Lost (Liam Payne)

Part 51

Penny decided the quickest way back to shore was the jet ski. She hopped on before anyone could stop her and jetted toward the beach. It wasn't long before it was in sight. Not wanting to waste a second, she beached the ski and ran for the house. Up the stairs, pulling on shorts and grabbing her keys, she was on the road in less then ten minutes. Her phone connected to her car and instantly she got texts from her mother demanding that she not drive off alone. She told the car to text back that she was too late and kept going. Jon sent her a text and told her to slow down. He knew she was speeding and she needed to relax or she was going to make it worse. She looked at the speedometer. Ninety mile per hour. She pulled it back to eighty and set the cruise control.

She had made the drive to Saginaw countless times. Her college was here. She had lived here. Sam lived here. Tom lived here. The closet mall was here. Her car knew the route by heart. It had still never seemed so long. The hour and a half dragged on and on. Finally, She pulled off the expressway and made her way to the hospital. Finding a spot, she ran into the hospital. She was stopped by security and had to explain who she was and who she was looking for. She was told only family could go back to the emergency room so she lied and told them she was his wife, claiming that in the rush, she hadn't grabbed her purse. At least that part was true. She didn't have a purse.

She was take into a curtained room and saw Liam laying on the bed, hooked up to machines. He had a breathing tube and an IV. He was on a heart-monitor and had a blood oxygen monitor on his finger. His head wound was covered, but she could see the bruise peaking around the sides. Trying to not cry, she walked over the bed and grabbed his hand. The doctor walked in and asked, "Mrs. Payne?"

Penny nodded.

The doctor nodded back. "Okay, so let's go over what has happened. He is in a medical induced coma, very light and we can bring him out, but for now, it's best that he stay still. There is a small amount of swelling in his brain, but we won't be able to determine if there has been damage until he is awake. He breathing and heart rate are normal. About how long was he not breathing?"

"Uh, maybe 2 or 3 minutes? Not long. He vomited and starting breathing pretty quickly. 8 compression's and two breaths?"

The doctor nodded and wrote something on his chart. "Well, we are going to wait for the swelling to go down before we wake him up. Not until tomorrow at least. There isn't much you can do right now. It's late. Is anyone here with you?"

"His parents are on the way?"

Again the doctor nodded. "Well, you can stay as long as the nurses let you. He's going to be moved to a room shortly." Then he nodded and walked out.

Penny found a chair and sat next to him, still holding his hand. She brought it up to her face and rested her cheek on it. Then she waited. She watched as his chest went up and down. She heard as the heart monitor beeped out a steady rhythm. She saw the machine that pumped air into and out of his body. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so helpless. Exhausted, she laid her head on the bed and said a silent prayer. She wasn't sure to who or why, she'd never been particularly religious, but she felt she needed to ask some outside force to not take him away. He was the best thing that ever happened to her. She was going to marry him. They would be together. Forever.

"Miss?" a soft voice asked. "We are going to move him. You can follow, if you'd like." The nurse started to move things around, setting things on the bed and pushing the release for the break. Another nurse joined her and the wheeled him down a hall and to a large elevator. Once inside, the first nurse asked her the question she had been dreading since he had show up at her door. "Is he really Liam Payne? From One Direction? I mean, his chart says he is Liam Payne, but is he THE Liam Payne? It looks like him. The tattoos are right. Is it him?"