Emma was finally able to get into her suite. She closed the door and sighed to herself. She went into the bathroom to splash water on her face. Emma looked in the mirror at her reflection.
“What the hell are you doing? Are you nuts? You’re going to get your heart broken again.” She said to herself. “You are not falling for Joshua Scott Chasez. You are not falling for him.” Emma sighed knowing it was useless becasue she had already fallen for him. She looked at her watch; Tommy’s race should be over soon. No mishaps as of yet, she really did worry too much. She began walking out of the bathroom when a feeling of dread came over her. Then her phone rang and it shocked her enough to make her lose her balance. She fell hitting the side of her face on the counter on the way down.
“Ow, shit!” She said bringing a hand to her face; it throbbed painfully. Picking herself up she ran for her phone,
“Hello?!” She answered slightly out of breath,
“Emma, it’s Mama Oliver.” She was crying and didn’t need to say anything else because Emma knew.
“I’m coming now.” Emma said hanging up the phone.
There was a knock at her door.
“Miss Emma? Are you in?” It was Michael. Emma answered the door quickly,
“Michael just the man I wanted to see. I need to leave now.” She said frantically.
“Miss DeCour, what happened? Your face…”
“Michael, it’s okay, don’t worry, I’ll be just fine.” The pain was beginning to lessen, gradually.
“Miss DeCour, I really must insist, a doctor you’re cut pretty badly.”
“Huh?” She felt her head and felt the trickle of blood that was dripping down her face. She grabbed a towel and held it to her head. She sat down on the couch.
“I don’t have time for that Michael and I don’t expect you to understand, but I need a favor. I need to leave now, immediately. I want you to have someone pack up my things and get my car, quietly, but quickly, all right? And please don’t ask any questions.” Michael nodded his head and called someone and suddenly a bunch of bellhops swarmed her suite, packing up her things. Within five minutes they were done and carrying her things down to her truck. Emma slowly got off the couch, Michael ran to help her.
“Are you sure about this, Emma?” She nodded her head and waved him away.
“Positive.”
Michael escorted her down to her truck; it was out in the back of the hotel. She hugged Michael good-bye,
“Thank you for everything.” She said and Michael solemnly nodded his head.
“It was a pleasure, Emma.” He said as he helped Emma into her truck. She started it up and lowered the window. She waved to Michael and drove away.
Luckily it wasn’t that far to Lyre Cove, only four hours. The pain seemed to disappear the closer she got to home. Finally she passed the Lyre Cove entrance sign and she drove right to the hospital and ran out of her truck and didn’t stop until she got to Tommy’s parents. She ran right into the arms of the Oliver’s.
“Oh honey, how are you doing?” Mama Oliver asked hugging Emma.
“Where is he?” Emma asked.
“He’s in surgery right now. We don’t know when he’ll be out.” She looked at Emma and noticed her face.
“Emma what happened to your face sweetie?” Mama Oliver asked. Emma pulled out a compact and looked at her face, it was all bruised and swollen.
“Oh, I fell right before you called me.” she explained,
“Honey, you should get that looked at then, it looks serious.” Mama Oliver said moving Emma's head from side to side to examine ger face. Papa Oliver agreed,
“No need to have two of our kids hurt.” Emma smiled and pulled Mama Oliver's hand away from her face.
“No that’s okay, I’m fine. They’ll go away in a couple of days. I want to be here when Tommy comes out, he needs me here right now. What happened?”
“It was horrible." Mama Oliver began to explain, "Tommy was doing fine, it was clear he was going to win when a car lost control and barreled into him.” Mama Oliver said and Emma winced.
“God, I can’t believe it. I told him." Emma said shaking her head, "Is Stuart here yet?” Asked wondering about her foster brother. Though Tommy and Stuart hadn't grown up together like Emma and Stuart had, Stuart considered Tommy his brother and would be here as soon as he could.
“No.” Papa Oliver said. “But he’s flying in as of right now, he should be here any minute. But the gang is here.” Emma followed his finger to see the small huddled mass of people shortly down the hall. Emma went to see them. Everyone was there; Adam came up and gave her a hug.
“Hey Emma.”
