Complicated

Chapter Nineteen: Exit Wound

Been given 24 hours
To tie up loose ends
To make amends
His eyes said it all
I started to fall
And the silence deafened

Jem - 24

The waiting room of the surgery wing was bustling. Doctors and nurses were streaming through corridors seeking access to the other areas of the hospital. People were seated in stiff chairs, reading magazines or watching the T.V waiting patiently for the news of their relatives.

Danny didn't understand that, he didn't understand how they could sit so quietly and still. His own mind was whirring, he was constantly in motion, his thumbs tucked through the rungs of his denim jeans as his hands patted out a nervous pattern upon his thighs with his fingertips. His eyes were searching the throngs of people for Don and right at the back near the double doors that led to the operating rooms he found him.

Don looked just like all the others. His body was devoid of any movement, his shoulders were set back and rigid as he stared straight ahead, his gaze fixated on the vacant air in front of him. His suit jacket was gone, where Danny didn't know. He was too busy taking in the sight of Don and the blood patches that were smeared across the pinstriped shirt and yellow tie. Danny knew without any kind of DNA test that it was all Grace's.

"Don." Danny called out, taking long purposeful strides towards his friend.

Don twisted his head towards Danny. Danny could see the torment already fermenting in his pained blue eyes before the other man even uttered a word. He felt like the breath had been knocked out of him as he stared at Don's slumped shoulders and bleak expression in dismay.

Disbelief washed over him as Don screwed up his eyes tightly, opening and closing his mouth to speak but no words were released. Don tilted his head away, clenching his jaw, Danny eyed the balled fists on his lap as he struggled to compose himself, his entire body starting to quake. His eyes rose sky wards before the basest of words left his mouth.

"Grace..." he choked, shaking his head. "Grace."

"Don?" Danny said, his voice sounded like a young boy's.

"They don't think she's gonna make it." Don's voice, a ragged whisper. "The bullet destroyed one of her kidneys and lacerated her liver. She's in a coma because the blood loss restricted the oxygen flow to her brain. They said she'll be lucky if she gets through the night without having a stroke."

Danny closed his own eyes, his hands coming to rest on his hips as he sucked in a deep breath and prayed for strength. Every single impulse in him was urging him to lash out and hit something, to destroy something, to respond to this violent act with one of his own.

Don was falling to pieces in front of him. He could see the other man trying to hold it all together, struggling all the time, fighting with his grief, His eyes were red rimmed and glistening as he bowed his head, his knuckles were stained white against the blood on his hands.

It wasn't fair, Danny thought. It wasn't fair that after everything that it had to end like this. The two of them were just in reach of the finish line and someone had cruelly snatched that away.

Danny dropped down into the seat beside Don, bending his head close so the other man could hear the quiet murmur of his voice.

"It's Grace." Danny stated, his voice trembling just a little under his own bravo. "She's tough, she's not coming this far just to let you go again."

Don leaned forward rubbing his hands over his face as he gave away to the sorrow that torrented through his body. He couldn't stand this. The memories were flashing in front of his eyes like scenes from a photograph. He looked at his hands shaking, her blood was still on them. The essence of her life threaded through his head as he recalled the last words she spoke.

"Love You."

They echoed in his head like a sonnet. Don pressed his hands together as if in prayer. He was not a praying man but he was willing to make amends if it meant that Grace would live. He would do whatever it took to see that beautiful smile all over again

Dear God, don't let this be the end.

Grace looked like an angel, but then again Don had always thought that. Her short dark hair was splayed across her pillow, her skin was the palest he had ever seen. Her body was attached to an assortment of IVs and wires to machines that monitored everything from her heart rate to her brain activity. The doctors were watchful, she was in good hands here and he knew that but it didn't stop the worry that was crushing down on him. His chest felt tight as he took her delicate hand between both of his larger ones. She was still warm, still living, still breathing right now.

His gaze strayed down to her chest, mesmerised by the rise and fall of her diaphragm. Every time she took a breath it left him wondering whether it would be her very last. He wondered if Grace was aware of what was going on around her, if she could hear him when he spoke. He didn't want to leave here and have the last words he'd said muttered in the heat of the moment.

"I love you." Don found himself saying, withdrawing a hand from hers in order to sneak into his pocket and withdraw a tiny silver circle. "I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy. I wanna hear you laugh again, I wanna hold you close while we..."

The memory was too painful too vivid, he couldn't being himself to think of the last moments he had spent making love to her. His mouth turned to cotton as he took her ring finger gently between his and extended it.

"I was gonna tell you this last night but you'd gone to your parent's place and I..." he hesitated, inhaling deeply before pushing on. "I was gonna ask you tonight doll, but I'm not sure if the two of us are gonna be keeping that date."

He slid the ring onto her finger. To his surprise it was a perfect fit as if it had belonged there all along. He was drowning with that idea, fighting the knowledge that she may not come through this, that they might not be able to have their happy ending after all.

"I gotta go away for a little bit." Don said quietly, his fingertips brushing the hair away from her eyes. "But I'll be back."

He leaned over and pressed a butterfly kiss to her forehead before withdrawing. He cast a long, antagonizing look back at her as he reached for the door handle before speaking.

"I love you too Gracie."