The Sound of Music

Chapter Four

A man tried to comfort his hysterically sobbing wife while in another corner of the room people prayed quietly. Yet Brady was aware of none of it as he sat in the waiting room with his head in his hands.

{How long has she been in there?} He looked at his watch. {Three hours. Has it been that long?} Strangely enough it had felt like both seconds and years to the young man who waited breathlessly for news of his love's condition. It was for Brady as if he had stepped into a timeless limbo the moment he passed through the hospital doors. As if time here had no meaning.

Had he always been here? In the dingy white room made almost green by the sickly light of the flickering florescent bulbs above him? Even the rhythmic ticking of the clock on the wall behind him did little to reassure him of the actual passing of time.

He watched the people pass by him with a certain detached fascination. Doctors and nurses, patients and visitors, all carrying on their lives oblivious of him and his suffering.

{Snap out of it, Brady!} He shook himself mentally to clear the stupor of his mind. He stood and stretched, casting a worried glance toward the emergency room. He sighed and wondered again what was happening through those doors, where she was. {Don't think about it, Brady. No news is good news at this point.}

He sat back down in his chair and cast a bemused glance around the waiting room. {God, I hate hospitals.} He mused wryly. He'd certainly spent enough time in them. In fact the last few years of his life seemed like one long hospital stay. His sister had been in a coma, then he'd been shot and paralyzed, and then his father and grandfather were shot while at a coronation for a princess, of all things. {Oh, I can't forget Puerto Rico.} he chuckled softly.

Finally, though, there was Chloe's long and painful battle with leukemia. They had finally found a bone marrow match when she had a relapse. Which meant that they had to kill the cancerous cells before they could proceed with the transplant. Brady closed his eyes against the pain of those long weeks. He had rarely left her side during the chemotherapy treatments. Then came the transplant and the anxious days following waiting to see if it was a success. Brady had been at the hospital so much that Craig had joked about him moving in.

{And here we are again, in another hospital, after everything we've, Chloe has been through. Because she was struck by lightning?} He wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Imagine defeating a deadly illness only to be struck by lightning. {Inside a building, no less. Lord, when is this going to end?}

He shut his eyes tightly to lock out the vision that played in his mind. But he could still see the splotchy blisters covering her beautiful face. He could still smell the burnt flesh and ozone. His stomach twisted with worry and nausea. {She has to be okay.}

{"Brady, I can't hear anything."} her words echoed in his head.

"Brady, how is she?"

Brady turned to face the approaching voices. After seeing Chloe settled into the ER, his first action had been to call Nancy and Craig. John and Marlena had offered to fly them to New York so they could be there for Chloe.

"I don't know, Dr. Wesley. She's been in there for hours now and they won't tell me anything." He replied in frustration.

Nancy spoke up, her luminous eyes wide with worry. "What happened Brady? Your message was pretty vague. She didn't have a relapse did she? Oh Craig, what if it's the Leukemia?" she fretted to her husband.

Brady rushed to reassure her. "It's not a relapse, Mrs. Wesley. Um, Chloe was. we were in the audition studio at Julliard and Chloe was auditioning when the building was struck by lightning. Somehow, I think there was a power surge or something, and she was hit by a bolt of electricity. Dr. Wesley, she has bad burns on her face and her ears were bleeding heavily." He explained haltingly as he fought to focus his chaotic thoughts.

"Okay, I'm going to see if I can find out some more information." Craig said as calmly as he could manage. He gave his wife a fleeting kiss on the temple and went to speak with the ER doctors.

Nancy sank awkwardly into a nearby chair. "Oh God" she moaned as she struggled for breath. "I can't do this!" she cried as she absentmindedly rubbed her very pregnant stomach. "It's too much! When is my little girl going to stop suffering?" she panted for breath as she cried hysterically.

Marlena sat beside her. "Nancy, you must calm yourself. This isn't good for the baby. You don't want to trigger premature labor." Marlena soothed as Brady looked on sympathetically. {The Wesleys have been through all kinds of hell this year.} He thought as he looked again at the doors that separated him from Chloe.

His father's hand on his tense shoulder brought his attention back into the waiting room. John gripped his son's shoulders and smiled sadly.

"Come on. Let's get some coffee."

Craig stood stiffly in the examining room and went back over the reports. The attending doctor was speaking, his voice firm, but sympathetic.

"I'm sorry Dr. Wesley, but it's not a mistake."

Craig looked up from the papers, his eyes focused on some unseen object. "Is there a chance it could come back?" he asked softly.

"I won't rule it out, but I don't think it's likely. The damage is just.too severe."

Craig gazed at Chloe's unconscious body. Her head and face were heavily bandaged and an IV fed her fluids. He closed his eyes and sighed, the weight of the knowledge finally coming down on his shoulders. {This is going to devastate her. All of her dreams, her plans. How is she going to get through this?} He wondered sadly.

He then thought of the people outside in the waiting room. Brady. His pregnant wife. {How will they take it?} He inhaled deeply and straightened his shoulders. He had no choice but to break the news to them. Maybe, just maybe, they could all get through it together.

Brady lifted his head at the sound of Craig's approaching footsteps. He set down his coffee and stood to meet him. The others in the room likewise gathered around. Brady took in the pale gray cast to Craig's skin, the expression on his face, and felt his stomach drop. He knew that whatever Craig had to say, it wasn't good.

Nancy immediately questioned her husband. "How is she Craig? Is she going to be okay?"

Craig paused noticeably at her question. "She will live, Nancy." He finally answered. "She's unconscious at the moment, but she should be coming around shortly. She has 2nd and 3rd degree burns on her face, but they were treated quickly, so hopefully there will be no scarring. She has a mild concussion due to a blow to the head, but again that should heal quickly."

Craig paused again and everyone's anxiety jumped up. They knew by his face he wasn't finished. Brady closed his eyes and steeled himself for bad news.

Craig began again, slowly. "There was.massive damage to her inner ear. Um.it wasn't caused by the electricity itself, the bolt explosion was pretty much confined to her face. The actual damage in her ears was caused by the sound of the explosion, like a thunderclap inside her head. That's what caused the bleeding and unfortunately. the damage is irreparable."

Nancy interrupted. "Craig, honey, what are you trying to say?"

"She's lost her hearing. She's deaf."