They sat waiting. Joey picked at her fingernails, not daring to look at anything else. She could still feel the wail of Amy’s’ scream running through her. The image of the child falling from the tree hadn’t yet been erased from the foreground of her mind.
Pacey sit beside her, his right arm rested across the back of her chair, his hand touching her back ever so slightly, gave a small amount of comfort to her. One of his legs was drawn across the other, as they moved together in a nervous jiggle.
The waiting game had always seemed, to the both of them, such a cruel trick god liked to play on people. Seconds seemed like hours, minutes seemed like days and hours seemed like weeks.
It had been one hour thirteen minute and fifty-nine seconds since they had last seen Amy wheeled off on a stretcher, through the swinging doors to be examined. Well actually make it one hour and fourteen minutes, Pacey was counting.
He was nervous, he found himself counting when he was nervous. The white tiles on the floor, the number of professionals that moved between the swinging doors and even the number of people waiting, like they were, for their name to be called, the happy news that should follow.
“Mcphee?”
Both of their heads shot up, turning towards the person that had spoken their eyes wide in bewilderment. The name that was still attached to Amy’s was yet another thing that they hadn’t thought about until now. She wasn’t a Mcphee anymore.
“Yes?”
Pacey stood shakily first, his voice showing every emotion he was feeling.
One hour fifteen minutes and thirty-four seconds.
The doctors’ steps felt like hours.
Joey stood slowly too, her mouth too dry and empty to speak.
“Mr. and Mrs. Mcphee?”
The doctor wore a white jacket and from what Joey could tell it looked very fresh, the name tag shining, in the florescent light.
“Yes, I mean no!”
Pacey coughed nervously trying to clear his throat, the doctor looking up sharply as he did so.
“Pardon?”
“He means that we are her guardians just not by name.”
Joey found her voice and his hand, squeezing it softly in hers.
“I see.”
The doctor frowns looking down at the clipboard that he held and made a note.
One hour seventeen minutes and two seconds.
“How is she?”
They spoke together, too impatient to wait any longer.
The doctor smiled then, looking from one to the other.
“She’s fine, apart from a small cut on her forehead.”
They let out a sigh of relief together, as the doctor continued.
“Which is rather strange, we feel.”
“What?”
“Well considering the height of the tree that was described to us earlier and the distance that she fell and the surface she landed on. We would have thought she had least a concussion or a broken bone.”
“Oh!”
Joey’s mouth went dry again, as they disgusted the information.
“It’s as if someone had made sure she hadn’t injured herself when she fell, a guardian angel or something.”
One hour twenty-one minutes and forty-three seconds.
“Can we see her?”
“Of course!”
The doctor led the way down a hallway to the room. Pacey moved his fingers so that they now treaded her, as they stopped at the door. The doctor gestured into the room, letting them walk in together.
Amy lay on the bed, her little head resting to the side against the white pillow with her eyes closed. A strange sense of peace seemed to surround her body as it lay there.
“Hey Amy, you have some visitors.”
Amy stirred, a grin forming at the corner of her lips as her eyes fell on Pacey and Joey. They let go of each other moved to each side of the bed, sitting down carefully.
“I’ll leave you to it.”
The doctor left, but none of the rooms’ occupants seemed to notice.
“How are you feeling sweet pea?”
Pacey spoke first, reaching out to her face, running a thumb across her cheek in a circle motion.
“I’m okay.”
Pacey frowned slightly, reaching up to touch the cut on her small forehead, Amy winced at the contact.
Joey bit her lip, watching them, their silent understanding and comfort that was held between them and wishing she could comfort Amy in someway, anyway without being afraid.
“It’s okay to be afraid. I’m terrified myself.”
She closed her eyes briefly, letting his words sooth her anxiety to run and hide again. Just knowing he felt the same, gave her strength.
“I want to go home.”
Her voice was shaky as she spoke the words she been so afraid to speak for so long. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes meeting his confused ones.
“What?”
“I want to go home.”
“Okay, well I guess we could go talk to the doctor – “
“No, Pace…… I want to take Amy home and I want to go home to our home.”
“Oh.”
Was all he could say, his lips turning up at the corners before he grinned fully at her declaration.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, grinning herself at the love and hope shinning in his eyes again.
