Impact
Chapter 10
"Mrs. Brown?"
Tina stands up, looking at the nurse anxiously. "Yes?"
"Your husband is out of surgery. You can go in and see him now."
"Thank you," Tina says, sighing in relief. She gives Greg a tight smile, then follows the nurse into the hallway. Curious to see how Warrick is doing, I follow behind her.
(It's not like we'll break the one-visitor rule.)
He's lying on a bed in the trauma ward. His face is a mess of bruises and stitches, and his arm is in a bulky cast, but he still breaks into a wide grin when he catches sight of Tina. "Hey, baby."
"Hey," she says softly, venturing into the room. "How are you feeling?"
"They've got me on the good stuff," he replies. "I'm flying high. You got a kiss for your man?"
She walks over to him, smoothing his hair tentatively before laying a soft kiss on his lips. "You missed the walk-through this morning. Charlotte was pissed."
"I'm sorry."
"You had a good excuse," she says, her eyes bright with tears. "Don't worry me like that again. Okay?"
He reaches out his good arm, grasping her hand tightly as a tear drops down her cheek. "Tina?"
"Yeah?"
"The nurses won't tell me. how's Sara?"
"She came out of surgery an hour ago." She wipes the tear away, only to have a fresh one appear.
"Is she going to be okay?"
"I don't know. The surgeons found several broken vertebrae in her spine, and a couple of broken ribs. Punctured lung and spleen, too. But until she wakes up, they can't tell the extent of her injuries."
They sit together quietly for a while, until Tina starts to run the back of her finger along Warrick's cheek. She smiles a little. "Ever notice you have a perpetual two-day stubble on your face?"
He flinches, and she stops stroking.
"Did I hurt you?"
"No," he says, blinking. "I just. huh. Déjà vu, I guess."
o-o-o-o-o
Nick and Catherine have wandered off to the cafeteria in search of coffee for the group in the waiting room. They're halfway through filling the styrofoam cups when Catherine stills, one hand on the creamer.
"Cath?" Nick says, glancing at her curiously. "You okay?"
She shakes her head, chuckling to herself. "You know. Sara's got Grissom, and Warrick's got Tina. Kind of makes you think."
"Think about what?"
"If it'd been me in that car." she sighs, grabbing some packets of Equal, "who would I have in that waiting room? Who would I have to worry about me?"
"Well, you'd have your daughter," he says gently. "And your mom, and your sister. And you know all of us would be here, pulling for you just as hard as we're pulling for Sara."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." He rubs her shoulder gently. "We're all in this together."
"I hope she's going to be all right," she whispers as he draws her in for a hug.
He nods, holding her tight. "She's a fighter, Catherine. Don't forget that."
o-o-o-o-o
I'm sitting by Grissom again when Pam walks by, staring at me intently.
"What's wrong?" I ask her with a sinking feeling.
"It's time," she tells me, holding out her hand. I take it, bewildered, and follow her up to the ICU.
And there I am, my body lying on a hospital bed. It hurts to look at myself. My body too closely resembles my mother's, after one of my dad's bad drinking binges.
"It's sink or swim time," Pam says softly, putting her arm around my shoulders.
"What do you mean?"
"You're glowing," she says, a look in her eye that I can't quite place. "Everyone glows before they leave here."
"I'm not dying," I say frantically, ducking out from under her arm. "I'm not."
"Live or die, everyone glows," she insists, then looks away. "Everyone but me."
That's what the look was, I realize. Envy.
"I'm sorry, Pam."
"Someday I'll glow too," she whispers. "You're getting brighter, Sara."
There's a calm sweeping over me, but I struggle against it. It's not my time. It's not.
"Don't forget me," she says, as the room turns white.