John walks slowly into Elsie’s room first, followed by Brian then Rico. Marco, Elizabeth and Janie left hours ago, when Rico informed everyone that after the medical team did their preliminaries the investigators would take over, and it might not be until the early morning hours before anyone could see her. The sight of Elsie’s swollen and battered face hurts John more than if he had been beaten himself. Her short blue-back hair and bruised face are a stark contrast against the white hospital bed sheets. She’s dressed in a generic, light blue hospital gown and it’s hard to see if she’s asleep with her distorted features. Her arm has been set and is jutting out at an awkward angle, but is no longer giving her any pain. John pulls a chair up to the side of the bed and takes Elsie’s hand in his. He has officially claimed his spot next to her and God help anyone or anything if they try to get him to leave now. Brian carries another chair over, from the other side of the bed, and sits next to his friend as he gently lays a hand on Elsie’s thigh.
“Hi, you two,” Elsie’s voice is raspy, and it’s obvious she’s faced a long fight tonight, the exhaustion is clear in those three words.
“Ssshh, Angel,” John tries to soothe her as he strokes her free hand and arm. “Rest, I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
“You guys should go home, there’s nothing to do here,” she commands them, almost defiantly.
“No way am I leaving you, Angel, so you might as well just get used to me being here,” John tells her warmly.
“You’re not getting rid of us that easily, Baby Girl,” Brian teases her.
“Elsie,” Rico breaks in tentatively, “I know you’ve had a long night. I don’t know if you heard me earlier but I’m the lead detective on a drug bust that went down tonight, and it involved the intruder you dealt with.” He’s trying to say this as gently as he can, but Elsie’s flinch is still very visible.
“Yeah, and…?” she questions him, clearly not wanting to deal with anything else tonight.
“I just wanted to say, if I had known you were still on the set, I would have made sure you were gone before anything went down.”
“I know that Rico, and I appreciate it. But it still doesn’t change the fact and it’s still fucked up,” Elsie tells him, her voice almost cracking on those last two words.
It’s clear that Rico feels very badly about what happened to Elsie, and he’s struggling with still having to do his job.
“Well,” he continues, “I’ll be back later as it’s already tomorrow. I’m going to have to take your statement as well.” He says tentatively and smiles apologetically at her.
“No problem, Rico. Then you can leave, so I can finally get some rest.” Elsie’s message couldn’t be any clearer.
“Sure. Good night everyone. I am very sorry…for everything,” Rico apologizes, before he turns and quietly walks out.
“I don’t want to talk anymore,” she says to both of them, and to no one, as she looks up at the ceiling. A tear silently slides down her face. “But thanks for being here,” she says bringing her gaze back to the two gentle and strong men at her bedside. Her genuine appreciation is heard in the words which are barely audible over the lump in her throat.
There are no more words tonight. Just a circle of closeness, of pain and suffering, and of hope and tenderness.
*
“How is she doing?” Brian asks John as they’re sitting at his breakfast bar having coffee.
Elsie has been out of the hospital a week and John would not listen to anything, except that she was coming home with him, so he could wait on her hand and foot, every minute of every day. What John has refused to admit, and probably has not been completely able to face, is the guilt that’s eating him up inside. He blames himself because he didn’t know Elsie was still on set, he feels he should have known. And he feels an incredible amount of guilt over the fact that he was not there to protect her.
It’s 7:30 in the morning, Brian has been stopping by every day before going to his company’s construction sites and dealing with his subcontractors.
“She’s getting stronger. Yesterday was the last day for her pain meds so she probably won’t be sleeping as much during the day from here on out.”
John has a concerned look on his face.
“I know what you’re thinking, Bro, and I agree,” Brian verbalizes his agreement.
“She’s not going to be numb anymore, Brian, and the shit’s going to hit her like a brick wall,” John puts into words what both of them already know.
“We’re going to be right here to get her through it, John.” Brian can’t hide his concern either, but he has to be the positive one. “She’s strong and she’ll get through it.”
“You know what’s really been bothering me, Brian?” John turns and asks his friend.
Brian waits for John to gather his thoughts and tell him what the real source of his worries are.
“We know she went through some serious shit in her past, which lead her to hurt herself the way she did,” John looks at Brian beginning to voice his train of thought. “But we don’t know what that shit was.” John pauses.
“What if this latest incident causes her to revert back to where she was then, Brian?”
He looks his friend in the eyes, pain and worry are etched all across his strong features.
“I don’t think she ever really got over that…,” John continues more to himself than to Brian. “I’m afraid we’re going to lose her, Brian.”
“John, don’t start worrying about things before they happen. Be here for her now, give her what she needs, the love, the support, the patience, the caring. We’ll cross any bridges we come to…when it’s time.”
John
