Chapter 2

"I'm fine Angie, hi Frankie." He looked very uncomfortable.

"Hey Pop. Why don't you take my chair." Frankie stood up and left the room.

Frank watched him leave the room and knew Frankie still wasn't ready to deal with him and his mother. He turned back to his wife. "What happened?" Angela gave him the short version of the story. "Why do they have her on a ventilator?"

"Her oblong what-a-ma-call-it is being squeezed by the blood in her brain and she's having some problems breathing so they are helping her. It should be ok when the blood drains off." She pointed to the shunt. "That's what this is doing, it's draining the blood that's putting pressure on her brain. That's what's causing the coma. The doc thinks once the blood is gone she'll wake up."

"So all we can do is wait?" He asked incredulously. "They can't do anything to make it drain faster and make her wake up sooner?"

"They're doing all they can." Angela gave him a defeated look.

"Hey Ma." Tommy walked up to his mother and gave her a hug. Then he looked down at Jane for a minute before he leaned down and kissed her brow. "Hey sis, sleepin' on the job eh?" He tried to smile but it fell short. "Frankie filled me in out in the hallway. What can we do?"

"We can just be here for her and make sure someone is here at all times so she doesn't feel alone." She turned back and sat down next to Jane's bed. "Hey Janie were all here, Frankie, Tommy and your Dad. One big happy family. We're just waiting for you to wake up. We're going to be here every day until you open those big brown eyes and smirk that smartass smirk of yours."

"Angie why don't you and Frankie go home and get some rest. Tommy and I will sit with her tonight. I know you don't want to leave but you should go home and get a good night's sleep so you can be fresh tomorrow. It's bound to be a long day. If anything changes I'll call you."

"As much as I want to stay here you're right, I need to get some sleep. Frankie can you take me to Jane's apartment? I'm not sure I want to run into Maura right now."

"Sure Ma, maybe I'll sleep on her couch and we can head back here together in the morning. Call me if anything changes ok Pop?"

"I will. Now take your mother home and make sure she sleeps. Tommy and I will be here for Janie." He watched as they walked out of the room then took the chair Angela had vacated and took Jane's hand. "Hey kiddo, you're going to have to call on all of that Rizzoli stubbornness to fight this thing. But you're gonna come back to us."

Tommy stood up and started pacing the room. They'd only been there a half hour and he was already antsy. He'd never been one to just sit and wait, he needed to be moving. "Hey Pops I'm gonna take off. I can't just sit here."

"Are you telling me you can't even take one night to sit with your sister? Your Ma and I have always defended you when Frankie and Janie said you would turn your back on the family if something better came along. You skipped out on your own Welcome Home Party. Now you're abandoning your sister. Go ahead, leave, and break your mother's heart once again."

Tommy looked down at Jane before he looked back at his father. "There's something I got set up for tonight and I can't miss it. I gotta go." He turned and almost ran out of the room.

"Well Janie I guess you were right about him. I'm sorry, I always thought you and Frankie were only looking at it from a cop's point of view. He better have a good excuse this time. I know I haven't been a very good dad over the past months but your Ma told me to stay away and I thought it would be best for the family. I've really missed you. I've followed everything that's been happening to you and Frankie, well mostly you because you seem to be the one that makes the headlines." He smiled at the memories of how many times Jane had gotten hurt as a child. "Remember when you climbed the tree in the backyard when Frankie's kite got stuck in the branches. You were so high in that tree I never thought you'd find your way back down. But you did. And don't think I didn't know when you stepped forward and took the blame for something one of your brothers did when you were younger. That's one of the reasons your Ma still blames you because you had her believing your brother's were perfect. I think she was also hoping for a girlie girl she could dress in dresses and take shopping, you are anything but that. I on the other hand loved when you came along with me on jobs, you were such a fast learner and a good worker and you seemed to enjoy yourself. And you weren't afraid to get dirty, you still aren't. You're my tomboy and I'm very proud of you, you've made something of yourself and you did it against all odds. Don't tell your brothers but you've always been my favorite."

