A Thousand Snowflakes
Summer immediately knew it was about Seth when she heard Sandy talk on the phone. Why else would the phone ring in the middle of the night? And why else would he talk in that hushed voice, walking into his study for privacy?
She did not exactly know what time it was. Only that it was late. Though the time seemed to move slower than normal, every hour feeling like four, Summer knew that it was way past midnight. She had not gone to bed. Or she had, but then after trying to sleep for a while without success, she had made her way downstairs again and sat on the couch in the living room. She had kept her eyes on the front door, sitting there in the dark with only the moonlight shining through the glass doors to the backyard.
Her hands were shaking and she kept pulling the blanket tighter around her, feeling cold.
She had heard the phone ring, but before making her way to the kitchen and answer it, she had realized that it was not that phone ringing. It was a cell phone. Apparently Sandy and Kirsten had not been sleeping either, and she had heard the door to their room open and Sandy make his way to his study with quiet steps. He kept looking for something in his desk while talking on the phone and the lights were on in their bedroom so Kirsten must already be up.
Summer did not know for how long she had been sitting there, listening to Sandy's hushed voice in the study and trying to comprehend what he was saying. It was useless though so she carefully stood up, the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, making her way over to where Sandy was.
He had stopped searching through his desk and as he saw her in the doorway, he put the phone down. His face was serious and even though he tried to hide it she could see that he was scared.
"What's wrong with Seth?" The words came out a little higher than she had intended and she realized that just uttering those words made her throat feel jammed and her breathing turn heavy.
Sandy calmly walked up to her side, placing a hand on her shoulder, meeting her now glassy eyes. "Summer," he started but was interrupted.
"Who were you talking to? What's going on?" Summer looked forcefully into his eyes, feeling her eyes welling with tears. For the past hours - or really since before dinner when she had not been able to reach Seth - she had made up different scenarios in her head about what could have happened to him. She had tried to come up with an explanation to why he had not called or come home. But every scenario, every possible explanation, just made her more scared. Because there were no logical reason to why he was not by her side. And that had only made the scenarios in her head worse, because it had left her to believe that something had happened to him. And she could not handle that again. So she kept her watery eyes focused on Sandy, urging him to tell her. Because even though she knew she could not handle it if something had happened, she could not handle the not knowing either.
"They found Seth, sweetie. There was an accident-"
That was all he managed to say before Summer started to cry hysterically and fell to the floor, before Sandy had a chance to react and catch her. He leaned down next to her and while carefully rubbing her back he made an attempt to tell her what he knew about Seth. Summer did not seem to hear him though, and he was not even sure if she had gathered the fact that Seth was alive, since she kept crying, gripping onto the floor until her knuckles turned white.
Not knowing what to do or how to make Summer calm down, Sandy was thankful when he saw Summer be lifted from the floor. Apparently Ryan and Marissa had arrived faster than he had expected, probably having rushed out of bed the instant Kirsten had called them.
Marissa met Sandy's gaze and he could see the evident worry in her eyes as she followed Ryan with Summer in his arms out to the living room couch. Summer was still hysterical and tried to escape Ryan's strong arms, hitting and kicking everywhere she could reach. The crying made her weak though and she soon fell defeated against his chest, tightly gripping his shirt and sobbing against his chest.
"Do you know how Seth is yet," Marissa quietly asked Sandy as they stood watching the heartbreaking scene taking place in front of them. A few tears fell down her cheeks and she briefly met her boyfriend's eyes as he tightly held on to Summer on the couch.
Sandy shook his head, taking a look at his cell phone once again. "No, Kirsten said she would call the moment she knew."
Marissa nodded in understanding. She had woken up less than an hour ago by Ryan's quite panicky shakes, and immediately had known that something was wrong. Why else would Ryan wake her up in the middle of the night, while in a rush putting on the first clothes he laid eyes on?
Kirsten had called them and explained that Seth was in the hospital, and that she would have to go there immediately while Sandy stayed with Summer. They did not want to worry Summer until they knew more about Seth's condition, and they needed someone to stay with the twins if they all would have to leave for the hospital.
