Once Joey was settled into the ward, Sophia had insisted that David, the boys and I head home to shower after the search and bring Joey back some fresh clothes. As much as I wanted to stay by his side the whole time, even I could admit that I absolutely stank and desperately needed to fix that. So we hurried off as fast as we could, knowing that an officer would arrive soon to take Joey's statement and we desperately wanted to hear what happened.
By the time we got back to the hospital Coach had arrived, but we were still waiting on an officer to arrive. Despite everyone else in the room, Joey insisted that I sit with him on the bed, his arm tight around my waist as though he was scared to let me go again.
Everyone was talking amongst themselves, making plans for the rest of the day when the door opened and a young officer entered.
The officer ignored the lingering eyes of everyone else in the room and beelined straight for Joey.
"Good afternoon Jonathan, I'm officer Leroy Miller. Quite the popular patient I see," he mused, gesturing around the room at the rather large crowd of family and close friends gathered. Luckily being rich meant you also got a private room when in hospital.
"Please, call me Joey, it's my preferred name. I'm only Jonathan on official documents or when I'm in serious trouble with my mom!" Everyone laughed and Sophia shrugged her shoulders, shooting me a wink when I looked at her.
"Of course, that is noted. Well if you want to tell us what happened, I'm going to record it on my device here and make notes along the way too. I may stop to ask questions if I need to. Of course you aren't in any trouble, this is all just for the official case files so we can close off the search."
"Alright, sounds simple. I guess I start at the beginning? Or when we left camp?" Joey began, but with a slight question in his tone.
"Let's go with when you left camp, we have detailed accounts of what happened before you left."
All eyes and ears in the room were then on Joey as he began to retell the events of his last 48 hours.
"Right. Well Martin, our defence line assistant coach and I took off down the track we came in on. We were careful, we had a torch to light the way, but we were also still trying to hurry because we new Austin needed help. We didn't take many other supplies because we were planning on getting straight out and calling for help. I remember the rain was still coming down hard and the sound of the wind howling around us, we pretty much went out in the middle of the storm which now we know wasn't smart. Martin was in front of me, we were maybe 2 miles from camp, I don't even know how it really happened but I think he tripped on a rock, then with the unsteady and wet ground he tumbled down an embankment. At first I couldn't even see where he went, it was so dark and stormy. I weighed up my options at the time. I could go back to camp to get help, but risk not knowing where he fell in the dark to find him again. Or I could continue on by myself to get to the bus and call for help and rescue Austin and now Martin, or I could stick with Martin incase he knocked himself out during the fall and help him back out and we still get help. In all honesty, all three were pretty crappy options and it the moment I needed to make a judgement call."
He stopped for a drink of water and to allow Officer Miller to write some notes before continuing.
"So I decided to help Martin, it just didn't feel right to leave him alone after a fall. I was confident I could still navigate our way out. I got myself safely down the embankment and found him, his ankle in a bad way but he was prepared to push on. So we started walking. After what felt like hours we had to stop. His ankle was bad and the ground was too uneven, so we decided to rest for the night, figuring it wasn't long till the sun would rise and we hoped we would be found the next day."
"By sunrise we knew the team would be on alert from us not returning, nor help arriving. But we couldn't find camp and weren't sure which way was the way out. We found the clearing where you found us with the rocks. Martin couldn't walk, so the only option I had was to leave him or both of us wait to be found. We were wet, tired, thirsty, hungry and exhausted. I tried walking in a few directions, tying my t-shirt onto the branches so I could find my way back to him. But by nightfall we hadn't even heard anyone else to be able to call out. We had no warmth, food, water, nothing on us at all. Gotta admit, I was getting worried."
"Your t-shirt on the trees was good though, it's how we found you, I should say how your girlfriend there led their team to you," Officer Miller said.
Joey turned his head to me, squeezing his hand that was resting on the outside of my thigh and kissed my head.
"I'm glad. Because I don't remember even waking up the next day. I have a hazy memory of being in and out of consciousness as it turned from night to day. But honestly I was so thirsty that I had nothing left in me. The next thing I clearly remember is waking in the ambulance."
"I'd say all in all, you were very lucky. Unfortunately, if we had more daylight I wish we could have found you yesterday."
"I'm sure you guys did your best, especially given the storm. How is Martin? And Austin?
"Austin was transferred to a hospital in Phoenix at his parents request. He will require a number of surgeries. Martin is in surgery himself for his ankle, otherwise similar to you. I'll get his statement tomorrow. Morgan and David, I'll need you two to read over the report from lieutenant Dalhouse and sign off on that for me too please," Officer Miller said handing me a typed up statement detailing our search efforts.
Once all the formalities were over and everyone was satisfied they knew Joey was ok, they all started to leave for the evening. David and Sophia were staying till tomorrow, but Gabby and Jeremy were driving back with the other four kids tonight. Much to their dismay, they still had school the next day even after this eventful weekend.
