Chapter 12

Two Months later

"Shannon, I just don't know what to do right now. I haven't talked to him in such a long time. He won't return my calls or e-mails or anything." Alexis said into the phone.

"Alex, I wish I knew what to tell you. He won't talk to anyone. He won't even answer when Matt calls. I've gone over to his house and it doesn't look like anyone is there, but his cars and bikes are all in the garage. His dad says that he is there but hasn't left since he got there." Alexis sat there in silence. She couldn't believe that he hadn't even taken his brother's phone calls. "Alex, you cannot blame yourself for this. You did what you thought was right and in a sense it was. You just need to think about…"

"I know Shannon, I need to think about what I did to Jeff and you guys and what I put ya'll through."

"Alexis, that isn't what I mean. You have to realize that Jeff loves you so much. When you left he fell apart and then he saw you two months ago and he fell in love again. We thought he would never be the same, but you did it. It is going to take him a little while. You know Jeff and he will forgive you, but it just takes him a while sometimes."

"Thanks Shannon. Well, I have to go to the grocery store before tonight. Nicole and I need to get some candy."

"You haven't gotten any candy for tonight yet? What are you thinking?"

"Well obviously I wasn't thinking Shan, thanks for pointing that out." She said beginning to smile.

"Anytime Alex, anytime" Shannon said. Alexis could hear the smile in his voice.

"All right, I'll talk to you later Shannon. Love ya buddy."

"Love ya too." Alexis hung up the phone and walked into the living room.

"Nicole, are you ready to go to the store?" Nicole looked up, smiled, and shook her head.

An hour later

"All right, take this bag into Aunt Cassie." Alexis said handing Nicole a grocery bag filled with candy. As she shut the car door she heard the sound of tires screeching. She looked up to see her daughter getting side-swiped by a car. She screamed and ran over to Nicole. Cassie and Taylor ran out of the house and over to Alexis when they heard the commotion. Taylor was already on the phone calling the cops. Within a couple minutes the cops, paramedics, and neighbors were surrounding the scene. Cassie and Taylor had to hold Alexis back as the paramedics tended to Nicole. She couldn't believe what was happening.

Hospital waiting room—20 minutes later

Alexis looked out the window of the hospital. She didn't even know how she ended up in the waiting room. As soon as they got to the hospital a nurse lead them to a waiting room while the doctors took Nicole to surgery. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, but it seemed like an eternity. Finally, a doctor that she had seen going into the emergency room with her daughter walked out.

"Miss James?"

"Yes?" Alexis asked looking up.

"I'm Dr. Rice. I have been in surgery with your daughter. I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that your daughter does not have any broken bones or any major internal bleeding. The bad news, however; is that your daughter hit her head very hard and she is in a coma." Alexis was in shock.

"How long?" Taylor asked.

"We can't say. It could be a couple days or it could be a couple years. It depends on how long you want to keep her alive too. After about three months, children in comas tend to have a very rare chance of coming out, especially one as serious as this. But we will talk about that if it ever comes to that."

"When can I see her?" Alexis asked finally coming out of her trance.

"They are moving her to a room right now. She is in room 206."

"Thank you" Alexis said as she slowly walked to the room. She felt like she was moving in slow motion. When she finally made it to the door she stood outside trying to gain the strength to walk in. The next thing she knew, she was inside the room. She hadn't realized that Taylor and Cassie were still with her.

"Don't worry Ally, we'll be right here." Alexis just nodded. She looked over to the bed and saw her daughter for the first time. Nicole was hooked up to so many machines. Nicole was so little that the machines and tubes seemed to take up her entire body. As soon as she saw her daughter she sank to the floor and cried. She sat there with tears running down her cheeks until she couldn't cry anymore. She didn't move she didn't speak; she just sat there in pure silence.

"Ally, you should go home. Go take a shower, eat something, and then take a nap. You need to take care of yourself." Cassie said trying to reason with Alexis, but she didn't say anything. They weren't even sure that she had heard them. As the next couple days went by, people from town kept coming to see how they (Nicole and Alexis) were doing, but the ones that Alexis wanted the most to come still hadn't. She didn't even know if they knew what had happened. She hadn't talked to them since the accident.

"How is she?" Alexis turned around to see Shannon, Crystal, Matt, Amy, Shane, Adam, and Jason standing in the doorway. She was so surprised to see them, but she couldn't have been happier. She ran over to Shannon and collapsed in his arms. The tears she thought were gone came pouring out. No one really said anything. After a while, she stood up and gave everyone a hug. They all told her it was going to be okay. After everything was said and done they all walked out to the waiting room except for Shannon and Alexis. Alexis walked over to the seat she had previously been occupying and sat down. Shannon followed and knelt in front of her.

"Where's Jeff?" Alexis asked.

"I don't honestly know. We haven't seen him for a while. I'm sorry." After that they both sat in silence. A couple hours later Cassie, Taylor, and the rest of the group came back with food. Alexis didn't really feel like eating, but Shannon had told her that if she didn't eat that they would carry her out and back to her house. She grabbed a salad and started to eat it. She really didn't want to leave her daughter.

The next couple days were exactly the same. People were always coming and going, but Alexis still felt alone. It didn't matter how many people were comforting her, there was only one person that she felt would make things a little better. Everyone was standing outside Nicole's room watching Alexis through the door.

"So you guys still haven't gotten a hold of Jeff?" Taylor asked looking at Shannon.

"No, I haven't been able to get a hold of him."

"Damnit!" Cassie yelled in frustration.

"What is it?" Amy asked curiously.

"It isn't fair for her to go through this. She has dealt with so much shit in her life. First with her family, then with Jeff, and then she moved here and she got pregnant. She went through so much shit from a lot of people around here. Some people around here have always been strong believers in the family setting and they never let her forget it. Then she saw Jeff again and she stopped listening to all those people. When Jeff walked away she almost lost it again, but she couldn't because of Nicole. But now look at her, what else does she have right now?" Cassie started crying. Shane walked over and took her in his arms. They sat there for awhile in silence. No one knew what to say or do. They had never seen this girl that upset. Taylor was even a little shocked. She knew everything that had been happening with Alexis, but it was a shock that Cassie had said something.