Chapter 19

...beep…beep…beep…

…beep…beep...beep…

AJ slowly turned his head towards the noise that woke him up.  He didn’t remember setting his alarm clock to the annoying buzzing.  He lifted his arm to shut it off when he felt someone take his hand.

“Alex?” He heard as he slowly opened his eyes to see who was there.

“Mom?” AJ said when he heard his mom’s voice.

“Yes sweetheart it’s me.”  She said as she started crying a little.  He reached up to his face when he felt something under his nose, his mom stopped him.  “It’s just the air tube.”

“Oh.” AJ said as he looked around the room.  He was in the hospital, in a private room, his head hurt, his chest hurt, but the air coming through the tube under his nose was almost soothing, refreshing.  “Chelsea” AJ said as he sat up quickly and grabbed his blankets on his bed.

“Alex.” Denise said as she grabbed onto him stopping him.

“Where is she?” AJ asked her.  “Where is she Mom?”

“You need to calm down, you hit your head pretty good and you don’t want to get upset and pass out or something.” Denise said as she covered him back up but he didn’t lay back against his pillows. 

“Mom” AJ said as she looked at him.  He started shaking his head, he fought to get the words out.  “Mom, please tell me she’s ok, don’t…don’t tell me I lost her again.”

“I don’t know how she is Alex.” Denise told him.  “She’s in surgery; all I know is what Kevin told me before he left to go to ICU.”

“Which was?” AJ asked his voice dry and a little weak.

“She had a serious head injury and some internal bleeding.” His Mom said as he looked away.

“I wanna go there.” AJ said quickly as he pulled his blanket off.

“Alex no you need to lay down and rest.” She said as she tried to stop him.

“Mom I’m going there.” He said sternly to her.

“No you are not.” She said just as sternly back to him.  “I was sick with worry over you and you’re going to lay back down.”

“Mom” AJ pleaded with her.  She looked at him and reached up, gently touching the bandage on his head.

“If the doctor says you can, then fine.” She said with a sigh.  “I’ll be right back.”

He watched as his Mom walked out and then put his head in his hands.  He didn’t cry, he was too numb feeling nothing besides the pounding of his head and the ache of his chest.  A minute later his Mom walked back into the room with a doctor and he let the man do his job, not sure what he would do if he told him he couldn’t go see her. He wanted to know why she was there and how she got there.

“So.” AJ said as the doctor closed his clip board.

“You should be well enough if we bring you down there in a wheelchair.” The Doctor told them.

“Thank you.” AJ said with a nod as he started to climb out of his bed.  His Mom handed him some hospital pj’s and he changed out of the paper gown into them. By the time he was done a nurse had shown up with a wheelchair for him and he sat down in it as his step dad Tony walked into the room.  The nurse hooked his IV bag up to the holder on the wheelchair and Tony walked behind him.

“Alright.” The nurse said with a smile.  She walked over to the door as Tony pushed him behind her and then out of the room. 

“How long has she been in surgery?” AJ asked.

“Couple of hours I think.” Denise told him.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath quietly to himself.  Two hour surgery, that can’t be good.

The elevator dinged and AJ looked up as the steel doors opened and he was pushed onto the lift.  It was weird being on an elevator and sitting.  They went down to the second floor and when the door’s opened he was pushed out.

“It’s not on the first floor?” AJ asked.

“No that’s emergency and admittance, ICU and Emerg Surgery are on this floor.” Denise told him.  “They should be in the waiting room.”  She told Tony as she pointed to a sign.  AJ looked around as he was wheeled down the hallway, his mom walking beside him.  He saw the signs and the light from the vending machines as they turned the corner.  When they entered the large seating area he saw many people there, Kevin, Kristin, Anne, Brian, and Leigh-Anne.

“Hey Man.” Kevin said with a smile as he stood up.  “How are you doing?”

“Have you heard anything?” AJ asked.

“No.” Kevin said shaking his head. 

“What was she doing there?” AJ asked him.

