Chapter Fourteen
"How is he?" Nate had not been happy to find out their was finally a status for Eliot yet this man did not think it important enough to share. So excuse his manners but at the moment he did not find it important to knock.
"Mr. Elliott, have a seat." It had been a long night and after the current events he was looking forward to his shifts end.
"No offence Dr. Torlyn but how 'bout you cut the scientific nonsense I know is coming and give it to me straight." He did not want to spend the next half hour trying to decipher the foreign language of medicine to then be stuck waisting time with questions about what he missed.
"Well then lets get down to business. Do you want the better or worst of his injuries first?"
"Worst of it." Nate shifted slightly preparing himself for some blows, starting with the bad wasn't ideal but it was better than knowing the more this doctor talked the worse it would get.
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"Parker will you please sit down?" They had ended up back in the waiting room and Sophie was getting dizzy from the girls constant movement.
"Sorry" She mumbled sitting on her feet only to switch chairs a moment later.
"Hardison stop with the tetris." So she might have been nagging but the little arcade sounds were maddening, (oh geeze she sounded like their mother), at the moment she could honestly say she felt every bit the age.
"Tetris?" Hardison smirked but did as he was told. All of the skills he had shown them and Sophie thought he wasted his time with movable blocks.
"I don't . . ." Sophie began but was interrupted by the beeping of his phone. "Care just silence your game or find a quiter one."
"That wasn't a game Soph." Hardison straightened up full attention on his phone.
"What was it?" Parker had moved closer seeing the seriousness that had crept into Alecs eyes.
"An alert." Looking at both women Hardison was reluctant with the information he had just received. "Els records just got updated."
"Well read it!" Parker ordered, she was still anxious but feeling better after Sophie had assured her they wouldn't have been left waiting if Eliot had simply died.
"Aloud" Hardison had begun skimming through and Sophie found herself reminding him of their presence.
"My God," he breathed.
"What?" Parker yelled trying to steal the technology that held her answers.
"You name it he hurt it." He was hesitant to read more.
"Could you be a little more specific?"
"He's got three broken fingers and a dislocated thumb on his right hand." Hardison stopped, meeting Sophies sympathetic eyes and a look he couldn't recognize from Parker. "His right shoulder was dislocated and apparently not for the first time. An extremely swollen and bruised knee to match the broken foot that are of course on his right side." This was starting to sound painful and Hardison knew his voice was displaying the same emotion as the facial expression he would call a cringe from Sophie.
"How fast was that bastard going?" Injuries like this needed some real speed behind them and Parker was feeling a mix of anger, wanting to go break some things on the jerk that had done this, and guilt, she too had hit Eliot with a car and this could have just as easily been considered her fault.
"I don't know." And he really didn't want to. "Some of the toes on the same foot were mangled and they've yet to determine nerve damage. He. . . oh that's not. . . ." Hardison stopped for a moment, Sophie had covered her mouth and Parkers eyes were wide, he couldn't share the details on what he just read. "Lets just say his left wrist has seen better days."
"How much more is there?" All of those sounded extremely painful on there own and imagining them all together plus Nate witnessing that had Sophie admiring the strength they would need to get through.
"Assorted scrapes, cuts, and bruises, some deep enough to need stitches. Then there's miraculously only one damaged rib in his bruised rib cage but it cracked towards the back really close to the spinal cord so that's being monitored carefully."
"Parker wait!" Sophie called as the girl lept from her chair and began running.
"Soph," Hardison stopped her from following. "that wasn't all of it."
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"The initial fear was that the gash on his thigh was caused by a protruding bone from a severely fractured or possibly shattered femur."
"So he's got a rod inserted?" Nate didn't like the idea of Eliot taking damage to such an important bone.
"That was the fear but not the case. The femur has about a four inch hairline fracture and at the moment I do not think it necessary to insert a rod or screws let alone a plate."
"And it's safe to leave it like that?" He didn't want Eliot to live with leg problems because a doctor couldn't do his job right.
"Normally a pin would be placed but that brings us back to the wound on his thigh. What we thought to be a shard of bone turned out to be some type of metal that must have come from the vehicle when it connected with his lower half. The force behind that blow lodged it through the tissue and initial fat before it embedded itself in the muscle. The risk of infection to that area is great and adding a pin to the mix is nearly guaranteeing the same outcome not to mention the very likely chance the bone itself would become infected." Dr. Torlyn sat back making sure everything he had said so far was sinking in.
"What about his head?" That image had been haunting him since he'd witnessed it and it scared him to death to think that the last time he'd see Eliots eyes they'd be glazed over and filled with confusion.
