Kaylee's accident causes both men to reassess their priorities; Justin rushes to the hospital with an unexpected companion by his side.
Brian watched Michael walk toward the sliding glass doors just as his cellphone rang. Flipping it open, he noticed with a little concern that it was his daughter's number; why was she calling from the stables when they were so close by? "Katie..." was all he managed to get out before he heard his daughter's cry on the other end.
"Dad! Dad!" she sobbed out in terror.
"Katie? What's wrong?" Brian called out in concern as his blood ran cold at the tone of her voice; that was so unlike his normally confident daughter. Michael, sensing the worry in his friend's voice, turned around to look at him. "Katie, what's going on?"
"Dad! Help me!" she hiccupped out. "Dad...Dad..."
"Katie, calm down and tell me what's going on! Where are you? At the stables?" He stood up and began to walk toward the back of the yard where the trail was that would take him back to the paddock area. "Katherine Marie, talk to me!"
"It's Kaylee!" she managed to blurt out.
"What about Kaylee?"
"Her...her horse," she sobbed. "She's had an accident. Dad...I'm so scared; she's not moving!"
"Oh, my God!" Brian glanced over at Michael long enough to shout out, "Michael, call 911! Kaylee's had an accident!" before he took off at a full run toward the stables, his phone still clutched in his hand. His heart threatened to stop as he approached the stables a few minutes later and looked over at the fenced-in pasture area, seeing Kaylee huddled lifeless on the ground with Katie kneeling down beside her as she rocked back and forth on her knees in abject fear.
"Katie!" Brian shouted at his daughter; she instantly rose from her place by her sister's side at the sound of her father's voice and rushed over to him as he swept her up into a brief, fierce hug, clinging to him desperately as her father's eyes never left his other daughter's too-still form. "What happened?" he asked as let go of her and hurried over to Kaylee to kneel down beside her.
"She... She was doing so well!" Katie insisted in between sobs from behind him. "She was up on top of Ceres riding him just fine. And then something spooked him and, and he reared up on his hind legs and she couldn't hold on! Oh, my God!" she cried out in remorse and guilt as she continued to look at her sister in horror. Why wasn't she moving yet?
Brian observed Kaylee's pale and sweaty face underneath the bright pink riding helmet she was still wearing. He wanted so badly to comfort her and take her in his arms, but he was afraid to touch her too much for fear he would injure her more, so he reached over to grasp her wrist; he let out the breath he had been holding as he felt a strong pulse reverberating underneath his touch. "Kaylee?" he whispered to her urgently as Katie knelt down him, placing her trembling hand on his shoulder for support. "Can you hear me, Honey? Wake up, it's your Dad. Please, Kaylee. Open your eyes and look at me!"
"Dad, what's wrong with her?" Katie whispered in a broken voice when there was no reaction. "Is... Is she...?" She couldn't even get the words out; her sister looked so lifeless, so vulnerable, so...
"No," Brian told her firmly, pressing his lips tightly together as he instantly understood her greatest fear. "She's just been knocked out. Here," he said, taking his daughter's hand and placing it underneath his, right over Kaylee's wrist. "Feel that - it's her pulse, Katie, and it's nice and steady. She's going to be just fine." She HAS to be fine, he prayed silently. No God could be that cruel...
Both his and Katie's hands jerked just then and they both gasped as they felt Kaylee's hand twitch underneath their touch. They both watched with anxious anticipation as Kaylee's eyelids flickered as they struggled to open.
"That's it, Princess!" Brian coached her urgently. "You can do it! Open your eyes and look at me, Kaylee!" he commanded in a stern, don't argue with me type of voice. He hoped that tactic wouldn't fail him now as he watched her lashes flutter and then her eyes slowly pry themselves open just a bit. A frown appeared on her brow as she struggled to comprehend what had happened to her and why she was lying on her back; she only knew that she ached from head to toe and felt dizzy. Her lips moved for a few seconds before she was actually able to emit any sound from them. "D... Dad?" she whispered, her word barely audible.
"Shhh," Brian murmured soothingly as he took his other hand and gently laid it against her cheek, caressing her soft skin. "Don't try to talk; just lie there and take it easy. Everything's going to be okay." Hearing his daughter whimpering beneath him in pain made his heart fill with anguish as he looked around frantically; where was the damn ambulance? He wondered just how long it would take for them to get there out in the middle of nowhere and he cursed his decision to buy a house located in such a secluded area. Would they even know how to get here? He had never had any use for any type of emergency equipment at Britin before; why hadn't he thought of that possibility when the girls had been born?
