Breathe Again

I Can't Deal With This

It's been three days since Derek's accident, he is still in a coma. Well the Dr's say they are keeping him in a medically induced coma to give his body time to heal. Chris had told Bailey and they are both persistent on flying out here. I told them both not to worry. I've been at the hospital everyday so far. The twins are at a friends house for the weekend, so I figure I'll just stay with Derek. I know he wouldn't leave alone with the tables were turned.

I walk in the ICU and pass the nurses, who all greet me by name. I walk into his room and around the privacy curtain and see Chris with Bailey. "What are you two doing here?" I ask them and a crying Bailey rushes to me and hugs me, "Mom, he's going to be ok right?" She asks with hopeful eyes. "He should be honey. But when did you guys get here and why didn't one of you tell me?" I urge them to answer.

Chris nervously rubs at the back of his neck and sheepishly grins. "I didn't want you to be alone and she wanted to see her dad. Don't worry I've got her on a flight out first thing tomorrow, she's not missing any school. How are you doing?" He explains while walking over to me before hugging me and kissing my cheek. "I wish one of you would have called me. I'm doing ok all things considered." I noticed the nurses brought in more chairs. We each pull a chair towards the bed and decide to watch the TV. 

It's twenty minutes till visiting hours are over and I can tell Bailey doesn't want to go. We had dinner here and I'm so tired. "Have you been staying with him all night, Mom?" Bailey asks. I nod slowly. "Can I stay tonight? I think Chris would like to spend time with you. He wouldn't shut up about you the whole flight." Chris glares at her and she sticks her tongue out at her. "I bet he did. You can stay, I need a break and a long soak in a bath. Alright, well then we'll leave. Call if something happens and I love you." She hugs us both before we leave. 

"I wasn't talking about you the whole flight. She exaggerates." He explains in the elevator. "I know she does. I love you Chris, I don't ever wanna see you like that." I start crying and fall into him. "Aw, sweetheart. It's alright. You need some rest." He says soothing me. 

Back at the house Chris ran me a bath and he is now reading to me from one of his favorite books. HIs voice is calming and I almost drift off to sleep until I hear my phone buzzing. Chris grabs it and hands it to me. "Hello, Oh hi Sterling. No, no change. Yeah, Bailey is there now. She wanted to stay with him tonight. Ok I'll tell her. Yup. Bye." I hang up and hand the phone back to Chris. "How's he doing?" He asks. "Oh he's ok. Keeping himself busy with his music. When are you leaving?"

He closes his book, "When do you need me to?" I lean back in to the garden tub and laugh, "You already know the answer to that, I want you to stay here forever. But you need to get back to work." He moves and sits on the edge of the tub, "We're almost done with the movie, ahead of schedule no less. How about this, when I'm done and after post productions, we're gonna go to Boston, me, you and the twins." This sounds amazing.

"But we don't know how long Derek will be in the coma. I don't want him to wake up and be alone." Chris sighs, "Maggie, you have a ton of friends who would all be willing to keep an eye on him. You need a break, I'm not saying... shit... I don't even know what I'm saying. I'll go make you some tea." He walks out and I know he's mad. He has to understand that before Derek and I were ever married, we were best friends. He may have hurt me, on numerous occasions, but it's hard to just let go of that person.

I walk out only to see him sleeping on the couch. I don't have the energy to wake him and have the coming conversation. I grab my tea and head back upstairs and go to bed.

I wake the next morning and begrudgingly head downstairs. I see Chris still asleep on the couch. I grab my phone from the kitchen and see a texts from the twins. Elijah is going to be home for dinner and Alaina will be dropped off at the hospital in two hours. I nudge Chris, curious to know when he booked Bailey's flight. He opens one eye, rubbing his eyes he stretches still looking at me. "What?" I sit on the back of the couch, "When is Bailey heading out?" He rests his head against my thigh. "If she listened to me, she should already be at the airport. Look I'm sorry about last night. I got a little mad or jealous. I don't know which. But I'am sorry. I know you two have a lot of history." Not the conversation I was expecting, but I'll take it.