Hey everybody! So I'm trying this new plan where I update every other day. I'm updating another story for Veronica Mars on the other days. So far it's working but we'll see how long I can keep this up. I'm feeling really inspired right now and all your reviews really helped me out. I wanted to update really fast so I can see if you all like this one just as much. Let me know what you think.
Seth opened his eyes and groaned when he saw the sun shining in his eyes. He reached over to hit his alarm clock but instead knocked something onto the floor. He rolled over and looked at Princess Sparkle who was lying on her side on the floor. "Crap," he muttered reaching down to pick her up. If Summer found out he'd knocked her precious pony on the ground he'd never hear the end of it.
"Would you answer your damn phone already!" Summer screeched from under the covers on her side of the bed.
"Oh, is that what that noise is," Seth mumbled climbing from the bed. He rubbed his eyes trying to wake himself up as he stumbled over to his pants that were on her desk chair. He pulled the annoying phone and was looking forward to chewing out whoever had the nerve to call at 7 in the morning. But as soon as he saw Ryan's name he flipped the phone open and was wide awake.
"Please tell me you aren't still at the hospital," Seth said forgoing the usual pleasantries.
"I saw her," Ryan said and Seth straightened up looking over at Summer who had just sat up when he'd said the word hospital.
"Is she okay? Is she awake?" she asked hopefully.
"Please tell me you aren't calling from jail," Seth said picturing what might have happened the night before. Ryan sneaking into Taylor's hospital room, Veronica catching him and having him arrested.
"Seth," Summer said trying to get his attention. She'd climbed out from under the covers and was kneeling at the foot of the bed staring at him like he held all the answers.
"Would I have my cell phone if I was in jail dumbass?" Ryan asked sounding slightly annoyed.
"Hey!" Seth objected at the insult. "Excuse me for not thinking clearly at 7 in the am. I've only had like four hours of sleep thank you very much."
"Sorry, I'm not exactly thinking clearly either," Ryan said really sorry for calling Seth a dumbass. It wasn't his fault that he hadn't slept all night and that he was only allowed to see Taylor for five minutes every hour. The morning nurse had let him know that there hadn't been a change over night with sympathetic eyes. He hated sympathy, he just wanted answers. He wanted to know that she was going to be okay.
"Seth Cohen!" Summer yelled for what seemed like the hundredth time. She glared at him when he finally turned to look at her. "Is Taylor okay?"
"I don't know yet," Seth admitted but spoke quickly into the phone, "how's Taylor and speak fast before my girlfriend hits me."
"There's no change," Ryan admitted. He was standing outside in the sunlight, right outside the emergency room entrance. He wished he smoked because it would really help to have something to do to dull the nerves that were running through his body.
"No change," Seth said to Summer. He walked over and sat next to her placing one of his hands on her shoulder offering what little comfort he could. "So you snuck in and saw her huh?"
"No," Ryan said but didn't elaborate any further.
"Uh…Ryan," Seth said curiously. "I'm sensing a story here."
"Veronica let me see her," Ryan finally said his amazement evident in his voice. He still couldn't believe the ice queen had let him, the juvenile delinquent, in to see her daughter.
"No way," Seth said shocked.
"What!" Summer asked but when Seth just shook his hand at her she leaned over and pinched him, hard.
"Ow Summer!" Seth exclaimed looking at his girlfriend while he rubbed his side.
"Don't shake your hand at me," Summer warned but she climbed off the bed walking over to her closet to pick out some clothes for the day. She had to step around piles off debris from the earthquake.
There hadn't been a room spared after they'd searched the entire house but surprisingly the upstairs had minimal damage. Most of her belongings had just fallen off her shelves and bookcase. Seth had pushed them into piles the night before so they wouldn't have to worry about stepping on anything if they had to get up in the middle of the night.
"I can't believe Veronica Townsend caved," Seth said holding a hand over the spot that Summer had pinched. It still stung. "Was it your penetrating eyes…I've heard lots of comments over the years about those eyes of yours."
