FLYBY (b. bradshaw)

𝙏𝙒𝙀𝙉𝙏𝙔-𝙊𝙉𝙀

𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐲'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯 -

Number of hours she was in for surgery: two

Number of hours that she'd now been in a coma for: almost forty-eight and counting

Number of times I'd punched a wall: five, plus I threw a vase full of flowers. It shattered. 

Number of time's Maverick forced me to take a lap: to many too count. 

Number of times someone had forced food down my throat: six, but I puked it up the first three times. 

How many words I spoke: 0

The first day, she didn't move. She didn't move. She barely breathed and when she did, it wasn't on her own. They had a tube down her throat; a machine keeping her heart beating for her. Sarash Kazansky showed up within the first 30 minutes of Lilah being in a room. Maverick had called her. She hugged me, told me it wasn't my fault. She was lying. Tasha showed up with a hysterical Jamie. 

 I let Jamie hit me. 

I let Tasha hit me. 

Then I let her sob into my chest. 

I didn't speak; I didn't complain, I just sat there, numb to the world. 

I was debriefed, asked me questions I didn't answer, yelled at by the admirals and sent back into the room with her. Mav finally showed up with five pissed off pilot's behind him.  

The doctor's tried to get me to talk next. I still didn't speak. 

I was finally able to fall asleep ,holding her hand. I woke up to a crying Sarah Kazansky. I didn't sleep again. 

Every hour the doctor's came to check on her. We would all glance up in hope that something had changed. 

Nothing changed. 

She wasn't waking up, but she was stable. Stable was good, they told me. 

Mrs. Kazansky took Jamie home. He screamed and thrashed, refusing to let go of her body. The scene hurt me. Tasha woke up. She went home. I didn't move. No one tried to get me to talk anymore. 

 A nice nurse changed Lilah's IV bag. Someone washed the blood of her her. They changed her leg dressings. The large hole that had been left from a piece of metal impaling her upper thigh had been sewn up in surgery. Now, there was 30 stitches in her leg. 

Natasha returned. I let her take my spot. She held Lilah's hand and begged her to wake up. I tried to put my hand on her shoulder and she brushed me off. Eventually she just climbed into bed with Lilah and gave me my seat back. 

Neither of us spoke. Neither of had the strength, and even if we had, we had nothing to say. 

Finch forced me to go take a shower. 

Walking through her front door was like being shot. There were pieces of her every where in the house, all of her clothes around, random books she'd never finished, cold coffee still in the pot, yet she wasn't there. Would she ever be there again? 

They kicked Mav off of the mission. Lilah, too. Mav because she'd let Lilah into the sky, and Lilah, because she barely made it back, and wasn't even technically alive.