His heart had stopped. The sound of his sister's hysterical voice on his voice mail had stopped his heart. Lucky had initially ignored the call, not wanting to entertain the spectacular pity party he had been throwing himself, but some voice in his head wouldn't shut up until he checked his voice mail. Lulu had been barely coherent but he still managed to make out her message.
"Cameron's hurt. Go to General."
He threw his Jeep into the nearest parking space, not giving a flying fuck if he was parked illegally or not. They could impound his car from now until the Second Coming, he needed to get inside. Throwing open the doors to the Emergency Room he scanned the anxious crowds looking for his sister. Lucky spotted her easily enough; she was pacing near a set of double doors which Lucky assumed led to trauma rooms. Running towards her at full speed, he didn't stop until he nearly skidded them both into the wall.
"Lulu. Where is he? What happened?"
"I don't know. He was right there next to me and then he wasn't. And I heard this scream and I looked and there he was." Lulu's hands flailed around as she tried to piece together what little she had figured out and guessed. She gestured towards the double doors they were standing near. "They took him back there. I tried to go with him but they wouldn't let me. I think they said Trauma three or something."
Lucky turned on his heel, ready to barge his way through the teams of doctors, find his son and get some answers, when his sister's hand on his arm stopped him. Turning towards her, he shot her a questioning gaze.
"I'm sorry Lucky. I'm so sorry," she managed, her eyes wet with tears, her voice shaking.
"Not now Lu. I have to go find my son." He shook her hand off and slammed through the double doors out of her sight.
Lulu stumbled her way towards the uncomfortable plastic seats. She began rocking back and forth to keep from completely breaking down. From the second she had seen her nephew's crumpled body, adrenaline had taken over. Now that he was in the care of doctors and her brother was here, the full shock of what she had seen overtook her. Lulu glanced at the door, hoping to see her mother and father rush through but was met instead only by Logan's eyes.
"Go away." She groaned. "Haven't you done enough damage today?"
"You're blaming me for this? Weren't you the one watching him?" Logan spat back, his eyes rolling.
"You showed up out of nowhere and started picking a fight." She retorted hotly.
"You're the one who picked the fight. And you're the one who took your eyes off of Cameron. This is your fault. You did this to him." Logan argued. Why did his family always blame him? Why was he considered the bad seed? Couldn't they give him the benefit of the doubt just once?
"Because you distracted me." Lulu started. Somehow in the course of the events she had found the strength to stand up and look Logan straight in the eye. "You got your precious information. Now leave. This is a family business."
"Cameron is my family!" Logan threw back.
"You don't even know him! He sure as hell doesn't know you!" Her voice kept rising and she knew they were attracting the attention of every person in the waiting room.
"If you need to yell at me, go ahead. Whatever soothes your guilty conscience." Logan patronized.
"You asshole." Lulu spat out ready to continue on blaming him with all the anger she could muster when she saw her mother and father run through the waiting room doors. Ignoring Logan completely, she flew to her mother's arms. "Momma. I swear it was an accident."
"I know that sweetheart." Laura replied soothingly, her mind going a mile a minute as she tried to find her son in the distance.
Lulu sniffed, guessing her mother's intention. "Lucky went back to find Cameron and yell at the doctors."
Luke's blue eyes rested on the familiar form of his younger nephew. He knew Laura had been calling every family member she could think of but he hadn't even considered she would find the one member of the family determined to be lost. "Logan. What are you doing here?"
"I was there when it happened." Logan admitted.
"So you can fill us in on what did happen then?" Luke asked.
"I honestly don't know. One second we were talking and the next there's a scream and Lulu's running..."
"Oh my poor baby." Laura said softly.
"Don't baby her, Laura. She's a Spencer. She's tough." Luke told his wife, his eyes going soft when he noticed how distraught his only daughter looked. "Are you all right?" He asked, stealing her from Laura's tight grip.
"I'm fine." Lulu nodded. "I'll be better once we find out what's going on with Cam."
"Let's sit down huh?" He ushered her toward a nearby chair.
"Lucky's so mad." Lulu whispered. "He's so mad."
"He's scared peanut. You can't hold anything he says right now against him."
"Luke? Laura?" Bobbie sprinted out of the elevator and towards her family. She and Cruz had been upstairs meeting with Dr. Lansing to discuss the best plan for a healthy pregnancy for her when she had gotten Laura's frantic message. In her mind's eye, the day BJ was taken from her began to flicker to life before her eyes once again, but Bobbie was determined to push that back. This nightmare was Lucky's and she had to be strong for him, whether he wanted her there or not.
