Rain Check?

~86~

  "Abrams family!" 

  Chris whips his head around, hearing the voice of the earlier nurse. He raises his hand, along with Conor as everyone there with them begins grabbing their belongings. 

  Lisa and Carly had arrived with tear stained faces and strained voices, having explained to Chris off to the side that they'd been unable to control their sobs over the pain for Dempsey and yet relief that they'd not been involved themselves. 

  Awkward would've normally been the correct way to describe the meeting of any two families of which their children are no longer dating. But, the situation they find themselves in leads the experience to be very different. Lisa immediately gravitates to Leigh Ann, holding her as she quietly cries on and off. Getting her fresh water and ever encouraging her to take a small walk for fresh air.  After a long hug, Carly moves from Chris to Conor and quickly becomes a shoulder for her to cry on. They bond over their role as moms and trade stories about their children to help pass the time. 

  Feet moving on their own accord, while back pain from uncomfortable hospital chairs suddenly flee their minds, all six adults flank the nurse sending her into a slight panic at the number.  "Are all of you family?" she asks, tossing a look at Chris in whom she already knows that answer.

  "We're her immediate family," Conor answers, motioning with a shaky hand between herself and her mother. 

  The nurse nods. "Great. If the two of you would follow me."

  "What about the rest of us?" Chris asks, aggravation becoming present in his voice as one hand finds his hip. 

  "This is family only," the nurse responds.

   Her words sending Chris into a spiral of fear as his heart clenches in his chest.  He looks to Conor and Leigh Ann, his eyes pleading with desperation. He watches as Conor mouths "I'm sorry" before following behind the nurse, the doors closing behind them.

  Lisa now changes her original stance, now able to comfort her son. "Come on," she speaks quietly, taking Chris' hand off of his hip and slipping it in her own. "I'm sure they'll tell us everything once they're finished."

  "I don't understand. It's gotta be something bad, right? For them to only allow family?" he asks, his words filled with pain. He takes his empty seat once again, leaning over with his elbows resting just above his knee caps as one leg begins bouncing. 

  Lisa wraps one arm around his back. "Not necessarily. Probably more of a hospital policy than anything, but it does give the family some private time to process whatever information they're given, make decisions and what not," her voice trailing off over the last few words.

  "Ma," Chris whines, turning his head towards his mother, eyes beginning to brim in tears for the first time during the day. He'd managed to keep them at bay, not for his own benefit but for Dempsey's mother and sister. But now, he's there with just his family, the resolve to stay strong waning quickly. "How can you think like that?"

  His mother swallows, her own face saddened by the possibilities of what may or may never be. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't thought about seeing her son down at one end of an aisle, waiting as Dempsey floated to him dressed in white. Opening up a hospital door to see the two of them in bed, cradling the newest bundle of Evans joy. Countless Christmas' with Dempsey helping in the kitchen with the festivities. Seeing her son dance with his bride at their own daughter's wedding. 

  

  An hour and a half passes with not one word or news from Dempsey's family. Scott's taken it upon himself to be the designated person to drive the nurses station crazy, constantly asking for any type of news every fifteen minutes. Chris checks his phone for the fiftieth time, hoping for even a single word from Conor, knowing that she now has his number from when Dempsey was so sick.

  How was that only a month ago? How was it possible that so much has happened since those few days he spent taking care of her? 

  Chris paces the waiting room his cap in his hand having long forgotten or cared about being recognized. He gives side eye to the nurse from earlier who just returns his look with an eye roll, still holding onto her job of confidentiality. He decides to resort to counting the tiles along the floor as he walks. The dingy linoleum proving how old and worn this building has become over countless years of caring for the injured and sick.  

  By the time he reaches one hundred and twenty six tiles, the double doors swing open with Conor walking through. Her eyes are puffy and red, her hair more disheveled than earlier.  Lisa gets to her first, Chris having been on the opposite side of the room. "Sweetie?" his mother's voice coming out small, afraid of spooking her.

  Conor's eyes find the floor as her head shakes ever so slightly from side to side.

  "No. No!" Chris voice bellows from across the room as his long legs cross it quickly. "She's not, she can't be!"

  Conor holds up one hand as she begins to cry again, asking for a moment as the rest of Chris' family surrounds her. Lisa cups Chris' hand in her own, feeling the tension he's holding, almost swearing that she can hear her oldest son's heart breaking. 

  "Conor!" he demands, not giving much thought to her feelings or concern for the possibility of her loss. "Tell me!"

  She doesn't speak but motions with her head for them to follow her. Scott and Carly immediately do, ignoring the fact that the man who was so persistent can't seem to make his feet move anymore. "Ma," he says quietly, his tone scared, "what if?"

  Lisa looks up at her son. While he towers over her, all she can see is a scared boy, fearful of losing the love of his life. "Don't think about what ifs, Chris. What if can't change the right now."

  "But-"

  She shakes her head, squeezing his hand before releasing it. She brushes her hand against his cheek, feeling the bristle of his beard against her palm. "No, baby. For every awful what if, is a completely different what if. You can't think of one if you're not going to let yourself think of the other, okay?"  He blinks the tears from his eyes, swiping them away quickly before putting the cap back on his head. "Now, lets go be there for the Abrams family, in whatever capacity that might be."  Holding his own hand out to his mom she takes it, thankful for the invitation her son is giving her, allowing her to comfort him into the unknown of his future.

 As they walk through the doors they see that Scott has stopped down the hall to wait for them. Silently they reach him, following him down a second hall before turning another corner to an elevator. Once the doors open on the fourth floor, Chris notices the signs as they walk the beige colored hallway. "ICU?" he asks.

  "Yeah," his brother answers him as they pass a nurses station. Scott stops, pointing down to the end of the hall. "Room 7."

  Chris looks back at his brother, silently asking all of his fears as he feels the light Dempsey always brought him begin to get dimmer.

  Scott takes a deep breath, preparing to give his brother the details. "The bullet hit her spine, Chris."

  His brow furrows as his shoulders sag even further. "What, what does that all mean, Scott?"

  "She's unconscious right now." Chris eyes begin to flutter close. "Medically induced, Chris because of the trauma. But, until they let her wake up, they don't know the extent of the damage to the rest of her body." Scott swallows, trying desperately to get rid of the lump resting in his throat. "She may not be able to walk again."