“AJ! Where are you going?” Nick yelled chasing after AJ.

AJ had already made it to his truck and into the driver’s seat by the time Nick managed to catch up to him.

“I’m leaving! I can’t do this! You just heard the doctor tell them that he was sorry. What would he be sorry for? She didn’t make it! I didn’t get here in time!” AJ screamed punching his dashboard.

The other guys pulled into the lot and saw Nick dragging AJ out of his truck.

“What’s going on?” yelled Howie.

“She died! She didn’t make it! The doctor just told my mother and her cousin that he was sorry and walked away! He didn’t even stay out there to see if they were ok!” AJ screamed, sinking to the ground with his head in his hands. He was crying so hard that he couldn’t stop shaking.

Lucas turned around and ran into the emergency room. Howie pulled Nick aside to talk to him while Kevin and Brian tried to help AJ. The three of them didn’t understand what was going on and neither AJ nor Nick was speaking coherently.

All of a sudden, Lucas came charging towards them waving his arms. “She didn’t die! She’s in the ICU! They’re trying to figure out how much damage has been done!”

AJ looked up and his heart stopped.  She’s alive?

-------------------- 

Denise and Brooke were still waiting in the waiting room when AJ came rushing back into the ER followed by the other five men.

AJ dropped into the chair next to his mother asking a barrage of questions.

“She’s ok? What happened? Who did this? Did they find them? Where did they find her?” he asked frantically.

“AJ, honey, slow down. I can’t answer everything at once!” Denise tried to calm her son down so she could explain. She asked the others to sit so that they could all talk.

“They’re not sure what happened. I took Brooke home to see if Alissa was there…”

“Was she?” AJ cut his mother off.

“No, she wasn’t. I got Brooke settled and I heard pounding on the door. I ran to open it and I saw a car peeling out of the driveway. When I turned to go in..” Denise choked up, “I saw Alissa lying in the driveway. I ran over to check her pulse and she was alive but barely.” Denise finally got it out and started to cry.

All eight of them sat there saying nothing. No one knew what to say.

--------------------- 

Up in the ICU, Alissa lay in the bed hooked up to all these machines. She looked so small and fragile in the bed and the nurse teared up just looking at her. The nurse was still in there when the doctor came in to check on his patient.

“Nurse, can I see you for a second?” he asked and pulled her out into the hallway. “She has family down in the ER waiting room but I don’t want anyone in here disturbing her. Please let them know that they can come back tomorrow morning and see her.”