AnnaBeth jumped as she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. She sat upright sending Kelly's jacket falling to the ground.
"You should go home and get some rest" Kelly told her handing her a coffee.
"I'm not going anywhere until I know Gabby is ok" She said shaking her head as she took the coffee gratefully "Thank you"
AnnaBeth had went home once in the last two days. Chief Boden had barely left the hospital either. They had both wanted to be there for Gabby and Matt. Everyone else had held down the fort on shift at the firehouse. Gabby had lost the baby and had suffered a rebleed and gone back into surgery. They were waiting to find out what was happening with the second surgery. She knew Gabby would pull through, but her heart ached for her. She could only imagine what she would be going through when she came out on the other side of it.
She stood up as Jonah walked into the waiting room with Will. Will walked over to Matt to talk to him.
"How is she?" She asked Jonah as he put his arms around her.
"Will managed to stop the bleeding, she'll need some rest but she's going to be ok" Jonah replied.
"Oh, thank goodness" She said sighing with relief.
She knew Gabby would need to do more than rest. It wasn't just what she had physically gone through, it would be the emotional side and everything she still had to deal with. AnnaBeth wasn't sure she could leave now.
"You look like death" Jonah told her "Go home and get some sleep"
"Fine" She said ignoring the 'I told you so' look on Kelly's face "But if anything happens you have to let me know"
"If you promise to take a break" Jonah said "You find that babies dad, you haven't left this waiting room, I know you've got a big heart AB but you need to take some time for you too"
"Do you need a ride?" Kelly asked.
"Don't you need to go back to the firehouse?" She asked furrowing her brow.
"Shift is over" He replied "You really do need to rest"
"Don't forget the party at Molly's tonight" Otis told her "Candidate actually saved the bar"
AnnaBeth smiled at Jimmy. She hadn't really gotten to know him, but it was clear he was already fitting in at 51. It was also so clear that Chili had a crush on him. With everything going on she had forgotten that the new couple who had moved in across from the bar had tried to get it shut down. She wasn't sure what Jimmy had done to save it, but she was glad that he had. Molly's was the heart of their community. She felt like she could sleep for at least a day, but she didn't want to let anyone down.
"I'll be there" She said "But I may be a little late"
AnnaBeth said goodbye to Matt and made him promise to give her love to Gabby and to call her if either of them needed anything at all. She walked with Kelly out to his car. She was too tired to think of a good reason not to accept the ride home.
"So, are you going to go to Bluebell?" He asked as they pulled out of the parking lot.
"Not right now" She replied "Gabby is going to need her friends around; it wouldn't feel right"
"Would you really have left for good?" He asked keeping his gaze straight ahead.
"I'm not sure" She admitted "I might have"
"I'm really sorry" He started.
"It's not just you" She reassured him "Thing's lately have just been really hard"
"I know I'm the last person you'd want to be there for you" He told her "But I do care about you, if you do ever need me, I'm here"
"You're not the last person" She told him "You're not the first right now, but you're not the last"
"I'll take that" He nodded with a half-smile.
AnnaBeth waved to Kelly as she got out of the car. She wiped her eyes as she looked over at the front of her building. Clearly, she was suffering from exhaustion because she was starting to hallucinate. She was sure she was looking right at Lemon Breeland, Crickett Watts and for some reason George Tucker. Seeing him in an hallucination didn't make much sense. She blinked again realising that the three of them were actually stood on her doorstep which made even less sense.
"Well don't just stand there, you look like a statue honouring the confused" Lemon told her, proving that she wasn't actually seeing things.
"What are you doing here?" She asked in disbelief.
"We knew you couldn't come to Bluebell, so we thought we're bring Bluebell to you" Lemon told her taking her hand "And George drove because he still owes me for leaving me at the alter"
"Y 'all really came all this way for me?" She asked placing a hand on her heart, lack of sleep making it even more likely that she would burst into tears at any moment.
"Well, Kelly called" Lemon muttered "He told us what had happened, and I know you wouldn't leave a friend in need"
She mouthed 'Thank you' to Kelly before he drove off. He had always been a good friend to her, and he was clearly trying to make amends.
"Sweetheart, I am so happy to see you" Crickett told her "but you really need a shower"
AnnaBeth just laughed. She could always rely on Crickett Watts to be brutally honest. She sometimes thought that was why Lemon and Crickett were only sometimes friends. It was something they both had in common.
Lemon had insisted that she should get some rest and they would meet her later at Molly's. She had said she was taking Crickett to go and meet Jonah for lunch. George had actually set up some meetings while he was in town. He had apparently made the move to become a music manager. He had taken on the Truitt Brothers and Meatball. She had seen some video's of them on the town website from back home. They were actually pretty good which was very surprising.
AnnaBeth took a shower and climbed into bed. She fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.