Two days later Frank looked at his daughter lying helplessly on the bed, all he wanted was for her to open those big brown eyes and smile at him again. She'd put him through some sleepless nights but this is the worst he'd ever felt. Every other time he knew she would live to get in trouble again but this time there's no guarantee. He watched as the nurse came in and checked the IV's but when she checked the shunt she got a worried look on her face. "What's the matter?"

"I don't want to jump the gun so I am going to call her doctor and have him come in and check the drainage." She turned to leave.

"Should I call my family and have them come back?"

"Not yet, let's wait and see what the doctor says ok?" This time she left.

Frank leaned forward and gripped Jane's hand ever harder. "Come on Janie, don't make me have to wake your mother up. She gets cranky if she doesn't get 8 hours of sleep. Fight baby." He leaned his head down so it was resting on both of their hands.

That was how the doctor found him 20 minutes later. Frank raised his head up when he heard the doctor enter the room. "You must be Mr. Rizzoli, I'm Jane's surgeon Dr. Cutter. I need to check her shunt because the nurse said she seemed to be bleeding again and I need to find out why." He went over and looked closely at the shunt and picked up the phone on the wall. "I need an OR stat. I'll bring the patient down with me so we can prep her there." He hung up the phone and turned to Frank. "She's bleeding again, I have to go back in and find the bleeder. You could wait until after the surgery to call your family or you can call them now. But right now I have to get her into surgery and stop the bleeding;" He turned and hurried out of the room as two orderlies hurried in and transferred Jane to a gurney and wheeled her out of the room.

Frank was still sitting in the chair, he was so stunned he could hardly move. It all happened so fast. He walked out into the hallway and pulled out his phone and called Frankie. "Hey Frankie you might want to bring your Ma back to the hospital. They just took Jane back into surgery." He listened for a second. "She started bleeding on her brain again so they are going back into stop it. Wake your Ma up and get over here." He tried to call Tommy but there was no answer. He was angry that Tommy wasn't picking up and he wondered what could be so important that he would ignore his family at a time like this.

He was standing in the hallway when Frankie and Angela hurried in. "Frank what happened?"

"I don't know, I was just sitting there talking to her and the nurse came in and checked the IV's and stuff then she got a worried look on her face and said she was going to call the doctor and have him check the shunt. He came in and the next thing I know they're loading Jane onto another gurney and wheeling her back to surgery. She started bleeding again."

Angela went into the same room they had been in yesterday and fell into a chair. "How much more can she take?" She bowed her head into her hands and cried. Frank sat down next to her and gathered her in his arms like he used to do and held her while she cried.

"She's our daughter Angie, she's too stubborn to give up. She'll pull through fine, then you'll spoil her rotten and she'll complain then sneak out of the house back to her apartment because she can take care of herself. You know that right?" He turned and lifted her chin so she would have to look at him. All she did was nod her head. "Let's just sit back and wait before we start to worry too much ok?" He leaned back in his chair and Angie went with him willingly.

All of the sudden Angela sat up. "Where's Tommy?" She turned to look at Frank. "He left didn't he? How long did h e stay before he took off?"

"He left about 15 minutes after you did and he's not answering his phone. He said he had something going on tonight that he couldn't get out of. I tried to get him to stay but he just left."

Frankie jumped up and started pacing. "What the hell kind of brother leaves when his sister is fighting for her life? He had better have a really good excuse or I will show him what family means to me. He won't be able to walk when I get done with him."

"Frankie, violence is not the answer."

"In this situation it is Ma. Jane has gone out of her way to welcome him home since he's gotten back, even though it went against everything she felt, what we both felt. He still hasn't proven himself to me and this certainly isn't going to help." Frankie walked over and punched the wall.

"Frankie stop that you're going to hurt yourself." Angela walked up behind him and held his arms.

"Can you honestly tell me you don't want to throttle him right now? Where is he now? Nowhere to be found. He's not answering his phone so he doesn't care." Frankie stood rigid with his hands balled up in fists at his side.