"No and please don't ever say penetrating eyes to me again," Ryan said shaking his head at Seth's comment. "She just walked into the waiting room and started asking me questions. After I answered them the best that I could she told me to go in and see her daughter and she left."
"Hmmm, mystery," Seth said tapping his mouth with one finger. "Maybe she hit her head during the earth quake."
"Maybe," Ryan said starting to pace again. He looked down at his watch and noted the time. He had ten more minutes and he could go in and see Taylor again. "Listen, I don't know if you planned on coming in today but if you do can you bring me some of Taylor's stuff. Her room is so empty and sterile looking. Taylor would hate it."
"Sure," Seth said watching as Summer went through her closet. "I have a feeling we'll be there within the hour."
"Great, thanks man," Ryan said walking back towards the hospital entrance.
"Yep," Seth said as he hung up.
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"Ryan!" Summer called as she saw him standing in the hallway staring in a window intently. She was dragging Seth by his hand as she hurried down the hall.
"Hey," Ryan said turning and walking towards them. "The doctor's in there now. We'll know more when he gets out. Since Veronica's not here I think he'll talk to us this time."
"How does she look?" Summer asked for everybody. Julie and Kaitlyn had tagged along when they'd heard Ryan had been let in to see Taylor the night before. They both wanted to check on the girl that had come to mean so much to the both of them.
"Like she's been in an accident," Ryan admitted. "There's been no change, none at all. But the nurse told me that that's not necessarily a bad thing."
"Maybe she just needs to rest and heal on the inside," Summer said hopefully. Her Dad was a doctor, well a plastic surgeon, but she'd grown up hearing things and she'd heard that one more than once.
"She'll be okay Ryan," Julie said smiling at him. She could see the stress and fear in his eyes whenever he glanced back at the closed door that she assumed was Taylor's room. "Taylor's a fighter."
"Yeah, she's not going anywhere," Kaitlyn spoke up. She still looked like she was half asleep standing up. She'd been planning on sleeping in but when she'd heard she could see Taylor, it had been no contest. Checking on a friend trumped sleep anytime. "She'll wake up soon."
"Can we see her? "Summer asked squeezing Seth's hand.
"As soon as the doctor's done you can go in two at a time," Ryan said turning when he heard a door open.
They all watched as the doctor and nurse walked out of the room talking as he wrote things down on Taylor's clip board. Ryan held himself back barely as he waited for them to finish their conversation.
"You're all here for Taylor," Dr. Hansen said striding down the hall towards them. "Ms. Townsend gave me permission to tell you of Taylor's condition." He looked at each of them before continuing. "Her heart is stronger and some of the swelling has gone down. We're taking her off two of the monitors and moving her to a private room upstairs." He smiled at them. "She's going to make it."
"Are you sure?" Summer and Ryan asked at the same time.
"I'm positive," he said before turning to leave. He had more patients to see and he only hoped that he could deliver good news to their families.
"Oh thank God," Julie said softly but everybody heard her. She smiled sheepishly.
"Right there with you Mom," Kaitlyn said making them all chuckle.
They all stood in the hallway half an hour later watching as a team of nurse's and orderly's transferred Taylor from ICU to a private room on the third floor. Soon they all stood outside Taylor's new door collectively taking a deep breath before they all walked in. Now that she was out of ICU they didn't have a limit on the number of people in her room.
Summer walked into Taylor's room carrying a backpack with her favorite flannel pajamas and a bunch of her personal grooming items. When Seth had told her to bring something of Taylor's it had been the first thing she'd thought of. She may not have stayed in the hospital lately but she knew everybody hated those damn gowns.
"Hey Taylor," Summer said standing on one side of the bed while Ryan stood on the other. Julie, Kaitlyn and Seth were all standing at the foot of the bed waiting their turn to say hi. "Listen, you've got to wake up so I can smack you for thinking you could just leave with only a voicemail." When Taylor didn't even move she sighed. "I brought you your favorite pajamas…remember the ones…your sleep therapist pajamas."