Of course Ryan and Marissa had rushed over to the Cohen house. Marissa would take care of the twins if needed and Ryan would drive to the hospital. Kirsten had not explained much on the phone, probably because she did not know much, only the fact that Seth had been rushed to the emergency room and had been in some sort of boat accident.
They all remembered the last time they had received a similar phone call. Only then there had not been a boat involved, but a bus.
"Hey, I'm just gonna go check on the twins upstairs. I'll be right back." Marissa excused herself and made her way up the stairs. She did not want a little child coming down to witness the chaos in the living room, seeing their mother like this. And she would not be surprised if either of them woke up seeing as Summer was the opposite of calm and quiet. Not that Marissa blamed her, at all. God, she hated to see these things happen to her best friend. She silently prayed for Seth to be okay, wiping a few tears on her way upstairs.
Summer continued her outburst, Ryan trying his best to calm her down. He tried to rub her back, rock her, kiss her hair, talk to her and hold her tight. The crying did not stop though and Ryan had never seen a person being this upset. He was also sick from worry about his brother and best friend, but knew that what Summer felt was worse than he could ever imagine. She did not deserve to lose yet another person. She could not. He would not allow it to happen.
Ryan swallowed hard as he realized that he felt just as helpless as everyone else. He had no power over the situation. One thing he could do though, and that was to be there for his brother's wife. He knew how Seth would break down just to see Summer like this, and Seth would do anything to make her okay again. That was Seth. His brother had always felt strongly for Summer, and if anyone should know it was Ryan. He had been there since Seth was sixteen and crazy in love with the girl now crying in his arms. That love had turned out to be incredibly deep, and most of the time Ryan had not even been able to understand just how strong Seth's feelings toward Summer were.
Over the years Ryan had grown very fond of Summer as well. She was not only Seth's wife and Marissa's best friend, but Summer was also his friend. Or sister-in-law. She was family. And of course he cared about her. They had always been close and even though their relationship sometimes was a bit weird and they did not always click, it had been natural for him to take her into his arms. She was hurting and Ryan would do anything for his family.
A phone rang and forced Ryan out of his thoughts, feeling Summer stir in his embrace. Her crying stopped for a moment and he knew that she was reacting to the phone.
"Honey? Yeah, they're here…Oh, thank God…Okay…Is he-…Are you sure…Okay…We'll be there…Bye." Sandy exhaled loudly as he shut the phone in his hands, turning to the two pair of eyes searching his face.
Summer had turned in Ryan's arms and was looking up at Sandy. Just the sight of her made Sandy's heart ache and he gently kneeled down in front of her, taking one of her hands in his. Summer had tears still streaming down her cheeks and her whole face was swollen and covered with tears. He could see that she desperately tried to compose herself though, forcing back her sobs and desperately blinking away the tears.
"Seth is alive. He is gonna be okay. Do you understand, Summer? Seth is okay."
Summer nodded, showing that she understood, but the moment Sandy had said her husband's name she had broke down again. Her head fell against her chest and she would have fallen off Ryan's lap if he had not had a firm hold of her waist.
"He'll be okay?" Ryan searched the eyes of the only man he had ever seen as a father figure.
Sandy nodded. "Yes. Seth will be okay. But we should go to the hospital though."
"Yeah," Ryan quietly said and let his eyes fall back to Summer. She was mumbling incoherent words into the blanket she still had around her while new sobs racked her body.
"I'll go let Marissa know." Sandy spoke and hurried up the stairs, leaving Ryan to try to pull Summer together enough to go to the hospital.
"Summer, sweetheart," he started, feeling himself grow soft. "Do you want to go to the hospital? To Seth?" He spoke close to her ear, making sure she would hear his voice through her crying and mumbling.
Summer hiccupped several times, and Ryan wondered if she maybe had trouble breathing, before she choked out a "yes" followed by a "Cohen".
That was all Ryan needed to hear to know that Summer needed to see Seth. She needed to see with her own eyes that he was okay. Because right now, he was not sure if she believed them.
Somehow Ryan and Sandy managed to get Summer into the car, Sandy in the driver's seat and Ryan in the back seat together with Summer. He did not really know how he had turned out to be the one to take care of her, but somehow he just did. And Sandy seemed content to be driving.
