Just Breathe

Chapter Thirty-Four Gavin

The last few days passed in a blur with a flurry of events. I’ve been staying at the hospital around the clock. Hunter drops off Logan before he goes to The Phoenix to check on things every morning, and Ash picks Logan up after her shift. This repeats every day for the past few days. On the second day of Bailey’s induced coma I asked Logan how he felt about going to school during the day, and to say the kid was panicked by my question was the fucking understatement of the year. His eyes filled up with tears as he begged me not to send him back before his mom woke up. I reassured him that she would be okay and that he would come back here to visit with her after school, but his response was, “What if she dies and I’m not here? She’ll think I abandoned her.” And after that, I couldn’t care less if he didn’t go back to school for the rest of the year. I just hoped nothing happened while he went home to sleep.

Uncle Marcus also followed up with me regarding the charges against Frank Silverthorne. As soon as Bailey woke up and was able to give her statement, he would be charged with attempted murder and sent away to prison for twenty years without possible parole. If you ask me, that’s still too fucking mild for what the bastard has done to her, and what he put her and Logan through all these years. Once Uncle Marcus located Bailey’s journal it sealed his fate and granted her legal guardianship of Logan.

Since Uncle Marcus was the lead detective on her case, he contacted a few people in high places that could help speed the process along. All the paperwork is drawn up and ready to be signed. The only thing that’s left is for Bailey to open her pretty eyes and sign a few things to make it all final. Through all this, she has remained stable, and each day the swelling in her brain decreases, which leads us to today, the big day. After four painfully long days, Dr. Evans has finally informed me that the swelling in Bailey’s brain has decreased significantly, so there is no need to keep her comatose, and he has begun the process of waking her up. Now it’s just a waiting game to see how Bailey will do on her own. She’s still in ICU, but once she wakes up and is given the all-clear and that no swelling has returned, she’ll be moved to a regular room, where she can have visitors for longer periods of time. Zeus will be thrilled. Poor guy is pretty miserable for not being able to see Bailey, but he’s doing a great job with Logan. Ash will be thrilled as well to be able to spend more time with her bestie. Her words, not mine.

Although everyone has come and gone, they can’t stay more than five or so minutes and only one person at a time. Momma B came by just this morning, sending love from Mr. Henderson who will visit once she is out of the ICU. Hunter has really stepped up, taking charge of the shop, not that I’m surprised. He did the same thing when Travis died. You may not have a blood-related family who gives a shit about you, but you got a family in the people who have been around you these past days. Ain’t that the truth.
“Is mom gonna wake up today?” Logan whispers while curled up in my lap. That seems to be his go-to spot when he arrives. To be honest, I hate being away from him. In the last few days, I’ve grown to love this kid as if he were my own. When he leaves, I call Hunter or Ash to make sure he ate, took a bath, brushed his teeth, and goes to bed at his usual bedtime. I make sure I say goodnight to him every night, and although he comes here every morning, he calls me right when he wakes up to make sure his mom is still okay and to thank me for not leaving her. I just know that whatever happens when Bailey wakes up, I don’t want to not be in his life.

“We’re not sure if it will be today, or tonight, or tomorrow morning. Dr. Evans has already started to lessen her medication, so in a short time she’ll be able to wake up. But it all depends on mom, right now.” I try and explain to him the best I can. He looks up at me and with a serious expression says.

“What do you mean it depends on mom? Does that mean mom might not want to wake up?” He asks anxiously. Oh, shit! How would Bailey explain this to him without freaking him out?