| Chapter 32 Everyone was in the waiting room waiting on some word from the doctors. They had taken Tara into surgery as soon as she arrived, and they had been running tests on Brian. They were all still in shock over what Tara and Brian had told each other, all except Nick. He was standing in the window looking out over the city. Leighanne walked up to him, "Nick, I'm sorry." He looked at her, "For what?" "For being so hard on you about Tara," Leighanne said. "We need to talk about that," Nick said. Just then the doctor came around the corner. "Doc, what's going on?" Kevin asked. "We've got Brian in a room now if you'd like to go see him," the doctor said. "Is he awake?" Howie asked. The doctor sighed, "No, and I'm afraid he may not wake up. We've run several tests on him, and I'm not sure what happened but the tumor has grown in size. It's now completely around the area of the brain that controls his breathing and other involuntary functions. We've already put him on a ventilator." "So what does that mean?" Leighanne asked. "It means that Brian doesn't have much longer, I'm sorry," the doctor said. "There's nothing you can do?" A.J. asked almost in tears. "No, I'm sorry, the only thing we can do now is make him comfortable," the doctor said, "Come let me show you to his room." They all got up and followed him to Brian's room. They filed in not prepared for what they saw. Brian was hooked up to every machine they had, ventilator, heart monitor, IV's, even a machine that measured his brain function. He was very pale, and his wrists were black and blue from being in the cuffs. "My God," Kira said. Leighanne walked over and sat down next to the bed looking at him, not knowing what to do exactly. "I'll be back in a while to check on him," the doctor said. "Doc?" Nick said. The doctor turned around, "Yes?" "Any word on Tara yet?" Nick asked. "No she's still in surgery, I'll call as soon as I hear anything," the doctor said. "Doc, one more thing," Nick said, "When she gets out of surgery, can you put her in here with Brian?" Everyone looked at him. "Nick, that may not be the best thing," Kevin said. "No, I think it is. Think about the bond they have, it would be best for them to be together," Nick said. Everyone looked at each other. "Yeah, maybe he's right," Howie said. "I agree too, they need to be together," A.J. said. "So, can you doc?" Nick asked again. "Yes, I think we can do that," the doctor answered. "Thanks," Nick said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ About an hour later the doctor came back into the room, "Guys, I need you all to step out for a few minutes." Everyone got up and filed out into the hall. "Come down here, I need to talk to you," the doctor said to Nick. "Is it about Tara?" he asked. The doctor nodded his head. "You can tell all of us," Nick said. Everyone gathered around to listen. "We're moving her into the room now. The surgery was difficult, and she's lost alot of blood. The bullet bounced around and did some major damage to her lungs. The sergeant repaired what he could, but I'm afraid her chances aren't good," the doctor said. Kevin reached over and steadied Nick. "What are her chances?" Kira asked. "Right now, I'd say she had about a 10% chance of pulling through," the doctor said, "I'm sorry." "God, this can't be happening," Howie said. A.J. walked over to Nick and put his hand on his shoulder. "I'll let you know when you can go back in," the doctor said, and turned and walked into the room. Nick was staring at the floor in shock. He was gonna lose his best friend, and the girl he loved. The tears came and he didn't fight them. Kevin pulled him close and let him cry on his shoulder for a while. The doctor came back down and let them know it was OK to go back in. They slowly walked back into the room. They had set the beds up next to each other, separated by a night stand. Tara was hooked up to almost everything Brian was with the exception of the machine that measured brain function. She was also on a ventilator. Nick walked over and sat down next to the bed, taking her hand in his. Her face was bruised and her eyes were black. Nick figured it must've been from the fight she had with Gary. Nick reached up and brushed some of Tara's hair away from her face, then he leaned forward and gently kissed her on the cheek. "I'm here, and Brian's right next to you," he whispered in her ear. He sat back down, God, what am I suppose to do? * Tracy leaned over and whispered in Nick's ear, "You know what you have to do."* Nick stared at Tara for a while, then got up and walked over to Leighanne. "I need to talk to you," he said. "OK," Leighanne said. Nick took her hand and led her out of the room and over to the waiting area. "Wonder what all that's about?" A.J. asked after they'd been gone for some time. He could see them sitting there, and by the looks of it, they were having one intense discussion. "I don't know, but it looks serious," Howie said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "So, what do you say?" Nick asked. Leighanne stared at him, "Nick, are you sure about this?" "More than I've ever been about anything. Lee, we've gotta do this for them, it may be the last thing we ever get to do for them," Nick said. Leighanne looked at the floor, "I just can't believe that all this time I had it so wrong." Nick looked at her with compassion in his face, "Lee, this isn't your fault you know." "I know, I just would've done things different if I'd understood," she said. "Yeah, but we can't go back and change things, this is all we can do now," Nick said. Leighanne stood up and held out her hand, "OK, I'm ready." Nick took her hand and they walked back to Brian and Tara's door. They stopped before they went in, "Leighanne, thanks," Nick said. Leighanne smiled at him, and they walked into the room. Chapter 33 |