"He's got a half inch cut at the base of the temple nearly even with his hairline that needed three stitches and on the back another that received eight which is where the majority of the blood came from. Either he's extremely lucky or has a head made of steel, he has no inner cranial swelling or bleeding. I'm expecting signs of a concussion to present themselves though I'd say it's safe to assume it's there and the hematoma he received was on the scalp and not inside his skull which we should all be grateful for. It's not severe enough to be drained but it will be monitored closely for signs of improvement." It hadn't been a regular case but considering those didn't exist in the E.R. he would say this guy was lucky to be alive, let alone miraculousy as well off as his current condition.
"And if it doesn't?" Nate didn't see how this man could possibly be seeing luck inside this mess.
"Lets worry about the injuries that are there not the ones that might never appear."
"Can I see him now?" It wasn't really a question as he stood to leave, either way he planned on finding Eliot.
"We're not finished yet." Dr. Torlyn also stood.
"Yeah I know but the minor things can wait, tell me where he is." His voice held false patience.
"Mr. Elliott they might not have been the most demanding but I would hardly say they're minor. His kidneys are bruised and there's still a chance we've missed something."
"Well you go make sure ya' didn't and I'm going to see my brother." Nate couldn't listen to much more of this, all the things that were broken without seeing they could be fixed, would be fixed.
"That's not all. The discomfort and residual pain from setting his shoulder and fingers should have woken hi-"
"Should have?" Nate cut him off not liking those words or the way they had been said.
"Mr. Elliott"
"Nate"
"Nate your brother has yet to gain conciousness." He broke the news gently watching the man sink back in his chair.
"What are you saying?" Eliot had surely awoken sometime since his horrific accident.
"Every hour that he stays unconcious strengthens the chances that Spencer wont wake up and he's already been out for eight." It might have been blunt but sometimes that was the best approach.
"He's in a coma?" The disbelief was evident.
"No but he could easily slip into one. I'm not trying to scare you I just want you to have all the facts on your brother Nate."
"Why? Explain to me the medical friggin' reason he isn't waking up!"He yelled, his anger boiling as he stood. This doctor had waved Eliots health in his face, described all the things he was lucky for, the things that would heal but how the hell did that matter if Eliot wasn't going to be awakening. This news was only a notch above Eliots death in his opinion.
"There isn't one that I've found." Dr. Torlyn didn't take the anger personally knowing it was directed at the situation and not him. "What he experienced was tramatic and sometimes the mind's too quick to give up and others the body's too stubborn to quit."
"El's a fighter." Nate shook his head. "He just needs time." No other outcome would be acceptable.
"Lets hope your right." Dr. Torlyn moved from behind his desk and to the door. "Come on I'll take you to him." He had put a lot of work into that boy and he'd hate to see it wasted.
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"Parker?" The room was covered in gray shadows announcing that it would be welcoming the suns arrival shortly but the petite blonde was what caught Nates attention.
She had pushed a chair all the way to the edge of the bed and was sitting cross legged in it, her position blocking his view of the beds occupant. "Parker?" He slowly moved closer nervous of what he'd see.
"He wont wake up." She finally voiced the calm he heard being deceived by the tears that streaked her face.
"I know" He nearly whispered as he got a good look at Eliot. The man he loved was barely recognizable between the bruises, bandages, and swelling.
"I've tried everything and he doesn't even flinch, I poked him in the nose Nate." She figured that Eliot would be more than willing to leave now that he had been patched up but no matter how hard she tried he wouldn't open his eyes.
"He'll come back to us Parker, he always does." Nate watched as she hopped off the chair focusing his complete attention on her, he wasn't ready to take in all of the gruesome details.
"What if he doesn't? What if he can't this time?" He never said no to her but apparently all the pleading she had done was falling on deaf ears.
"He's coming back Parker." He pulled her into a hug where she stood quietly but he could tell by the moisture on his shoulder that she was crying. He had stood strong, made it through the horrors of the night and hadn't let himself even think about crying but now funnily enough it was the tiniest scrape on Eliots cheek, the one right over the place he loved to ghost his fingers that brought the tears.
The words that Eliot had spoken not even a day ago plaguing his mind, ''... eventually one of those tomorrows will be my last'', squeezing Parker even tighter he whispered, "today isn't your tomorrow Eliot."
E/N: Yes I know and I'm sorry:( I sort of may have broken Eliot but I think I can fix him, maybe? mostly? Well he was hit by a car! As with these two and the not communicating, I mean how many fights and break ups are necessary before it sinks in that a relationship wont work without communication? Hopefully this will show them that but I have a feeling there might be another bump or two in the road for them, if Eliot ever wakes up. As for all the the secrets, mixed thoughts, and outright questions more of those will probably appear before any answers start to surface. Also I've lost my mind! I'm already thinking of a prequel to this whole series which is just insanity, I'd love it if some of you would tell me that a trilogy is enough because this fic has spread like a disease and I spend nearly every free moment I have on it. It's like my new baby which Mollie,(my dog) is not happy about, so demotivation for that idea would be loved. Hope your enjoying!