The sound of the phone ringing at three a.m. woke AJ out of a sound sleep. He lifted his head up and squinted at the phone.
"This better be fucking important," he grumbled,picking up the receiver.
"Lo?"
"AJ…it’s Noah. I know it’s early over there but I wouldn’t be calling you if it wasn’t an emergency."
AJ shot straight up in bed. He didn’t like the tone of his voice. Whatever he had to tell him he knew it wasn’t good.
"What is it? Did something happen?"
"Yes…I don’t really know how to say this…"
"Oh God…just tell me Noah," AJ commanded.
"Alright. Dawn was in a car accident tonight."
"WHAT?!?! Is she okay??" He asked anxiously, trying not to panic.
"I’m not sure. She’s in surgery right now. I haven’t heard anything yet."
"How…how did it happen?" He asked quietly, trying not to cry.
"The van she was riding in was on its way to the venue when a tractor trailer slammed into them from behind.The weather is bad here and it couldn’t stop…" Noah’s voice trailed off.
"Who else was in there with her? D? Steve?"
"Steve was in the front seat…he’s fine. D was in the back. She’s in pretty bad shape. She went through the windshield, AJ."
AJ closed his eyes. This couldn’t be happening.
"My God…"
There was a long silence. Noah didn’t know what else to tell him. He hated the man but felt sorry for him. He understood what he was feeling…he was feeling it, too. AJ was the first to speak.
"Nick and I will catch the first flight out."
"Okay, I’m sure she’ll be out of surgery by then."
"If she wakes up before I get there, tell her I’m on my way."
"I will," Noah promised.
‘Yah sure you will,’ AJ thought.
"Alright…thanks…bye."
AJ hung up the phone and dialed Nick.
"What?"
"Nick, dude, wake up!!" AJ shouted into the phone.
"AJ?? Man…it’s three o’clock in the fucking morning!" Nick yelled back.
"Do you think I’d be calling you if it wasn’t important!"
Nick sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"What’s up?"
"We gotta fly to Europe. There was a bad accident on the way to the venue. The girls are hurt Nick…it’s bad."
"What?? I’ll pick you up in ten minutes."
The flight to Sweden was hell. AJ and Nick were beside themselves with worry. They didn’t know what they were going to find when they got there. They prayed they would be alive.
Kevin had called AJ and told him everyone was catching a flight out to lend some moral support. Denise was bringing Arianna the next day. She figured Dawn would need to see her.
They finally got to the hospital at five p.m. Dawn was out of surgery but still out of it. She was going to be fine. D was still unconscious. The doctor came out and told them they could go see the girls. He warned Nick that D didn’t look like herself. Her face was badly bruised and bandaged. He didn’t want him to be too shocked. AJ hugged him and went to see Dawn.
Nick opened the door slowly and peeked in. He gasped at the site before him. D looked so lifeless. He couldn’t believe the person lying there was his girlfriend. It took everything he had not to breakdown and cry at the site of her.
He went over to the bed and pulled up a chair. He sat down and looked at all the machines and tubes hooked up to her. He saw her left arm was wrapped in a cast. He took her other hand delicately and kissed it.
"Baby, it’s Nick. I’m here."
She didn’t move. All he heard were the machines.
"You have to pull through this. Please baby. I need you."
He couldn’t stop the tears that had been threatening to fall since he walked in. He put his forehead against her hand and let go.
D’s eyes slowly opened and she squinted at the bright light. She tried to figure out where she was. She felt someone holding her hand and looked down. She smiled when she saw a blonde head.
"Nicky," she whispered hoarsely.
Nick’s head shot upat the sound of her voice.
"Baby, thank God you’re awake!"
She gave him a weak smile.
"What are you doing here?"
He looked at her strangely.
"Honey, you were in a car accident. I came to make sure you were okay."
She looked around and noticed her arm was in a cast. Confused she tried to sit up. She cringed in pain.
"Ow! Nicky, it hurts!"
"I’ll go get someone."
