It took until late afternoon for both of us to get over ourselves and apologize, but we eventually did. For Gabry, it was just as emotional as the whole argument had been and I just felt like a total jerk for allowing the fight to happen.
But that was over and done with and two weeks ago.
Now we were patiently waiting in the hospital elevator to visit Darry, who'd just been transferred to the VA hospital in our county last week. Dallas was still in basic and wouldn't be out of there until the end of the month. Then he would be transferred to wherever the Army decided.
We just had to wait for his nurse to give us an okay to go in. It was just Gabry and I at the moment; her parents needed to go home and get some sleep. Darry had asked for them about ten o'clock the night before and they dropped everything to go see him.
A redheaded nurse walked out of his room with a small smile as she shut the door behind her. "You can go in now... I can tell he's perking up a little... all of the servicemen start to flirt when they're feeling a little better." She smiled again and then let us go through as she walked back to the nurses' station.
I let Gabry go first, as she knocked and then opened the door to go inside. I followed close behind her, shutting said door and bracing myself for what I was about to see.
My face remained stoic as I took in the first few glimpses of Darry. Anywhere there wasn't a bandage, there was a bruise or cut, slowly on its way to healing. He was wrapped in a cast from mid chest down to the start of his legs and his left leg was up in traction. Blankets draped across his upper chest, covering his arms, and over his good leg.
Once glance at Gabry and I knew she was already not coping well with anything she saw. She bit her lip and then looked over at me, before sitting in a chair next to Darry and reaching for his hand. "Hey, you." She whispered, all attention was now devoted to her brother.
I took a seat next to her, and leaned forward with my elbows resting on my knees, hands clasped, so I could hear him better. Not that he would be talking to me, but it would still be nice to hear his voice.
"Hey, Gabry..." He turned his head towards us a little and saw me. "...Jason." He added, his voice cracking on my name. "How are you?"
"Okay... you worried me so much, Darry." Gabry whispered and then kissed his hand. "Don't do that again, please."
He shook his head slowly and looked at her. "No... I don't think I will again for a while..." He assured her and then glanced over to me. "You?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Me? How'm I?" I shrugged. "Things have been worse... I hear you're quite the charmer around here, Darry."
Her brother chuckled weakly and then ended up coughing. "Who told you that?" He asked, his voice having a hint of humor in it.
"Oh, just that pretty little redhead nurse of yours. She says, you've been flirting." I teased lightly.
"You bet I have been. I'm going to take her on a date."
"Is that so?"
"It is."
"Well, how does she feel about that?"
He shrugged as best he could, which in reality was just one shoulder moving slightly. "I dunno... haven't asked her yet."
I rolled my eyes and smiled. Man, I missed him. "You'd best get on that then, soldier. Before some other competing patient sweeps her off her feet."
Darry was quiet for a second, and I thought he'd fallen asleep until he started talking again. "I will. As soon as I'm allowed to get up."
Gabry sighed at that and then looked over at me. From the way he looked, I didn't think he'd be getting up for a very long time. Even after he was allowed to get up.
Gabry spoke next, running a hand across her stomach nervously. I reached over and grabbed it while she talked. "And do you know when they think that is?" She inquired, almost meekly.
A sigh from the big brother. "No... I don't... Doc's supposed to be in... anytime." His breathing was picking up now from the effort he was having to exert from talking, so I didn't say anything else right then.
She nodded and then closed her eyes, head bowed down; whether she was thinking, in pain, or both, I couldn't tell. It all looked the same to me. She'd been complaining of a headache all morning and even with medication, it was still pretty bad. I nudged her lightly with my shoulder to see if she was alright. "Head still hurt?" I asked, looking up at her from the way I was sitting.
Again, she nodded slowly. "I think it's a migraine. My vision's going weird."
I frowned slightly, not remembering the last time she had a migraine that caused her to lose her vision. It was always just light sensitivity, and the lights in this room were almost off completely. "Are you going to be okay? Or should I go find someone."
She shook her head. "I'll be fine. It's nothing." She waved me off before turning back to Darry. "Dallas call you yet?"
