a change of heart

Please don't leave me

                 Jay was sat with hailey in the waiting room, they were in silence but haileys presence was enough for him to remain somewhat preserved.  They were both interrupted by Will as he walked up to them, "how is she?" Jay practically jumped up.  Will nodded, "she's okay and awake. She had a pneumothorax in the lower part of her left lung and she's got a mild concussion, but dr marcel managed to fix the internal damage and she's on the road to recovery, physically more than mentally..." he sighed. 

                 Jay nodded, "is that why she passed out?" He frowned, Will shook his head, "no, she passed out from the pain. Her body just needed to shut down and catch up with its injuries. She's got a lot of bruises and cuts which have been cleaned up but mentally, I don't know how long it'll take to recover" he sighed. Jay nodded sadly, he knows that she's still scared from the kidnapping situation and this was just about to add another thing onto the list, "can we see her?" He questioned after a seconds silence.  Will nodded sadly, "she might be tired, but yeah..." he turned around. 

                   The trio found themselves entering graces room as she was staring at the wall blankly, "hey" jay smiled and sat down on a chair near her bed, grace looked at him and smiled weakly, "hi..." she groggily yawned.  Hailey and Will smiled, "I quit cheer..." she looked down.  Will frowned, "that's okay, we don't have to talk about it..." he started but she cut him off by shaking her head, "no, that's why this happened. I quit cheer, then I went to the restroom at lunch like I always do and they were there, they said I always ruin everything and I..." she began to breath a bit more rapidly, "hey it's okay, just take nice deep breaths" Will placed and hand on her shoulder.

Jay sat up in confusion, "you go to the restroom at lunchtimes?" He tilted his head. Grace looked down and stayed silent, "it's okay grace, you can tell us" hailey smiled. Grace nodded, "yeah...i do" she shrugged. Jay looked at Will in confusion, "what happened to Lola and the others? I thought you were all friends..." Will frowned. Grace shook her head, "we haven't been friends for a while, they said I don't do things or go to parties with them so there's no point. I just stopped going to lunch with them after a while..." she kept her gaze down.

                Jay frowned, "look at me, champ" he grabbed her hand, grace looked at him with tears threatening to spill, "why didn't you tell us?" He frowned.  Grace shook her head, "I didn't wanna worry you guys...it's my problem not yours, I thought I could handle it..." she let a tear fall.  Jay tilted his head, "shhhhh it's okay, it's okay. We're gonna get to the bottom of this and it'll all be okay, we promise" he wiped her stray tear away.  Grace nodded sadly as jay and Will went to get up, "please don't leave me" she reached out and grabbed their hands.

Jay and Will turned back around as grace grabbed both of their hands to see a frightened version of their younger sister, jay looked at hailey, "you stay, I'll go let hank know" she smiled. Jay nodded thankfully as his partner left, "we're not going anywhere" Will smiled and sat back down as jay did the same. Grace smiled thankfully at them, "get some rest and we'll be right here when you wake up" Will added, grace hesitantly nodded but laid back down so she could sleep. Within a few minutes she was in a deep sleep still holding one of her brothers hands but she didn't know which one.

Jay looked at Will with fury in his eyes, he still had ahold of graces hand, "she said it was Tyler, Mathew and lukas. Wait till I see their parents" he scoffed quietly, Will frowned, "I know you're mad, I'm pissed as hell too. But grace needs us more than ever right now, so don't go doing anything too stupid" he sighed.  Jay shrugged, "maybe this is why she's had a change of heart recently, you know, being unusually quiet, rarely leaving her room..." he looked at her hand sadly.  Will nodded, "probably, but if it is we can help her. She'll be herself again in no time" he nodded.

After a few hours it was now midnight and grace was finally waking up but when she woke up there was no one by her side so she started to panic. Jay was stood in the bathroom washing his hands when he could hear grace breathing rather rapidly, "G? Hey, look at me. Deep breaths, I'm right here, you're okay..." he ran to her side.  Grace clutched onto his arm but quickly calmed down knowing someone was there by her side, "that's it, you're okay" he pulled her into a hug. She let a tear fall down her cheek, "it's okay, I'm not going anywhere" he wiped it away and sat back down as he brushed his wet hand on his shirt.

                   In the morning grace woke up to Will, jay and hailey sat next to her with dr Marcel on the other side of her, "what time is it?" She groaned and sat up.  Jay smiled and laughed a little, "hello to you too" he smiled, grace smiled and laughed a little, "9:30am, champ" he added and answered her itching question.  Grace raised her eyebrows, she never wakes up this early, "when can I go home?" She looked down, she hates hospitals like jay does.  All of them smiled, "we figured you'd ask that sooner or later, but you'll be glad to know you're free to go whenever you're ready" dr Marcel smiled.  Grace looked at jay and Will with widened eyes, "that doesn't mean you're out of the blue mrs" will raised an eyebrow.

               Grace sighed, "you'll be on bed rest for a week and then you'll go back to being cautious" Will added.  Dr Marcel nodded when he saw graces bummed face, "your concussion and less serious injuries still need time to heal, bed rest is the best way for your body to cut down on recovery time" he smiled sadly.  Grace nodded, "alright..." she sighed but smiled at the other doctor.  Will and jay nodded, "I'm assuming you don't wanna stay here any longer, so go get changed then we can take you home" jay added.  Grace shook her head vigorously but soon regretted it when she almost felt her brain bashing around up there. 

                  "Done" she called out so jay and Will walked back into her room, hailey helped her change into her clothes again since she didn't mind her seeing her body.  Jay grabbed her bag of old bloody clothes, "c'mon then, smelly" he smiled and put his arm out for her to walk by his side.  Will couldn't come over to jays just yet since he had to work this shift before joining them but hailey could go back, grace smiled weakly and walked by his side as he wrapped his arm around her.  Hailey just smiled and walked next to them as she took the bag from jays hand so he could focus on grace. 

                  It didn't take long before the trio arrived home, "we're here, champ" jay gently nudged her leg from the passenger seat of haileys car since grace had fallen asleep in the back.  She opened her eyes slowly and looked out of the window where her eyes softened at the sight of her own home, jay felt like killing the parents of the boys who did this to her when he saw the fear in her eyes when she opened her eyes.  She nodded and unbuckled her seatbelt then got out of the car groggily, she never expected to be this tired from getting in and out of a car, but hey-ho she wasn't complaining about getting more sleep when she gets inside.

                  Without jay even having to order her over to the couch for now, she willingly trudged her way over to the comfort of the couch and flopped down, instantly hating herself for being so careless when a rush of pain surged over her, she groaned in pain then heard jays voice from the kitchen, "take it easy, grace!" He ordered with care.  Grace smiled to herself and let her eyes close, the second she let her head sink into the cushion she was swept away into a deep sleep.  She had to admit, she didn't know which pain was worse, the area where they punctured a needle into her chest, her concussion or her bruises and cuts, all she knew was that she was in agony.

                 Jay and hailey stood in the kitchen so grace wouldn't hear them, "how am I meant to sit at home when the bastards who did this to her are still running around that school thinking they're bees knees?" Jay scoffed, clearly expressing his anger in a more reserved way.  Hailey placed a calming hand on his shoulder which calmed him right down, "grace needs you more than anyone right now, Hanks already got the team working on it. We're gonna do this the right way, no pulling stupid stunts, we gotta stay calm, for grace..." she practically whispered.  Jay sighed after a few seconds but nodded, "yeah..." he nodded in defeat.