Problematic Love

Chapter 10

Jackson POV

Andrew and I have been waiting outside the OR for over 2 hours now, pacing nervously.
"It's my fault. If Adriana and I hadn't been fighting, none of this would have happened and I might have been able to avoid the car. I'm sorry Andrew I never meant for any of this to happen." I said to Andrew, still having tears in my eyes.

He just looked at me angrily "So you weren't paying attention to the road because you had to argue with her?! You are the worst thing that could have happened to her." Said Andrew and punched me in the face with his fist.
I staggered back a bit but caught myself and pushed Andrew away from me.
He kept punching me.
I struggled and fought back as Travis and Vic came running at that moment.

Vic pulled Andrew away from me. "Andrew calm down!" yelled Vic at him.
"It's his fault because of him she will die. If she dies I'll kill him and you can't stop me!" yelled Andrew angrily, trying to get past Vic to come at me again.
Vic looked at Travis "Help me make sure they don't kill each other."
"If it's really his fault then Andrew should really mess up his pretty face." Travis said and looked at me angry and disappointed while he said "I never thought you would put her and Lucia in such danger."

When Andrew pushed Vic out of the way, Travis intervened and stood in front of him. "Andrew he's not worth it."
Vic stood in front of me so that the two of them were now between me and Andrew.
With my hand I quickly wiped the blood from under my nose away.

"You both calm down now. We are in a hospital and behind this door is a person we all love, lying on the operating table fighting for her life. Do you know how disappointed she would be in you guys if she knew what was going on here right now. She would want us to stick together and give each other strength instead of killing each other." Vic yelled with tears in her eyes and pointed to the door of the OR.
Travis and Andrew nodded and looked to the floor ashamed "Sorry Mom."
I just looked at Vic and then briefly went into a supply room to get a cold pack for my nose.

I went back to the others as Bailey, Maggie and Amelia came out of surgery. They paged Carina to come in with Maya.

We all looked at them with concern.
"Is she still alive?" I dared to ask the three.
Maggie nodded "Yes she is alive Jackson. I was able to suture the tear in the heart wall and her heart should heal without complications. We had to shock her once after we took her off bypass but then she also had a normal heartbeat again and her vitals are slowly becoming more stable." Maggie told us and Bailey then continued. "We were able to remove the ruptured spleen and stop all internal bleeding."
Travis breathed a sigh of relief and hugged Bailey.

I looked at Amelia and could see by the look on her face that it wasn't all good news.
"What's the bad news Amelia?" I asked her anxiously.

"The subdural hematoma was very extensive, I was able to open it up and drain all the blood but she still has neurolgic deficits and I can't tell yet if she will wake up."
Carina looked at Amelia in shock "But that's usually so patients recover from it and wake up anyway?"
"Yes but not really after a subdural hematoma of this magnitude and it can also fill with blood again and again. I did put in a shunt to prevent this but I just don't want you to get your hopes up too high."
"What other neurological deficits does she have?" asked Andrew Amelia.
"Her left pupil is still unresponsive to light and just as we were about to move her toward the ICU she had a seizure. Her reflexes didn't work either but I'll be checking on her every few hours eventual the neurological deficits may go away once the brain sweelling has subsided a bit."

Carina turned to Maya and Andrew and burst out into tears.
Vic started crying and hugged Travis.

I just stood there and was done with the whole world.
It was only because of me that Adriana was in this situation.
I punched the wall angrily. Bailey pulled me away from the wall. "Don't ruin your $1 million hand Avery. We're not going to give up on Adriana and we're going to do everything we can to make her wake up."

A few days later

The neurological deficit had receded and her brain had swollen down but Adriana was still in a coma.

Lucia was allowed to go home after a night in the hospital. Travis,Vic and Maya took care of Lucia at home while
Carina,Andrew and I stayed with Adriana the whole time.

Bailey had even put a field cot in here for us so we could sleep here which we always took turns with.
I sat on a chair next to Adriana's bed and held her hand.
Andrew slept on the other chair and Carina was laying asleep on the cot.

I was so scared for Adriana and still didn't want to believe that maybe I would never see her beautiful eyes and amazing smile again.
What I would give for her to say my name in an annoyed tone of voice because she was upset with me again.
We knew each other just a few weeks and were actually no more than friends with certain advantages who have a child together. But during this time I fell in love with her and especially since the accident I realized how much she really means to me. What I feel for her I have never invented for anyone but maybe I will never get to tell her that.

The moment I thought that, Adriana lightly squeezed my hand.
I looked up at her. "Adriana, can you hear me?"

She opened her eyes and blinked briefly.
She was trying to speak and breathe on her own which wasn't really possible with the breathing tube.
"Wait a moment we'll remove the tube,try to stay calm."

Andrew woke up and immediately woke Carina when he saw that Adriana had opened her eyes.
I removed the breathing tube in the meantime and we had Dr. Shepherd paged.

Carina immediately kissed Adriana's forehead "Bambina we missed you so much."
Andrew gently hugged Adriana "Don't ever scare me like that again. I could never live without my twin sister."
Adriana smiled slightly as she saw and heard her siblings.

"Adriana I was so scared for you" I said and took her hand.
Adriana looked to me,she flinched slightly and pulled her hand away from mine. "Who are you? Where is Massimo?"
"Adriana it's me Jackson."
"I don't know any Jackson,where is Massimo?"

Andrew and Carina immediately exchanged glances when Adriana reacted like that.
I just looked at the two of them. "Why doesn't she remember me and ask about Travis boyfriend?"
Amelia came in at that moment.

Carina looked at me. "Jackson, let's go outside so I can explain this to you. Amelia can take care of Adriana in the meantime. Andrea will stay with her too."

I just nodded and walked out the door with Carina.
"So why is she asking about Travis boyfriend?"
"Massimo is not Travis boyfriend but he is Adriana's husband."
"Her what? She's married? Why didn't she ever tell me that? Where is her husband?" I asked in shock and had so many questions.
"Yes, she's married to Massimo.He's in Italy, but I have no right to tell you the whole story.Adriana should do it herself when she's well again."