It had been a while since we'd heard from him, but his graduation from OSUT was coming up, so I, at least, wasn't too worried. Gabry, on the other hand, thought about him all the time. When she was done worrying about Darry, or assured by her mom that he was alright, she would go right back to worrying about Dallas. It was almost like that was how she kept busy.
I'd told her she was going to get ulcers from worrying so much. She didn't appreciate that.
"Yeah.. He called me... the last time he was - whenever he was..." Darry frowned and pressed a hand to his forehead. "Shit. I can't remember."
Gabry knitted her brow together as she watched him, squeezing his hand gently. "You mean the last time he was allowed to call?" She asked, being answered by the small nod that he gave.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine. We'll be seeing him when he graduates in a few weeks." I gently reminded the both of them, as they had grown quiet again. His graduation was two weeks away. I didn't really see a need for them to be concerned about him - if he needed help, he would have contacted us already -, but then again, I was the best friend of Dallas; not his sibling. (Is it a bad time to mention that I was also this way for my own sister when she was in training?)
Gabry dropped both of our hands and pressed it into her right side with a groan, doubling over in pain. Her eyes were shut tight, tears already forming in her eyes.
"Gabry?!" I was on my knees in front of her, hands on both shoulders trying to get her to respond to me. "Gabe! Gabry!" I tried to get her to sit up, move her head to look at me, anything, but she was in so much pain right then, nothing was going to move her from the way she was. And she wouldn't respond to me either.
"Darry." I started, unsure if anyone could hear me at this point. "Darry, call your nurse back." I tried to say in a firm voice.
She was shaking now and her breathing picked up rapidly, both hands still pressing into her lower right side. "Gabry? Talk to me. What's wrong?" I asked in a voice shaking as much as she was.
She shook her head, still leaning over. "I can't - I can't - It hurts, Jason - I can't feel-" And then she was collapsing out of the chair and into my arms, shaking violently. Gently... or as gently as I could, I laid her on the ground, recognizing she was having a seizure and stayed by her side. Everything was muffled, the footsteps running in to help, the voices - I could hear none of it, see none of it.
Except for her.
I stood up as the nurses lifted her onto a gurney and started to wheel her out. I held her hand tightly and tried to run with the gurney, unable to hear what they were saying and trying to just focus on her. Until someone stopped me at the doorway and wouldn't let me go with. I tried to shove past them, yelling something I couldn't even work out it my head. Stopped again, then I tried to duck under them and do whatever I could to just get to her. He thwarted me again by bear hugging.
"Let me see her! I need to be with her!" I yelled at the soldier. "Please! Let me go, let me go!" I slammed the side of my fist into his bicep to try and get out. "Don't do this!" I didn't even notice the tears streaming down my face.
He only held me tighter and dragged me out of Darry's room. "Sir, you'll see her when we can stabilize her. I promise. Right now, we need you to calm down so we can get some information on her."
"No! Gabry needs me!" I yelled again, struggling to break free from the soldier. "Gabe!" Finally, I'd worn myself out from struggling to get away from him that I hit the side of my fist to his arm pathetically one last time and broke down sobbing.
When I finally did calm down, I sat lethargic in the waiting room of the emergency room with the soldier, who introduced himself as Burbank, "But for you, you can call me Trevor." Then he went into the questions - how far along was she, was I the father, where were her parents, has this happened before, etc. - and started handing me paperwork so they could transfer her to a civilian hospital once she was stable.
Eventually, he left me to go check on his patients and I remained sitting in the chair, leaving a voicemail for her mother to let her know what was going on. They would come find me when she was able to have visitors. As of right then, all I knew was that she's had a seizure. No other news had come back to me yet. I leaned forward in the chair, elbows on my knees again, and face in my hands with the intention of maybe taking a nap, nevermind that sleep never came. And I stayed like that, probably just over half an hour, until I heard someone calling my name and I immediately looked up. It was Burbank.
"She's awake and asking for you, Mr. Storm."
Until next time,
Sairahiniel