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Chapter 35 - Waking Up
"Mom!" She looked up as Luka came running into the ER with sweat running down his forehead, looking like he was about to pass out any second. "Where's Abby? Did you see her?" Noticing the other people staring at them, she put her hand on his shoulder and led him away from the admit area.
"Yes, I did." She stopped walking and turned him around so they were facing each other.
"Then where is she? I need to see her." He sounded panicked, and she had to keep a tight grip on his shoulders to stop him from running away.
"She's in surgery." Seeing his scared, confused look she took a deep breath. "Her spleen has ruptured. She should be fine." He ripped his arms out of her grasp but continued staring at his mom.
"Fine? How can she possibly be fine? I though you said you saw her! I mean, she was unconscious!" Not wanting him to yell in the middle of the hallway, she pulled him into drug lock up.
"She regained consciousness again." Luka just looked at her questionable, wanting her to continue. "However, we barely got anything out of her." Not knowing what to say, Luka leaned up against the wall, feeling defeated.
"Luka, did you know she was pregnant?" While she sounded curious, she also seemed like she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted the answer. Nodding slightly, he opened his eyes to look at her.
"Yeah." Sighing, she nodded as she rested up against the wall as well.
"Please tell me you're not the one who got her pregnant." He shook his head, continuing to stare at a little spot on the opposite wall.
"I'm not." Sighing relieved, she nodded.
"Then what happened?"
"Go ahead. Go ahead and say it!" Confused, she looked at her son who now sounded pretty sad and bitter.
"Say what?"
"I told you so." Knowing exactly what he meant, she moved in front of him and moved some hair from his forehead.
"I never wanted to be right, honey. And I could just as easily have been wrong." Not knowing what to say, he looked away as he felt a little water build in his eyes. It wasn't till now that everything dawned on him, that he realized what was going on. It wasn't till now that the thought crossed his mind, the thought that she could have been saved if he'd just listened to his mom.
"How much do you know? Do you know what happened?" Wiping away the tears before they fell, Luka looked down at the ground.
"A lot." He didn't want to cry. He never cried. And he wasn't about to start now, even though he had a pretty good reason to.
"And you didn't do anything about it?" The tone of her voice made his head snap up. It didn't really sound mad, but more blaming.
"I wanted to, okay? I really, really wanted to!" He was practically screaming now, but he didn't care. "Do you have any idea how much I tried convincing Abby into coming to the hospital with me? But she wouldn't! She wouldn't listen!" He stopped for a few seconds to catch his breath and to see his mom looking expectantly at him. "I was gonna force her to come with me after school today, but I never got a chance! And I didn't want to break my promise about not telling anyone, I needed her to know that she was able to trust me!" She nodded.
"Okay. It's okay, honey." Opening her arms she let Luka burry himself in her embrace.
"Can I go see her?" Stroking his hair she slightly shook her head, even though he couldn't see it.
"Now's a bad time. But if you wanna make her happy, you could get her brother from school. She apparently really wanted him here." Shaking his head, he pulled away.
"No. She just doesn't want him to go home if she's not there." Nodding understanding, she put her arm around Luka's shoulders and led him out of the drug lock up.
"Luka, what happened? Who did this to her?" He sighed, not wanting to go over it again.
"I can't tell you, mom. I promised Abby I wouldn't. You're gonna have to get her to tell you, cause I don't want to lose her trust." She led him into the doctors' lounge, and as he sat down on the couch she went to fridge.
"I understand that. But look, you're gonna have to talk to the police and tell them what you know. And I'd really like it if you told me, I promise I won't tell her you told me, but it'll help me approach it the best way possible." Taking a deep breath, Luka accepted the pop his mom held out for him.
"Promise?" Sitting down on the table so they were facing each other, she nodded. "Her step dad happened." When she didn't say anything but just stared at him, he took a deep breath. "Look, I don't feel comfortable telling you anymore, I don't even have the facts straight. The only thing I know is that it's been going on for a while." Giving him a small smile, she nodded.
