A Second Chance?

Chapter 2

~16 months ago~

  Ryan had just gotten home from work, late again. First, his boss made him stay and take on some extra work left by a coworker who called in sick. Yeah, right - she was probably out shopping again. Then, he missed the bus by two minutes and had to wait an extra 20 for the next one. He was tired, he was hungry, and he was in a foul mood.

  And where was Sam? He should have been home. It was his day off, even. He looked out the window of their apartment, and Sam's car wasn't in their assigned parking spot. Now Ryan was really confused, but he was sure Sam would be along shortly.

  After he hung up his jacket, he passed by the phone on his way to get a drink. He saw the voice mail light was flashing, so he dialed into the system and put it on speaker so he could hear. The first message was just his dad, wanting him to call back. But the second message...that one got his attention.

   "This message is for Ryan Ross. Mr. Ross, this is Sunrise Medical Center. You are listed as the emergency contact for a Samuel Thomas. Mr. Thomas has been in an auto accident and has been admitted to our care..."

  Ryan's glass dropped to the floor and shattered, water and glass flying everywhere. He didn't wait for the message to finish, or stop to clean up the mess. He was already on his way out the door, to the street, to hail a taxi.

——

  45 minutes later, Ryan was sat in the emergency waiting room of the medical center. The only information he could get was that Sam had been brought in 3 hours ago, and was in emergency surgery to try to repair internal bleeding. Something had happened that caused him to crash his car head-on into a tree.

  Ryan sat with his head in his hands, rocking himself back and forth to try and stay calm. Sam would be ok, he had to be. Ryan told himself that as long as he loved him enough and believed hard enough, that Sam would recover, and everything would go back to normal.

After Ryan had been waiting around two hours, he heard, "Ryan Ross?" He jumped up immediately and headed to the nurse who had called him. "Yes?" he said. "How is Sam?"

  "Mr. Thomas sustained quite a heavy head trauma, resulting in a significant concussion. He also had internal bleeding around his spleen, which we believe we've gotten stopped, as well as 4 broken ribs. But we believe we have him stabilized for the time being. You can go back and be with him, Mr. Ross."

  Ryan breathed a sigh of relief, and wiped tears from his eyes as he nodded. He followed the nurse to Sam's room. He was not prepared for what he saw.

  Sam had a huge bandage around his head, and both his eyes were blackened. He had what seemed like millions of wires and IV lines leading from his body to various machines to monitor and keep him alive. Ryan's heart was torn to shreds at seeing his soulmate's body so broken.

  He pulled the chair right up next to the bed, and gently took the hand that did not have an IV line in it. "I'm here, baby," he whispered. "You rest. Let me be strong for you now."

  Ryan sat for hours, just holding Sam's hand and willing his body to heal. He was startled to hear a rough intake of breath, and looked up to see Sam looking at him through barely-opened eyes. "Ryan..." he whispered roughly.

  "Shhhh, baby," Ryan soothed, petting his hand. "It'll be ok now, I'm here."

  Sam just barely squeezed his hand back. "Love you, Ry..." he whispered again.

  Ryan gave him a teary smile. "And I love you, baby. It's going to be ok. You just rest. I'm gonna call your mom and dad, ok?"

  Sam nodded just barely and closed his eyes again. Ryan stepped out of the room and down to the waiting area, to call Sam's parents and fill them in, so they could come to the hospital. Just as he ended the call, he heard some kind of an alarm and saw a flurry of nurses and doctors go running. He looked after them, and saw that they were headed into Sam's room.

  Ryan bolted down the hall, and into Sam's room. He saw the medical team surrounding his bed, giving adrenaline to try to restart his heart. When that didn't work, the doctor brought over the defibrillator and made one, two, three attempts at regaining a heart beat. After that third try, then doctor sighed, and looked up at the clock. "Time of Death, 10:57 PM," she said sadly to the nurse.

  Ryan positively wailed. He started toward Sam's bed, but two male nurses caught him and held him back as he struggled and cried. It was no use: they were far stronger than he was. Then the fight left Ryan and he broke down sobbing hysterically. The same nurses helped him over to sit in the chair, and there he broke down until Sam's parents appeared, only to find out their son had already passed while they were on their way there.

——

  Ryan was a wreck, all the way through the day of the funeral. His dad and Sam's parents took turns making sure he wasn't alone. When the day of the service arrived, Ryan just felt numb. He just refused believe it was real.

  It wasn't until they were at the grave site, and the casket was lowered into the ground, that Ryan broke down again. He just felt hopeless. Sam was his rock. They were connected on every level. They were supposed to spend the rest of their lives together. Instead they were cheated into only 4 short years. Ryan was only 22. Yet he didn't know how he could ever love again. A new relationship would be impossible, because no one could ever measure up once he'd already had the best.

  Ryan resigned himself that very day to the idea that he'd be alone for the rest of his life.