Not How I Wanted to Spend My Weekend

I didn't want to make you wait too long to find out what happens next, so here is a bonus post!
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"Olivia, this is Kathy."  Kathy?  Why was Lynn's mom calling me?  And from Lynn's phone?

"Kathy?" I asked dumbly.

"Yes, dear.  Olivia, Lynn's been in an accident."  Her voice caught on the last word. 

"An accident?" I parroted.  "Is she--" I caught myself, realization dawning on me.  "She's not okay, is she?  You wouldn't be calling me if she was okay."

"No, honey, she's not okay.  She's in the University ICU. She--"  Lynn's mom broke off, and I could hear her crying.

"Olivia?"  Lynn's dad had taken the phone and was talking now.  "She has some internal injuries, and she's in a medically-induced coma.  They won't say much about her prognosis right now."

That was enough to send me into a near-panic state.  "I'm coming.  I'll be on the first plane."  I was already pulling open my laptop to find a flight.   Within 15 minutes I had a ridiculously expensive ticket booked.  I had to be at the airport in 4 hours.  I called Brody, but it went straight to voicemail.  I called my dad.  I knew he'd be up still, and I was suddenly thankful for his night owl ways.

"Olivia, are you okay?" he asked when he picked up.  I suppose that it was awfully late to be calling.  I filled him in and asked him to pick me up at the airport in the morning.  He said he would.

I packed a bag quickly.  I was glad to not have any clients tomorrow so I could leave right away.  Tomorrow I would call my Monday clients and reschedule them for next Friday.

I looked at my phone.  I now had a little over 3 hours before I needed to be at the airport.  What was I going to do in that time?  I was a ball of nervous energy.  I tried calling Brody again.  Again, it went straight to voicemail.  His plane should have landed by now, and I wondered if he was purposely keeping his phone off to avoid me.  I would, if I were him.

I washed my face and brushed my teeth and got into bed.  I might as well try to get a little sleep.

But sleep wouldn't come, and I tossed and turned for two hours until I finally just got up. I took a shower to kill some time and tried Brody again.  Still straight to voicemail.  Finally, it was time to leave.  I drove to the airport, moved quickly through security, and sat at my gate, trying to read to keep my mind off of Lynn.  When they started boarding, I called Brody one more time.  This time when his voicemail picked up immediately, I left a message.  "Brody, Lynn was in an accident.  She's in the hospital and I'm about to fly to Madison.  Please call me when you get this."  I paused, then added softly, "I'm sorry for the way I acted.  I was out of line.  Please call me.  I love you."

I tried to sleep on the flight, but even though my eyelids were heavy and my eyes burned from fatigue, I couldn't turn my brain off long enough to fall asleep.  I felt like a zombie as I trudged through the small airport at 8am.  My dad was there waiting, and he jumped out of the car and pulled me into a crushing hug.  He threw my bag in the backseat and drove me to campus.

I found the ICU fairly easily, but I wasn't prepared for all the people there.  Kathy jumped up and ran to me, enveloping me in her arms, which was enough to set off exhausted, anxious tears.  Dan, Lynn's dad, was close behind.  I saw a bunch of people that I didn't recognize that must have been family.

Dan explained to me that Lynn's car was hit head-on by a semi yesterday morning.  She hadn't had her phone with her, apparently forgetting it at home that day, so it took most of the day for the police to track down and inform her family.

"Her left leg was pinned in the wreckage and is broken in several places.  They had to surgically repair it.  She had some internal bleeding that they were able to stop, and one of her lungs collapsed," Dan's voice shook as he listed her injuries.  "She has a total of 72 stitches, not including the staples from surgery.  And she must have hit her head very hard, because there is some pretty serious swelling in her brain."  He continued to explain that she was being kept in a medically-induced coma because of swelling in her brain, and the doctors couldn't estimate what the effects of the head injuries would be.  They were keeping her body temperature cooler than normal and were monitoring the swelling in her brain while she was in the coma, and wouldn't bring her out until it went down.  Her prognosis would depend on whether or not the swelling started to go down soon, and it sounded like it was potentially pretty grim if it didn't. 

