Chapter 29 - Breathe (2 AM)
Oliver lets out a relieved breath as the hot water hits him. Lex was dead. No one from the Luthor family could destroy his family. Zoey would be fine. He would be fine. Their daughter would be fine. It was as if something had finally been lifted from his shoulders. He was looking forward to surprising Zoey with a trip to the Carmichael family home. At that moment, all he wanted was to have a quiet weekend away with her.
Two gunshots ring out. The sound was unmistakable to him.
Oliver sticks his head out of the shower. "Zo?"
Silence. Oliver turns off the shower and steps out. He wraps a towel around his waist before making his way downstairs.
The first thing that catches his eye is the blood. There was a large pool forming around Zoey. Her chest was covered in blood. He looks up to find the shocked look on a man standing in the doorway. Oliver vaguely recognized him. The man worked at the coffee cart in the Rosewood.
"Jeff, right," Oliver asks, holding out a hand. "How about you put the gun down, Jeff?"
Jeff blinks. "I-I-I didn't know it was still loaded. I thought I fired all of them."
"Well, a couple were left in it, Jeff. Put the gun down."
"I just wanted to scare her."
"If you want to scare people, then there are other ways of doing that."
Jeff looks at Oliver. "She didn't remember who I am. And you do. I interacted with her almost every morning for a year. She always tipped well. And she doesn't remember who I am."
"You can interact with someone frequently and never remember their name, Jeff. Zo barely remembers the names of board members and she's been interacting with some of them since she was a kid."
A cough gets their attention. Oliver looks down to find Zoey coughing up blood. A thud causes him to turn. The gun was on the floor and Jeff was gone.
The waiting room of Metropolis General Hospital had become very familiar to Oliver. He had been waiting for a couple of hours, waiting to hear anything on Zoey. He had called Emil to see if he could get any kind of update on Zoey's condition. But nothing.
"Oliver." He looks up to find Clark and Chloe. Chloe sits down next to him. "Has there been any word on Zoey," she softly asks.
Oliver shakes his head. "No. I've asked. They haven't told me anything. I called Emil. Asked if he can find anything out. But I haven't heard back."
"Oliver, what happened," Clark asks, going right into detective mode.
"I don't know," Oliver replies. "I was in the shower. Heard a couple of gunshots and raced downstairs to find Zo on the ground, bleeding. And a former Rosewood employee standing in the doorway with a gun."
Chloe places a comforting hand on Oliver's shoulder. "Zoey's strong, Oliver. She'll come out this."
"Mr. Queen?" They turn to see a young doctor wearing scrubs and a surgical gown. "They're still working on your wife. The bullets caused more damage than we initially thought."
"What about the baby," Oliver softly asks.
The doctor shifts. "They performed an emergency C-section. We…Do you have a name for your daughter?"
"Emma. Emma Moira Queen. Can I see her?"
The doctor nods. "I'll take you up to the NICU right now."
Emma was tiny. Her face was covered with a breathing mask to provide oxygen. Various wires covered her. Her head was covered by a tiny white hat. Her skin felt like silk. Oliver hadn't moved from the incubator since the young doctor had brought him up. Never in his life had he felt more useless. There was nothing he could do to help Emma. There was nothing he could do to help Zoey.
"Oliver," Emil softly says, walking up to his boss and friend. "Zoey's out of surgery. She's up in the ICU."
"How is she doing," Oliver whispers.
"One of the bullets hit her right pulmonary artery. They managed to get it repaired. The other bullet did damage her liver. They had to remove part of it. Zoey lost a lot of blood. They had to do multiple transfusions. They don't know if she suffered any brain damage due to her blood loss," Emil explains.
"Has Dr. Shepherd taken a look at her yet?"
"He did an exam on her. He said her pupils are reacting. They won't know anything until they do an MRI. She's going to be in a medically induced coma for a few days. They want to give her body a few days to heal before trying to wake her up."
"And Emma?"
Emil sighs. "They don't know. Given that Zoey lost so much blood they don't know if Emma has any brain damage or not. They want to make sure that she's stable before attempting to do an MRI on her." Emil looks at the tiny newborn. "Babies born at twenty-six weeks usually have a good chance of survival. But Emma wasn't breathing when she was born. They had to do CPR on her. They were about to call it when she started crying on her own."
Oliver closes his eyes. He didn't know what to think. Zoey was fighting for her life. It felt like she was always fighting for her life. The fact that she had only sustained minor injuries during the attack of Queen Tower just days before was something he considered a miracle. Now, she was back in the same hospital fighting for her life because of an angry former Rosewood employee. Emma was barely a day old and she was fighting for her life. Emil leaves his friend to spend time with his daughter.
Detective John Jones finds Clark and Chloe standing in the ICU of Metropolis General. News of Zoey being shot had quickly spread throughout Metropolis. The police had to block off the street that Zoey and Oliver's home sat on. Press had been swarming the hospital and the police station. "Clark," John greets. He looks into the room. The Martian had never actually met Zoey but he knew enough about her. "How is she doing?"
"She's stable," Clark answers. "The doctors believe that Zoey will be okay. They're keeping her in a coma to give her body time to heal."
"Where's Oliver?"
"He's with Emma. They're not as hopeful for her," Chloe fills in. "Have they found who did it?"