Cruz held back as he watched Bobbie enfold Laura into a hug, whispering comforting nothings into the other woman's ear. He wasn't entirely sure if he should be there right now. Lucky had enough to worry about right now and Cruz knew his presence could just as well be an irritant to his friend as a comfort. The smart, cowardly thing to do would be to force his feet to go back to the elevator, press the button that would take him to his parking spot on the fourth floor of the garage and wait for Bobbie to call him with updates. Let Lucky decide if he wanted him there or not. But he couldn't make his feet move. Stubbornly they stayed put, as if taunting him, that even if it was the safer course of action, Cruz could no more abandon Lucky and Cameron right now than he would be able to leave Bobbie. It was decided. He was staying.
Cruz scanned the room, unsure of who knew what. Luke and Laura knew everything but did Lulu? The last thing the Spencer family needed was for Lulu to throw one of her patented dramatic fits over her aunt's "betrayal". When he landed on a familiar figure, he did a double take. Family crisis did bring the relatives out of the woodwork, Cruz acknowledged but him? Cruz made his way over to the younger man, giving him a fairly obvious once over. "Logan? When did you get here?"
"Me and Lulu brought Cameron in." Logan explained with a slow nod of his head.
"You did?" Cruz shook his head in confusion. Logan was back in town? He had been near Cameron? Did Patrick know? Did Robin? Visions of a bloodbath danced in his head. If Elizabeth was heading this way, Robin was surely close behind. And it was a wonder really why Patrick hadn't made it here already anyway. Hopefully all three would be able to remember the hurt three year old and his terrified father before World War III Drake family style broke out in the waiting room.
"Of course. I was talking to Lulu when Cameron got hurt." Logan hadn't seen Cruz Rodriguez since he, Lucky, and Patrick had been in college together. He looked mostly the same with a little more facial hair and a trimmer waist. His eyes looked wiser, but Logan couldn't figure out why.
"Then you know what happened? The only thing I was able to figure out for sure was Cameron was here."
"He got kicked by one of the horses. Mean son of a bitch." Logan recalled.
"Shit." Cruz ran his hand threw his hair. Lucky was paranoid enough where Cameron's safety was concerned, a hold over from his father's paranoia and refusal to actually follow the letter of the law. When Cameron got through this, Lucky was going to be just inches from placing his kid in a plastic bubble.
"Lucky got here a little while ago. The kid's in the ER." Logan informed his brother's best friend.
Cruz resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Logan's use of 'the kid' instead of Cameron's name. Logan had changed exactly none since the last time he had saw the younger man. "So the troops have just begun to descend then."
"Pretty much. I'm gonna get a cup of bad hospital coffee. You want some?" Logan asked, already moving toward the exit.
"No thanks." If Logan was leaving the area, Cruz realized someone had to be nearby when Patrick and Robin spotted him. Or vice versa.
Patrick couldn't see past the blood. Upon receiving Aunt Bobbie's vague phone call, he had turned completely around and rushed to get here, probably breaking a few laws on the way over. He didn't care. He had to know if the patient the ambulance had just driven up with was his little second cousin. The little face was covered in open cuts and early bruises. His eyes were closed, his tiny nose busted, and his hands hung motionlessly over each side of the gurney.
"Cameron!" Patrick didn't know why he called out to his youngest family member because it was obvious that the little boy couldn't answer him. He was already being pushed to the side and this was not an easy feat considering his height and size, but the staff was having none of his hysterics. The oldest among them was a bald black man in blue scrubs. He grabbed a hold of Patrick's left arm and shoved him backwards hard enough to make him stumble into the thickening crowd.
"That's my cousin, you son of a bitch! Let me through!" Patrick shouted his shoes stomping down on unsuspecting feet as he weaved his way to the front of the line. He could barely make out the picture of a Disney character displayed on the front of the little boy's t-shirt, Mike from Monsters, Inc. he thought. What? He was suckered into babysitting a lot and had been ever since Cameron's birth. That couldn't be him, couldn't be! He tried to think back to if Lucky had ever bought a shirt like that for his son, but who in their right mind remembered something like that?
