When Tegan awoke Lindsey was with her. It was mid-morning. The physical therapy the previous afternoon had taken it out of her completely. Her legs were aching.
"Well hello sleepy head" Lindsey smiled.
"Hey gorgeous" said Tegan drowsily and yawned.
"Everyone okay?" asked Tegan.
"Yeah, everyone's fine. They're still asleep"
"Big day yesterday" said Tegan.
"Indeed. Nurse asked me to tell her when you're awake so you can eat"
"Give me a few minutes. I just want to look at you" sighed Tegan.
"You feeling alright baby?" asked Lindsey and touched Tegan's forehead.
"Yeah, a bit sore from the PT yesterday but I guess it's a good sore" said Tegan.
"You're making such great progress. I'm so proud of you" said Lindsey and kissed Tegan's knuckles.
"Can't wait to make love to you" said Tegan.
"Whoa! Easy tiger. Get some strength back first" laughed Lindsey and kissed Tegan's cheek.
"How is it possible to love someone this much" said Tegan seriously.
Lindsey smiled and kissed Tegan softly on the lips.
"Oh I remember that… always all over each other" Sara piped up.
"You're awake… morning" said Tegan through a kiss.
"Kate's still out…. Do you think she'll wake up soon?" asked Sara.
"Ahhh… you missed her. Talk about not getting enough" joked Tegan.
"Morning ladies" said Sax walking into the room with a resident. She look exhausted.
"You look terrible, you should get some sleep" said Tegan.
"Gee thanks" said Sax. She really didn't ever sleep much but she had been pushing it even more than usual lately.
"Her temps low. What do you want to do? Bear hugger?" asked a nurse next to Kate's bed.
"Hmmm, yeah, let's see if we can get her a bit warmer" said Sax.
"Dr Sinclair. Is she okay? How was she through the night?" asked Sara.
"She had a reasonably good night Sara. She was stable throughout. BP a bit low. Right now she's a bit cold due to her low BP and her metabolic rate being down so we're going to warm her while we wait on some blood test results. Don't worry, we've got her" said Sax.
A few minutes later Kate was lying flat and was covered from shoulders to feet in a bear hugger. A device that gets blown up with warm circulating air. She was still out. She had an oxygen mask on her face. It worried Sara.
"Ahhh baby… You sure she's okay?"
"She will be. You just relax now" said Sax. Fact of the matter was that she was way more worried about Kate's low temperature than she let on.
Kate woke up with a feint humming in her ears. She grunted. She was flat on her back and not raised 40% as usual. Something was warm, it felt nice. She blinked hard to get her bearings.
"Morning sleeping beauty or should I call you ice queen" Sax joked and replaced Kate's oxygen mask with a nasal cannula.
"When did you start thinking you're funny?" Kate grunted.
"Oh come on grumpy. I have your gorgeous wife, very keen to see you"
"Sara" said Kate and turned her head.
"Hey baby" said Sara a few feet away.
Kate pulled her arm out under the bear hugger and held it out.
"Arm back in thank you" said Sax putting Kate's arm back under the bear hugger.
"Sara" Kate mumbled again. The beds were pushed together again.
"Hey baby… you okay?" asked Sara.
"Uh huh" Kate groaned and nodded.
"You still remember me?" said Kate, her voice still hoarse and weak.
"Yes, and I'll never forget you again. I promise"
Kate smiled weakly and held Sara's hand as tight as she could.
"Why the hell am I under a bear hugger anyway?" she asked trying to sit up.
"Easy, stay still" said Sax.
"What's going on?" asked Kate.
"You're just struggling a bit to retain body heat. You'll be okay, we've got you"
"Oh… when can I start eating?" asked Kate.
"Why? You hungry?" asked Sax.
"No… just keen to get out of here"
"All in good time, maybe tomorrow super girl"
"Alright"
"You just relax and get nice and toasty"
Kate turned her head and looked at Sara.
"Hey angel… love you"
"I love you too… charmer" winked Sara.
"I need to call the hospital" said Kate turning to Sax again.
"You're in the hospital" said Sax.
"No… LA… they must be looking for me"
Sax laughed. "It's all good. They know what happened. I'm updating them daily"
"Oh… are they mad?"
"No, they're more mad that I'm still here"
"I'm sure they are" grinned Kate. "Still don't know how you swung this one"
"Well you know they'd do anything and send anyone to save their star doctor. Here's the problem though. They want me back by Monday" said Sax.
"Oh…" said Kate and swallowed hard.
"Don't worry, I imagine you'll all be stable enough to move by then" said Sax.
"Move how?" asked Sara.
"Look guys, it will be completely up to you. If you decide to stay you will be in very good hands here until you're released. However, if you're up for it, we can move you using Med-Flight. It's a very large plane, it's pretty much like an ICU in there. We'll get you back to LA and into either the ICU or high-care over there. Either way, if I'm not back in LA on Monday I can kiss my job goodbye"
"No… no planes" said Sara.
"Sara come on… they'll take good care of us"
"It's a fucking plane Kate. Did you forget that you almost died in one?" Sara snapped.
"Sara, if you're in a car crash in LA, how will you get back to your house?" asked Kate sounding weak.
Sara didn't answer, she just stared out in front of her.
"In a car that's how. What are the chances that we'll be in another plane crash"
"No… no no no" said Sara seeming petrified.
"Okay baby, just calm down. If you want to stay, we'll stay" said Kate.
Tegan was quiet, staring out in front of her.
"I'm in… I'm going home" said Tegan after a minute of silence.
"Seriously? You do know they're just going to move to another ICU Tegan, how…" said Sara before being cut off by Sax.
"Actually I think you guys will probably be ready to go into the step-down unit by then" said Sax.
"Same thing really… a hospital is a hospital" said Sara annoyed.
