A/N: I know this chapter is shorter than most of the ones I've written lately, but I'm proud of the way it worked out. I really hope you enjoy it, because as trying as it was for the muses to work with me on this one, I love how it worked out. Most of all, I think you'll love the way it turns out. Would I ever fail you guys? :P
Chapter 5
Ignorance Is Your New Best Friend
Beeping was a sound she was quickly growing annoyed with, and she'd been here for only 24 hours. Ashley Juergens kicked one foot against the other as she watched her sister sleep. The other four kids had left to get lunch, and she'd decided to stay and wait until Amy woke up.
Ricky had been in surgery for just over and hour, but his parents were being very mum about anything that was going on. She sighed heavily and stood, scribbling a quick note out onto a piece of table and then then walked over to Amy's IV pole and poked a hole in the top of the paper as she pushed it down onto one of the rungs and then walked to the door and exited the room. She made her way to the elevators, which were not surprisingly surrounded by dozens of students again. Some were crying, some were talking, and some were just standing there, as if the comfort of being around the others was all that they needed. They all looked at her, as if they knew who she was without her even saying anything. Hell, they probably did know who she was. All the news stations had been relentless yesterday about who was related to Richard Underwood and Amy Juergens.
She made no effort to talk to anyone as one of the elevator doors opened and she stepped inside. She pushed the first floor button and leaned back against the wall as she waited. The day was going by much slower than yesterday had. It seemed like every minute all on its own, was like its own hour.
Ashley kicked off the wall and tapped her foot against the floor impatiently, groaning heavily when the doors finally slid open. Just like the fifth floor, the main floor was littered with people near the elevators. They all looked at her and watched her as she walked past them, down to the cafeteria. She wasn't necessarily hungry, as much as she just wanted to be outside of a hospital room. The panic within that room was almost malleable with how thick it was. Everyone worried about or for something. She understood that, but it wasn't a healthy place to spend too much time, and everyone else had had their chance to get out of the room. She was taking her turn now.
She walked up to the counter and grabbed a cup off juice off of it and then walked over to a table and sat down. Most of them were littered with people or garbage, so she considered herself fortunate to find one that was clean and empty. She sat down in a chair and set her juice down, looking around the room. Yesterday there had been so some sense of ability to tell who was there for a sick family member, and who was there because of a shooting victim, but today there was no telling. Everyone knew now, and everyone was talking about it. It was making her crazy.
She sipped at her juice, drumming her fingers against the table. Griffin had called her after everyone had left to get lunch and offered to come and keep her company, but he still had yet to show up. She was quickly growing annoyed at all the people looking at her; all the whispers about her family.
Across the room, Griffin appeared at the door and searched among the sea of people before he spotted Ashley. He brushed past the multitude of people before he made it over to the table she was sitting at and set the bag of food down in front of her, as well as the carton that held their drinks.
Ashley smiled up at him and reached into the bag, grabbing the food that was inside. She took one of the cartons of fries and grabbed a few, chewing on them. Griffin continued to empty the bag while she did, placing a wrapped burger in front of her, and on of the cups in the carton before he grabbed his own food and unwrapped it. He dumped the carton of fries onto the wrapper of his sandwich and then began to eat his own food. After a few bites, he finally spoke.
"So, have you talked to Grant at all today," he asked.
Ashley only shrugged, picking at her food. "Not yet. I was watching Amy before because everyone left, but she's still sleeping, so I figured I'd come down here. Its depressing up there."
Griffin nodded, chewing a bite of his sandwich. "We can talk, you know. You don't have to feel like the only people to talk to are your family. I was there too."
Ashley shrugged again. "I don't really want to. Just the thought of talking about it makes me sick to my stomach," she explained.
"Okay," Griffin conceded. "But I'm here for you if you need me. Know that, okay?"
Ashley nodded. "I do know that. And it means a lot, but right now I just… I need to be there for my family. My parents are terrified that they're going to lose Amy, Amy's beyond terrified that she's going to lose Ricky, and…." Ashley shook her head. It was all just one big whirlwind and she didn't know how to cope with it all. Why had those kids and Bob felt the need to bring guns to school yesterday?
She rested her head against the front of her palm, dropping the fries in her hand. "This is all just too much for us to handle. I don't know what to do," she admitted.
Griffin reached across the table and squeezed her hand, holding it tightly. "It'll be okay. You'll all get through it."
