The waiting room had been pretty quiet ever since the small group of officers entered it. Officer Jones sat away from everyone, while Jon sat surrounded by fellow CHP officers.

Jon hid his face in his hands, trying to mask the fact he was crying. Sitting in the waiting room again. It seemed that was all he ever did lately... and mostly because of a Poncherello.

Joe hadn't shown up yet, and Jon tried to mentally prepare for that headache. How could he explain to Joe what happened? This was his daughter, he was going to be hard enough to talk to. His son was already not doing well, the last thing Joe needed was for his daughter to also get injured on the job.

"Why?" Jon mumbled into his hands. "Why her...why right after Ponch...am I just that bad at keeping track of a Poncherello? I'm I that bad at having my partners back?"

"It wasn't your fault Jon." Grossie put a hand on the blonde officers shoulder. "You can't know exactly where she is every second of your shift."

"She was my partner, Grossie! You're not supposed to turn your back on your partner. I should have known where she was!"

"And be able to keep up with a Poncherello? Impossible," Jeb commented as he took a seat. "You see 'em one second, then they're off somewhere else the next. Sometimes...most times they get into some trouble so quick you can't possibly see it coming. She was directing traffic...how can you just know she'll end up in a burning down house?"

"Because I shouldn't have had my back turned...and we shouldn't have been separated that long. There's no reason I couldn't have just stayed and prevented everything." Jon trailed off, starting to think of Ponch's accident again. "He was late to meet me, I should have called...I should have tried harder to find him..." He said quietly, tears filling his eyes again.

Grossie looked at Jeb, then to Jon again. "Jon, Ponch's accident wasn't your fault either."

"Then why do I feel like it is!?" Jon snapped, sitting up. "He said the night before he was thinking about going to the store before work, why didn't I meet him there? What if I could have prevented his accident? What if there was something I could have done, that would have kept him from ending up like this. He can't talk, he can't walk...he can't do much of anything right now, and I'm sure that's helping a lot with his mental health." Jon rolled his eyes. "I should be the one who got hurt. Not them...ME..."

"I think I found something that might help Ponch with-" Grossie stopped, seeing Jon's body tense even more, he knew what he was about to say might not even be helpful.

He'd always enjoyed researching, it was an important part of writing, which had been a passion of his for years. Lately a good chunk of his research had been all related to things his friends were dealing with. He wanted to help in any way he could...and the first step was to educate.

Jon stood to leave, just as a doctor showed up. He stopped. "Any news on Francesca Poncherello?" He asked, hopeful.

The doctor frowned. "Are you family?"

"I'm her boyfriend..."

The doctor nodded. "Come with me."

Jon followed him to an office, keeping quiet the whole walk there. His mind wandering back to Ponch... was he going to be okay?

oOoOo

At the Getraer's, Ponch sat in the guest room, which had been made into his temporary room. It was quiet and dimly lit to help prevent migraines. The doctor had noted that Ponch seemed to get migraines a lot lately.

Sitting alone in the room should have been peaceful, but it was anything but. Every time he closed his eyes another memory resurfaced. But only the nightmares.

He'd close his eyes and remember finding his uncle's dead body after he'd committed suicide...

He opened his eyes, his body trembling a bit as he cried.

Closing his eyes again, he was met with the memory of the dark room he'd been locked up in not that long ago... remembering how empty it was, how alone he had felt. How he had tried to kill himself, despite Jon's protesting...how he was carried out, and Bobby prevented him from completely ending his life during that car ride to the hospital that felt like it lasted an eternity.

I let Jon down...

He rolled over, tears rolling down his face. Closing his eyes he was reminded of every horrible thing that had happened in the last few years. Everything still so fresh in mind, he wished it had all disappeared from memory after the accident. Instead he had all of these memories to keep him company, while he tried to figure out how to communicate with his friends and family.

He knew what he wanted to say, it was getting his voice to cooperate with him that was difficult. Sometimes he'd open his mouth and nothing would come, sometimes sentences came out super super slow...it was frustrating to say the least.