"No… it's much nicer in LA, it's like a hotel compared to this" said Kate.
"Sara if you want to stay I understand. But I want to go home. My kids needs some routine and some sort of normality again. That and I want to move forward. It's one more step forward Sar. But I completely understand if you can't" said Tegan.
"I don't think I can… I'll have a nervous breakdown" said Sara.
"We'll sedate you all Sara. You won't know about a thing. You'll wake up safe and sound in LA" said Sax.
"It's okay, we can stay if you want" said Kate still looking like an Eskimo under the bear hugger.
Sara stayed quiet for another minute before speaking again.
"Okay… let's do it" said Sara, heart racing.
"It's going to be okay. I know you're scared. I am too" said Kate.
"Look, we'll still need to access your condition in a day or two to see if it's even viable" said Sax while removing the bear hugger off Kate.
Sara nodded and put her hands over her nose and mouth. Images of the accident racing through her mind again. She suddenly felt nauseous.
"Sar, Violet said she'll be here today to come talk to you" said Tegan.
"Thanks… sounds good" said Sara suddenly seeming distant.
-0-
Later that afternoon Sara woke up with Kate snoring lightly next to her. She looked at her relaxed, sleeping face. Kate had lost quite a bit of weight but she was still gorgeous. Kate was still holding Sara's hand, even in her sleep.
"Hey, you awake?" croaked Tegan.
"Yeah" said Sara softly and turned her head.
"She okay?" asked Tegan.
"She's fine from what I can tell, yes. I'm so lucky to have her. I so almost lost her Tee. Thank you, thank you for getting help" said Sara.
"We almost lost you too Sar" said Tegan.
"When you left… I… fuck… Kate was… she… she stopped breathing… she barely had a pulse. I… I just couldn't let her die. I found the strength to somehow give her mouth to mouth breathing. Her lips was so cold under mine. I could feel the air struggle to go in. I… I really thought I was going to lose her. I don't know what I would have done… or you… I just… I can't even imagine" said Sara and burst out into tears.
Kate had woken up a few seconds earlier and heard Sara's conversation.
"Baby… Sara… It's okay, I'm right here honey. You're not going to lose me I promise" said Kate softly.
"Katy… oh my love… please don't ever leave me" said Sara. She moved closer to Kate with some difficulty. She softly touched Kate's arm, then her face. "I love you so fucking much" she whispered.
Tegan let Sara and Kate have their moment. A few minutes later she cleared her throat and spoke.
"Sara, we need to talk now that we're both awake and kind of lucid" said Tegan.
"What's up Tee?" Sara asked without taking her eyes off Kate.
"Sara focus" said Tegan.
"What?" asked Sara annoyed and snapped her head around.
"Sorry!" said Tegan sarcastically.
"I'm sorry Tegan. What were you saying?"
"Apparently nobody has sent out any statements on our website, social media, press… nothing. Lindsey says the fans are going nuts. Apparently there's a big shrine out there again. I just feel that… maybe it's unfair not to let them know anything"
"Hey I want to read some of those messages!" said Sara.
"Yes yes Sara, but my point is that we should let them know what's going on"
"Tee… I don't know… what do you suggest we do? Let Tom write a statement? Should we?"
"No, I think we should do a video message maybe. So they can see it's us not management writing"
"Looking like this?" said Sara sounding confused, she pointed at her dishevelled hair.
Tegan shrugged. "Well… yeah… why not?"
"Okay, whatever Tegan… you do the talking alright"
"Sure. I'm calling the nurse to put our beds together"
"Keep Kate out of it please"
"Sure, no problem"
A few minutes later the twins' beds were pushed together and Lindsey was there. She was ready to record on Tegan's phone.
"Scootch up Sar. Get in the frame" said Tegan.
"I'm fucking injured Tegan" said Sara irritated but moved a bit closer nonetheless.
Tegan grunted as she moved closer herself.
"Alright… here I am. I'm ready" said Sara.
Lindsey fixed Sara's hair a bit.
"I look like shit Tegan"
"So do I, don't worry, we're not on a fashion shoot we're in the fucking ICU"
"Alright… if you say so"
"Okay Linds, let's roll" said Tegan readjusting her hospital gown to cover everything.
"We're rolling in three" said Lindsey.
"Hey everyone. As you can see, we're in the ICU here in Denver" said Tegan. Sara waved reluctantly. You probably heard the news that we were in a plane crash. We just wanted to let you know that we're all good. We're getting so much better every day. As you can see, they're taking really good care of us. We're on lots of monitors and IVs and stuff. Sara has a badly broken leg and she had a bit of internal bleeding and um… a bleed on the brain and… um, some serious complications with all that. I have a broken arm, dislocated shoulder, torn ligaments in my knee. Some banged up ribs and some bruised lungs and stuff inside. Oh and I had some hypothermia and pneumonia… Shit… I guess I'm scaring you guys. I'm sorry. I'm not going to lie to you, it was touch and go there for a while for all of us. But we're both just fine now. We're making great progress. We'll probably be hospitalised a while still but we're good… We wanted to thank you all for your amazing support. You guys sent us so much love I swear it's almost palpable. Thank you, thank you! We'll try and keep you a bit more in the loop going forward. We just wanted you to know that we're okay. We'd like to please ask that the media respect our privacy and that of our families right now. We've got a long road to recovery in front of us. But we're going to be fine. We miss being on the road and seeing you guys every day. We'll be back though. Anyway, we'll catch ya later. Nurse wants to give me a sponge bath" Tegan winked and laughed. "Tegan… really?" said Sara and laughed. "Thank you guys. We're okay. Thanks for all your positive thoughts. We'll be back soon. Take care" said Sara and waved. Tegan waved too.
A/N: I need some reviews please guys! Why are you all so quiet?