Where You Belong

Now or Never

Lexi waited. And waited.

Rocking back and forth in the uncomfortable chair, slowly and persistently, she tried calming herself down. Surely Nana wouldn't die? Life wouldn't take her away as well, right? Not now, not when everything seemed upside down and so confusing. She needed Nana the most right now. She needed her grandmother.

Brittany, who sat beside the brunette, gently rubbed a hand on her back, up and down, in an attempt to help her friend's fears. Obviously it wasn't working, Law thought, eyeing the wide-eyed and blank expression on his host's face, but her friend continued nonetheless. He was willing to bet she didn't even realize she was still doing it.

Law could distinguish the minute movement of her body; she was shaking. Whatever adrenaline had started pumping through her bloodstream back at the house was slowly ebbing away, leaving her body in a state of acute exhaustion.

The other couple in the room had been called on and had been ushered into the emergency room together. Lexi's eyes had locked onto the open double doors of the E.R. wing. He saw a spark across her eyes, and guessed she was debating how far she could get if she ran in to find Nana. But the opportunity was lost as the doors closed again, leaving the three as the only occupants in the waiting room. Her eyes returned to the floor.

This wait was irritating, Law thought. He knew the surgeons were probably operating as they spoke, but wanted to confirm the diagnosis before informing Lexi. He was willing to place a guess as to the extent of her injuries, having seen and felt them firsthand.

As if reading his mind, the door opened and a fully-garbed nurse walked out into the lobby. Her eyes locked on to Lexi, and the brunette suddenly stood. Law watched the nurse approach, pulling off her face mask to speak.

"Your grandmother has suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, in addition to the fractured skull from the fall. It's not clear whether it was one or two arteries that ruptured." She said clinically. Apparently this condition was familiar to Lexi, who closed her eyes and pulled the hair back out of her face with a choked sob.

"Are they operating?" She whispered, and the nurse, trying her best to remain objective and clinical, nodded slowly.

"They are going to attempt to relieve the pressure from the blood buildup. Despite the fractured skull, it did not create an opening large enough for it to alleviate some of it." Breaking her stony appearance, she placed a comforting hand on Lexi's shoulder. "Every surgery has a chance of failure, but our team is doing the best we can."

Nodding mutely, Lexi swallowed with a dry mouth. The nurse had said all she had come to say, and promptly turned back around towards the door, disappearing into the E.R. wing after another moment. Lexi returned to her seat, leaning over and covering her face with her hands.

"It'll be alright." Brittany cooed quietly, not appearing to believe her own words. Law, being the trained doctor that he was, didn't either.

The nurse had said they were clear yet if one or two arteries had burst. One was manageable. Two, however, was almost certainly fatal. That much blood buildup in the brain was far too quick to be treatable in the timespan that it had taken to get Nana medical attention. One glance at Lexi, her face the epitome of hopelessness, confirmed she knew this as well.

They'd left the house a few hours after lunch, but now the clock showed it right after 4 o'clock. The three would alternate between sitting and standing, the waiting room chairs not really that comfortable to sit in for hours straight. Lexi rose once more, circling the room. They didn't speak. No one really wanted to break the silence, and there wasn't much to talk about anyways.

5:15 rolled around, and Brittany was beginning to doze off in her seat. The woman put up a valiant fight to stay awake for her friend's sake, but ultimately the hours of inactivity and the soft waiting room music being played overhead did their work, and she was curled in a ball in her chair.