Ashlyn
I had tears in my eyes as Ali, myself, Kelley and Allie cleaned up Tobin and Christen's hotel room. Alex had to leave, everything was too much for her to bear. That's when there was a knock on the door, I looked at Ali then went and answered it. "Hi Emily" I said, to a happy Sonnett who was bouncing on her toes. "Hey, is Zari here? It's nearly dinner... Ash? What's wrong?" Sonnet said, her tone changing quickly to one of concern.
"You should come in." I said, letting her step past me into the room. "What happened here? Why are you all cleaning the Preath family's room?" Em asked. "Something happened with Zari" I said "What do you mean? Is she okay?" Sonnet asked that urgency in her voice coming back. I grabbed her shoulders and guided her to sit down then sat next to her. "We haven't told anyone yet" I started but Emily interrupted "Ash please just get to the point" Emily said, I sighed and then started to explain.
"Me, Ali, Tobin and Christen came back to the room and Zari had locked herself in the bathroom. We tried to get her to open the door but she never answered. We kept trying to get her to answer but still nothing. Tobin went to inform Jill and found Kelley and Allie on the way. Jill went and talked to the manager and he gave us the green light to break down the door." I said, then took a breath before saying the next part. "When we got through the door we found Zari in the tub, she had cut her wrist and was unconscious."
I looked at Sonnett and she looked like she was about to break down. I pulled her towards me and into a hug where she finally broke down. "It's okay Em, we can go see her after dinner okay?" I told her and I felt her nod into my shoulder. That's when there was another knock on the door, I kept hold of Sonnett and Ali went to answer the door. "Uh hey um it's time for dinner and I was wondering Emily is here" I heard Lindsey say from the door.
Emily pulled away from me and whipped her face then stood up and walked over to the door. "Hey babe" She said, sniffling and wiping her face again "Baby whats wrong?" Lindsey said, stepping forward to cup Emily's face. Ali stepped away to give them some space. " Zari has been taken to the hospital" I said, speaking for Emily and Lindsey looked at me sadly "Is she gonna be okay?" She asked, "We don't know yet," Ali answered. "We should go down," Allie said, coming over and putting her hand on my shoulder. I nodded in agreement, standing up and Ali came up to me and whipped the tears that I didn't even know had fallen. She smiled at me lightly then gave me a soft kiss on the lips and I smiled back at her when she pulled away.
Ali took my hand and gently pulled me from the room, into the corridor. I could see Emily and Lindsey standing by the elevator holding each other tightly. I gripped Ali's hand tighter and walked with her and ended up behind Em and Lindsey. By the time the elevator had arrived Kelley and Allie had joined us. We all rode the elevator down to the dining hall floor. As we were walking out of the elevator I spotted Alex walking towards the exit. "Al where are you going?" I called after her and she turned around. Even though there was distance between us I could clearly see that she had been crying.
"I'm taking a car to the hospital so Tobin and Christen and I can come back anytime" She explained then walked away. The group of us that rode down together walked over to the dining hall and when we opened the doors 14 pairs of eyes looked at us. Kelley and Allie walked forward and went to get their food. Me and Ali and Emily and Lindsey followed in their footsteps. When I sat down at the vets table the other vets looked at me with concern but didn't say anything. I tried to enjoy my meal but my mind was a mess.
"Evening ladies, can I please have your attention." Jill said as she stood at the front of the room. " As you may have noticed we are missing a couple of our players. Well unfortunately earlier this evening Tobin and Christen found their daughter unconscious in their bathroom. Zari had unfortunately tried to take her own life. She has been taken to the hospital and Tobin, Christen and Alex are with her. If you do wish to go see her please let me know. Thank you, that is all"
I looked around the room after Jill's little speech and the whole team either had tears in their eyes or their hand over their mouths. I felt someone grab my hand and so I looked up and saw Carli looking at me with a sad smile. I tried to smile back but tears started rolling down my face instead.
"Oh Ash" She said solemnly as she pulled me into a hug. I could feel Ali rubbing my back. I sniffled and pulled away from my captain, giving her a smile. I continued to eat my dinner in a sad silence and so did the other but some still had tears running down their cheeks. Once I had finished my food I got up and put my plate away, meeting Sonnett as I did. "Can we go see her now?" She said as we walked towards the door. I sighed and then nodded "yeah let's go" I said, not bothering to ask any of the others if they wanted to come too. I walked straight out of the hotel, with Sonnett in tow, and to my car that was parked nearby. Me and Emily got in and I started the engine quickly, pulling out of the place I had parked and onto the road. "Do you think she's okay?" Em asked and I could hear the worry in her voice "With us she will be. We will make sure of it" I replied, not taking my eyes off the road.