Katie walked around Kaylee to kneel down and grasp her sister's other hand, taking relief and comfort in the warmness of it, but still scared over her sister obviously being in distress; she had hit both her shoulder as well as her head when she had fallen and the look on her face and the tears trickling down her cheeks clearly showed that she was in a lot of pain. "Kaylee," she whispered as her own eyes filled with tears of fear. "Please be okay. Help is coming." All of a sudden, for once in her life, Katie didn't feel very sure of herself and it scared her to death. This was not a practical joke or a bad dream; this was all too sickeningly real.
A sudden thought occurred to her as she finally heard the sound of a siren that slowly became louder and louder. "Daddy," she breathed out forlornly as she lifted her gaze to look over at her father. "We need to find him."
Brian swallowed hard as the ambulance's siren began to pick up in volume. He was grateful that Michael was here at the moment; there was no way he could leave Kaylee and he knew that his friend would make sure the emergency personnel were back at the stable area as soon as possible. Justin. Shit, Katie was right; he had to find him and let him know what had happened! In all the horror over what was transpiring, he hadn't even thought about that, but now that Katie had mentioned him his oversight made him dread Justin's reaction. He HAD to find him and let him know what was going on, however, no matter how awkward it might be.
"Don't worry," he told his daughter as he glanced down at his other little girl who was struggling to remain awake. "I'll find him and get word to him, Katie. But first we have to get your sister to the hospital so they can take care of her." Still grasping Kaylee's hand, he reached over to stroke his other daughter's cheek reassuringly, lovingly wiping away some of the moistness from her skin. "Hang in there with me, Chiquitita; we're all going to be just fine." His voice didn't betray the vast fear that he felt, however; the only thing that kept him from being totally freaked out over his daughter's accident was the fact that she was at least semi-conscious, but even that was little consolation. Come on, come on, he silently pleaded as the siren continued to get louder and louder; the ambulance had to be in the driveway by now! What was taking so fucking long?
He was about to consider asking Katie to go in search of them when out of the corner of his eye he spied two uniformed paramedics hurrying over with medical gear and a portable stretch gurney and what appeared to be a hard, plastic board of some kind. Michael was following along right behind them as he locked concerned gazes with his friend before Brian turned his attention back to the medical personnel fast approaching them.
The older of the two men, who was tall with dark hair and a lanky build and appeared to be in his late 40's, strode up ahead of the other man as he knelt down and politely but curtly asked, "What happened?" Brian continued to hold onto his daughter's hand as the man gently took hold of Kaylee's wrist and began to feel for her pulse.
"She was riding a horse with my other daughter and it bolted on her and threw her to the ground," Brian supplied as the man nodded; the other paramedic, a shorter and bulkier man in his 30's with dark blond hair and light stubble on his face, knelt down next to Kaylee as he placed the spinal board down parallel to her. He deftly snapped open his medical gear case and took out a cervical collar as Brian swallowed hard over the implications. Up until now, he had been so concerned with his daughter even surviving such a violent fall and how it might have impacted her head that he hadn't even considered whether or not she might have any spinal injuries. He refused to even think about that as he watched the one paramedic carefully unsnap the chin strap on her helmet and gingerly remove it from her head to lay it next to her on the ground, being careful to hold her neck in a stable position to avoid any further injury.
The first man with the dark hair nodded as he obtained a reading of her pulse and asked Brian, "What's your daughter's name?"
Brian felt like there was a knife slicing through his throat as he croaked out, "Kaylee; her name's Kaylee." He glanced up as Michael walked over and knelt down beside him to silently place his hand on his shoulder and give it a comforting squeeze.
"Kaylee, my name is Daniel," the dark-haired paramedic informed her in a soft voice. "Can you hear me? If you can, blink your eyes at me twice." Kaylee, her eyes now clouded over with pain, managed somehow to understand as she did as she was asked.
Daniel nodded. "That's good. Don't try to talk, Kaylee. My co-worker, Mark, and I are going to move you onto a board and put a cervical collar around your neck to help keep your body straight and prevent further injury. And we're going to put an oxygen mask over your mouth to help you breathe for a while. We'll move you on the count of three, okay? Blink your eyes again if you understand me."
