Adopted

Chapter 45

Still Sarah's POV

Paige and her mom stayed for another 20 minutes or so. Paige asked if she could come back to visit and I told her that she was welcome any time, but that she had to promise me she'd go to school first.

After they left, Brendon came back. He'd gone to the Starbucks downstairs and handed me a coffee.

"I'm sorry, Babe," he said as he sat down beside me and took my hand. "I'm just so angry that this happened."

"I know, Brendon. But you can't take it out on innocent people. Especially Paige. She already feels guilty enough."

"Poor kid. Thinking she's helping our kid make more friends and winds up seeing her friend get beaten up," Brendon said.

Zack and Kala walked in just then with Pete in tow.

"Holy fuck," Pete said when he saw Jessica. "Oh, kid. What did they do to you?"

He gave us hugs and then sat on the side of Jessica's bed and took her hand. I saw him give it a light squeeze and watched to see if she squeezed back. She didn't. Tears filled Pete's eyes.

Kala came up beside me.

"How was she today?" She asked.

"The same. They're taking her for a CT scan around six to see if the swelling is coming down. Once that starts coming down, they can try waking her up," I said.

"Dude," Zack said to Brendon. "Don't take this the wrong way, but the two of you look like shit. Let me take you home. Get some sleep, take a shower, change your clothes. I'll bring you back after her test."

"I'm not leaving her," Brendon said.

"Brendon, it's not a request. We're taking you two home. Pete is going to stay here and Josh is on his way," Kala said.

Both of us protested but then Jessica's nurse came in and told us we needed to go home and rest. For Jess.

"You two need your rest and strength, too. Jess is stable, your friend is here, I'm here, and if anything changes, I promise you we'll call."

We reluctantly agreed to go home for a few hours.

Neither of us spoke on the ride home. Brendon held my hand as we sat in the back of Zack's car.

We pulled into the driveway and went into the house. Zack and Kala said they'd stay so when we woke up, we could head straight back to the hospital.

We went upstairs together, both of us crying a bit as we passed Jessie's empty room. Before we went into our room, I picked up Mr. Bunny. I'd bring him to the hospital later. But for now, I wanted him with me.

Brendon and I laid down in the bed and I think out of pure exhaustion and the drop in adrenaline I'd been running on since finding out about Jess, we both fell asleep almost right away.

I'm not sure how long I slept, but I was startled awake hearing Jessica call for me.

I got up and ran to her room. It was empty and reality came crashing down around me. I sank to my knees and sobbed.  Moments later, Kala was beside me.

"Sarah, what happened?"

"I thought I heard her calling for me," I said, wiping a tear away.

Kala hugged me.

"Look, go take a shower, get changed. If Brendon is awake, have him shower and change, we'll make you two a couple of sandwiches then we'll head back to the hospital, okay?"

I walked back into our room to see Brendon tossing and turning. I went over to him, sat beside him, and touched his shoulder. His eyes flew open and he looked at me, then tears sprang to his eyes.

"I- I had a... a nightmare I guess," he said. "I dreamed we lost her, Sarah. I dreamed our girl was gone."  I held him while he cried.

He settled down after a bit.

"Let's get showered and changed. Zack and Kala are making sandwiches. We'll have a bite and head back to the hospital,  okay?"

He nodded.

We showered together to save time, and both of us dressed quickly in the first thing we could find.  Both of us just threw on sweat pants and t-shirts. I picked up Mr. Bunny from our bed. Brendon looked at it then got a look on his face as though he'd thought of something. We went downstairs and I went into the kitchen but Brendon went out into the yard.

"Dude. We made sandwiches," Zack called out.

"Give him a minute," I said. "Thank you, guys. You've been awesome."

"It's nothing. We love Jess, too. And you'd do the same for us," Kala said.

I bit into the sandwich. I could barely taste it because I just wanted to be back at the hospital, but I knew we needed to eat.

Brendon came back into the house and I saw he'd gone into his studio to get one of his portable speakers.

"She needs music as well as Mr. Bunny," he said. "Those machines aren't going to help her get better. They're boring."

I smiled. That's my husband.

He sat down and mechanically ate his sandwich. Kala took our empty plates and put them in the dishwasher then picked up our small cooler.

"More sandwiches, some fruit, cheese and crackers, water and yes, Brendon, chips too," she smiled.

"Thanks, guys," I said.

Brendon's phone rang. It was Pete.

"What?! Okay, we're on our way. Now. We're coming now!" He hung up and looked panicked.

"Jessica had a seizure. They don't know if she's going to wake up!" He said. We ran out the door.