A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm not sure how long this story is
going to take me because I have midterms coming up and I really need to
study for them. I know how the story is going to end, and the so-called
"climax" but the rest of the chapters I have no clue. Hopefully this will
hold you over for a while. I promise I will try to get the rest up as soon
as I can. Oh and I have no knowledge of anything regarding the medical
field so I apologize for any terms or whatever I mess up.
Chapter Two-Hospital waiting rooms filled with guilt
An ambulance pulled up to Arcadia Hospital; the back doors opened and out came a stretcher with Joan Girardi. The paramedics raced her in.
"What do we have?" a doctor's voice asked.
"Shooting victim; somewhere in the pelvic region."
"Is she conscious?"
"No."
"Does she have a pulse?"
"Just barely."
"Alright, get her into the O.R. now."
~JoanofArcadia~
Less than a half hour later four Girardi's burst through the Hospital's entrance. Helen looked pale, like she was about to pass out. When she approached the receptionist's desk she was frantic.
"Where's my daughter? Where is she?" Helen's voice was just about as high as it could go.
"Who's your daughter?"
"Tell me where she is!"
"Ma'am you're going to have to calm down." By this time Will came to his wife's side and held her.
"We're looking for our daughter Joan Girardi. She was brought in here about a half hour ago? She was shot." Normally he wouldn't have been so calm but he had to be, for Helen and for Kevin and Luke. The receptionist looked at the patient chart.
"She's still in surgery."
"Do you know when she will be out of surgery?"
"Not sure but it's probably going to be a while. Why don't you sit your family in the waiting area while you fill out these forms?"
"Forms?" Now Will was pissed. "My daughter's in surgery and you want me to fill out forms?" The receptionist sighed. It's not like she wanted to do this, but it was procedure.
"It's just procedure sir." She handed him the clipboard while Helen, Kevin and Luke sat down in the waiting room. It took Will about fifteen minutes to fill out the forms and by the time he was done it was around 9:15. He took a seat next to his wife.
"Can you believe this? Our daughters in surgery and they're worried about stupid insurance forms. Unbelievable." Helen laughed.
"Thank you." She said. Will was always good at taking her mind off the bad stuff in times like this. She looked at her sons, both of them were motionless. It was if none of them had a thought. Luke fidgeted. He hated hospitals, especially after Kevin's accident. He never wanted to be in another one ever again, but here he was, waiting to see if he would ever get to see his sister alive again. It was funny, Luke normally had a million things going on in his mind, but tonight he didn't even have one. Normally he could tell you what the square root of 490,000 was but tonight he couldn't even count to beyond sixty. Sixty seconds equaled one minute. Sixty minutes equaled one hour. Sixty. Luke kept concentrating on that until he could no longer. He needed to do something, something useful. It then occurred to him that Grace and Adam had no idea what had happened. He got up.
"Where are you going?" His mother asked.
"I'm going to call Adam and Grace. They should know." He got up and went to the phone. When he arrived back it was around 9:45. Joan had been in surgery for about an hour by now.
"Did you get in touch with them?" Kevin asked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah I got in touch with Grace but I didn't have Adam's number. She told me she would tell him and they would be here as soon as they could." It was just then that a doctor came in.
"Mr. and Mrs. Girardi?" Both Helen and Will immediately stood up. "I'm Dr. Summers, and I just wanted to let you know that Joan's out of surgery now."
"Oh thank God," Helen said. "Can we see her?"
"No. We've placed her in ICU just to take some precautions. But I think she's going to pull through just fine. I will come back to inform you on how she's doing later. Until then why don't you just go home and get some rest?"
"No," Will said, "No, we're going to stay right here. Thank you Dr." Dr. Summers gave Helen a reassuring look.
"I think she's going to be fine. And you're welcome. If there's anything you need please don't hesitate to ask." And with that she took off.
