I Love My Brother's Best Friend

Chapter 5 ~ Please Not Again

Current Day/Time

*Isabelle's POV*

"I can't believe this," I thought to myself, "Of course this would happen now. Just when I thought everything was falling back into place."

I had just returned from a 16-month tour around the world with my dance partner, Nick, about a week ago. A couple of hours ago, I received a phone call that made my heart drop, the same feeling that I felt about four years ago when I learned about my father's brutal death. But this was a little different, although the same fear of losing someone else close to me consumed my head. '

I was just a young 18-year-old girl in the O.R. waiting room after hearing the news that my middle-eldest brother, who was deployed for a little over two years with the Marines, was involved in a roadside bombing attack in Afghanistan. At the time I had gotten the phone call, he was already in a slight stable condition in a helicopter on his way to this hospital.

So here I was, staring out of the big windows looking out into the raining storm that attacked the night outside.

"Family of Staff Sergeant Scott Brody?" I jumped up from the uncomfortable waiting room chairs and almost ran to the doctor.

"Isabelle, I'm his sister," I stated to the doctor, who obviously looked tired and over-worked.

"Hello Isabelle, I'm Doctor Pete. I came out to keep you updated on his condition," he sighed," We were able to remove the pieces of the debris and fix up his wounds, although he is currently in a coma, and we won't be able to know his condition until he awakes."

"Well do you know when he's going to wake up?!" I asked in a rushed and panicked tone. I mean, who could blame me, I was rushed and panicked. It's not exactly normal to hear that my brother was in an explosion, let along with a coma.

"I'm sorry Isabelle, we do not, I could be anywhere between a couple of hours, to a couple of months. When someone goes into a coma, their body is repairing itself, so in a couple of weeks we may be able to estimate his time a little better, I'm sorry for this, really," replied Doctor Pete.

It was then that a Marine entered the waiting room, walking towards Doctor Pete and I. I noticed that he was holding a large envelope, no doubt holding a stack of paperwork that I would have to deal with soon.

"Miss. Isabelle Brody?" he asked with a firm voice.

"Um, yeah, that's me." I tentatively replied, my voice wavering as everything that has happened hit me.

"On the behalf of the United States Military, I would like to express my deepest condolences and hope for a healthy recovering for Staff Sergeant Scott Brody," he said as he handed me the envelope, confirming my suspicions about it being a stack, and a big one in fact, of paperwork. "Is there anyone that I can contact to be with you right now?"

"I uh-" I was cut off when a deep voice from the doorway echoed through the almost empty waiting room.

"That won't be necessary, Staff Sergeant. I can take this from here." continued the voice. But I knew that voice from somewhere. It was the same voice that had comforted me when my father died, and when my mother died a year later. The Marine who gave me the envelope turned around and the two saluted each other before he walked out of the room leaving the man that has been in my life through everything. My brother's best friend.

"Matty," my voice trembled as a I ran to him wrapping my arms around his torso and burring my head into his chest finally breaking down after all of these stressful hours. He didn't say anything, instead just wrapping his arms around me and kissing the top of my head. At some point, I must have fallen asleep, even standing up, but to be fair, most of my body weight had been leaning against the human rock wall, also known as Matty.