The Lucky One (2) - Taylor Swift

32

They had no idea if they were okay, just alive. They were alive.

"Do you pray?" Taylor asked Amber softly. They were sitting side by side, scared out of their minds as no one had said a peep about anything to them.

"No," Amber shook her head. Her voice trembled with just the short word, "Not since my mom died."

"Does Michael?"

"Never."

"I'm going to go pray," Taylor swallowed a dry mouth, "Grace prays with me sometimes for my mom. I think she'd be okay if I prayed for her."

"Pray for him, too?" Amber said it like a question but it was more of a plea, "It couldn't hurt."

"Alright. If you hear anything, please call me. I'll run back."

Amber agreed and kept her head down. She continued to scan for any sign of what might be happening but people walked in and out with faces just like theirs that night.

Taylor got to the hospital's chapel, it was small since it was not a very big hospital to begin with. She sat down in the middle of the pews, bowed her head and folded her hands. She tried to pray but it was overshadowed by her sobbing, she held her head in her hands and let the emotions fall out until she didn't have a tear left to cry.

Amber still hadn't heard anything when she put herself together and went back, but it was only a few minutes until someone finally came to tell Amber what was going on with Michael.

Taylor wasn't legally family so they wouldn't tell her, she had to hear it second hand from Amber, "He's got broken ribs, a broken leg, a concussion, black eye, that stuff. He's still knocked out so they're not sure about brain damage, no sign of paralysis. He's having surgery on his leg for the break but they had to warm him up first. Think the heat stopped working and the windows were smashed."

"Oh my god," Taylor shut her eyes with disbelief. She couldn't believe that was their life at the moment, sitting in wait for a sliver of good news.

"They said they were lucky. The airbags went off with the first roll and they were wearing seatbelts. If they'd been going faster when they hit the ice... they probably wouldn't be here."

"They won't tell me anything about Grace. I'm her emergency contact and everything but the stupid laws," Taylor ran her hands through her hair to try and deescalate her stress levels, it was a failed attempt.

"Well I am legal family so I'll give the O-K for it," Amber marched up the desk and began to speak to the woman. She came back a minute or two later said, "Get the power of attorney when she gets out of here."

"I will," Taylor nodded in a way that express thanks to the other blonde. It was nearly half an hour later when the same person that had spoken to Amber came out. Amber directed them right to Taylor and kept quiet.

"She's going to be okay," was the first words Taylor heard and she immediately felt like the world had stopped spinning, "She has a pretty nasty concussion. Both of her arms are broken below the elbow most likely from the air bag but no paralysis, no bleeding in the brain. Her shoulder dislocated and she was hypothermic when she was pulled out. We're still monitoring and she's unconscious. Seems like she should make a full recovery, however."

"Thank you," Taylor nearly reached out to hug the doctor but she knew that would be inappropriate. She walked over to Amber and pulled her into a hug, it seemed like things were going to be okay and that was all they could ask for given the circumstances.

Two hours later it was nearing midnight but Taylor was allowed to go into Grace's room and sit with her. She didn't know who to call to tell them about the accident yet, not until she was positive Grace was going to be okay. She didn't want to worry anyone but she knew she should probably call Nellie and her own parents.

She hadn't even called her own mother, unsure of what to say. Grace's face was a series of colours it shouldn't have been, it was hard to look at. They'd wrapped her arms in gauze casts, not like the hard shell ones she'd seen people get signed over the years.

Michael was out of surgery but not awake. He was expected to make a full recovery too but there was a risk of him not being able to return to construction or take care of the farm. Taylor told Amber to make sure they didn't worry about it right now, if she had to take care of them then she would.

Family was family. They were her chosen family, she wouldn't admit it yet but she saw Michael like her own brother. They bickered like it sometimes, too. There was no way she would ever let them struggle when she could help, not when it was her cats that had sent them on that trip anyways.

"I don't know if you can hear me," Taylor decided to finally talk. Part of her watched the heart rate monitor to see if anything changed when she spoke but it remained steady, "But you really scared me today, Gracie, I thought I might lose you. I can't lose you, not after all we've gone through. I'm supposed to get to love you forever."

She talked to her softly until the nurse came in to check over things again. Taylor stayed silent. When the nurse made a joke that was supposed to comfort her, all she could do was offer a weak polite smile and move her eyes away again.

Her body betrayed her and she fell asleep in that uncomfortable chair shorty thereafter. She was upright, her arms crossed over her chest as her jaw rested against her own shoulder. She had been watching the heart monitor when it had lulled her to sleep, she hadn't realized she had drifted off until something poked her.

It was Grace's foot, precisely, her pinky toe.

Her arms hurt too badly to move but Taylor was near the foot of the bed anyways so she lifted it up and gently smacked her in the arm with it. Her vision was really blurry, she had a hard time telling who the blonde hair belonged to until she squinted and tried to focus.

"Grace," Taylor gasped, startled awake quickly, "Let me call the doctor. Shit, okay, hi! Hi, you, I'm so glad you're up."

Grace felt dazed by Taylor's quick movement, she didn't know where she was.