Dreaming
Chapter 5
Previously…
She wasn't the only one on staff curious about his relationship with Ms. McDonald but it appeared answers would have to wait.
Two months ago…
Casey had been in London when the call came from Dr. Johnson. After hanging up Casey curled into a ball as tears streamed down her face. Her eye caught the vase of flowers she had received yesterday and suddenly she stood up and angrily threw the glass butterfly vase against the wall. Immediately horrified at her behavior she collapsed onto the bed and buried her head into the bed pillow and broke into heaving sobs. She thought the tears would never end.
Her assistant had knocked several times and was pretty sure he could hear her bawling in there. Actually is sounded like a animal was being tortured, but not even Casey could make crying elegant apparently. After an hour he became worried. Ms. McDonald was not prone to tears.
Ralph came out of his room, headed to the lobby, when he noticed Casey's assistant pacing in front of her room. "Diva got her panties in a twist?"
Tom glared at him. Why did she keep this goon around? "If you must know, though I doubt you care, Casey's in there crying her eyes out and won't open the door." He replied in a snotty tone.
Ralph's calm turned to concern immediately. "Are you sure she's crying?"
"Yes, dumbass, I'm pretty sure I know what sobbing sounds like."
Ralph briefly wondered why Casey kept this jerk around and then focused again on the problem at hand. He knew of only one person who could break down Casey like this.
"Move, dumbass." Ralph pushed past Tom, arrogantly swiping the extra key out of his hand, and announced, "Casey I'm coming in."
He found a tear stained, snotty nosed, red rimmed and hollow eyed Casey curled up and rocking on the bed clutching a fluffy hotel pillow. Her appearance was so far out of the ordinary, Ralph could only stare for a minute before sitting down beside her. "I must be dreaming." Casey murmured over and over making Ralph think maybe she really needed professional help instead of a friend.
Ralph was just as devastated as Casey with the news of Derek, that is once he managed to get her to breath long enough to tell him what was going on. She had a new mantra now, "This can't be happening. This can't be happening." Unable to take control of the situation herself, Ralph called their manager and put the tour on hold. He also booked two airline tickets for a red-eye from LHR to LAX leaving in three hours.
During the flight Casey finally pulled herself together and started bubbling over with anger. Is there no happy medium questioned Ralph.
"How could he." Casey seethed half rising out of her seat.
"It was an accident Casey." Ralph said laying a hand on Casey's arm and pulling her back down, but once she got started there was no stopping her.
"Bastard trying to ruin my birthday again." Casey's arms waved in the air and Ralph was glad no children were sitting close by.
Ralph sighed, "He's never ruined your birthday Case. You had appendicitis."
But Casey didn't hear him. "Insensitive jerk. It's my freakin' world tour Ralph."
"Our world tour." Ralph mumbled.
"So help me if this is a prank, I-I-I will make sure he ends up in the hospital." Casey continued to rant and tried to stand up again.
"I'm pretty sure even Derek couldn't get a hospital to cooperate with a prank."
"Ha-ha, shows how well you know Derek. He could sell ice to an Eskimo. He probably convinced his dumb blond floozy of the day wanna-be actress to pretend to be the doctor." Casey sneered with a feral look in her eyes.
"Case, Derek's my best friend. He hasn't pranked you in years, and he hasn't had a 'floozy of the day' in a long time either."
"Ha!" Casey sat back in her seat with her arms crossed and refused to look at Ralph the rest of the flight though she continued to mutter obscenities under her breath. Ralph sat back, closed his eyes, and prayed for strength.
When the plane landed 11 hours later at 2:30pm pacific time, Casey was still furious. An exhausted Ralph guided her to the waiting limo and they went straight to the hotel. Casey's manager had decided it would be best for them to visit the hospital at night to avoid crowds and photographers. The hospital had agreed because they were already dreading the media attention their newest patient was guaranteed to attract once his identity was released.
That night…
"Derek Venturi this had better not be a prank." A shrill voice cut through Derek's fog. Casey charged into the room with Ralph behind trying to keep up.
"Der-ek! This is ridiculous. Get up!" Casey stood beside the bed, arms crossed, foot tapping, a glare on her face.
"Uh, Case. I don't think he's faking…and I don't think he can get up either." Ralph's voice was gentle as he slipped his arm around her shoulders. His eyes could barely believe the picture before him. Derek lay pale as death in the harsh white ICU room, a ventilator keeping him alive. IVs and monitors were attached to half a dozen bleeping machines. His left leg and arm were in white casts. His other arm and face were covered with superficial lacerations.
"Bro," whispered Ralph.
A nurse rushed into the room. "Ssshhh. There are other patients on this unit. You must keep your voices down."
Casey turned to the nurse wide-eyed as she finally allowed realization to sink in. With tears in her eyes Casey murmured. "You mean he's really hurt?"
The nurse took pity on the pretty celebrity when she saw the hurt in her eyes. "Yes, honey. I'm so sorry. We are doing the best we can to heal him."
Casey gulped and nodded suddenly gagging on the smell of disinfectant that filled the room.
"The doctor will be in tomorrow. Can you come back then to talk to her? She'll be able to explain what happened and his condition."
"Of course." Casey choked out in as dignified a voice as she could manage.
Turning back to the bed, Casey slowly sat down on the edge and leaned her head into Ralph's stomach as she cried again.
Casey stayed overnight sleeping in the hard vinyl chair. Ralph had left hours ago. In the pre-dawn morning, Casey awoke in a cold sweat, gasping for air and reaching out for Derek. Casey looked around the dimly lit room wildly and after several moments realized she was in Derek's hospital room. She knelt beside his bed, turning his hand so she could rest her cheek in it. "Please come back to me. Please let this nightmare end."
Dr. Johnson entered the room on her early morning rounds two hours before visiting hours and gently shook Casey. "Ms McDonald?"
"Huh?" Casey wiped at her face slightly embarrassed that she was seated on the floor.
"Ms. McDonald, I'm Dr. Kary Johnson. I spoke to you yesterday."
Casey stood and tried to smooth out her clothes. "Yes, of course."
"Would you like to go up to my office and we can talk about Derek's condition?"
Casey looked over at Derek, heard the beeping monitors, and couldn't bare the thought of leaving him. "Would you mind if we spoke here?"
The doctor smiled with pity. "No, of course we can talk here."
For the next ten minutes Casey listened to the doctor catalog Derek's injuries which included some internal bleeding and a possible brain injury. The information was overwhelming and Casey felt nauseous. "Is he going to be alright?"
"Only time will tell. Right now the induced coma is allowing his body the rest it needs to heal but until he's ready to wake up we won't know the permanent damage."
"I understand, and thank you for taking care of him."
The doctor nodded. "Is there anyone else we should notify of his condition?"
Casey was startled. "You didn't call his parents yet?"
"You were the one listed as his ICE in the cell phone we recovered." Casey was rendered speechless. I'm his only emergency contact?
"Ms. McDonald?"
"Oh, yes. I'll call his parents and the hockey team. Did you know he plays hockey?"
"One of our paramedics recognized him but we haven't released his name yet."
"Good. I'll take care of it. And thank you again."
"You're welcome."
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