~JoanofArcadia~
Adam and Grace rode up in the elevator, neither one of them said anything. Neither of them knew what to say, both were afraid of saying the wrong thing. Grace was watching television when the phone rang. She remembered exactly what she was watching, MTV thinking to herself "damn media conglomerates, trying to control everything." And then the phone rang. She was irritated to say the least; she looked at her caller ID but didn't recognize the number. She was about to put down the phone when she got this feeling, this feeling in the pit of her stomach. And then she picked up the phone.
"What do you mean she got shot?" Grace never felt so scared before in her life. This was her best friend, best girl friend; Grace never had an actual girl friend before Joan. Hell she didn't even know when Joan had gotten to be her "best friend," besides Rove, but she had. The thought of losing her was just unbearable. And then as if it couldn't get worse Grace realized something even more horrible. She would have to tell Adam. She shivered at the thought; I mean honestly, there's no good conversation that starts out "Hey guess what? You're girlfriend got shot," now is there? But she had to, and she couldn't do this over the phone. She went to his shed where he was busy making something.
"Rove." He looked up and saw Grace standing there. He looked at his watch, it was 9:45. 9:45! He had completely forgotten that he had a date with Jane.
"Grace! Yo, it's a good thing you came by," he said taking off his apron. "Jane's gonna kill me." It was then that he saw the look on her face. The look that nobody ever wants to get, he knew that look. He hated that look. "Grace?"
"We have to get to the hospital." Grace looked at Adam in the elevator; she wondered what he was thinking. Adam looked at the floor they were on. Were elevators always this slow? I mean really? He looked down at the floor. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid. If he had just written down his idea, but no he had to stay and finish it. He knew Jane would be upset, but he never imagined. No, Oh God no, he couldn't bear to think that he may never see her alive again. He would never get to actually say the words "I love you," to her. A tear rolled down his cheek. Grace noticed.
"Hey, she's going to be okay."
"You don't know that."
Finally they arrived at their floor. They saw Luke getting something from the vending machine.
"LUKE!" Grace screamed. Luke turned around and saw Grace and a very frantic Adam coming out of the elevator. He walked over to them.
"Hey."
"How is she? Is she going to be okay?" Adam looked at Luke with pleading eyes.
"She's out of surgery. In ICU."
"So, what do we do?" Grace asked.
Luke looked at Grace and Adam, wanting to say something useful, but all that came out was "All we can do now is wait."
Chapter Two-Hospital waiting rooms filled with guilt
An ambulance pulled up to Arcadia Hospital; the back doors opened and out came a stretcher with Joan Girardi. The paramedics raced her in.
"What do we have?" a doctor's voice asked.
"Shooting victim; somewhere in the pelvic region."
"Is she conscious?"
"No."
"Does she have a pulse?"
"Just barely."
"Alright, get her into the O.R. now."
~JoanofArcadia~
Less than a half hour later four Girardi's burst through the Hospital's entrance. Helen looked pale, like she was about to pass out. When she approached the receptionist's desk she was frantic.
"Where's my daughter? Where is she?" Helen's voice was just about as high as it could go.
"Who's your daughter?"
"Tell me where she is!"
"Ma'am you're going to have to calm down." By this time Will came to his wife's side and held her.
"We're looking for our daughter Joan Girardi. She was brought in here about a half hour ago? She was shot." Normally he wouldn't have been so calm but he had to be, for Helen and for Kevin and Luke. The receptionist looked at the patient chart.
"She's still in surgery."
"Do you know when she will be out of surgery?"
"Not sure but it's probably going to be a while. Why don't you sit your family in the waiting area while you fill out these forms?"
"Forms?" Now Will was pissed. "My daughter's in surgery and you want me to fill out forms?" The receptionist sighed. It's not like she wanted to do this, but it was procedure.
"It's just procedure sir." She handed him the clipboard while Helen, Kevin and Luke sat down in the waiting room. It took Will about fifteen minutes to fill out the forms and by the time he was done it was around 9:15. He took a seat next to his wife.
"Can you believe this? Our daughters in surgery and they're worried about stupid insurance forms. Unbelievable." Helen laughed.
