Blue Eyes | 5sos

Thirty-one

(not proofread)

..
Third person pov

It turns out that Luke was just that. Okay.

Ashton had taken him for the necessary scans, and it wasn't great. He had described the wound as being through and through, meaning there was an entrance wound and an exit wound, and there was no longer a bullet inside of him.

Essentially, this did cause him to bleed more, but Ashton and his team were excellent at getting it stabilized so they could do some quick scans.

Ultimately, everything seemed like it would be just fine for Luke. The only thing left was to get him into surgery.

Luke was able to briefly make a statement to the police before he was taken for an exploratory laparoscopy to assess any further damage caused by the gunshot and make any necessary repairs.

After that, he was transferred to the ICU for close monitoring, where he remained stable. It was also determined that his red blood cell count was severely low, probably from the amount of blood that was lost, so a blood transfusion was given in the operating room.

Word had spread rather quickly throughout the hospital about Luke's condition, and it was soon that Carson learned the extent of it from gossip in the hallways. She didn't know how much was true and, quite personally, would've much rather heard it from one of the guys for that reason.

But to hear that her father needed emergency surgery and a blood transfusion and was now residing in the ICU was a terrifying thought.

And not only that but to hear rumors that this was the doing of her stepfather made her physically ill. She knew that he had a temper and perhaps wasn't the biggest fan of Luke, despite him being her literal father, but for him to physically pull the trigger against Luke was evil.

She also knew that Ralph was upset about Luke being the one to get her mom incarcerated due to the child abuse, but that wasn't any reason for him to attempt to take her dad's life.

Ralph was just as guilty as Tiffany was in the abuse aspect; Carson just rarely spoke about it.

"Excuse me?" Carson asked when she saw a nurse finally walk into her room.

"Yes?" The nurse, whose name was Sierra, answered.

"My dad, Dr. Luke Hemmings," Carson spoke, unsure of how to voice her concerns about Luke without becoming emotional over what had happened to him.

"Yes, I know who your dad is." Sierra smiled gently. "Take a deep breath; you're okay."

Carson took another minute to take a deep breath and compose herself before continuing her question. "I overheard Calum telling Ashton that my dad got shot. Is he okay?"

Again, she didn't know the full story but knew that Calum and Ashton would never make up some elaborate joke about their best friend being shot.

But in Carson's mind, if Sierra was to confirm the shooting, then that sealed the deal for Carson—that it was Ralph who did it.

"Yes, he was shot," Sierra answered. "He was just brought from emergency surgery to the ICU. I'm sure Dr. Irwin will come speak to you once he's able to."

"Thank you, Sierra." The nurse gave Carson another smile and then left the room, leaving Carson alone to think.

How could she just be expected to sit there while her father was in the intensive care unit? She didn't truly know the extent of his condition, but if he was in the ICU, then surely it had to have been bad.

She made the quick and irrational decision that she would be going to see Luke. She had to.

With that in mind, she made a quick move to take out her IV line and pull the monitors off her chest. She had to be quick since as soon as she pulled the monitor leads off of her, the monitor would soon alert the nurses that something was wrong and she couldn't have them ruining her plan to see her dad.

She had managed to slip out the door past the nurse's station and outside the ward doors that lead to the elevators without anyone noticing her.

But one problem She had no idea where the ICU was or what floor it was even on. She tried looking at the directory that was next to the elevators but didn't see much about the intensive care unit there.

One of the elevator doors opened, and Michael stepped out of it, turning to look at Carson.

"Carson? What're you doing out of bed?"

"Oh, hi, Michael." Carson smiled gently and turned to stare at the directory again. "How can I get to the intensive care unit?"

"Carson? What? You can't just be roaming around the hospital and taking your IV out," Michael spoke, shaking his head, but it was all in playful fun.

"But my dad."

"Yes, hun. I know about what happened to Luke, but I don't think he'd appreciate it if he found out you were randomly walking around the hospital. He's in the ICU and needs to rest; so do you."

"But Michael," Carson protested. He just didn't understand. She needed to see her dad.

If something happened to him, then she would have nobody.

"Carson, I promise you that Ashton will come talk to you as soon as he's able." Michael guided her back towards her room, swiping his badge to gain access back onto the ward Carson was on.

"My dad. I need to see him."

"He's fine, Carson, okay? I can tell you right now that he's okay, but you both need rest."

"I just need to know if it was my stepdad who did this."

Michael took a deep breath and sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment. "Yes, it was him, and your dad was able to give a statement the police before surgery, but they're still searching for your stepdad."

"Is he going to come after me next?"

"No, of course not, love. And there's extra security here at the hospital if he does try anything."

But Carson heard the shakiness in his voice. He was lying and knew there was a chance he'd come after Carson.

And she was petrified of what her stepfather could do.