Brian's heart leapt to his throat as she did as she was told once more. That's my girl, he thought silently with pride as Daniel counted up to three and the two of them quickly transferred her to the spinal board lying next to her before placing the cervical collar around her neck. Mark expertly attached some canvas straps and buckled them around her body to hold her in place, attaching an oxygen cuff to her finger as they gently but firmly lifted the gurney up.
Never taking his hand from Kaylee's, Brian and Katie stood up along with them as the two men began to walk with Kaylee toward the front of the house and the waiting ambulance. As they started to move, Brian glanced over to Michael who was following a few steps behind him. "Michael?"
"Yeah?"
"I need you to do me a favor." He knew he should do it himself, but he also knew there was no way he was leaving either daughter.
"Anything," his friend told him sincerely, his heart going out to him over the look of anguish and fear in Brian's face. He had only seen that look once before; in a Pittsburgh hospital as Brian's long-legged body had sat slumped in an impossibly hard, plastic chair, smears of blood on his neck and a white and crimson scarf draped loosely over his shoulders, his face smudged with the tears that fell from his eyes as he sat there in stunned silence, waiting to see if the man that he had fallen in love with would live or die. Back then he had felt helpless to alleviate Brian's misery; if he could help to diminish that fear now, though, he would do whatever Brian asked of him.
"I need you to call Justin and tell him what happened and where we're taking Kaylee." He looked over at Daniel, who informed him they were going to Mountain View Hospital about ten miles away in the larger city of Wheeling, W.V.
Michael nodded in understanding. "I'll take care of it," he assured him, even though he figured it might be somewhat awkward to be talking with Justin again after all this time. "Do you have his cell number?" he asked. Brian nodded and rattled it off by memory, Michael not stopping to question how he knew it so readily. "Go," he urged him. "I'll handle it, don't worry."
Brian smiled at him gratefully as they reached the front of the house. "I wish it was that easy," he told him, knowing he would not stop worrying until he knew his daughter was going to be all right; he would have to deal with Justin's reaction later. Would he blame him for what had happened? Would he consider him careless for not watching Kaylee more closely? He didn't really have to time to even contemplate that at the moment, though; the most important thing was taking care of his daughter; both daughters. Because while one was in need of urgent physical attention, the other desperately needed some emotional reassurance of her own. Reaching over to pull Katie against him, he placed his arm around her shoulder as they walked side-by-side next to the gurney, coming to a stop only when Daniel and Mark pulled up behind the already open back door of the ambulance.
Brian let go of both daughters only long enough to climb up alongside Kaylee's gurney as he reached down to pull Katie up to sit beside him. There was no way he was going to leave her alone or even with Michael, not now. "Let's go," he impatiently urged Mark who was standing at the back of the ambulance, preparing to close the door and hop into the driver's seat.
Mark nodded to him, Daniel sitting opposite Brian and Katie to monitor the little girl's condition as he quickly slammed the door shut and moved to do as he was requested.
A few minutes later, the siren began to wail once more as the ambulance hurried as fast as it was able to down the curved driveway and made a right turn onto the street to head toward the hospital.
*Flashback*
Justin blew out a tense breath between his lips, feeling like a pariah in the eyes of a boy he had adored and still cared a great deal about. "Gus...I don't think your father told you the whole story; you were pretty young when all this happened."
Gus snorted. "Maybe. But I'm not now. So why don't you tell me your version of it."
Justin sighed. Why was everyone insisting on being judge, jury and executioner regarding his and Brian's relationship? "Okay," he agreed wearily just as his cellphone began to ring.
Liberty Diner - Same Time
Justin glanced down at the number in aggravation over being interrupted, not recognizing it but discerning that it was a local Pittsburgh call. He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to have anything intrude upon his and Gus's conversation before he heard the boy sitting across from him mutter sarcastically, "Go ahead; what's a few more minutes?"
Justin let out a frustrated breath as he swiped his finger across the display to answer the call and bring it up to his ear. "Hello?"
"Justin?" was the tense but familiar voice; even now, even after all this time, Justin knew immediately who it was. What a coincidence, he thought dryly.
"It's been a long time, Michael. Brian put you up to calling me?" he accused his caller as he glanced over at Gus, who was idly picking away at his white, paper napkin; from the set of the young man's jaw, though, Justin knew his mind was whirling with more accusations he wanted to hurl at him in defense of his father. "This isn't a good time."
