Just be there

Casey

Several hours later, a short kind looking woman with dark hair and dark eyes in a doctor's coat walks out. "Taylor family?" She says in a tired voice.

We all jump to our feet, I cradle against Charlie as she had fallen asleep on my shoulder an hour ago. "That's us" Alice says looking hopeful.

"My name is Dr. Tucker. Well she is stable, but she hasn't woken up yet. She should wake up, but with the amount of medication she took at once it is hard to know exactly when. It could be a few hours, or a few days. Once she is awake and stable enough, the amount of medication she took is considered to be a suicide attempt. She will have a mandatory 72 hour psychiatric hold before she can be released." The doctor states all of this in a professional matter of fact voice, but her eyes are kind. "Thank you" Alice says reaching out to squeeze the doctor's hand in gratitude. "Of course, you can go see her now, but we have to limit the number of visitors in the room to three at a time." The doctor says with a kind smile.

There is some brief nonverbal communication as we decide who should go back first. We ultimately settle on Alice, myself, and Luca. "Here, I can take her" My mom says reaching out her arms for Charlie who is still asleep in my arms. I pass Charlie to her, and follow Alice and Luca up to Izzie's room.

Izzie in the hospital bed, and it almost looks as if she is sleeping. If it wasn't for the IVs and machine hooked up to her, I would almost believe it. Alice and Luca cross to her, Alice kisses her cheek and Luca holds her hand. I hear them whispering that they love her. I stand, frozen in the door. Seeing Izzie like this is terrifying.

After a while, Alice looks up at me before looking back at Luca. "Come on, let's go back down so Gabi and Mrs. Gardner can come see Izzie. That will give Casey a few minutes to be alone with Izzie." She says before she and Luca go to leave the room. As Luca walks by me, he squeezes my arm and gives me a light smile. He motions towards Izzie with his head and leaves.

Finally I force myself to move forward. She looks so fragile, I'm afraid that I might break her if I touch her. I sit beside her bed and cautiously lean towards her, gently stroking her hair with my hand. "Izzie, baby, I love you so much. You can't leave me like this love. We aren't done yet." I whisper to her. With that I lose my composure and begin to cry again, leaning my head gently against Izzie's side.

As I try to calm myself down before my mom and Gabi get up here, I hear something that makes my heart skip several beats.

"I'm sorry Casey, I didn't mean it" Izzie says in a quiet scratchy voice that is almost too quiet to hear, but I hear it. Her eyes are barely open, but they are open and she's looking at me. "Izzie!" I say, standing up to place a kiss on her forehead. "Hi" She whispers back to me. I press another kiss to her forehead and pull back to look at her. Tears are streaming down her cheeks, so I lean down to wipe them away with light kisses to her cheeks. My girl, she's okay. She's still here. I lean my forehead against hers, which is slightly uncomfortable from the angle I am standing at, but I don't care. "I love you, so much." I whisper to her. "I love you too, I'm sorry" She whispers back.

I hear my mom and Gabi coming in, so I lean back and gesture to Izzie. "She's awake" I say somehow smiling and crying at the same time.

"Oh thanks goodness" My mom says, wiping away her own tears. Gabi runs forward and leans her head against Izzie, giving her the best hug she can with the amount of cables and tubes attached to Izzie. "Hey Gabs." Izzie whispers as she lifts her hand to gently stroke her sister's hair.

Slowly everyone shuffles in and out of Izzie's room, until we have all seen her. Alice decides to take the kids home to get some rest, and Evan, Zahid, my dad, and Sam decide to head home as well.

It's just me and Elsa now, sitting on either side of Izzie's bed as she rests. She will be transferred to the psychiatric floor in the morning.

For now she is stable and she is okay. For now, that will have to be enough.