"Okay. Thanks." Her pager going off pulled both of them out of their trances. "I have to go, Luka. I'll let you know when she gets out of surgery." Getting up, she walked towards the door.
"And mom!" Halfway out of the door, she turned to look at Luka. "You might wanna... ehm..." He could barely get himself to say it. "Do a rape exam." Staring at her son for a few seconds, she nodded. Not knowing what to say, she left the room.
"Hey Luka!" He looked up from his food tray as his dad approached him. He'd gone up to the cafeteria to get something to eat, but so far he'd just been playing with the food. "They just told me she got out of the OR not long ago. They repaired all of the damage and they got the bleeding to stop, so she should be okay." Nodding, Luka put down his fork, knowing he wouldn't be able to eat anything.
"So can I see her now?" He knew the answer would be no, but he had to ask.
"You can't, Luka. She hasn't woken up yet, and when she does, they need to take care of the wounds first and talk to her. And besides, hospital rules says only family's allowed."
"It sucks!" He was mad, but he knew it was probably better that way. But he also knew that no matter what, no one would be able to stop him from seeing her later.
"I know. But one more thing, Luka." He just looked at his dad, waiting for him to continue. "The police is downstairs. They want to talk to you." Letting out a sigh, he pushed away his tray.
"Fine."
At first, when Abby slowly opened her eyes, she had no idea where she was. Starting to panic, she grabbed the sheet she was laying on, noticing she was attached to an IV and was only wearing a hospital gown. A short, short sleeved gown, which exposed all the skin which wasn't covered by the blanket.
"Welcome back, sleepy head." Freezing up, she looked towards the door where Dr. Kovac was standing.
"I can't be here. I have to go home!" Smiling weakly, the doctor walked towards her bed.
"I'm sorry, Abby, but that's not gonna happen anytime soon." Looking at the woman in front of her with a combination of disbelieve and fear, she tried pushing herself up to a sitting position, just to realize it was too painful.
"Let me help you." Before she was able to protest, Dr. Kovac had lifted the bed up to a more upright position. Grabbing a stool, she sat down next to the bed so she could talk to Abby, picking up her chart from the bottom of the bed.
"Usually they would send a doctor, most likely your surgeon, in here to tell you about your injuries and the surgery, but I convinced them to let me do it." Biting her lip, Abby looked down, feeling the awkward silence.
"After you passed out in the ER, we found out your spleen had ruptured." She snapped her head up, looking surprised at Dr. Kovac. "So they took you to surgery, which went well. They were able to repair all the damage, both from the spleen and the miscarriage." Softening up a bit, she looked back down at the sheet which covered her legs, slightly nodding.
"Now, we never got a chance to take care of your wounds earlier, so I'll get a nurse to bring the stuff we need to clean them." This made Abby tense up. "I used to work in the ER as well, so they're letting me do the sutures."
"I need stitches?" Giving her a sympathetic smile, she nodded.
"I'm afraid so." Trying to hide her kind of shocked and sad reaction, she just nodded. She didn't want stitches, she'd never had stitches. Stitches made it all seem so much more real.
"Luka agreed to pick up Eric from school." Abby looked up, happy that the subject had been changed. She had probably felt the awkwardness as well.
"Thanks." Smiling, Dr. Kovac carefully padded her leg through the blanket.
"No problem." Returning the smile, although smaller and weaker, she looked down. "Now, how about you get a little rest while I go get the things we need? It shouldn't be too long till I'm back, so spend the time wisely." Unable to hold back a small smile, she nodded as she leaned back in her bed.
She was scared, she knew they'd make her talk, and there was nothing she wanted less than to do so. She really wanted to run away, get away from the hospital and these people and hide somewhere safe. Not that she was safe anywhere, because he'd always find her, and he'd make her pay. For revealing the secret. For letting people know. For getting 'help'. And besides, she couldn't run away. She still felt like crap, and she'd probably just pass out again before she reached the elevator.
