Aoife was out of the cab almost before it came to a complete halt, and ran through the glass doors. Her heart fell when she saw the long queue at the Emergency Room; she needed to find Ellie, and to find her fast. And then she spotted Ellie's partner, Kit Palmer, and the knot around her windpipe eased marginally.
"They've taken her for an MRI," Kit's soft tones did nothing to soothe. Kit looked at her watch. "About 20 minutes ago. They said it would take at least 45 minutes to complete. They told me I could bring you back," she nodded at the receptionist who pressed a button to release the door. "We can wait outside the MRI for her to come out."
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Maggie rolled over groggily, when she felt a soft touch on her shoulder. She blinked. What was Kara doing in their room? Kara put her finger over her lips, and beckoned for her to follow her. Alex was, mercifully, asleep. After a disturbed and agitated night, Alex had finally succumbed to a light sedative and had been sleeping for almost 90 minutes, and Maggie did not want her woken.
Kate was in the living room with Kara, and the anxious expressions on both their faces did little to dispel Maggie's already acute sense of unease. Kara led her to the couch.
Kate sat next to Maggie, and took a hand. "It's Ellie. She got hurt yesterday. We don't know how bad yet, but they are talking about the possibility of some spinal damage. Aoife's on her way to the hospital, and I can take you if you want to go?"
Maggie's heart was split in two. She wanted so much to stay with Alex and to help her after one of the worst experiences of her life, but she needed to see her kid sister too.
"I'll stay with Alex," Kara said. "I won't leave her, not for one moment."
That made the decision for Maggie. She knew that Kara was the one person who understood Alex completely, and would offer her full support. And she would get back as soon as she could, once she knew what was happening with Ellie.
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"Easy," Kara put a soft hand on Alex's arm when she jerked awake.
Alex reached out to feel the bed empty beside her. "Mag?"
"She's not here right now," Kara didn't want to alarm Alex. "It's just us two. How do you feel?"
Alex blinked. Her mind was foggy, almost like she had taken something. And then she glimpsed a brief memory of Maggie persuading her to take a tablet in the night. She had been crying. Why had she been crying? And then it all came crashing down as she remembered what happened yesterday. She could see her father's face as she put a bullet between his eyes.
Kara watched in alarm as all the color drained from Alex's face. She sat on the side of the bed and pulled Alex into her arms.
Alex clung to her, like a scared child. "Oh God," she said. "Kara. Oh God."
Kara shushed her, gently, and rubbed her hand up and down her back. Alex was shaking. "I know," Kara said softly. "I know, Alex. I'm so sorry."
For long minutes, Alex couldn't speak. She tried to marshal her breathing, but there didn't seem to be any air in the room.
"Breathe with me," Kara was saying softly. "Nice and slow. You're going to be okay, Alex. It's going to take some time, but you'll be okay. We all will," her mind flashed to Ellie, and she hoped that she wasn't lying to her sister. She felt Alex melt into her embrace.
Half an hour later, Kara helped a shaky Alex to the bathroom, where she eased her into the warm tub and bathed her like a child. Slowly, Alex's shaking diminished. Alex lay back in the tub after Kara had washed her hair carefully. Her eyes opened. "Maggie?"
"She had to go out," Kara knew it was vital that she kept Alex calm, but she didn't want to lie to her. "Ellie had a bit of an accident at work, Maggie's just gone to check on her. She'll be back soon," Kara prayed that she was telling the truth.
"Is she okay?" Alex tried to sit up. "I should be with her. With them. Kara, I need to ..."
Kara's soft hand on her shoulder stopped her. "Alex, you're in no state to go anywhere," Kara's voice was gentle. "Maggie'll call soon, let us know what's happening."
"But I should..."
Kara decided to play dirty. "Maggie's worried about you," she wasn't lying about that. "And if you go to the hospital, she won't be able to focus on Ellie, she'll be too busy making sure you're okay. She's with Aoife and Kate, she'll be fine. And as soon as they know anything, they'll call."
"If I'm asleep?" Alex's exhaustion was bone deep.
"I'll wake you. I swear," Kara meant it. She knew how important family was to Alex, and she loved Maggie's little sister like she was her own.
"Addie?" Alex remembered their daughter.
"She's with Jane's mom Angela today."
"I miss her," Alex blinked away tears. "I want her here."
Kara took her hand softly. "How about you get a couple more hours' sleep, and we'll get Addie home this afternoon?"
Alex nodded, as her eyes drifted shut.
Kara let Alex relax in the tub for another 20 minutes, and then she lifted her effortlessly, toweled her off and guided her into her favorite boxers and tee. Alex suspected that Kara had sneaked another sedative into the tea that she drank, but she didn't mind. She trusted Kara, with her life.
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Aoife couldn't breathe. "Paralyzed?"
