Chapter 28
Leighton's POV
I don't know how long I sat in the hall but I apparently fell asleep because I was awaken by the two people I had no idea would show up. "Jackson? Carol?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes. I instantly regretted it because one of them was almost swollen shut and super sore while the other had stitches right above my eyebrow from a cut Craig had left. I heard one of them suck in a breath through their teeth and I had to hold in a groan that tried to escape.
I pushed myself to where I sat straight on the wall and opened my eyes the best I could. Both Carol and Jackson crouched in front of me. I was about to say something else when Carol and Jackson pulled me into an extremely tight bear hug. I wanted to enjoy their hug but I was so sore that I could hardly bare the pain.
"Guys... Can't breathe... sore... OUCH!" I told them in a strained voice. They both laughed lightly and sat back. The way we sat, we pretty much took up the hallway and people were having to dodge us as they walked. "What are you guys doing here?" I asked.
"What do you mean what are we doing here? You were almost killed for goodness sakes! Do you know how scared we were when your dad called to tell us that you had been kidnapped? Do you want to know what we did?" Carol asked and didn't give me a chance to answer. "We went straight to the airport and booked the soonest flight out here, which wasn't until later due to it being Christmas, I thought that I had lost you!" She rose her voice in anger and tears filled her eyes. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Leighton, You're my rock, you're the person that keeps me stable... " She hugged softer than before and leaned her head into the crook of my neck. "You can't ever do that to me again!"
I put my hand on her leg and patted it lightly while leaning my head on top of hers. "Believe me, I have no intention for that to ever happen again."
I felt Jackson move beside me and he grabbed my hand. I looked over at him and he kissed my forehead in a brotherly manner. "I'm glad you're safe. How are you kiddo?" He asked and squeezed my hand.
Carol moved to see my face as I stared ahead at the 'authorized personnel only' door. "He's still in there, and I..." I got choked up and the tears I thought I could never cry again came flooding back to my eyes. I cleared my throat. "He's in there because of me. He risked his life for me. It should be me in there. He doesn't deserve this, and I just can't help feeling guilty." I cried.
"Shhhhh," Carol cooed and stroked my hair lovingly. "This isn't your fault."
"But it is! I should have never gone back on my word and given him a chance. It was supposed to be a clean break...but that's not even what I feel guilty about." Jackson wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "I feel guilty because I don't regret anything with him. I should feel guilty because I broke my word and continued to see him and now here we are, but I don't. I love him. I wouldn't change our time together for anything. It should be me in there though, not him. Craig wanted me and because of that Jensen got in the way."
They let me cry for a while and eventually coaxed me off of the floor and to the cafeteria only for a failed attempt to eat. Everything on me was sore. Walking hurt, my face hurt, but most of all, my heart hurt. I craved to hear from the doctor about how Jay was doing.
After a while of sitting in the cafeteria, a man walked up to our table. "Hey any word on our guy?" I felt confused as this random man asked his question.
Carol perked up to answer. "No not yet, He's still in surgery."
The man sighed and pulled up a seat, plopping down between me and Jackson. He rubbed a hand over his face and let out a deep breath. "Man, I can't believe this is happening."
I raised my eyebrow at him and looked over to Jackson for an explanation. He looked at me like he realized that I didn't know this man. "Oh hey, Leighton this is Brody, He's a friend of Jensens, it was crazy, we ran into him at the airport and realized that we were all going to the same place for the same reason." I nodded my head in understanding.
The man looked up from where his head hung low, "Oh yeah, where are my manners," He held out his hand and I shook it. "It's nice to meet you Leighton."
"You too Brody. So how do you know Jay, I uh mean Jensen?" I asked.
"I was in the academy with him now I work with him." He laughed lightly then sat back in his chair. He reached back and rubbed the back of his neck. "We actually hated each other because I accidently totaled his car."
I raised an eyebrow at his answer and pictured how livid Jensen would have been and the way he would clench his fist when he was angry.
For almost an hour after Brody had arrived at the table we had finally decided to go back to the waiting room with the others. The whole time in the cafeteria we listened to story after story of adventures that Brody and Jensen had been through. It made us all feel a little better hearing stories about Jensen. It made us feel closer to him, or at least it did for me.