Ashley bit the inside of her cheek, mulling over what he said to her. "I want to believe that, but I'm not sure I do."
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Can you catch me
If I let go
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Amy yawned, stretching as best she could in her hospital bed. She winced at the pulling on her IV and dropped her arm back against the bed. The sun was still glaring through the window, and she could smell food - specifically french fries, her favourite food.
She sat up slowly, looking around. She was actually surprised to see that the room was empty. She moved off the bed, smiling as she crossed the room and grabbed a French fry off the table. An annoying flapping made her look up however, and she reached up, grabbing the paper hanging from her IV pole.
Amy,
Was in the food court, Griffin brought you some lunch.
The handwriting suddenly changed, from Ashley's, to who she assumed was her mothers.
Took Ashley home to change and pick up the boys. We'll be back around 3. Eat lunch and sit tight. If the doctor comes before we get back, do as he says.
Love you,
Mom
Amy smirked, sitting down at the table, She shifted a few times in discomfort before she finally settled on the edge of the seat and started picking at her food. Truth was, she wasn't all that hungry, but she hadn't eaten anything in almost two days and knew she had to eat something.
After a few fries, she pieced apart her sandwich, picking pieces of it off the largest part. She only ate a few bites of it before rolling it up and tossing it back in the bag, along with most of the fries. Amy stood and carried the bag with her over to the trash, tossing it out. She then walked back over to the table and grabbed the carton that the fries were in and picked at them. She sighed heavily and tossed them onto the overbed table and shook her head, leaning back against the pillow. All the stress of thinking about what Ricky was going through wasn't helping her to fight her own urges.
The door opened and she looked up, seeing Margaret and Shakur walk in. They both smiled at her as they settled their things and sat down at the table. "Ricky is in recovery right now. He'll be in soon," Margaret spoke softly.
Amy nodded, shifting in her bed. She just wanted to leave.
The door opened again and a doctor entered, smiling at Margaret and Shakur before he walked over to Amy. "Amy Juergens?"
Amy nodded, sitting up. "Yeah."
"I'm Dr. Kosh. I'll be checking your wound and stitches and then we'll talk for a bit, if that's okay?"
Amy nodded.
"Are your parents here," he asked.
Amy shook her head. "They're at home. They're coming back."
Dr. Kosh nodded. "Alright. I'll print up some paperwork on what I'm going to tell you, and then brief your parents later. I'm going to get what I need, and then we'll get started."
"Okay," Amy answered softly. She rested her head back against the bed, closing her eyes. She only opened them again Dr. Kosh reentered the room. She shifted on the bed so that she was sitting on the side of it. Dr. Kosh pulled the Velcro on the sling on her arm and unwrapped it from around her before he pulled it off her arm and tossed it on the side of the bed. He then began to undo the Velcro from the elbow splint on her arm. He gently slipped it off of Amy's arm, bending her arm only about five degrees so that he could remove and reapply gauze.
After tossing the brace down, he removed the tabs holding the gauze together, off of it and then gently began to unwrap Amy's arm. As he did, she and Ricky's parents saw the full bruising of her arm come to view.
"Why is my arm so bruised," she questioned. She was sure the question had been asked earlier, but she couldn't remember.
"The way the bullet pierced your arm made all of the bones in your arm shift and most of it shatter. We had to surgically repair most of it." He explained. "Because everything shifted, there was a lot of bleeding outside of the bone."
Amy sighed, taking in what he was saying. Still, something in her head repeated the thought over and over again that if she hadn't thrown her arm where she did, Ricky would be dead.
When Dr. Kosh finally finished unwrapping the gauze, he checked the stitches on Amy's arm, and lifted it gently to check the bruising. Once he was done, he put Amy's arm back down and grabbed a fresh role of gauze off of his sterile field and opened the package. He then applied some triple antibiotic ointment on the wound, and then covered it with gauze. "Hold this please?"
Amy held the gauze lightly, wincing at the tenderness of her arm. "Can I get more pain medication?"
Dr. Kosh nodded. "Once we're done, I'll send Paige in to give you another dose." He spoke as he began wrapping her arm again, moving Amy's hand once he reached her elbow. When he was finally finished, he reached up onto the table and grabbed a different brace off the sterile field. "This brace has more padding on it and there's a strap that extends from the back of the elbow, to the front of the brace, so you won't have to wear a sling. The bar under it is so that your elbow doesn't turn."