"No," the doctor spoke firmly. "Let's not leap to conclusions. Eleanor has..."
"Ellie," Aoife said firmly. "Nobody calls her Eleanor."
The doctor nodded. "Ellie has suffered a massive blunt force trauma, and it has resulted in serious bruising of the spine and the spinal cord, and two of her vertebrae have hairline fractures. There is also some compression. Right at this moment, she has no movement below her shoulders."
Kate saw Aoife gasp and stumble, and immediately slid a hand around her waist to support her.
"But that's not the whole story," the doctor tried to sound reassuring. "In many of these cases that I have seen, once the swelling comes down, the patient eventually has a full recovery. We have to give it time."
Aoife thought she would be sick, and she swallowed convulsively, hardly noticing as Kate guided her into a chair.
"How much time?" Maggie asked.
"It varies," the doctor admitted. "But for the moment, I want to keep her sedated, to prevent any head movement, and we are also considering using weights to release the compression on her spine. Our orthopaedic surgeon is out sick today, but we are contacting Mercy Hospital and their surgeon is going to give us advice on whether that would be constructive for Elean... Ellie."
Aoife looked up, and a name came into her mind. "We have a good friend who's a leading orthopaedic surgeon in Seattle. If I called her, would you speak to her?"
"Of course," the doctor replied.
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Arizona Robbins pulled her wife to her, and kissed her thoroughly. "We'll miss you," she told her, as her flight was called.
"I'll miss you too," Callie Torres admitted. "I'll only be a couple of days."
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Kara opened the door to admit Angela Rizzoli, who was trailed by Robert and Addie. "I can't thank you enough," she told her.
Angela swatted away the thanks. "We've had a wonderful time, haven't we you two?"
The children nodded agreement. Addie went up to Angela and hugged her tightly round the legs. "Thank you, Auntie Angela," she looked up at her, adoration on her face. "Kara, Auntie Angela makes the most amazing cannoli."
Angela grinned and reached into her bag, withdrawing a plastic box. "Addie told me you have a good appetite," she handed it to her. "If you like these, let me know, I'll bring you some more."
Kara pulled Angela into a hug.
"C'mon, Bobby," Angela said to her grandson. "Let's go see your Ma, she says she's doing paperwork at the precinct today, she'll be very happy to see you instead."
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Addie sat on the couch and listened carefully to Kara. "Mama's a little sad today," Kara told her. "She had to do something awful at work yesterday, and it's made her unhappy. So she's sleeping now, but she'll be awake soon, and she told me she wanted to see you."
"What did Mama do?" Addie wanted to know.
Kara had feared that this question would come. "She had to shoot a man. To stop him killing lots of people. She didn't have a choice, but she hates that she had to do it."
"Did the man die?" Addie's voice was small.
Kara pulled Addie into her arms and held her tight. "He did, baby girl. It's not what Mama wanted."
"Poor Mama," Addie buried herself into Kara's front. In her short life, she had been confronted by too many violent horrors. She knew that both her mothers hated violence, but she also knew that they would do anything to protect her, and other innocent people.
Kara heard the toilet flush, so she knew Alex was awake. She led Addie to the kitchen and settled her with a sandwich and an orange juice, and she went upstairs to check on Alex. Alex was sitting in the middle of the bed, blinking slightly as she came to. "Hey," Kara said softly.
Alex looked up and tried to smile. "Any news on Ellie?"
"Not yet."
"And Addie?" Alex tried to keep the tremble out of her voice, but she just wanted to see their daughter, to hug her and to reassure herself that there was a part of her family that was undamaged.
"Downstairs," Kara smiled. "Just finishing a sandwich. Shall I bring her up?"
"I can get up," Alex protested, and then belied her own words with a huge yawn.
"No need," Kara said. "You stay there."
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Aoife stroked Ellie's arm as she lay, so still, on the hospital bed. At least she was breathing on her own. Her left wrist was in a cast, and she had a huge bruise on the side of her face, but the rest of her looked perfect, undamaged. Aoife prayed to a God she wasn't sure she believed in.
Maggie looked at her watch. "Callie's landing in an hour," she said to Aoife.
Aoife nodded. She looked up as the door opened, to admit an anxious-looking Kit Palmer. "I've only just finished my statement, they wouldn't let me go," Kit admitted. "Any news?"
"Nothing yet," Aoife said.
"I'll be in the waiting room," Kit made as if to leave; she didn't want to intrude. Her eyes fell on Ellie.
"Stay," Aoife said. "If you want to. You're her family, Kit. She'd want you here."
Kit nodded gratefully. She stroked Ellie's short hair. "We need you back, Sawyer," she said, softly, and dropped a kiss on her forehead.