"Sir, you're in the way." The man informed him, but Patrick wasn't giving up that easily. What if Lucky wasn't here yet? It was up to him to make sure that they took care of Cameron! He followed them inside, a million and one scenarios playing out in his mind as he tried to figure out what should do next. Most importantly, he had to keep up with the gurney and find out where they were taking his little cousin so that he could direct the rest of the family when they showed up. How was it possible that he had arrived first?
It was times like this when he wished he had followed in his father's footsteps and become a doctor. At least he would have special privileges and he would know what they were saying to each other! "Is he allergic to penicillin?" The head doctor, a man with black curly hair and a Mediterranean glow to his skin, asked Patrick.
Patrick didn't know. How could he not know? When he saw Lucky again he was going to figure out what all Cameron was allergic to. He was going to be more involved. He was going to offer to hang out with the little guy even though he knew, in the beginning at least, that Lucky wasn't going to let Cameron out of his sight. His baffled expression must have clued the young doctor in, because he didn't ask him anything else.
They all turned a corner and Patrick was right behind them, finally able to grip the tiny boy's hand lightly. He looked like he was in so much pain. He was going to buy him a toy store or an ice cream shop. Whatever Cameron wanted, he was going to get. "Do you know what happened?" Patrick inquired, directing his question toward anyone who might hold the answer.
"Some kind of accident involving a horse." The doctor replied absentmindedly.
"Was he riding the horse? Was his aunt with him? Or his dad?" Patrick demanded.
"We don't have a lot to go on, but you're in the way. Please let us do our jobs." The doctor snapped as he led his team to the ER, not ten feet away.
"He's going to be okay." Patrick didn't let his voice rise at the end of his comment, because there was no alternative.
"We really won't know until we get him checked out." The doctor explained short temperedly.
The team of doctors, nurses, and one hotly concerned photographer burst through the double doors and hurried past the group of grief-stricken visitors. Patrick didn't even notice anyone until the doctor refused to let him go any further, even after he tried to stress to the medical professionals that he was family and that he would be going in with or without their consent. He felt a tug on his sleeve of his gray button-down and recognized Aunt Laura curled up in a chair. Lulu was sprawled across her lap, her eyes closed. Patrick couldn't see Luke so he assumed his uncle had gone in search of food or coffee, or both. He wouldn't leave his girls alone for long that much Patrick did know.
They wheeled the small boy into the ER and Patrick watched as not one of his relatives showed any interest. "That wasn't Cam, was it?" he realized.
"No dear. Cameron was brought in an hour ago. Lucky's in with him now." Laura explained softly.
"Is he alright?" It was a stupid question, but he had to ask it.
"I don't know. Lucky hasn't come back out and told us yet." Laura watched him with unshed tears in her beautiful blue eyes.
Cruz rose from his chair against the wall and approached his best friend. The anger that had risen in his throat when he spotted the other man confirmed he was in no way ready to put the hurtful remarks Patrick had thrown at him in the past. And he was more than likely no closer to forgiving Lucky for the same offense. But right now this was bigger than the three of them fighting. It may kill him but Cruz was determined to be an adult about this, even if he did want to act like a three year old. "I keep trying to work my connections from the magazine but nothing is working."
Patrick regarded his friend with mild interest and major irritation. He was still very sore about all that had gone on, not just over the last couple of days, but the entire time Cruz and Bobbie had been lying to him, to Lucky, to everyone. It was still weird to link their names, but he figured it would pass in time. His aunt showed no signs of giving up her own happiness for her family and the same could be said about Cruz. "Lucky will tell us when he comes back." Patrick replied in a no-nonsense voice.
Cruz nodded his agreement. "Just be nice to get something other than 'We can only release information to his immediate family.' I'm only fairly sure Lucky hasn't killed a doctor yet and that's only because the SWAT team hasn't come crashing in."
"I thought the patient they just brought in was Cam. The kid was his same size, same age. He's in really bad shape." Other than having been confused, Patrick couldn't figure out why the young boy's fate bothered him. "Horse accident too." He added solemnly. "How long have you been here?" He didn't meet Cruz's eyes, afraid he would see the same hurt he felt mirrored in his friend's eyes.
"About an hour. I was upstairs." For now he wasn't going to mention exactly why he was upstairs. It would wreck the shaky peace they were trying to establish for the sake of a hurt three-year-old. "I just missed Lucky's arrival."
"I had better call Robin. I was supposed to pick her up. She thinks someone broke into her loft." Patrick started to reach for his phone, but let his fingers drop instead. He didn't want to talk to her when he was feeling like this. He might just snap at her and he was sure to say the wrong thing.
