This chapter starts with a sweet moment and ends with a cliffhanger that will have you like... O_O

Chapter 17: Bad News part 2

He's paralyzed. He may never walk again. His injuries are severe, he will never make a full recovery. The worst-case scenarios filled Spencer's mind along with the weight of anxiety in her chest. Spencer didn't even try to find a proper parking spot before getting out of her car and sprinting through the ER doors. The short blonde-haired nurse at the front desk was friendly. Although she could not give Spencer details on Toby's condition, there was a calm, but sympathetic understanding about her as she gave Spencer directions to Toby's room. He was in room 305 on level three of the hospital. The elevator ride could not have gone fast enough. When the elevator doors finally opened, Spencer nearly tripped getting off it. She was prepared to ask another nurse for directions to Toby's room, but to her luck, room 305 was just diagonal from the elevator. She pushed the door open and walked in fully prepared to see the worst.

Toby was sitting up in a hospital bed with his arm in a sling. He had been looking out the window watching the gray clouds sail by when the door opened. Spencer felt relieved when she saw that Toby was fully conscious and seemed to be in okay condition. Worry struck her again when she caught sight of his arm in the sling. He was hurt. Spencer walked over to the side of his bed. She placed one hand on the side of his bed and her other hand on instinct went right to his honey-colored hair. She combed her fingers through his hair. Toby lit up at the sight of her.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asked. Her voice was shaky and out of breath.

"I am now." Toby gestured to his arm. "It's a partial facture."

"When my mom called me, she wasn't sure how badly you've been hurt." Spencer brushed stray pieces of his hair off his forehead. Toby closed his eyes for a couple seconds enjoying the feeling of her fingers in his hair.

"My crew was there," he said. "They got me up and were quick to get me here. They somehow got into contact with your mom to let them know what happened."

Spencer brushed his cheek, "your face is a little brushed up, but you're still handsome."

Toby smiled and blushed a little, "and I have a concussion, but you're still beautiful."

Spencer removed her hand from his hair. Her eyes went wide. She threw her hands up in the air and exclaimed, "you have a concussion! I thought you said you were okay! Having a concussion is not okay!"

"Spencer, it's fine," Toby tried his best to soothe her. "It's nothing, a little rest and medicine won't fix. They're sending a doctor down to take me to get a scan so they can properly examine my condition, but they're certain I'm going to be fine."

"I'll wait for the Doctors to tell me that before I stop worrying," she said.

Toby touched her hand, "please don't worry. I'm fine."

Before Spencer had a chance to respond, another visitor walked into the room. It wasn't a visitor at all. It was Toby's doctor. Wren. Wren is Toby's doctor. Spencer's eyes widened. Wren was stunned to find Spencer in Toby's room.

"Spencer," Wren squinted his eyes at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh," Spencer fumbled for an explanation. "My mom called me. Toby works for me. I came to make sure Toby was okay." So far, everything Spencer just said was true. A thought crossed her mind. Wren is Toby's doctor. How long did Wren know that Toby was here?

"Why didn't you call to tell me he was here?" asked Spencer. "You were on the phone with me earlier. You could have mentioned it."

"I was on my break at the time, so I didn't know Toby was my patient until I got back," said Wren. "And why would I tell you that your carpenter was here?"

Spencer froze, "just curtesy, I guess."

"It's a good thing I am your doctor," Wren turned to Toby. "So, I can tell you how utterly careless you are for having such stupid accident."

"Wren!" Spencer scolded.

"What happened?" asked Wren.

Spencer looked at Toby.

"It was windy," said Toby. "I was up on the scaffolding when…" He tried to think back. He shook his head, not sure how it happened. Even with how strong the winds were, the anchors should have kept it from falling over.

Toby shrugged and said, "It just fell, and I came down with it."

Spencer's heart went out to him. She had to fight the urge to put her fingers back into Toby's hair. She wanted nothing more than to run her fingers through his soft hair and offer any kind of comfort she could give Toby. She couldn't do those things with Wren standing there.

"Stupid," Wren muttered. "I hope you didn't ruin her mother's garden."

"Wren, that's hardly important right now," Spencer hissed.

Wren rolled his eyes then wrote something down on his chart. Wren addressed Toby.

"A nurse will be in here in about five minutes to take you down for your scan," to Spencer. "No visitors are allowed in the scanning room."

"I'm going," said Spencer. She didn't want to go, but what choice did she have? She wanted to stay with Toby to watch over him all night to make sure he was okay, but with Wren being his doctor, that just wasn't a clever idea. Spencer had another idea. I can send Emily.

Wren made a comment that he'd see Spencer later for dinner and then left the room. Spencer made sure Wren was out of sight before grabbing Toby's hand again. She knew she couldn't stay, but she also couldn't leave without making sure he'd be all right. Toby's eyes never left her face.

"It's okay," Toby squeezed her hand. "Go."

It was like he was reading her like a book.

"Call me," said Spencer. "I will send Emily over to visit, but I want you to keep me updated on how you're doing."

"I will," Toby promised. He squeezed her hand one last time and said, "go."

Although it was risky, Spencer leaned down to plant a tender kiss on his forehead. Toby's inside filled with warmth. He smiled at her.

"Now, my head is all better."

Spencer smiled back. She finally let go of his hand then walked across the room to the door. She gave him one last wave before exiting his room and heading back to the elevator.

