Chapter 8:
As Thomas plays a game with Douglas at the dining room table, Phoebe takes a nap. Taylor walks in, "Hey, there are my two favorite boys!"
"Grandma!" Douglas yells out in excitement as he jumps up into her arms.
"Hey mom." Thomas says as he gives his mother a hug.
"Hey honey, I wasn't expecting you guys to be here. What a pleasant surprise."
"Well Steff wanted to go check on something at work, so I offered to stay here with Phoebe." Thomas explains.
"Well that was nice of you," just then Taylor's phone starts to ring, "Hello, this is Dr. Hayes." Taylor says professionally as she answers the phone. "What!" Taylor says in a panic. This gets Thomas' attention. "I'll be right there." Taylor quickly hangs up the phone and looks up at Thomas in distress, "It's Steffy, she never made it to the office. Someone hit her from behind, she's at the hospital."
"Oh my god!" Thomas says in a panic, "Go, I'll stay here with the kids. Keep me posted. I'll call dad, and I'll let Liam know too, he has Kelly."
Taylor rushes out of the house to the hospital.
"Daddy?" Thomas looks down at Douglas, "is aunt Steffy going to be ok?"
Thomas hugs Douglas, "She's going to be ok son, she has to be."
Meanwhile at the cabin...
Hope is sitting on the floor with Kelly rolling a ball back and forth. Liam stepped into the bedroom to look for a file for work. Hope hears Liam's phone starting to buzz.
"Liam," Hope calls out to him, "your phone is ringing."
"Can you see who it is?" Liam shouts from the other room, "and answer it if you know who it is."
Hope reaches up to the table where Liam's phone is. She looks down and sees Thomas' name. She wonders why Thomas would be calling Liam. "Hello?" Hope says answering the phone.
"Hope? Hey it's Thomas, I was trying to get a hold of Liam. There's been an accident, Steffy is in the hospital."
"Oh my god! Is she ok? Have you heard anything else?"
"No, my mom is on her way to the hospital. I figured I'd call Liam since he has Kelly."
"Of course, hold on a second." Thomas hears as Hope calls for Liam, "Liam! Get in here."
"Just a second, I still haven't found my file yet."
"No, NOW!" Hope yells. Hope gets up and picks up Kelly. Liam comes into the room still preoccupied. "Liam, it's Thomas." Hope says as she hands the phone to Liam.
Liam looking even more confused grabs the phone from Hope, "Hello?"
"Liam, it's Steffy. She's been in a car accident. She's at the hospital." Thomas explains.
"Oh my god!" Liam says in shock as he looks up at Hope.
"Go Liam, I'll watch Kelly." Hope says.
"Ok, Thomas I'm on my way to the hospital now." Liam says as he runs out of the cabin.
Hope bounces Kelly on her hip, "It's ok Kelly, Mommy is going to be fine."
Later on while Hope is feeding Kelly her phone rings, she looks down and sees Thomas' name, "Hey Thomas, have you heard anything yet?"
"I heard she's stable, but she is still unconscious. How is Kelly doing?"
"She's good, I'm feeding her lunch right now."
"Good," Hope can hear the distraction in Thomas' voice. She knows his mind is probably going to the worst possible place right now.
"Thomas, would it be ok if I brought Kelly over? I'm sure being around her sister and cousin will be soothing for her, especially in a familiar environment like her home." Hope figures this would be good for Thomas too.
"That would be great," Thomas says.
"Great, I'll be over soon."