Ryan rolled his eyes when Kaitlyn and Julie snorted. It was everybody's favorite Taylor memory and none of them had even been there, well except Seth. That and they loved hearing about her dressing up in a groundhog costume so she could spy on him without him knowing. Taylor was definitely one of a kind.
"So just wake up…please," Summer finished. She stepped back letting Kaitlyn come forward.
"Hey girlfriend," Kaitlyn said smiling. "You so need to wake up so I can tell you how scared Ryan was. If you think for one moment that he doesn't love you you're crazy. He somehow got your Mother to let him in your hospital room."
"It's his penetrating eyes," Seth said quickly making everybody smile.
"Besides," Kaitlyn said slightly embarrassed to have everybody listening to her conversation but she forged ahead anyway. "I've already lost one big sister, I can't lose another one."
Julie had to wipe away a tear when she heard her daughter refer to Taylor as her big sister. She hadn't known she'd thought about the young girl that way but it made sense. Julie thought of her as another daughter. She'd been taking care of her for months, providing for her, listening to her talk about her life and problems. Taylor had become a huge part of their lives in a short time.
"I didn't bring you anything because Seth forgot to tell us about Ryan's idea," Kaitlyn said quickly earning herself a glare from Seth.
"I didn't know you were coming until we left," Seth grumbled but he stepped forward taking his turn.
"Yo Taylor," Seth said holding a DVD in his hands. "So I sat around thinking about the perfect thing to bring you to remind you of…well being awake and I brought you my favorite DVD." When Ryan stared at him like he wanted to smack him he quickly added, "because I know it'll drive you to wake up and tell me how dumb I am for choosing this one as my favorite."
"Hi Taylor," Julie said nudging Seth out of the way. She leaned down and stroked Taylor's bangs off her face noting all the scratches and bumps on her face like most Mother's would do when staring at somebody they considered one of theirs. "You need to wake up. Kaitlyn was right when she said you are like her big sister…you're like a daughter to me. Remember when I told you how much I missed Neil and you told me to go for it. That it would drive me nuts until I called him." Julie knew Summer was staring at her. "You were right. So now I'm going to return the favor…you need to wake up and talk to Ryan. Tell him how you feel and listen to what he has to say."
"Excuse me," somebody said from the doorway.
They all turned and stared at Veronica Townsend. She stood in the doorway dressed in jeans and a Harbor sweatshirt. None of them had ever seen her in anything other than her normal power suits. She actually looked…approachable and human.
"Veronica," Julie said taking a step forward.
"Can I talk to you…all of you?" she asked turning and walking out of the room.
They all exchanged looks but Ryan took the lead and followed Veronica to the closest waiting room. She walked over and shut the TV off from the Today show and started pacing back and forth obviously gathering her thoughts.
"Look," she started. "I haven't been the nicest person to any of you."
"Talk about stating the obvious," Kaitlyn mumbled but shut her mouth when Julie glared at her.
"Truth is I never liked any of you," Veronica admitted. When nobody looked shocked at that announcement she sighed. "I guess that was also stating the obvious." When Kaitlyn was the only one who nodded she crossed her arms over her chest. "But I do love my daughter."
"You have a strange way of showing it," Summer said glaring at her. She wasn't buying the concerned Mother bit at all. A leopard didn't change their spots, especially over night.
"I deserve that," Veronica said after she let that comment sit in her head for a moment. "I never really had a Mother. So when I found out I was pregnant I was so sure I could do it right. I knew exactly what I would do to make sure my child turned out perfect in every way."
"Perfections over-rated," Julie pointed out.
"She never measured up," Veronica went on like she hadn't said anything. "I know I was setting impossible standards and goals for her but I wanted her to be perfect. I needed her to be perfect."
"She's not perfect," Ryan said staring at her until she looked at him, just at him. "Taylor is far from perfect. She's actually pretty crazy but that's what I love about her." He could tell he had everybody's attention, even the stranger's sitting in the corner. "She's neurotic and obsessive but in a good way."
"I made her that way," Veronica admitted.
"Excuse me," a nurse said in the doorway. When they all turned to look at her she smiled at them. "You're here for Taylor Townsend…well she's waking up."