I pulled up at the hospital and quickly cut the engine and got out. Emily scrambled after me and I locked the car behind her. I walked in to the hospital and up to the reception desk "Hi I'm here to see Zari Tame" I said to the receptionist. "Right are you family?" She asked "Yes we are her aunts" I replied, pointing to Emily and myself. "Alright well Tame's room is on the third floor and it's the sixth door on your right" The receptionist said pointing towards the elevator. I thanked her and dragged Sonnett towards the elevator, taking it up to the third floor.
I was getting anxious as the elevator took forever to get to the right floor. I needed to make sure Zari was alright. When the doors finally dinged open, I walked quickly down the hall and knocked on the right door. "Ashlyn" Christen said in relief when she opened the door "Chrissy" I replied, pulling her into a hug. "Hey" Sonny said from behind me and I pulled away from Chris, who moved back into the room to let us in properly. I made sure that the door closed behind us so we could have privacy.
"How, how's she doing?" Emily said her voice shaking as she sat on the bed next to Zari, holding her hand. "She's okay. The doctors stitched up some of the cuts on her wrists and then they dressed them" Tobin said, her voice stronger than Christens was when she greeted me. "When is she gonna wake up?" I asked "Soon" Christen replied curtly. Tobin walked past me and pulled Christen into a hug. A couple minutes later we heard a groan coming from Zari and I watched as the kid opened her eyes slowly. Tobin and Christen rushed over to Zari's side and Chris grabbed her hand. "Mama?" Zari croaked out. I heard Christen gasp "Hey baby" She said, her voice getting stuck in her throat. "W-what h-happened?" Zari asked, still a little drowsy. Me and Tobin shared a look. "You don't remember?" Emily asked tentatively and Zari shook her head in response.
"Baby. We found you in the tub at the hotel. You had cut your wrists. You were bleeding out, you were unconscious. We're at the hospital now and you're all stitched up and they just have to do a psych eval before we can leave with you" Christen explained. I could see tears forming in Zari's eyes before they started rolling down her cheeks. Soon she was balling out her eyes and Christen was pulling her into a hug to comfort her. "Hi guys sorry to get in the way but seeing as Miss Tame here is awake I thought we could do the physiological evaluation" A doctor said when he walked in.
Zari pulled away from Christen and wiped her eyes. Zari nodded at the doctor and so he came in and closed the door behind him. "May I take a seat?" He said pointing to the chair that sat by the bed. Zari nodded and so he took a seat. "Okay so I'm just gonna ask you some mandatory questions, okay then I can let you know if you are free to go or if we are considering admitting you" He said honestly, looking Zari in the eyes the whole time. Zari however was looking down at her lap, fiddling with her fingers. Christen noticed and placed her hand in the middle of Zari's two hands to stop her from picking at her own skin. I watched as Zari drew small patterns on the back of Christens hand to calm herself down.
Throughout the evaluation Zari never let go of Christens hand and I knew that the doc had noticed it as well as I. The doc noted down the last answer and then stood up. "Okay I need to go get this paperwork processed and I'll be back soon. Thank you for your time" He said then left the room. I finally decided to move a little closer, I went and sat on the chair the doc had just vacated. "You're gonna be okay kid" I said reassuringly. Out of nowhere there was a knock on the door and I was about to go answer it when Ali poked her head round the door. "Hey mind if we come in?" She asked, I smiled at her then waved her in. Behind her came the rest of the team, all of them sporting small gentle smiles.
Ali came straight over to me and sat down on my lap hugging me tightly. I sighed as I relaxed into my wife's arms. "It's okay babe" Ali whispered to me and kissed my head gently. When I looked up I saw Lindsey, Mal and Moe standing with Sonnett on the other side of the bed. Mal had her hand on Emily's shoulder, Lindsey stood in front of Sonnett holding her hand. "Oh hello everyone" The doc said when he walked back into the room after a single knock. "Well I have your psych eval and you are not gonna be emitted this time. All your parents have to do now is sign the discharge papers and then you can be on your way" The doc said, giving a nod at Tobin and Christen then turning around and walking back out the room.
"You hear that sweetheart? You can come back to the hotel with us" Alex said, stepping forward. Zari smiled at her and held out her bandaged arms, asking for a hug. Alex stepped forward and walked over to hug her gently. "I'll go sign the papers" Tobin said, giving me a smile then getting up and walking out. I tapped Ali's leg and she understood my signal and got up. I jumped up and walked after Tobin.
