wasn't good at all. One look at his girlfriend and the tears in her eyes and he knew she was thinking the same thing she was. Her hand never moved from his shoulder the entire trip back into the hospital ICU and to the small waiting room where they'd left T.K.
Sharona led Jared and Max to the front of the group on their way to the room. Her hand was on the door getting ready to open it when she hesitated and stopped. Something told her to look through the small window first, and when she did, she heard herself murmuring a quiet "Oh, no, Randy," and felt Randy's comforting hand on her shoulder. T.K.'s back was to all of them and even from where they stood, they could tell she was sobbing.
Monk closed his eyes in heartbreak and turned, resting his face against Natalie's head as they braced for the worst.
