Second chapter. Still only one scene, but I'll get there. The next chapter should be a little longer and hopefully not as dramatic =]
Chapter Two: Oh No You Don't
As Gabrielle arrived at the hospital, she was unsure of where to look for Steve. Praying she would find him anywhere but the morgue, she paced the hospital anxiously. Arriving in one of the ER waiting rooms her face softened as her eyes met a very shaken man. One she had never seen this visibly upset.
"Steve." She walked slowly towards him, his head shot up and he rose slowly from his chair, trying to regain his composure.
"Gabbi. Thanks for coming, I.. I didn't know--" Steve wondered why in hell he called Gabrielle out in the middle of the night for something that didn't even concern her.
"It's okay. How is she?" Gabrielle laid a hand on Steve's shoulder, focusing him.
"They won't tell me anything! She's still in surgery, but I don't know what's going on."
"Surgery? What happened?" Gabrielle's eyes widened, she didn't know the full story, and the fact that Steve's mother was in surgery gave her a new insight on the severity of the situation.
"I think it was a car crash. I feel so guilty, I should have been there."
"Steve, you had no need to be there. You didn't know she was going to be driving at this time of night!" She was using a very strong tone of voice. She didn't like it, but she knew Steve well enough to know he wouldn't listen otherwise.
"I know. I just wish she had taken someone with--" Steve's sentence was cut short by the doctor walking through the surgery doors and into the waiting room.
"Mr. Taylor, and you must be..."
"Gabrielle Jaeger." She stood to shake the doctors hand.
"I;m afaraind we don;t have any good news for you. Your mother has gone into cardiac arrest during her procedure, she then responded to adrenaline..."
"Okay, why is that bad news?" Steve unconsciously grabbed Gabrielle's hand, who was now sitting next to him.
"She has now descended into a coma. We're trying to reverse it, but there is not much we can do in her condition."
Steve felt the blood drain from his head, Gabrielle saw he had paled and squeezed his hand.
"Hey. Hey Steve? You okay?" She looked him straight in the eye. "Come on, do you want to see her?" Steve nodded. He tried to sit straight and seem like he was not falling apart, and he did a fairly good job, but Gabrielle could see straight through his act.
After a visit to Steve's mother's room, he told her she should go home. Gabrielle's eyes snapped open at this implication, looking rather ballsy.
"No way mister. You aren't staying here by yourself." She looked around the cramped room. "In fact, you're not staying here at all." She grabbed his arm, causing him to stand, sluggishly. "Come on, we're going to my place." Steve really didn't feel like arguing, but he tried.
"Nah Gabbi, I'll be fine here." He sat back down, causing the strong woman to tighten her grip on his arm.
"Okay, well, you called me here at three in the morning, don;t make my trip useless. At least let me help. Come crash on my couhc, I'll drop you back here in the morning and tell Frank what's going on."
Steve was happy with the first part, but had one slight objection.
"Not Frank." His face remained blank.
"Why not Frank." She raised her eyebrows at this.
"He knows about my past... problems. I don't want him to make any false assumptions."
"Fair enough mate, but who then? I can't just say 'Oh he's not coming' and not explain anything!"
"Charlotte." Steve looked up into her eyes. "You can tell Charlotte, but no-one else."
"Fine. Come on, let's go. I have work in the morning... A few hours from now actually."
"So do I."
"Oh no you don't!" she was stern, you are not working like this. Come on, let's get home."
Steve really did like the sound of that, so he followed Gabrielle out of the hospital, desperately wanting to get some sleep. Trying hard to not think about what the future might hold.
Please review =]
Next one should be up soon, but I gotta update my House fic too... So keep checking back.
Thanks for reading.