Forgiven 2 of 4

Chapter 31

"Halstead, the surgeon is talking with Kim" Sean yelled out the doors.

"We're coming" Jay replied, he watched as Sean went back in the hospital, "I'm going to wait here, you go ahead" he told Erin.

"Come in with me, please?" She begged him, she really didn't want to be separated from him, not even for a few minutes.

"You heard Kim, I'm the last person she wants to see" he rocked on his heels, "just come and tell me that's he's okay, please?"

She hugged him, "she doesn't blame you Jay, it's just easier to be angry than it its to be scared" her hand resting on his cheek "come inside, Jay. For me?"

"Okay, let's go"

They joined the others in the room, watching as Kim sat across from the doctor, she was wringing her hands, Anthony sat in the chair beside her, Harper in Amy's arms and Bob on the other side of Kim, his arm draped over her shoulder.

The doctor took a drink of water and ran his hand across the back of his neck as if trying to work the kinks out of his neck, "As you know the bullet pierced his Kevlar vest, the trajectory of the bullet changed once through the Kevlar" he pinched the bridge of his nose, he hated these conversations never knowing if he was delivering it the right way, "the bullet shattered four ribs on the right side of his rib cage"

"Oh, my god" Kim whispered.

"His right lung collapsed and he has a hemothorax , which means that blood filled his chest cavity and caused the lung to collapse, we've placed a chest tube to help drain the blood. I had to use titanium plates" he grabbed one out of his pocket showing the "U" shaped plate to Kim and handing it to her "like this one to repair the ribs luckily it was the bottom four ribs" taking the plate back from Kim, "your husband was extremely lucky, he isn't out of the woods yet, but I'm very optimistic"

Kim wiped her eyes, "when can I see him?"

"He's in the ICU, the nurses are still getting him set up, but it shouldn't be much longer, do you have any questions?." He glanced around the room.

"How long is the recovery?" Bob asked, "it's the first thing Adam will want to know"

"It's going to be a long recovery, it won't be easy either. Adam will be in a lot of pain when he wakes up, but he's lucky to be alive" he pushed the chair in "Mrs.Ruzek, I will have someone come get you once Adam is settled"

"Thank you" she shook the doctors hand, and went and sat down off by herself.

Phil went to her "hey, what do you need me to do?" He asked as he took her hand in his "you can breathe again, Adam's going to be okay"

Kim wiped her eyes, "its finally over" she played with a thread from her sweater, "everything Dan set in motion, it's all done. We're safe now"

Kim watched as Jay stood off in the corner of the room, his eyes trained on the floor his hands jammed in him pockets, "would you excuse me, I need to talk to Jay"

"Of course, you know where I am if you need anything" Phil watched as she left to talk to Jay, a heavy burden finally off his shoulders, granted he would feel even better once he spoke with Adam and knew for sure his brother in law was okay.

"Jay, can we talk?" Kim asked, she felt awful.

"How's Adam?" He asked he kept his distance when the doctor was speaking to Kim.

"Four of his ribs shattered and a collapsed lung, with a chest tube" repeating the words made her skin crawl, she knew he was very sick "the doctor said he's lucky, and he will have a long recovery, but they are optimistic" she sat down, "I'm sorry I slapped you, this wasn't your fault and I shouldn't have said what I said" she hung her head.