Shane will be in this story, but it will take a little time to get to his major part in the story.

Chapter 4

Zoe was impatiently sitting in the hospital waiting room. It had been hours since her brother had been brought in and if the doctors were taking this long… Zoe didn't even want to think of where that train of thought would lead. Seth just had to be alright.

Zoe glanced over at her mother and sister. Lulu was sleeping, her head resting on Julie's lap. Julie, however, was not sleeping, her mind too focused on Seth to do anything else. Why was life so unfair for Seth? Why did bad things, like this, always happen to her brother? It was like the world was trying to punish him. Zoe moved her thoughts away from that and continued to look around at the people in the room. Shane and Claire were holding hands; they were just as worried as the Plummers were about Seth. Shane was like a father to the five of them. Zoe last settled her gaze on Lillian. The newest Plummer seemed to be the most affected by the attack on Seth; it was as though she blamed herself. Lillian was new at handling problems like this. The whole caring about other people and being cared for back was still very new to her. Loosing Seth would be devastating for the teenager. Zoe focused her eyes on the door and jumped when the door unexpectedly opened, revealing Seth's doctor.

"Are you here for Seth Plummer?"

"Yes, I'm his mother, how is he?" Julie said as the doctor and herself as well as Shane moved to a corner of the room to talk out of earshot of the children.

"He is going to be just fine. He has a concussion and one nasty headache. He has five broken ribs. One of those ribs punctured his lung. We had to perform surgery to remove the rib and fix his lung. His arm and wrist were badly damaged. His right forearm was snapped in half, his rightwrist was fractured and his right shoulder was dislocated. His back, chest, arms and face are covered in contusions and bruises. He is going to need a lot of time to recover and we will be keeping him in the hospital for a few days, just until there is no risk of infection if he leaves."

"Can we see him?"Julie asked timidly. Tears were welling in her eyes and were threatening to spill over.

"Of course you can. He is heavily drugged and probably will not wake up till tomorrow morning at the earliest.

"Thank you Doctor." The doctor led the family, Shane, and Claire up to ICU. Julie was shocked at the state of her son. She had expected her child to be badly injured, but she was not prepared to see him. He looked so fragile and helpless lying there on the white hospital bed, that Julie could not help but cry. Shane wrapped his arms around her, but she quickly regained control of herself. She had to be strong for her other children and for Seth. If Lillian saw her break down right now, the teenager may feel guilty for things that were beyond her control. The girl had been a mess when Julie had first arrived at the hospital. It had taken her a long time to calm her newest daughter down, especially since she couldn't hug Lillian. Lillian was not very big on the whole touching thing and Julie had to respect her space till the child adjusted and learned to trust people.

"Mommy, is Seth going to be okay?" Lulu asked pulling Julie out of her reverie.

"Yeah, honey. Seth will be okay. He just needs time to recover."

"Why do bad things always happen to Seth?"

"I don't know honey. I just don't know why."