Just as our friends walked out of the room, a nurse walked in. She was an older lady, probably mid 50's, she had a friendly aura and a motherly vibe about her. She checked Joey's stats, she then offered for him to get up and to finally shower himself. Gratefully, he accepted and she disconnected the drip from his arm, then helped him to the bathroom. He would never admit that he was still feeling a little bit weak.
"Are you staying tonight dear?" She asked as she closed the bathroom door behind her. "I can get you some blankets and a pillow, the chair there reclines to a bed. It's not the most comfortable, but it does the job."
"Can't be any worse than the dorm room mattresses!" I joked with her. "But that would be lovely, I don't think he will let me go home even if I tried!"
"I remember being your age and in love," she reminisced.
"Yeah?" I asked, feeling butterflies rise and a flutter from my stomach and up my chest.
"Oh yes. I met my Harry when I was in college. We were just as crazy in love as you two are. We still are, but love changes and develops as life changes. Marriage, kids, jobs, but I can tell you two are just like Harry and I, hold on to him!"
"I'm trying to, if only he would not get lost in the forest!" I beamed and she laughed and shook her head.
"I'm going to get some food from the cafeteria, could you tell him when he gets out of the bathroom?" I ask of her.
"Absolutely dear." She replied with a warm smile.
I quickly went to the cafeteria and picked up a couple of sandwiches, bottle of water and a slice of chocolate cheesecake that looked too good to pass up. By the time I arrived back in the room Joey was out of the shower and the nurse had gone, leaving a spare blanket and pillow on the chair for me.
Finally it was only us in the room. Joey was back in bed, and I climbed back up beside him, leaving my food on the side table. The nurse had told Joey she wouldn't need to return for a few hours and he would probably be asleep when she did.
We lay down on the bed getting comfortable, and turned to face each other. I reached out my hand, and ran my fingers down the side of his face before resting my palm on his cheek and leaning in to give him a soft kiss.
"You scared me," I whispered staring into his bright blue eyes.
"I'm sorry Morgan, you know that's the last thing I'd ever want to do."
"I know. It just all felt like history repeating itself and I can't bear to lose you like I lost my dad. You are my everything."
"I heard how you demanded to be on a search team, dad said you put the officer in charge in his place," he smirked.
I blushed. "I might have been a bit forceful. I couldn't just sit around and wait."
"That's hot, I like when you take charge," he winked and I hit him softly. "Seriously though, I'm glad you didn't back down, in fact I'm proud of you for standing up for what you wanted. They might not have seen the bit of t-shirt if it weren't for you. Might have continued in the wrong direction..."
I placed my finger over his lips to silence him. "Don't think about any other outcome. What matters is we found you, you're here and you're safe. Tomorrow we go home, our life continues."
"You're right," he admitted, taking my hand in his and pulling them to his lips, softly kissing my knuckles. "You know you're all I thought about. That I needed to come home to you. You are my everything too Morgan."
A single tear slid down my cheek. Joey quickly wiped it away and pulled me into his chest.
"I love you so much, can you please just hold me tonight?" My voice muffled by his t-shirt.
"I love you more," he said, kissing my neck and moving his hand down to rest on the bare skin of my waist where my top had creeped up, tracing light circles that admittedly made my insides tingle.
"You know, the nurse said she wouldn't be back for a few hours. I don't have the drip in my arm anymore restricting my movement," he murmured suggestively.
I pulled back and looked at him with as stern a look as I could muster.
"Jonathan Cameron! You better not be suggesting we have sex in a hospital bed after you have just been lost in a forest for two nights!"
"I missed my girl and a guy has needs, just looking at you turns me on. But noted, and I'll add you to the list of people who use my full name when I'm in trouble," he laughed sheepishly.
"We have all our lives to have as much sex as we want. But not in a hospital bed and not tonight. You are still recovering."
"All our lives, I like that. What did I do to deserve you?"
"Do you need a straw so you can suck up a little more?" I laughed and his jaw dropped at my sass. "Come on, let's watch tv until we fall asleep. I'm sure you could use a decent sleep."
"You going to boss me around for the rest of our lives too?" He asks, raising one eyebrow.
"Only when you need it," I replied matter of factly, rolling over to my back and claiming the tv remote and reaching for my sandwich.
Scrolling through the channels, I stopped on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory. Joey however, was asleep before Charlie even found his golden ticket, arm firmly wrapped around me to keep me close. I ate quietly, before allowing myself to snuggle into him and fall asleep myself.
A/N
First of all, major thank you to those on this little adventure with me! I'm blown away daily by the amount of people reading my work! Every time there's a new vote or my reads hit a little milestone I get a giant smile on my face and a little jittery! (My other story didn't quite take off, but it's complete if you want to read something!)
So full disclosure.. this was going to be the last chapter! I ummed and ahhed about where I can take this and if I keep going will it be dragged out unnecessarily. In the end I'm not quite ready to let go of my little gang. So this isn't the end, but I don't think there will be too many chapters left 😱!
Anyway, I have this bad habit of blabbering on way too much, so basically- thank you amazing readers!! Feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to know where your from! <3