The guys and Alexa had been in the Denver hospital for about two hours without any update from a doctor or a nurse or anyone except to say that Carlos had safely made it to the hospital and he was in surgery, when Officer and Mrs. Garcia entered the emergency department waiting room. They were holding each other's hand tightly and Officer Garcia was carrying a box. Officer Garcia's eyes were red and puffy while Mrs. Garcia still had tears.

"How is he?" Officer Garcia asked.

"We don't know," Kendall replied.

"You must be Alexa." Mrs. Garcia took a seat next to her son's girlfriend.

"Not the best circumstances to be meeting under," Alexa replied softly. Mrs. Garcia and Alexa fell into each other's arms and cried.

"I'll go see if I can get some information." Officer Garcia marched up to the front desk and began talking to the nurse behind the counter. He returned five minutes later. "Still in surgery, that's all they can say. Damn it, I need to know what's going on with my son!" He finished with something in Spanish that sounded like it could have been a curse word.

That seemed to do the trick for a doctor entered the waiting room looking for them.

"Carlos is out of surgery," he said. "One obstacle down. I'm Dr. Bonilla, Carlos's head trauma doctor. I'm sure they told you at Aspen Valley about his injuries—two broken ribs, a sprained neck, and the concussion. Then, there's the liver. The ribs he happened to break were the ones protecting his liver. His liver was severely punctured in the fall he sustained causing us to have to perform a hepatectomy." Everyone looked at Logan for a definition, but the doctor continued before Logan could speak. "That is a surgical resection of the liver. The awesome thing about the liver is it can regenerate itself. One can go with as little as 25% of the liver and have it regrow itself into a full functioning liver. This is why Carlos was sent to us. We have the surgeons, namely Dr. Ruffin in this case, to perform hepatectomies."

"What exactly did you do in this hepa-hepa-the surgery?" Officer Garcia asked.

"We removed the damage portion of his liver and connected the undamaged portions together. We were able to save 37% of his liver."

"Can we see him?" Mrs. Garcia asked.

"Two at a time. We want to keep him in ICU for 24 hours to make sure there's no bleeding from the surgery."

"Is that common?" Officer Garcia asked.

"It happens enough we like to keep a close eye on our patients."

The Garcias exchanged looks as if they were talking without words. Mrs. Garcia reached for Alexa's hand.

"Would you like to visit Carlos with me?"

"I—I—" she said nervously. "Yes."

"There he is," Mrs. Garcia whispered when they reached Carlos's room. He lay in the uncomfortable looking hospital bed sleeping with a neck brace on and a nasty looking bruise on the right side of his face.

Carlos's eyes fluttered after they entered the room and picked sides of the bed to stand on.

"Mom, you're here?" He asked groggily.

"You were in a dangerous accident. Of course I'm going to be here!" She rubbed his right hand softly. "You're my baby."

He blinked his eyes a few times trying to focus on her face. It was blurry, but he could make out her features.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Carlos scrunched his face up trying to concentrate. His neck hurt. His head hurt. His ribs hurt. His torso hurt. It was enough to say he hurt.

"I love you, Carlos!" Mrs. Garcia wrapped her arms around her son being mindful of his neck brace. He felt tears fall on his shoulder. He thought about hugging her back but even the thought of moving hurt.

"Hey, Carlos," Alexa spoke slowly.

He looked at his mom. His girlfriend was here? She didn't—he couldn't-. He gave his mom a pleading look.

Carlos knew what happened. Well, maybe not everything that happened, but he knew had done some major damage to himself. He thought he was so cool hanging out with his new friends, but he was just an idiot who got caught and hurt himself.

"Are you mad at me?" Alexa asked. "I don't hate you."

"No," Carlos replied.

"Did I do something else I don't know?"

Carlos made to shake his head but grimaced first at the pain and second at the fact that the neck brace wasn't really allowing him to move his neck.

"What is it?" His mother quickly asked.