“Hi, Adam.” Brock came up, as did Billy. Adam was a soccer player with short curly black hair. Brock was a bulky football player, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Billy was the intellectual of the group; he graduated early from high school and was going to medical school. Tommy’ girlfriend, Kim, was a mess. She gave Emma a hug. No words need to be said, she knew Kim was feeling the same way Emma was. Kitty and Tasha were there too. They were the closest girl friends Emma had ever had. There was a big hug between the four of them.
“The fab four back together again.” Kitty said and they all sadly laughed. A familiar voice broke up the quartet.
“Hey, guys, I’m back with the drinks.” The voice dropped off at the sight of Emma. Emma straightened up.
“Emma, hi.” Jason said.
“Hello.” She said coldly. There was an awkward silence in the group. Brock broke it.
“Hey Jay pass the drinks.”
“Huh, what? Oh yeah, here.” Jay dropped out of his thoughts and passed out the drinks.
“Here’s a coffee, two creams, a coke, a water…” He passed out everyone’s drink. His eyes always skipping back to Emma. She was confused on top of Tommy’s accident, it was just something she wasn’t prepared to deal with. Brock noticed Emma’s face.
“Emma, what happened to your face? It’s all beat up.” A concerned look leaped on everyone’s face especially Jason’s. She looked down,
“It’s nothing, I was clumsy walking around and fell. No biggie.” She caught Jason’s eye, she knew that he didn’t believe her. Jason knew Emma had almost perfect balance and better night vision than the average cat. But he kept his mouth shut. The rest of the group accepted her answer. Suddenly a small mousy girl ran in and right to Jason.
“Hi, honey, I came as soon as I heard. How are you doing? How bad is Tommy?” She looked at the gang.
“Hi, guys.” They all mumbled ‘hi’ back. Emma could see that they didn’t really like the girl. She was very plain and petite. Her straight brunette hair was cut to shoulder length in a bob. She was wearing a jean skirt and white tennis shoes and a white tank top.
“Yeah, I’m fine, but Tommy’s pretty bad.”
“Oh honey, I’m sorry.” She hugged him and he half heartily hugged her back. Jason pulled away from Chrissy and looked at Emma,
“Chrissy, I want you to meet Emma, Tommy’s twin sister, Emma this is my girlfriend Chrissy.” Emma put on a fake smile and held out a hand for Chrissy and she shook it. Chrissy looked a bit scared, like she thought Emma was going to beat her up for dating Jason.
“It’s nice to meet you, Chrissy.”
“Nice to meet you, Emma.” Another awkward silence filled the group. A Doctor came down the hall and began talking to the Oliver’s. They stopped the doctor and turned toward the group.
“Emma? Come here for a minute please.” Emma went over to the Oliver’s. They surrounded her and then faced the doctor.
“Doctor Jones, this is Tommy’s twin sister. Can we have the news now?”
“Well I have good news and bad news which would you like first.” He asked. The doctor looked quite young, he was very handsome too. He looked like Dr. Carter from that TV show, ER. Papa Oliver answered the young doctor.
“I think we would all like the good news first please.” The Doctor nodded,
“Tommy has a broken leg and several fractures in his left arm. Luckily the helmet saved his life and everything else is fine. He had some internal bleeding but that was taken care of in surgery. He was in surprisingly good condition considering the accident.” Mama Oliver squeezed Emma’s shoulder.
“Okay what’s the bad news?” Papa Oliver asked.
“Well, there were a few complications during surgery and Tommy slipped into a coma. We don’t know how long he’ll be in the coma, we just have to wait.”
“Can we go and see him?”
“Yes, one at a time and only immediate family right now.” The three looked at each other. Emma spoke first,
“You go ahead Mama and Papa Oliver. I can go in a bit, plus I want to wait for Stuart.” They agreed and one by one the Oliver’s went in to see him. Emma told the gang what was up. Kim and Jason were upset that they couldn’t go and see him.
Emma went in to see Tommy. It was hard to see him lying there hooked up to all of the tubes. Emma sat down on the bed and held his hand. A nurse told her to sit on the chair next to the bed. Emma gave the nurse a hard cold look and didn’t move. The nurse huffed and walked out of the room leaving them alone.
