Chapter Twenty-One: It’s Just Too Little Too Late
Three hours…that’s when Clark and Mary finally showed up with Lori and baby Jamie in tow. He’d gone to the airport to pick up his mother before coming to the hospital. He walked in hugging Alyssa to his chest briefly before Nick made her sit down again. He looked around the room seeing Kellie, AJ and Angela all sitting there and Jane as well off to the side. “Any progress?”
“She should have just gotten out of surgery.” Alyssa remarked just as Dr. Andrews walked into the waiting room wearing surgical scrubs.
“Hello everyone, Olivia made it through surgery well.” She announced directing her commentary to Alyssa.
“Is there any permanent damage?” Mary asked concerned that her oldest baby may never be the same.
Dr. Andrews sighed, “She should make a full recovery.”
Alyssa sighed and relaxed against Nick as his arms enveloped her letting her cry in relief against his shoulder. “When can I see her?” Angela asked.
Dr. Andrews grinned, “Though I’m not legally required to let you see her, you can go ahead and follow me back to recovery.”
Angela sighed and got up with Mary both of them going back into the recovery room with Dr. Andrews. Meanwhile Alyssa wiped her eyes in blessed relief that her sister would be okay. It made everything feel a little better that she’d made it through. Clark sighed covering his face in his hands. He’d come close to losing his older sister. One of very most important women in his life almost died because of some homophobic macho freaks. “God I’m so glad she’ll be okay.” He remarked.
“I know, I was so scared.”
“I bet…we all were.” Lori added. “Kel I’m glad you two could make it too.”
“Olivia is family to me, I wouldn’t be anywhere else.” Kellie replied lacing her fingers with AJ’s.
Alyssa moved to get up prompting Nick to stand helping her. Jane stood as well, “Where are you going honey?” She asked concerned.
“Just to the bathroom, you know pregnant lady has to pee.” She joked sniffling still.
Alyssa passed Mary and Angela as they came back into the waiting room Angela’s eyes all red and puffy from getting emotional seeing her partner, her lover, her best friend unconscious on a gurney as her body fought to repair itself from the immense trauma of the evening. Nick followed her out standing outside the bathroom door waiting for her. Meanwhile inside the bathroom Alyssa broke down fully and wept, half out of joy that her sister would be okay, and half out of sadness that it had to happen at all. It’s no wonder that she blamed herself, if she hadn’t pushed Olivia to go out and enjoy her trip she wouldn’t be lying there recovering from major surgery to repair a pierced lung from the trauma of being assaulted and raped by several men. She couldn’t understand how Angela had remained relatively unscathed injury wise and why her sister received the worst of it.
She couldn’t help it, but maybe if her sister hadn’t fought back they would have just done the same thing they did to Angela and left it at that. But then again…Olivia always attracted unwelcoming looks from the opposite sex, not that Angela didn’t as well, but because of Olivia’s curvy figure she found it even harder to be a lesbian sometimes because of how horrible some men could be. She’d nearly gotten sick just hearing Angela recount what she could of the attack, how the four men approached the women as they walked to their car after clubbing holding hands. How Angela pepper sprayed one and another hit her hard with his fist knocking her down and cracking her skull against the hard pavement, the last thing she remembered was Olivia’s screams and a loud scuffle as everything went dark.
Nick leaned against the wall as he waited patiently for her to return from the bathroom. He glanced around watching nurses and doctors walk by, wheeling beds sometimes with patients and sometimes without. He looked at his watch wondering how long it would take for her in there. He knew it wasn’t just to go to the bathroom, it was to get away. So she could breathe, escape for a moment from all the craziness. He shook his head running his fingers over his chin. He couldn’t imagine what Angela could possibly going through. He almost lost Alyssa once before and that had scared him so much that it made him realize his feelings for her. But he couldn’t imagine, Alyssa being attacked, just for being open with her sexuality like Olivia and Angela were. Would some people never learn to put aside their hatred?
She braced herself against the counter as she felt the sharp searing pang shoot through her abdomen. Alyssa looked up into the mirror calming herself knowing that it was only hurting herself by stressing out so much. She moved into the stall going to the bathroom as she planned to. She looked at her underwear seeing a few red splotches on the fabric. She closed her eyes and put her head in her hands breathing in and out slowly, she couldn’t do this, her body wouldn’t let her do this to herself she thought angrily. She finished up and walked over to the sinks again washing her hands then walked out of the bathroom stopping short when she saw Nick standing there.
He pulled her body close hugging her to him, “I don’t know what I’d do if that happened to you sugar.” He remarked kissing her hair and just breathing in her scent. Alyssa felt another sharp pain shoot through her abdomen. She needed to sit, down, if she sat down she’d be fine right? Alyssa clung to him just lightly sobbing into his chest. This entire thing was so surreal, like she was having an out of body experience. The mere thought of her sister being hurt, injured, and unconscious in a hospital room was not an idea she could honestly bear.