"Toby" I called after her "Hey Tobin wait up!" She stopped this time and turned around to look at me "What do you want Ashlyn" I frowned when she used my full name. "Talk to me Tobs" I said as I walked towards her "What is there to talk about?" She said and I could hear that her voice was about to break and It hurt me to see Tobin like this. "There's a lot to talk about. Your daughter nearly died, Tobin! I don't expect you to be okay after something like that!" I said to her my voice rising. "Yeah well i'm not okay Ash it's fucking my fault! I could have stopped this if I had just been there! I knew something was wrong I fucking knew it and yet I still left her in that fucking hotel room!" Tobin shouted at me "I-it's my fault, It's all my fault" She repeated, as she started to break down, her bottom lip started to quiver and then the tears started to fall. "There was nothing you could have done Toby. You couldn't have predicted this" I said, my voice soft as I pulled Tobin into an obviously much needed hug.
After Tobin's tears had finally started to slow down I pulled away. "Let's go and get those papers signed so we can take the kid away from here" I said, keeping my arm around her shoulders and a smile on my face. "Yeah let's do that" Tobin replied, a smile creeping onto her face too. It didn't take long for Tobin to sign the necessary paperwork and we were making our way back to the room quickly. We were just about to reach the door when Tobin stopped. "What if she tries to do it again?" She asked quietly, I sighed and stepped in front of her "Tobin, no matter what happens to Zari the whole team will be there for her and you and Chris. No matter what" I told her "No matter what" She repeated, nodding in understanding.
I then grabbed the s door handle and opened the door. "Good news, all the papers are signed and so we can leave whenever, '' I said to the twenty two people that were in the room. Yes, if you are wondering, it is very cramped. "Okay, guys let's go now please" Carli called into the room. The people who didn't come with me or Tobin left the room calling a, "See you soon" to Zari as they left. "Now that lot is gone, you ready to go kid" I asked Zari. "Hell yeah I hate hospitals" She responded, her voice a lot less rough than earlier. "Alright, is it cool if I carry you?" I asked and Zari nodded happily so I walked over to her and picked her up easily.
"And now we go, vamos," I said, making Zari smile, which in turn made me happy. Alex held the door open for me and I walked through the other four just behind me. We all rode the elevator down to the lobby and walked out into the car park. "Okay kiddo whose car do you wanna go in'' I asked her "Mine or Alex's?" "Hmm yours" She said, snuggling closer to me as there was a bit of a chill. "Alright, Sonnett, can you get the keys out of my pocket please?" I asked "yep" She responded and started digging into my pocket then held up the keys. "Thank you, now unlock the car and open the back door so I can put Zari in" I instructed her. Emily quickly went to work doing as I asked and I was able to Zari into my Jeep and out of the cold chill, quickly. "Sonnett, sit in the back with Zari" Tobin said from behind me "Hey Toby we've got it it's okay" I reassured her. She nodded and walked off to get into the car she was taking back to the hotel.
"Sonnett-" "yeah yeah don't worry I already was gonna sit with Z it's cool Ash." I smiled at Emily brushing me off in her usual sarcastic manner. "Okay let's get back to the hotel!" I said hopping into the driver's seat. "Let's go!" I heard Zari shout "Someones got their energy back" I said smiling at the teen through my mirror. "Yeah I feel more awake now" She responded with a toothy grin. I chuckled, then started the engine before pulling out of the slot I was in and out of the car park onto the main road.
I put the radio on per Emily and Zari's request, soon we were all jamming along to the radio tunes. It didn't take long for us to reach the hotel and we all jumped out after I had parked. I grabbed Zari's hand, to make sure that if at any point she grew dizzy or tired I could stop her from collapsing. "Ash, I can walk by myself. " Zari said to me when I took her hand. "I'm sorry I promised Tobin that I would be careful with you" I explained giving Zari a smile. "It's cool," She replied nonchalantly. I frowned at how happy she was acting, I guess after something like this it's easier to put on a brave face. Or as I like to call it a mask. I like to call it a mask because it's something you can put on and easily take off, though a lot of people keep their mask on as they've been hurt so many times that it has become moulded to their face.
I walked at Zari's pace up to the front of the hotel where the rest of the team were waiting. "Hey baby, how are you feeling?" Christen asked, coming up and tucking a piece of Zari's hair behind her ear. "Yeah I'm good. Kinda tired though" Zari answered "Right okay I guess it's time to go to the room and get in a nice nap" Tobin said walking forward. "Yeah that would be nice" Zari said with a smile, her smile made the rest of the team lighten up a little. Seeing the broken teen smile helped the others realise that she was okay but not okay. And that they should loosen up a little, everything was fine.
"Excuse me. I'm here for Zari Tame."
I guess I spoke too soon...