“Tommy? I know you can hear me. You need to wake up soon, okay? Not for Mama Oliver or for Papa Oliver or for Kim or for the gang. You need to wake up for me, I need you Tommy. Awake and talking, okay? I refuse to have a vegetable for a brother. So you fight the coma.” She paused a minute, “Wake up, Tommy.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “If you’re punishing me for going away, it’s not funny. I’ll stay if you wake up, I promise.” She raised his hand to her lips and then held it against her cheek. “Tommy, I’m scared. I can’t do this alone, especially right now with Jason. You didn’t tell me that he had a new girlfriend. That was pretty quick, but she’s ugly and plain, and she has an annoying voice.” She laughed to herself. “I was being wined and dined by the world’s hottest pop group and he’s dating mouse girl.” She burst out laughing so loud that everyone outside heard and a nurse came in to check.
“Is everything okay?” The nurse asked, Emma wiped tears from her eyes and said,
“Yeah, he just made me think of something really funny.” The nurse gave her a weird look and left. “Thanks for reminding me Tommy.” She smiled sadly and sighed, “Okay, seriously now Tommy, like I said, you need to wake up. Soon, right now if possible.” She waited for a response there was none. “Please, pretty please, with a cherry on top?” There was still no response from Tommy. “Damn it Tommy you are so stubborn!!” More tears began to fall. “There are so many people who are out there that love you. Please wake up Tommy.” She sat there with Tommy, silently sobbing. A nurse came in,
“Miss, your time is up, you need to leave now.”
“I’m not leaving yet. I need some more time please.”
“I’m sorry about this but I have to follow orders.”
“Screw your orders, I want to stay with my brother for a few more minutes if you don’t mind!!” The flustered nurse was speechless and stunned. She left muttering under her breath about rude people. Emma turned back to Tommy.
“See what I have to do to get some privacy?” She rubbed his hand it was just like her father’s hand. “Tommy, I know you never met our parents, but you know what? They would be so proud of you. I’m proud of you and I’m so happy I found you and have you in my life. Please wake up soon.” Monitors began beeping wildly. Doctors and nurses ran in and told Emma to leave. When she refused the doctor pried her away from Tommy and escorted her out. Once outside everyone rushed to her and bombarded her with questions.
“I don’t know.” Was all that she could get our in between sobs. A familiar face appeared in her vision.
“Stuart!” Emma cried and was enveloped in her foster brother's embrace. Never had she been so glad that he was there. Stuart shooed everyone away from Emma and took her down a quiet hall where no one was around. She splashed water on her face and got a drink and tried to calm down. Emma crawled up into a chair next to Stuart; he put his strong arms around her. He stroked her head,
“What happened sweetie?” He said in his smooth french accent.
“I don’t know, I was there and then it all started beeping and they wouldn’t let me stay and…” Emma started sobbing uncontrollably. She cried about Tommy and Jason letting it all out. Stuart gritted his teeth at Jason’s name. He had never liked him and he never thought he was good enough for Emma. But as long as Emma was happy he didn’t say anything. Then he cheated on her, she was so crushed from it. Now he was making her hurt again. Stuart never hated anyone before but he knew that her hated Jason. Emma’s sobbing had died and he looked at Emma she was so tired, she looked like she had aged thirty years in one night.
“Honey, do you want to go home?”
“No, I have to stay with Tommy.”
“Emma you’re not going to do him any good if you in this state. Even if he does wake up, he’s going to see you and see that you’re upset and that’ll upset him and make things worse.” That convinced Emma and Stuart brought her out to her truck.
“I’m gonna tell the Oliver’s that I’m taking you home. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Emma nodded in agreement. Stuart ran into the hospital and told the Oliver’s what was up and they agreed that it was the best thing for Emma to go home. Stuart looked down the hall and saw Jason leaning against the wall with Chrissy hugging him. Stuart glared at him and Jason glared back. Jason didn’t like Stuart at all; he thought that he tried to control Emma too much.
Stuart got Emma home and tucked her into bed she fell fast asleep.