Chapter 9

"Will that be all for you today, ma'am?"

The young woman at the flower shop questioned the redhead with a smile.

Chloe gave a quick but forced smile in return. "No, that's it."

The young woman gave her the total and Chloe handed her her credit card. She exited the shop with a medium bouquet of mixed flowers inside a vase and walked down the sidewalk and around the corner of the row of buildings to the parking lot. Chloe unlocked her car and opened the back driver's side door. She placed the flowers on the floor board and padded around it with her backpack to ensure it would not tip over.

"Sucking up won't win you any favors."

Chloe pursed her lips and let out an annoyed breath, pausing to stretch her neck before closing her door and turning towards the voice behind her.

Bumper stood about 10 feet away, just at the edge of the sidewalk near the parking lot and the street. His hands hung loosely just inside his front pockets. A few of his buddies stood behind him. Chloe recognized them as two of the people who had dropped out of their fire academy class in the first few weeks.

"I didn't know giving a shit about your friends and co-workers was sucking up." Chloe retorted sarcastically.

Bumper opened his mouth to counter but Stacie interrupted him.

"You would know all about sucking up though wouldn't you Bumper? I think you were awarded 100 tower climbs in the academy when you tried to throw everyone else under the bus after your fuck-up."

Stacie raised a challenging eye brow at the man, daring him to try and refute it.

"Fuck you, Stacie!"

"Pass!" Stacie snorted in amusement. "You're definitely not my type and even if you were, I wouldn't be desperate enough to catch whatever STD's you are throwing around." The slender brunette answered sardonically.

Bumper's friends burst into laughter at his expense. His face turned five different shades of red in a matter of seconds. He shoved past the two other boys and continued down the sidewalk and out of site.

"I think you hurt his feelings." Chloe laughed as she walked around the car, opened the drivers door, and slipped into her seat. Stacie did the same on the front passenger side. She closed the door and placed the cup carrier with four hot coffees in her lap before buckling her seatbelt.

"What else is new? He can dish shit out all day but when someone gives it right back he never has anything to say."

Chloe started the car and backed out of her parking spot. The girls drove to the hospital in relative silence with the exception of the music playing softly in the background.

When they arrived, Chloe pulled into the parking garage and moved up the levels one-by-one until she found an open spot. Once parked, the girls exited the vehicle, flowers and coffee in hand, and walked the short distance to the elevator.

Chloe had been to the hospital many times to visit Stacie for her shifts as an ER tech. Over the last few weeks, she had made several trips in the rescue with Lilly and Amy when they had brought in a critical patient and needed extra hands. The hospital never made her nervous in those situations. Now though, walking idly through the building with its sterile white walls, she remembers the feeling she used to have whenever she would visit her dad before he passed away. It felt stifling. Like you had to push away all the lingering anxiety of every unknown that is brought to the surface. There is always a different feeling when you go to the hospital for someone you know.

"Chlo?"

"Huh? What?" Chloe's stoic silence was interrupted by her best friend's voice as the elevator came to a halt on the 5th floor.

"I said you can go in first. I have to stop by HR and drop off my updated certifications for the ER."

Stacie held the door to the elevator, giving Chloe a questioning look. She removed her coffee cup from the cup holder and offered the tray with the remaining three cups to her friend.

"Oh.. yeah. Sorry…" the redhead answered, grabbed the try, and stepped off the elevator into the hall. She waved gently, giving a quick tight lipped smile as Stacie disappeared behind the closing metal door.

Chloe took a moment to steel herself before walking around the corner and through the doorway to the ICU. She spotted Mrs. Henderson near the charge nurse desk talking with the doctor and Aubrey's nurse. As she moved closer, Mrs. Henderson's gaze shifted at the movement. She gave Chloe a tired smile as the doctor and nurse excused themselves to go see their other patients.

"How's Aubrey?" Chloe asked softly.

Mrs. Henderson sucked in a deep breath through her nose before she spoke.

"She's fighting. The doctor said she made it through the night and this morning without any signs of further complications. She received her second blood transfusion about an hour ago and they think she's through the worst of it. They are going to keep her sedated for now and he said they will try to extubate her in the morning."

"That's better than we had hoped for." Chloe said, relief spread as she looked through the glass doors to Aubrey's room.

She could see the blonde lieutenant, laying on the bed, her head slightly elevated. Her eyes were closed and her body lifeless. Chloe noticed the intubation tube in her mouth that was hooked up to a ventilator to help her breathe.

Just beyond Aubrey on the other side of the bed, Beca's small form could be seen. She was sitting in the chair that had been pulled up to the side of the bed and her head was lying on the small space about the level of Aubrey's hip. She was fast asleep, holding Aubrey's hand in her own.

Without removing her gaze, Chloe then asked, "And Beca?"

"She hasn't left her side. She finally fell asleep about an hour ago."

After a beat, Mrs. Henderson turned her attention back to Chloe.

"I'm going to run by the girls' place and pick up a few things."

"I can go if you wanted to stay here." Chloe offered sincerely, looking back to the older woman.

"That's ok, dear. I need to go home first and feed my dog anyway so I can just stop on the way."

Chloe nodded and looked back over towards the room.

"Go keep her company for me, will you?"

Chloe worried her bottom lip as she studied Mrs. Henderson for a moment. The older woman lifted a questioning brow. Chloe swallowed but then nodded.

"This is for you." Chloe took one of the coffee cups out of the drink holder and handed it to the woman.

Mrs. Henderson smiled kindly and took the offered cup. "Thank you, dear. That's very kind."

Mrs. Henderson readjusted the strap of her purse, took one more glance in the room at her daughters, and then walked out of the ICU to the elevators.

Chloe picked up the coffee tray and the flowers and made her way over to the sliding glass door. She adjusted the flowers into the crock of her arm and then moved the drink holder to one hand to be able to slide the door open. She stepped inside and quietly closed the door behind her. The redhead placed the coffee on the bedside table and then moved around the bed to place the flower vase near the window.

As she set it down she heard movement to her right and turned her attention to the sleeping girl in the chair. Beca stirred, inhaled a deep breath, and then continued to scrunch her face up in an adorable manner as she blinked away the sleep from her eyes. She raised her head up off the bed and shifted her attention in the direction of the sounds that had pulled her from sleep.

Shit. She didn't mean to wake her up.

Beca looked at the redhead, confused for a moment before her presence was fully registered.

"Chloe?" Beca questioned sleepily. Her eyes still scrunched up, attempting to adjust to the light in the room.

"Hey…"