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Eva, Gillian, Loker, and Reynolds waited for half an hour as the doctor had stated before taking the elevator up to the third floor where the ICU ward was and approaching the nurse's station.
"Hi. Can you tell me what room Ria Torres is in?" Eva asked.
"She was just moved into room 302. She's still unconscious, though. You can go in, but one at a time and just for a couple minutes." Thanking her, they headed down the hall to the left towards Ria's room.
Stopping in front of the right room, Gillian encouraged Eva to go in first while the rest of them took seats on a bench in the hall. Eva walked in to find her sister in a hospital gown, hooked up to various beeping machines, an IV in her right arm, a large bandage just over her left eye and a cast on her left leg. The sight of it scared her and she wanted to turn from the room and run, but she willed her feet to carry her to the side of her sister's bed. She couldn't find any words to say to her and just watched her in silence for a while, unable to reconcile in her mind the sister she knew to be so strong and the sister lying helplessly in a hospital bed. She pushed a few strands of hair back from Ria's forehead, then leaned over and placed a soft kiss there before she left the room with tears in her eyes. When she emerged, Gillian got up to embrace her and Loker took his turn to enter Ria's room.
He didn't hesitate when he walked in – he had seen too many people hooked up to those machines when he was a kid for them to scare him anymore. He walked straight over to her bed and stood there, debating on what he should say. He had read various studies about how some patients in comas woke up and could remember what their visitors said to them while they were under, so he didn't want to say anything he could get called out on later. As usual, he went to his fallbacks: humor and sarcasm.
"Well I guess this is one way to get some time off. But you're gonna have to wake up soon because if you think I'm gonna take on your cases while you're lying here in a bed not working, just wait til you get back to the office and see the pile up of folders on your desk."
Cringing at how absurd he knew he must sound, he decided to just be honest, taking her hand with both of his and hoping she could somehow sense him. "Ria… I don't really know what I should say. I'm scared I might lose you. I should've told you how much I care about you before now, how grateful I am for our friendship. When you get better, when you get out of here, I'll take you to that new restaurant you talked about and I'll tell you how much you mean to me. Just please be okay," he pleaded with her. Tears were threatening, but he pushed them back and walked out of the room.
Gillian hugged him as he exited and Reynolds headed into the room. He didn't stay long, just long enough to promise her he would find the bastard that had done this to her and to send up a quick, silent prayer on her behalf. He wasn't a particularly religious man, but if ever there was a time to petition God for anything, he figured it was now. He left the room and Gillian gave his upper arm a brief, reassuring squeeze before walking in.
The sound of her heels and the beeping of the monitors were the only noise keeping an eerie silence at bay. She stood at the foot of the bed, looking at her colleague, her friend, before moving to her side. Taking Ria's hand in hers, she rubbed her thumb over the younger woman's hand in a comforting gesture, though not sure if she was trying to reassure Ria or herself that she was going to be okay. Studying the peacefulness on her face, it seemed to her that she could almost just be sleeping, instead of in a coma. Feeling like she should say something, she debated on her words.
"You know, people always wait until the worst things happen to tell each other how much they care. I should've told you before now how much I admire you. How much I think you've grown since you came to work with us. How brave I think you are. I don't know if I could've gone through what you've been through and still come out as strong and capable as you are. Cal thinks you're strong, too – said you were a fighter. I'm worried about you – we all are." Feeling like she should give a reason why Cal wasn't there, even though Ria wasn't awake to hear it, she continued, "Cal's worried too. He just doesn't know how to handle this, so he's doing what he can to find the person who put you here. He feels guilty. You know how he takes the responsibility of the world on his shoulders and –"
She didn't get to finish her sentence because at that moment Ria's entire body started to convulse violently. Panicking, she started yelling for the nurse, who she was relieved to see enter just a few seconds later, followed quickly by a doctor and another nurse. She was ushered out of the way and then pushed from the room. Eva ran up to her, followed by the others.
"What's wrong? What's going on?"
Gillian was trembling, barely able to get the words out. "I don't know. I think she's having a seizure or something. I was just talking to her and she just started shaking uncontrollably."
Loker pulled her into a hug and held her until she stopped trembling. Eva started pacing the hall, arms wrapped around herself indicating how anxious and vulnerable she felt. They didn't have to wait long for the doctor and nurses to emerge. The nurses headed back to their station while the doctor stayed to talk with them.
"She had a mild seizure. We were able to stop it and we've started her on a dose of phenobarbital which should stop her from having another one. We'll keep a close eye on her over the next hour to see how she reacts to the medicine, but for now we'll just have to wait and see when she wakes up from the coma."
"Can we sit with her?" Eva asked the doctor.
"Sure, that'd be fine. The nurse will be back in fifteen minutes to check on her."
The doctor left and they headed into the room. Eva grabbed one of the chairs lining the walls and pulled it to Ria's bedside, taking a seat. Loker and Reynolds each took a seat along the wall and Gillian moved to the other side of her bed to really check that she was okay, still stricken by how suddenly Ria had started to seize the last time she was in the room. She stood there a moment before speaking.
"I should go call Cal. I told him I'd keep him updated. I think I'll stop at the cafeteria before I come back up though. Do you guys want me to bring you something?"
She mentally noted the requested two cups of coffee and an orange juice before leaving the room and heading for the elevators.