"Anyone know if Elizabeth has been called yet?" Cruz had to admit he was surprised she wasn't wearing a groove into the floor with her pacing already.
"I don't know. Do you have her number?" Patrick shook his head. When exactly had he become this clueless?
"I called her. I'm surprised you didn't run into her on your way in Patrick." Laura spoke up, alerting the two men to her continued presence.
"I wouldn't have run into her, I would have run over her." Patrick tried to joke but it fell flat and he buried his face in his hands fighting for composure.
Luke re-entered the room with Bobbie close at hand, balancing a tray of stale tasting coffee in his hands. It was bland and tasteless but at least it was hot. Of course it wouldn't kill the longing he had for the bottle of Scotch behind his desk at the club. He almost wished for Claude to show up so he could order the bartender to go get it and then fire him for not getting back quick enough. After handing Laura her cardboard cup and placing one under his daughter's chair, he sat down next to Patrick, placing his hand on the younger man's back. "Nephew."
"Hey Uncle Luke." Patrick found his uncle's blue eyes easily enough and gulped slightly. He wouldn't acknowledge his aunt just yet because he was trying so hard to keep it together and one word to or from her would shatter him. Why had it been easier to talk to Cruz than to Bobbie? They had been equal in their betrayal, but he had treated her worse. He had no idea how to even begin the apology she deserved. Part of him, a rather large part, was still angry with her for keeping him in the dark. That part he recognized as his pride and, when in doubt, a Drake always fell back on his pride. He wanted to get past this, wanted to find a way to be happy for her, but maybe he was just too selfish.
Bobbie sat down next to Cruz, far too exhausted from trying to be strong to care right now what was right and what would cause a fight. While Luke had gone in search of coffee, she had spent much of the search on the phone with Dillon, trying, rather unsuccessfully she feared, to convince him that there was no reason for him and Lucas to drop everything and come down to wait with them. She was now fully expecting both to come barreling through the doors the second they could find an acceptable sitter for Lance. She smiled when she felt Cruz squeeze their linked fingers. "Patrick. When did you get here?"
"A few minutes ago. I was in Buffalo or I would have been here much sooner." He assured her, snatching the coffee that Luke must have picked up for the now sleeping Lulu and taking a long, unsatisfying drink.
"Of course you would have." Bobbie smiled sadly. "What was going on in Buffalo?"
"I needed a couple of days to think." Patrick answered quietly.
Wisely Bobbie let that subject drop. Emotions were too close to the edge for anything remotely resembling a calm rational conversation on that particular subject. And thankfully, some good karma Bobbie had sent out into the world at some point was returned to her as she spied Elizabeth's timid arrival into the waiting room. "Elizabeth. We were just talking about you."
Elizabeth bit her lip and slowly made her way over to the assembled family. When she had finally checked her messages, Laura's had scared her to death. She had raced straight for the hospital and had been one second from walking through the doors when doubt flooded her. Only two days ago she had walked out on Lucky for even thinking she was cheating on him. Would he even want to see her? "Really? Can't imagine why."
"We were just wondering where you were honey." Laura assured her and patted the open seat next to her.
"I…I just got the message." Elizabeth managed as she sat down. It was only then that she realized it would mean sitting directly across from Patrick. "It's been some long days lately so I had my phone turned off."
"I'm sure Lucky will be relieved to see you." Laura told her, releasing Patrick's hand and taking Elizabeth's.
"We'll see." Elizabeth murmured. A part of her hoped so. Another part of her taunted her she had just gone and blown this relationship with her flying off the handle. She kept her eyes moving, trying to keep away from Laura's curious gaze and finally rested on Lulu's sleeping form, twisted into what at best looked like an uncomfortable wad. "How can she sleep like that?"
"She's always been able to. When we'd play cards into the wee hours of the morning, we'd find her curled up under the kitchen table." Laura thought she might have smiled at the memory. It was all she could do not to burst into tears.
"Who are you?" Logan interrupted from the doorway, making his way across the room. From his brother's expression, he could tell the old man didn't look pleased with his decision to spring up out of nowhere. He had never met this lovely creature, but she had obviously wormed her way into his family if she was holding Laura's hand and looking all sad and helpless.
Elizabeth blanched at the question. Who was this asshole? "Elizabeth. Who the hell are you?"