Nick hurried out of the room and came back a few minutes later with her doctor. He resumed his seat by her side and held her hand.
"Hello Miss Jacobs. How are you feeling?" The doctor asked with a concerned smile.
"Everything hurts. What happened?"
"You were in a car accident. The van you were riding in was struck from behind by a mack truck. You were thrown through the windshield. You sustained a broken arm and leg. You have two broken ribs and a lot of cuts and bruises but you’re going to be fine now."
"A car accident?" She closed her eyes and tried to remember what happened. "I don’t remember anything."
"You had severe head trauma so you may not remember the accident. Things may seem foggy to you for awhile.Things may come back to you. It will take some time," the doctor assured her as she checked her vital signs.
"Just get some rest. I’ll be back to check on you later."
"Thank you doctor," Nick said as the doctor left.
"What about Dawn? Is she okay?"
"She’s fine. AJ is with her now."
He didn't have the heart to tell her that the driver didn't make it. He'd wait until she asked.
D let out a sigh of relief. She remembered Dawn being in the van. They were talking about something. But what?
"Why don’t you get some rest baby," Nick said, giving her a soft kiss.
She nodded slowly and smiled.
"I love you baby," Nick whispered, holding her hand to his cheek.
"I love you too," she whispered back, letting herself fall into unconsciousness.
AJ walked quietly into Dawn's room. He looked over ather lying in the bed with all the machines hooked upto her. Terrible memories came rushing back to him, memories of the last time he had seen her lying helpless in a hospital bed. He tried to push them out of his mind as he approached her and pulled the chair closer to the side of the bed. He sat down and picked up her hand.
"Angel, I'm here. It's gonna be okay." He whispered as he kissed her hand gently.
He tried to fight back tears as he examined her injuries. Her arms and face were covered in cuts and bruises. She had a deep gash above her eye where she had stitches. Underneath her right eye was black and blue. He wasn't exactly sure of the extent of her injuries, other than the ones he could see, he was in such a hurry to see her, he hadn't had a chance to really speak to the doctor. He clutched her hand with both hands and rubbed it against his cheek. A tear drop slid down his cheek.
"Baby, I love you so much. I'm so sorry about he way things have been lately, the things that have happened. I don't care about any of that anymore, all that matters are the two of us....and Arianna. We both need you and love you..."
He leaned over further on the bed and gently kissed her on the lips then laid his head on her chest as he listened to her heart beat. He heard her breathing break from the usual pattern. He quickly lifted his head and watched her, hoping she would wake up. Dawn’s eyes fluttered open. She tried to focus her eyes and get a bearing on her surroundings. The first thing she was was AJ.
"Hey Angel!"
"Alex, Hi!" She smiled sweetly, glad to see him.
Her head was pounding. She put her hand up to her head and felt the stitches she had in her forehead.
"Ouch!" She said aloud.
She looked at her arms, covered in cuts and bruises. She was hooked up to an IV.
"What happened?" She asked AJ.
"You were in a bad car accident."
He took her hand inhis. Suddenly it all came rushing back to her. She remembered being in the van on the way to her show, she was talking to D and they stopped at a light. She remembered that it was raining hard, she remembered seeing a semi coming up behind them. Then her mind went blank. She couldn’t remember anything else.
"It was a truck…" her voice trailed off.
She sat up and attempted to move her legs, but a sharp pain shot though her legs and lower body as she yelped out in pain. She was in so much pain she started to cry.
"Alex, it hurts! What’s wrong with me??" She cried.
"Baby, stay still, I’m gonna go get the doctor," AJ rushed out of the room to get the doctor.
A minute later the doctor walked in with AJ following right behind him.
"Well, good morning, Miss Simon, or should I say good evening," he smiled. "I’m Doctor McMahon."
She gave him a weak smile.
"How are you feeling?"
"I hurt all over."
"Well, that’s to be expected. You’ve been through a terrible ordeal. It was a very serious accident. It was a miracle you escaped with only the injuries that you did. As a matter of fact, there are a few miracles I see here in looking at your chart."
