It took Ty the better part of an hour before he finally sat up again, clearing his eyes and his mind as he glanced up the bed toward Amy who was still under the anesthetic. He watched her face, still beautiful behind the cuts and bruises caused from the accident. He knew he had to make that dreaded call to the rest of the family. They needed to know. But Ty just wanted to be here with Amy. He didn't want to have to deal with trying to explain to Jack and Tim and everyone else what happened and why, when he didn't exactly know himself since he didn't actually see it happen. He could hear it, though, and would never for get that horrifying sound of those screeching tires and that thump of Amy's body against the hood. He shut his eyes tightly to block it out, letting go of Amy with one hand to rub roughly over his face.
A nurse returned, giving Ty that small sympathetic smile again which he returned strictly out of politeness. "She's going to be out for a while yet, the cafeteria is just downstairs if you want anything," she suggested, but Ty just shook his head and stared down at Amy's hand in his where he suddenly realized her wedding band was missing.
"Her ring is gone," he said aloud, looking up at the nurse whose eyes trailed down to Amy's bare hand.
"It'll be with the rest of her personal affects at the nurse's station," she assured him, knowing there were plenty of dishonest people around who'd sooner take it for some quick cash than hand it off to someone for safe keeping.
"Oh, right, thank you." Ty should have realized they would have taken everything from her so it wouldn't get lost and her ring would have been a health hazard around all of the machines and medical equipment so they would have had to take it off. Still, Ty didn't like the thought of it being in the possession of anyone other than his wife. He wanted to get it, but his eyes went back to Amy and he hesitated, not wanting to leave her in case she woke up even though the nurse and doctor both told her she was going to be out for a while yet.
The current nurse seemed to notice Ty's dilemma and gave him that soft smile again. "I'll stay with her for a few minutes if you want to get her things. It's just down the hall to the right."
Ty glanced up at her then back to his wife, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as he nodded in response. "Okay." Ty stood slowly, releasing his hand from Amy's to lean over and gently place it in her hair as he leaned down to kiss a place on her forehead below the bandage. "I'll be right back," he assured her in a low voice, taking his time as he moved away from the bed to the door, not making it out into the hall without a few backward glances first.
Ty did manage to take that walk down to the nurses' station, waiting for them to find the Ziploc bag with Amy's ring and broken cell phone. Ty took it and held the ring inside the bag against his fingers.
"With this ring, I thee wed," Amy placed the white gold band on Ty's finger, her electric blue gaze rising to meet his green one with that loving smile she only had for him.
She lifted her own left hand then, barely able to remain standing still as her smile widened when Ty took her own band from Caleb. He held her delicate hand in his own as he positioned the ring at the edge of her fourth finger. "With this ring, I thee wed," Ty repeated, sliding it onto her hand.
"Can I help you with anything else?" The nurse who handed Ty the baggy asked, causing him to snap out of the memory and look up at her, stumbling over his thoughts for a moment.
"Uh, do you have a phone I can use?" Since he was here, Ty decided he needed to just get it over with as the nurse handed him and old-fashioned telephone, telling him to dial 9 first to make an outgoing call. Ty then made the call to Heartland, getting Lou instead of Jack. He wasn't sure if that was better or worse, but Ty told her what happened as calmly as he could despite being able to hear the gasp on the other end and sudden panic in his sister-in-law's voice. He decided it was probably best to keep the worst of the news to tell in person, though he really wished he didn't have to tell at all. It wasn't the rest of the family he was worried about, but Amy. Ty already knew he wouldn't know how to break it to her, but he wouldn't allow a doctor to do it either. Something like that he preferred to happen in private, just with the two of them because he knew it was going to be heartbreaking and there didn't need to be an audience.
When Ty got off the phone with Lou who promised to get a hold of Jack so Ty didn't have to, he headed straight back to Amy's bedside with her things, thanking the nurse as he retook his seat next to the bed and continued his vigil.
