A/N: Sorry for the late update! I've been trying hard to write the next couple chapters which are pretty tough since some stuff happens and yeah, it's hard to write it lol. So, thanks to all my fans and readers and what not, I'm hoping you all are still reading this. I'm going to try and get this story over by chapter 18-20, its not that I want it to end, but I feel like I've already written so much about this story that it's time for it to come to a close. So I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please send me reviews! Nothing encourages me more than some reviews!
The doctor had finally came into the waiting room from down the hall way and Tommy quickly had gotten up to talk to him.
"Are you Mr. Thomas Quincy?" The doctor asked.
"Yes, how is she? Is she ok? Is she awake? Is she-"
"Jessica lost a large amount of blood, we managed to get that much under control, but I'm afraid that she's fallen into a coma. Her condition is pretty stable, but at this point we still need to wait for more results to come in to see if she will wake up or not," The doctor said, his eyes saying how sorry he was, but his tone emotionless and professional.
Tommy looked down and breathed in deeply and managed to only allow a few tears to spill instead of the river he just wanted to cry.
"Can, can we um, see her?" Tommy asked, his tone shaky. The doctor nodded and pointed out the room that Jess was taking residence in.
Tommy walked sullenly back towards Jude, Tanner, and Derek and looked Jude in the eyes. She saw his turmoil, that his emotions were threatening to break him at any moment, Tanner noticed this too, and was ready to hunt Ethan down.
"She's um, I'm sorry honey, she's in a coma," Tommy said, his voice cracking as Jude burst into tears while Tommy held her in his arms.
Tanner punched the wall and started pacing the room. His anger boiling in his veins, his tear ducts threatening to shed the oh so many tears he needed to shed. When Derek started to cry, Jude immediately wiped away her tears as she sat down and allowed him to hold her finger while Tommy had started to rub Jude's back in long, slow, comforting circles. Tommy took one glance at the door and saw the culprit who had done this to his daughter. Once Tommy saw him, it was too late for Tanner or even Jude to stop him. Tommy ran full force down the hall and pinned Ethan against the wall.
"You son of a bitch! My daughter is lying in a coma because of you!" Tommy yelled kneeing him in the groin and then before Tommy had a chance to land another hit on him, Tanner and a security guard pulled them apart.
"Tom! You need to calm down. Jess wouldn't want you to do this!" Tanner said to Tommy, holding him back by his arms.
"Let me go Tanner. This little ass wipe deserves to be in ICU right now," Tommy said as the security guard just continued to hold Ethan back.
"What is going on here?" said one of the head security guards.
"Nothing," Tommy said breaking free from Tanner's grip and then pointing at Ethan, "You stay the fuck away from my family, or you better pray that you don't end up worse than Jess right now,"
Tommy stalked away and went back to his seat where Jude was holding on to Derek trying to calm him down.
"Can you just make sure that he stays away from the Quincies, I'll pay you as much money you want to keep him away from Jessica Quincy," Tanner said pulling out his wallet when the security guard just waved him down.
"Don't worry about it," he said as they took Ethan outside.
When Tanner looked back towards the waiting room, he saw that Tommy, Jude and Derek were getting up to go see Jess. Tanner decided he'd just wait for them in the waiting room. A few minutes had passed and Jude came back with Derek and Jess's purse that she had with her. Tanner swallowed the lump of a sob in his throat and sat back in the chair. Jude started to rub Tanner's back, she could see how much this was tearing his insides apart. She knew Tanner had fallen for her daughter, but it scared her to see how badly this was affecting him. When Tommy came back, he nodded to Tanner to go and visit her.
"I can't," Tanner said, his voice so small and soft, it sounded like Tanner was just a little boy again.
"It's ok, son. She doesn't look like she's in pain or anything. She looks like she's sleeping," Tommy said to Tanner.
Tanner just nodded as he grabbed the iPod from Jess's purse and walked down the hall and he suddenly stopped in front of Jess's door. He felt like he was going to throw up any moment. He felt the painful sobs coming up again, the dizziness from the whole day was starting to kick in. He suddenly started to smell the blood on his jeans. Her blood. Jess's blood. Tanner quickly shook his head and used one hand to push the slightly opened door, open completely, and he almost broke at her sight.
Jess's head was wrapped in a white bandage, and her cheek was purple and blue from Ethan's punch. Tanner stood at the end of the bed, afraid that if he had gotten any closer something that wasn't supposed to, would start beeping. A nurse walked in and saw his uncomfort. She nodded and then stood next to him.
"You know, you can talk to her. They can hear you, and it's better if you talk to her, sometimes it helps them wake up. Pull up a chair, your jeans look a mess, let me get you a fresh a pair of sweats while you stay here," the nurse said, as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as Tanner just nodded and grabbed a chair and sat down close to Jess.
He extended his shaking hand, and held her warm soft one. The touch made him warm a little, and a tear managed to escape his eye.