"Thank you." She said. Will was always good at taking her mind off the bad stuff in times like this. She looked at her sons, both of them were motionless. It was if none of them had a thought. Luke fidgeted. He hated hospitals, especially after Kevin's accident. He never wanted to be in another one ever again, but here he was, waiting to see if he would ever get to see his sister alive again. It was funny, Luke normally had a million things going on in his mind, but tonight he didn't even have one. Normally he could tell you what the square root of 490,000 was but tonight he couldn't even count to beyond sixty. Sixty seconds equaled one minute. Sixty minutes equaled one hour. Sixty. Luke kept concentrating on that until he could no longer. He needed to do something, something useful. It then occurred to him that Grace and Adam had no idea what had happened. He got up.
"Where are you going?" His mother asked.
"I'm going to call Adam and Grace. They should know." He got up and went to the phone. When he arrived back it was around 9:45. Joan had been in surgery for about an hour by now.
"Did you get in touch with them?" Kevin asked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah I got in touch with Grace but I didn't have Adam's number. She told me she would tell him and they would be here as soon as they could." It was just then that a doctor came in.
"Mr. and Mrs. Girardi?" Both Helen and Will immediately stood up. "I'm Dr. Summers, and I just wanted to let you know that Joan's out of surgery now."
"Oh thank God," Helen said. "Can we see her?"
"No. We've placed her in ICU just to take some precautions. But I think she's going to pull through just fine. I will come back to inform you on how she's doing later. Until then why don't you just go home and get some rest?"
"No," Will said, "No, we're going to stay right here. Thank you Dr." Dr. Summers gave Helen a reassuring look.
"I think she's going to be fine. And you're welcome. If there's anything you need please don't hesitate to ask." And with that she took off.
~JoanofArcadia~
Adam and Grace rode up in the elevator, neither one of them said anything. Neither of them knew what to say, both were afraid of saying the wrong thing. Grace was watching television when the phone rang. She remembered exactly what she was watching, MTV thinking to herself "damn media conglomerates, trying to control everything." And then the phone rang. She was irritated to say the least; she looked at her caller ID but didn't recognize the number. She was about to put down the phone when she got this feeling, this feeling in the pit of her stomach. And then she picked up the phone.
"What do you mean she got shot?" Grace never felt so scared before in her life. This was her best friend, best girl friend; Grace never had an actual girl friend before Joan. Hell she didn't even know when Joan had gotten to be her "best friend," besides Rove, but she had. The thought of losing her was just unbearable. And then as if it couldn't get worse Grace realized something even more horrible. She would have to tell Adam. She shivered at the thought; I mean honestly, there's no good conversation that starts out "Hey guess what? You're girlfriend got shot," now is there? But she had to, and she couldn't do this over the phone. She went to his shed where he was busy making something.
"Rove." He looked up and saw Grace standing there. He looked at his watch, it was 9:45. 9:45! He had completely forgotten that he had a date with Jane.
"Grace! Yo, it's a good thing you came by," he said taking off his apron. "Jane's gonna kill me." It was then that he saw the look on her face. The look that nobody ever wants to get, he knew that look. He hated that look. "Grace?"
"We have to get to the hospital." Grace looked at Adam in the elevator; she wondered what he was thinking. Adam looked at the floor they were on. Were elevators always this slow? I mean really? He looked down at the floor. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid. If he had just written down his idea, but no he had to stay and finish it. He knew Jane would be upset, but he never imagined. No, Oh God no, he couldn't bear to think that he may never see her alive again. He would never get to actually say the words "I love you," to her. A tear rolled down his cheek. Grace noticed.
"Hey, she's going to be okay."
"You don't know that."
Finally they arrived at their floor. They saw Luke getting something from the vending machine.
"LUKE!" Grace screamed. Luke turned around and saw Grace and a very frantic Adam coming out of the elevator. He walked over to them.
"Hey."
"How is she? Is she going to be okay?" Adam looked at Luke with pleading eyes.
"She's out of surgery. In ICU."
"So, what do we do?" Grace asked.
Luke looked at Grace and Adam, wanting to say something useful, but all that came out was "All we can do now is wait."