The Way That I Love You(Book 2)

Patience Is Unkind

Colin

"How is he doing?"

"Not good. He hasn't said anything since you dropped him off."

"It's been a week since she got hurt. He can't just stop talking mom."

"I've tried talking to him; everyone has. He's just feeling a little unattached right now. Maybe he'll talk to you..."

"Yeah...put him on please." He hears his mom call for him before silence. Something told him he was on the phone so he just started to speak.

"Hey bud..."

Silence.

"How are you doing?"

More silence. He sighed before just getting to the point.

"Listen, the doctor told me that mommy should be waking up soon. They have been checking over her and she's doing okay. I know this is freaking you out but you have to trust me okay? I know everything is going to be fine." He ran a hand over his face. "I love you, and mommy loves you too. Tell Darlene for us. Put me back on with grandma please."

"Do you think we should take him to the doctor? This can't be normal..."

"It's not but he's upset. We know why. We'd be just taking him to the doctor so they could tell us the exact same thing. I think the only thing we can do is wait."

"Alright...I trust you. Anything new?"

"No. Still the same. How is Darlene doing?"

"She's fine. Of course she doesn't really know what's going on. I think we're going to keep it that way. Is Sammantha still there with you?"

"No. Mike came and got her. She's at home for right now. How are you? I know I stuck the kids on you last minute."

"I'm fine. I love having them here; gives me and your father something to do. Everything is fine. But what are you going to do about the game? I know you haven't been to practice all week but are you going to the game?"

"I have to. I don't have a choice. I get on the plane in a few hours. Devon is coming after I leave. It's a lot to take in."

"Stay focused. I'm sure everything is going to be fine."

***********

God his shoulder hurt.

It was a burning feeling that wouldn't go anywhere. He thought he was going to be fine; thought he would heal like the doctor told him he would. It makes no sense that it would feel this bad.

Of course it was hurting him during the game seeing as he got sacked twice but this bad? He had no idea why it felt this way and it was worrying him a little. Especially since he had other things to worry about other than this. It felt like just an add on to the list.

"Hey Kaep?" He turned from his locker and looked to see Eric and Carlos.

"What's up?"

"Listen man, we heard about Morgan. How's she doing?" He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Still unconscious, waiting for her to wake up."

"Must be tough with all of this crap going on along with it."

"Yeah, a little."

"If you ever need someone just know we got your back; no matter what happens." His eyebrows probably shot up at that.

"Thanks man, that means a lot."

"No problem."

Maybe he wasn't too alone after all.

Maybe.

**********

"This is the lining of her skull. This is her brain. When she first got here her brain had swelled to basically twice it's size. We had to put her into a medicine induced coma in order to protect her and allow the swelling to go down. Now we can see that the swelling has gone down"

"So what does that mean?"

"It means we can take her from the coma. That's a good thing. But there's more. You see, we thought we were dealing with a minor concussion at first. This shows us that's it's more than that. It's a severe concussion and the consequences of it will probably effect her for the rest of her life."

"Okay...effect her how? Don't spare my feelings; just tell me what is going to happen."

"Well, when she wakes up she's not going to be able to talk. She has some severe swelling around her throat and it's going to be hard for a while until it goes down. As far as her head injury; there is a fifty five percent chance that she will have no account of the event or accounts of things she's done in life. She might not remember basic things like what her name is, how old she is and things about herself. Then there's the chance that she will wake up with no memory at all."

"So you're telling me that my wife might wake up and not know who I am, who our kids are...anything?"

"That is correct. Like I've expressed to you before; we won't really know until she wakes up."

"When can you bring her out of the coma?"

"I've been monitoring her all day and I think we should be able to start weaning her off the drugs tonight. We have to flush her system out first."

When he gets back to the room he realizes subconsciously that this is the first time he's been alone with her. It's about one and though he's tired from the game and the flight and his shoulder is killing him still; he stays up to talk to her.

He holds her hand and kisses over her bruised knuckles as he sits and stares her down.

"Just in case you don't remember me; my name is Colin Kaepernick. I'm your husband. You're...you're more than my wife. You're my best friend, the mother of my children, one of the smartest and funniest people I know. You...you're everything a man could ask for and I just want you to wake up baby."

************
-2 days later-

He's pulled from his dreamless sleep by the beep of the heart monitor. His eyes shoot open as he fully registers what it means.

It beeps really fast but before he can get himself fully awake there is a nurse bustling through the door. It's he same nurse she's had since they've gotten here.

"Oh my..."