He could hear Michael huff impatiently as he advised him urgently, "Just listen to me! Yes, he did ask me to call you. Kaylee's been hurt."
Justin's eyes grew large as saucers and his face paled; that was the last thing he expected to hear. "What do you mean, hurt?" He was already scooting out of the vinyl booth's seat as he asked, "What happened? Where is she?"
Gus frowned at the startled and fearful tone of Justin's voice as he listened intently to as much of the conversation as he could. Was it Justin's mother? Or one of his sisters?
"She fell off one of the horses at Britin," Michael told him as Justin gasped in stunned shock. "They're on their way to Mountain View Hospital in Wheeling. Brian is with her and Katie in the ambulance, but he wanted me to call you and let you know what's going on."
Justin reached inside his jeans pocket to drag out his wallet and hastily pull out a twenty-dollar bill, slapping it down onto the laminate surface as he whispered, "How bad is it?" He noticed Gus hurrying to slide out of the booth as he stood beside him, his own face creased with worry.
"Not sure yet," was the cryptic reply. "They put her on one of those stabilizing boards and placed a cervical collar around her neck. She was wearing a riding helmet when it happened, though, and she was semi-conscious when the paramedics were working on her."
"Semi-conscious?" Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God... He began to hyperventilate in fear as he began to walk as rapidly as he could toward the front door, although in his present state it was more like a hobble; hell, he didn't even know how he was going to get the hospital, but he didn't care - he would find a way even if he had to take a taxi. "I'm leaving right now," he told Michael. He paused for a second before he added almost as an afterthought, "Thank you for calling me," before he quickly ended the call. He managed to hastily explain, "Kaylee's been in an accident" to Gus before he turned to start limping away, knowing they would have to continue their awkward, long overdue discussion at a later time.
"I'll drive you," Gus impetuously offered quietly from behind him to his surprise. He didn't have time to question the young man's offer or motives as he nodded gratefully instead and the two of them rushed out of the diner, leaving a puzzled Debbie calling after them in their wake.
Mountain View Hospital - Wheeling, WV - Consultation Room Near the ER
"Why can't I see my damn daughter?" Brian shouted, enraged, his face red with fury as he pushed up against the chest of the E.R. doctor in the closed space. "Fuck your rules; she needs me!"
The doctor's heart pounded in trepidation, but he held firm as he grasped Brian by the shoulders and pushed back away from him to create a little more distance. "I'm sorry, Sir, but you are unable to produce documentation to prove that you are the father of record and you admitted you do not have legal custody or a POA to make decisions for her. I will need either the biological mother or the father to do that."
"You son of a bitch..."
"Brian!" Michael shouted in alarm as he moved to restrain his friend physically from behind when Brian's hand curled into a fist and he cocked it backward menacingly. "Do you want to be kicked out of here? Kaylee needs you; Katie needs you! Think about what you're doing!" Michael had taken off in his car right after the ambulance had left, phoning Justin on the way so he could arrive shortly after the emergency crew and Brian arrived. He knew that he and Brian weren't as close as they had been before, but he still knew his friend would need him right now. He just hadn't realized how much.
Brian glanced over at his other daughter. Katie was sitting in a wood and dark-blue, vinyl-padded chair several feet away, her hands wrapped around her bent knees in a defensive sort of posture as she looked over at him fearfully, her eyes brimming with tears of anxiety. The instant Brian looked over at the scared expression on her face, his fury diminished as he strove to calm down, knowing Michael was right. As angry as he was, he knew it would be worse if he was barred from setting foot inside the hospital altogether. He just felt so damned helpless at the moment, and it was a feeling he had a hard time dealing with. He took a deep breath and shrugged off Michael's hands on his upper arms as he stood there defiantly with his hands on his hips and advised the doctor, "Her biological mother gave up her parental custody rights to her biological father and me when she was born! Are you just going to sit there and do nothing until he's able to show up?" Just the word father left a bitter taste in his mouth; Kaylee had TWO fathers, damn it; legal papers notwithstanding.
The doctor, a man by the last name of Saunders as indicated by the I.D. tag he had pinned to his white jacket's pocket, bristled with insult as he explained, "Of course not, Mr. Kinney! Your daughter has already been taken down to Radiology to get some cranial and spinal images done to determine the extent of her internal injuries and to help rule out a concussion. And by law we are permitted to perform emergency surgery if we cannot obtain consent from an authorized party and it would jeopardize a patient's life. So I can assure you that your daughter will be well taken care of until he arrives, and we will do whatever it takes to keep her stable in the meantime."
