Chapter 45
Gil slowly walked down the hospital corridor towards his son's room. Everything was happening so fast, that it was hard for him to process anything. Yesterday he had sat down with Vince about the possibility of waking Jeff up early. At first it all made sense to him but after talking to the doctor he wasn't so sure. He wanted Jessica to be safe just as much as anyone else. The thought of her trapped with some mad man made him nauseous. He just wasn't sure if it should be at the expense of his own son and that made him sick too. Jeff was lying in there because he had wanted to protect her, practically giving up his own life for her, and she did the same. Gil wasn't sure he was brave enough to come to the same decision.
He walked into the room and stared at both of his sons. Matt had fallen asleep on the chair, still holding his brother's hand. True to his word, Matt never left Jeff's side. Thankfully, Amy had been able to finally get him to eat something but no one could persuade him to take a break. Gil's footsteps woke him up.
"Hey." Matt said wiping his eyes. "Sorry."
"There's nothing to be sorry about, you needed it. I could stand here and lecture you about needing to take a break as well but I know it won't work. How's he doing?" Gil pulled another chair over and sat down next to Jeff.
"So far there's no changes, which is probably a good sign." Matt said looking at him. "Did the doctors say anything?"
"I haven't seen any of them this morning. That last time I talked to anyone was yesterday with Vince."
"What did Vince want?"
"He wanted to have the doctors bring Jeff out of sedation to help find Jessica."
"Are they going to do it?" Matt asked him.
"He's not ready." Gil said shaking his head. "The doctor said it might do more harm than good. I agreed with him. I don't want to play around with his recovery. I want my son to come back to me."
"What about Jess?" Matt asked and he didn't know how to respond. Gil knew how both of his sons felt about her. She was part of their family. "Jeff would want us to do whatever it took to find her."
"Even if it meant risking his own life?"
"For Jess? Yea." Matt looked to his father. "He already did and so did she."
"I know that but this is my kid we're talking about here. I can't lose him."
"Pop, I love Jeff. He's my brother and I would do anything he ever asked me, no matter what. I promised to keep her safe."
"She snuck out of the house. That was not your fault."
"I didn't do my job. I didn't do what he wanted but I can now."
"How?" Gil asked him.
"Jess is his world and he would do anything to get her back; no matter the price. We need to wake him up."
"And tell him what? Sorry, we lost your girlfriend? You know your brother. That will kill him."
"He's stronger than you think. He'll make it but I don't think Jess will. If we wait it out and let time run its course, we'll never find her. This is what he would want." Matt placed an arm around his father and Gil nodded.
"All right, but the minute he starts showing signs something is wrong, I'm putting him back under." He said relieved to see Matt smile again. "One more condition."
"What?"
"You get out of here. I want you out of the room for at least an hour."
"Dad." Matt started but he cut him off.
"I won't do anything till you get back, I promise but you need a break and I want some time alone with Jeff. One hour isn't going to hurt anyone. Now go." Matt started to protest but Gil pushed him out of the room and with a smile shut the door. He walked down the hallway not sure what to do.
"Matt!" He heard a voice call out. Turning he was surprised to find Meg coming up the hallway. "I've been looking all over for anyone. No one will tell me anything. How's Jeff?" She came up to him giving a hug.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to find out about Jeff and see if I could help with anything. Is he going to be okay?"
"He's stable." Matt told her coldly.
"Can I see him?"
"Meg, I don't think that's a good idea. My dad's with him now, besides he hasn't woken up yet. They still have him heavily sedated."
"I knew this was going to happen. I told him that she was no good for him; that he was only going to get hurt. I just never imagined it would be like this."
"This isn't Jess' fault."
"Of course it is. She was being stalked for years. She had to have known what this guy was capable of, that he would hurt Jeff but she didn't care."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Matt heard Amy's voice coming up behind them. He turned relieved to see her and Stephanie moving towards them and they both looked pissed. Amy frown turned to smile as she locked eyes with him. "I'm glad to see you out of that hospital room." She gave him a hug before turning her attention back to Meg.
