4Ever & a Day : The Next Generation of R5

The Trouble With Romeo

Ross

I was wearing a hole in the floor of the hospital waiting room waiting to speak to nurse Jackson. This was all too familiar to me. Memories came flooding back standing in this very spot twenty years ago but then it was all my fault. I had been the one driving and the one who almost killed my fiancée. I remember she had literally been my fiancée a couple of hours. I cringed as I thought of the sound of the crash and the glass breaking.

"Ross calm down," Victoria touched my shoulder. "I know what you're thinking about and I'm still here and Romeo will be okay."

"How can you be so sure?" I asked as I stopped to look at her.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lynch?" a woman in pink scrubs asked from the door.

"Yes," I replied.

"Can we sit?" she asked as she motioned to the couch in the back of the room.

Victoria and I followed her to the couch. My hands were shaking so bad I couldn't control them. I wanted to run and be anywhere but here. I wanted to be at home and have Romeo and Juliet safe at home. I would give anything for all my children to be safe.

"Earlier tonight Romeo was in a car accident. He has a broken arm. He had some internal bleeding and had to have his spleen removed. He hit his head on the window and had to have seventeen stitches. Hitting his head on the window gave him a massive concussion and he is still unconscious. As far as the doctors can tell there is no brain swelling and as long as it stays that way he will make a full recovery," Nurse Jackson informed us.

"Was anyone with him?" I asked.

"There was a girl in the car with him. We haven't been able to get ahold of her parents yet," Nurse Jackson said.

"So her name was Juliet Lynch?" Victoria asked as she saw the panic rising in me.

If she wasn't with him where the hell was she? Why had he left her? I hope she was at least okay.

"No, I can't tell you her name though since she is a minor," Nurse Jackson told us.

"Can we see him?" I asked.

"There's one more thing you should know before you do," Nurse Jackson said.

I sighed. What more could there possibly be? As if all of this wasn't bad enough there was more. The look on her face scared me. She reached out and touched Victoria's hand before she continued.

"When he came in they did a blood test on him and he had been drinking. He was way past the legal limit. The accident was ruled his fault and he is going to face charges for killing a passenger in another car involved."

I felt like a bomb had gone off in my chest it hurt so bad. He had just ruined his Disney Channel career and maybe his whole life because he decided to get in the car after drinking. I had always told them to call me if they had been drinking but with all that had gone down with Embry maybe he had been afraid of how I would react. I had noticed they all walked around on eggshells around me, even Victoria.

After that we followed Nurse Jackson to the ICU. When we got to his room there were tubes everywhere. I heard the beeping of the monitor telling me he was still alive. Right now, him getting better was all that mattered and we would deal with the rest as it came.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lynch can we talk to you?" a balding man asked from outside the room.

I nodded and we followed him to the ICU waiting room.

"Hi, I'm Detective Hudson, and this is my partner Detective Masterson. When your son wakes up we will question him about the accident but he will be formally charged with Gross Vehicular Manslaughter while intoxicated."

All of this was giving me a migraine. Why was it always my children? What had I done to deserve this? I was scared for him. This could all go very badly for him.

"So in other words we need a good lawyer?" I asked.

"Yes, and I suggest you get one before he wakes up. As soon as he is awake he will be read his Miranda Rights. There will be a uniformed officer placed outside his room twenty four seven," Detective Hudson said.

"What happens after that?" Victoria asked.

She seemed so calm about all of this, almost too calm. I knew she would break down later but was trying to be strong now in front of the cops.

"As soon as he is well enough he'll be arraigned and more than likely be released to your custody as long as bail is met. Then a trial date will be set," Detective Masterson informed us.

"Okay," was all Victoria said.

I watched the detectives leave after that and Victoria collapsed on the chair. Before I could get to her she was bawling. Her shoulders shook as her calm went away. I got on my knees in front of her and just held her as we cried together. I wanted to tell her it was going to be okay but I didn't know that. So I said nothing. There was nothing I could say.

Nurse Jackson came in a few minute later with another couple. I assumed they were the girl's parents and I got up to face them. They looked young, almost too young to be the parents of a teenager.

"Mr. Lynch these are Mabel Winchester's parents. She was the young lady in the car with your son," Nurse Jackson introduced us.

"Hi, I'm so sorry for what happened," I said.

"She is as much to fault. She chose to get in the car with him knowing he had been drinking," Mr. Winchester said.

"Is she okay?" I asked. I needed to know how she was so I didn't have to worry about that too.

"Yes besides a broken leg and a few cuts and bruises she is fine," he informed me.

I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and I fished it out. Juliet's name lit up the screen.

"Excuse me I have to take this," I said as I walked out into the hall.

"Where the hell are you?" I asked as I answered the phone.

"Daddy, can you come get me? I need you. I think I did something stupid," Juliet said crying.

"Juliet where are you? Tell me where you are and I'll come get you," I told her.

She was sobbing so bad I could barely understand her.

"I'm...at...Justin's...party...boys...drink," she stammered.

I could hear banging in the background. "I'll be right there. Just stay where you are."

I stormed into Justin's house ten minutes later. The music was so loud I could barely hear myself think. I searched the room and spotted Layla and Gabi with two guys. As I crossed the room the music stopped and everyone watched me.

"Where is Juliet?" I asked Layla and Gabi.

"Upstairs the last time we checked," Gabi said.

"Show me where exactly!" I demanded.

They led me upstairs to a room and when I opened the door Juliet was in the corner of the room. She was on the floor hugging her knees and rocking back and forth. There was a shirtless guy in the bed but she still had her dress on.

I walked over to her and picked her up. "Daddy I don't remember what happened," she sobbed.

"It's okay baby," I whispered as I carried her down the stairs and out of the house.