Thank you all so much for the good reviews! I'm sorry that the previous chapter was relatively predictable, but I will try and mix it up a little more. Please keep reading and reviewing. ^^
I had no idea where I was. My head felt heavy and I could feel something warm and sticky on my forehead. I reached up and touched it. Blood. It wasn't profusely bleeding, but I knew I needed help.
Things started to come back into place. A car. Monica. Monica-we were going to visit her and Chandler. Was she ill? No... she was pregnant. We were going to have a grandchild. Another one. Judy was crying, she was so happy, she really wanted to make things right with Monica...
Judy! She was with me! I turned to look for her and saw her slumped against the car seat, her eyes closed, but I could tell she was breathing. Only just. Was she concussed? I knew I needed help. Reaching for my cellphone, I looked at Judy again. Her breathing seemed to be getting more irregular. I needed help fast.
Where was I though? I needed to know. I tried the door in a vague attempt that it would open, and surprisingly it did. The crash wasn't as bad as I thought perhaps. I stepped out, searching for a sign. Anything to give us a hint as to where we were.
There were no other veichles around except for the one we collided with. There seemed to be no sign of life from the van, and I was worried for the people or person inside. I quickly rang for an ambulance.
I don't remember what I said. I saw some form of sign to show me where I was, but I was more panicked about Judy. They told me... told me to check her pulse, see if she would wake. All the normal things I really should have thought of, if I had been thinking properly.
Time passed, and I realised I should have checked the man or woman in the van, to see how they were. When I walked cautiously towards it, I could see that there was only one person in the van. A woman, which surprised me for some reason. Perhaps I... it wasn't important. I tried the door...stuck. It was stuck. I couldn't open it. I kept trying, trying again and again. Nothing would happen! In my frustration I hit the door, but that didn't help. Realising I should be helping someone I could get to, I ran back to Judy. She was breathing. I couldn't wake her. And her breathing was less irregular than it had been.
Finally, the ambulance arrived. I was taken aside by a policeman. Could I tell them what happened? I shrugged. To me, it was obvious that it was I who was in the wrong. I hadn't been looking. I took my eyes off the road for a second, and this was what happened. But the policeman seemed to think that it looked as if we were both partly to blame. The van had skidded across on to my side of the road. Maybe it would have happened anyway? I didn't know and I didn't care. I wanted Judy. I needed to be told she was ok.
I asked if I could go with her in the ambulance. They agreed, but they were more worried about her than I thought was necessary. She was breathing, wasn't she? Surely she'd be okay. I kept telling myself over and over again. She had to be okay.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Night sweetie," Chandler whispered to Monica, as he got into bed beside her. It was almost ten o'clock, but Monica was already asleep. She was so tired from "looking after" Emma, Chandler thought dryly, but he knew the real reason was the pregnancy. It was tiring her out a lot, and Chandler let her rest as much as possible.
He was pretty annoyed when the phone rang, and debated leaving it, but decided to grab the bedside phone before it woke up Monica. He coughed and answered angrily. "Good evening?" he grunted.
"Chandler? Chandler, it's Jack. Jack Gellar?" He sounded upset. Chandler sat up in bed.
"Jack? Hey, what's wrong? Has something happened?"
"No... well, yes, actually, yes. It's Judy. She's in hospital... we've had a bad accident... Is Monica there?"
"She's asleep," Chandler said. "I'll wake her up though," he added hastily, and gently poked Monica.
"What's wrong?" an apparently already awake Monica said. "What's happened to Mom?" She sat up too and grabbed the phone. "Dad? What's... New York.. but.. but we're looking after Emma! Ross... are they back.. yes, yes Ross and Rachel are back, we can leave... yea, Dad, I have to get dressed. Dad, how bad is it?..oh... okay.. 'bye..."
Chandler passed Monica some jeans and she hurriedly pulled them on. "He doesn't know how bad she is," Monica whimpered, as she jumped into her jeans. "Oh God Chandler, what if she's-"
"Ross!" Chandler hissed. "It's his mother. You need to wake him."
Monica stared at Chandler. "I can't. I can't do it. Chandler, you wake him. I'll go get the car ready." Tears were falling down her face.
"You're in no fit state to drive," Chandler observed. "Look, I'll go wake Ross and tell him, but you're not driving Mon. I'll drive. Rachel will have to stay here and look after Emma."
They went into the main room and found Ross and Rachel sitting on the couch watching a film, cuddled up together. "Hey guys," Ross said. "Wanna join us?"
Monica looked at Chandler. Ross saw the tears streaming down Monica's cheeks and jumped up. "What's happened? Monica, are you ok? Is it the baby?"