Patrick chuckled softly to himself and stood up to his full height, frowning at his younger brother. "Elizabeth, meet Logan. My brother. Logan, meet Elizabeth." Patrick was pretty certain he didn't like the grin that appeared on his brother's face upon explaining Elizabeth's name and reason for being here. "Lucky's girlfriend." He continued, making sure that there was no confusion.
Elizabeth frowned at Patrick's declaration. This was Robin's ex-husband? Somehow she had assumed he would resemble Patrick, a decision she now realized was ridiculous since her siblings were blonde and she was most decidedly a brunette. This was the charmer who had fooled Robin? She had to have a discussion with her friend about her taste men when they had a minute. "Oh. Your brother. I've heard about him."
"Only pleasant things I hope." Logan murmured seductively.
"Only about your leaving." She smiled at him.
"What the hell are you doing back here?" Patrick lifted one eyebrow and looked toward Logan.
"Talk about a friendly welcome. Is no one happy to see me?" When not even Aunt Laura answered him, Logan pouted. "I hear you've all gotten along fine without me."
"You heard right." Patrick nodded affirmatively.
Logan narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Especially you, big brother. I thought you were on my side."
Patrick wanted to smack his brother upside the head, but his hand had just started to heal and he didn't want to damage it any more than it already was. If he kept up these random physical attacks, they might just cut his hand off. "What side would that be? You lied to me. You lied to anyone who would listen." He reminded his brother, taking a threatening step toward him.
"Patrick..."Cruz began to stand up, a warning in his voice. This was going to get as ugly as he feared.
Robin flew into the small room, her dark brown eyes scanning the crowd as she searched for Laura. Ever since receiving the call almost an hour ago, she had tried to convince herself that it wasn't as bad as her imagination was making it. Having called Laura back several times only to be greeted by her voicemail, Robin had assumed the hospital required her to put the phone on silent. She had realized at that point that she would have to come here and see for herself what had happened. It took ten minutes to start the car and another fifteen to get the car out of the driveway without fear that she would hit someone or something. The drive over had been frightening and stressful. She had mistakenly chosen a road that was held up by an inconvenient accident—were there any other kind?—and she had actually convinced herself to park her car and check to make sure Patrick wasn't among the casualties. He hadn't been, but no one had survived the three-car collision.
She had been touched by loss and tragedy most of her life so she couldn't figure out why she was always blindsided by them. Shouldn't she have developed some kind of sixth sense by now? Her stepfather had been killed when she was still a girl, her grandmother had been killed in front of her, and then she had watched life slip out of Stone. She had mourned her father's death for fifteen years before he showed up again last year with a radical story that had to be true because he wasn't that inventive. When she thought she had finally built her life in such a way that nothing could send her stumbling, something else would happen and she'd have to develop a new technique to cope.
Laura's call had left her feeling cold all over and while her cousins had offered to drive her, she had refused both of them with a fake certainty she didn't possess. Mac had checked all of the reports to try and soothe her fears, but she hadn't stuck around long enough to confirm or deny if Patrick had been in some kind of accident. Everything leading up to this moment had been pure conjecture; she hadn't known one way or the other. The fact that she had been able to make it this far was a miracle in itself. Now that she was here, she couldn't decide if she wanted to keep going or collapse.
"Robin." Laura called to her, rubbing Lulu's back enough to rouse her from her sleepless slumber. She was certain the poor girl could go no paler without needing immediate medical attention. The confusion and worry were obvious on the small brunette's face and she suddenly felt horrible for never calling her back and explaining the situation. She had been running ragged since she got the call from the hospital and she supposed that was what made her call Robin. She had only been looking for Patrick, but the girl must have figured her nephew was the one hurt and rushed over.
Both brothers spun around at the sound of their aunt's voice, but it was Patrick who actually moved toward his alarmed girlfriend. She locked eyes with him as he quickly closed the distance between them and her bottom lip started to tremble as something that resembled relief washed over her. It wasn't complete relief though, because the family was still in the waiting room of the ER and that meant that someone had been terribly injured. She wanted to look around and do a process of elimination, but she couldn't drag her eyes away from Patrick's. He touched her left wrist and she gave him a shaky smile, tears evident in her eyes as she let him pull her into his embrace.
