Chapter 20
Drew
Not bothering to park the car, I immediately left it in the emergency lane by the ER.
Breaking every single traffic law, I made it under 3 hours.
It was now 7 in the morning and I was wide awake.
Running inside, I didn't stop for anybody.
I needed to get to her.
I refused to believe that she wasn't okay.
I refused to think anything else.
I sprinted as fast as I could until I reached the desk of the emergency room.
"Please, I need to know what room Charlie Hale is in," I said frantically.
My fingers were running through my hair.
"What room is she in?" I asked impatiently again.
"Sir, are you family?" She pried.
"I'm her fiancé," I responded.
She looked me over before responded, "She is in surgery. She will be out in about an hour and we will have more details."
"I need to see her NOW." I said.
"Drew!" I heard a few people call out.
Ignoring them I kept asking the receptionist, "Please, I'll do anything. I need to be with her."
"Drew, she's in surgery. You can't be in there." Blake said pulling me away from the desk.
Pushing Blake off softly, I ignored her.
"Where is she Blake?" I asked.
"Drew, breathe. There's nothing you can do for her right now." Ethan came up from behind.
I shook my head in disbelief.
"I wasn't there. My God. I wasn't there." I shook my head.
"F*ck!" I yelled.
"What happened, I don't even know what happened?" I said collapsing on the floor.
Blake crouched over to me and rubbed my back.
I bobbed my head down so that it was in between my hands.
Ethan sat beside me and gave me a minute to regain slight composure.
"She saved your sister man." He broke the silence.
I turned my head to him in shock, "Ellie? Where is she? What happened to her?"
Blake gave me a sympathetic look.
I needed to throw up.
"Ellie is fine. Just a fracture in her leg. Nothing major but she is resting. You can go see her if you like." Blake said.
I looked at Ethan and he spoke, "There was a fire at your parent's house. Apparently El didn't tell Charlie the truth about when she should have been there. Your parents left to dinner around 6 and the kids were messing around. The kids were reckless and were playing around with fire. Next thing they knew, the house lit on fire and Charlie just so happened to save Scott, El's friends and El."
I shot him a confused look, "How are they fine but Charlie isn't?" I asked needing some clarity.
I thanked God El had been safe. I was just so confused why all of them weren't.
Ethan nodded to Blake and she stood and walked back to where they were waiting. I noticed Charlie's family was here along with her assistant Kenna.
"El and Scott were in the basement and she shattered the glass to get them out. Scott got out scratch free. El had injured her leg by that point and they couldn't pull her out as she was in pain. Charlie told Scott to grab a medic while she tried to help her in the meantime. She jumped in the burning house, managed to get her out with the help of the medics that came just in time," Ethan added.
I took a deep breath. This was all too much. I almost lost my sister at the same time.
My heart weighed a thousand pounds.
"Just as they were to pull her out, a metal bar collapsed from the floor above and hit her in the head. She immediately passed out at the hit. The medic went in and grabbed her and managed to save her from getting burned, but she's been unconscious ever since. But we don't know how severe her injuries are. The doctors... they don't know. She got hit pretty bad." He stated.
I stood up. I couldn't breathe.
I felt like someone was choking me.
I wanted to throw up.
My girl saved my sister.
Risked her life for her.
I would never forgive myself.
I should have been there, but I wasn't.
That would haunt me for as long as I lived.
"F*ck." I choked out loud.
I felt myself start to lose control.
Ethan, Blake, as well as Charlie's brothers all were surrounding me trying to calm me down but I couldn't breathe.
I felt myself losing it.
I walked over to a wall and started profusely yelling, "I should have BEEN there. This wouldn't have happened. It wouldn't have been her."
I felt my hands trembling.
"Breathe man," Ethan tried saying as he grabbed a hold of my shoulders.
I tore his hands off me but felt other hands trying to get a hold of me.
"Don't! I can't f*cking calm down. I can't breathe. Just don't!" I yelled out to everyone.
I saw Blake crying alongside Charlie's mother.
"Drew! Calm the hell down, son." I heard my father say as he walked out from behind the emergency room doors.
I glared at him, not being able to form any words.
"Sit your ass down, right this moment." He ordered.
He ushered everyone to leave around us.
