Hi everyone, this is BookWorm94 again. Thanks for the reviews, RossnRachel4everr, Ithad2Btold, wAlKiNg.3.StEpS.oVeR.hEaVeN., DrKerryWeaver, and Imaginewhatif. I really love reading the reviews, so R&R please! Any ways I can improve my writing are appreciated.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Friends characters. I do own Lilly, Matthew, and Dr. Parry though. Ha. Ha.
I wake up in a hospital bed, Chandler standing over me.
"Hey Mon," he says, with a weak smile. I grab his hands and slowly sit up, trying to adjust to the brightness of the light in the room.
"What happened?" I ask, squinting at him. He squeezes my hands and hugs me. His hug is the best thing I've felt since I heard about my dad. Oh my God… my dad is dead, I think.
"You blacked out when the doctor told us what happened. The hospital let us put you in a bed for a few hours. You can leave the room whenever you're ready."
I finally finish adjusting to the light, and slowly climb out of the bed, avoiding the cold metal railing. "Have you visited my mom yet?"
"No, no, I haven't. I figured I should wait for you to wake up. Ross and Rachel are with her, though. She's not doing so well, emotionally, at least from what Rachel's told me. She's been down here a lot, to check up on you, even though you were only out for a few hours. Ross has spent the entire time down in your mom's room. I don't think he wants to leave her."
I nod, taking in all of this information. Chandler helps me out of the bed, and I grab his hand as we walk down the hallway to my mother's room.
"Hey Mom," I say quietly, to the blank woman in the bed. She doesn't look up. She merely stares across the room, at the blank wall.
"Mom, Monica's here," Ross says, touching her arm. He's sitting in a chair next to the bed, hunched over. Rachel stands behind him, her hand on the back of the chair, leaning against the wall. They both have tearstains down their cheeks.
Mom continues to stare. I lean against Chandler, closing my eyes and trying to ignore the tears slipping down my cheeks. My father's dead and my mom may as well be comatose.
We stand there, me fully dependent on Chandler to hold me up, until Dr. Parry comes in.
"Mrs. Geller? We just got the results from your x-ray back from the lab. It appears that your arm is broken in two places. We'll need to put a cast on you as soon as possible. In the meantime, in a few minutes a nurse will come in with lunch. I hope you feel better." The doctor motions for Chandler, Ross, Rachel, and I to come outside the room.
"I've also noticed some depression symptoms in your mother, which is not surprising in the least. Anyone suffering bone damage and experiencing grief at the same time usually goes through this. I've put her on Zoloft, which is an antidepressant. I need you four to watch her and make sure she doesn't do anything."
We all stand gaping around the doctor, confused and upset.
"Do you honestly think my mother would commit suicide?" says Ross after a minute. He's indignant.
"She seems like normally she would be a strong and non-impulsive woman, Mr. Geller, but she's gone through a lot of trauma."
"First of all, it's Doctor Geller, and second of all, my mother is not stupid enough to do something like that!" Ross replies, even more offended.
"Ross, honey, that means something here," Rachel says quietly, putting a hand on his arm.
"Dr. Geller, I'm sorry if I've offended you. I'm just stating that there could be a possibility that your mother would try to do something that she normally wouldn't do. I'm not saying she would do it, but she could. I need to check up on my other patients, Dr. Geller. And here comes the nurse with lunch," he says, as a woman in pink scrubs comes by carrying a tray. "Please just watch out for me." He walks away from us.
We all walk slowly into the room. The tray is on my mother's lap, but she hasn't eaten anything. The nurse in the pink scrubs glances at us before saying, "Mrs. Geller, please eat." She sighs and looks at my mother once more before leaving the room.
Ross sits down in his chair again, while Rachel and Chandler go out to see if they can get more chairs in our room. I sit down on the end of my mother's bed, blocking her view of the wall. She doesn't seem to notice. When Rachel and Chandler get back, Rachel carrying a chair and Chandler carrying two, we all sink into them, falling asleep. I resume a post at the other side of the bed, across from Ross.
In the middle of the night, I wake up suddenly. My mother's hand rests against mine. The clock reads 3:47 a.m.
"Monica," my mother says weakly.
"Hi, Mom," I say, in a quiet voice. I halfheartedly smile at her.
"Monica, please don't wake the others."
"I won't," I promise. I squeeze her hand lightly.
"Monica, I caused your father's death."