Patrick was unable to ignore the way she shook in his arms. She was scared to death. Drawing a hand lightly through her thick curls, he listened to her quietly sob into the shoulder of his gray shirt. She would never know just how much he hated to see her fall apart this way. "I meant to call you back." He promised, remembering their last conversation. "But I knew you were safe at your uncle's—"
Robin shook her head and buried her face deeper into the folds of his clothing. She wrapped both of her arms around his left one and almost choked on an unexpected sob when Patrick nuzzled her cheek with his nose. She told herself that, as long as he was holding her, as long as she could reach out and touch him, everything else would just fall into place. She wanted to ask him what had happened, why Laura had called her, but she couldn't form the words; she couldn't say anything.
"I had to get here. It was Cam. I got the call…" Patrick let his voice trail off, hoping she wouldn't make him continue just yet. He was still so unsure of what had happened and who was to blame and none of them knew how bad Cam's condition was.
"Cameron?" Robin whispered stupidly, lifting her forehead from his shoulder. This didn't make sense. Cameron was a sweet little boy. Sure, bad things happened to innocent children all the time, but those children weren't Spencers and she had never met another family, save her own, who looked after their own quite like they did. "What happened to Cameron?" When he didn't answer her right away, she grabbed his chin between her thumb and forefinger and forced him to look at her. "What happened, Patrick?"
"Horse kicked him." Logan spoke up though no one had been talking to him. Even Luke looked a little surprised that his younger nephew had interrupted such a private moment.
Though he tried to keep her focus on him, all it took was one word from Logan and Robin stiffened beneath Patrick's fingertips and turned in the direction of a man who had taken so much from her, a man who had almost cost her Patrick. "Who let you in here?" She spat at him, her eyes as sharp as the words flying from her lips.
"I was there when it happened. And I'm family. You do remember that term don't you?" Logan shot back, his shoulders automatically lifting as if he were about to pounce on her.
"Of course you were there when it happened. You've never even met Cameron, so why wouldn't you show up and get him hurt?" Robin didn't care if she had grounds to accuse him or not. She knew he had been responsible.
"I had nothing to do with that. I wasn't the one who should have been watching him. Lulu—" He began but Robin was having none of it.
"Can't you ever accept responsibility for yourself? You know, your mother dies and you blame the Spencers for trying to, what did you call it? Oh right, replace her. Then you marry me and forget what the word fidelity means. When that goes to hell, you say it's my fault. Now, a little boy is in the ER, a boy who is related to you by blood, and you can't find a single regret for what you did today? You really are the heartless bastard I always accused you of being." Robin didn't even have to raise her voice to get the point across. From the looks of it, her words were having the desired effect on her ex-husband.
"That's enough." Bobbie's voice startled them into silence. "I know we're all worried about Cam, but this isn't helping anybody."
"You're right. We'll finish this later." Robin gave in, her eyes going even darker as she shot Logan a dirty look.
Logan waited for her to walk past him, getting a safe distance from his brother, and then caught hold of her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. "Why not finish it now?" He asked his voice low and tormenting.
Two long strides later, Patrick was in front of Logan and two seconds after that, his baby brother was on the floor. Logan's eyes fixed on his as he touched his bottom lip and discovered fresh blood. "You will not touch her." Patrick snarled, moving his right hand around Robin and holding her to him.
"I can't believe you just did that! I'm your brother!" Logan reminded him, slowly making his way to his feet.
"And that's the only reason you're still alive." Patrick answered without a hint of hesitation. "Now get out of here."
"Don't know why I thought I could talk loyalty to you when we both know you're wrapped up in that little bitch." Logan retorted, hurrying out of the room before his brother could do anymore damage.
The moving of the swinging doors distracted Elizabeth from commenting further on Logan's charming qualities. Laura must have spotted the same movement she did, because she had rose to her feet and started for her son before the rest of the family fully realized Lucky was finally walking towards them. The delay in recognition was understandable. In the rough hour he had been gone, he appeared to have aged at least twenty years. His green eyes were fresh with unshed tears and it was apparent to anyone with eyes one sentence more than what he had to say would push him straight to the breaking point. Laura grabbed him and held him close to her, offering her strength to help keep him upright.
"How is he? How is he?" she asked anxiously as the gathered family pressed closer. Patrick and Cruz unconsciously moved to his sides, both ready to catch him if his legs gave out on him. Luke rested his hand on his son's shoulder, leaving Bobbie, Elizabeth and Robin to crowd as close as they could between the two parents. Terrified, Lulu huddled near the back, hidden just out of her brother's sight, hugging herself.
It was only one sentence but it echoed as if Lucky had given a lecture. His quiet, broken voice bounced off every available surface, repeating for all eternity.
"He's in a coma."