"Hey Quincy. You missed your dad beating the crap out of Ethan. Well I wouldn't say beating the crap, but let's just say he may never be able to have kids," Tanner said with a small smile and a light chuckle. "You know, you're giving us all a heart attack over here. But we need you to be strong baby, because none of us can bare to think what it'd be like not to wake up in the morning and see you with your cup of coffee. Or to hear your beautiful angelic voice, and you got college coming up, and maybe even a debut album," Tanner started to cry at all these thoughts.
"I need you Jess, I need your soft touch to remind me that there is such a thing as an angel's touch. I need to hear your voice every day or else I think I just might go insane with all of the sounds of the horrible world we live in. I need to see your gorgeous blue eyes again to remember that not even the ocean's colors can be as breath taking. I need you Jess, you're my everything, I can't live without you. I just gotta put it plain and simple, I love you," Tanner said as he kissed her hand and laid his head on it.
"Where's that bastard? I'm going to kill him!" Jamie and Spiederman yelled once they got to the hospital. Kwest, EJ, Darius, Sarah, Sadie, Nate and Kat were sitting patiently while Jamie and Spiederman were standing ready to pummel Ethan.
"He's kicked out of the hospital, Tommy took care of it," Jude said sullenly as she kept playing with Derek, trying to think positively.
"You know, she's going to be fine Jude. She's just like you, strong willed, determined, she's going to pull through this," Sadie said as she pulled up a chair in front of her little sister and held her hand that wasn't playing with Derek.
"I know, but she's so lifeless in there," Jude cried in her sister's arms. Tommy took Derek into his care while Kwest, Darius, and Spiederman were trying to comfort him and Jamie, Kat, and Sadie were comforting Jude. Sarah slipped away and went to Jess's room, were she saw Tanner sitting there talking to Jess. She smiled at the gesture and walked in the room placing a hand on Tanner's shoulder.
"Oh, hi, Sarah right?" Tanner said with a weak smile.
"Yeah, how you holding up," Sarah said as she grabbed another chair and sat down next to him.
"Better than at first, did you just get here?" Tanner asked, not taking his eyes off of Jess for even a second.
"Yeah, about ten minutes ago. You know, Spiederman and Jamie are ready to find Ethan and beat him. But then we heard that my uncle Tommy got there first," Sarah said with a strong smile. Sarah was used to being the weaker of the two cousins, much like Jude and Sadie, Sadie was used to being the weaker of the sisters, so when it came time to being strong, it was something they would have to cope with.
"Yeah, I saw it. If he knows what's best, he'd never come around again," Tanner said as he rubbed Jess's hand with his thumb.
"Hey Jess. Wake your ass up before I sit on you again," Sarah said sarcastically. "You've got a lot of people out there worried about you, I think it's time you got up,"
"I know you can hear me stubborn ass, so you mind as well stop and just open your big eyes," Sarah said, starting to choke up a little.
"C'mon Jess. You're like a little sister to me, I can't think of going to school without you. Remember? We're supposed to share a dorm together," Sarah said, her tears starting to fall. Tanner took note of this and wrapped an arm around Sarah's shoulder trying to comfort her.
"Please just wake up...just..wake up," Sarah said as she brought her knees up to her chin and cried silently, Tanner trying to be a good friend and comforting her every step of the way.
"I'm going to get some fresh air and on a food run for everyone, do you want anything?" Sarah asked as she stood up and straightened her sweater a little and wiped her eyes.
"I'm good," Tanner said with a weak smile as Sarah just nodded and walked out, saying see ya to Jess.
When Sarah walked into the waiting room, Tommy and Jude were asleep in their chairs, with an extra chair supporting their feet while Kwest and Jamie were playing with Derek on a blanket on the floor.
"So, Tanner's been in there for a while, any chance of him coming out?" Sadie asked as Sarah took a seat by her mother.
"Mom, I feel so helpless," Sarah cried as Sadie just hugged her daughter close as she continued to cry.
"I know honey, but Jess will pull through, I know she will, we have to keep believing that alright? Don't forget it," Sadie said looking her daughter in her eyes. Over the years, Sadie developed that strength that her little sister seemed to have been born with.
"I'm going on a food run, what can I get you guys?" Sarah said as she wiped her tears and people just said to bring chips, cookies, and coffee and soda.
"Hey, I'll go with her, we've got practically our own little mini party so I have a feeling we're gonna need more than one person," Kwest said as Spiederman took his place on the floor with baby Derek.
"I'm going to go check on Tanner, he's been in there for a while," Nate said as he kissed his wife on her forehead and walked into the room. Tanner was still talking to Jess when Nate walked in, sitting in the chair his daughter Sarah was in just moments before.
"She looks good," Nate said simply, he had always been a man of few words and preferred to let his music speak his mind.
"Yeah, she does," Tanner said his hand still holding Jess's.
"Look, I know you care a lot about my niece, but why don't you go outside and get some fresh air, you've been in here for about two hours already. I'm not saying that that matters, just, take a break ok? I'm gonna be honest here and say you look like hell, you need to take a breather," Nate said as Tanner just kept his eyes on Jess's coma state.
