Stay (Disasters In Love: Book 1.5) (SLOW UPDATES)

Chapter 1

"Perhaps you misheard me, Dr. Young. You will tell me exactly what is going on right here, right now." I'm not sure why Cole can act this way, but I'm incredibly grateful to him.

I'm desperate to hear anything about Ben. Please, God, just let him be okay.

Please, please, please.

"If you insist."  I'm relieved when the doctor bows his head in surrender.  Nate and I move in closer to hear, but the doctor's gaze remains focused on Cole.

"I do insist, Doc." I can't see Coles face, but I think I can hear a slight smirk in his voice. He reminds me so much of his brother right now.

His brother who I might never see again. Oh god. Please let him be okay.

Dr. Young sighs, still focusing on Cole as though we do not exist. "As you know, your brother was admitted to the ICU yesterday after a MVC. X-rays revealed a FX of the thoracic skeleton causing ARDC and Pneumothorax resulting in a Atelectasis, however after the Percutaneous, his ABG levels have returned to a normal range. His Vertebral radiography came back negative, but he suffered several FX and lacerations. He suffered a head trauma and was unresponsive to stimuli, so we were unable to rule out a TBI. His brain was swelling slightly, so we have placed him in a barbiturate-induced coma while we assess if there was any BI. His CBC came back with low RBC and high WBC, which is to be expected in this situation. I will be running more tests today to decide the next step."

I barely caught any of that. Head trama? Coma? Brain swelling? Next step? It doesn't sound good at all. 

Please let him be okay. He has to be okay.

"What the fuck?" Nate looks as confused as I feel. "In English?"

To my surprise, Cole speaks instead of the doctor. "Ben was in a car accident and a rib punctured his lung, but they were able to reinflate it. His tests came back pretty normal, but he has several broken bones and he probably looks like he went though a meat grinder. He hit his head and came in unconscious, but they aren't sure if it caused any brain damage so he's in a medically induced coma, until they know for sure."

Please God, help him survive this.

"Shit." Nate speaks exactly what I was thinking. He turns angrily towards the doctor. "You put him in a barba-what now?"

The doctor sighs, but Cole responds. "It's a type of medicine, most likely, Propofol. That will keep him stable while they assess the damage to his body and try to fix him." 

It's easy to tell Cole is trying really hard to dumb this down for us, but it still sounds so complicated and just too big.  Too real.  Too scary. 

"So basically it's just coma medicine? Why didn't you just say that in the first place? Why is everything so fucking complicated with you people?" He turns his anger towards the doctor, but it feels like some of it is directed at Cole too. 

"Yeah, sure. I guess that works too." Cole doesn't seem too affected by his anger, or by anything really. Maybe he's in denial.

"Okay, so he's super fucked up and they are keeping him that way until they can figure out how to fix it. Is that right?" Nate's anger is clearly misplaced, but when you might lose someone you care about, you don't always care who you lash out at. Even if that person cares just as much about the same person and is trying to help. 

"Yeah, I guess so." Cole just stares at the ground for a minute before turning his attention back to Dr. Young. "When can we see him?"

"Well, his state is fragile, so I'm afraid I have to advise against anyone other than you going back at this time." The urge to punch the doctor overwhelms me for a second, but I manage to fight it.

"And I'm afraid you can't stop me at this time." Nate steps forward, catching the doctor off guard and knocking him off balance for a second. Dr. Young takes a step back, regaining his composure.

Guess Nate isn't fighting his urge.

"I'm sorry, but we have a very strict family only policy in the ICU." Doctor Young looks slightly unsure of his words, his eyes darting back and forth between the guys.

He jumps slightly at the sound of Cole's stern voice. "We will all three be going back now and I would advise the staff not to stop either one of my friends at any time." Dr. Young looks surprised, but nods his head in agreement.

What does Cole have over this guy? How can he boss around one of the best doctors in the country?

"Well, if that's all you need from me, I have a VIP patient to attend to." The doctor bows slightly before rushing through the doors I have been staring at for hours.

The doors I can finally walk through.

Why am I so nervous all of the sudden?

All I've wanted for the past 20 hours is to see Ben, but now that I can I'm terrified of what I will find.

What if he doesn't wake up?
What if he's so injured, he's unrecognizable?
What if he doesn't make it?
What if he can't walk?
What if he doesn't want to see me when he wakes up?
What if he doesn't remember me?

Oh god, I don't think I could handle that. What am I going to do?

Maybe I should just leave.  It's not like he would know I'm not there, right?

I could say I'm getting coffee, or going to the bathroom and just not come back.

No, I wouldn't want the guys to worry about me.

Yeah right. Ben is in a coma, they will be too busy worrying about him to notice I'm gone.

Maybe I should just-

"Let's fucking get this over with." I'm pulled from my thoughts by Nate's gruff voice, as he walks towards the doors that were forbidden only minutes ago.

"Come on." Cole wraps his arm around my shoulder, urging me to follow behind Nate.

Crap.

I guess I'm doing this now.

Ready or not.