Adopted

Chapter 48

Sarah's POV

I had to wake B up when they came to take Jess for her MRI. He'd fallen asleep with his head on her blankets, holding her hand. I hadn't slept at all during the night, just watching my daughter for some signs of life. A finger moving, a grimace. Something. But she just lay in the bed, the machines breathing for her, the monitor beeping her steady heartbeat. I took that as a good sign. Her heartbeat seemed strong and stable.

We went down to the Starbucks to get coffee and breakfast sandwiches while Jess was having her MRI. We were back in her room long before they brought her back. Brendon kept disappearing to make phone calls. I know at one point he was talking to his tour manager and filling him in on what was happening. My phone rang. I looked at the display and saw it was Dallon.

"Hey Dal," I said.

"Sarah, we've all been wondering how Jess is. We didn't want to call right away when Brendon left. We wanted you two to have a couple of days to see what's what. But we're dying here without news. What's going on? What happened?"

I filled Dallon in on everything that had happened since Thursday. God. Had it only been two days?

"So what are the doctors saying now?" He asked.

"She's down for an MRI right now. Hopefully, we'll know more after that."

"I told Breezy what I knew. She wants to come by, but I told her to wait until I spoke to you. Do you mind if she comes to visit?"

"Of course not. But thank you for respecting our space, Dal," I said.

"Of course. You're family. That makes Jess family. We're all pulling for her. Tell her Uncle Dal says get well soon."

"Uncle Dal, huh? I'll pass that along," I smiled.

"Alright. I'm going to call Breezy and have her give you a call."

"Okay. Thanks Dal. Say hi to the guys for us. You can fill them in," I said.

"Okay. Will do, love you guys."

"Us too," I said.

Brendon came back into the room as I was hanging up.

"Who was that?"

"Dal," I answered. "He and the guys were worried and wanted to know what was happening, but wanted to give us a couple of days together to find out what's happening. What did your manager say?"

"He's worked really hard to postpone the next two weeks and we'll revisit in a few days when we know more about what's happening with Jess. I'm not going back on tour until I know she's going to be okay."

"Okay. Good," I said.

We sat beside each other, leaning our heads on each other while we waited for Jess to be brought back from her MRI.

"Knock, knock," came a voice from the door. I looked up and saw Jessica's principal Ms. Abigail.

"Oh, hi, Ms. Abigail," I said. "B, this is Jessica's principal."

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Urie, though I much rather would have met you under much more pleasant circumstances," she said as Brendon shook her hand.

"Same," he said simply. I knew he was trying to keep it together and not start blaming Ms. Abigail for Jessica's injuries.

"How's Jessica doing?" She asked, noticing the empty bed.

"She's down for an MRI right now. She should be back up soon," I said. "She's in a coma. They broke her right arm, she has bruising and bleeding on her brain, and can't breathe on her own because they had to put her in a medically induced coma.

"I know there is nothing I could say that would make this situation in any way okay. What happened is horrible and I am so sorry that this happened to any of our students, but especially Jessica. We are still investigating what happened. I mean, it seems pretty cut and dry, but we're still not sure how the boys found out about Jessica's diagnosis. We initially suspended them, but as of yesterday, all four of them were formally expelled from Mulholland Middle School. There is no restitution they could provide that would make this remotely okay. We want Jessica to feel safe when she returns to school and having those boys on campus would not provide her with a safe environment. I know expelling the boys doesn't make this better for you right now. You should also know, that the school has pressed assault charges on the boys and the police will likely be coming to talk with you and get some information."

"There were four boys against a small 13 year old?!" Brendon fumed. "Four boys beat up a small girl."

He left the room and I knew he was going to call the lawyer again.

"I apologize for my husband," I said. "He's taking this really hard. He was away on tour when this happened. I think he feels a bit guilty he couldn't be here when she needed him."

"Don't apologize. I can't begin to tell you how furious I am that this happened to Jessica. Regardless of who her parents are or her diagnosis, this was, well, unacceptable doesn't quite cover it, does it?"

"No, I guess not," I said.

Just then, the porters returned with Jessica and her nurse came along and got her hooked back up to the machines keeping her alive. It struck Ms. Abigail. I don't think she realized how badly Jess had been beaten.

"Expulsion is too good for those boys. You didn't hear this from me, but I suggest you also file assault charges." She whispered.

Once Jess was settled, Ms. Abigail sat on her bedside and took her hand. She spoke quietly to Jessica. It was sweet.

Another knock on the door made me look up. It was Patrick Clark. Jessica's teacher.

"Oh, hello Amelia," he said to Ms. Abigail.

"Patrick, nice to see you."

"Mrs. Urie," he said.

"Sarah, please."

"Well, here, okay. How's Jess today?"

"She's just come back from an MRI. We're waiting for those results."

He lifted up a big piece of poster board.

"The class made a get well card," he said. "I'll have you know, they asked to make it. This wasn't a forced project. And it's the whole seventh grade. And a few eighth-graders and some sixth graders, too. We're all hoping she'll be back soon."

I teared up because we weren't sure she was even going to wake up, let alone go back to school.

"Thank you," I said, taking the huge card. "Jess, look, your whole class made you this huge card. You gotta open your eyes kiddo to look at this masterpiece."

Jessica didn't move. I took the card and tacked it to the wall opposite her bed.

"She'll see it when she wakes up," I smiled.

They stayed for a little while longer and told me to just call if we needed anything before leaving.