Chapter 14
As she sat alone in the hospital emergency room, she replayed her last conversation with Gary over repeatedly in her mind. The last words that she spoke to him were out of anger and frustration. Why did she let him go into a dangerous situation and not tell him that she loved him? Now she may never get the chance. She covered her face with her hands and sobbed. The only thing that brought her out of her breakdown was the sound of Lois Hobson's voice.
"Kaitlyn, honey. What happened?" Lois said as she put her arms around her.
"He went into that apartment and when he didn't come out…" She broke down in tears.
"Have you talked to a doctor yet?" Bernie asked.
"No. They haven't told me anything." Kaitlyn cried.
"I'm going to see if I can find out anything Lo." Bernie said as he headed for the information desk.
"Gary is going to be fine, honey. I just know he is." Lois said as the tears now fell freely down her cheeks. "He has too much to live for. He has you and the girls and a whole new life ahead of him."
Kaitlyn looked up at her. "We were fighting right before he went in there. Why did I fight with him?" She sobbed.
"It's going to be okay, honey." Lois said as she held her close.
The next hour seemed to crawl by at a snails pace. Marissa, Chuck, and Jade had also come to the hospital. They all sat in the waiting room for any word on Gary's condition. The nurse had told Bernie that they were running some tests and that they would send a doctor out to speak with them. As Kaitlyn paced the room, she played with the engagement ring on her finger.
"Kaitlyn, why don't you sit down." Chuck said.
"No, I don't want to sit. What is taking them so long? Can't they at least tell us if he is okay?" She cried.
"How about some coffee?" Chuck asked.
"No thank you." Kaitlyn said. She turned as she heard someone say, "Mr. and Mrs. Hobson?"
"I'm Dr. Jansen. I've been seeing to Gary." He said. "I'm sorry it took us so long to get you some information, we've just been swamped back there.
"How is our son?" Lois asked as she took Kaitlyn's hand.
"Well, he is going to be okay. However, we are treating him for some smoke inhalation and a concussion. We just got him back from radiology. We did a CAT scan on him to make sure that he didn't have any internal injuries due to the wall collapsing on him. He's very lucky. He seems to only have sustained a slight shoulder bruise."
"Oh, thank God." Lois said as she squeezed Kaitlyn's hand.
"He has some minor cuts and scrapes on his face. We will want to monitor him for the next couple of days, because he was rendered unconscious and because of the smoke inhalation. We will have to do some oxygen therapy on him." He said.
"Can we see him?" Kaitlyn asked.
"He's a little groggy right now. However, you are welcome to come and see him. I wouldn't overwhelm him right now though. I would keep the visitors to a minimum maybe until tomorrow. As soon as we get a room ready, we're going to move him upstairs." He said.
"Thank you." Bernie said as he shook his hand. Lois grabbed Kaitlyn and hugged her.
"I told you he was going to be okay." Lois said. "Come on let's go see him."
"You go ahead and go and see him. He's going to want to see you." Kaitlyn said.
"Well honey, he's going to want to see you too." Lois said.
"I don't want to upset him." Kaitlyn said.
"Hey Bernie, why don't you take Lois on back to see Gary. Marissa and I want to talk to Kaitlyn." Chuck said.
"Okay." Bernie said. "Come on Lo."
"Jade, honey, why don't you go and get us all some coffee." Chuck said as he kissed her on the cheek.
"Okay." Jade said as she headed out of the waiting room.
Kaitlyn sat down on the seat next to Marissa and put her head in her hands. Chuck squatted down in front of her.
"Hey, Gar is a fighter. He's going to be okay." Chuck said as he put his hand on her knee.
"I think I'm the last person he is going to want to see." Kaitlyn said.
"Why?" Marissa asked.
"We had a fight before he went into that apartment." Kaitlyn said.
"Gar and I fight all the time." Chuck said. "I'm still his best friend."
"All this happened because of me." Kaitlyn said. "If I wouldn't have fought with him, he probably would have made it there on time and none of this would have happened."
"You don't know that." Marissa said. "Kaitlyn, Gary loves you very much.
"I love him, but it's hard to get used to him dealing with this paper. Maybe our relationship isn't what's best for him." She whispered with so much doubt in her voice.
"Kaitlyn, Gary has had six years to deal with the paper. I think there are times that he isn't even used to it." Marissa said.
"Listen, we've known Gary for a long time, and I'm here to tell you that neither of us have ever seen him this happy before. He's usually Mr. Mood and Brood. But, since you he's actually 100% happy." Chuck said.
"Go on and see him." Marissa said. "Tell him all the things that you wished you would have said before he went into that building."
Kaitlyn shook her head in agreement, then leaned over, and hugged Marissa. She got up out of her seat and hugged Chuck.
"Thank you. Gary is very lucky to have the two of you as friends." Kaitlyn said.
"Well, we're your friends now too." Marissa said.
"Yeah, and once you got us you can't ever get rid of us." Chuck joked.
Lois and Bernie returned to the waiting room.
"They're taking him up to his room. Room 912." Bernie said.
"Kaitlyn, honey, he's asking for you." Lois said. "Why don't you go on up and see him."
"I going to go now." Kaitlyn said as she headed out of the room.
"Hey, why don't the rest of us go on down to the cafeteria and get something to eat." Bernie said.
"Yeah, hopefully we can catch Jade. I sent her for coffee." Chuck said as they all headed to the cafeteria.