Last Chance

Chapter 2

They wheeled her into the hospital, and he followed as long as he possibly could until a nurse stepped in front of him.

She insisted that he let the doctors do their job. She asked him to give what information on her that he could. He felt completely numb as he gave her name, age, and medical conditions. He had not thought to search for her phone though. The nurse pointed him to a small waiting room nearby, promising to update him as much as what she could.

Colin took his seat in view of the nurses station. He watched as three other stretchers came though. One carried someone unfamiliar, he assumed it was the driver that had ran the red light. The next carried a conscious Ginny with Josh at her side. Evidently she wasn't going to the same place as Jen because they turned a different direction and Josh was allowed to follow. A third carried the director. Colin didn't see the driver of the car, he hoped that he was like Josh and completely awake and aware. The latter was too scary right now.

At that moment, Lana, Sean, and Rebecca joined him. Colin gave them a weak smile.

"Where is everyone else?" He asked, attempting to make conversation.

"They drove back to the set, they all agreed that it's enough that we're here." Lana said.

Colin nodded and put his head in his hands.

"The last time I talked to her I yelled." He admitted, both to himself and to his friends.

"She knows you love her." Lana told him. Of course she would be the voice of reason.

"No, you don't understand. I yelled at her when she was already at a breaking point. I as good as ended things." Colin was now on the verge of tears.

Lana sighed and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulder. There were no words right now. They simply sat in silence.

Half an hour passed and the nurse approached.

"Sir?" She cautiously asked.

Colin stood and steadied himself, prepared for the worst.

"Your wife is in surgery. Her arm is broken and she took quite a blow to the head. There's some internal bleeding and cracked ribs too."

Colin nodded his thanks, afraid that if he spoke he would break down. He stood rooted to the spot until Lana took his arm, thanking the nurse, and pulling him back to his seat.

"Wife?" Sean asked.

"They wouldn't let me in the ambulance." Colin said with a shrug. At that moment, pagers could be heard beeping and nurses rushed through the same doors Jennifer had been wheeled through. Colin began to panic and his friends converged, assuring him that it could be another patient.

Another hour passed and Josh came in and slumped in a chair.

"How is Ginny?" Rebecca asked him.

"She'll be okay. A concussion, a few bruised ribs, and a dislocated shoulder. They gave her pain medicine and a sleep aid because of her stress level. She's worried about Jennifer." Josh finished, looking over at Colin.

Lana repeated everything the nurse said.

"She's a tough one, she can push through." Josh assured Colin with a hand on his shoulder. Colin smiled weakly and got up to pace. His friends watched him for some time before resigning to magazines and their phones. There was nothing else to distract them from the worry.

An hour and a half after, Adam, a producer of the show, skulked in with a very grim look on his face. Everyone looked up at him expectantly.

"Jason died at the scene." He explained. The driver of the car Jen, Josh, as Ginny were in was gone.

Rebecca began to cry on Sean's shoulder. Lana stared blankly in front of her. Colin rubbed his forehead with his hand. He prayed that this would be the only tragedy they dealt with today.

Adam took a seat to wait with the rest of them, he asked how Ginny was and Josh filled him in. He breathed a sigh of relief.

A nurse approached again, Colin hoped it would be positive news on Jen but she told them that their director was out of surgery and recovering. He'd suffered a broken leg, three fractured ribs, and mild head trauma. The nurse avoided Colin's eyes as she walked back to her desk. He was going mad with the anticipation.

Lana approached him and silently led him to a chair, insisting that she would go and pick up dinner for everyone. Rebecca agreed, assuring him that starving himself wouldn't do any good. Colin wouldn't admit it, but he was famished. They were supposed to have a very late lunch at the next location, but they had been in the waiting room over three hours.

He put his head in his hands again and sat in silence, trying to keep from panicking and taking it out on the nurses who were doing everything they could at the moment.

Forty-five minutes later the girls returned with trays of food from a Chik-Fil-A next to the hospital, along with two gallons of lemonade. Lana encouraged Colin to eat, assuring him that Jen would not want to see a food-deprived version of him when she woke up. He obliged, only to keep her quiet.

He now had a massive headache.
They ate with idle chatter, trying to distract themselves. A nurse invited them to visit with the director, as he was now awake. Colin told himself it would do him good to have some hope and went along. He didn't stay for long though, he was afraid that he would miss an update from the nurses. He returned to the station and asked if anything had happened and they shook their heads. He slumped into the waiting room once again, sitting in the furthest corner. He leaned his head back against the chair and threw his hand over his eyes.

Just before he could drift off, Lana took his arm and pulled him up, leading to an empty sofa. She handed him a pillow and blanket he supposed had been borrowed from the hospital. He got the message and set up his makeshift bed. She was taking care of him like she does with her two step sons.

"We'll wake you up if anything happens." Josh assured him.

Colin nodded and laid down, turning inward before letting fatigue overtake him. He convinced himself that sleep would be good for him. Maybe when he woke up this nightmare would be over, or perhaps it would just be that, a nightmare, and everything would be okay. He imagined himself sleeping in her arms like they had done so many times before and drifted off.