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Alex smiled as Addie snuggled into her. She realized that Addie had been anxious too. She loved spending time with Robert and his family, but she had known something was wrong. As they held each other, Alex knew that family was all she needed. She tried not to think about how she had cut one member from their family with her actions. She knew she was going to have to talk to her mom soon. Did Eliza even know? Addie mumbled, and Alex held her closer. She could only deal with one thing at a time and, right now, she was trying to absorb the implications of the conversation she had had with Maggie about Ellie. She felt the baby shift in her belly, and smiled as Addie placed a hand on her, almost as if she were soothing the baby with her touch.
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Jane closed her phone. "She sounds awful," she told Maura. She had been speaking to Alex, to see if there was anything they could do to help. They both felt helpless, wanting to ease the burden from their friends. Alex was due to give birth in just over three weeks, and she was going through unimaginable stress.
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"I know it looks bad," Callie said.
Aoife was horrified to see the apparatus strapped to the unconscious Ellie; weights were attached to her feet and her head, to stretch out the spine and take pressure off the spinal cord. Callie could see the look on Aoife's face, and smiled kindly. "It WILL work," Callie said reassuringly. "I've looked at all the films and the x-rays. She's going to be fine, Aoife. I'm sure of it."
Aoife nodded. She couldn't really believe all this was happening. She heard a soft tap on the door, and saw the face of her agent Sarah.
Callie smiled. "I'll be back in a couple of hours," she slipped tactfully out of the room.
"How is she?" Sarah wanted to know. Aoife shrugged. She didn't want to talk about it. She also had a suspicion that Sarah was not a fan of Ellie, more than once she had hinted that Ellie had moved Aoife's focus away from her work. It was true, to some extent she had – but Ellie was also the reason that her artwork was getting better every day. Ellie was her inspiration.
"They say she could maybe come out of this fine," Aoife said. "They're going to keep her sedated for another couple days."
Sarah's face brightened. "So she won't know you are here?"
Aoife just stared at her.
Sarah held up her hands as if in surrender. "Hey, I'm not meaning to be insensitive. But if she's not aware, maybe you could get out from an hour to meet that new promoter? He's only in town until tomorrow, and I did promise him..."
"Get out," Aoife's voice was full of venom. "Get out, and never come back."
"But I'm your agent. And your friend," Sarah started to complain. "We've signed a contract. I get 15% of..."
"Out. Now. My lawyers will be in touch. You'll get everything I owe you. Just never speak to me, or my wife, or any of my family ever again."
When Maggie returned to the room 10 minutes later, bearing two coffees, she saw the tears on Aoife's face, and her blood turned to ice. "Aoife? Is she okay?"
Aoife looked up. "She's okay. She's fine. I'm sorry. I just...," she realized what she had done, and she gave a small smile. "I just told my agent to fuck off and never come back," she felt a sense of relief at the thought she would never have to see Sarah again. She had thought they were good friends – and maybe they genuinely had been at some point – but Sarah had become obsessed with money and ambition. She had lost sight of what the art meant to Aoife. And she had never understood what Ellie meant to Aoife.
Maggie grinned. "I wish I'd seen that," she said.
Aoife turned to face Maggie fully. "Callie thinks she's going to recover."
"Completely?"
Aoife nodded. "She thinks so. She said they can't promise, but she's talked to the neurosurgeon, and they are both happy with how the inflammation is reducing. They'll try the stimuli again later."
"Will that work if she is unconscious?"
Aoife nodded. "Should do." A tear slid down her cheek.
Maggie set the coffees down, and took Aoife in her arms, rocking her gently. "Kate's on her way in."
"You should go. Spend some time with Alex."
"I will. When Kate gets here."
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Kara and Addie were building an elaborate construction with Legos when Maggie came home. Addie beamed, and hugged Maggie tight.
"Is your Mama asleep?" Maggie asked, as she returned the hug.
"I just persuaded her to go for a nap," Kara said. "She won't be asleep quite yet. You look shattered, Maggie. Why don't you go join her? Addie and I are fine here."
Maggie was exhausted, and desperate to see Alex. But she didn't want to take advantage of Kara's kind nature. "Are you sure?"
"Go," Kara commanded, a smile on her face. Her voice softened. "There's much more chance she'll sleep if you're there."
When Maggie got upstairs, Alex was staring sightlessly out of the window. "Hey babe," she whispered.
Alex turned round, and Maggie tried not to react. Alex was so pale, and looked so exhausted. Her face crumpled at the sight of her wife. "Ellie?"
"It's looking good so far," Maggie stepped forward. "It's a waiting game."
Alex nodded, and allowed Maggie to envelop her. Despite her height advantage, she buried her face in Maggie's soft front. She allowed Maggie to lead her to the bed. In just over a minute, Maggie was changed into her sleep clothes, and she wrapped her arms around Alex.