"Ross, your mother's been in a car accident," Chandler quietly explained. "We need to go to the hospital. Rache, will you be okay here on your own with Emma?"
Rachel nodded silently. She got up and hugged Monica tightly. "She'll be okay Monica," Rachel assured her. "Don't worry. She'll be fine."
Chandler nodded. "Yes, but we have to go. Now," he said, ushering Ross and Monica out of the apartment and into the cold night.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Dad!"
Jack stood up, trying to smile at his two children, but failing miserably. "Ross. Monica. Chandler," he added, nodding to his son-in-law. "Are you okay?"
"How's Mom?" interrupted Monica, tearing off her coat. "Is she awake?"
Jack shook his head. He had only seen one doctor who told him that his wife was unconscious. It appeared she had struck her head against something sharp, and Jack couldn't for the life of him think what that might be. "She's unconscious honey," he told Monica, and turned to Ross. "No one will tell me anything more."
"They have to!" Monica exclaimed. "Is that all they said?"
Jack nodded, as a young Asian doctor walked into the room. "Mr Gellar?"
Jack turned, facing the young man. "Yes, that's me. How's Judy?"
"Mr Gellar, it appears your wife may have some slight brain damage. It is very difficult to establish exactly what has happened until she comes round. She seems to have hit her head very hard against something, we are not quite sure what yet, but we are continuing to monitor her. At the moment-"
"Will she survive?" Monica blurted out, suddenly fearing the worst. Brain damage. That killed, she knew it, or left someone handicapped. She couldn't imagine her mother with a disability. She had to be alright.
"At the moment, we do not know what the outcome may be," the doctor continued, as if a robot, programmed what to say. "Let's just wait until she comes round. We will keep you updated, of course."
Chandler wanted to hit this man. Show some emotion! part of him yelled, but he kept quiet. He knew that the doctors could not get emotionally involved. The things they had to see in their lifetime could make you go insane if you let yourself care too much.
The doctor left the room. Monica hugged Jack tightly. "Dad, what can we do?" she sobbed.
"Wait," Jack said monotonously. "That's all we can do."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He seemed to have told himself that Mom wasn't going to make it. Nothing any of us could say would make him change his mind. He wouldn't accept that she could get better at all, and his pessimistic thoughts dampened our spirits. Chandler tried to keep us amused by cracking jokes, and Ross would sometimes laugh, but I just couldn't. All I could think about was Mom.
Dad told us at some point that evening that they were coming to visit us. That's why they were driving. To surprise us. To make me feel happy. Dad had been sure that it would have cheered both myself and Mom up if we saw each other. It would have done. Deep down, I missed my parents terribly. I forgave my mom for her going behind my back the minute I heard she was injured. That's always the way, isn't it? You only realise when the worst happens, how much that person really means to you.
Sure, she made my childhood unpleasant at times, but what child doesn't go through a rough patch with their parents? All I wanted at that moment was to hug my mom, to tell her I loved her and forgave her, just like she wanted me to. I did aswell. It wasn't made up. I truly did forgive her.
Chandler kept telling us to keep smiling, that the news would be good news. The doctor would have told us if we had any need to worry. I tried to believe him, but Dad's misery brought Ross and I down. We feared the worst.
"She had a seatbelt on," Dad kept repeating over and over again. "Seatbelts stop this kind of thing. She didn't hit her head. I never saw her hit her head. What could she have hit her head on?"
No one could explain it to him. The police came to talk to him again and they admitted they had no clue what happened, except that they had established that it was not he who was in the wrong, despite the fact that he had admitted taking his eyes off the road. He had not left his side of the road.
There was the possibility that the momentum of the crash caused Mom's head to move suddenly and hit against the side of the car. Police were basically telling my dad that that was what had happened. But I didn't care how it happened. I just wanted Mom to be okay. I wanted to know if we were worrying unnecessarily, or whether we should have prepared for the worst.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Two hours had passed since the last visit from a doctor, and nothing had changed. Judy wasn't waking up, and things were looking worse. Doctors said they needed her to wake up in the next two days, as the damage to the brain was unknown. Monica tried to understand all the medical talk, but failed miserably. She didn't want to understand.
The door opened, and Monica looked up, ready to take her coffee from Ross, who had just gone to get some. But it wasn't Ross. It was the doctor again.
"Mr Gellar... your wife's awake..."
To be continued...
I'm sorry that chapter may have been a bit confusing in parts. I'm really getting in to this now though, I hope you all still like it?! Next chapter up soon, if you want to read more. ^^