"I wish I could just read your mind," Joe joked as he entered the room, with some food. "I don't even know if you're hungry, but food might help lighten the mood," he added.

Ponch struggled to sit up, his eyes widened slightly. Lighten the mood?

Joe sighed. "I won't keep you waiting. I just got back from the hospital," Joe bit his lip. "There was an accident while on duty today."

Ponch felt as if his heart was about to stop in that moment, and Getraer couldn't get the words out fast enough to calm him.

Was it Jon? Was it Grossie? Was it Jeb? Barry? Frankie? Bobby? Which one of the guys was hurt!? Ponch's mind screamed, and he wished he could get it out. He opened his mouth, to try to talk. All he managed was "Who?"

Joe could tell Ponch's heart was racing. "Frankie, she uh-"

Ponch didn't wait for the rest, he tried to stand, wanting to go see his sister. He needed to...

"Frank no. You're too weak, your legs haven't healed yet."

He waved Joe off. "F-F-rankie..." He struggled to get the name out, having to concentrate really hard. "Sister... have to...go"

Had the situation been different Joe would have been more excited at how many words Ponch was able to get out just now, it was more than he had said in weeks. But the situation wasn't different, Joe's daughter was in the hospital, and his son was trying to do something stupid.

Joe held Ponch down. "You can't walk, you remember what happened last time? You're not hurting yourself again, I can't handle it, Ponch." Tears filled Joe's eyes. "Your sister is alive, she is going to be okay... but she has some serious burns all over her body, and she lost her left arm." Joe spit the words out fast, then stopped to take a breath. It was the first time he'd been able to say those words, and start to accept what the doctor had told him and Jon.

When the fireman had unburied her from the collapsed house her body was covered in burns and blood. Scratches and wounds all over, they cleaned her up as best as they could before taking her to the hospital.

But moving her had been a lot more of a challenge than what they expected. Her arm was already completely crushed, no chance of any bone inside not being broken. But it was also trapped beneath a large beam that was keeping what was left of the ceiling standing above their heads. If it moved there was a high risk of the rest of the house collapsing on all of them...

So making a split second decision. They decided to remove her arm. They figured there was very little chance of it healing properly to begin with... but making that decision caused a lot of upset between the CHP and that fire department.

Ponch's eyes widened again at the news. His sister lost her arm?

"I was just in her room, she's going to be okay. I promise, I would have stayed longer, but I wanted to get back home before you started to worry something happened to me. I'll be going back later tonight."

Ponch looked at him. Please take me with you...

Joe let out a quiet sigh. "I know you want to come... but the doctor said you needed to take it easy," he started.

Ponch shook his head at that.

"I'm sorry."

oOoOo

Frankie looked around the cold dark room. She could tell it was a hospital room, but how long had she been here? To her right she noticed Jon and Bobby. Her body relaxed a little knowing her boyfriend and her best friend were here.

Then the door opened and Joe walked in. "Dad? Hi!" She tried to sound cheerful, but she was just starting to become aware of all the pain she was in. She took a deep breath, trying to keep herself from screaming.

"Hi, honey." Joe walked over to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Aside from pain, I'm okay." She tried to sit up a bit. "I'm surprised nothing seems broken," she added. She tried to sit up, pushing one hand against the bed, to help her. When she tried to do that with her left it was then that she finally noticed her left hand wasn't there.

How did I miss that? She thought, but she had just woken up, she was still becoming aware of everything. She reached her right hand over to find her arm, to her horror only finding what was left of it. Which wasn't much, she had her shoulder and barely anything left after that. Her eyes widened. "D-Dad? I...I think something is wrong." She started to cry.

Joe stepped closer to her bed, taking her hand in his, he gently rubbed his thumb against the back of her hand. "Honey, I'm so sorry..."

"I didn't think my injuries could be this bad...how did I lose my arm!?" She continued to cry.

The sound of her voice waking Bobby and Jon. Both men jumped to their feet and were at her bedside. "Babe, it's going to be okay," Jon said quietly.

"Is it though? Is it really?" She looked away, more tears falling. She pulled her hand away from Joe, putting it back on her left shoulder. "How..."