"I'm too scared to leave her," Tanner said quietly.
"She's going to be fine, I'll stay in here while you go out there and let everyone know how she looks. Jude and Tommy are sleeping and I'm not sure if it's safe leaving little Derek out there with Jamie and Spiederman," Nate said with a soft laugh.
"Doesn't Jamie have a daughter?" Tanner mentioned.
"But he also has Kat," Nate added.
"Good point. Alright, I'll just be out there for a little and then I'll be back," Tanner said as he still kept hold of Jess's iPod and walked out of the room, but not before he whispered 'I love you' in her ear and kissed her on her forehead.
"Hey, Tanner. How are you doing?" Sadie said as Tanner just took a seat next to her.
Tanner just shrugged and sat back in his chair. Sadie rubbed his back as she noticed how uncomfortable he was.
"Just breathe, ok? Everything will work out," Sadie added. Tanner just nodded and closed his eyes for a bit.
"You can go ahead and sleep if you want, Jess won't be going anywhere, besides, my little sister and brother in law are knocked out over there," Sadie said nodding towards Tommy and Jude in the mess of chairs.
"I just can't believe she's really in there. I mean, she went unconcious right in my lap. I should have been the one to get hit instead of her. It's not fair, she doesn't deserve this," Tanner said rubbing his temples.
"I know it's not, but life isn't fair. But it's something we gotta live with, if I know my sister, than I know my niece, Jess will wake up," Sadie said. Just as Sadie had finished, Sarah and Kwest walked in with two boxes of soda, four grocery bags of chips, cookies, bagels, and gummy bears.
"I think we have enough food to feed the whole waiting room," Kwest remarked setting down the two boxes of soda.
"Look around Kwest, we are the waiting room," Jamie said with a small chuckle. Jude was the first to wake up, she stretched and then pushed her extra chair away. She leaned over and kissed Tommy on the cheek as she walked over towards Sadie and sat down on the chair next to her.
"No change?" Jude asked, and Sadie nodded. Jude sighed and sat back in the chair.
"I think I'm going to go back in there, I'll see you guys later," Tanner said as he got up with his hands in his pockets, but not before he got hit in the back of head with a bag of doritos.
"Eat something while you're in there! We've been here already for a few hours and you need to eat," Tanner just nodded at Sarah's sentence and grabbed the chips and walked off.
"I swear he's the younger version of Tommy," Sadie said holding on to her sister's hand.
"I know what you mean, it's scary Sadie. At times I worry about Jess, but then at other times I'm happy for her. It's a bittersweet thing. I know that he'll make her happy, but I also know the heart break he can put her through," Jude said resting her head on her sister's shoulder.
"Do you want me to take Derek home? Nate and I will stay the night with him at your house, it's not good for him to be spending this much time at a hospital, especially since he just left yesterday," Sadie said. Jude just nodded.
"Alright, I'll go get Nate and tell him that we're going back to your place to watch him," Sadie said giving her little sister a small sign of reassurance by squeezing her hand before walking off to go get him.
When Sadie walked into the room, she saw Tanner sitting in a chair, his hand enclosing Jess's, while Nate just stood at the back of the room, his arms folded, with the same look in his eyes the day he had visited Jude nearly twenty years ago on tour. Sadie walked up to him and put her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Wanna go back to Jude and Tommy's and watch Derek? It's getting late," Sadie said, Nate just simply nodded as he took Sadie's hand in his and they walked down the hall together. Jude was holding Derek when the two approached her.
"I think I'll come with you guys, Kat's going to be heading home soon, and I don't wanna leave this little guy without his mommy on his first night home," Jude said with a weak smile as they all went into the parking lot to go back to Jude's.
An hour after Jude, Sadie, Nate, Derek, and Kat and Lauren left, Rebecca and Chris walked inside the hospital with worried looks on their faces. Tommy had already woken up and was sipping on his coffee when they approached him.
"How is she? David is putting the film on hold until we know that Jess is going to be ok and Tanner able to work," Rebecca explained quickly to Tommy.
"She's in a stable coma. We have to wait until tomorrow to know if there are any chances of her waking up. Tanner is taking it really hard, he's been in there for two hours, came out for like 10 minutes, and then went back in there about three hours ago," Tommy said.
"God, is there anything you guys want us to do? We came out on the first flight available when Tanner called us," Chris said.
"At this point there's nothing for us to do but wait. Jude and Derek went home, she didn't want Derek to spend his first night out of the hospital in the hospital, but Sadie and Nate are keeping her company right now," Tommy said rubbing his eyes.
"Mr. Quincy, why don't you go on and head home for the night? We'll stay here with Tanner and Sarah, you look beat, and I think Jess would want you to go and spend Derek's first night home with Jude and your son," Rebecca said as sincerely as she could.
"You're right, but call me if there's any change. I'll be back tomorrow morning as early as we can. You guys are great people, I'm glad you guys are here," Tommy said hugging them each and then heading out of the hospital.
