Two:
"No." Sara protested, rising shakily to her feet, "No!"
Catherine shook her head, "There's brain damage, severe brain damage. They don't think she's going to wake up. She's on a respirator, they want to know if you want to keep her on life support."
"No!" Sara shouted, pulling away as Catherine reached out for her arm, "Not my Samantha. Not my baby girl. She's fine, she has to be fine, she's...she..."
Sara fell to her knees, sobbing loudly as only a person with their heart breaking can sob. She shook off Catherine's embrace the first two times she tried, but the third time, she allowed her partner to hold her tightly, sobbing along with her. "Not my baby." Sara gasped, her body starting to violently shake, "Not my Sami."
"I'm so sorry, baby, I'm so sorry." Catherine replied despondently, feeling just as much pain as Sara felt, even though she was handling it slightly better, "Baby, I'm so sorry."
"We should have been home, we could have kept an eye on her..." Sara sobbed, "Things like this never happen when we are home."
"This isn't our fault, it was an accident." Catherine replied, stroking Sara's hair gently, "Baby, calm down, you're going to pass out if you don't breathe."
Sara shook her head forcefully, "I don't know how this could have happened. Why? We're good people, Sami's a great kid, why did this happen to us?" She cried for a few more minutes before whimpering, "Why does everyone I love leave me?"
"Baby, not everyone leaves you. I'm not going anywhere, I promise you, you can count on me. I'll help you through this. We can make it, we can get through this together. I'm so sorry, baby, I'm so sorry." Catherine sobbed, holding Sara tighter.
Somewhere along the line, Catherine had stepped into the leader role and had gotten Sara to give consent to keep Sami on life support until they could reach a decision, then convinced her to go home and get some much needed rest. She had agreed, upon Sara's insistence, to stay with Sami for the night. Sara would resume vigil in the morning while Catherine went home to get some rest.
Catherine walked into Sami's hospital room, tears falling freely down her pale cheeks as she took a seat next to the child. With a sigh, she gently took hold of Samantha's hand, stroking it gently with her thumb as she tried to find an inkling of the little girl she knew and loved in this broken, battered shell of a child. There wasn't a visible patch of skin that wasn't bruised, the tubes and wires coming out of her body made her seem nearly too fragile to touch.
She brought her lips to Sami's hand, kissing it softly, "Sweetheart, we love you so much...I'm so sorry you had to go through this. We're very worried about you, so try your hardest to wake up and prove these doctors wrong. Lindsey's beside herself, and your Grandma Lily and Grandpa Sam are going to be here to see you soon...hopefully not at the same time...Mommy will be here in the morning to see you, you know how hard headed she is, I had to force her to leave you. I'm so sorry we weren't there for you, that this happened to you...just rest and try to get better, sweetheart, because I don't think your Mommy or I could live without seeing your precious eyes open and hearing your sweet voice. You mean the world to us, sweetheart, so fight this, okay?"
She began to crumble, holding Sami's hand to her face as she started to sob, afraid that this may be the last time she got to be alone with her little girl. The idea of losing Sami was threatening to break her, leading her to worry about Sara, who had already lost so much during her life. This would be the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, and as much as she loved Sara, she wasn't sure she'd be able to bring her girlfriend back from the darkness if Sami didn't pull through.
She wasn't a very spiritual person, but as she held Samantha's hand to her lips, she began to pray with all of her soul that their little girl would pull through.
15 miles away, Sara sat in the driveway, wondering how she had managed to drive home through her sea of tears. Her body was numb, her mind aching as she gathered the small remainder of energy she possessed to get out of the car and trudge to the house, barely able to focus on her 'mother-in-law' or Lindsey's faces as they met her in the hallway, full of questions. Mumbling a quiet "excuse me" she made a beeline for the bedroom she and Catherine shared, collapsing on the bed in sobs, her heart-breaking cries filling the entire house.
After listening to Sara sob for nearly an hour, Lindsey quietly crept into the bedroom, crawling next to Sara on the bed and squeezing her hand gently, "Sara?"
"Not now, Lindsey." Sara sobbed, knowing it wasn't right to push the older child away, but unable to control herself, "I need to be alone."
Lindsey's own teardrops fell onto Sara's cheek as she hovered over the brunette, "Sara, I'm sorry I let Sam get hurt, please don't hate me."
Sobbing harder, Sara pulled Lindsey in for a tight hug, "This isn't your fault, Lins, it was an accident. You can't blame yourself, I'd never hate you for an accident."
"Then why don't you want me around?" Lindsey pleaded, not trusting Sara's answer, "You won't even look at me."
Sara shook her head, "I just need to clear my head, honey, it has nothing to do with you. It just...hurts."
"It hurts me too." Lindsey whispered through her own tears, "I know it was an accident, but I'm still really sorry."
Sara held Lindsey tightly, rubbing her back soothingly, "I know you are, honey, and I love you for being such a brave, mature young woman tonight. You're growing up so fast."
"She's not going to make it, is she?" Lindsey asked, through sobs, laying her head on Sara's shoulder, "She's going to die, isn't she?"
Through a new wave of sobs, Sara barely managed to choke out, "They don't expect her to wake up."
Lindsey's grasp tightened as her tears fell faster, and she mumbled into Sara's shoulder, "Can I stay with you tonight? I don't want to be alone."
"Of course, honey, of course." Sara soothed, unable to find anything to say to reassure or soothe the nearly hysterical teenager in her arms. After searching for something to say, unable to find any words to lessen Lindsey's tears, Sara gave up and just let her cry, knowing that they both needed to get the tears out of their system before they'd be able to think clearly.
The shrill sound of the ringing phone was unnoticed by the two girls until Catherine's mother walked into the room, holding the cordless phone with tears staining her cheeks, "Sara, it's Catherine."
Sara took the phone, her girlfriend's voice stopping her from even saying 'hello'. Without having to hear Catherine's words, Sara already knew what was going on, she wouldn't have called unless it was something serious. "Sara, you need to get back down here. She had a seizure, she's really going downhill...just...get back here as soon as you can, okay?"
Sara hung up the phone without a goodbye, pulling away from Lindsey as she tried to keep from completely losing her mind and turning into a sobbing puddle of mush on her own bedroom floor. She squeezed Lindsey's hand, "I've got to get back to the hospital."
"I want to come."
"I don't think that's a good idea." Sara said softly, "She doesn't look like our Sami. I don't think your mother would approve."
Lindsey crossed her arms, anger beginning to spark in her blue eyes, "She's my sister, okay? If she's going to die, I deserve to see her one last time. I don't care what my Mom thinks, I don't care what she looks like, I need to see her too. You and Mom aren't the only ones who love her, she's my baby sister." She began to sob, wrapping her arms around herself and sinking back onto the bed, "My baby sister."
Wrapping an arm around the hysterical blonde, Sara gave in and helped her to her feet, "Okay, you're right, I'm sorry. Let's go."
"I'll drive." Lily said from the doorway, "You are in no condition to drive anywhere, I'm surprised my daughter allowed you to drive yourself home."
Offering Lily a silent 'thanks', Sara and Lindsey silently made their way to the car, praying that Sami wasn't as bad off as she appeared, praying that they wouldn't arrive too late to say their goodbyes.
TBC