Growing up Olivia was always so bright and fun to be with, she was a huge positive force in everyone’s life. Even when she was doubting and struggling with her own sexuality Olivia was still an amazing force in the family and really the glue that held them all together. To think of her not being there was unfathomable not only to Alyssa, but to Clark and Mary as well as Lori and Kellie. That was one of the great things about Alyssa’s family, they always adopted the kids’ friends as their own, giving them love and support whenever their own families failed at that. Nick had found comfort and solace in her family more than once whenever his family was hitting a rough patch, and Alyssa felt lucky that she could have such a solid and firm foundation that let her become the person she is. She pulled away and laced their fingers as they turned and rounded a corner to go back to the waiting room.
Mary came up to them in the hall as they made their way back. She had this relieved smile gracing her face that was still red and puffy from her worried sobs earlier in the night. It was the first time since her father’s death that she saw her mother be really vulnerable and it wasn’t something she wanted to see ever again.
“Come with me, she’s awake!” She said excitedly wiping her face trying her best not to look like she had completely lost composure at the mere thought of her oldest child, one of her babies, being in danger.
Alyssa looked over at Nick who nodded and grinned then let her go. “I’ll be back in a few.” She said giving him a short but lingering kiss. This entire experience was beginning to make her see that if she didn’t appreciate what precious time Nick and her did have together, it could be gone in an instant, just like it almost did for Angela that night. She couldn’t imagine the pain of losing him, or her family for that matter. Nick let her go and walked into the waiting room smiling at Angela.
“She’s awake I hear.”
Angela nodded, “I know I went in and saw her, she remembers al lot of what happened. I almost wished she didn’t no one should have to remember that sort of trauma.”
Nick sighed and sat down next to her, “She’s strong though, she’ll make it. Did they say how bad her injuries were?”
“She had a pierced lung, one cracked rib, broken arm, tons of bruises and contusions. The worst was that they found evidence of rape.”
Nick gasped and closed his eyes. He could barely imagine how any man can do that to a woman, to hurt her like that. “God I can’t even…” He said running his hands over his face trying to maintain his composure.
Angela sighed and placed her head on his shoulder, “Thank you for being here Nick…”
Nick looked over at her and gave her a half grin. “Why?”
She patted his leg then fiddled with her cast on her other arm. “Because, you’re like a brother to me, and I don’t really have a family like that, so I’m just really thankful that you came here it really shows that you care.”
Nick nodded, “I do care, you and Ollie are really important to my life, and Alyssa’s too. So I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else but right here knowing you’re going to make it and not sitting at home worried sick and not knowing first hand.”
Meanwhile in Olivia’s hospital room Alyssa walked in seeing the various bandages around her sister, the torso cast, the gauze wrapped around her head with crimson symbols of her battle above her brow. Her arm in a cast and her eyes, the torment you could see clearly in them. She looked up seeing her sister standing there and all that pain, anger, fear and torment left her face in favor of a smile. “Ali…” She muttered in an almost whisper.
Alyssa broke down and walked over throwing her arms around her sister gently and breaking down sobbing that her sister would be okay. “Ollie… Ollie…” She said over an over again in between sobs.
Olivia cried and clung to her younger sister as Mary pulled up a chair behind Alyssa for her to sit. Alyssa broke away and sat down taking Olivia’s hand trying carefully the IV taped to the back of her hand. Mary pulled up another chair on the other side placing her hand on Olivia’s thigh gently knowing that she was bruised and banged up pretty badly. “God we’ve all got maudlin haven’t we?” Olivia remarked squeezing Alyssa’s hand a little.
Alyssa sniffed and wiped her tears away. “I’m sorry it’s just God Olivia you scared me.”
“I know I’m a little messed up right now but geez I didn’t think I was all that hideous” She joked making the air lighter in the room if only for moment as the three women laughed heartily at Olivia’s joke. They all knew it was her defense mechanism, how she dealt with pain was to avoid it by making everyone laugh while internally she was screaming. Alyssa got serious for a moment then there was a knock at the door. They all looked up seeing two officers there, a woman who’d identified herself as Detective Davies, and her partner Detective McDaniel.
“Hello Ms. Monroe. I’m Detective Davies, and we would like to ask you some questions.” She stated. Both Mary and Alyssa went to leave but Olivia stopped them both, needing them by her side.
“Sure…” Olivia said trying to gather her strength as much as possible.
“Can you replay the events for us as you and your partner Angela left the club?” Detective Davies asked flipping open her notebook to take notes.
Olivia took a deep breath and began to recount the tale of what had happened earlier in the evening. Alyssa breathed deeply staring off into space hearing every word her sister said feeling like daggers in her heart. When Olivia began to describe the rape Alyssa stood making everyone look at her. “I….I…I’m sorry I just…can’t.” She said leaving the room feeling horribly sick to her stomach. Her vivid imagination wouldn’t let her be as her mind pictured the sight that Olivia described. She couldn’t handle it, her stomach ached and the muscles in her abdomen pulsed with pain as she walked back into the waiting room her face as white as a sheet.