He pointed to his neck and made a face.

"Oh, honey, I know." She kissed his cheek. "Does your head hurt?"

"No," he replied. It did hurt, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for a concussion.

"OK, I'm going to let your papi come in now. I love you, bebe."

"Love you," Carlos replied slowly.

"Did I do something wrong?" Alexa asked after she dragged a black plastic chair to the side of the bed. "If you don't want me here I'll leave."

Carlos struggled to sit up, grimacing the entire time. Alexa made to help him but he brushed her off so she just sat down.

"You—you," he paused. "You look funny."

"Is it because I'm wearing your helmet? Do you not like me wearing your helmet? I forgot I had it on. I can take it off."

"No. You look beautiful with it on." He blinked his eyes. "It's hard to focus. Everything's blurry and…"

"Do you need a doctor or a nurse?"

"Concussion," he replied.

"So, why are you avoiding me?"

"Because I'm stupid," he replied slowly. "I'm embarrassed by what I did, okay? I was an idiot going with those boys who I thought were so cool. Are they here?"

"No."

"Of course not. They weren't really my friends. I should have known. I should have known! But, I got caught up in their—" Alexa cut him off by kissing him on the lips. Dude, he loved the taste of her lips.

"I'm just glad you're okay."

"Does this look like okay to you?"

"Carlos, it could have been a lot worse. Lucky you were wearing your helmet."

"Yeah, but now look at it."

Alexa took the helmet off her head and examined the crack running through almost the center. A tear escaped down her cheek.

"Don't cry."

"Th-that could have been you. The crack could be in your skull rather than this helmet. Carlos, I can't lose you."

"You think I don't worry about you? You're a spy!" He whisper shouted that last line.

"Son!" Officer Garcia entered the room carrying the box

"Papi!" Carlos smiled weakly.

"I got you something." He handed Carlos the box and then bent down to hug him.

Carlos slowly and painfully tore into the box and pulled out the black plastic…

"Helmet?"

"I heard about your old one so I thought you might like a new one. You don't have to take it if you don't want it."

"I love it." He placed it on his head. "It fits perfectly. Thanks, Dad."

"I hate seeing you like this," Officer Garcia said. He took a seat in the other black plastic chair that was on Carlos's left side. "I hate seeing you hurt."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"You didn't disappoint me. I wish I could take away your pain. I'd take your injuries if I could. I don't like seeing my oldest son or any of my children lying in a hospital bed after just having surgery."

Carlos didn't know what to say.

Officer Garcia took hold of his son's left hand and they sat there for a short moment no one saying anything.

"I'm going to let your friends come see you now." Officer Garcia let go of Carlos's hand and stood up. "I love you, Son."

"I should—I should go, too." Alexa hesitantly stood up. "I don't want to leave you, but I don't want to monopolize your time."

"Stay."

"But your friends?"

"I don't care."

"You're not embarrassed to see them like you were me, are you?"

"No. I just want you to stay." He shifted his body to look directly at her. The position killed his right side but he put up with it. "I'm sorry."

"Car—"

"Don't stop me. I was a jerk, an idiot, a dumbass. I ignored you. I didn't treat you with the respect and love you deserve. I don't want to blame it on anyone but me, but I let those guys control me. I love you but I didn't treat you like that. I really hate it took this stupid injury for me to realize it." He laid his head back against the pillow, closing his eyes. "My head hurts."

"Oh, Carlos." Alexa took his new helmet off and ran her hands through his short hair. "I love you, too. If you want to go to sleep, I'll just sit here and watch."

"That's kind of creepy." Carlos smiled keeping his eyes shut.

"Just sleep."

"Mmhm," Carlos muttered already drifting off into dreamland.

Writing this is really hard as I don't have any experience with liver injuries. The internet has been a big help, but I'm not a doctor so I hope I don't make this sound too cheesy or weak.

Thank you, Jennifer, for your review on the last chapter!