The Nature of Things

Chapter 49

************************************************************************

The red flashing lights reflected on the liquid running across the road, casting an eerie hue on everything. Rescue workers were frantically trying to cut the small little girl out of her car seat as her mother lay dying in the front seat.

She'd begged them to get her daughter out before her and listened anxiously to hear her cry. The silence was more than she could handle and no one would tell her anything.

The smell of gas was overwhelming and Melanie blinked back tears as she thought of Gus and Lindsay. Finally a firefighter told her that JR was out and on her way to the hospital. She silently thanked God and closed her eyes.

The explosion caught everyone by surprise and people rushed to put out the fire. All rescue personnel on the scene knew in their hearts that the little girl's mother was not alive, but they continued to try to save her.

************************************************************************

The ambulance rushed Michael to the hospital as Brian and Carl heard about the accident. They were waiting on Melanie to arrive so they could take the statement and were shocked to hear the description over the radio of the victim.

"No fucking way."

"It can't be," Carl added, grabbing Brian and racing for the car. It took them several minutes to get through the barricades and Brian saw Jenny Rebecca's stuffed bunny lying on the ground and knew it was true.

"Holy fucking shit."

"Did they get the little girl out?" Carl screamed at people to no avail. He was frantic and it took several minutes before he recognized Ben's car.

Brian recognized it at the same time and grabbed a rescue worker by the collar. "Who was driving the other car?"

"Sir, I don't know."

"What the fuck did he look like?"

"He was pretty beat up, sir. I'm not sure."

"Was he alive?"

"I'm sorry sir, I was working on getting the child out."

Brian loosened his grip and raked a hand through his hair. Turning to Carl he slowly spoke.

"We have to tell Lindsay."

"Let's go."

************************************************************************

Debbie and Jennifer were just on their way back from getting McDonald's for dinner when they saw the squads pull up at the Emergency entrance to the hospital. They just happened to be walking by when the doors opened and Jennifer thought she recognized the little girl on the stretcher.

"Deb, isn't that," she hesitated not finishing her sentence when she saw the extent of the little girl's injuries.

"Isn't that what?" Debbie pushed past and spotted her granddaughter's small, still body. She rushed over and frantically identified herself as the grandmother, trying to get any information from the workers. "Where's her mother?"

"Ma'am, they were trying to extract her from the car as we left. There has been no word on her condition. We have to hurry and get this little one inside."

"Of course. What happened?"

"The car carrying the mother and child was hit head on at full speed from the looks of it."

They rushed past and sped Jenny Rebecca to the back, while Debbie paced the lobby. A few moments later another squad approached carrying a badly injured Michael.

************************************************************************

Brian was unusually quiet on the ride to Lindsay's. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to tell his best friend that her partner had died in an explosion and their daughter was fighting for her life. He knew it would destroy Lindsay and he had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to help her pick up the pieces and find the will to survive.

For as long as any of them could remember it had always been Mel and Lindz. They were just always supposed to be together. Even with the separation, they still loved one another and found a way to work through it.

The last year had been hard on them with Melanie making partner and working crazy hours again. Lindsay's job at the gallery was requiring a lot more of her time and energy as well. Gus had started school and Debbie babysat for JR as much as possible. The girls had worked out a system that made sure that one or both of them was home for dinner, bath and tucking in at night.

Their family was stronger than ever and Brian stood poised to destroy any fantasies Lindsay ever had of happily ever after.

************************************************************************

Maya's condition was rapidly deteriorating and Justin couldn't find Brian. The doctor's had hoped that with the right combinations of medications they could keep Maya stable until a donor heart became available. Now it looked like that hope had run out.

Maya had suffered heart failure and had to be placed back on the machines that kept her body alive. If they did not find a donor soon, she would die.

************************************************************************

Jenny Rebecca was still unresponsive and the doctors held little hope of the little girl ever waking up. She'd suffered major head trauma during the accident. The CAT scans showed severe swelling of the brain and other tests showed very little brain activity.

The first question asked was where her parents were and if anyone was here with her. Once they found out that the grandmother was in the waiting room, they hurried to get her to sign to allow them to put JR on life support.

"Mrs. Marcus?"

"Novotny. I'm JR's paternal grandmother. How is my baby girl?"

"We need some signatures from you. This is a dire situation, Mrs. Novotny; we don't have time to track down the father or mother. Your granddaughter has a severe brain injury and we need your permission to put her on life support."

"Jenny Rebecca. Her name is Jenny Rebecca."

"Mrs. Novotny, Jenny needs help breathing. If we don't do this now, there is no hope for survival." He pressed the pen into Debbie's hand and waited for her to sign.

"Shouldn't we notify her other mother?" Jennifer tried to help Debbie find a way to process the severity of the situation but she also thought the decision should be left up to the child's parents.

"There isn't time. I need a decision now."

Debbie signed the papers and prayed that she was doing the right thing.

************************************************************************

Lindsay was just cleaning up Gus's breakfast when Brian let himself in the house.

"Lindz?"

"Bri, what are you doing here?"

"Where's Gus?"

"He left for school ten minutes ago. Marie's driving them today. Why?"

"Sit down, Lindsay."

"Brian, you're frightening me. What's wrong? Did something happen with Maya?"

"No. It's Melanie and JR."

"What about them? I thought you were meeting Mel at the station." It was then that Lindsay noticed Carl standing just inside the front door. "What happened? Are they all right?"

"JR's been taken to the hospital. There was an accident."

"Mel?"

Brian shook his head and tried to find the words to comfort his friend.

"Brian? Where's Melanie?"

"I'm sorry, Lindz."

He reached out and caught her as she collapsed in a wall of tears. Sobs shook her body as he held onto her with everything he had. Her anguished cries would haunt him for years to come and for once in his life Brian Kinney felt an affection for Melanie that he'd never known existed.

Return to The Nature of Things