Not What I Expected

Part 16

"Anna, shut up," Nicole's voice screeched through the speaker, "Let me in."

Anna went in to panic mode instantly as she pushed the button to let the wife of her current boyfriend in. She and Nicole had always been friends, but she always thought and believed she and Chad belonged together.

A couple minutes later there was a knock on the door and Anna let Nicole in. Nicole just stood there and stared at Anna, her hair was in the messiest ponytail she had ever seen, her eyes were red and her sweatshirt was on inside out.

"What the hell happened to you?" Anna questioned, frustrated that Nicole showed up at a god forsaken hour and unannounced or uninvited.

"Get dressed Anna," Nicole mumbled, "Chad's in trouble and we have to get to the hospital."

Anna was flabbergasted. She hadn't expected this. Chad was in trouble and Nicole had thought of her despite everything that she and Chad had put Nicole through.

"What happened?" Anna asked her quietly, "Is he ok?"

"He was drunk and while he was walking down the street he got hit by a car," Nicole replied almost robotically, "It doesn't look good for him so I thought it would be best if we were both there. After all, he is still my husband..."

Anna looked at Nicole and for the first time really noticed how much of a toll this had taken on her. There were black circles under her eyes, her voice was weary, she was a shell of the person that Anna used to know and her heart sank. She realized that in this situation she couldn't be selfish with Chad. She knew that Nicole would need some time with her husband, even if he did have every intention of starting a new life with Anna.

"Give me a minute," Anna said with a sad smile before running down the hall to her bedroom to get dressed.

Half an hour later Nicole and Anna were walking silently down the quiet halls of Vancouver General Hospital. It had been a very awkward drive to the hospital, neither one of them knowing what to say to each other. Nicole felt bad for Anna, but she also had a strong desire to knock some sense into her. However, she refrained from doing so.

They walked up to the nurses' station in the ICU and there was a doctor standing there with a chart in her hand. She turned and looked at them when they approached and smiled at them.

"Are you Mrs. Sanders?" the doctor asked as she put the chart down.

"Yes, and you must be Dr. Burrows," Nicole replied, feeling nervous, "This is Anna, a close friend of Chad's."

"Nice to meet you both," Dr. Burrows replied, "Now I must caution you, Chad has been going in and out of consciousness. He is in a lot of pain and we are giving him more than regular doses of morphine to keep it at bay. However, he has a lot of broken bones and we have to wait until 10:00 a.m. before we can get back into surgery and see if the internal bleeding has stopped. I am just giving you a warning that I don't think he is going to survive this, but miracles happen every day and I pray to God that he will come through this."

Nicole could feel the tears pooling in her eyes, but she refused to cry in front of Anna. She looked over at Anna, whose lips were trembling and the tears were threatening to spill over. Against Nicole's better judgment she moved over to Anna and wrapped an arm around her shoulder to comfort her.

"No matter what happens Anna, we will get through this together," Nicole whispered as a tear fell from her eye, "I don't know how, but we will figure it out."

"You are more than welcome to go in and see him," Dr. Burrows replied quietly, "But I ask that you go in one at a time. He needs to rest and too much company all at once could stress him out."