come back...be here {George Smith}

part 4 - alternate

A/N: hey everyone! @mrsdracofelton  suggested to do an alternate version that doesn't end so morbidly sooo here we go! basically for the alternate version, ignore chapters 4,5,6 because this chapter continues on from chapter 3. anyway, hope you enjoy and thanks so much for reading!

"GEORGE, NO!" she screamed and sprinted over to him. She got to him and saw his condition and for a second, her heart stopped. There was blood, blood everywhere. There was so much blood she couldn't even tell it was coming from. She grasped his hand and squeezed it, hoping to get a squeeze back.

"No, no, no, no, no," she repeated, begging over and over again, sobbing uncontrollably.

"George, can you hear me?" she whispered through the tears. She was met by the cold air, covering them in a heavy blanket of silence.

She looked around, her eyes scanning the street around them for anyone. Her eyes made their mark; the uber driver.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? CALL AN AMBULANCE!" she screamed at him. She turned her attention back to George when she saw him taking his phone out.

"George, where are you? Come back to me," she pleaded. She watched him intently, silently praying that he would move. He groaned and his head rolled to the side. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth.

"George, wake up, I need you, please," she begged. Nothing. She wasn't even sure if he was breathing anymore.

"Ma'am, the ambulance is on its way," the uber driver said.

She looked up at him tearfully. "Thank you," she nodded graciously.

She waited with George for what were the most painful ten minutes of her life. The ambulance finally arrived and so did a police car. She hurriedly moved out of the way for the paramedics. A policewoman came up to her and asked her what happened. She just shook her head, unable to speak because she was crying so much. The policewoman tried to coax her but nothing was working. A second police officer approached them.

"They reckon he'll live. They're not sure how severe his injuries are but they're taking him to hospital," said the policeman. She felt a small weight lift off her shoulders and was able to calm herself down enough to tell the policewoman what had happened.

"Do you know where the driver of the car might be now?" asked the policewoman.

"I think they stopped there," she said pointing to a car that was parked strangely across the road. The dim street lights showed that the car did indeed have blood on it.

"Thank you ma'am, you've been very brave," said the policewoman and she went off to assess the car.

She was left alone. She felt like she was about to cry but she was in a state of shock; she was too shocked to cry.

"Ma'am, of what relation are you to this man?" asked a paramedic.

"His girlfriend," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

"Would you like to come in the ambulance?" he asked. She nodded and was led to the ambulance where she saw George hooked up to a few machines, including a breathing machine. The paramedics had made a futile effort to mop away the blood but it wouldn't stop. She stepped towards George and reached out for his hand, lying limp by his side.

"Ma'am please step away from the patient," said the paramedic. Her eyes stung with tears as she stepped away. She sat down in her assigned seat and stared at her trembling hands, not wanting to look at George or anyone else. She let the ambulance sirens drown out her thoughts.

"I'm sorry ma'am but it's protocol. You've been very brave," said the same paramedic coming back to her. She nodded but kept her head down.

The rest of the ride dragged on for what felt like forever. When they got to the Emergency Room, George was wheeled away while she was ushered to the waiting room. She got her phone out and messaged George's parents. She could barely see what she was typing through the tears.

George has been inveov;led in a sderious acdciednetg and is in the ER. Im in the waiting room and other than thtb I havd no idea hewat happening

Pressing 'send' to that message was one of the hardest thing she'd ever had to do. George's parents arrived shortly after and of course she was bombarded with questions.

"What happened to him? Where is our son?"

She sobbed and tried explaining through her tears. "...car...came out of no where...hit him...ambulance...ER."

The three of them sat together, waiting. They spent the rest of the night and many hours of the early morning, wide awake and waiting. Finally, George's name was called out. The three of them stood up and walked towards the nurse.

"And what is your relation to Mr Smith?" he asked.

"We're his parents and she's his girlfriend," said Tony.

"I'm afraid it's family only, ma'am," said the nurse to me.

"She's as good as family," said Natasha defensively. The nurse hesitated before he let them through. He led them through a winding hall before finally stopping at a room. The nurse opened the door and she would never be able to forget what she saw.

Inside was George, hooked up to all sorts of machines with tubes and wires sticking out from all over the place. His pale face had a stitch going across his forehead. His body was covered with bandages. His neck was in a brace. One of his legs was suspended and bandaged. They'd been able to clean most of the blood but she could still see blood stains on the hospital sheets. Doctors and nurses were rushing around him, checking monitors and keeping wounds sterile. One of the doctors looked up at them.

"You must be his family," she said, nodding towards us. We nodded our heads back.

"How is he? Will he live?" asked Tony.

"We're not sure. Maybe by some miracle," she said sadly.

A miracle. Only by some miracle would he wake up. That was code for 'there's not much chance that he will live'. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat but couldn't.

"However, you need to prepare yourselves for the worst. We have councilors if you need them. I know it's a very hard thing to deal with and for that I'm truly sorry," said the doctor sadly.

You need to prepare yourselves for the worst... the doctor made it sound like he was already dead.

She decided that she was going to pray for a miracle. She needed George more than anyone and she wasn't going to give up that easily. She held her head up with a new found determination.

"We'd better pray for a miracle then," she said.

And so began the longest months of her life.