On The Mend

The Nightmare

A/N: This chapter is just as the title states it's a nightmare that Taylor is having.  and Warning there is much sadness here...

Bogota Colombia 2022

The band was between shows and they'd just arrived at the hotel for their next gig, Taylor walked into his and Bay's room with both the kids with him, He saw Baylee laying on the bed and climbed onto the bed kissing her cheeks to wake her up, but she wouldn't wake up, He looked to Shane and Annabelle who both looked terrified "Go get Uncle Dave. Tell him to call an ambulance now!"

Both of them raced from the room as Taylor started to gently slap Baylee's cheeks "Bay! WAKE UP! PLEASE!" She wouldn't move, he put his ear near her mouth and nose to see if he could hear her breathing, He stared at her chest to see if it was raising and falling and couldn't see anything, tears sprang to his eyes as he got up off the bed and picked her up to put her on the floor, He started doing CPR as he kept yelling "COME ON BAY WAKE UP PLEASE!!!!! DON'T LEAVE ME!!!!!"

Dave raced into the room in time to see his friend doing cpr on his sister "T we called the ambulance they're on the way. how can I help?" Taylor looked at him "Take over the chest stuff, I gotta try to breathe for her" Dave nodded and jumped in pressing as hard as he could on her chest counting as he did, then Taylor would stop him and breathe into her lungs watching to see if her chest would raise just to make sure that he had her head at the right angle to effectively do the breaths.

Dave looked to him as the professionals arrived, When they took over Taylor had backed himself into a corner of the room hugging himself as he screamed "BAYLEE HAWKINS WAKE UP!" He couldn't stop the tears that fell he didn't even feel it when Dave grabbed him to pull him out of the room as Baylee was wheeled out on a gurney.

Shane and Annabelle watched on in horror as they saw their father basically collapsing under the weight of seeing what was happening to their mother. Annabelle walked over to Taylor "Daddy, You have to go with mama in the ambulance" he shook his head "She can't leave us Belle" Shane was the one who jumped into action "I'll go with her. Uncle D you can get dad and Belle to the hospital?"

Dave nodded through his tears "Yeah We'll be right behind you. Come on T we gotta go" Dave called Gus to have the van outside to take them to the hospital while Shane rode with his mother. Taylor was numb, He looked to Dave as they drove "I'm cold" his brother in law didn't say a word he just handed T the hoodie that he had been wearing as Annabelle helped her father maneuver into it before she hugged him tightly again "It's gonna be ok daddy. Mama is gonna be ok"

Taylor just lay his head against his daughter's shoulder and whispered "yeah. she's gonna be ok" he replied not fully believing it. He was right not to believe it, when they arrived at the hospital they were informed by a doctor that Baylee's heart had stopped and they couldn't get it restarted. The blonde drummer Collapsed to the floor screaming "NO BAY NO!!!!!"  Shane looked to Dave trying not to cry because he needed to be strong for his dad "They tried so hard. there was nothing more they could do. I'm so sorry"

Dave shook his head and pulled his nephew to him hugging him tight "Don't apologize Shane. Everyone did what they could." Taylor looked up at Dave finally and whispered "I need to see her. Please." The older man nodded "ok T. I'll go with you." He looked to the kids "Go wait in the car alright. We'll be right back" Both Shane and Annabelle nodded and clasped hands walking out to the car, Taylor looked back at his kids, though they were grown now all he could see were his little kids going to the car, how would they cope without Bay?

Dave made the arrangements to go down to the Morgue to see Baylee, Taylor pulled the hoodie closer to his thin frame and walked slowly beside his friend as they were allowed in to see her, the sheet was pulled down so they could see her face and Taylor just leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Oh baby why did you leave us? We weren't done. I was supposed to go first!" Dave couldn't help the tears that fell as he put an arm around his friend. "T we need to go"

Taylor shook his head "No. She's cold D, they need to get her warm." Dave sighed "T buddy Bay is gone." The blonde shook his head "No. she's just sleeping." Dave shook his head "Ok buddy but we have to go so she can rest. I'll ask them to get her another blanket." That was the only way Dave could convince Taylor to leave with him.

As they walked out of the hospital Taylor collapsed from grief.

Taylor jumped awake screaming, his whole body in a complete cold sweat as he trembled "BAY!" She had jumped awake on the first scream and pulled his trembling form into her arms rocking him gently. "I'm here babe. I've got you."

He literally clung to her unable to control the tears that just wouldn't stop coming "You you you left me" She placed her hands on his cheeks and made him look at her "Babe look at me. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." He looked like he was in a state of shock "you died. why did you do that? and when did the kids get so big?" Baylee laid him back down but kept ahold of him "The kids are still babies T. And I didn't die I'm right here. It was a bad dream." She felt his arms tighten around her almost uncomfortably but she wasn't about to stop him when he was in this  state. "Promise me that I can go first. I can't live without you. When it's time I have to go first."

She nodded trying not to cry herself "Ok babe. you can go first if that's what's meant to happen. did you want me to call David? maybe he can help us out here. Taylor shook his head in the negative "no don't wake him up for this. I'm so cold Bay" She smiles sadly "How about we go take a hot bath and see if that warms you up?" He looked to her "you too?" kissing his forehead she smiled worriedly "yeah. We'll have a bath together. Maybe we'll be able to wake you up a bit more and you can see that I'm not going anywhere"

He frowned "I'm sorry I woke you up" Baylee untangled herself from him and went into the en suite starting the tub before coming back to gently help him out of the bed "Babe you can always wake me up. you had a bad dream and it scared the hell out of you. I'm not going to hold that against you, I'm here for you always. I love you."

Taylor kissed her cheek "I love you too Bay."