By the time they neared the hospital Summer had calmed down and Ryan had managed to wipe most tears from her face. She grasped a tissue Ryan had given her in one hand and leaned her head against Ryan's shoulder, an uneven hiccup now and then escaping from her together with a few sniffles.
Ryan soothingly threaded his fingers through her hair, glad that she had finally calmed down. He just hoped that the scene they would meet at the hospital would not be too bad for her sake. He was afraid to say or do something that would cause her to break down again, feeling like she was just hanging by a thread and that the smallest thing would take her back to hysteric.
As the car pulled up by the entrance to the hospital, Ryan inhaled nervously. Sandy got out of the car first and opened the door for Ryan and Summer. Ryan took a hold of Summer's hand and helped her out of the car, carefully wrapping an arm around her as they started to walk toward the doors.
Apparently Kirsten had decided to meet them by the reception because she was the first person they noticed. She had her hair in a loose pony tail and her face was makeup free. It was obvious that she had rushed out of bed and gone straight to the hospital.
Sandy immediately let Kirsten fall into his arms as they approached her, placing a lingering kiss on her forehead. This was their son in the hospital and of course they were worried sick. But both Kirsten and Sandy acted the way they knew best; strong. And as Kirsten laid eyes on Summer, who was anxiously searching the room and looked about just as small as a person could, she pulled away from her husband's arms and went to stand next to Summer.
"Sweetheart, let's go see him." She spoke gently to Summer and replaced Ryan's grip of the brunette, slowly leading her to the elevators.
Sandy followed with Ryan, a hand on the younger man's shoulder. He was proud of him, not only for what he had done with Summer just now.
Summer gasped as the elevator doors opened. She was met by a waiting area, a few people sitting there looking tired. Chewing on her bottom lip she blinked hard. She did not want to be here.
Hospitals always smelled a certain way. And just being there made Summer feel sick and suffocated. She wanted to get out. She needed to get out of this hospital.
As she abruptly stood up she noticed how weak she felt. Her legs would not carry her. She would have fallen to the floor if she had not seen him. Seth walked toward her, his face covered in tears and she immediately felt opened her arms for him. He cried into her hair and she sat them down on the chairs again, gently rocking him while they both cried and wished they would wake up from this nightmare.
How this day had turned out this way neither of them could understand. This morning everything had been normal. They had woken up and done their morning routine, making their kids ready for the day. And a phone call in the afternoon had changed everything and scattered their world.
Their beautiful girl would never come home again. And being in the hospital, crying into each other's arms made it all so real.
"Summer, honey, it's this way." Kirsten carefully tugged at Summer's arm, as the woman seemed to have frozen to the ground.
Ryan hurried to Summer's side, knowing that she could break any moment. He wrapped his arm around her and steadied her, pulling her head into his chest with his free hand. "Close your eyes," he whispered into her ear and she nodded, letting her eyes fall shut as she gripped his arm, trusting him to guide her right.
Kirsten once again let her husband drape an arm around her. This was not what any of them needed right now, and she could not even imagine how scared Summer was. She could not even imagine losing Seth, or Sandy. But Seth was going to be alright. He had just scared them.
Outside of Seth's room, Kirsten took a deep breath. Maybe she should check on her son before letting Summer in? Ryan though walked with determined steps together with Summer and gently turned to whisper in her ear that they were here. Summer carefully opened her eyes, red and glassy, and she took a deep breath.
Seth was lying in a hospital bed in the middle of the room. A nurse stood by his side, having organized his blankets and some machine that was connected to Seth by a wire. She smiled as she noticed his visitors though and excused herself, giving Kirsten a kind smile.
Seth looked pale where he lay. And his eyes were closed.
Sandy walked up to his son, carefully placing his hand on Seth's forehead. Thank god that he was safe.
Summer let out a shaky sob from where she stood by the doorway. Her breathing was hard and tears sprung to her eyes. She started to hyperventilate again and in any other situation Ryan would have given her a bag or something, but he knew that what really would make Summer stop was to see that Seth was okay. Because really, now he did not look okay. He was pale and had his eyes closed and if Ryan had not known that he was just sleeping, he would also have thought that he was dead. Summer did not notice his chest rise and fall though.