John nods. "He turned himself in and confessed. Jeff Martin. He had to shut down his coffee cart in the Rosewood. His wife died of cancer last year and he's been swamped with medical bills since. He's a single dad."
"Why did he go after Zoey," Clark questions.
"He didn't say. My superiors want me to get a statement from Oliver. But I'll get it later from him."
"We can do it now." They turn to see Oliver standing behind them. His eyes were red. "I just need a few minutes with Zo, then I can do it." He walks into the room, leaving them standing in the corridor.
"Let Oliver know that I'll talk to him tomorrow," John softly says. Words didn't need to be said at that moment.
Zoey lets out a groan. Everything hurt. The last thing she remembered was laying on the floor. It was after the first gunshot that finally recognized Jeff. After the second gunshot, the only thing that went through her mind was whether or not she would actually die on the floor of her house without getting to meet her daughter. The beautiful hardwood floor caused her to fall in love with the brownstone.
"I think this one will be perfect for you," Pete, the realtor, tells Zoey leading her into the brownstone. "It's three bedrooms, two baths. The kitchen was just redone. And it's amazing. The floors are original."
Zoey looks down and she's taken in by the dark hardwood floors. There was something about the floor that was drawing her in. "Let's take a look at the rest of the house," she says. "But I have a feeling that this will be the one."
"Zoey, how are you doing," Dr. Shepherd asks, shining a flashlight in her eyes. Zoey shoots him an annoyed look and her long-time neurologist can't help but smile. She opens her mouth but starts coughing. "Take it easy. They just pulled the tube out last night. Your throat will be sore for a couple of days."
Zoey takes a deep breath. "Emma," she rasps out. She wanted to know how her daughter was doing.
Dr. Shepherd motions for the other doctors in the room to leave. He grabs her hand. "Zoey, I'm sorry," he softly tells her.
Anything else Dr. Shepherd tells her is tuned out. She can see his lips moving. But all she feels in that moment is an all-encompassing pain. The physical pain she was in was nothing like she was currently feeling. She felt as if her chest was ripped open and her heart was yanked out. She turns her gaze to the ceiling.
"Zoey."
Zoey blinks and finds Max standing next to her bed. She forces a smile, letting her uncle know that she was fine. That last time she had seen him cry was at the funeral of her parents.
Max leans down, pressing his forehead against hers. "You have to stop almost dying on me. Even though you seem to have multiple lives, you are not a cat with nine lives. But if you were, you only have seven left."
"Ol-Ollie," Zoey questions. She had been wondering where her husband was.
Max sighs. "I don't know. We haven't seen him in a couple of days." Zoey lets out a soft sob. She looks back at the ceiling. She doesn't try to hide the tears that fall. Max climbs onto the bed and pulls her against his side.
After two weeks in the hospital, Zoey is released. Instead of going home, she heads to Star City. She had a hunch as to where Oliver had gone. And her hunch is proven right when she finds her husband laying on the bed in his childhood room. He doesn't move when she climbs onto the bed next to him. She reaches between them and grabs his hand.
"Why are you here," Oliver asks, pulling his hand away.
"I wanted to see how you were doing," Zoey softly answers.
"I'm fine."
"Everyone is worried about you."
"I'm fine."
Zoey bites her lip. She wants to tell him about the small funeral she was holding for Emma. Max had taken charge of the arrangements. He had been the one who had picked up the small urn from a funeral home. She couldn't remember ever seeing Oliver this cold towards anything, let alone her. She stands up and walks out of the room, leaving him there alone.
Austin walks up to where Max was standing by the window. Zoey was curled up in an armchair next to the fire pit. "I talked with Met U. They're letting Zoey drop her classes for the semester. She'll pick everything up in the fall. She's officially on leave from Queen Industries. Oliver, who actually picked up the phone, will take over until she's ready to go back. I'm taking over YMG Inc for the time being," he tells his boyfriend.
"I think Oliver blames her," Max replies. "Zoey opened the door."
"I get the feeling Jeff would have found Zoey no matter what. Detective Jones called me. They searched his house and found a number of newspaper clippings of her. He was fixated on her."
"Has he ever said why he did it?"
"He thought if he asked Zoey for help then she would help him. I guess, when she was living at the Rosewood she was always nice to him. Gave him good tips. And when Zoey didn't remember who he was, he just lost it. He got angry. The only reason he had the gun was for protection. He lives in a rougher part of Metropolis. The DA is charging him with murder and attempted murder."
"Why murder?"
"He has four kids. For a man who has a reputation as being tough as nails…he broke down seeing Emma in the morgue. The M.E. was even shocked. She put Emma's death down as natural causes. The murder charge will get tossed in a heartbeat."
"Too bad he can't be charged with destroying a relationship."
"I think they just need time. Grief is a powerful thing."
Max shakes his head. "This…this is different, Austin. Oliver…the last time I saw him like this…when his parents died, Oliver still talked to people. The one person he needs the most, the one person who needs him right now…this is different."
Outside on a lounge chair, Zoey pulls the blanket close. She glances down at her phone. None of her messages to Oliver had been returned. Her calls went unanswered. She wipes a tear away and takes a deep breath.
'Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable
And life's like an hourglass glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button, girl
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe, just breathe
Oh, breathe, just breathe