Ethan slapped my father's shoulder and walked with Blake and the rest of the group away from where we were.
Sitting against the wall in the corner of the waiting room, my father joined me and sat beside me.
We sat in silence for about two minutes before he spoke.
"This situation, we could have never prepared for something like this. But do you think she would want for you to be acting this way?" He said.
I didn't care how I was behaving. My world was in the hands of some doctors I knew nothing about.
I had no control over this situation and it was killing me.
"She would want for you to be strong. Think positive. Have faith." He clarified.
I felt hopeless.
My chest tightened at the mere thought of her being hurt.
My dad padded my shoulder and sat with me for about twenty minutes.
I needed to do something.
I couldn't stare at the floor any longer.
"What room is El in?" I asked my father.
"I'll walk you over to her." He said as I stood up. I helped my father get on his feet.
He walked in front of me and waved to the nurse.
She nodded and gave me a knowing stare.
Her expression pitied me.
I didn't want anyone to pity me.
I walked behind my father down the hallways until he pulled away the curtain so that El's face turned towards us.
My mother was sitting beside her, appearing to be in deep conversation.
El had her leg elevated with a cast on and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, reveling the smug from the fire that was still very fresh on her face.
She immediately began crying at the sight of me and my heart dropped.
I loved my sister and I knew she was feeling guilty at what had happened.
I went over and hugged her.
"I'm so sorry." She repeated over and over again into my chest.
I felt my eyes stinging at her apology.
My poor sister. She would be regretting this for the rest of her life, no doubt.
"Shh. El, don't upset yourself. I'm not mad at you. Nobody is." I said honestly.
Although I didn't know exactly how the started the fire, kids make mistakes. I wasn't going to hold this against her.
She sobbed hard in my chest.
I tried holding my composure.
My parents left the room allowing us some privacy.
After holding her for a few minutes, allowing her to let out all of her tears, she spoke.
"The fire, I didn't start it. Scott did. But he meant no harm. He was teaching me some sort of trick and it went so wrong. Next thing we knew the stairs were caught on fire and my friends were upstairs. I had no idea how to get out. We were stuck," she stated.
I sat on the chair beside her bed and held her hand in mine as she continued to speak.
"If it weren't for Charlie... I wouldn't be here right now." She added.
My head was pounding, my chest tighter than ever.
I knew if Charlie hadn't had been there when she was, my sister would have very much been dead.
There was no way around it.
And because of her bravery, she was fighting for her life.
I couldn't be angry at El or Charlie.
"Charlie wouldn't be mad at you. Know that. Neither of us are. You just need to focus on getting better. I love you, El." I told her honestly.
She tightened her hand in mine, "I love you guys, so much." She cried out.
I tightened my hand in hers in response.
"You know we love you." I replied.
My girl undoubtedly loved my sister. Last night's events showed.
"How is she doing by the way?" El asked just as Blake entered.
"Hey big girl. How are you feeling?" She asked as she pulled she sheet back around us.
"I'm okay. The medicine kicked in so I'm not so much in pain." Ellie replied.
Blake walked over to the other side of her bed, "Good. I'm going to borrow your brother for a bit. Your mom is about to come back, but went to grab you snacks. They should discharge you later today since your scans came back normal."
El sighed in relief, "Did you want Ethan to come keep you company until she comes back?" Blake asked.
"No, no. I'm sure my mom will be in in a few minutes." Ellie responded.
"She will. She just went right downstairs," Blake replied.
Blake walked over to me and nudged on my hand for me to follow her outside.
"I'll come back shortly. Let me know if you need anything, you hear me?" I told Ellie.
She rolled her eyes, "Just keep me updated on Charlie, please."
I shot her a pained expression but attempted to mask it as best as I could.
"The second I know I'll let you know, alright?" I told her.
She nodded her head in agreement.
"Come here, you." Blake ushered.
Walking away with Blake, she linked her arm with mine and spoke as we walked back to the waiting room.
"The doctors came out and told us she should be out of surgery any second now. The surgery went well repairing a small fracture to her skull. There was a lot of swelling though but they haven't told us what that means. They should come back out with more answers soon." She said quietly.
I assumed this was better news.
I wouldn't know for sure until the doctor and explained everything.
"I don't know how you're so calm." I told her as we walked back out to the waiting room.