Brian harrumphed, finding it highly ironic how the doctor was barring him from making any medical decisions, but was still calling Kaylee his daughter. He was also cursing himself for him and Justin never thinking to make each other the legal guardian of the other girl in case of any medical crises or have a POA on record for each daughter. How were they supposed to know, though, that it would even be needed? The girls weren't supposed to be reunited until they were adults. He supposed that was another reason why they never should have agreed to do this in the first place.
He turned to look at Katie, who looked visibly upset by the whole confrontation. "Look at her, damn it! That is MY daughter, her sister! Are you going to stand there in front of her and tell HER that I can't see Kaylee? Huh? Are you going to let my child - yes, damn it, she's still my child no matter what you say! - are you going to let my child go through this alone? Don't you understand how frightened she must be right now? For once in your goddamn life, Doctor, show some compassion and bend your fucking rules just a little!" Brian normally was careful not to use such extreme profanity in front of either girl, but he couldn't help it; sometimes you had to do what you had to do to get your point across, and apparently this doctor needed an extra push. He only hoped it would be sufficient to get him what he had to have. There was no way he was going to let Kaylee spend time in the ER by herself. He stared the doctor down defiantly as he added, "Trust me, Doctor, I'm going to hold you personally accountable if something happens to my little girl. I want to see her."
Saunders let out a tense breath as he started to capitulate just a bit. "She's not in her room right now, Mr. Kinney; it will take several minutes for the x-rays and CAT scan to be done. As soon as she's finished someone will let you know her status." He stated calmly, "At this hospital, only immediate family members are normally allowed to visit a patient in the ER."
Michael prepared to forcibly hold Brian back again as he watched a vein pop out on his friend's neck and his eyes flash in fury. "Don't even try to fucking tell me that I can't see my own daughter," he interrupted him with deadly calm, "Or you'll wind up in the ER yourself."
The doctor swallowed the lump in his throat; he was used to family members becoming agitated over their loved ones being in the emergency room, but this man was in a class by himself. He reminded him of a grizzly bear defending one of his cubs, and he knew if he refused to allow this man to see his newest patient he would most likely at least attempt to do exactly what he was threatening to do. This man, even though he wasn't the little girl's legal father, obviously loved her deeply just the same, and he knew that with children especially it was important that they be with their families to reassure them and help them to recover faster.
"I don't take kindly to threats, Mr. Kinney," the doctor told him brusquely. "Normally that sort of statement would be more than enough cause to throw you out of here." He paused for a moment before he conceded, "But I know how upset you are about your daughter being injured, so I will choose to overlook that last statement."
Making a highly unorthodox decision and hoping he didn't wind up being called out on it later, he told Brian, "As soon as she returns to her room, I'll allow you to visit her. But only you," he cautioned him as he glanced over at the exact duplicate of the patient, feeling decidedly sorry for her. He could only imagine what she was going through at the moment. He peered sympathetically at Kaylee as he told her, "I'm afraid you'll have to remain out here for the time being. Minors under the age of 13 are not permitted inside the ER treatment rooms." He held his hands up as Brian appeared about to erupt again. "I don't make the rules, Mr. Kinney; it's the best that I can do; take it or leave it."
Brian sighed heavily in frustration as the doctor turned to go. "Just make sure that I'm informed as soon as my daughter comes back to the ER," he warned him. The doctor nodded in acknowledgment, making his escape as quickly as he could as he walked briskly toward the door; within seconds he was gone, leaving the trio alone in the quiet stillness of the consult room.
In relief Michael leaned against one of the stark, cream-colored walls displaying some nondescript, obligatory landscaped paintings that looked like they were done by a 'starving artist' as Brian walked over to Katie and reached his hand down to her. She only hesitated a second before she took his hand in hers and allowed herself to be pulled up into his embrace, laying her cheek against his stomach as she slid her hands around her father's waist and he held her tight, seeking to reassure and comfort his beloved and frightened daughter. He longed to be with Kaylee, also, to make sure she was aware that he was there watching over her, and it infuriated him that he couldn't do so yet. But he also knew Katie needed the same type of reassurance that his other little girl would as he felt her slender body trembling by his side.
