A/N Sorry this is so late getting out to you guys. I wanted to get this sooner but wasn't able to. I'm going to try my best to get a chapter out to you guys tomorrow afternoon but I have work and then school tomorrow night. If I post a chapter it may be short and a bit of a filler chapter just to give everyone their AMC fix.
Leo watched as Jackson tenderly kissed Greenlee's forehead. Not really sure what the D.A. had to do with Greenlee he turned and looked in the waiting room. Ryan was sitting a few seats down from David and was giving him dirty looks.
Leo went and sat between the two men. To his right was the man that was married to the woman he loved. To his left was his brother who had just admitted to saving Greenlee's father, man that had treated her like dirt her entire life. He looked back and forth between them not sure who to confront first he settled with talking to David he figured talking about Roger was a hell of a lot easier than talking to Ryan about Greenlee.
"David…I want to know about Roger." He said just loud enough for David and Ryan to hear him.
"I know Leo and when we know that everyone's going to be ok I promise I'll answer all your questions."
Ryan interrupted the brothers, "Beside's Jackson would like to be a part of that conversation. You've got a lot of questions to answer David."
Leo looked confused again, "Ok someone tell me why the hell is Jackson Montgomery so involved with Greenlee's life? He sure as hell didn't give a damn about her when Roger died he still came after me and took me from her. What, did they have an affair or something?"
Ryan and David's eyes shot up. They looked at each other shocked. There was so much they were going to have to catch Leo up on.
David looked at his brother, "No Greenlee and Jack didn't have an affair. Actually it's something really good. Mary Smythe lied about who Greenlee's father is. A year after you left we learned that Mary and Jack had a fling one summer and Jack is Greenlee's real father."
Adam sat back in the hard plastic of the waiting room chairs. He surveyed the room around him. Hours earlier the same people sitting in this place had been in his living room. Things had been so innocent and carefree just a few hours before but now that all sat somberly. The only ones talking were Hayward, his brother, and Ryan Lavery. Everyone else either sat in silence staring at the ceiling or those around them but for a few of them sleep had finally graced them.
The doctors had encouraged them to go home and rest the surgeries would take hours and the patients would be in recovery for awhile. They wouldn't be able to see their loved ones until early tomorrow morning. Not a single person was willing to leave until the last person was out of surgery. The hospital staff had taken pity on them and brought pillows and blankets for everyone and made sure the coffee stayed fresh. Every half hour two nurses would come and check on Kendall and Scott. They had refused, against doctors orders, to stay in their rooms. They wanted to be with their family and friends.
Adams eyes rested on the sleeping form of his daughter. Colby laid with her head in her mother's lap. She looked innocent lying there. Adam was lucky one person in his life wasn't physically scarred by the events of the evening. The hardest thing for Adam was being the only one in the room that knew who might be responsible for all this pain they were feeling. That his own son could have pulled the trigger that hurt so many people was eating Adam alive.
No longer able to look at these people and not yell out how sorry he was Adam stood up and started to walk out of the room.
"Adam?" Liza quietly whispered.
The white haired man turned towards his ex-wife. "Where are you going?" she looked at him, concern written all over her face.
"I'm just going to go for a walk Liza. I need to clear my head." He hopped the look of regret he felt was written all over his face wasn't evident to her.
"Adam, would you me to join you?"
"No, no, Liza it's alright. You look after Colby." He watched as Liza ran her hand through the young girls blonde hair.
He walked aimlessly down the halls of PVH not really sure where he was going or what he would do when he finally reached where ever it was that his legs were taking him. As he walked past the elevators his eyes wandered up to the numbers above the elevator doors. Just two floors above him Cara and Griffin Castillo were repairing the damage inflicted upon the woman he had, just a few hours ago, asked to marry him. He wanted to push the button to the elevator and let it take him up those two flights and let him be closer to her. Before his body could override his brain and push that button he let his legs take over again and continued down the hall way.
He reached the end of the hallway and placed his hand on the door knob and slowly turned its handle. He wasn't surprised that he had ended up here.
As he entered the chapel he stopped in the middle of the doorway. He was surprised to see Jackson standing there lighting a candle. Jack blew the match out and turned to face Adam.
"Jackson, I'm so sorry to interrupt you." Adam turned to leave.
"Adam I was just getting ready to leave. Please stay." He stopped the other man from leaving, "Is there any word on Brooke?"
"No, not yet. They said the surgery would take four to five hours."
"Listen Adam I'm sorry Erica and I disrupted your celebration with our relationship problems. But, congratulations on your engagement. Brooke's an amazing woman, you better treat her right" The look in Jack's eyes showed the sincerity in his words, that he truly meant it.
Adam couldn't find the words to say he stood there nodding his head. Jackson walked up to him and put a hand on the man's shoulder, "Adam, Brooke's going to be fine. She's a little spit fire that one. Don't go and give up on her just yet."
"I can't lose her Jackson. I've loved a lot of women in my life, a lot of women, but none can hold a candle to Brooke."
"I know what that's like. You guys will get to spend the rest of your lives together." As Jackson tried to assure Adam that his love for Brooke would bring her through this he thought of the love he had for Erica and how that was never enough for her.
"I'll leave you alone now Adam." Before Jackson could leave the chapel Adam stopped him and stretched his hand out towards the other man. The two men shook hands and then Adam pulled the other man into a brief hug.
The words that escaped Adam next surprised the other man.
"I'm so sorry Jackson. I'm so so sorry."
Jackson looked at the other man, "Adam you can't blame yourself for everyone being hurt"
"But your daughter….she's was in my house…..and" before Adam could finish his next thought he was interrupted.
"Yes my daughter was hurt while in your home but that doesn't make you responsible. Whoever pulled the trigger is responsible. And like Brooke my daughter's a fighter and she'll be just fine. Don't blame yourself for this because neither I nor anyone else blame you." With that Jackson left Adam alone in the chapel.
Adam sat down in the first pew of the chapel. He bowed his head and tried to think of the words to say. When nothing came to him he stood up and began pacing back and forth across the chapel.
He looked up at the ceiling and when the words started he couldn't stop.
"Why is it God that the only time I come to you is in the hour of my desperation? I could stand before you and make promises that I'll be a better man and I'll go to church every Sunday. I could promise you that I'll give my money to the church and will follow all those commandment's you've given us. But God, you and I both know I'll never do any of those things I promise. Those are just empty promises I spew out hoping you'll give me what I want.'
'I have done things in my life for which I am ashamed. I almost killed my brother. I shot my brother and you through Hayward brought him back. I've married women just to control them. I stole a man's child by letting a woman get pregnant with my own child against her will. God you know all the despicable thing's I've done. I don't deserve to stand here and ask you for anything but I'm begging you God to hear my pleas and the pleas of all those people in that waiting room. Please do what I can't do. I can't go in there and perform a miracle and save these people but you can. You can guide the doctor's hands. I can't go in there and tell Jackson that his daughter is going to survive that she won't suffer. That he won't have to bury her again. I can't tell Bianca that the woman she loves wasn't mortally wounded but you can do those things God you can make all those people that were hurt ok. You can keep them safe.'
'And God I can't make my son and grandson ok. I don't want to walk into that room and tell those people that it was my own son that caused all this pain. My biggest mistake in life is not raising my son to be the man he should be. It's because of me that he turns to alcohol rather than turning to people who care about him. So God please do me this favor and don't make me have to go in there and face the fact that my son could have killed so many people tonight let me find out it was some mindless stranger. Help me help my son get a second chance."
Adam sat back down on the pew and sobbed. When he heard the door swing open he looked up to see Jesse standing there with Brot and Natalia.