Chapter 26

© Copyright 2013 by Elizabeth Delayne



As a team, they moved back when the ambulances came. The sirens came in droves. The police ushered their RV on, out of the way. They drove to their hotel, checked in, and waited on the bus, too anxious to leave each other.

And the cameras still rolled.

They caught the local news. There were two dead, including a child. Twelve others were in serious condition. Many more were taken to the hospitals.

He glanced at his team. They were watching the news, sitting there, stunned. They talked in spurts, then fell into silence. They worried for Jamie, said prayers.

Waited.

All except Thessa. She’d stayed on the bus, refused to leave them, but she didn't—couldn't watch with them. Felicity had helped her to lay down on one of the bunks where she’d given into sleep.

Tyler looked over as Jessica stepped onto the bus. She motioned toward him, stepped back off the bus.

“We can’t find your girlfriend.”

“She’s not—“

Jessica shook her head. “Sorry. I know. She got on one of the ambulances at the scene, from all reports holding someone together for the paramedics.”

“I don’t think she’s in the zone to think about us,” Tyler murmured.

“No—she’s amazing is what she is,” Jessica shook her head. “I looked at some of the footage we got. Even at first. Ty—“

He touched a hand to her arm. “I know.”

It was bad. Even he couldn’t process it. Even he had avoided looking into the cars, concentrating on dealing with crowd control as Jamie had asked.

“We’re worried about her,” Jessica said and swallowed. “We have reports that she was with someone—that she was with the child that died. That she was amazing and was helping out this doctor doing everything they could. They were able to save the sister, but not ...”

“And Jamie was there,” Tyler closed his eyes.

God, he prayed, not able to go further. Not much more. It was ... overwhelming. He could see ... he could see Jamie. Blood on her hands, on her forehead.

Someone else’s blood.

“The thing is, we want you with her. Not for the show, not to be filmed, not because we have this huge hope that someone can finally break into the Tyler heart of gold.”

A sound, not quite a laugh, broke out. That was one phrase he had never heard used before, and he had been around the production of the show a long time.

“Thanks.”

“When we find her. When one of the hospitals finally gives us some clue as to where she is, we’re going to ask you to go. She’s going to need someone. I’m afraid that she’s really going to need someone with her.. You have our word that none of it has to do with the show or with any of this. Right now we're worried about Jamie alone.”

“Okay.”

“See if someone can get some clothes for her together. She probably will want to change.”

He nodded, watched her turn to head back to the other RV.

“Jess—“ he called out, stopping. “You may want to call the grandmother. She’ll know more what Jamie needs than I do.”



Jamie curled up in the pew of the hospital chapel, wrapped her arms around her legs and dropped her head to her knees. She’d called her grandmother, asked her to call the emergency number she’d left behind with her. She had no other way to reach anyone, to know where they were or what was going on.

Now she was alone. There was no one to turn to. No one to hold her hand.

She’d never been this alone. Not after an emergency crisis. There was always the team, a group she went through the emergency with, one she could break down around. If she went back to her team now, there were cameras. The team might understand, but she wasn’t about to share herself like this with the world.

And it was going to come out.

She could still see the little girl. Crying, terrified.

Just keep looking at me. Just keep your eyes on me, she’d said, working steadilly. It’s going to be okay. Just keep your eyes on mine.

And the way the girl had looked. She’d calmed. She’d kept her pretty blue eyes on Jamie until ...

The doctor ... the pediatric doctor had pulled her away.

She’s gone.

Even though her eyes were on her ... she was gone.

Jamie pressed her palms against her eyes. She wouldn’t cry. She couldn’t cry.

But she could still see the little girl looking at her, watching her, as if she was just about to say something.

Even when she wasn’t watching anymore.

There was a reason she hadn’t gone into pediatrics. There was a reason ...

Jamie drew in a breath, forced herself to breath. She couldn’t break down. She had to breath, in and out, force herself get control.

Please God.