I quickly became overwhelmed by this information and the sheer amount of people here waiting, and with my lack of sleep and the stress of fighting with Brody and finding out about Lynn's accident, I couldn't bear to be surrounded by Lynn's friends and family.  There was nothing I could do at the moment but sit and wait, and I wanted to do it without having to talk to anyone.  I found a seat in a deserted corner of the waiting room, pulled my knees up to my chest and laid my head against them, shutting my eyes to try to block everyone out.  My head spun and I couldn't get my brain to focus on anything but the events of the last 14 hours.  I was compulsively replaying my fight with Brody and the call from Kathy in my head, when I heard a familiar voice say, "Liv?"

I looked up and saw John standing there.  I stood and hugged him, thankful for someone familiar that would know better than to push me to talk much right now.  He hugged me back hard, then pulled away.  He looked at me carefully then hugged me again.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, when we sat down. 

"Kathy called me.  I got on the first plane out here."  I was so tired, it was hard to make my mouth form words properly.

"Amy will be here later," he said.  I nodded.  He regarded me carefully.  "You look like shit."

"Well, I haven't slept in over 24 hours, I fought with my boyfriend last night before he got on a plane to Texas, and my best friend is in a medically-induced coma in the ICU.  Looking like shit is the least of my worries."  For some inexplicable reason, he laughed.  I laughed too, then we sat together in silence.  He tentatively slid an arm around my shoulders, and I leaned against him, trying to stop my exhausted body from shaking.  There was nothing behind the gesture but comfort, and I was thankful he was here.

Amy cried when she saw me, and we sat with our arms wrapped around each other for a long time.  John tried to talk me into going down to the cafeteria to eat around 1, but I refused.  I knew I should eat, but the thought of food made my stomach turn.  Around 5, I stretched out across a few chairs and tried to sleep.

I must have finally dozed off because I awoke with a start when someone touched my shoulder.  I sat straight up and was shocked to see Brody crouched in front of me.  He stood and I jumped up and threw my arms around him.  He hugged me tightly and I gripped the back of his travel-wrinkled shirt and pressed my face into his chest.  Even after traveling, his scent was familiar and comforting.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice muffled by his chest.

"I got your message and I came as soon as I could," he said, stroking my hair.  "I'm so sorry I didn't get it sooner, my phone died and I couldn't get out to get a charger for it until this morning.  Of course I had forgotten mine.  I tried to call you, but your phone is off."  I realized I had never turned it back on after my flight.

"How did you know where to go?" I was still so confused, and didn't really believe he was here.  I felt dazed and fuzzy.  I was so tired.

"I called your dad.  You should tell your parents they're really easy to find online," he replied wryly.  He eased out of my embrace, keeping one arm around my waist, and held up a bag.  "I brought you some dinner, your dad said you probably hadn't eaten anything."

I looked from him to the bag in his hand and burst into tears.  He looked surprised and hugged me again, rubbing my back.  Through my tears, I heard John talking.

"It sounds like she hasn't slept in close to 36 hours, and she definitely hasn't eaten since she got here this morning," he was saying.  "She was asleep for maybe 15 minutes before you got here, and that's all she's slept since yesterday morning.  I tried to get her to eat something earlier but she wouldn't.  I'm sure you know how stubborn she can be."

Brody said something back, but I was crying harder and couldn't make out the words.  Lynn's family and friends were watching my melodramatic meltdown curiously now, so Brody led me away from them to a quieter corner of the waiting room.

"I'm so sorry," I choked out through my tears.  "I was such an asshole and you came anyway and you brought me food and you even called my dad to find out where to go, and all after I called you a control freak!"  I was exhausted, emotional, and far past making sense at this point.

"Well, I did ditch you on a weekend I promised we would spend together, so it's not like I'm innocent here either."  He pushed my tangled hair out of my face and brushed his fingertips across my tear-stained cheek.  He followed with his thumb, wiping away as much of the wetness as he could.  I leaned my face against his hand and shut my eyes.

"That's true," I agreed, sniffling.

He laughed.  "I'm sorry, I really am.  But we can talk about that later.  Right now you should try to eat."  He handed me the bag.  I obediently took out the sandwich inside.  I was too tired and out of it to do anything but follow directions.  I chewed mechanically, not even tasting it.   I was finishing when Brody's phone rang.

