Adopted

Chapter 49

Brendon's POV

"I want the little shits to see jail time, Bernie," I said.

"Brendon, I get you're pissed. I am on your behalf. But until a) you file charges and b) you have more information I can't just go after four teenagers."

"What more do you need?"

"Well, their names would be a start. Look, talk to the police. Talk to the school and see what actions they're taking and if they've involved the police. I can coordinate with them as well. Get me the principal's name and the school and I'll call them on Monday."

"Ms Abigail. Mulholland Middle School,"

"Okay. I'll contact the principal on Monday and see what I can get. I expect the police will probably come find you at the hospital if the school got them involved.  Brendon, we'll get somewhere. I need time and info. Go be with your kid. Okay?  I'll call you Monday."

"Okay. Thanks Bernie," I said, hanging up. Jess was back in her room so I went back in. Her teacher and the principal were there, but they were getting ready to leave.

"B, look at the card the school made," Sarah said. I knew she was trying to keep me from blowing up and the educators.

"That's, well, that's pretty big," I said.

The principal and the teacher left shortly afterwards and I sat on Jessie's bed and took her hand.  I was fighting my emotions. Part of me was furious that my daughter was lying in a hospital bed, in a coma, because four kids thought beating up a smaller kid, a sick kid, was a good idea.  The rest of me was terrified that she wouldn't wake up and we'd lose her already. I couldn't handle that. 

Sarah's hand slipped into mine and we sat, watching machines breathe for our child.

"Mr and Mrs Urie?"

I looked up and Dr Smith was standing in the doorway.

"Do you have the MRI results?" I asked.

"I do," he said. He was smiling.

"And?"

"They're good. There are no structural anomalies. No damage to Jessica's brain. There is no bleeding in any of the inner structures, the swelling has started to go down," he said.

"What about the seizure?" Sarah asked.

"Well, we're not one hundred percent sure about that so we had neurology consult and take a look at her scans. They believe that the seizure was simply the brain adjusting as the swelling started to abate. She's had no further seizure activity and we're going to start lowering the sedation, that is take her out of her coma, starting today," he said.

"Really?" Sarah said. "She's really going to be okay?"

"We'll assess her cognitive abilities when she's awake. She might have some, well, not damage exactly, but she might have some adjusting to do. But nothing in any of the scans indicate to me that there will be any permanent damage."

Sarah looked at me and burst into tears. I wrapped her in my arms and thanked the doctor.

"I'm glad I could come with good news. The nurse will be in shortly to start reducing Jessica's medication. We may have to add a pain medication as she wakes up, and that'll make her groggy, but I expect she might start waking up within the next few hours.  Maybe 24 hours. It depends on how she does as we reduce the medication we'll lower it every hour until either she's completely off or she doesn't handle the level. Sometimes we have to increase it once or twice before we lower it completely. But we are starting that now."

He left the room and I looked at my crying wife.

"She's going to be okay," I said. "She's going to come back to us."

"I don't care if she has any permanent damage. We're getting our girl back," Sarah said.

Just then, Zack and Kala walked in with Josh.

"You guys are crying. What's the matter?  What happened?"

"They're happy tears," Sarah said. "Jessica is going to be okay. They're going to start lowering her sedation today. Her brain isn't swelling anymore. It's going down and her MRI showed no bleeding in her brain. And no structural damage inside or out."

"That's great news!!" Kala said, wrapping Sarah in a hug.  Zack gave me a hug and then they switched. Josh hugged us all.

"I brought her a set of drumsticks," he said, sheepishly. "I don't really know why, but it felt like a good idea."

"She'll love them," I said

"They're the ones I used on our tour," he said to me.

"Then she'll love them even more," I smiled.

The nurse came in all smiles.

"I hear it's time for someone to wake up," she said.

"Yep. Looks like you can't keep our girl down," I said, grinning.

She made a few adjustments to the machines again and said she'd be back in an hour to lower it some more, as long as Jess tolerated this level.

Zack went downstairs to Starbucks and got everyone a coffee for us to celebrate with. As we were saying cheers, Jessica's friend Paige and her mom walked in. Paige was holding a bear and a balloon.

"Hey Paige!" I said.  She stopped in her tracks.

"Uh, h-hi, Mr Brendon Urie," she stammered.

"Call me Brendon," I said giving her a hug.

She looked like she was going to pass out. She looked around the room.

"Oh my god," she said. "You're all you."

We laughed.

"B. Tell her the good news!" Sarah said.

"Good news?" Sandra said.

"Oh. Yeah. Great news. Jess had an MRI this morning and it showed that her brain has stopped swelling. In fact it's reducing. And they're lowering her sedation to wake her up. She's going to be okay." 

Paige burst into tears. Sarah went over to her and wrapped her in a hug.

"Paige, sweetie, what's the matter?  This is good news," she said.

"I know!"  Paige cried. "I was so worried she wasn't going to be okay. She was - is - my  first friend at school. And I was so scared that she might die."

Sarah hugged Paige and then I hugged the girl. I knelt down to her level.

"Paige, you've been an amazing friend to Jessica since the first day of school. And that you've come here to visit, I know she'll appreciate it. I hope you'll keep coming when she's awake. She's going to need her friends when she's ready to come back to school."

"Thank you," Paige said.

She handed me the bear and balloon.

"For Jess."

"She's going to love it," I smiled.

They visited with us for a couple of hours. She got over being star-struck and was laughing and talking with Josh and Zack and Kala. I told her to get used to them because if she was going to be in Jessie's life, she'd need to be comfortable with all the people in her life.

While they were there the nurse came in and lowered Jessica's sedation more.  Our girl was on the mend.