Chapter 6:
Eileen and Julia marched into the small room in a chaotic thunderhead of emotion. But all of that energy stalled when it met the quiet stillness of the small ICU unit. Derek raised a condescending brow at their entrance. Kyle had fallen asleep curled in his chair and didn't stir.
"Derek? How is he?" Eileen said softly.
"We know what Kyle was told when he first got out of surgery but the doctor hasn't been here since then." He shrugged irritatedly. Eileen turned her head towards the motionless Kyle, poised to interrogate him until movement in the hallway distracted her.
The nurse suddenly poked her head in, having stopped from leading them just outside the room to check something on the small board attached to the doorway.
"The attending post-op physician will be coming by shortly to do his rounds. I know it can be hard to feel like stepping away, but there's a nice cafeteria on the 3rd floor, or a café down by the main entrance and the courtyard if any of you need a quick break." She excused herself and headed back down the hall.
"So we don't know much." Eileen confirmed. Derek nods.
Julia tentatively walked up to the bed, and Derek moved from his seat so she could take his place. She says nothing, her whole attention focused on her writing partner. He doesn't move, which was so odd to her. Tom was always moving, even in his sleep…
Eileen sighed. 'What a mess.' she thought to herself. Bombshell couldn't continue with their performances tonight when the news would need to be broken to the crew, and it would be a huge hit to their chances at the Tony's. They would have to close for the weekend and open up after a fresh start and rehearsals on Tuesday.
"Derek, have you told the crew of Hit List yet?" she queried as he stood next to her, still looking at Tom and Julia.
"Yeah, we've canceled for the night." He frowned, thinking. "We've had trouble with Jimmy and we're transitioning to a new male lead, so who knows how long we'll need to get back up and running."
Eileen and Julia both turned to look at him in surprise.
"It's a long story. I think we've got bigger issues. You'll need to stay here I assume, until Tom's family arrives? Do they know?"
"Yes…" said Julia sadly. "We called them on the way over. His mother and sister are arranging their flights now, but they're on a cruise in Germany and it'll take a couple days until they can get here."
Eileen nodded. "I'll go back to the theater to make the announcement and cancel the shows for the rest of the week. Derek, I'm sure you need to get back to update your crew and I want to speak to you about our options. The media is going to have a field day with this, we need to handle it carefully."
Julia jerked. "Field day? Tom almost died! Kyle is hurt too! What is there to even–"
"Tom and Kyle were seriously injured *together*." Derek interrupted her. "Exactly what do you think the media is going to latch their attention onto?"
"I don't know why they were there! It doesn't even matter!" She protested.
"You're not suggesting…" Eileen narrowed her eyes.
"A little birdie named Karen implied otherwise when she was explaining what Jimmy had said to Kyle last night before storming off."
Julia looked stunned. Eileen wanted to groan. What. A. Mess. She settled for another deep sigh.
"Let's discuss this on the way out. It'll be better to know what can be said and what can't and how we'll keep the cast from leaking to the press until things calm down." She raises a brow at Julia. "You'll keep us apprised? If you don't think you can handle it–"
"No, I'll stay." Julia interrupted quickly, a determined expression on her face.
"Then let's go, Derek."