Within the Script (A Stanathan Fanfiction)

Chapter Thirteen: Returning Goodbye

A.N: Props to @cormierbm for rightfully and politely calling me out on a mistake and inadvertently uncloging the writer's block I had had. I probably wouldn't have had an update for days, if not a week or more if it weren't for this error correction I had to make. Thanks so much!!! This chapter is dedicated to you.

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Stana rushed through the doors of the E.R for the second time, the same man dominating her thoughts as always. She had left her sister behind as Gigi parked the car. Knowing what Gigi now knew of her sister's feelings toward the man, she wouldn't keep Stana any longer than she had to, and had dropped off her sister at the door. When Stana reached Molly and her father, she was only the second person to arrive after the fact this time. Seamus waited with his head down, looking more agitated now than he had before. Molly was only able to look up into the swirling gaze of the frantic woman standing before her for a moment. She couldn't handle any more pain than that and she quickly looked back down. Judging by their posture, she assumed no word had come on Nathan's condition, and she simply sat back down.

Molly couldn't get the images out of her head, she couldn't stop seeing Nathan on the floor, eyes entirely white, mouth frothing, body convulsing with a mass of tremors. He had been fine. He was better than fine, in fact. He was almost normal, spare the limitations Molly had put on his activity. But- he had insisted on getting his own water. He got up, ignoring her disapproval, and now he was in surgery. Again.

What the hell was going on?! Why wasn't anyone talking to her about this?! She was family! What happened to him?! She needed to know that he was alright! She'd been sitting alone for almost an hour with no news. She needed to know what was happening with him. Stana and Molly both desperately needed to know what was wrong with him.

When Gigi caught up with her sister, she simply sat down, took Stana's hand and remained absolutely silent. This time, a fewer number of people showed up. Jon and his wife came up, Juliana eventually showed, and a couple of Nathan's other friends made it in before... her. When Christina Ochoa came rushing in, Stana and Molly could feel the descent of rage coming over them.

The runny makeup on her face and the panic in her breath wouldn't exempt her from her sins. Molly immediately pounced. "Christina?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

The woman almost looked insulted, but desperation over shadowed that content in her voice. "I'm here for Nathan."

"For-," Stana began before biting back her words, instead nearly crushing her sister's hand.

Molly didn't hold back. "If you were here for Nathan, you would have been here two weeks ago, or any time between then and now! But you couldn't even manage a phone call!"

"I wasn't in the country," the woman explained. "My phone didn't have service. I didn't realize Nathan had been injured until yesterday morning and I immediately hopped on a plane. I tried to call, but only his mother picked up and she told me he was here, so I got here as soon as possible."

"And, so, what? You thought you would just trot your way in and instantly everything would be fine?!"

Molly's father stood and put his hand on her shoulder, calling her back with a gentle, "Molly."

The kid shook her father off her back. "No. You were gone for weeks! You didn't even bother to call! He thought you'd left him!"

"I left-, " she stopped herself in her tracks, but continued. "He thinks I left him?! He told me to leave! He said I should go if I wanted to go and we'd talk when I got back! I didn't leave him! What lies have you people put through his head?!"