She tightened her arm around mine, "One of us needs to be. I've had my fair share of panicking with you being my rock as well as Char's. Now it's my turn to take care of you guys."
I kissed her temple, "This is on a whole other level of pain I never knew existed."
She hugged me tightly, "I know you're scared, so am I. But we have to be strong for her right now."
I nodded, not really wanting to agree with her but knew it was what I had to do.
After hugging Charlie's mom in the waiting room, I sat beside Ethan who was on FaceTime with Clay and Rachel.
I saw my parents head back to where El was and told them that I'd go back in when they came out.
Knowing them, they wouldn't unless one of us wanted to go back and see her.
Although I wanted to be with El, I knew my parents needed this time with her. They almost lost a daughter.
I wanted to be here right now for Charlie's mother, knowing she was undoubtedly panicking just as must as I was.
She had been with Charlie through it all.
I grabbed her hand and held it in my lap.
She shot me a knowing stare and grabbed a hold of it.
An hour had passed and the doctors finally updated us.
"Family of Ms. Charlotte Hale?" The doctor said approaching us.
"That's us," Charlie's mother replied.
I jolted upward as he stopped in front of us.
Everybody who was waiting with us huddled around the doctor, waiting for news.
"The surgery was successful and we managed to repair the fracture. She didn't suffer any other injury which is good. Slight scratches and bruises here and there but nothing major. She has bad bruising on her forearms that we are unsure of just yet, but those are also not threatening." He clarified.
"So she's fine? She'll be okay?" I asked.
"Her brain is pretty swollen still and we just don't know how much damage was really done. We won't know until she wakes up, if she decides to return to us," he shot me an unknowing look.
"What the hell does that mean?" I asked furious.
What in the hell was he trying to say.
I felt Blake's grip on me tighten.
"We had to put her in a medically induced coma due to the swelling. We won't be pulling her out of it until a few days minimum and then we will revisit. It's too soon to tell just how much significant brain damage there is, if any." He added.
"Days? To see if she is alright? You're asking us to waiting f*cking days?" I asked confused.
"Drew," Blake said softly.
"No Blake. I can't wait another single minute of this. I need to see her, right now." I told her.
She nodded, not putting a fight.
"She's in ICU right now recovering. It's been an hour since she's been out of surgery so you can see her, but we ask that there is a maximum of two in the room." The doctor responded.
"What room is she in?" I asked immediately.
"2nd floor, room 207 but I would-" The doctor was talking but I couldn't wait any longer.
Leaving the conversation, I jolted to the elevator and made my way up to the second floor.
I buzzed myself in at the large doors outside the ICU and tracked down the room.
What felt like the longest walk of my life, I finally reached to the door and opened it without hesitation.
My feet stuck to the ground, unable to move at the mere sight of her.
My girl.
My life.
Hooked up to a thousand machines.
I let out a sob at the sight of her.
Beautifully heartbreaking.
God, please give her the strength to get through this, I prayed.
I couldn't seem to get up. I was stuck on the floor. One giant mess.
F*cking get your shit together Underwood.
I needed to be the man she needed me to be right now.
I stood up and went over to the side of the bed, pulled a chair and sat beside her, grabbing her hand and enveloping it into mine.
She had a huge bandage wrapped around her head and wires attached everywhere.
I kissed her fingers one by one before speaking, "I love you so God damn much."
"You'd be laughing at me right about now. Quite disappointed actually. I'm going a little ape shit, you'd have beaten my ass by now." I said letting out a sad laugh.
"I want for you so badly to beat my ass right now. Go off on me in that sexy way that you do. Call me out on my bullshit," I added.
"I want for you to fight this, baby. You're so strong. So, so strong." I felt a large lump in my throat try and make its way out.
I would not break down in front of her.
Even if she couldn't hear.
I would not.
She was fighting for her life and I needed to have faith in her.
Her strength was undoubtedly stronger than my fears were at the moment.
"I'd do anything to see those beautiful eyes of yours open. Just know that I'll be here when you do wake up. I'll be here for as long as you need." I reassured.
I gripped her hand softly and squeezed it lightly, somehow believing she could sense it.
"I'll always be here for you," I replied truthfully.
I would never leave her side ever again.