Thanks for the reviews. Hope you enjoy this chapter. My onlymedical knowledge is from ER soI hope you don't mind if its not that accurate!
I don't own the OC cos if I did Sandy wouldn't be acting like such a big jerk!
Every now and then he would drift back. It was a long night for Ben, the pain just kept getting worse and there was nothing he could do about. He wasn't sure but his ribs could be broken making breathing and moving painful. After more than several attempts at moving he passed out again but this time he didn't wake up.
Sandy woke early, ready to face the day particularly his brother. Not wanting it to play on his mind more than already he had decided to go and speak to Ben first thing, then they could decide what to do and he could start to relax and enjoy spending time with his family. He hadn't even seen his sister yet although they had only arrived yesterday it seemed like much longer.
"Honey I'm going to go. I've got my cell so I'll give you a call when we're done. Hopefully it won't take too long but I'm going to see if my mom wants to join us for dinner tonight too. Maybe Sarah and her lot can come too." He leant in and kissed Kirsten.
"I hope it goes well and dinner tonight sounds like a good plan. Definitely invite your sister. Good luck." Kirsten was keen for Sarah to come as the more people around her when the nana was there the better. It meant there were others she could attack! Hopefully after today Sandy will have sorted his brother out and then he can spend more time with them like she had hoped. At least she knew that he wanted to spend time with them now and helping his brother was definitely better than him working on the stupid hospital project all the time.
Sandy was starting to get angry with his brother, he had been to his place, his mom's, spoken to Sarah, been to his favourite eating place (according to Sarah) and still there was no sign of him. He had left countless messages on his phone but Ben was just not getting in touch. He decided to go back to his mom's, he would spend some time with her and hopefully Ben would come round. On his way there his cell rang, he would have thought Kirsten would have given more time than this but he was surprised when he looked at the screen and saw Ben's number calling him.
"Why have you been ignoring all my calls? Where are you? We need to talk."
"Is this Sandy Cohen?" The voice was female and it wasn't Ben's wife.
"Yes this Sandy Cohen. Who am I speaking to? Why do you have my brother's phone?"
"It doesn't matter who I am. What matters is that your brother is either in hospital or lying in a gutter probably bleeding out. You're going to need to call round the hospitals first and if he's not there start looking for him. Please don't mention to anyone that I've called or I'm going to end up in the next bed to him." With that the phone went dead.
He couldn't believe what he had just heard; now he felt bad for wanting to kill him just minutes earlier. For all he knew he could be dying right now. He didn't know where to start he'd have to ring information for hospital numbers or find a phone book. He couldn't get his head round this and he hated feeling like this, he was usually so cool and calm even during a crisis.
After calling the several hospitals to no avail he decided to look for him. He didn't really have a choice but he had no idea where to start. He hailed a cab and decided to head for where his business used to be, he had no idea why he chose that he just went with it. His cell started to ring; he was kind of hoping it would be Kirsten he needed to hear her calm, loving voice but it wasn't. It was Ben's phone.
"Hello? Where the hell is my brother? I've been ringing hospitals and he's not in any of them. What's going on?"
"Mr. Cohen I suggest you make your way to St. Barnabas hospital he's on his way there now." The phone went dead again before Sandy could say anything.
"Do you know where St. Barnabas hospital is?" The cab driver turned and nodded his.
"Is that where you want to go now? It's in the Bronx."
"Yeah that's where I need to go, thanks." He'd have to call his mom and Sarah and Jane but he wondered ifit would be better to wait until he knew what was going on. What if time was not something they had much of? He called Sarah.
"Hey sis!" He tried his best to sound normal. "This is going to sound weird and I don't want you to panic or anything but I need you to get to St. Barnabas hospital. Its Ben, I'm not sure what's happening but he's on his way there and so am I."
"Wait Sandy what's going on? Why is he going to hospital? Why aren't you with him? Does mom know? Does Jane know? Is he ok?"
"Look I wish I knew but I don't, not yet anyway. He got himself in a bit of trouble and I think this is the result of that. I haven't told mom or Jane yet I'm not sure what to tell them. I'm just pulling into the hospital now so I'll call them as soon as I've spoken to Ben or a doctor. Just get here please."
"I'm leaving now. I'll see you soon." He threw the cab door open and virtually jumped out. He hoped Ben had already got here he didn't want to wait anymore. There was a queue at reception, typical! After several minutes of waiting he finally got to the front.
"I think my brother, Benjamin Cohen, has just been brought in. Could I see him or could you check if he's here or something please?" Sandy, usually the best speaker in the room, just didn't know what to say or do. The receptionist started typing things into her computer and then just got up and left. The next time he saw, he was convinced hours had passed, she was with a doctor.
"Mr. Cohen is it?" Sandy nodded his head. "I'm Doctor Owen I've been treating your brother. Do you know what happened to him?" Sandy shook his head; he couldn't find words at the moment. "It appears your brother has been brutally attacked. He has several broken ribs, a punctured lung and a broken arm but we're more concerned with the fact he is bleeding internally and he has already lost so much blood because it has been several hours since his attack." Sandy looked for a chair he had to sit down, it was sounding more and more like the doctor was telling him his younger brother was going to die.
"Is he going to be okay?" He managed words for the first time in minutes.
"It really is touch and go at the moment. As soon as he is stable enough he will go to surgery its imperative we stop the internal bleeding as soon as possible. You may want to call his wife and parents. We'll let you know anything else as soon as we can." The doctor lightly put his arm on Sandy's shoulder and walked away. This was just unbelievable; he just didn't understand how this was happening. He was going to have call his mother and tell her to get down to the hospital before her youngest child died! He knew he was getting carried away, the doctor hadn't said he was dead yet and Ben was a fighter but it wasn't looking good.
The calls to his mom and Jane were probably the worst he'd ever made and he was just glad he could still say he was alive. He called Kirsten; he really wanted her by his side.
"Hey honey! How has your morning gone? We were thinking maybe we could go to Ellis Island this afternoon. What do you think?" Sandy felt guilty that he was about to make their day miserable.
"Erm that's a good idea but I'm in the hospital don't worry it's not me its Ben. He's been beaten up pretty bad; he's got to have surgery. I'd really appreciate it if you would come to the hospital. There's no need for the boys to come Idon't want to spoil their vacation just because of their stupid uncle." Sandy was starting to feel angry.
"Sandy of course I'll come. Don't worry I'm sure Ben is going to be fine. I'll tell the boys to occupy themselves for a while. Which hospital are you in?" Once he had told Kristen how to get there they had hung up. He was glad she was on her way but he was becoming preoccupied with the woman he had spoken to before. She must have found his brother or she could have known where he was all along. She probably knew who beat him up in the first place. She was probably the other woman! The wife of his loan shark man.That would explain how she knew Sandy and knew it was Ben's phone. She would know how to get to his attackers. The anger was swelling up in Sandy now. He had to find a way to his attackers. Sure he'd tell the police now but he was damn well going to find them himself too. No-one does this to his family.