Lone Star Family Values

Chapter 20

Rest

Beep...beep...beep...beep.

TK's eyes tracked the rhythm of the heart monitor as it rose and fell in its predictable pattern. Bailey had been rushed into surgery. When her port had been pulled she'd done a decent amount of damage to her inner abdomen and there had been a lot of internal bleeding. The surgeon stabilized her and was able to repair the damage done. TK and Carlos had practically fallen over when the doctor had come out to tell them that Bailey was in recovery and was going to be okay. The team, unsurprisingly, had only left once or twice to change and get food. Owen had brought clothes for TK and Carlos to change into and though he'd tried to get them to eat it wasn't much of a success.

"I'll eat when she wakes up." Carlos had said.

TK was too anxious to even put together a response that wasn't a grunt. In Owen's eyes the two men were fathers and their child was in a dangerous place. He'd been them too many times and he knew how they felt. Scared, anxious, nervous, tired, but most of all they felt useless. The one feeling that a parent fears the most is the feeling of uselessness when their child is in imminent danger and they can't do anything to keep them from it. He could only hope that it wouldn't break them.

✵✵✵

Pain, bright, cold. Bailey could only register so much as she fought her way back to consciousness. Why did her side hurt? Why were the lights so bright? Why was she so cold? Her eyes opened only briefly before the bright light forced her to close them again. She groaned and heard hurried rustling from either side of her.

"Bailey?" TK asked.

Bailey nodded. Her dad was there. She didn't know when she made the decision to call TK dad, but that's how she saw him. And Carlos, though also dad, was Papá. Bailey tried to open her eyes again but the light was still too bright.

"Dad can you turn down the lights please?" TK asked.

The lights dimmed and Bailey was able to squint her eyes and take in the room. Dad on her left, Papá on her right, Owen and Judd beside them and the rest of the 126 scattered throughout the room.

"Hey mija," Carlos said brushing her loose hair out of her face. "Gave us quite a scare there."

Bailey blinked slowly, her hand roaming to her side, the source of her discomfort.

"What happened?" She asked, feeling a bandage underneath the layer of blankets.

"You clipped your port, knocked it out of place. Tore some muscle too," TK explained. "It somehow stayed in place for a while before inevitably dislodging and...you lost a lot of blood kiddo."

"I did?" She asked.

Carlos' brow furrowed.

"You don't remember waking up in the ambulance Bailey?" He asked.

"No," Bailey said. "Honestly the last thing that I clearly remember is being in the back cab while Judd and Paul were fixing the pump on the ladder truck."

Bailey looked around the room, suddenly anxious. Why couldn't she remember anything?

"Why can't I remember?" She asked trying to push herself up.

She couldn't be still anymore, she needed to move, she needed to think, she needed to remember.

"Woah, Bailey, slow down you just had surgery. Calm down kiddo." TK said, putting a gentle hand on Bailey's shoulder to keep her from straining herself too much.