AN: Thank you for all your wonderful comments Keridwen89 and Orlando-crazy! I'm really glad you enjoy it so far!
Is she going to die? Is she going to live? Find out by reading (and reviewing; three reviews put me through the roof because they're like candy:3 yummmmmmmm!
I've Been Holding on Tonight
Max was the first to visit. He was a cop for most of his life, but he did not feel prepared for the scene he entered. He took a deep breath as he passed over the threshold into Jordan's private recovery room. He was a strong man, but he cried when he saw his child lay helpless on the hospital bed.
The surgeon had said her wounds were bad but his imagination was nowhere near the horror he viewed. He looked away, momentarily sick to his stomach, sobbing, he approached her bedside. "Oh, Jordan," he whispered as if speaking in a normal tone would break her fragile body. He caressed her cold right hand; bringing it to his lips, he kissed it lightly.
How unlike her mother she looked now. They had shaved half of her head to stitch her scalp back on and applied gauze to cover most of the wound. On the other half, her greasy hair caked in her own red blood. Her face, though they had removed all of the glass, was bandaged so that you could only see the right side. Max was thankful that the blanket covered her body; he did not want to know about the broken ribs and punctured organs. Her left limbs were set in casts and propped up to divert blood flow.
He wiped tears from his eyes and stood from the bedside chair. He wished he could be her guardian angel staying by her bedside until she fully healed as if she were still a child. However, he knew that she had other family that wanted to see her now.
Garret entered next, giving Max a gentle pat on his shoulder as he exited. As usual, he wore his poker face, seemingly void of all emotion. When he was alone, he gave away his feelings with a sigh; he stood at the end of the bed.
He loved her like a father and a friend both, and he could not live with himself knowing that he had done this to her. Driving while fatigued is sometimes worse than driving while drunk. He had seen it countless times in the bodies at the morgue and he had almost seen it once more. He ground his teeth, locking his jaw as he stood in thought. He would have to tell Max that he nearly killed his daughter, a beautiful woman whose life was just getting back on a normal track. Garret Macy threw her off.
Garret pushed those thoughts down, drowning himself in guilt. He wanted to express his feelings to her while she was in her drug-induced sleep, secretly, like a coward. He wanted to tell her that he overworked her and how sorry he was that he needed to depend on her so much and then, he wanted to go home and drown his sorrow in scotch.
Instead, he stood at the end of her bed in silence, inwardly torturing himself.
Lily and Nigel entered next. She gave Garret a sympathetic hug as she had with Max when he came out of the room. When she entered, her sensitive frame shook with tears and, if it were not for Nigel, she would have collapsed when she saw Jordan. She cried out as a sister would, running to her beside and touching her face like a mother.
Nigel stood back, silent tears coming to his eyes. How could somebody so full of life be so tortured like Jordan? He wondered.
Lily's thoughts only dwelt on those fateful words she had spoken. Drive safely. Here she laid, victim of a horrible accident.
"Oh, Jordan," Lily cried.
"She'll be OK, love," Nigel tried to reassure her, choking back tears. "The doctors have done all they can but she's strong, she'll survive," he did not want to think of the physiotherapy or cosmetic surgery she would need. She was alive and that is the best they could all hope under the circumstances.
Lily sobbed gently into Jordan's arm, quivering with grief. "At least she's not at the morgue," Nigel said, trying to make light of the situation and provide a measure of consolation, as was his manner, but his words did not comfort her as she sobbed harder.
With his arm around her shoulder, they turned and left the room, sorrowfully greeting a pale faced Woody as he entered. Lily reached for his hand and squeezed it consolingly while Nigel touched his shoulder.
Woody shook with grief. The beautiful woman he loved kept alive by intravenous and breathing tubes. He listened to the steady beeping of the machines measuring her vitals, reassuring him that she was still alive. He felt sickened at the sight, taking a seat next to her bed.
"Jordan, I know I did this to you," he said, taking her hand. He breathed deeply, "if only…" He choked on his words and sobbed childishly. Is everybody I love going to die like this? He remembered his mother and his father, both died in hospital beds. Emotionally he admitted, "Jordan, I love you…"
His words fell on deaf ears as she lay peacefully sleeping, oblivious to her pain.