Paper Parachute | Celebrity Romance

39.

"So, he's sedated right now but you can go ahead in and see him. It's probably best that you can adjust to seeing him before he's awake to see your reactions. I know all the tubes and wires look scary right now but it's still him underneath all of that." The nurse said gently as they approached the door to the room Cash had been assigned. 

Blake reached in the space to his left until he found Blair's hand. Taking it in his, he tightened his grip as they stepped into the room. His lungs deflated as he took in the sight of his brother.

The young man was barely recognizable as his little brother. His face was burned and a large cut ran from just under his left eye to the left side of his chin. His torso was a mess of gauze concealing injuries Blake didn't want to think about. 

"Okay, so, he's got the large laceration and burns on his face. His torso was impaled by a large piece of debris following the crash and he developed an infection which is why there is so much gauze there, we're still working on cleaning that wound out and draining it before we can close it up." The nurse made eye contact with each of the four people in the room looking to confirm that they were absorbing everything before she continued.

"The injury that will have the most lasting impact on his future is this next one. When the plane crashed Cash's leg was crushed. The damage was so extensive and left untreated for so long that by the time he arrived here we were unable to do anything to save the leg."

Andrea released a mangled sob and Blair heard the air rush from Blake's lungs as she squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"So, his leg was amputated?" Blake asks, needing to hear the words for himself. 

"Yes, sir. He no longer has his right leg from the knee down. We will be holding him here until he is stable and no longer at risk of infection. Then we will transfer him to the military hospital in Oceanside."

Everyone nodded, their eyes trained on the area of blankets covering the space where the rest of Cash's leg should be. 

"Can, um, can we see it? While he's passed out, I mean. I want to not be surprised and I don't want him to see my reaction." Blake spoke with wavering confidence. 

The nurse, Amy, nodded and moved to pull the sheet and thin blanket that covered Cash's bottom half down to allow them to see the extent of his injuries. 

Blair looked away, suddenly feeling like she was imposing on a very private moment.

"Okay." Blake said and she looked over to him as the nurse recovered Cash's legs. 

Scotty took over the conversation, a million medically related questions pouring from his mouth. Blake tugged on her hand and Blair allowed him to pull her into the hallway. As soon as the door closed behind them he pulled her against his chest, his face falling against her shoulder as he broke down into sobs.

"Okay. Okay. You're okay." She repeated to him as her hand came up to run through his hair. She walked them slowly towards the sitting area and took a seat, pulling him down beside her and holding him as he fell apart.

"This is everything I ever feared, B."

"He's alive, bubba. I know he's got a long road and he'll have to figure out his new normal, but he's still here." She tried to comfort him but she knew that nothing would help him until he could talk to his brother. 

He sat up rubbing his eyes and brought his lips to hers. He kissed her like he needed her, because he did. He needed her so fucking much. How he had ever made it through his life without her was a complete mystery to him. But then again, before her he hadn't really been living. All along he was searching for her, even if he didn't know it then. If he knew then what he knew now he would do a lot of things differently, but he couldn't change the past. He could control his future though, and he knew that a future without Blair would be a future not worth living through. He had some things to take care of when they got home. For now though, he had to attend to his brother. 

"Let's go back down there, sorry about this." He said,gesturing to his face and the mess he was at the moment.

"Blake, don't apologize. This is some scary shit and it can't be easy for you to see your brother like that. Just promise me you wont blame yourself, I know you feel like it's your responsibility to protect Cash and Scotty but it's not. This is not your fault, okay?"

He couldn't look her in her eyes because he knew she was right. She knew him and knew he was currently beating himself up about this and wishing there was anything he could have done.

"I love you." He told her, needing her to know how much he loved and appreciated her being here for him in this moment. 

"I love you, too, Bub."

They walked back towards the hospital room and entered to find Scotty still asking questions. Andrea was at Cash's bedside, gripping his hand as she stared at him with a somber expression on her face. 

"When can he come off the sedation?"

"I actually already was weaning him off when you guys showed up, it shouldn't be much longer before he wakes up. He'll probably still be tired and he's in a good bit of pain but he should be able to talk for a while before the pain meds knock him out again. I'll give you guys some privacy."

She stepped from the room and everyone's attention turned to the broken man in the hospital bed. Blair hated hospitals. They rarely held good experiences and they always felt so stale. If it weren't for her love for Blake she wouldn't have dared stepped foot into this one. 

Cash began to come around as they all settled into chairs and tried to remove the looks of sadness and concern from their faces.

"Well I'll be damned, the whole team's here." He said through a pained smile. Andrea rose and threw her arms around his neck.

"Alright, alright, Ma. I can't breathe." His mother finally released him with a light laugh as she sat back in the chair closest to his bedside while Blake and Scotty each said hello.

"Hey, Blair. Glad they brought you along to keep this dumb ass from losing his shit." 

Blair couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips as everyone else just smiled and shook their head. 

"Hey, Cash. Glad to see you awake."

"At this point I'm just happy to be alive." Cash said, his gaze dropping to his right leg. 

"Bro, what happened?" Blake asked, unable to control his curiosity any longer. 

Cash sighed and then looked up at them as he began to speak.

"This is what I've worked out between what I remember and the things I've been able to piece together the few times they've let me talk to Eric. We got sent to do a security check. We just needed to clear the airspace and do a welfare check of sorts. Wrong place, wrong time and we were shot down. I kept control of the plane for the most part and got us down on some body of water. Then, I passed out."

He looked up at them and Blake nodded, prodding him to keep going.

"So Eric, he got us out and into the woods nearby before he went unconscious as well. Some locals found us, we're lucky as shit they were friendly and not the enemy. They took us to their house and kept us alive until they got word to American troops of where we were. They saved our lives. The man told our interpreter an American had saved his daughter's life a few years ago and this was his way of repaying that."

"Thank God." His mother said. 

"I'm glad you're gonna be alright, bud." Blake said, reaching to clap his hand against Cash's shoulder.

"Me too."

AN: Thoughts?

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