Chương 27: Chapter Twenty-Six
"Hurry up Abby, you can't be late for school!" I knocked on the bathroom door, hearing the shower still running.
"I'm showering!" Abby yelled from inside.
"Well hurry up." I headed back towards the living room and kitchen where Amelia was pouring some coffee into a travel mug for herself. "How can one person take up the bathroom for so long?"
"We were teenagers once, I'm sure our parents went through the same thing." She shrugged, taking a sip of her coffee. As she did though her eyes widened, realizing what she'd just said.
"Don't worry about it." I waved her off before she could try to apologize. "So, you have a busy day planned?"
"Just a normal day at work." She said as her phone began to ring. I just watched as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and checked the caller ID before she answered. "What do you want Derek?"
For a minute everything was quiet and I just watched as she listened to her older brother talk to her over the phone. Whatever he was saying didn't seem to sit well with her though. I watched as the smile slipped away from her lips and was replaced by a frown, her eyes filled with worry.
"?" I mouthed. She just shook her head at me though and held out her phone with a shaky hand. I frowned as I held the phone up to my ear. "Derek?"
"Bria," Derek sounded surprised to hear my voice.
"What's going on? Why does Amelia look like she's about to have a breakdown?" I asked him, not taking my eyes off of my friend.
"Bria, it's Mark." Derek sighed on the other end of the line. Jus those three words were enough to make my blood run cold, fear beginning to creep in.
"What happened?" My voice shook as I asked this.
"Last night- last night he started to crash." Derek seemed to struggle to get the words out of his own mouth. "They were able to get his heart going again, but he hasn't woken up. They had to put him on a ventilator to get him to keep breathing. Bria, he's in a coma."
"Do they think he's going to wake back up?" I asked him, dread seeming to soak into my bones.
"We're not sure." Derek admitted. "Webber told me that Mark filled out some paperwork the other day. Mark decided that if he doesn't respond within thirty days that he wants to be taken off any sort of life support, to have us let him go."
Not wanting to hear another word I ended the call, dropping the phone onto the counter with a small clatter. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't be happening. Not to Mark.
"Bria." Amelia said my name in a whisper. I didn't bother looking at her. All I could do was try to process the news that I'd just been given.
Mark was basically on life support. My best friend was on life support, he was dying. The man that had been by my side for everything was dying. The man who had become an older brother to me over the years was dying and there was nothing I could do to save him. After all the times he had been able to come to my rescue I couldn't come to his, the one time that he needed help I couldn't be the one to give it to him.
"Brianna, you need to calm down." Amelia told me, her voice firmer now. I looked up at her to find her eyes trained on me, worry clouding them.
"He's dying." I whispered, the words tasting sour and unreal in my mouth. "Mark's dying."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
My leg kept bouncing up and down as I sat in the back of the taxi. All I could think about was how familiar all of this was. Just two months ago I had been in another taxi and heading towards the same hospital to hurry to my best friend's bedside, not knowing how serious his injuries were. Now I was doing the same thing, but this time I knew how bad everything was. I knew that my best friend was on death's doorstep and that this time there was a countdown. Thirty days. That was how long he had to get better before they pulled the plug. Before they let him die.
"Here we are." The taxi driver said as he pulled up in front of the hospital. My hands shook as I handed him money to pay for the ride here from the airport.
I got out of the taxi and, unlike last time, my feet seemed to be made of lead. Last time I had gone running into the hospital, wasting no time, but this time it was different. Now I didn't wan to step a foot inside the hospital, knowing full well what was waiting inside for me. I just wanted to slip away. I wanted to be back in Los Angles with Amelia and Abby, not having to be here. Not having to face the fact that my best friend was dying just inside the building standing before me. This was all just a nightmare that I wanted to wake up from.
With a slow pace I headed towards the front doors of the hospital and made my way inside. As I walked through the doors it seemed hard to believe that I had been here just a month ago, operating for the first time since Dylan's death and facing a man that had once been my best friend but was now practically a stranger. Walking through the busy hospital it felt as though someone were watching me, though I knew that no one was. I walked right through the lobby, heading towards the elevators. I almost felt as though I were going to be sick, my stomach knotting at the idea of having to see Mark hooked up to so man machines, even more than the last time I had seen him.
