AN: Short, I know. But I think it's what's termed 'short and sweet'. Again... thank you everyone for sticking with me for so long, and I hope to keep seeing you on more stories!
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Waking Up In Vegas
Chapter Fifty-Nine
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Candice Riley had never- never- seen such a sight before in her life. After speaking with both the head of her hospital and a few rather powerful old friends, an entire hallway in her wing had been corded off and designated just for those patients related to what was now dubbed by the United States military forces as 'Operation: Wing'.
The wing had been placed under her direct authority, superseding even the patients personal doctors. With the help of her nurse staff, she made sure all the victims of this unfortunate incident were all healthy and healing.
In one room, a young woman lay, groggily coming out of a severe concussion, still under pain medication for her fractured arm. Candice smiled at the thought. It had been quite the surprise with the woman. It had given the doctor quite a scare for a moment when she'd read the results of the tests, but fortunately the tumble the woman had taken hadn't overly harmed the growing fetus inside her. When Candice left, the woman- just informed she was four weeks pregnant with her third baby- had been discussing with her husband naming the child 'Iria' or 'Ninette' if it were a girl.
The room right past her held a still very sleepy young lady who'd just come out of a coma. Remarkably, to Candice's surprise, the lady- little more than a girl- didn't seem to have any severe form of amnesia, though she was still fuzzy with a few of her memories. All of her bruises and injuries were also healing up nicely. It briefly made Candice wonder if the girl was related to 'Wonder Woman', but then again, Candice thought, she was the adopted daughter of Allelujia Haptism- nothing should surprise her when it came to that family. Her brother, with a slight bullet graze on his arm, sat comfortably in a chair next to her, having declined pain medication.
The two young men sharing the next room weren't as bad off as the others. One had a few bruises that Candice worried might be a broken rib... but it was, fortunately, only bruised. The man's husband, with his cheery demeanor and ever-present smile, was slightly worse, with similar bruising and a wound to his arm. Thankfully, the shot was clean. There would be physical therapy involved with regaining use- the shot had torn through the muscles, and thus had to be immobilized. But all in all, the two were lucky compared to some of the rest.
The next door held a man still slumbering in a drug-induced sleep. His husband, relieved that he lived, but still worried, hadn't left his side since he'd been admitted. Candice knew the chances were high that the man would survive, and with little more than a scar to show for his brush with death. It had, she admitted, been touch and go for a moment. The bullet had hit an artery, and the ambulance almost hadn't made it in time. But it had. And that was what was important.
Lastly, the doctor's gaze fell upon the people sitting out in the hall... and her heart plummeted. Everyone didn't have such a happy ending, she thought.
Two young children clung, sobbing, to an older teenager with brownish-blond hair. Not everyone had survived. Some hadn't made it. Including, she knew, the cousin of the teenager and a friend to the two children.
A woman sat, silent tears falling, off beside them. Another woman, with long blond hair, sat comforting her as in a corner, a man and two women stood talking- the two women obviously related, for their eyes were exactly the same.
Candice looked up as the doors to the wing opened and several people- too many to easily count- walked in, one of them on crutches with an older, identical, woman behind her, glaring. Candice smile... someone obviously didn't like using crutches. Hmm... but that woman did look very familiar. The eyes and the braid of dark brown hair...
Candice smiled again, and silently pointed them on down to the room they were probably seeking, outside of which the two children and teen sat.
"Daddy!" she heard a child cry out loudly when the group walked into the room, followed by cries of joy and happiness from the occupants of said room. A honey-haired woman went to the brother and sister's room, and Candice could imagine the woman's tear-filled blue eyes as walked past.
There were tears. There were smiles. There was laughter... yet there was sobbing. There was so much bad... but the good was still shining through- and vice versa.
Maybe it hadn't been a perfectly happy ending, Candice mused as she turned to walk away. But perhaps it could be a good beginning.
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AN: Don't run. It's technically not done yet, because we still have a epilogue to post! It should be out soon! So don't run away!