Fields of Gold; Daniel Ricciardo

Wake up!

I feel as if I'm going to be sick again, is this doctor going to tell me Daniel is gone? How will I be able to cope with that. I don't think I can.
"Mr Ricciardo wasn't breathing on his own when he was brought in. We had to intubate him before we could run the other tests. We've done a CT scan and we found he had a collapsed lung. So we had to insert a chest tube to make sure his lung could inflate again. Also he's got some bruised ribs, but those are things that will heal by itself." I'm listening, but I'm not really taking in all this information.

"Ok but he's still alive?" I ask him and he nods.
"He is, but we did see some swelling in his brain on the scan, that's something where we cannot predict the outcome for or what the long term effects will be. For now the swelling is still very minimal, but it could increase over the next hours. We're monitoring him closely so we can detect if anything in his condition changes."
He pauses for a second, I thought I had no more tears left, but I guess I do as I feel them running down my face again.

"What does this mean?" I ask the doctor in a squeaky voice I don't recognize as my own.
"It means for now we keep him sedated so his brains have time to heal, we just don't know if they will swell more first and if he will have brain damage when he wakes up. For now he's still intubated and we put him in intensive care."
I jump up and run to the nearest trash can, throwing up again after hearing that Daniel is alive, but he might have brain damage.
It doesn't matter for me, but what will it do to him, what Daniel am I going to get back when he wakes up.

Casey follows me with my water and I take some sips when I'm done filling the trash can with practically nothing as my stomach was already empty.
"The doctor said you can go to him if you want." I snap my head up when I hear him.
"I do, where is he?"
"The doctor is waiting for you, go with him, we'll be here. Just give Lewis Matthews phone number so he can call him when he lands. He should be here in about 2 hours, so Matthew will make sure he takes him here straight away. You go be with Daniel." Casey puts his hand on my shoulder and pushes me towards the doctor who takes me with him to see my love.

"Don't be scared, he's got the breathing tube in and also a lot of wires and tubes sticking out of him. You can touch him and talk to him. You never know if he can hear you." He opens a door and guides me inside.
I look in and almost drop to my knees when I see Daniel lying in that bed. There's a nurse adjusting some things on his IV and she gives me a warm smile.
"Come in sweetheart. You're his girlfriend right?" I nod, swallowing the massive lump that seems to be stuck in my throat.
"Here take a seat, hold his hand. I'm sure he'll know you're here." She can see my hesitation and takes my hand to pull me to the chair.

"He's still here honey and he's fighting. Your presence will help him."
I sit down, silent tears falling again when I take his hand. It feels so strange, holding his hand, but him not holding on to mine. There's silence in the room, except for the machines monitoring his vitals.
"I'll leave you two, if you need anything just press that button there. Somebody will come straight away." The nurse points out where the emergency button is and then walks to the door.
"Thank you very much." I manage to say and she gives me the same warm smile I got when I came in here.
"It's ok sugar, talk to your man. I'm sure he will hear you."

When she has left the room I stand up and start stroking his hair, with the other hand I'm still holding his.
"Hey babe, look at what you got yourself into. This wasn't how we were supposed to end our vacation was it?" I gently wipe some of his dark curls of his forehead.
"Buck is fine by the way, Jackson had a vet come over and he had a full check up. So he's good. Now it's you who needs to be fine. I know you're not going to wake up today, but I do need you to come back to me. Michael and Blake are on their way, I'm sure they'd be happy to see you, but it's even better if you come home with us in a couple of days."
I sit back down, never stopping touching him. I stroke his stubbly cheek. My other hand still holding his, rubbing my thumb over his skin.