Back to You (Sequel to Take Me Away From Here)

Chapter 21

Tim POV: 

I knew I shouldn't have let her go... I knew I should've chased her down... Sitting here, watching her struggle like this, is killing me. She keeps cringing, as waves of pain strike her. I wish I could take it away... 

The doctor runs another round of tests, while we wait to get her new imaging results. Nobody has really told me anything. They all seem to dance around me, like they're walking on eggshells. I keep looking at the girls in the hall, and praying that this will all turn out fine. I don't think I could stomach laying her down in the ground... The doctor in the room glances over toward me, sighing a little, before pulling a chair up to me. 

"Dr. Connors." He introduces himself, shaking my hand before leaning back in the chair. "Sir, I'm going to be blunt with you..." He says, seeming like he could break down at any moment, which I've never seen from a doctor. "She's not going to come out of this the way she was before, if she can pull through." He continues, making my stomach sink. I glance over toward her, wondering if she can hear us speaking. "From the preliminary scans, we can see that there has been significant damage to many of the vital parts of her brain. Luckily, she's been able to move rather well, so paralyzation I think can be ruled out, but there's many other issues I think we may run into that will affect her quality of life." He runs on, while I try my hardest to listen without entering a state of complete disarray. 

"Like what?" I make the mistake of asking. He leans forward, clasping his hands together while looking at my knees. 

"She has damage to six areas in her brain, which is rather significant by our standards. Everything between her frontal lobe and her parietal lobe has sustained some degree of damage. Her frontal took the brunt of it, which will impact her judgement and thinking essentially. Our largest concern comes with the amount of damage to the parts of her brain that process pain and sensation. If she ends up on either end of the spectrum, she could either experience chronic pain or no pain whatsoever, which can result in injuries and things of that nature." He informs me, while I attempt to understand his words. For some reason, it feels like he's speaking another language... like my head is simply refusing to process what he says. "She'll need constant assistance, whether it be through a caregiver or a special care facility." He says, hitting me like a blow to the stomach. 

"Special care facility?" I spit out, watching him take a deep breath. I glance at her once more, my heart beating out of my chest. "No... She's..." I begin, before having to clear my throat. "She's not... She's fine... She's going to be fine... She's alive, and she's awake... She'll..." I ramble, feeling myself go numb. The doctor hangs his head, before nodding slowly. 

"She's lucky that things weren't worse. The fact that she is alive is a miracle, and the fact that she is awake is destroying the odds, but that doesn't change the fact that she was shot, point blank, in the head." He says, while I start to feel like I could throw up. 

"But she's beaten the odds before... She... She could be fine... She could..." I continue, before the doctor glances back at her, then at me once more. 

"Tim, we could sit here and deny the fact that she sustained a massive traumatic brain injury, or we could start making arrangements and mitigating some of the things that she's going to go through over the next few months." He says firmly, while I cringe. "I know it's scary... I know it's a lot to take in too, but you have to imagine what she's going through. You have to be her pillar of strength right now, or else you need to find someone else who can be, because you'll only be doing her a disservice." He orders, staring me down while I try to catch my breath. "In a couple hours, she'll be completely off of the sedatives, and then we'll know the scope of the damage. In the meantime, I suggest you get some rest." He says, standing up and starting toward the door. 

I'm awaken from my nap, by the sound of her sobbing, which makes a deep pit in my stomach. I sit straight up, leaning toward her bed, and grabbing onto her hand. She trembles, letting out little whimpers as her chest quakes. 

"Baby, it's alright..." I let out, running my hand up her arm to try and comfort her. She howls, leaning her head back against the pillows. Last time I saw her cry like this was when we lost Sam... 

"It hurts..." She cries, in a way that twists my stomach into a knot. I nod, wanting to find a way to fix it. I hit the call button, and wait patiently for Dr Connors. He arrives shortly after, seeming to be exhausted. 

"Alright, so what's going on?" He asks, while I look at Faith and take a deep breath. 

"She's in a lot of pain." I answer, watching him nod slowly. He walks to her bedside, looking at the records left on a nearby counter. He looks at her for a moment, before looking up at me. 

"She's already on the maximum dosage of pain medication right now. Most of the pain is in her head, due to damaged receptors." He explains, making me a little uneasy. 

"So what are we supposed to do?" I ask, hearing him sigh. 

"She's able to change it. The more she thinks about the pain, the more the receptors mis-process the information, and the worse it feels. Distraction is probably the best bet here." He says, making me feel a little stranded. How the hell am I supposed to distract her when she's in this much pain. She looks over at me, tears hanging from her eyes, like she's looking toward me for answers... Answer that I simply don't have...