Tate looked away from Audrey and said, “What?”
“For you to go home and at least take a shower. I can still see her blood on you and it hurts me every time. Go get some clean clothes, clean up, take a nap, eat something. She’ll need you to be strong when she wakes up. Please, Tate.”
Tate looked back down at Audrey and didn’t say anything as a tear rolled down his cheek and onto the floor. It broke Fallon’s heart to see him like this. For a moment she thought he was going to ignore her, but he nodded before looking down at her. “Okay. You’ll stay with her?”
“Yeah, if I’m not here, Mom will be,” Fallon answered. Tate nodded again, and she felt his hand start to shake against her shoulder. “I’ll call you as soon as I hear something.”
“They should be coming in soon for rounds,” he informed her.
She nodded. “I know, and I’ll call you if they come before you get back.”
“I’ll be back quick. Okay?”
“Take your time, Tate. She’ll be here when you get back,” Fallon promised, even though it wasn’t something she could promise. And with one look at Tate, she knew that he also knew that. But he nodded, leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Audrey’s forehead. He cupped her face then and kissed her temple softly before turning and squeezing Fallon’s shoulder again.
“I’ll be back soon.”
“We’ll be here,” she said as she watched him leave. He paused twice, and she didn’t think he was going, but finally he disappeared down the hall, leaving her with her baby sister. She felt proud of herself for getting Tate to leave. He needed to go home, breathe, and clean up. As much as they both wanted to stay close to Audrey, they needed to take care of themselves too. As soon as he got back, she would clean up and check on Aiden. She had to; Audrey would kill her if she didn’t.
With a sad smile on her face, she leaned against her sister’s hands and cried until she fell asleep.
It seemed as soon as she fell asleep, Lucas was there, shaking her to wake up.
“Baby, Elli, Shea, and Piper are here.”
“Oh,” Fallon said, sitting up and looking behind her to see Nora in the doorway.
“I don’t want people seeing her like this,” Nora said. “So just go out there with them.”
“That’s fine, Mama, I agree,” Fallon said as she got up, then left the room with Lucas. He wrapped his arm around her waist, bringing her in close to kiss her temple.
“How’s my beautiful wife?” he whispered.
“She’s better now that she’s with her husband.”
Lucas gave her an encouraging grin before they reached the waiting room and Elli all but attacked her. Fallon hugged her friend tightly with her eyes closed. When they parted, Elli had tears in her eyes as she asked, “How’s she doing?”
Fallon shook her head. “Still not good. The swelling hasn’t gone down, but the good thing is it hasn’t gotten any worse either. They changed her meds and are hoping for improvement in the swelling when they take the next MRI.”
“Oh goodness, I am praying like crazy, Fallon, I am. This is insane. That son of a bitch,” Elli said, anger in her eyes as she looked up at Shea and then back down to Fallon. “This isn’t right.”
“We’re so sorry about this all, Fallon,” Shea said, his hands full of things while Elli still wouldn’t let Fallon go. “We brought flowers and breakfast for you and your family.”
“Thanks so much Shea, Elli. Y’all are the best,” she gushed, and then saw Piper. “Piper, thank you for coming.”
Piper nodded, looking small as she asked, “How are you? How’s Tate?”
“I’m making it,” she said as Lucas’s hand rested against the small of her back. “And Tate is trying. He is having a really hard time.”
“I bet,” Elli said sadly. “After everything he went through, it isn’t fair he has to go through this. I’m so sorry, Fallon.”