When Kat Came Back

Chapter 25

Patrick and Patricia had both fallen asleep beside Ashlynn's bed when a whining sound woke Patrick. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and took a second to remember where he was. And why.

The whimpering, whining sound continued. He looked around and saw Ashlynn writhing and whimpering.

"Ash, hey, Ash," Patrick said quietly, taking Ashlynn's hand and hoping to not wake their mom.

Ashlynn opened her eyes and looked around. Then groaned and whimpered again.

"Hey, what's up?" Patrick asked.

"It hurts," Ashlynn whined.

"What does?" Patrick asked.

"Everything," Ashlynn whined. "What happened?"

"What do you remember?" Patrick asked, pressing the call button for the nurse. Patricia started stirring at the noise coming from Ashlynn.

"Being mad and the parking lot. That's about it," Ashlynn said.

"Oh! Ash! You're awake!" Patricia said as a nurse came into the room.

"You called?" The nurse said.

"My sister is in pain. Can she get something for it?" Patrick asked.

"Of course. I'll be right back," the nurse said, smiling at Ashlynn. 

"Ash!" Patricia said, sitting up on the bed and taking Ashlynn's hand.  "I'm so happy you're awake."

"What happened, though?" Ashlynn asked, trying to get comfortable.

"You were hit by a car in the parking lot. You had four broken ribs, which needed surgery, a fractured hip and a minor head injury."

"My whole body hurts," Ashlynn whined.

"I know, baby," Patricia said. "The nurse will be right back."

And just then the nurse came in and gave Ashlynn some pain killer in her I.V. 

She checked a few things on the equipment around Ashlynn, smiled and left.

Ashlynn closed her eyes again.

"Ash, honey?" Patricia said.

"Mmm tired," Ashlynn said.

"Okay, baby. You get some sleep. We'll be right here," Patricia said, stroking Ashlynn's forehead and kissing her there too. Ashlynn frowned slightly but then was asleep. 

Patricia continued to stroke Ashlynn's head and hum to her. It was a lullaby Patrick remembered her singing to him, and then to Kat when she was born. She never sang it again after Kat was taken. Tears filled Patrick's eyes as he remembered the happy days before they lost Kat. He was happy his mom was humming that lullaby. She was healing.

Patrick himself dozed off to the hummed lullaby. His dreams were filled with images of baby Kat, the happy times before their family had to learn to navigate a world where they were a family of six but everyone only knew of them as a family of five.

His dreams started to change and soon he was dreaming about Ashlynn and losing her. The dream was so real, Patrick woke with a start and had to touch Ashlynn's slack hand to make sure she was real.

"What is it, Patrick?" She said, waking to his touch.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up. I just had a nightmare. I needed to make sure you're real," he said, offering an apologetic smile.

"Oh. Yeah. I'm real," Ashlynn smirked. "And this very real Ashlynn is tired and going back to sleep."

"Fair enough. Sorry I woke you," Patrick whispered.

"'Night," Ashlynn whispered back.

Patrick leaned back and fell asleep shortly thereafter.

The three of them were woken by Ashlynn's nurse coming in to get a morning set of vitals. Patrick was stiff, but he didn't care.

Ashlynn was awake already, just looking out the window. The nurse changed out an IV, and said breakfast would come at about eight and the doctor would be by around ten. Ashlynn didn't really react. The nurse left.

Ashlynn sighed but continued staring out the window.

"What's up?" Patrick asked.

"Nothing," Ashlynn said.

"You sure?" Patrick asked. Ashlynn shrugged.

Patrick left it at that for now.

Ashlynn's breakfast was brought in, and Patrick went downstairs to get himself and his mom some coffee and something to eat.

When he returned to the room, Ashlynn looked like she was asleep. Patricia was just looking at her.

"The painkiller kicked in," Patricia said to Patrick as he sat down and handed her a coffee and a breakfast plate.

Patrick nodded and slowly ate his breakfast. His siblings and his girlfriend all started arriving before the doctor had even come. They saw Ash was sleeping and Patricia explained she was awake but she'd had a painkiller and she'd fallen asleep.

They sat and talked quietly.

Just after 10, the doctor came in.

"Well, good morning, Miss Stumph," he said. Ashlynn didn't react at first. She didn't realize he was talking to her.

"Oh. Me. Hi," Ashlynn said.

"So, let's catch you up on what has gone on the past few days. You may or may not remember that you were hit by a car about a week ago," the doctor said.

"A week?" Ashlynn asked, incredulously and looking at Patrick.

"A week. Let me catch you up. Hold on.  So, you sustained a hip fracture, we put a small plate and a pin in," the doctor put some films up on the light box in the room. "It shouldn't cause you any problems. Next, you had four broken ribs. We had to operate to set them and fix the one puncturing your lung. And finally, you had a minor head injury that we would have assessed for concussion had you been conscious."

Ashlynn frowned.

"We had you on a ventilator for a few days while we let your ribs and lungs heal. That way your breathing was controlled and you could just rest. Because of the sedation, you slept until what was it? Yesterday.  And that's it."

"That's it? That's a lot," Ashlynn said.

"Well, you're going to be sore for a little, and I suggest a crutch or cane to compensate for your hip while the fracture heals."

The doctor went over a few other things and what he'd like to see before discharging Ashlynn.

He left the family to visit.

"Sounds like maybe you'll come home soon?" Patricia said to Ashlynn.

"I guess," Ashlynn said. But where was 'home' really?