Nick stood immediately seeing her there pulling her over to sit down out of concern for the look on her face. “Are you okay?” He asked.
Alyssa sat down and shook a little her whole body was shaking as she yet again felt more sharp pain in her abdomen. She didn’t understand what was going on she knew it was just stress and that she needed to breathe. “I couldn’t handle it, the cops came in and started asking Olivia questions and she described what happened, and when she got to the rape I couldn’t handle anymore. Just hearing how it went down made me sick to my stomach.”
Nick kissed her forehead and brought her close. “Is Olivia all right?” Jane asked out of concern.
“Yeah…Mom’s in there with her so she’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure it shocked her you know, for you to just up and leave like that.” Jane admonished making Alyssa grit her teeth in anger.
“Mom not now.” Nick reasoned as he saw the officers come back into the room.
“We’d like to ask you just a few more questions Angela.”
Angela nodded and recounted the story again as they looked for any holes or inconsistencies with her story in comparison with Olivia’s. She knew it was procedure but it still frustrated the utter hell out of her that she had to keep reliving it over and over. “I’ve told you already.” She finally spouted. “Do you not get how hard this is?!” She shouted. “I don’t want to keep reliving it all right.”
Nick stood and put his hands on her shoulders pulling her back away a bit. “Sorry but could we do this later?” He asked. “We’re all stressed and upset and Angela needs to rest she’s been through enough don’t you think?” He said sharply.
The officers relented and left them all in the waiting room. Nick shook with anger and frustration and Angela crumbled to the chair and sobbed. Nick and Alyssa soothed her as best they could as Jane rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe how rude you were to them. They’re just doing their job.”
Alyssa looked over at Jane giving her a warning glance. “Jane just shut up about it okay?” Alyssa spat.
Jane narrowed her eyes and looked at her sternly. “Well all I’m saying is they’re just doing their job. No need to get rude. And furthermore none of this would have happened if you didn’t go run crying to your sister about how I was stressing you out, you could have just told me to my face.”
Alyssa’s eyes blazed. “You listened to my conversation? And I did tell you Jane, time and time again to just back the fuck off as politely as I could but you’re too fucking dense to get the picture.”
“I’m too dense? Please you’re the one who thinks you can have a job and raise a family. You have no idea what it takes to raise children.”
“Oh that’s right you’re the authority on the subject because you did such a bang up job raising yours.” Alyssa interjected scoffing at Jane’s righteous tone. Nick placed his hand firmly on Alyssa’s thigh giving her a pleading glance to stop.
“You don’t seem to mind them too much, in fact you’re marrying one remember.” Jane reminded snottily. Nick shot his mother a look and sighed he wanted them to stop but was so in shock of their words he didn’t know what to do.
“Nick is a great man in spite of you Jane. Face it you failed.”
“At least my children weren’t raised around deviant filth like your sister.” She spat making Alyssa glare and stand up. Everyone looked between the two women, wondering what exactly was going to happen.
“Alyssa don’t…” Nick said standing as well.
Alyssa waved him off and stood firmly yet her entire body was shaking in the utmost rage. No one insulted her family and got away with it. “How fucking dare you even presume to judge my sister. You’ve done nothing but mooch off the talent and success of your own children you fucking succubus and you have the audacity to come into my city, my home and do nothing but judge and literally annoy the living fuck out of everyone and every life you touch? Well fuck you Jane and rot in hell.”
“I should have expected this kind of behavior from a classless little harlot like you. Admit it you trapped my son into this relationship.”
At that moment Nick stepped in making Alyssa sit and shake in anger and stress. “Just shut the fuck up Mom. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He retorted his blue eyes blazing, nostrils flared and fists clenching at his side.
Alyssa groaned feeling the sharpest pain shoot through her abdomen making her cry out then feel a wetness seep into her shorts. She looked down seeing the small puddle form on the tile floor. “Nick?” She said shakily who turned to look at her when she had cried out in pain.
He crumbled to his knees in front of her worried that she was hurt. “What’s wrong?” He asked his face worried and full of concern for his fiancée and their baby.
“I think…I need a doctor…” She said as another wave of searing pain hit her making her grip the chair. Nick’s eyes moved to her stomach then to her shorts seeing the large wet spot and the puddle on the floor and a question in his eyes. “I think my water just broke…” She said through gritted teeth making Nick’s eyes widen and a collective gasp ring out in the room.
As always if you read please let me know what you think okies? Thanks ya'll rock!
Author's Chapter Notes:
Soooo here's the first of 3 chapters i must get done this weekend, cuz they're pretty major and I don't wanna be too mean you know? As always read and review!
Chapter End Notes:
Tri and Jamanda, Sarah, Kelly and everyone else I went to advice for on this chapter, this is for you I hope I did you're wonderful advice justice!