He glanced over at Michael who was eyeing him compassionately as he cooed to her, "Shhh; everything's going to be fine, Chiquitita; you'll see. She'll be good as new in no time." He heard Katie sniffling against him and it broke his heart to sense her anguish. As if he could read her mind, he gently told her, "It wasn't your fault, Katie."
Katie pulled back to look up into his eyes to wail, "Yes, it was! If I hadn't asked Kaylee to go riding with me, it never would have happened! I should be me in there, not Kaylee! I'm the reason she's hurt."
Brian pulled her against him tighter and placed his hand on her head, inhaling the sweet, innocent scent of her as he murmured, "No, no, Katie, it was NOT your fault! You had no way of knowing what would happen. I won't allow you to blame yourself, you hear me? Kaylee loves you just as much as I do; she wouldn't want you to feel that way." He placed just enough space between them to take one hand and reach down to gently cup her chin to raise her bright, tear-filled eyes up to meet his. "She's going to be just fine, Katherine Marie. Are you listening to me? I won't let anything happen to her, to any of us."
"Promise?" she pressed.
God help me if I'm wrong, Brian thought, but he didn't have the heart to tell her otherwise as he nodded with a tender smile at her.
Katie nodded before she managed to hiccup out in a soft lament, "Daddy. We need Daddy here, too. Where is he?"
Brian swallowed hard at the mention of Justin. "I know," he murmured as he pulled her against him while he fretted over seeing his ex-partner again. "Michael called him; he'll be here soon." How would Justin react to all this, though? He knew from what Michael had told him that he had called Justin just as soon as the ambulance had pulled out, and that Justin had sounded scared to death to hear that Kaylee had been injured. In all the excitement over Kaylee being tended to, though, he hadn't even given thought to calling Justin himself after Michael had to explain exactly what was going one; he had been too busy worrying about how their daughter was doing. And once they had been ushered into this consult room, he had found out that he didn't even get cell phone reception in this area of the hospital, so it was just as well. Was he being truthful with himself, though? Even if he could have called Justin, would he have? Or are you just too afraid of what his reaction will be, Kinney? No, he decided firmly. That wasn't it. For right now Kaylee had to be his priority - and Katie; he wasn't going to leave either one of them. Besides, until the doctor returned and Kaylee was brought back from Radiology, he really didn't know anything else to tell him anyway. At that moment, however, he found himself torn between desperately needing his ex-partner there and dreading what his reaction would be. He couldn't afford to dwell on that, though; ever since Justin and he had met again, everything that had happened afterward had by necessity been totally unscripted and spontaneous. This would have to be the same, then - he would deal with whatever reaction Justin had to this accident as well as all the ramifications of it when it happened; that was all he could do.
"Brian?"
Brian lifted his gaze and arched one eyebrow questioningly as he heard Michael softly call out his name, continuing to hold onto his daughter while he lightly rocked her back and forth.
"I'm going to go some coffee; you want some? Katie, you want something to drink, too?" He felt decidedly helpless just standing there, almost feeling like he was intruding on some distinctly private moment. Just like most visitors outside the family loop, though, he thought he could at least serve as part moral support, part errand boy as they all waited to see how Kaylee was doing.
Brian gave him a soft smile of gratitude. "Yeah, some of the shit they call coffee around here sounds good. Katie?" he asked his daughter, her head still cradled against him as he continued to hold her tight.
"Just some bottled water," she mumbled out as Michael nodded and turned to go.
"I'll be right back," he told them as he quietly left, leaving father and daughter alone for the moment. Brian loosened his hold on his daughter just enough to guide her over to a loveseat against the far wall that matched the four chairs in the room. He hugged her to his side as they sat down together and he heard her sigh mournfully.
"You okay?" he asked her softly she laid her head against him.
"I... I just wish they'd bring Kaylee back so we could find out what's going on," she told him. "And I want Daddy here. How much longer?"
Brian figured Justin had to be getting closer to the hospital. "He should be here any time," he reassured her as he reached down to clasp her smaller hand in his. Hurry, Sunshine... Hurry.
Chapter End Notes:
This is only one part of my update - I decided to post the first section until I could get the remainder done. Also, I am by no means a medical expert, so please allow me a little literary license in this chapter if the procedure is not 100% plausible or likely.
Hope you're still with me out there.:) Thanks for reading. The next part will be up in the next few days. Thanks to boriqua522 for being my beta on this story, also.