Chapter 70:

Doug snapped his head to the front and his eyes widened as he saw the stopped car. In an instant he slammed on the breaks and turned the wheel a hard right forgetting there was an 18 wheeler next to him. As the jeep hydroplaned from the water the momentum made it flip onto its side before it hit the back of the truck. The impact caused Doug to come out of his seat since he had no seatbelt stopping him. His body flew through the windshield and outside the car onto the wet pavement. He was knocked unconscious before he hit the ground but his body slid for a good fifty feet before finally stopping in the middle of the interstate.

Anna tried to brace herself as she felt the jeep flip and hit the back of the truck that was in front of them. She opened her eyes when she realized that they weren't moving anymore. She looked around to figure out where she was. She could get the door open so she climbed out the where the windshield would have been. Shit where was Doug. She stood up and saw him lying on the pavement; he had to have been thrown from the car. She ran over to where he was laying brushing glass from her body. She started to panic as she leaned down to see if he was still breathing. There were cars stopping all over the interstate now. "Call 911 someone, please." She screamed out as she started CPR. "Don't you leave me Doug! You have to stay here, come on baby, fight." Tears flowed down her face, "I am not going to lose you, not now. Fight Doug fight." She felt his rib crack as she pressed on down on his chest. It felt like an eternity before the medics got there, time was almost standing still for her; the ride to the ER took even longer. She stood outside the trauma room door feeling utterly and completely helpless. She couldn't do anything but wait, they had politely pointed out to her that while she was a physician she was not licensed to practice medicine in Kentucky. She let them look at the cut on her head, and the ones on her legs from kicking out the glass. Finally they let her back inside his room, as she sat next to his bed holding onto his hand. She closed her eyes laying her head down onto the rail and did the only thing she could think of, she prayed that god wouldn't take him from her and that he would wake up for her.

"Ok." Carter said as he followed her inside the place. "A shower sounds nice, but nope no shower for me right now." I'm going to lie down on the bed, but I hope you have a nice shower." "And then will you join me on the bed?" Carter asked her

"Yeah I will." Abby said they headed up the stairs. She kissed his forehead, "I won't be long I promise." She headed into the bathroom and started the shower. She slipped out of the scrubs that she was wearing and into the shower. The hot water felt good as it fell against her back. Her mind wandered back to Doug and Anna, she couldn't help but wonder if they were both okay.

Doug's doctor walked in the room to see Anna sitting there with him. "I thought you might like a report." he said as he pulled up a seat and sat down. He could tell it had been a long night for her, like with so many of his other patients. He was surprised she wasn't hurt more than she was. "All things considered, you were very lucky."

She looked up at him, "yeah, I know I am, but I need to know, please tell me what his status is?" She fought the urge to reach over and just look at the chart.

The doctor ran his hands through his hair. "Well since it appears he has no other family I can discuss his options with you...Doug broke his back in the accident. We don't know how badly it is or if he'll get function again. We need to wait for the swelling to go down. He has four fractured ribs, a small fracture in his right eye orbital and when he came in he had a small liver laceration which we were easily able to fix. He has a lot of swelling in his head, which is why he isn't awake." the doctor looked down at the chart and then back up at Anna. "It's a waiting game...worse case scenario is paralysis or...a long term coma."

Anna felt like the life had been sucked out of her right there and then. She crumpled down into the chair that she was sitting in, "oh god." This was her fault; if they hadn't been fighting he wouldn't have been distracted while he was driving. She looked at him and kissed his hand. She swallowed hard, and the tears came back into his eyes. "What are we looking at worse case, how high up is the break."

Carter fell asleep exhaustedly from the way he had gotten on the bed. It was probably because he needed to rest. He fell asleep and then he saw the warehouse he had been taken hostage in. He was having a nightmare. He started screaming in his sleep from that experience.

Abby climbed from the shower to hear Carter screams she ran from the bathroom, sitting down on the bed next to him, "shh baby I'm here, John, I'm here."

The doctor sighed. "Its right at T8 and T9 so..." the doctor knew how serious the injury was and he knew he didn't have to explain it to Anna. His beeper went off and he knew he had to go. "We just have to wait and see. Best case is nerve damage, he cracked it pretty bad." the doctor stood up and checked the intubation tube. "Feel free to come get me with anything else." he said before walking to the door. "You can stay as long as you want...but you know...it looks like you saved his life."

