Nate found the right gate and checked flight times. There didn't seem to be any delays, so he knew the Fords' flight should be arriving soon. He hoped that Brodi looked like at least one of his parents; otherwise he'd never find them.
He needn't have worried. When the plane arrived and the passengers started deplaning, he was immediately struck by a tall, slender woman wearing a long peasant skirt and a heavy sweater, her long blonde locks falling in spirals around her face. With her was a tall, goateed man with thinning red hair, dressed in faded blue jeans and a wildly colored sweater. So that was the genetic combination that produced the likes of Brodi Ford, he thought.
The couple was looking around quizzically as Nate approached.
"Mr. And Mrs. Ford?"
The woman turned her head towards him. "Yes?"
Nate stuck out his hand in greeting. "I'm Nate Logan—a friend and teammate of your son's. Shall we pick up your luggage at the baggage claim then head to the lodge?"
"Oh, we only have our carry-ons. Sort of packed in a hurry, I'm afraid. Oh, I'm Kurt, and this is my wife, Patricia."
Nate shook hands with both of them. "OK. Then if you'll follow me to the car. Or, if you're hungry, we can stop somewhere for breakfast…"
Patricia Ford held up her hand, about a dozen bangle bracelets jingling as they slid back on her arm. "You're very kind, Nate. But would you mind taking us to our son? We're anxious to see him."
Nate nodded. "Of course. Follow me."
Nate made his way through the crowd, past the security gates, towards Elise's car. He had borrowed it to fetch the Fords; since he didn't know what to expect, he didn't want to show up in his pickup truck and wind up with elderly people who couldn't climb in. He should have known that anyone as athletic as Brodi would have at least one reasonably athletic parent.
The three of them piled into the sedan and buckled up. There was silence as Nate backed the car out of its spot and made his way out of the parking garage. Once they were on the freeway, the dreaded question came up.
"So how is Brodi?"
Nate glanced over at Kurt, then in the rearview mirror at Patricia, who had asked the question.
"How much do you know?"
Patricia sighed. "Only that he was injured and was placed in a protective coma. No more. Rahzel and Elise have given us updates, but I think they've been careful with what they're saying."
Nate nodded and started to speak when Kurt interrupted. "Please do us the favor of being honest. We're going to see him soon enough. If we know ahead of time it will be less of a shock when we see him."
"I understand, sir. Yes, he was placed in a protective coma—it helps reduce brain swelling in head injuries and keeps the patient from fighting things like IV's and feeding tubes. Brodi," Nate stopped and cleared his throat. It was not going to help anyone if he got emotional. "Your son did have a head injury, but that's not what caused the biggest problems. He also broke two ribs, and one of them punctured a lung. His doctors fixed that with a chest tube, but he came down with a bacterial form of pneumonia and was in the ICU on a ventilator for a few days." Nate glanced at Kurt, who was staring stoically ahead, and glanced in the rearview mirror. Patricia was staring straight ahead as well, but her eyes were damp with tears.
"I'm sorry—I was an Army Corpsman. Sometimes I get into too much detail."
"No, no. We asked you to be honest." Kurt replied. "My son is lucky to have you as a friend."
"I think we're the lucky ones, sir, but thank you."
"What will my son look like?"
Nate winced at the pain in Patricia's voice.
"He's still your Brodi, ma'am. He's off the ventilator. He is on oxygen as a precaution, he has an IV and a feeding tube, and there is an epidural catheter that threads a sensor into his spine so that his spinal fluid and intra-cranial pressure can be monitored. Beyond that, he just looks like he's asleep. You want my advice? You ignore all that. It'll be hard, but you ignore all that, and focus on him."
Patricia nodded. "There's more you want to say, son. Go on."
"Well, uhm. You should know that his doctor thinks we should just let Brodi go, that there is no hope of him getting better."
"But his heart is beating on its own and he's breathing on his own at this point, right?"
Nate looked to Kurt and then again in the rearview mirror, and sighed heavily. "Yes, ma'am. And the brain scans appear normal—just asleep. No one seems to know why he hasn't responded."
"No!"
"Kurt, please. It's not his fault."
Kurt took a deep breath. "Sorry, Nate. That wasn't directed at you. But I will not allow my son to be starved to death."
"We won't allow that to happen, sir. Elise has power of attorney for Brodi, and she is demanding that treatment and life support be continued."
They rode in silence for a while until the car pulled off the highway and into the hospital parking lot. Nate parked the car, and as he released his seatbelt, he turned to his friend's father.
"We love him, too, sir. And we will do whatever needs to be done to support you and him."
This time it was Nate who felt his eyes getting wet, and he left the car quickly without another word.
Elise walked down to the waiting room to meet Brodi's parents. Nate had come to Brodi's room to fetch her when they had arrived, and had merely asked her to come down to the waiting room to meet them. He hadn't given any other information.
Still, Elise knew Brodi's mother in an instant. The woman had Brodi's eyes, and was every bit the hippie that Brodi had described to her in the past, from her blonde spiral curls down to the bottom of her long flowing skirts.
"Mrs. Ford!" Elise greeted as she walked into the room. "I'm Elise Riggs. I'm so glad you're here."
Mrs. Ford threw out her arms and gave Elise a huge hug, much to Elise's shock. She caught Nate grinning and shot him a look before Mrs. Ford released her.
"Elise, my darling girl. We've been told how you've been advocating for our son. Please, call me Trish. And this is my husband Kurt, Brodi's father."
Elise stuck her hand out to shake Kurt's before he could decide to hug her, and he fortunately took the hint.
"Pleased to meet both of you. Brodi's room is 422, just down the hall. They'll only allow two of us in at a time. I'll wait here for you."
Kurt stepped forward and took one of Elise's hands. "Thank you for all you've done for our son."
"Thank you, sir, but it's nothing he wouldn't do for any of us. You raised him well. I don't think there's a kinder soul on the planet."
Elise watched them walk towards Brodi's room, then turned to Nate.
"Well, THAT was interesting."
Nate laughed.
"You hit the nail on the head there. But, in retrospect, it makes sense. What other kind of people could produce something like Brodi? They'd have to be a LITTLE bit quirky." Nate gave Elise's shoulder a squeeze. "Come on, you must be tired. Let's go get a cup of coffee and see if the cafeteria is serving breakfast yet."
"Shouldn't we…"
"Elise, you need to eat. Do you think Brodi is going to be happy to find out you haven't taken care of yourself in this mess? Besides, you need to rest, too. I know you're going to want to be with him when he wakes up."
Elise folded her arms around herself and looked out the window. "Do you think he's going to wake up?"
"I don't know." He admitted softly. "But people have been in comas for longer periods of time than this and come out of it. Besides, Brodi was in fantastic shape before his accident…he has that in his favor. And all that yogic breathing and meditation he does have probably made this easier on him than it would have been."
Elise sighed as Nate came up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. "I've always been so sure of myself, Nate. Confident—maybe overly so at times. Someone I care about has literally placed his life in my hands. I need to know I'm making the right decision…for him, not for me."
"You are."
Nate and Elise turned around to see Kurt Ford standing at the entrance to the waiting room.
"You are making the right decision. My wife wants you to go down to Brodi's room, Elise. She needs to ask you something."
Elise looked at Nate, surprised, not daring to hope. She saw the same look in Nate's eyes. Elise had to force herself to walk, not run, to the room.