“She snuck out of the house, took your rental and drove down to where the police and search teams had set up base.” Kevin told him.  “She had good timing, they were going in and were spotted by him, they think he was too busy with them, and they were to busy with him to even notice her sneaking into the back room from the back window.  Her Dad retreated into the house and saw her untying you.”

“That was her” AJ said with a sigh.

“Yeah” Kevin nodded.  “I don’t know what she was thinking; she hadn’t said two words to anyone all day since we got home.  She spent all day and all night in the room you were staying in.”

“You’re Mom was there for when they got you out and she called us when she saw Chelsea there, we didn’t know she was gone.” Kevin told him.

“Have the police talk to you yet?” Anne asked.

“No, Mom told the Doctor to tell them I’d be here.” AJ said lightly shaking his head.

“How did the bookcase fall on her?” She asked him.

“Her Dad threw her into it; I tried to get to it before it fell but her Dad clothes lined me, I think and knocked the wind out of me.  I passed out before I knew anything else.” AJ said to her.  “Where is her Dad?”

“Dead” Kevin said.

“Seriously?” AJ asked and even through the pain he smiled a little.

“Yeah, sniper took him out before he could get you to your feet.” Kevin said and AJ thought back to just before he passed out and the loud bang he heard before he fell to the floor.  “Are you sure it’s ok for you to be here?”

“Yes” AJ said to him.  “Doctor said it was ok.”

“Don’t know how long he will be able to stay though.” Denise said quickly.

“Until she gets out.” AJ told her.

“Alex if you should be in bed, then you should go back there.” Kevin said to him.  “You know she would want you too.”

“I’m fine and like I said the Doctor said it was ok.”  AJ said again trying to stay calm.

“Do you want anything to drink hun?” His Mom asked him.

“Juice actually.” AJ said as he looked at the drink machine.  His Mom smiled at him and then headed over it.

“Why was she there man?” AJ asked Kevin when his Mom walked away.

“Like I said I dunno, with everything going on we thought she was upstairs, we didn’t even think about your car at all until you’re Mom called and we looked out the window.  “She must of left late at night because there were still cops there when I went to bed, and I checked on her, she was sleeping, I think.” AJ sighed as he sat back in his chair and his Mom came back over with his drink.  As he took a sip from the bottle a doctor came in and when Kevin stood up quickly AJ knew this was Chelsea’s Doctor.

“How is she?” Anne asked.  “Is she going to be ok?”

“Right now she’s ok, she’s out of surgery, we believe we’ve gotten all the internal bleeding to stop but she’s not out of the woods yet.” He told them.  “She had swelling of the brain and we have her in a medical induce coma, when the swelling has gone down to a point were we feel it’s safe, we’ll wake her up and as long as the bleeding has stopped and swelling goes down she should be ok, pending any permanent injuries from the swelling.”

“When can we see her?” Kevin asked.

“Well we won’t be waking her tonight, so I suggest you all go home and get some rest, we’re going to be running a CAT scan at 8 am we’ll no the results then.” He told them.

“Ok.” Kevin nodded.

“If one of you wants to stay in her room over night though, that would be ok.” He said with a light smile.

“Will you stay Kevin?” Anne asked.

“Yeah” Kevin nodded.

“I can.” AJ said as they looked at him.

“No dude, you’re going back to your room and getting some sleep in a bed.” Kevin told him.  “I’ll come get ya tomorrow when they take her for her test ok?”

AJ didn’t want to; he wanted to stay by her, making sure nothing happened to her, making sure he didn’t lose her again.  Reluctantly he nodded and everyone kind of smiled in relief that they wouldn’t have to fight with him over it.  They all began to gather up their things to head home, everyone tired from the last couple of day’s events.

“8 am.” AJ said as him, his Mom, Tony, and Kevin stood in the hallway, well they stood.

“Yes, I’ll be there.” Kevin said with a light smile.  “Glade you’re safe and ok man.” AJ lightly smiled at his comment.  “Get some rest, ok?”  He nodded again and Kevin said goodbye as he headed down the hall towards Chelsea’s room as his Mom and Tony took him back too his.