Ryan firmly took a grip of Summer and half carried her, half dragged her toward Seth's bed before she grew more upset. To Ryan's relief Summer's crying together with her heavy breathing seemed to have waken Seth up. And he opened his eyes.
"Summer, look," Ryan said while holding Summer upright, forcing her face toward Seth's. "Look. Seth's alright."
Worry immediately spread upon Seth's face and he did his best to shift on the bed, tightly wrapped in layers of cloth, trying to catch Summer's gaze. His hand found its way from under the blanket and he stretched it toward her. "Summer," he mumbled in a quiet and hoarse voice.
Finally Summer met his eyes, looking into those kind eyes that she loved so much. New tears welled up in her eyes and as she carefully took his outstretched hand into hers, feeling how cold it was she broke into hysterical sobs again. She fell against him, her face against his. She climbed up on the bed like a little child and hiccupped several times against his cheek.
"Shh," Seth tried and forced his both arms out from the blanket, placing them around his crying wife. He could not even imagine what she had been through. He had promised her not to leave and then disappeared. That was what he had been thinking about that whole time, when he'd dropped his phone into the water and when he had felt himself fall into the icy water. The only thing he had been thinking about was Summer and how he had to call her. "Summer," he hoarsely whispered again.
Sandy, Kirsten and Ryan quickly left the room, knowing that Seth and Summer needed some time. They would get their chances to talk to Seth later.
"I'm sorry. I'm here now." Seth's voice was croaky but he needed more than anything for Summer to be okay, so he kept talking and kept hugging her close. "It's okay. I won't leave you."
Summer clung to him, her face against the side of his, her arms going around him. "You're cold," she managed to say through her tears and she lift her head a few inches to look into his eyes. "You're cold," she said again and let a sob out.
And he understood.
Lina was cold. Dead people were cold.
He brought her hand up to his face and gently kissed it, keeping his eyes locked with hers. "It's because I was in the water, baby. I'll be warm again soon. I promise. I'm okay." Feeling awful about the fact that he had scared her this much, Seth felt his eyes water. God, did he know that Summer did not deserve this.
Nodding in reply Summer felt Seth's hand squeeze hers and bring it under the blankets, to feel how he was not cold there. And while she felt some body heat there she continued to cry and nod.
And Seth looked devastated. So he kissed her, desperately needing her to understand that he was alright and alive. Summer let herself respond to the kiss, letting her tongue twirl with Seth's as he parted his lips. He was warm. And he was alive.
And as she felt his warm tongue a new feeling was rising in her; anger. She pulled away from the kiss and sat up on the bed. "Do you realize how worried I've been," she yelled and punched him in the arm. "How stupid can you be and get yourself thrown in the ocean?"
Before she got a chance to slap him again, Ryan grabbed Summer's arms. Apparently he had returned to the room. "Hey, Summer," he carefully but firmly started. "I know he's alright and everything, but he's still in the hospital. Don't be violent."
Seth grinned, thankful that Ryan had interfered and quite amused by the irritated look on his wife's face. She was still his Summer, violent and all. His face softened though as he noticed Summer's eyes turn glassy again and he heard her sigh. Ryan let go of her arms and carefully backed away from the bed, leaving the couple to their privacy yet again.
"Cohen," Summer whispered and lay down next to him, careful not to put too much pressure on him. "I was just so scared," she mumbled into his shoulder and he felt her breathe heavily, probably in an attempt to not cry.
Feeling nothing but love and understanding toward her, Seth leaned his head closer to hers, breathing her in. "I know you were. And believe me, I would have called you if I hadn't dropped my phone in the water. Or fell into it, whatever." He wrapped one arm around her, kissing her forehead. "I promised that I wouldn't leave you and I won't. I will never leave you."
"Are you really okay though? What happened? How long were you in the water? God, you must be freezing." Summer leaned up a few inches and looked into his eyes, rambling millions of questions. And as she realized that he had unwrapped himself from the blankets she tucked his arms back under the hideous yellow hospital blanket, affectionately placing a hand on his cheek. "I'm so relieved that you're okay, baby. I wouldn't have-"
Her voice cracked and she took a deep breath while closing her eyes, only to give him a loving look when she opened them again. And Seth wished that she had not tucked his arms back under the blankets because he really wanted to hug her close again. "I know," he simply said and again felt horrible for having put her through all of this. "I love you so much."
