New Lives (A Nathan Gardner Story)

Chapter 28 - I'm Sorry

"Sydney.  Sydney, honey, I need to you to wake up."  Sydney rolled over in bed, the sheet falling away to expose her chest.  Arlen thought nothing of it.  "Honey, we need to get up and go for a ride."

"Was already riding," she sighed, still half asleep.  "Waiting to finish.  Stay naked."  She smiled and moved again, clutching her pillow.

Arlen sighed, his eyes weary.  "Okay then..."  He placed his hand on Sydney's arm and shook her as gently as he could.  "Syd, wake up."  His voice was still soft, but his tone more firm.  Sydney's eyes opened.  The glow from the television was the only light in the room, Arlen had kept it that way to ease her awake rather than scare her.  He saw the complete confusion in her eyes, then the panic.  "Honey..."

"Nathan," she said, voice cracking with worry.

"We have to go, Syd.  David is with him and..."  Sydney all but pushed past Arlen to get out of the bed.  Completely nude, she began to go towards the door.  "Gotta get dressed, Syd.  Come here."  He helped her as her hands shook.  Underwear, sweatpants...and she grabbed for a t-shirt Nathan left at the edge of the bed.  He wore it earlier in the day and his scent was what she needed.  Arlen didn't argue with her as he helped her slip it over her head.  After zipping up her hoodie, they went down the stairs and out the front door, all without a word.

Once Arlen was driving, Sydney found her voice.  "He's okay?"

"I don't know much, sweetie.  David is doing a bit of penance with some late night E.R. administration and called me.  He said that both Nathan and Susan were brought in and to go get you.  He knows the less I know, the more help I'll be so...I'm sorry, honey."

"He's okay," she said, her voice firm, but no louder than a whisper. "I'd know...I'd know..."

Arlen took her shaking hand in his.  "No flowers," he said, interrupting her.  She looked over at him, confused.  "For the wedding.  No flowers.  I know that you hate how people fight over centerpieces that die, how pointless it all is, so I thought about silks, but that's dated and terrible looking...but then, well, you and Nathan and your books, right?  So I peeked around on Pintrest and the like and...Sydney, you're going to love them.  Nathan is too.  I promise.  Your day is going to be perfect down to the last little thing..."

Sydney squeezed her best friend's hand.  "I know it will."  Tears were spilling down her cheeks, but she hadn't truly cried.  Arlen was baffled, but so very thankful, for her composure.  Her stomach dropped when the hospital came into view and she swallowed as the urge to vomit took over her body.  She didn't feel the cold when she left the car, she didn't register the harsh florescent lights of the hospital.  She felt nothing at all until she saw Burt Hansen...and the look on his face.

Arlen grabbed Sydney as her knees weakened, helping her to steady her body against the semi-circular desk in the center of the large waiting area.  "Breathe, honey," he whispered.  He looked at the woman behind the desk.  "Erica?"

"I'll make sure he knows you're here," the woman said, her voice sweet.

"Sydney."  Burt reached out and hugged Sydney, his grip tight.  "They're going to be okay.  I got there as fast as I could.  As soon as the call came in...I never drove faster in my life."

"Car accident?" she asked.  It was the only thing that had crossed her mind.

Burt shook his head.  "Let's sit down, hm?"  Sydney nodded and followed him to the nearest couch.  "There was..."  He could have sugar-coated things, he could have made things sound less than they were, but he knew that Sydney wouldn't have any of that for answers.  "...a fight; a rather unfair one from what we've been told.  A few college guys at the party ganged up on Nathan – he fought back – until one of them pushed him down the stairs.  The one that did it ran, thought he killed him.  We have him at the station now, officers found him a couple blocks away."

Her lips trembled.  "Susan?"

"Someone slipped something in her drink."  The voice was David's.  Sydney looked up and watched him kneel next to her.  "A rather high dose of ketamine, I'm afraid."  Her walls broke and Sydney sobbed.  "Shh...darling, she's going to be fine."  David caressed her face.  "She's being superbly taken care of."  He took her hand and made sure she was looking in his eyes.  "She's sleeping.  We pumped her stomach, which was far from pleasant, but..."

"She'll be okay?" Arlen asked.

"Groggy for a while," David answered, not breaking eyes contact with Sydney, "but she'll be perfectly fine."

"She...she wasn't..."  Sydney couldn't utter the words.

"No," David replied quickly.  "All checked out as a precaution.  Nobody touched her."  Sydney nodded, thankful and lightheaded.  Her breathing turned a little irregular; Arlen panicked, but David's composure remained in tact.  "Look at me, breathe with me..."  David took a few deep breaths, Sydney following his lead.

Burt stood and moved beside Arlen, letting David and Sydney have space.  "He's...kind of amazing at this."

Despite the situation, Arlen smiled, proud.  "He is.  Had anyone else been here tonight..."

"Nathan's being worked on, Sydney."

"Why aren't you there?" she asked.

"You know why."  He now had both of her hands in his.  "There's..."  David's eyes watered a little.  He had tried his hardest to be professional and were he speaking to anyone else about anyone else he would have been fine, but this...  "So far I can tell you that he has a few broken ribs, a fracture to his collar bone..."

"That doesn't exactly need to be worked on," Sydney said, knowing something else was wrong.

"He's in surgery for a collapsed lung.  The tear was bigger than..."  He freed one hand and wiped at Sydney's tears.  "I called in the best, sweetheart, I swear it."

"What else?"  She choked on the words.

David looked down.  "Some cranial swelling.  Not much, but...enough for concern."

Sydney looked up at Burt.  "You have him?"

Burt nodded, solemn.  "Along with quite a few others.  Drunk tank is full of college students...lots of under aged kids waiting for their parents at the station too.  I think some are gonna let them stay there a while.  A lesson, you know?"

"Tasha?" Sydney asked. 

"She was here...been in the bathroom a while.  She's the one that called."

Sydney got up from her seat and made her way toward the restroom.  She took a shaky breath before opening the door.  She heard someone throwing up in one of the stalls...she waited.  After a couple of flushes, the stall door opened.

"Miss Turner..."  The girl burst into tears.  "I'm so sorry!  This is all my fault.  Susan didn't want to go, but I begged her.  There was a guy there that I...it's so so stupid!  When Mister Gardner showed up, I was scared shitless, but relieved too, you know?  The guy never showed and I didn't know where Susan was...I was a bad friend and now..."  Her body shook and her words stopped.

"Have you called your parents?"

"I can't call them...they'll kill me."

"They won't be happy, but they won't kill you."  Sydney knew that under any other circumstance she'd be comforting this girl, but she felt she deserved to be selfish, to be angry.  Her family was hurt, her heart broken, and it felt odd that she couldn't feel an ounce of sympathy for the girl groveling before her.  "Come on, you need to get home."

"I'm sorry," she said again.

"I know you are."