She's Coming Home

Trapped

Antonio POV
This is breaking my heart. She's finally awake but she's trapped, and now she's upset about something and I'm not understanding her. She looks at Shay again, then the nurse and then starts looking around the room. After a few minutes she seems to be staring at something. It's her bag. She looks at Shay and back at the bag. Why is she staring at a bag. Then I figure it out, the bag has the 51 logo on it.
Antonio- Shay. You're thinking about Leslie Shay aren't you.
She stares at me and keeps crying but I know I figured it out. I pull out my phone.
Antonio- give me a minute, I'm going to see if someone can play with Shay while we talk.
I call Nat.
Antonio- hey, are you at the hospital
Nat- ya what's up?
Antonio- could you come get Shay from Gabby's room? I assume you heard that Gabby woke up earlier but now she's really upset, something about the original Shay, I need to talk to her but I don't want Shay to have to watch this
Nat- of course, I'll be there in a minute.
Call ended

Antonio- Nat's coming to watch Shay for a bit.
Nat- hey guys, great to see you awake Dawson!
I tell Shay she's going to play with Nat for a bit and put her processors on so she can hear her.
Nat- come on, let's go find something fun to do!

Gabby POV
Once Shay left I started crying even more. I'm not really sure why, it's been years since she died and I'd accepted it but now I feel like she's the only one who might understand what this is like.
Antonio- hey what's going on? What made you so upset about Shay?
I look at him, I just want to talk but my body won't do anything I want it to!
Antonio- do you want me to call Severide? He might be a better person to talk to about Shay, you and him knew her best.
Yes! Severide, he would remember! I look at Tonio and try to calm down to show him I want that. Being upset is making all my muscles even tighter
Antonio- ok, you can't have more visitors today but I can FaceTime him.
He pulls out his phone and I hear it ringing.
Antonio- hey Kelly, I assume you heard Gabby's awake?
Sev- ya, how's she doing?
Antonio- she's alright, opening her eyes and looking around but then she got really upset, it's something about Shay but I can't figure it out, we thought you might have better luck.
Sev- wow, we haven't talked about Shay in a while but of course.
Tonio turned his phone towards me and I saw Kelly but it was hard to focus on the small screen.
Sev- hey Dawson, how you doing?
I gave him a bit of a glare
Sev- ya sorry, dumb question, Antonio just told me how you're doing. So what got you upset about Shay?
This was a stupid idea, how am I supposed to tell Severide anything, I still can't talk. I look at Tonio for help
Antonio- want me to tell him what was going on when you got upset?
Antonio(signs)- I won't tell him about Shay
I make eye contact with him again, this seems to be becoming my new sign for yes.
Antonio- ok, I was just talking to her and then a nurse came in to change her fluids, give meds and set up a feed. She was looking between me and the nurse and starting crying. I eventually figured out it was Shay but nothing more.
Sev- ok so something about being in the hospital. Any more clues Dawson.
I try to move, thinking he might get it if I can touch my head but again my muscles just tighten. Then I start crying again out of frustration.
Sev- hey it's alright.
Tonio puts his hand on my head carefully trying to comfort me. Yes! Now I just need to tell Kelly that's what I was trying to do. I look at Tonio's arm and then back at Kelly.
Sev- wait is it something about your head?
I quickly look at him
Sev- ok, the ambo crash with you and Shay! She had a traumatic brain injury. Is that what reminded you of her?
Finally! I closed my eyes and tried to relax then opened them again to look at him.
Antonio- she'd know what your going through
I looked at him and started crying again
Sev- I know it's not the same as Shay but I bet there are other people with TBIs, maybe even more similar to yours who would talk to you.
I look at the 51 symbol on the bag again
Antonio- not firefighters or paramedics. She's looking at the 51 symbol again.
Sev- hey, you'll get through this. I'm gonna get some sleep, it's been a crazy shift, you should rest too, I'll come see you tomorrow if you can have visitors.
Antonio- bye Kelly, thanks for the help.
He ended the call and did something else before putting his phone away.
Antonio- I texted Nat, she'll bring Shay back to say bye, then we're heading out you need to sleep.

Next morning- Gabby POV
I wake up and look around, there's no one here, I guess it's still early. I decide to try moving more while no one's here to see me. I tried to move my arm and my whole body tensed but I think I did move my arm a bit. I was so focused I didn't notice that someone had come to my door. I looked over and saw Maggie
Maggie- hey, I thought I'd check in on you before shift, I didn't think you'd be awake this early.
I look at her and try to turn my head to see her better, I move my head, not exactly how I wanted to but I guess it's progress
Maggie- hey! Looks like you're doing better today! Just be careful moving your head around you still have the ICP monitor in and you're missing a big piece of skull so you don't want anything touching that part of your head.
Be careful moving! Ya right, my body seems to like doing the opposite of what I tell it to when it's not ignoring me all together, how am I supposed to be careful moving! I glared at Maggie
Maggie- sorry, you can't control it can you?