"What about everyone else in the van? D? Steve?Charlie?" She asked, his last words not registering in her mind.
"We’ll talk about that later, Angel. Right now, let’sjust concentrate on what the doctor is going to tell you." AJ took her hand in his.
"No Alex! I wanna know now!!"
AJ and Dr. McMahon just looked at each other. AJ nodded his head. The doctor cleared his throat.
"Steve is alright, a little bruised and scratched, but he’s okay. He was wearing his seatbelt, he was lucky…"
"What about D?"
"Well, in the impact, she, like you, was thrown into the front seat. She went through the windshield. You actually hit the seat in front of you, the driver’s seat, which prevented you from having more severe injuries…."
"Oh my God.." she covered her mouth with her hand.
"Don’t worry, though. She just woke up a little while ago. She’s in serious condition. She has a broken leg, her left arm is broken and she has two broken ribs. She also suffered head trauma, as you did, maybe a little more severe. She will be fine, though."
Dawn breathed a sigh of relief.
"What about Charlie? You said I hit the driver’s seat."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence
before the doctor spoke.
"Unfortunately, Charlie wasn’t wearing his seatbelt and hit the windshield at such a fast speed, his
neck was broken…"
Tears started to fall down her cheeks, she had a terrible feeling about what he was going to say.
"And?"
The doctor hesitated for a moment.
"I’m sorry, he didn’t make it. He died instantly."
Dawn gasped and started to sob, "Oh my god…"
She buried her face in her hands. AJ pulled her into his arms and held her. She held onto him as she cried on his shoulder.
"Sshh, it’s okay, Angel," he said in a soothing voice as he stroked her hair.
"Alex, it’s my fault! Had I been wearing my seatbelt, I wouldn’t have hit the driver’s seat and he wouldn’t have hit the windshield so hard!" She sobbed.
"It’s not your fault, baby."
"Miss Simon, it was not your fault. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, either. Even if you hadn’t hit the seat, he still would have gone through the windshield. It was quite an impact."
"But he might not have hit it as hard as he did," she sobbed. "He might still be alive!"
The doctor waited a minute then spoke.
"Would you like me to come back later? So we can go over your injuries?"
She tried to stop crying and lifted her head off AJ’s shoulder.
"No, that’s okay. You might as well give it all to me now," she answered, tears still sliding down her face.
"Are you sure, Angel?"
"Yeah, I’m sure," she whispered.
"Okay, well, I know you’ve noticed that your lower body is in a lot of pain. You have a fractured hip and a severely bruised pelvis along with a couple bruised ribs."
"Fractured hip?? Will I be able to dance again?"
"Dancing will be difficult, but I’m not saying it can’t be done. Your hip will probably give you problems for the rest of your life. It’s just going to take some time and a lot of patience, but you'll dance again. What’s going to be a lot harder is childbirth."
Dawn chuckled sadly.
"That actually won’t be a problem at all, I can’t have anymore kids."
The doctor looked down at her chart, puzzled.
"That’s odd…"
"What’s odd?" AJ asked.
"Well, according to her chart...Umm, I’ll be right back. Hold on one minute."
Dawn and AJ looked at each other puzzled as the doctor walked out of the room. He returned a few minutes later.
"Miss Simon, this is Doctor Shaye, he was the head surgeon when you were brought in. He operated on you. I didn’t want to give you false information in case there happened to be a mistake on your chart, but he did verify.."
"Verify what??"
Dawn and AJ asked at the same time.
"Well, it seems that they had some problems during your surgery..."
"What kind of problems??" AJ asked, getting impatient.
"Problems wasn't the right word, small obstacle was more like it…."
"Will you come out with it already??" AJ demanded, getting upset.
Dawn clutched his hand. The last time she remembered a scenario like this, she was in the hospital after Anthony had almost killed her and the doctor told her that she couldn't have anymore children. She couldn't imagine any news being worse than that. She tried to prepare herself for what he was going to say.
"Miss Simon..." Dr. Shaye said as he approached her. "You’re pregnant."