"Frankie come sit down. Calm down."

"Ma I just need to work this out on my own ok? Let me be mad." He did sit down next to Angela though.

They'd been sitting there for 2 hours when the nurse came in. "She's in recovery now, everything wentHe was standing H

well and the doctor did a CAT scan before and after surgery and he says things look good. She's still in a coma but the bleeding appears to have stopped. The shunt will continue to drain the blood for as long as it needs to. You can go back to her room and wait for her there if you want."

Angela stood up and walked up to the nurse and took her hand. "Thank you very much. Will the doctor be by later?"

"Yes he said he'd be by in about an hour to talk about the surgery." She pointed at Frankie. "You need to stop stealing chairs from the other rooms. If you want to take one from here you can."

Frankie looked up at her sheepishly. "But these chairs are so uncomfortable. The ones in the rooms are padded and they don't kill your back."

"That's what I've been told by the other people who've had to take the ones from here because you took there's. Now behave." She smiled to take the sting out of her words and Frankie smiled back. "I have to get back to work." She turned to leave the room.

Angela looked back and forth between the nurse and Frankie. After she left Angela turned to Frankie. "I think she likes you Frankie. Maybe you should ask her out."

"Ma, I'm here for Jane not my love life."

"Why not do both? She seems willing."

"Ma! Come on let it go. Now is not the time. Let's go to Jane's room and wait for her." He stood up and left the room.

Frank and Angela stood up and followed him. "I'm just saying she looked like she was flirting with you."

Frankie turned around. "What part of 'now is not the time' don't you understand Ma? My sister is fighting for her life and you're trying to set me up with her nurse. Even that's a new low for you. I don't want to hear about it again ok?"

"Ok." Angela said almost meekly.

"Frankie you should not talk to your mother like that. She only wants what's best for you."

"I know Pops but this isn't exactly the time to be discussing my love life. She needs to give it a rest. No offense Ma and I'm sorry I went off on you like that but I'm just a bit upset right now. Can we just sit and wait?"

"Sure Frankie." Angela took his hand and they sat and waited.

They wheeled Jane into the room about ½ an hour later. "She looks better doesn't she? Her face isn't as white as it was before. She's got some color back in her face." Angela looked up at her family.

"Yeah Ma she does." Frankie smiled down at her. He wasn't just saying it to make her feel better he really did think Jane looked better. "Maybe the doctor will have good news for us when he comes in."

An hour later when the doctor came in the room he was smiling. He walked over and turned off the ventilator and carefully removed the tube from Jane's mouth. Then he watched as Jane began to breathe on her own. He turned and watched as it finally hit them that Jane didn't need help to breathe. "Unless she surprises us again it looks like the bleeding has stopped and a lot of the swelling has gone down. We will probably be able to remove the shunt by the end of the week if not sooner and hopefully by then the rest of the swelling will have gone down and she will wake up. She just needs to rest. There's also something you can do for us. The nurses will check on her more frequently to make sure the bleeding has stopped and what you can do is keep an eye on this tube here." He pointed to the tube attached to the shunt. "Right now there's just a trickle of blood, if the amount increases then you need to contact the nurse immediately ok?" They all nodded.

"So she's going to be ok?" Angela asked hopefully.

"All indicators point that way. It's up to her now. Are there any other questions you may have for me?" They all seemed to be dumbfounded and just shook their heads. "I'll check her again tomorrow, we'll do another CAT scan and we can see where we stand."

"Thank you doctor. Frank why don't you go home and get some sleep. Korsak and Frost will be here in a couple of hours then Frankie and I will go home and sleep." Angela smiled up at him.

"If you don't mind I'd like to stay here for a little while longer to see if there's any change. I'll leave when Korsak gets here."

The visiting shifts went on for the next 4 days. The five of them, Angela, Frank, Frankie, Korsak and Frost (Tommy still hadn't made a reappearance) fell into an easy routine of visiting and sitting by Jane's bedside.