Seth did not get the chance to say more, to explain just how awful he felt and how much he loved her, for the twosome were joined by the rest of their family together with a nurse. Summer carefully slipped down from the bed though kept standing close to Seth, her hand moving from his cheek to affectionately run through his curls. Suddenly aware of her appearance she discretely wiped her eyes with her other hand and hoped that she did not look too bad. But after crying for the last hour she figured that she probably looked awful anyway. She forced herself not to think about that though, and focus on Seth. He was okay. And right now, that was all that mattered.
"You're awake, Mr. Cohen." The same nurse who had arranged his blankets before offered Seth a warm smile before giving one to Summer as well. "How are you feeling?"
"Oh, you know, better. Warmer," he said and gave Summer a meaningful look. She leaned down to place a quick kiss on his head and returned his smile.
"That's good. Your body temperature is rising, and it should be back to normal soon." The nurse motioned for the machine next to Seth's bed, showing his body temperature. "You were lucky to get out of the water, Mr. Cohen. Things could have ended bad." Everybody in the room seemed to understand the seriousness in the situation, or what could have happened, so she quickly continued as she remembered Kirsten having told her they had been through a tragic accident recently. "The main thing now is that you're going to be just fine though. You may need some time to recover and you have to be careful not to catch pneumonia. But we will do our best to prevent that, so it's important that you stay warm and try to rest."
The nurse then turned to Kirsten, who had been the one dealing with all the hospital stuff as she had arrived there first. "There is a coffee machine in the hallway. Maybe Mr. Cohen could use something warm to drink."
Kirsten immediately nodded, happy to get a task. At least she could do something for her son. "Yes, of course. I'll take care of that."
"It may make you feel warmer and be nice for your throat," the nurse said to Seth. "I'll be back in a while, Mr. Cohen."
Seth offered the nurse a smile and nodded. "Thank you."
As Kirsten and the nurse left, Sandy took a seat in a chair by Seth's bed. "So, son, what happened?" Ryan pushed a chair next to Sandy's and also took a seat, exchanging a smile with his brother. He had never been good with words but hoped that Seth would understand what he was feeling by that look. And Seth seemed to because he gave a nod back before he turned to Summer who carefully sat down on the bed, stroking Seth's arm up and down over the blanket.
Seth was able to meet Summer's eyes for a moment and smiled, glad that she was there. "You can sit closer if you want to. I could use the body heat." He said the last words with a laugh but as Summer gave him an unsure look he continued. "You're not gonna hurt me. I'm fine. Just cold."
"Okay," Summer whispered and once again lay down next to him, placing her head on top of his shoulder, and she cuddled close to him in attempt to make him warm.
"Son," Sandy spoke yet again, reminding Seth of his question.
Seth cleared his throat. "Right. Well, it's stupid really. I dropped my phone and as I was trying to catch it, I fell into the water." He was slightly embarrassed. It was a stupid story. And he knew what the next question was going to be.
"Well, did you climb up on the boat again?"
Seth sighed, and silently thanked Summer for being a comfort to him where she lay close to him, her hand soothingly stroking his chest up and down. "Yeah, well, I did actually try doing that. But you see, the boat was slippery and it kind of sailed away and as I tried to swim to it, I got a cramp."
Summer tightened her arms around him, shifting closer to him. She did not say anything though, and she didn't need to. But he continued, figuring it was best to get it all out even if he felt embarrassed about it. Falling off a boat in the middle of the ocean seemed to be something that only could happen to him. "But I made it back to the boat. The water was really cold though and I don't know if I was in shock or something, but I passed out. And when I woke up, I was here. Apparently some nice couple found me when they were out on their boat."
"Thank god," Seth heard Summer softly whisper before she placed a lingering kiss on his throat.
This turned out a lot longer than what I had planned, but I didn't want to split in into two parts. So, please leave a review! And I'll update soon!
