There are two more songs in this chapter
The first one is Ayanna's. It's "I Am Changing" by Jennifer Hudson from Dreamgirls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNJBWyYUr1k
And the second one is Amanda's. It's "If No One Will Listen" by Kelly Clarkson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_cB9XWQMuc
We think both are very important to the characters and the story we are telling
Olivia and the squad visit Rafael and are updated on his condition. Ayanna and Jet support Olivia as Elliot's legal team gets to work. And Noah, Jesse and Billie find out what's going on.
After testifying at IAB the squad headed over to Mercy Hospital. They went to the front desk and the receptionist told them one of Rafael's nurses would be right down to give them an update. They all sat down and waited for hopefully some good news. The nurse walked over to the four and gave them a small smile
"Are you all here for Rafael Barba?"
"Yes we are" Sonny says speaking for the group
"Well I'm sorry to say this but due to his current circumstances we can only let one of you in at a time."
The squad is all sad to hear that, but Sonny, Amanda, and Fin know that Olivia should be the one to go first. Amanda squeezes her uninjured hand and gives the woman a comforting smile before Olivia looks at the nurse
"I'll go."
The nurse nods before leading Olivia down a corridor
"Captain Benson, are you ready to see Mr. Barba?"
Olivia gave a quiet "yes" before continuing to follow the nurse into the ICU. Her anxious thoughts were bringing back guilt. If she hadn't been so trusting in Elliot, they wouldn't be in this situation. Her anxious thoughts were getting out of control with every step closer to Rafael. He had saved her life and now he was fighting for his.Olivia had hoped she'd see him sitting up smiling at her and would say some sort of ironic joke to break the ice between them.
As the nurse opened the door, Olivia was reminded that wasn't her reality. She looked at Rafael, trying to hold back her tears. His broken and bruised body was still fighting but was too weak to breathe on his own. The ventilator was doing the job his lungs were unable to do. He had so many tubes and wires going in and out of his body and his wrist was also in a cast. She looked at her own cast and remembered it's Elliot's fault.
"Any updates on his condition?" Olivia could barely say.
"Well the good news is the concussion he endured hasn't caused any permanent brain damage that we know of or could detect right now. His brain is functioning normally."
Olivia gave a sigh of relief. She knew that would have been devastating to Rafael.
"The bad news is he had a rough night with his breathing. He went into respiratory distress a few times but is stable now. We had to increase the ventilator to do most of his breathing for him. He's a fighter from what we can tell. Right now keeping him sedated and watching for infection is the best way for him to recover."
"What's the next step for his recovery?"
"Right now, if we slowly reduce the ventilator as his lungs get better, when that happens we can wean the sedation medication. When he's ready, we'll remove the ventilator and see where we are in regarding his capabilities to breathe with the nasal cannula without any distress.Then we'd have to assess how well he can speak and swallow since he's been fed through the tube in his nose and the ventilator is down his throat. "