The elevator ride was quiet, only a few nurses were on it as well. When the doors slid open onto my floor my hands started to shake again, from my nerves. I made my way out and headed down the hall towards the familiar glass walled room. As I turned the corner I found myself finding a small group of familiar faces around the nurses' station, all of their gazes seeming to be fixed on one room, Mark's room. I paused where I stood, just watching the group for a moment. It almost felt as though if I were to show myself that I would be attacked, as if I were their prey.
"Dr. Howards?" I heard someone say my name behind me. I turned around to see the surprised face of one of the interns that had been on my service my first day here. I had to rack my brain for a moment before a name popped into my head, Edwards.
"I no longer work here Edwards, you don't have to call me that." I told her, glancing back at the crowd in front of Mark's room. "Are you on Mark Sloan's case?"
"No." She shook her head, her eyes trailing down towards my slightly swollen looking stomach.
"Who is?" I asked.
"Heather Brooks." She told me and I nodded, showing that I had heard her.
"Edwards! I thought I told you to get me the labs for Mr. Keathley?" Another familiar voice yelled from back towards where the group was. With the voice though I could hear footsteps growing closer to us, causing my entire body to tense, just waiting for what I knew was bound to happen.
"Sorry, I was-" Edwards tried to find a way to start talking herself out of the mess but I cut her off.
"I was asking her about Mark. I didn't know she had something better to do than update me on the critical condition of a loved one." I turned around to find myself facing Avery, his eyes widening slightly when he saw me. Just like with Edwards his eyes seemed to drift down towards my stomach. It wasn't too large since I was only two and a half months along, but my tight fitting top made no move to help conceal it in anyway.
"I thought you weren't coming back here?" He raised an eyebrow at me as his gaze returned to my eyes, not my stomach.
"Well, things change when your best friend is put on life support." I gave him a sharp look, though my words were light, almost sounding comical.
"Meredith said that Derek talked to you." He gave a small nod before looking at Edwards. "Go and get those labs, Bailey needs them."
With that Edwards went hurrying off towards the elevators, leaving Avery and I alone.
"How bad is he?" I asked Avery, silently praying that what Derek had said had been wrong, that Mark had woken or something in the time it had taken me to fly here from Los Angles.
"He's unconscious, they had to revive him last night." He told me, causing my stomach to knot again. "Are you going to see him?"
"Yeah," I gave a small nod. He stepped to the side so he was out of my way. We didn't say another word to one another as I walked past him and headed towards Mark's room. I could feel eyes on me as I walked into Mark's room, but I ignored all of them. All I wanted was to see my friend.
When I walked into Mark's room it almost seemed as though all of happiness had been sucked out, as if Mark's jokes from just a few weeks ago had all been some sort of dream. For a moment I just stood in the doorway, unable to bring myself to walk any further into the room. Laying in the hospital bed was a man that I knew was Mark, but looked nothing like him at the same time. His skin was pale, his cheeks seeming to be hollow, there was a tube stuck down his throat that I knew was the only reason he was still breathing at the moment. He was just a shell of the man I had known for all of these years. It broke my heart to see him like this.
Slowly I walked over to his bedside and sat in an empty chair next to him. It took me a moment to snap out of my trance-like state and I reached out, taking one of Mark's limp hands between my own hands. His hand that usually contained so much warmth was now colder, unfamiliar. I could feel the tears stinging my eyes, but I pushed them back, not allowing them to fall.
"This is shitty Mark, you know that?" I forced out a rough laugh. "If you wanted me to come back you could have just called, instead of going and doing this. I would have just come back to visit if you'd asked."
I paused, as if I were expecting his eyes to just open and for him to say something, anything. That wasn't just what I expecting, it was what I wanted to happen. I wanted him to just wake up, to tell me that this was all just some joke he'd played on me to get me to come back, that he was fine and ready to go back home. I just wanted someone to tell me that he was okay, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. No matter how much I wanted it to happen.
"You know, you're getting what you asked for," I rubbed my thumb along the back of his hand as I spoke. "Just like always. You're getting another niece or maybe a nephew this time, I'm not sure yet. I guess you'll just have to wake up and find out with me, figure out if you've got a little guy to mold over the years, like you've always wanted."
I stopped for a moment, any other words that I was ready to say now stuck in my throat. I couldn't handle this. I couldn't handle my best friend dying.
"Please don't this Mark. Please don't do this." I pleaded with him in a broken whisper as I bent my neck downwards so I could rest my head on the hand that I was holding. Tears slipped down my cheeks and fell, wetting his sheet and blankets. I didn't care about that though. "Please don't die."
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