Give Them Hell

Deadly Bulldogs Shirt

"All I'm saying is that you're a trader to our family." I laugh and Dakota scowls. "Gramps is going to have a goddamn heart attack when he sees you in that."

Dakota has made the decision to wear a Georgia Bulldogs shirt here in North Carolina of all places. Our whole family minus my cousin are NC State fans, most of us went to NC State.

"I'm not a trader to the family." She states and I laugh.

"Most of us are members of the Wolfpack." I remind her. "Grandma, Gramps, your mom, my mom, my dad, Mackenzie, and myself. We have the majority."

"Screw your majority." Dakota laughs as Junie runs in.

June looks at her mother's shirt and screws up her face which makes me laugh.

"Ew mommy, what are you wearing?" She asks which makes me laugh harder.

"Have you been listening to your Aunt Dolly?" Dakota wonders and picks up her daughter.

"No, Gramps." June laughs and I look around.

"Speaking of which, where is Gramps?" I wonder. "He's usually up at the ass crack of dawn."

"Probably the same place that our boyfriends are, sawing logs." Dakota laughs. "But I haven't seen Janet around either."

"It's quarter to twelve, there's no way that they're still asleep." I say. "I'm going to go check their rooms." I start to walk towards the door but Dakota stops me.

"No hold on, look at this." She says and hands me a piece of paper she pulled off the fridge.

Dallas and Dakota,
I didn't want to wake the two of you up but when I woke up this morning around five thirty your grandfather was having a hard time breathing. I called the hospital and they took him out by ambulance. Come up to the hospital as soon as you can.
--Janet

I look at Dakota as soon as I'm finished reading the letter and she looks as worried as I feel. I scribble down a quick letter to Nikki and CC before grabbing my keys. Without much more conversation we head towards the hospital.

Nikki

I wake up in Dallas' bedroom in her grandparents house, it's a perfect mirror of her personality. The walls are plastered with David Bowie posters and her drawings or paintings, pictures are frozen in frame is pinned to the cork board on the wall, records and books fill a book shelf and a record player sits in the corner, rugby balls and old cleats seem to spill out of the closet. Dallas' mind in a minefield of songs, art, memories, and rugby, I love it so much.

I rolled over expecting Dallas to be in bed beside me then I saw her alarm clock. The time read twelve thirty and I knew that Dallas would be awake and taking on the world by now.

I got up and got dressed before going out to the kitchen where I found CC but not Dallas. CC is sitting at the table drinking coffee and flipping through a newspaper.

"Where's the girls?" I wonder and walk over to the fridge.

"The grocery store or something, I don't know. I haven't seen Dallas, Dakota, June, Warren, or Janet." He explains.

"That's weird, they usually don't just..." I trail off when I catch sight of Dallas' writing on a piece of paper that's stuck to the fridge with a magnet.

Nikki and CC,
Gramps was rushed to the hospital early this morning, that's all we know. Dakota, June, and I are all on their way to the hospital, maybe meet us up here when you guys wake up? I don't know but I'm pretty worried.
--Dallas

"Uh, CC? You might want to look at this." I say and he stands up.

"What's wrong, Sixx?" He wonders and I hand him the letter. "Oh shit." CC looks at me. "Should we go? I mean the man is eighty four years old, being rushed to the hospital isn't a good sign."

"Yeah, let's go." I say and grab the keys to the rental car.

Considering I'm not from around here it takes a little while to find the hospital. Once we  get there it's a royal bitch to find a parking spot but either way we get there. CC and I walk into the hospital and up to the desk.

"We're looking for Warren Monroe, he came in early this morning." I say and the girl behind the desk nods.

"Right this way." She says.

The girl leads us back into a room with the door opened. Dallas, Janet, and Dakota with June in her arms all stand around the bed looking at Warren who is unconscious and looks to be hooked up to life support. They all look really broken and I don't know what to tell them, CC and I just stand in to doorway. June glances over to us and points.

"Daddy, Nikki." She calls and our girlfriends look over. 

Dallas looks like the that she told me that she had to move, heartbroken and scared. I go over to her and hug her tightly. She doesn't start to cry but she's shaking and that worries me.

"Babe, what's going on?" I ask her and she looks up at me.

"Gramps had a stroke and now he's on life support. He's not going to make it off life support so we're waiting for Mackenzie, he's the next of kin." Dallas explains quietly. "Mack is on his way from Seattle right now."

I don't have words, I don't know what to tell her. I just want to take her pain away, I want to make her feel happy again but I don't think there's a way. I'll just be here for her because she needs me.

Dallas

Mackenzie got in late that night when he got to the hospital the priest was waiting. We all said our final goodbyes and at 11:42pm on October twenty first Sargent Warren Monroe was reunited with his wife, daughters, and old war buddies. My grandfather had passed on.