* * * * *
Everyone focused their attention on Vaughn and Weiss. They looked at each other to see who would talk. But they were both saved by a knock on the door. Everyone, including Samantha turned their attention to the doctor who just entered. "I'm sorry for intruding, but I need to run some tests on Samantha." The room nodded their approval. The doctor looked worried for a second. "Immediate family only."
"My parent's aren't here. Do you mind if my Aunt sticks around?"
"No, that's alright. The rest of you out." The others all understood. They stood up, and got up to leave. Jack stopped at the door.
"Irina, come."
"She's not a dog." Samantha said.
"Come." Irina nodded, and left.
"You don't have to take that you know." Samantha informed Irina. "You don't have to go. You have your own mind. The doctor said you could stay. I want you to stay."
"No, Sammy, I do have to go."
"It will only be fifteen minutes at the most."
"I'll see you then Sammy."
They stood outside the room for a while before a small group of five worried teenagers came down the hallway. "Excuse me, could you tell us what room Samantha Daily is in?" The boy in front asked. The nurse pointed to where the group waited. He came up to them. "Is this Samantha's room?"
"Yes." Jack grunted.
"Oh thank god. How is Ben?" A girl asked.
"Ben?" The older group chorused.
"Yeah, Sam's nickname. Jenn forgets a lot that it's only us that know her as Ben." The leader boy asked.
"And just how did she get that nickname?" Irina inquired.
"Cher,"
"You have a friend named Cher?" Weiss asked.
"Nicknamed Cher! Honestly! And we had a friend named Cher. Cher died in the shooting; anyway Cher gave it to her. When Sam moved here from wherever it was…"
"Springfield." The leader said.
"Yeah, Springfield, anyway. Sam introduced herself as Sam. And of course being third graders Cher made fun of her because she had a boys name. And would call her Ben. In return, Ben would call her Cher. I never did figure out why. Cher's real name was Jessica. Well, the names stuck. The loss of Cher really hit Ben hard."
"I think it was Caitlin's death that really did it to Ben."
"I dunno. Cher and Ben were really tight."
"But Sam didn't watch Cher die! Caitlin was in her class."
There was one quiet girl that stood behind the other four. She obviously was close to both Cher and Caitlin. "I just want to know if she's alright."
"She's with the doctor right now. But she's going to be fine." Irina answered.
There was a sigh of relief from all of Samantha's friends. "When can we see her?"
"The doctors are with her right now. You can see her when they're done."
Jack leaned over to get into Irina's ear. "We still have a lot to talk to her about. I'm not so sure that's a good idea."
"Sammy needs to see her friends."
"I agree with Mom." Sydney added.
"Irina proves a point." Vaughn agreed.
Jack looked over at Weiss, his one and only hope to make the score even. But Weiss sided with the other three. "We can talk to her later."
"How much longer is she going to be?" One of the friends asked.
"The doctor said 15 minutes. We've been waiting for five. So I'd say 10 or so." Sydney answered.
The group all turned inward, to have a little group chat. The tallest boy then turned to the adults. "We're going down to the gift shop. If you guys are allowed back in before we get back, could you tell her that we're here?"
"Certainly."
* * * * *