We walked slowly down the hall and joined the others. I tried anything to keep myself occupied. I read a magazine, I talked with people, I tried sleeping once but that was short lived, I read another magazine, I played with the kids, I tried everything. Nothing soothed my nerves.
Nothing until the doctor came out of those doors that I had stared at for so long. I was the first one to see him and shot up onto my crutches and made my way over to him. Shay went over to him too, following the others minus Teri who stayed put with the sleeping children.
"So I'm assuming this is Jensens family?" The dr. asked.
Those of us that weren't related to Jensen hesitated. Before we could interject, Shay jumped in. "Yes, we are all his family." She gave me a kind smile and squeezed my arm lightly.
"Alright then," He continued. "I'm Dr.Conroy, and I was Jensens surgeon. There was..." I didn't even hear what all the Dr. said. I just wanted to know if he was ok. All that I picked up from the long spiel was that the surgery was long, the bleeding had stopped and that he was in an induced coma. By how bad the injury was, Dr. Conroy wanted to keep him until further notice to track his improvements.
"When can we see him?" I asked as soon as he had finished telling everyone the news.
"He is being moved to the Intensive Care Unit now, since he has lost so much blood, we will be keeping a close eye on him. He is in an induced coma, but once thats over, its just a matter of time for when he will wake up on his own. Right now I'm going to have to ask all of you to be patient until tomorrow morning." With that he left back through those forbidden doors.
I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. Even though he was in I.C.U., I had a peace that he would be ok. He was out of surgery. That was a step forward. I had a feeling from now on there would be a lot of baby steps being taken.
I excused myself and went to be by myself. I ended up outside in the cold. The brisk air felt fresh on my lungs. "Thank you God. You brought us through this mess. Even though bad things happened, I praise you for getting us through it alive. All I can say is thank you." I praised God for all that he had done and prayed sincerely. "God, I want to persue the plan that you have for my life. I've learned today that life can be cut short, and that you are above all. Thank you for everything."
I felt a smile stretch over my lips and a peace settle over my heart. After a few moments I heard footsteps approach from behind me. I turned slightly to see Jackson.
"I see you've had a change of heart." He told me with a smile across his face.
"Yeah I have," I smiled at him and hugged him the best I could with my crutches in the way. I looked up to him, "Thank you Jackson."
"For what?"
"For not giving up on me."
He continued to smile. "Its not the fact that I didn't give up on you, its that you didn't give up on yourself." He winked at me then turned to go back into the hospital.
I stayed outside a little longer then left to go back inside. When inside, my mother met up with me and told me that She, Teri and Lillian were going to take the kids to the house to get some rest then they would be back up in the morning to visit Jensen. My parents both tried to convince me to go back and I kept declining the offer, that was until I actually saw my reflection. To say I looked rough was an understatement. My hair was matted together, bruises and blood splotched my face, my clothes were wrinkled and covered in blood along with my blood stained hands from trying to stop Jensen from bleeding out. Why nobody had said something, I'll never know, but I knew for sure that I didn't want to present myself in front of Jensen like that.
Now I knew why Detective Hanson had to take the pictures of all my wounds when I gave him my statement. I'm pretty sure that anyone who saw the pictures would for sure know I had been put through the ringer by Craig. I hoped that they would use it as evidence in the court case against Craig.
I went home with the others and peeled myself out of my disgusting clothes. There was no sense in even trying to salvage the clothing that not only held the blood of the person I loved, but held the terrible memories of a person I never wanted to see again. After I discarded the clothes, I looked at myself in the mirror and grimaced at how such a transformation had taken place in the last twenty-four hours. It was already the day after Christmas and I still wouldn't get to see Jensen until tomorrow. I sighed and hopped in the shower to try and wash away the blur of memories that flooded my mind.
Its crazy the concept of time. I've only known Jensen for a short while, yet I knew with all my heart that I loved him. I couldn't even wrap my mind around how that was possible. We went through a random meeting at a bar, to a fearful night at a warehouse, to a hospital. I sincerely hoped that it wouldn't end at the hospital. He said he loved me too, but once he woke up, I wouldn't blame him if he changed his mind. I've put him through so much, he doesn't deserve all the trouble I've put him through.