"Hello?"  He listened to the other person for a second, then looked at me.   "No, I rented a car."  Another pause while he listened.  "Yeah, I think they're going to kick us out soon....Yes, I will...Okay, thanks, bye."

He looked back at me.  "That was your dad, wondering if we needed a ride."  I nodded.  "He also asked you to turn on your phone."  Whoops.  I pulled it out and turned it on.  I had 7 voicemails and 13 texts.  I groaned and clicked off the display.  I'd deal with them later when I was in a better state of mind.

Amy walked over.  "We have to go, only family can stay past 7," she said.

We said goodnight and Brody and I walked towards the elevators. He guided me with one hand on my lower back, and I walked slowly and silently.  He led me through the parking lot to a red Jeep and opened the passenger door.  I climbed in and put my seat belt on before leaning my head against the cold window and closing my eyes.

It had started to snow at some point while I was in the hospital, and there were several inches on the ground already.  Brody cursed at the lack of a snow brush in the rental and cleared the windows off with his arm.  When he got back in, he said gently, "Where are we going?"

"Oh," I said in surprise.  For a second I had forgotten that we were in my territory now.  I directed him out of the parking lot, through campus, and out of town towards my parents' house.  It felt good to do something as normal and routine as giving directions.  He parked in their driveway and we climbed out.  The porch light went on, and my mom opened the door.  She hugged me when we got there.

"How is she?" she asked.  "How's her family holding up?  How are you?  You look awful."  I rolled my eyes and began to answer her questions.  My dad came out into the kitchen as I was filling them in.  Then I remembered that I hadn't introduced Brody.

"Mom, Dad, this is Brody," I said.  That was the best I could do right now.  I had told them I was dating someone but hadn't told them much about him.  This isn't really how I was expecting them to meet him.  My parents introduced themselves as Chris and Karen, and shook Brody's hand.

"Are you guys hungry?  I kept some plates warm in the oven," my mom said.  I was suddenly starving, even though I had just eaten the sandwich Brody brought me.  My mom pulled out plates of baked chicken and rice and broccoli and we ate silently.

It was nearly 9pm by this point, and I was dead on my feet.  I had now been awake for nearly 40 hours straight, minus my 15 minute nap in the ICU waiting room.  Surprisingly, my mom didn't say a word about sleeping arrangements and was silent as Brody and I walked together to my bedroom.  I found my bag in my room and slowly changed into shorts and a t-shirt and got ready for bed.  I felt like I was trying to walk through deep snow.  None of my limbs were doing exactly what I wanted them to.  But even though I was exhausted, sleep wouldn't come.  I had been tossing and turning for nearly two hours, dozing off and on, when Brody rolled onto his back and said softly, "Come here baby."

I slid over and rested my head against his chest.  He wrapped one arm around me tightly and with the other hand he pushed the hair out of my face.  He tucked it gently behind my ear, then slid his fingers down my jaw.  Even after the wayward hairs were tucked firmly away, he repeated the motion, sliding his fingers over my temple, skirting my ear, and trailing them down my jaw.  "Brody?" I whispered, after a couple minutes.

"Hmm?" His hand stilled, fingertips still resting lightly on my jaw, and I immediately missed the calming touch and wished I hadn't spoken. 

"I'm really sorry.  I hate fighting with you."  My voice, still a whisper, caught on the last word. 

"I know you are.  I'm sorry, too."  His arm tightened around me and he kissed the top of my head.

I pushed myself up so I could see him in the faint light from the streetlight trickling around the edge of the curtains.  "I can't believe you came."  My exhaustion and the stress of the last 24 hours hit me all at once and I started to cry again.

He gently pressed down on my shoulder and I laid back down, my head finding a comfortable spot on his chest.   He wrapped both arms around me as I clung to him, sobbing softly.  When my tears started to slow, he whispered, "Liv, you're exhausted.  You've got to try to go to sleep."  I nodded against his chest, and his hand started back on its slow path through my hair, around my ear, down my jaw, then back to my temple.  Over and over.  Finally, the repetitive sensation soothed me into a restless sleep.