Adopted

Chapter 46

Pete's POV

Zack and Kala managed to get Brendon and Sarah to go home to get some sleep and a shower. And some real food. To be honest, they both really looked like shit. But who could blame them.

I looked at their daughter. The poor kid. If anyone had beaten up one of my kids like this, they'd not see the light of day ever again. I was so angry about what had happened to her. And so sad that she was here.

"Hey, kiddo. It's Pete. I made your mom and dad go home for a bit because they looked like shit. I'm here though. You're not alone. Gotta tell you, though. You've looked better."

I sighed. I only knew what Zack and Kala had told me. Jess had been beaten up by some older boys at school, and because of her injuries was in a medically induced coma. I wasn't sure what that meant, but the tube coming out of her mouth was attached to a machine breathing for her. There were tubes and wires everywhere. Her head was wrapped in bandages and her eyes were covered as well.

"Oh. Hi," a doctor said, coming in the room. "Are you family?

"Sort of. I'm friends with her parents. I'm sort of an honorary uncle," I said.

"Are her parents here?"

"No. They went home to get some sleep and fresh clothes. I'm staying with her so she's not alone, until they come back."

"Very well, we have Miss Urie scheduled for a CT scan just now, so the porters will be in in a minute to take her down. You're welcome to wait here or in the lounge, but as you're not actually family, you won't be able to come down with her," he said.

"That's fine. I'll wait here," I said. "Jess, you hear that? You're going for a test. I'll be here when you get back, and then your mom and dad should be here."

The porters came and unhooked things. A nurse attached a bag to Jessie's breathing tube and took over for the machine. They wheeled her out of the room and I just sat there. Alone. I texted Patrick to let him know what was going on. Josh walked in just then.

"Where's the kid?" He asked.

"They took her down for a CT scan. She'll be about an hour."

"Bummer. You want a coffee? I'll head down to Bux and come back."

"Yeah. That's be nice. Thanks. Just a vanilla latte," I said.

"Done," Josh said and left the room. My phone pinged with a text from Patrick.

'What do you mean Jess is in the hospital in a coma! What happened?!'

I texted him back and explained what happened.

'Thats fucked up," he texted. "How are B and Sarah doing?'

'How do you think?' I texted back. 'They're beside themselves. Zack and Kala just got them to go home and get some sleep and clean clothes.'

'I'm coming down. What room? What hospital?'

I sent him the info and put my phone away. Josh walked back into the room and handed me my coffee. He sat in the empty chair beside me.

"This is fucked yo," he said. "Who beats a kid up for being sick?"

"I have no idea. Brendon's talking about suing apparently,"

"Who?"

"The kids, I think. Well, their families,"

"Wow. I think maybe he needs to let things play out first,"

"Yeah. But right now, I think he's on pure adrenaline."

We sat, drinking our coffee and shooting the shit for a while. Patrick walked in about a half an hour later.

"The kid still at her test?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Should be back soon."he leaned against the wall and we just chatted.

Maybe 20 minutes later the porters came back with Jess. She didn't look any different.

The doctor followed in.

"Are any of you her parents?" He asked.

"No. They should be here soon," I said.

"Okay. I'll be back when they come in," he said.

Just as he turned to leave, Jessie's monitors started going crazy. I looked over at her and her body was shaking.

"She's having a seizure!" The doctor said. He pressed a button over Jessie's head and an alarm went off. We were pushed out of the room.

Standing in the hallway I called Brendon's phone.

"Brendon, you guys need to get here. Now. Jess is having a seizure. They've got the big stuff. I don't know what's happening but it's not good," the doctor came out of the room.

"She's stable," he said. "But I'm not sure if there's any damage. I don't know if she'll wake up."

"They don't know if she'll wake up," I said to Brendon.

The line went dead. I knew they were on their way.

Josh, Patrick and I went back in once the nurses and doctors cleared out and told us we could go back in.

I sat beside Jessica and took her hand.

"C'mon Little Urie. You gotta get better. You have no idea how much you're needed."

The nurse came in and made a few adjustments to the machines attached to Jessica. The sound of the heart monitor and the ventilator were depressing.

"The doctor said he doesn't know if she's going to wake up. How bad was the seizure?" I asked.

"I'm not really supposed I give information to non-relatives," she said.

"We're practically family," I said. "Please. Her parents will be here any minute and they're going to want to know what's happened and if we can understand, we can help them cope."

She sighed.

"Her brain is still swollen. I don't know the whole report from her CT scan yet. That will still be another hour or so once it's read and transcribed. But the swelling caused the seizure, and the seizure could mean there's more damage than we can see. It could mean that her coma isn't just medically induced. She may be in a true, deep coma. But we won't know that until we start lowering her sedation."

I was sorry I asked.

She looked at us sympathetically and finished making her adjustments and then left.