He didn't mean to do it, but managed to fall asleep with his head resting on the bed next to where his hand once again was joined with Amy's. She lay unmoving, but still Ty snapped awake when he felt a hand against his back, jerking his head up to look at who touched him.
"Easy now, it's just us," Jack said, standing beside Tim and Lou. His voice was calm and quiet, but Ty could see the pain and sorrow in his eyes from seeing his granddaughter laying so weak and fragile in the hospital for a second time.
Ty felt so disoriented as he blinked hard to wake himself up again, his eyes finding Amy again to see if anything had changed while he'd been asleep. It hadn't. She hadn't moved so much as a muscle, her head still positioned the same as it had been since he arrived and her arms still laying flat and limp at her sides except for the hand Ty held tightly in his.
"How is she?" Lou asked, her eyes staring at Amy even though she was obviously speaking to Ty.
"No change. They said she'd be out for a couple hours yet." Ty already told Lou that overall Amy would be okay, physically, with time. What he didn't know was how long it would take her to emotionally heal once she woke up and learned their baby was gone. Even he wasn't sure how to cope with it, but he needed to be strong for Amy. She would need him to hold her together and that's exactly what he was going to do.
"So, what exactly happened?" Tim asked then, looking at Ty almost as if looking for just the right words to jump on with an accusal.
"We were leaving the medical center to take a walk through the city when I realized I forgot my wallet in the truck and went back to get it while Amy was on the phone with Lou. After that, I don't know what happened until I heard the car screech and ran to find her laying on the ground," Ty paused when his voice lost its strength, taking a moment to swallow the hard lump in his throat and find it again as Jack placed his hand on his shoulder. "The driver said he didn't see her," he finished, still not understanding how he couldn't. It was a poorly lit parking garage, but surely he'd have seen her from his headlights, which Ty witnessed to be on as they'd illuminated his wife's motionless body.
"So, so you left her?" Of course Tim would take anything he could find. He was upset, just like everyone else, but his way of expressing it just added to the guilt Ty already felt.
"I was gone for not even a minute," Ty argued, still trying to rationalize what happened in his own mind because it made no sense. Not the details of the accident, but the incident itself. Why Amy? Why did it have to happen to her, now, today, when they were so happy and eagerly looking forward to sharing the first images of their baby with the rest of their family. It wasn't fair.
"It's not Ty's fault, Tim. It was an accident, could have happened to anyone." Jack tried to reason, wanting to keep this argument from escalating to the boiling point it reached a few weeks ago at dinner when Ty and Amy announced they were expecting.
"Yeah, but it didn't. It happened to Amy, our Amy." Tim's voice rose, his arm coming out to accentuate his words by gesturing to Amy laying unconscious in the hospital bed in front of them.
"Excuse me," a nurse popped her head in with a small disapproving frown. "Please keep your voices down or move into the waiting area, there are patients trying to rest." She looked pointedly at each of them in turn before passing a glance at Amy and moving on down the hall.
"She's right, come on. Let's let Amy rest." Lou suggested, trying to begin herding everyone toward the door.
"No, I'm staying here." Ty shook his head, not bothering to make an attempt to move or get up.
"Well I'm going to try to find someone who actually knows something." Tim ran a hand through his hair before vacating the room in search of a doctor with some answers. Ty looked up as he left, dreading the thought of Tim learning of the baby first and just what kind of heated discussion that would cause.
"Ty," Jack looked down at him, Ty feeling the older man's eyes on him and slowly meeting his gaze, speaking words he didn't need to say out loud.
"I'm not leaving her." Ty told him firmly, directing the declaration to Lou as well. "Not again," he added, his eyes falling to Amy's face, guilt so heavy in his chest it was suffocating.
There was a pause when neither Lou or Jack did anything but study Ty, but Jack was the first to move, nodding toward Lou who understood and followed him out into the hall toward the waiting area, once again leaving Ty alone with his tormented thoughts of desperation for Amy to wake up, of dread for what would happen when she did, and despair for the situation in general.