So many thoughts ran through my mind, and they didn't stop when I had gotten out of the shower, changed, and went downstairs to see if anyone else was heading back to the hospital. Teri was downstairs rocking Meredith. She had her eyes closed and was humming a sweet lullaby to the little girl in her arms. I stopped in the entrance of the door and watched for a few moments, admiring the sweet scene in front of me.
"Hey there." I heard a voice say.
I smiled at Teri. "Hey." I whispered so I wouldn't wake the baby. I left my crutches by the door and entered the room to sit on couch close to the rocking chair Teri was in. Sinking down into the chair I let out a sigh in comfort.
"How are you?" Teri asked in a soft voice.
"I'll be fine."
She raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't answer my question. How are you now?"
I contemplated her question before answering. "Honestly, I'm sore. I'm tired. But mostly, I'm scared."
"Scared?"
"Yeah, I'm afraid for Jay. I just want all of this to pass and everything to go back to normal."
She nodded her head in understanding. "That's completely normal to feel that too," She winked at me. "It looks to me you're on the right road to normal." Meredith stirred lightly in her sleep. I couldn't help but wonder about my own unborn child. I wondered how they would have looked, if they'd grow to be an athlete or sing. I admired little Meredith as her mom held her safely in her arms. I wondered if I'd be a good mom. "Would you like to hold her?" Teri asked me with a smile
I felt my eyes go wide. 'Did she just ask me that?' I stared at her for a second and when it dawned on my that she really did ask me, I spoke up. "Are you sure? I don't want to wake her. She looks so peaceful..."
"Leighton, its fine, really." Teri laughed lightly.
With my eyes still wide I nodded my head. I was about to get up when Teri told me that she'd come to me. She slowly placed Meredith in my arms so we wouldn't wake her. I felt my heart pick up at the fact that i was holding this little girl.
"Wow, you're a natural."
I looked up her, "Really? You mean that?"
"Of course I do. You have that motherly charm." She smiled and asked if I wanted to get some rest. I declined her offer and told her she could. It had been a while since the last time i had slept but I knew it'd be a restless sleep.
Teri took the opportunity and went to the guest room while I stayed with Meredith. Even though the loss of my child still hung on my heart, I had hope that one day I'd have a baby of my own. I hummed to Meredith just as her mom had and leaned my head back with my eyes closed. I continued to hum so I wouldn't fall asleep.
Before long, someone came into the room and sat beside me. I opened one of my eyes and saw that it was Bricen staring up at me with wide eyes.
"What happened to your face?" He asked and tilted his head to the side.
I sat up straight and looked down at him, "Well..." I told him as i tried to think of a way to tell him. "I got hurt."
"How?"
I sighed, "Bricen do you know what a bad guy is?"
"Like joker?"
"Exactly, except this bad guys name was Craig."
"Did he do bad things?" He asked and I was impressed at how well he talked for a three year old.
"Not at first, but as time went by he turned bad and did bad things." I tried to explain.
He nodded his head like he understood but kept his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "So if the bad guy was Craig, who was the good guy like batman?"
I smiled at him. "You want to know who the good guy is?" I asked and he sat on his knees and nodded his head impatiently. I inched him forward with my index finger and he followed. "Your uncle Jensen."
He leaned back and gasp, throwing his little hands over his mouth. He cupped his hands around his mouth to talk. "Uncle J.J. Is like batman!?"
"Mmmhmm, he's even like superman!" I told him making him gasp. "Shh nobody but us knows his real identity, everyone else just think he works for S.W.A.T."
"Ok, I won't tell anyone!" He exclaimed.
"Bricen Lee Stewart! You are supposed to be asleep!" Lillian said as she walked into the room with her arms crossed over her chest.
Bricens eyes grew wide and he looked to me for help. I sighed, how could i resist a face like that? "Oh we were just talking, right Bricen?"
"Right!" He quipped.
Lillian sat on the other side of him and sank into the seat. "Thats fine, I couldn't sleep either."
I knew how she felt. I wouldn't have been able to either. Bricen snuggled between us and let out a little sigh. We were all quiet for a while until Bricen broke the silence.
"Leighton?"
"Mmmhmm?"
" Is uncle J.J. going to be ok?"
I looked over at Lillian and we shared a look before I met his eyes. I couldn't find the words to tell him until something popped into my head. "The good guys always win."