Count On Me - Sequel (Laughing into Love)

Chapter 4: Hospital Notes

Brian ran into the ER after he parked. He doesn't even know if he locked his Jeep or not. He gets to the desk and spits out "hi, I'm looking for a Jane Monroe. She was brought in about a hour ago?"

He breathes heavily, only partially because he's out of breath. The women behind the counter glances up from the computer and says "are you family?"

He shakes his head "I'm her daughters fiancé. What happened? Is she okay?" He asks two very important questions.

The young women, who couldn't be any older then 27 returns "I'm sorry, I can only speak to the immediate family. Is her daughter on the way?"

Brian quickly responds "yes but she's coming from New York. Please, she shouldn't be alone through this." Brian pleads from across the desk.

The women shakes her head sympathetically "I'm sorry, it's the rules."

Brian hates to play this card but he decides to try it anyway "come on, I left filming my show early just to be here for her. There's gotta be something you can do for me?"

He hopes this women recognizes him, and maybe even is a fan of the show. Her eyes squint a little and he knows now she is trying to place him. She slowly says out "wait a second, you're Q, right? You're on Impractical Jokers."

Brian grin towards her and nods "yes, that's me. Please, can you tell me anything about Jane, her daughter is worried sick" he leans in a bit more "and so am I."

The nurse looks back behind her then leans closer towards him "I can't give you any medical information but let me go see if she'll accept you as a visitor." She smiles then pushes back her rolling chair to stand up.

"Thank you" Brian exhales deeply as she goes to the hall. He waits for a few minutes before she returns "sooo?"

The girl says "she's actually asleep right now and we shouldn't wake her. I will continue to check on her periodically and let you know once she's awake."

Brian shakes his head but knows not to argue further. He used his fame to get something, he doesn't want to push more and end up getting this girl fired for doing her job. "Okay, thank you. I'll be right over here." He gestures to the chairs behind him with a head tilt then moves to take a seat. She smiles at him and sits back down herself. Brian takes his phone out and calls Melanie "hey, I just got to the hospital but she's sleeping right now so they won't let me in, where are you?"

"We literally just got out of New York. So much traffic there was an accident." Melanie huffs out, clearly distressed "and can you put the doctor on, I'll talk to them."

"I haven't met the doctor, only a nurse at the front desk." Brian explains.

"Well, can I talk to her?" She asks.

Brian shrugs and stands up to give his phone to the nurse "hey, sorry. My fiancé's on the phone, Jane's daughter and she wants to talk to you."

The nurse gives him a strange look but slowly lifts her hand to take the phone. Brian waits patiently as the two exchange words, wondering what Melanie's saying to her. "Hi, this is Stephanie, to whom am I speaking to?"

"I'm Melanie Monroe, Jane Monroe's daughter. Look, I'm on my way but there's traffic. Can you please tell me what's going on?"

Stephanie replies "I'm sorry, but until I can confirm your identity I can't give any information over the phone."

"Can you tell Brian?" She asks.

Stephanie says "he's not a relative so I can't. However, if your mom wakes up before you get here and is able to confirm who you are or who he is then we can give you the information and let Brian back to see her."

"So she's okay?" Melanie gets a small glimmer of hope out of her answer.

Stephanie replies "all I can say is she's resting."

"Fine, can I talk to my fiancé please?" Melanie asks with an attitude, annoyed with not having any really information about what happened or how her mom is doing. Stephanie hands his phone over to Brian with a small smile.

Brian says into it "let me call you when she wakes up, alright?"

"Yeah, sure. We'll be there as soon as we can." Melanie replies, knowing there's not much more she can say to him. They hang up and Brian returns to the seat in the waiting room.

The nurse checks on Jane a few times but only comes out from behind the desk and the doors after the 4th time, 40 minutes later. "Jane is awake, she confirmed who you are and Melanie's number. Would you like to go back and see her now?"

Brian stands when she comes out and as soon as she's done talking he nods "yes, yes please."

The nurse moves to head back into the hall and Brian follows. She takes him down two halls and then stops at room 31 "she's still a bit out of it, take it easy." She opens the door for him.

"Yeah, thank you." Brian then slowly walks into the room and sees Jane laying on the bed. She never looked frail and weak to him. She was a strong women who raised a hell of a daughter on her own. But in this bed right now, she looks tired and defeated. He walks over to her "hey Jane, thanks for seeing me."

"Of course, where's Melanie?" She asks, her eyes still closed.

He assures her "she'll be here soon. Are you feeling okay? Can I get you anything?" Brian asks, wanting her to be comfortable.

Jane shakes her head just slightly "I need— I need my purse. I need to give something to Melanie."

Brian looks around, but doesn't see it. He says "I'll find it, hang tight." He leaves the room and asks the nurse for the bag. The nurse brings it into the room a few seconds after Brian gets back and places it on the foot of the bed. When she leaves, Brian grabs it and places it next to Janes hand "here you go, can I help you?

Jane either doesn't hear or ignores him and starts to feel through her bag for whatever it is she's looking for. Brian just stands quietly by her bed, hoping Melanie gets there soon. Eventually, he sees her pull something out and bring it to her chest "Brian, I want to apologize to you."

"No need, mam" he says back sincerely. He's not sure what she feels she needs to apologize for, because she didn't do anything wrong to him.

She pushes on "please, let me say this" her voice is tired and Brian decides to just let her speak and listen "I didn't want you to come to lunch this weekend because I wanted to share something important with Melanie. Something very hard for me to talk about."

"It's alright, really. You don't have to explain." He tries again.

She barely shakes her head "I do, because when Melanie finds out she's going to be angry. She's going to see things differently, she'll think of me differently and that's okay, that's the choice I made and it is what it is now." She seems strained and he wonders if he should leave to let her rest.

"What are you talking about, why will she be angry?" He asks, having no idea what she's saying. He's starting to wonder if the heart attack messed with her brain at all somehow. He's really confused.

She elaborates in her own way "this letter here is from her father, I was going to give it to her tomorrow and explain everything."

"Her father, the one who left her?" He spits out.

Jane barely nods her head "listen to me, Melanie loves you and she's going to need you to get through all of this."

"She'll always have me, and she'll have you." Brian replies.

The beeping on the heart monitor starts to pick up and Jane slowly reaches her hand out with an envelope in it towards him "don't let her push you away, don't let her do to you what I did to him."

Brian takes the envelope, starting to shake "what's happening, are you okay?" He asks as his hand takes the white paper.

A tear rolls down her face "tell my daughter I love her very much."

"She knows that, you can tell her that." Brian shouts back, the machine louder and no longer pulsing. The nurse from the front rushes in followed by two more nurses. They start to call out codes and medical terms and someone eventually pushes Brian out of the room and into the hall. He watches with fear through the cracked blinds as they try to bring Jane Monroe back to life.