The Daddy Diaries

Chapter Sixteen

Damien and Samson paced the waiting room as Samson asked question after question. Samson had to leave to go to the bureau, leaving Damien by himself. He couldn't stand to be there alone, so he went down to the food court.

He walked around for a while, looking at all of the food before deciding on a slice of pizza. He took his slice and picked out a drink then went to the counter to pay. As he was being rung up, a girl came up behind him and offered to pay for his food.

"No thanks. I can take care of myself."

"Just trying to be nice for a stranger today" she smiled.

"Well don't be."

"Fine. Fuck you too, dude." She scoffed.

"My fucking girlfriend is here after falling in the shower and almost dying and I don't know if she's even gonna live. So I don't give a shit what you're trying to do. Back the fuck up and let me pay for my own food." He yelled as he slammed his fists against the counter.

"O-oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know." she said as she gave him a sad smile.

"Of course you fucking don't know. I'm a stranger. Now please." He sighed.

"Well I don't have to pay for your food but I can give you some company?" She offered.

He looked at the girl and sighed, "Fine. I guess that's fine."

"Good" She smiled.

They paid and walked over to the dining area and found a table to sit at. She was a tall black haired girl with piercing blue eyes and tan skin. Her hair must have been dyed because it definitely did not match her eyes.

"So what's your name?" She asked as she took a bite of her cheeseburger.

"Damien. You?"

"Nice. I'm Kiersten. What's your girlfriends' name?"

"Annabe-Anna. Her name is Anna."

"Annabelle?"

"No!" Damien yelled as he gritted his teeth. "Anna. Not Annabelle. It's Anna"

"Geez sorry. Thought you said Annabelle"

"I didn't. I have to go." He said as he stood up and grabbed his tray of food to leave.

She grabbed his arm to stop him from walking away. "Wait. I'm sorry. Can we start over?"

He grunted and sat back down. "Why?"

"Because you look like you could use the company and someone to talk to" she smiled softly.

"Alright. Fine. Why are you here?" He asked as he sat back in his chair and folded his arms.

"My dad. He's here for chemo and doesn't like me sitting with him while it's being done."

"That must be hard."

"It is. But what happened to your girlfriend?" She sighed as she took a bite of her food.

"No. She's been through some shit these past few days and I thought she was asleep but when I went to check on her the shower was running and the door was locked. There was no sound coming from in the bathroom so I kept calling and eventually broke the door down to find her laying in blood halfway in the bathtub" he said as he looked down at the table and ran his fingers through his unkempt hair.

"I'm sorry. That must be really hard for you" she said as she placed her hand on his arm. It felt wrong but at the same time it was good to have company and feel cared about, even if it was a stranger.

*beep beep*

"Do you need to take that?" She asked while staring into his eyes.

He silenced his phone in his pocket and looked back up at her. "No. It's fine. Yeah, it's really hard. I thought she was asleep. I let her sleep all afternoon yesterday and all through the morning. I didn't want to wake her up. I thought I was doing my job."

"Just because a freak accident happened doesn't mean you did something wrong. Accidents happen. I mean, you don't control every aspect of her life. Shit just happens sometimes. I mean my girlfriend once fell down the stairs and broke her arm but she turned out fine"

Damien laughed. If only she knew.

"I guess so. But I still feel like I let her down."

"I know it must. But you can't let it get to you too much. I'm sure she's going to wake up and be fine and tell you how great you are."

His phone buzzed and wouldn't stop so he finally decided to answer it. It was the nurses station.

Sir your wife just woke up and is asking for you, the nurse said before Damien hung the phone up.

"Fuck I have to go." He said as he jumped up from the table and ran towards the elevators.

He jumped into the first one that opened and pressed the seventh-floor button. Once the elevator stopped on his level, he ran out and started shouting for a nurse or a doctor.

"Sir calm down. What can I help you with?" a nurse asked as he walked to the nurse's station frantically.

"I'm Damien Bailey. I was just paged about my girlfriend Annabelle Adams"

"Oh yes, right this way"

She lead him into Anna's ICU room.

"Hi baby. How are you feeling?" Damien asked as he kissed Anna's hand.

She grunted in response, not wanting to use words. Her head hurt too bad and she just wanted to sleep.

"Oh, sweetheart. Daddy's sorry he wasn't there to help you. You're okay now, okay? We've got you. Go to sleep" he said as he kissed her forehead. She slowly closed her eyes, resting peacefully knowing he was beside her.

Damien started thinking about all of the things he could have done to help her. Maybe if the bathtub didn't have such a sharp edge. Maybe if he insisted she sleeps with him. Maybe if he set his alarm. Maybe- The doctor interrupted his thoughts. "You must be Mr.Bailey"

"Yes, I am. How is she? She won't talk"

"She's doing well. The scans are clear and there is no brain bleed. It was just a nasty fall with a small fracture that should heal nicely. She's going to need to rest for a couple of weeks or more after this. If you have any questions just ask one of the nurses to page me, okay? Talk to you soon."

"Alright. Thank you." Damien said as he stood with his hands in his pockets, fighting back tears. She's gonna be okay.