"Okay," Amy spoke softly.
Dr. Kosh slipped the brace onto her arm and made sure it was tight enough, but gentle enough that it wouldn't squeeze the bruises on her arm, before he slipped the strap around her and then brought it down on the Velcro. He gently pressed it down and then checked the cut under her lip. "This looks to be healing nicely," he noted. He picked up her chart and looked it over. " You have cut running from your breast to your shoulder?"
Amy nodded. "Not deep. A piece of glass caught me," She spoke softly. She pulled her shirt over so that he could see the cut. It extended from her collarbone to just above her right breast. It looked more like a cut from a seatbelt than something from glass.
"Looks to be healing well. Did you have any stitches placed," he asked.
Amy shrugged. "I think on my leg, but that's it."
Dr. Kosh nodded. "I'll check that later and then with any luck, you can go home in a few days. Its only your arm I'm worried about at this point. Alright?"
Amy nodded, shifting back into the bed so that she was laying down. As she did, the door opened and Anne walked in with John in her arms, followed by Ashley, and then George, who was carrying Robbie. Amy extended her one arm John, who reached for her as well. Anne set him gently on the bed and extended her hand to Dr. Kosh, who was removing his gloves.
"I'm Anne Juergens, Amy's mom. This is my-…my…"
"I'm Amy's father," George finished for her. Dr. Kosh shook Anne's hand and then George's smiling.
"I'm Adam Kosh. I was just explaining to Amy that this brace is better suited for her. It will keep her elbow from moving while it heals with the bar under it, and keep it stabilized. 'This should also help minimize the pain as well. Now, I want to keep her for a few more days because even though it's a rare chance, I'm worried about infection. Almost two dozen people were hurt in this shooting, and I'm keeping them all here until I can be sure they're all going to heal safely. I'll make sure Paige keeps an eye on her cuts and the bruising on her arm might take a week or so to go down. The breaks in her arm were pretty bad." He explained.
Anne and George both nodded, listening to him as if his words were something out of the bible.
"Now, I'm going to send Paige in with some pain medication, and then I'll be back tonight to check in before I head out of the night." Both Anne and George thanked him once more before he walked out of the room.
John snuggled into Amy's arms, gabbing at her in baby language about his day, and she simply listened silently, smiling and nodding when she felt it deemed necessary. When John grew bored of talking, he simply snuggled against her. Amy agreed with him silently. It had been too long since she or Ricky had seen him.
The room grew relatively silent as Amy rested with her son. Somewhere in between all his story telling and then their resting together, Paige must have come in and given her more pain medication, because she felt like her body was going numb, and grew wearier by the minute. John was fast asleep next to her only minutes later.
She jumped awake however, when the air pumping in and out of a machine grew louder. She sat up slowly and yawned, gently slipping her blanket around John as she sat up. Moving wasn't quite as easy with one arm completely immobilized, but she managed.
She gulped at the sight before her as she sat up fully. Her mother was quick to stand and move to her side, trying to keep her calm before she started freaking out. "Breathe. This was a possibility that we knew about before he went into surgery."
"I didn't!" Amy shrieked. She couldn't even stop the tears flooding her eyes as she stared at the love of her life laying in front of her with tube running into his mouth.
"Amy." George spoke sternly, trying to help to calm his eldest daughter. "Let your mother finish."
Anne thanked him softly, turning back to Amy. "Ricky's body has been through hell in the last 36 hours. Respiratory failure was a risk, and we knew this. For now, the tube his helping him to breathe because his body is too weak to do some of the things it needs to do on its own."
"Dr. Benton, the ER surgeon, said that in a few days he should be okay. Right now we're all just worried about him getting through this," Margaret finished. She walked over to Amy, patting her hand lightly. "Shakur and I both understand what you're feeling. Its going to be okay."
Amy gulped, wiping the tears from her face. They still fell, but not as desperately. She stood slowly and dragged the IV pole with her over to Ricky's bed, unable to stop the whimper that escaped her throat as she ran her fingers across his bruised check. Hell, every part of him was bruised. There probably wasn't a single surface of his skin that she wouldn't find a bruise on.
She sat down on the bed next to him, nuzzling her head into his shoulder. Ricky's head turned only slightly, but his hand wrapped gently around her side. His breaths were shallow against the machine, but if that's what it took, fine. She would wait.
"Yes," she whispered up at him. "Yes."