She didn’t even know what time it was. She’d gotten into the ambulance out of habit. She hadn’t thought until she sat alone in the waiting room about the fact that she had no way of calling anyone. She’d forgotten about the show, about her friends ... about everything but the little girl.

The girls.

One who was gone, another who held on so perilously close to death. Her sister.

But she could still hear the little girl ask.

Where’s my Madison? Is she alright? She ... my sister. She’s okay ... right?

She and the doctor had done everything they could, and their efforts had shown clearly by the damage done to their clothes. Him in his suit he’d been wearing to church.

Someone had brought her a spare set of scrubs and had taken her to the showers. She stood under the hot spray for far too long, letting the heat fall over her as she tried to deal with it all, as she tried to pray, and couldn't.

Even with the hot shower, she was freezing. Her fingers trembled with cold as she changed into the borrowed scribs, vaguely aware that they were decorated with dancing dogs.

Sometime within the chaos of the families coming in, she’d escaped to the chapel. She couldn’t be there with them, could not bring her grief and trauma to add to theirs. At least now it was quiet.

“Jamie.”

She blinked as Tyler knelt before her. It didn’t surprise her that they had sent him. She hadn’t heard him come in, but she wasn’t surprised. She didn’t want to turn around and see the cameras.

“They said I’d find you here.” When she just stared at him, he lifted a hand and gently touched her face. “It’s just us, Jamie. They didn’t send the crew into the hospital. They’re not going to profit from this.”

“I let them know where I was going,” her tongue felt dry. She needed water.

“I know. You did good,” he reached out, took one of her hands and frowned. “You’re freezing.” She attempted to smile, but it fell flat. She looked down at his hand, at how his hands brought both of hers together and surrounded them with his. They still felt cold, even with his surrounding hers.

“Just a reaction.”

“I like the clothes.” He spoke gently as his hands moved from hers, up and down her arms as if to warm them. “Did you get your knees taken care of?”

She frowned, looked at her knees that were now covered in the dancing dogs on the scrubs. And blood. Even after the shower there was blood on them. She couldn’t remember why there were dancing dogs on her scrubs. She didn’t have scrubs with dancing dogs on them.

“I told her to look at me.”

“Jamie?”

“She never stopped looking at me.”

“Jamie, listen to me,” he reached up and pushed against her hair—still wet from the shower. “I think you’ve gotten a little shocky. We need to get your hair dry, get you warm. We need to get your knees checked out.”

“My knees?”

“You scraped them up, pretty bad,” he reached out, pushed up the leg of the scrubs and winced when his hand passed over her knee. She watched him frown, but she didn’t look.

She couldn’t take seeing another injury now. She couldn’t see the blood. She would see the little girl.

The little girls.

She could no longer push it back, all of it back, out of her system. She could only try to ignore the images that flashed like an old slide show.

Little girls ...

“You need to get this looked at, baby.”

“She died, Tyler.”

He looked up at her, held onto her hand. “I know. Its all over the news.”

“Her name was Madison,” She wrapped her fingers through his, held on to him. “I couldn’t ... we couldn’t ... She died right there looking at me,” she shook her head, but kept her eyes open. “I told her to look at me. I told her ... but it wasn’t okay.”

She couldn’t close her eyes. Not yet.

“I can’t think of it. I can’t talk ... Not yet.”

“Okay,” he slowly pushed himself up, and reached in, sliding an arm around her to give her support. “Lets get you cleaned up so we can go home.”

“We can’t go home,” she murmured.

“No,” he said gently, “but we can get out of here.”

“I can’t go, Tyler,” she repeated. “I need to stay. I need to know if ... if she makes it. The other one. The sister. I need to know.”

“Okay.”

“Can you stay? Will they leave you alone if you stay?”

“I’ll stay. But let's get you taken care of first.”

“I'm so tired,” she murmured as she let him guide her, vaguely aware when he handed her off to an orderly. He was there with her.


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