Mr. Blackbourne's Mistake

Chapter 20 - Hospital Visit

Sang

North was on his feet in an instant, running to the platform with Sang shortly behind him. The rest of Mr. Blackbourne's team, who'd been much closer, were already surrounding the collapsed platform, hauling chunks of wood off of the buried Gabriel. Sang couldn't even see him under all the debris.

"Wait here," North ordered Sang when they got close, throwing out an arm in front of her to stop her. She nearly plowed into it as she jerked to a stop, having to grab him to stop herself from either falling or clotheslining herself on his arm.

She wanted to protest as he moved in to help the others, but couldn't make any sound escape her throat, either from her panic or from straining her throat by trying to scream earlier. He was probably just worried about something ridiculous like her getting a sliver. There wasn't enough of the platform left to collapse on anyone a second time. Except then Nathan shoved a large chunk of wood back that nearly went flying behind him, and Sang realized North might have been more worried about her being hit in the others' panic to uncover Gabriel. That aside, with the eight of them working, there wasn't much room for anyone else.

Sang let out a choked gasp when Gabriel was finally revealed. He wasn't moving, and his head was covered in blood. A crowd of onlookers had gathered around them, and Sang moved closer, not wanting to be separated from the guys at least until she knew if Gabriel was okay.

When they finally cleared the wood off, everyone else backed off slightly as Silas hauled Gabriel into his arms while Dr. Green gave him instructions. Sang moved beside North, clutching at his arm as she asked Victor, the one standing nearest, "Where . . . where are you guys going?"

Victor's eyes, burning low with worry, blinked in surprise at her. She thought it might have been shock, because he looked as pale as she felt. "We're running him to the nearest hospital the next town over."

"Not Dr. Green's place?" she asked, panic clutching at her heart. She knew that head wounds bled a lot and that each of the guys probably had a medical kit in their cars—not to mention the one North and Sang had, if they needed it—but driving Gabriel so far seemed terrifying when he was laying limp and unmoving in Silas's arm.

Dr. Green, overhearing their conversation, gave her a tiny flicker of a smile. "I don't have the same resources at my little private practice as a hospital, sweetie. We need to make sure there wasn't any head trauma beyond what we can see. After he gets cleaned up with stitches, we'll need to run an MRI to be sure."

Sang clutched tighter at North in panic at the words head trauma. The world around her threatened to spin as a woozy feeling overtook her, but she didn't have time for that right now. Or for her fears that Gabriel would wake up and be a different person because of brain damage. Or worse. She should have let North go yell at the kids. She should have stopped them herself.

"We need to go, Princess," Victor said gently. "We can let you know . . ."

He trailed off as North shook his head, his eyes on Sang. "We're coming. We'll follow along behind you, right, Baby?"

Sang nodded wordlessly. She felt like she wouldn't be able to really breathe until she knew if Gabriel was okay. Going to the hospital versus going home wouldn't speed anything along, but at least it felt like doing something.

~.~

Sang

Sang sat huddled in a seat in a waiting room at the hospital. She wanted to huddle by North, but he couldn't stand to sit. He kept getting up to pace, and Sang's legs didn't have enough strength to support her like that right now. That aside, she didn't want to get in his way.