Carter opened his eyes, he looked frighten from the nightmare... "Abby...I...dreamt ...that... we. ...were...at the ...warehouse...again"

She nodded. She stood up and kissed his forehead. "I am so sorry baby." She hadn't saved his life, she had about killed him. She walked out of the room, looking back at him, feeling her heart breaking. She walked over to the admit area. She gave them her cell phone number, as it dawned on her that it was in the jeep. She got directions to where the jeep would have been taken. She caught a cab and headed there. After getting what she could from the jeep she headed back to the first motel where they stayed. Picking up the Doug's rental car, she then drove back to the hotel where they had been staying and packed up everything there. Throwing his stuff in the trunk of the car as she slammed it shut. 'This is not fair.' She thought to herself as she began the drive back to the hospital. He was never going to forgive her for this and she knew it. She walked back into the hospital finding his room again as she set his bags down. She kissed his forehead once more, "I love you." She said as she turned and walked out of the room. She then gave them her numbers in Chicago and asked them to call if anything changed. She explained that she had another family emergency that she had to attend to but that she would be back in 3 days. She walked out of the hospital wiping the tears from her eyes. And drove straight to the airport, to get head back to Chicago.

Abby sighed, "no we're at your house...it's over John." She wanted right there and then to tell him to suck it up. He wasn't the only that it scared. My god her and Doug could have gotten their own butts killed trying to get him out of there.

"But you and Doug also almost got killed to" Carter said to her. "I mean it's my fault. You almost got killed and Doug as well. I was...afraid...for you to"

Several hours later Doug's eyes fluttered open. He slowly looked around the room. 'What happened?' asked himself. He choked as he felt the tube in his throat. A doctor was in shortly and took it out for him. It hurt to talk...everything hurt. He was explaining his situation and sat there numb. "Paralyzed?" the thought scared him more than death. His whole life was wrapped up in being able to move. What was he going to do if that was the case? "Umm, my girlfriend was in the car...is she alright?" Doug would never forgive himself if she wasn't. He couldn't imagine why she wouldn't be here if she wasn't badly hurt. "

Yes." the nurse said. "Just a cut on her head. She left for Chicago five hours ago."

Doug sunk into his bed. How could she just leave him? He sighed as the anger surged in him. It hurt too much to breathe in any deeper. He wiped the tear from his face and closed his eyes. He was going to get better, even if it was just to show her up.

Abby leaned back against the bed, "just try and go back to sleep everyone is okay. And we will all be okay."

Anna landed at Midway and walked over to the jeep. God she was tired. She drove straight to Northwestern where her daughter was. After checking on her, seeing for herself that what had happened was life threatening. Most bumps, bruises, a concussion, and a shattered femur. She kissed her forehead and walked out of the room. This had been the longest day of her life. She checked her cell phone hoping that there would be a message from the hospital about Doug, but there wasn't. She walked down to the ER to see if they needed some help. She needed something to take her mind off everything that was going on. She didn't want to go over to county and have to see everyone who knew Doug, she didn't have any answers and she didn't want to risk bumping into Carol. She threw herself into work. Maybe if she wore herself down to the point of complete exhaustion her body would be so numb that her brain could stop thinking.

Carter leaned back against the bed and just rested his eyes, in some ways he felt Abby was mad at him. But he then fell asleep

Abby felt Carter give into sleep. She got up off the bed and went to find her cell phone to see if she could get a hold of Doug or Anna...she got Doug's voice mail...she called Anna's number...no answer there either. Whatever was going on she hoped that they were both okay.

The doctor came in after a few more hours had passed. Doug knew the drill, if he didn't feel anything now he wasn't going to. The nurse pulled the blanket back and Doug saw how badly he was scraped up. He must have slid on his left side because it was almost completely torn up. He closed his eyes as they laid him back. "Please God" he thought. "Help me out...just this once." he reached up and grabbed the cross that still hung on his neck. He felt a sharp pin prick up by his thigh and jumped. "I felt that...that's good" he said to the doctor.

His doctor nodded as he brought him back up. "You have function in your legs...but you also have severe nerve damage. Know that you're not going to be walking out of here."

Doug nodded. He didn't care what the doctors told him, he was going to get back to his normal life as soon as possible. "When can I leave?" he asked.

The doctor smiled at him. "Not for a few days. We need to..."

Doug just rolled his eyes. "Look, if I'm not going to die getting on a plane I want to go home...I will go to a hospital in Chicago. I mean I work at one for Christ's sake!" he was getting really agitated. All he wanted to do was stay in his house and have a strong drink. "We'll talk about it tomorrow." the doctor said leaving. "We will call your girlfriend for you." Doug snapped up hearing that. "No...Don't...I uh...She doesn't need to know. Ill talk to her later."