Toby's scan showed that he did in fact have a mild concussion. As routine, he was ordered to spend the night in the hospital but will be released tomorrow morning. The stay at the hospital was not overly exciting. The food was your basic hospital food. Always some weird smelling meat with a side of Jell-O. Toby wondered, why does Jell-O get served with every meal? Wren came in once more before getting off for the night. All he did was scribble something down on Toby's chart then handed it off to the nurse. His spirit was lifted a little when Emily came to visit.

"Hey," said Emily.

"Hey, Em," Toby smiled.

"How are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm all right. These meds they're giving me are making me a little tired."

"By the way Spencer spoke on the phone, you would think you'd be in a full body cast," Emily teased.

Toby chuckled, "yeah, she's been a little…protective over me." Toby stopped laughing. "How is she?"

Emily shrugged, "she's doing fine, I think. She wishes she could be here."

"I do too," he said. "But she's just a friend. Plus, I think she'll want to spend some time with her fiancé after he's been away for two weeks."

"Are you sure you two are just friends?"

"Yes, we're just friends," said Toby. With the way his voice sounded, it was hard to even convince himself that was the truth.

Emily gave a look, "it's just sometimes when Spencer talks about you, like today as an example, you can understand why I'd assume there's something more there between you two."

Yes, Toby could understand, but he shook his head and said, "no. I think it just shows that Spencer is an incredibly good person who's just concerned about a friend."

Emily chose to let it go but didn't look very convinced. Emily remembered Spencer and Alison's little confrontation at the mall earlier that day. Alison hinted at the idea of there being something going on between Spencer and Toby. That Toby was the reason Spencer wasn't rushing to make wedding plans. Emily stayed for a few more minutes making small talk about unimportant things. Visiting hours were over, so she left Toby. There he sat alone again wishing for nothing more than for Spencer to be here with him running her fingers through his hair.

"I'm sorry," said Wren.

Wren agreed to meet and take Spencer out to the Grill for dinner, but Wren was an hour late arriving. Spencer didn't really mind having to wait. The waitress was nice and kept giving her free coffee refills and a basket of rolls to hold her over while she waited for Wren to show up. When Wren walked through the door, she forced a smile. She would have to do everything she could to prevent herself from thinking about Toby. Spencer's chest felt hollow when Wren gave her a kiss as a greeting. She tried to let it go and smiled at him.

"The idiot nurse wouldn't stop asking me questions about Mr. Cavanaugh's condition," said Wren.

"It's really no big deal," said Spencer, shrugging. "You're a doctor, your patients need you to care for them."

"Wow, I thought you'd be angry. You're usually not this understanding about my tardiness."

"I am if you're late because of a patient," she insisted. "How is T…How was the carpenter? When you left?"

"He'll be fine," Wren rolled his eyes. "I can't understand how he could be so stupid by getting on that platform when it was windy."

"He's a professional, Wren, I'm sure he didn't expect it to happen," said Spencer. "It was an accident. I'm glad he's going to be okay."

"I doubt he'll be getting any more jobs here in town," said Wren.

Spencer set down her fork and looked at him. "Why wouldn't he?"

"Because I am going to tell people that he's unsafe and unprofessional, and unintelligent for hire."

Spencer glared at him, "Toby is not unprofessional or stupid. He's very good at his job. Have you even seen the beautiful work he's done with the barn?"

"Who cares about that? He failed to make sure that platform was safe. What if one of his other crew mates had been on that? Hmm?" Wren quizzed her. "He's supposed to be responsible for them. Now, we're going to have to pay him while he takes time off after he was careless."

Spencer shook her head in disbelief, "you are heartless."

"Am I?" Wren pulled out a medium sized blue box with a white ribbon. "Would a heartless man bring you a gift back from London?"

Spencer scowled at him. When Spencer made no effort to open the gift, Wren slapped his hands to his knees in frustration.

"I don't know what you want from me!" He shouted. "Why are you pissed?"

"Why am I pissed? You're threatening to ruin this man's career. For what? For having an accident! Accidents happen! He's in pain and is most likely beating himself up enough as it is. The last thing Toby needs is you making it worse!"

"Why do you care?" Wren challenged. "He's just a carpenter."

Spencer opened her mouth to say more but bit her tongue. What more could she say? It was at that moment that Spencer realized. No, she realized before this moment, but now she knows for sure. She has feelings for that carpenter. Spencer shrunk down in her chair.

"Just leave him alone," she whispered. Spencer reached across the table for Wren's hands. They were cold, but she held them anyway. "Why don't you tell me all about your trip to London."

"Open your gift first," he insisted.

Spencer opened the blue box to reveal his gift. It's a London key chain shaped like Big Ben. Spencer tried hard to conceal her emotions. She held up the key chain.

"You always did show your emotions through your gifts," said Spencer.

"There's more to it," said Wren. "I think you'll be really happy about this."

"Okay?"

"That key chain goes along with this." Wren dug something out from a pocket on his shirt. He laid a small alumni key on the table.

"What's this for."

"It's a key to the house we're moving into after we marry," said Wren. Spencer's heart stopped. He continued, "in London."

Spencer's heart sank to her bottom.

A key? To a house? In London? With Wren? What will Spencer do? As usual, I am asking you to please write a review. I appreciate the feedback. (: