In the Hour of Silence

Chapter 25

What would you do if everything you thought you knew was turned upside down? How would you handle it? Would you be able to handle it; or would you fall apart the second things went south? I've had a lot of time to think in the dark and I still have no idea.

___

I groan as I begin to come to, my abdomen stiff and my head groggy. I raise my hand to my forehead but end up regretting the choice when I feel a sharp pain in my abdomen.

"Hey, take it easy okay?" I hear Jace say as he takes my hand gently. How long has he been here? Hell, how long have I been here? "You've been out for a while. You're still healing." I close my eyes and groan slightly as the throbbing in my head continues. "Looks like you still have that concussion," he says nervously. "I had been hoping after a week of a coma it would have gone away a bit. Do you want me to get a doctor or--"

"Jace."

My voice is hoarse and husky at the same time. It sounds the same as in the dream I had of Jonathan, just a lot more worn out. That's fair, though. I mean, it's been over six years since I've used it. 

Jace's eyes snap to meet mine as he hears me speak. His golden eyes tear up a bit as he looks to me. "You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say my name," he says as he keeps his gaze on me. "Please just--just say it again."

I laugh weakly before repeating, "Jace."

"One more time."

"Jace."

"Once more."

"No."

"Okay then," he says with a small chuckle, rising from the bed. "I should really get the doctor. We were supposed to inform them when you woke up."

"We?"

Jace opens his mouth but is interrupted when Izzy walks into the room with a tray of coffees in her hand and her phone in the other. "Okay, Alec says Max is asking to come see her again. He's saying that Max made her a card with--oh my god you're awake!"

"I'll leave you both to it," Jace tells me before leaving the room to go find the doctor.

I chuckle slightly. "Hi Iz."

The look on her face is priceless as she almost drops the tray of coffees. "Holy shit Jace wasn't lying," she says sounding awestruck as she puts the tray down and rushes over to me. She traps me in a hug and I groan slightly. 

"Iz, I'm kinda in pain here."

"Oh my god you sound even better than I imagined," she says, seemingly ignoring me while still loosening her grip a bit. "Oh my god I love your voice. Hell, I love you." She pulls away, looks me in the eyes, and sternly says, "I swear to god or the Angel or whatever you believe in that if you ever get in a situation like that again I will personally kill you myself."

"I love you too Izzy," I mumble with a grin.

She grins at me widely before hugging me again. A moment later Jace comes back in with the doctor. The doctor is a woman with pale platinum blonde hair who seems to be in her late thirties early forties. She grins kindly at me. "Glad to see you awake Miss Morgenstern. My name is Doctor Loss," she tells me as she opens the chart. "May I speak to her alone?" Jace and Izzy leave the room, bringing the coffees with them. "Let's see...Clarissa Morgenstern, sixteen years old, admitted eight days ago with severe concussion, three broken ribs, and a single gunshot wound to the lower abdomen. After surgery you were put into a medically induced coma to help you heal easier."