"You're not wanted here." Amy told her.
"Oh, and you are, after everything you did?"
"Look, this isn't the place for this." Stephanie said stepping between the two girls. "Meg, why don't you leave?"
"No! I'm here for Jeff."
"Jeff doesn't need you. You're not his girlfriend anymore. Jessica is. You remember the one who was with Jeff when you slept with him? The one he truly loves?" Amy reminded her.
"Well, she not here now is she?" Meg said and Amy looked like she would explode. Matt tried to take her hand to pull her away but Amy shrugged him off.
"Don't even." Amy warned her.
"What? You're no better. You cheated on him with one of his close friends," gesturing to Matt. "Why are you allowed to be here and not me?"
"Because I'm wanted, yes I may have screwed up but I've tried hard to make amends for it. Jess is my friend, all of them are. You're just Jeff's mistake."
"I'm the best thing that ever happened to him." Meg stated loudly and others in the hospital started to watch.
"Meg." Matt started. "Now is not the time."
"Don't you see I'm good for him? If he was still with me he'd be home safe."
"And miserable." Amy added.
"Jeff's moved on." Matt told her. "I think you should too."
"I can help. He's going to need someone to help him now that Jessica's gone."
"She's not gone!" Stephanie yelled at her. "Why would you say that?"
"Do you honestly think she's coming back? There's no trace of her. He's either taken her far away or figured she's not worth the effort and cut his losses. Either way you're friend's not coming back." They all looked at Meg in shock that she would actually say that. What was worse, it was a fear that most of them had been feeling for the past couple of days but were too afraid to express.
"That's it!" Amy said and moved towards her but Matt grabbed her.
"Amy don't," Matt pleaded with her. "This isn't going to help."
"I know." She said calming down enough so Matt would let her go. She turned back to Meg. "You are a horrible person. You think you could just walk up here and bad mouth Jess, especially since she's not here right now? You have no right. She's our friend and a far better person than you will ever be so don't even think of saying another word about her or I'll lay you flat on your ass right here. She'll make it and when she's back I hope she gives you hell."
"Get out of here." Matt said finally speaking up. Meg started to protest but he cut her off. "Now, and don't worry. I'll be sure to tell Jeff you were here." They watched her walk away then Matt turned to Amy.
"I should have hit her." Amy said to him.
"Maybe later." Matt smiled. "Thank you."
"For what?" She asked him.
"Just for being here."
"It's not a problem." She said hugging him. "How's Jeff?"
"No change. My dad's with him now, he wanted to spend a few minutes alone."
"Did he tell you about talking to the doctor yesterday?" Stephanie asked.
"Yea, he didn't think it was a good idea to rush Jeff. But after I spoke with him for a little, I got him to see that Jeff would take any risk to help Jess. So he agreed."
"You mean they're going to wake him up?" Amy asked excited.
"He's going to talk to the doctors, get them to try to do it." Matt told them.
"That's great news. I'm going to call my dad." Stephanie said.
"Wait, Steph, he's only going to talk to the doctors. There's no guarantee that they'll do it." He warned her.
"All the more reason for her to talk to Vince." Amy said. "No one says no to Vince McMahon. We could use his persuasion." Stephanie agreed and went off to call him leaving just Matt and Amy.
"I'm glad you decided to take a break from that room." She told him.
"Me too, I would have missed that your great encounter with Meg."
"Very funny, how about we get you some air?" She asked and he shook his head.
"I still don't want to leave the hospital. Especially since Jeff might wake up. I need to be there when he does."
"Okay. Let's just go grab you a bite to eat."
"No thanks, but I could use a place to freshen up." He said and Amy nodded.
"I didn't want to say anything." She smiled.
"Yea, I better do something or one whiff will knock Jeff back out." He told her and they both laughed.
