13.
It seemed to Tammy that time stood still as she stayed by Terry's side, comforted by the feel of his hand moving tenderly over her hair. For the first time that day she felt strangely at peace and smiled to herself, allowing herself to raise her hopes just for an instant - everything really was going to be okay. She barely registered the fact that Terry's hand slowed and then stopped, but when it slid to rest on the covers of the bed, she looked up. For a split second she wondered if he had fallen asleep, but the illusion was quickly shattered by the harsh, urgent beeping of one of the machines in the room.
In confusion, she stood up, looking around desperately. "What's going on? ..... Terry? ..... Terry! Oh, God, NO!"
In an instant, she was joined by a team of medical staff, including Doctor Matthews. She was jostled out of the way as she struggled to stay beside Terry, tears streaming down her face.
"Please, DO something!" she pleaded, "ANYTHING! You can't let this happen!"
"Tammy," said Doctor Matthews hurriedly, as the other doctors began working on Terry, "You shouldn't be in here - you should wait outside."
"No - I can't leave him!" she sobbed, trying to get past the doctor who grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Tammy, you have to wait outside. Let us do our job." she said firmly, steering her through the door.
Crying bitterly, Tammy was led out of the room, just as someone burst through the main door of the hospital and skidded to a halt to look around as if searching for someone. The newcomer was another redhead wearing baggy jeans and a fitted, cropped Team Xtreme t-shirt under a long, black leather jacket, her long hair flying out behind her as she glanced from side to side until she spotted the person she was looking for.
"Tammy!" came the yell and in seconds, Amy Dumas was beside her. "I came straight from the plane." she explained breathlessly, "I couldn't believe it when I heard - how is he?" It was only then that she realised Tammy was crying bitterly. "Tammy?"
"Amy, he's ..... he's not going to ....." Tammy couldn't bring herself to voice her worst fear, but Amy understood.
"Oh, no, Tammy; oh, God, no." murmured Amy, tears welling up in her own eyes as she held her arms out to her distraught friend who fell into her embrace. In disbelief, Amy rocked her gently back and forth as the two girls clung to each other tightly.
*****
Author's note: Firstly, I just want to thank everyone who has reviewed for their lovely comments; I'm really blushing here! I also want to apologise for this part being so short - I have a ..... um, complication. I've got two possible endings to this story and, as I'm sure you can guess, one is happy, one is sad. I can't make up my mind which one to post, so thoughts on that would be much appreciated! Hopefully I'll manage to decide one way or another v. soon. Thanks for reading!
Angel x 0:-)