When Kat Came Back

Chapter 45

Ashlynn was unconscious. She wasn't exactly in a coma. She was breathing on her own. At least, she wasn't being mechanically ventilated. But she was unconscious.

The wound in her neck had been leaking slowly for the past couple of days. There had been a vessel nicked that the surgeons hadn't seen. It was a slow leak, but it eventually tore more and Ashlynn's blood pressure had dropped as she bled internally in her neck and upper chest. The doctors were concerned about whether her brain had been deprived of oxygen, if she'd had something like a stroke and if so, had they been able to reverse the damage?

She'd been taken for surgery to stop the bleeding, repair the vessel and see if there was any other damage. She'd also had an MRI and an angiogram to make sure the vessels had been repaired and to make sure no other vessels were leaking.

Patrick and Patricia sat by Ashlynn's side. Andy sat close by, watching Ashlynn, but also his friend. Ashlynn had been in touch with Andy over the past couple of months, and he felt she was doing okay. Not great, and he felt like she felt a little out of place in Chicago, but her tone had changed recently and she'd been telling him about friends at school, and her crush. She'd started calling David 'Dad', and had said Thanksgiving had been pretty good. She'd been looking forward to Christmas. Now she was laying unconscious in a New York hospital room. No one knew what her prognosis was.

"Ash, honey," Patricia was saying. "Patrick, Andy, and I are here sweetheart. We want you to wake up honey. Can you wake up for us my sweet girl?"

Ashlynn didn't react. Patricia squeezed her hand. Ashlynn lay still. Patrick picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles. Ashlynn remained unmoving.

"Hello?" A voice called from the doorway. Patrick turned around and saw his father standing there with Melinda.

"Dad," Patrick said, getting up and going over to hug his father and step-mother.

"How is she?" David asked. Patrick shrugged.

"She's unconscious. A nicked vessel tore and she was bleeding out internally. They repaired it and have checked no other vessels are leaking, but she's been unconscious since. And they don't know when she might wake up, if she'll wake up and whether she's suffered something like a stroke, and if she'll have any permanent effects from this."

David's eyes filled with tears as he looked past Patrick at his baby girl. Patricia looked over at her ex-husband and smiled sadly.

"David, Melinda," she said from her place beside Ashlynn. "Thanks for coming."

"You called them?" Patrick asked. He wasn't angry. David deserved to be with Ashlynn. He actually felt a little guilty because he hadn't thought to call his own father about Ash.

"When it looked like we might lose her, I called him. I thought he might want to, to," Patricia's voice shook. "He might need to come say goodbye."

David looked down at the floor. But then he walked over to Ashlynn's bedside, sat on the bed and took his youngest child's hand in his. He marvelled at how small Ashlynn's hands really were. He turned her limp hand over back and forth as if memorizing every line in her right hand.

"Ash, honey.  It's Dad. I'm here, baby. I'm here. You've got to get better, okay? You can take your time. That's okay. Take all the time you need to rest but sweetheart, we need you. We need you to get better."

Patricia's eyes glistened with unshed tears as she listened to the father of her baby girl plead with her to get better. To wake up.

Ashlynn did not react.

The family all found places to sit and wait for Ashlynn to heal.

They talked. Small talk. David asked Patrick about his and Ashlynn's time in New York prior to this incident. They talked about the weather. They talked about mundane things.

Or they sat silently, each person wrapped up in their own thoughts.

Time moved slowly.

Often the only sounds were the beeping of Ashlynn's monitors.

Two days had passed since David and Melinda had arrived in New York. Every day had been the same. No one left Ashlynn's room for long. They slept there, ate there and only left to take showers in Patrick's hotel room and come straight back to Ashlynn's side.

Patrick was dozing, his head back. Melinda and David were sitting together, David holding Ashlynn's hand, just watching his daughter lay unconscious. He was watching her breathing and hoping it stayed regular.

Patricia was on Ashlynn's other side, basically doing the same thing.

Andy was trying to hold it together for everyone. He sat back and watched. He watched David and how he talked to Ash. He had changed, Andy was happy to see. He'd come to terms with Ashlynn being Ashlynn and not Kat. Patrick was only asleep because he'd essentially passed out cold. He'd been awake almost 48 hours by the time his head lolled back and he slept.

And he watched Ashlynn, silently praying for her to be okay.

As he watched the girl who had touched so many people in so short a time, he saw her eyes flutter. Was she waking up?

"Patricia," Andy whispered. "Squeeze her hand."

"What?" Patricia said.

"Squeeze Ashlynn's hand," he reiterated. "I think she's starting to wake up."

Patricia sat up. David and Melinda, who had obviously heard Andy, too, also sat up and David gently squeezed Ashlynn's hand. Andy watched as Ashlynn's fingers curled, ever so slightly around her father's hand. Tears sprang to everyone's eyes. Everyone but Patrick, seeing as he hadn't woken up yet.

Patricia also tried squeezing Ashlynn's hand, and was rewarded with a slight curling of Ashlynn's fingers on her hand. Andy nudged Patrick.

"Non fat latte, with vanilla," Patrick said, opening his eyes and sitting up.

"Great. We'll put your coffee order in later. For now, Ash is waking up," Andy said. Patrick's eyes cleared and he sat up. He groaned because his neck had gotten stiff while he slept in suck an awkward position.

"How do you know she's waking up?" Patrick asked, seeing no change in his sister.

"She squeezed our hands," Patricia said, indicating herself and her ex husband.

Patrick took Ashlynn's hand and squeezed. She returned the gesture with a weak curling of her fingers around his. Tears sprang to his eyes. She was waking up. She was aware of people around her when they squeezed her hand.

She squeezed back. She was, maybe? Hopefully? Coming back.