Chapter Twenty Six - The Longest Hour

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Ava's eyes fluttered closed and they didn't open again. With a shaky hand, I swallowed the lump in my throat as I felt for a pulse in her neck. If I wasn't sitting down already, I might've collapsed in relief at the weak heartbeat. I held the fabric of her dress that I tore off against her wound, trying to keep as much pressure on it as I could. It was the only thing I could think to do for her.

I looked up front to Izaha whose eyes never strayed from the road and his knuckles were white from squeezing the steering wheel too tightly. Cole wouldn't meet my eyes either. They didn't say a word but I knew what they were thinking because I was thinking the same thing.

She can't die.

We silently agreed to take her to the nearest hospital an hour away. Even if we were closer to home, I knew Kayla wouldn't be able to save her.

I should check in with the others, make sure everyone else was okay, but even though I could feel my phone in my pocket, I couldn't stand the thought of taking my eyes off of Ava.

I watched her face. Watched every wince when we hit a bump in the road. Watched every frown her lips made as she whimpered in her sleep. I bent my head down to hers until all I saw was her face and brought my lips close to her ear. "I promise..." I whispered so quietly that I couldn't even hear it. I didn't know what to promise and even if I did, I didn't know if I could keep it.

I kept my head there for the longest hour in my life, eyes closed, forehead resting against hers. When I finally looked up, I saw the large silhouette of the hospital through the windshield. Izaha didn't have time to put the car in park before I was out of the door with Ava limp in my arms.

Running through the double doors, I ignored the security guard snoozing in an armchair and ran to the nurses' station.

"Please, help her. She's been shot."

Time moved slowly, as if the world was against us, as the nurse at the desk finally looked away from her computer. Her eyes widened as she took the both of us in and she yelled to the other nurse at the desk. A voice announced over the intercom, "Trauma, room one."

Ava was taken from me even when my grip on her tightened, and she was placed on a stretcher and rolled away from me. I tried to follow after her, but the security guard that had finally woken up blocked my path. It took everything in me not to push past the security guard as I watched the doors to her room swing shut but I let him lead me to the waiting room.

I waited, jumping up from my seat every time someone passed through the doors but not one person approached me. Cole and Izaha found me hunched over in the most uncomfortable chair not long after she was taken back and sat down on either side of me. They didn't say anything, didn't move, so we just sat together in silence.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, a nurse in gray scrubs passed through the doors and this time when I jumped for my seat, his eyes met mine and he walked towards me. Cole and Izaha both looked up and stood.

"How is she?" I asked before he made it to us.

"Are you Jaime?" He asked. The badge on his shirt read Aaron. He looked young and he wore a sleeve on one arm that extended past the sleeve of his scrubs. I nodded, about to ask my question again but he cut me off.

"We'll go to a room in the back." Cole and Izaha meant to follow but Aaron shook his head at them. "Only one person is allowed back at a time."

"Go home. Get some rest." I ordered them, but I knew they would still be sitting out here as soon as I came back out.

I followed Aaron through a maze of hallways until he finally reached another small room. He held the door open for me and I stepped through expecting to see Ava peacefully sleeping in a bed. Instead, there were just two chairs and a desk with a computer on it. Aaron gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the desk as he sat down. I slowly sunk in my chair. This doesn't seem like the kind of room where they tell you good news.

"My name is Aaron. I'm the lead nurse working tonight." He flipped through a folder in front of him. "You're the one that brought in the GSW?"

"GSW?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Sorry, the gunshot wound? Ava?"

Even just her name caused hands to shake so I balled them into fists in my lap. "Yes. How is she?"

I waited with bated breath as Aaron closed the folder in front of him and folded his hands on top of the desk. "She's stable. For now. She only woke up once while we had her back there. Long enough to say her name and ask for Jaime." A breath I didn't know I was holding passed through my lips. "They've just now taken her to surgery to get the bullet out."

"How long will that take?"

"It's hard to tell. It was a serious injury. It missed most of her major organs. Barely clipped part of her intestines. They'll have to perform a bowel resection while she's under." Aaron leaned forward in his chair, his sympathetic eyes never leaving mine. "What happened?"

"A mugging." I hesitated. "We were leaving a Christmas party when the mugger shot Ava."

"Did you call the police?"

"No. We came straight here."

Aaron nodded, jotting down the information in his folder. "I'll have an officer come down and get a statement."

I made a mental note to contact our own guy in the force. Make sure he's the one that comes down. I was about to stand from my chair when Aaron spoke again.

"I have just a few questions about Ava and I was hoping you could answer some of them."

"Sure." It was better than waiting outside.

"All we managed to get was her name. Do you know her birthdate?" I told him. "Address?" I gave him mine. "Any living family or relatives?" No, both her parents are dead. "Current or past medical history?" I told him I didn't think so. "Health insurance?"

"I'll cover it."

Aaron finally glanced up from his computer screen. "She doesn't have health insurance?"

"No, but I'll cover the costs."

"And you are exactly?"

What was I? "Just a friend."

"Ok. Well the costs are probably going to add up quickly and I should tell you that it is going to be expensive, unfortunately."

"It's fine. I'll cover it. Anything she needs."

"Alright. I think that's it for now. The rest she can fill out if she wakes up."

If, not when.

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