You're Not In This Alone

I get to the hospital and rush into the emergency department, asking for pa and the nurse checks in her computer before her face drops and she says "Come with me sweetheart I'll take you up." I instantly feel terrified by the look she's giving me as she comes around and leads me through a set of doors and to an elevator. "Is he ok?" I ask and she purses her lips slightly before saying "He's in intensive care and I'm sure the doctor there will explain it better than I could." As soon as the elevator doors open again I can hear someone screaming and I immediately know it's dad. I take off running in the direction of the sound, ignoring the nurse and when I round the corner I see dad sinking to the floor in the hallway, his hands fisted in his hair as he sobs uncontrollably. I run over and drop to my knees infront of him, reaching out and grabbing his forearms. "Daddy?" I say and he looks up at me and chokes out "He....hhhe....." Before he can't speak anymore and I stand up and barge into the room we're infront of, seeing pa on the bed with a tube down his throat, his body broken and his face busted up. "Oh god" I whimper out and the doctor turns to look at me. "Who are you? You're not meant to be in here." "I'm.....I'm his daughter" I sob out and before adding "Is he gonna be ok?" "We are currently waiting for the OR to be prepped, your dad has some swelling around his brain that we need to relieve as well as some of his bones that need to be set properly, but when he comes out we need to keep him in a coma for a while so he can heal." I feel all the air leave my lungs and I feel like I'm suffocating when I try to breathe again. I take a few steps forward on shaky legs until I reach his bedside and I lean over, pressing a soft kiss to his busted up face. "I love you daddy, so much and I'm so sorry for everything. Please don't leave me. I love you" I say softly to him, afraid to touch him anywhere because of all the damage to his body. He lays there unresponsive, the tube in his throat breathing for him and I turn and leave the room, crying so hard I can barely see where I'm going. When I get back out into the hallway a nurse has sat dad in a chair and given him a glass of water and as I walk over he sits the cup down and I climb into his lap sideways, laying against his chest as I cry into his neck. "He can't die daddy" I sob out and dad's arms tighten around my waist. "He's not going anywhere, he loves you too much baby." We fall silent after that, dad's tears finally stopped and he holds me close and lets me cry it out Into his neck, his whole shoulder soaked by the time I'm done.

After they take pa for surgery dad takes me to the cafeteria and buys me a coffee and once we sit down I say "What happened?" "We.....he was headed out to work and I was gonna walk him and we were walking along the street and I saw something I wanted to buy you to say sorry so I went into the gift store while he went across the street for coffee and a cab ran a red light and slammed into him. I heard a screech and a crunch and I turned around and he wasn't there and when I ran into the street it was him." He starts crying again and I reach out and grab his hand, squeezing comfortingly until he stops again. We finish our coffee before getting up and making our way back up to the hallway outside pa's room, dad settling in the chair again and me settling in his lap, my head resting against his shoulder as we both await any news at all. I feel my eyes drifting shut and before I know it I fall asleep against dad's chest, his warm strong arms keeping me safe. When I wake up again I'm laid out on a stiff leather couch with my head on someone's lap and when I sit up slightly I feel a hand touch my head, keeping me down as Ryan's soft voice says "Easy baby, just lay for a few minutes." I lay back down, turning onto my back and looking up at him. "Where are we?" "Waiting room, I brought you in here to sleep more comfortably." "Where's my dad?" "He's out talking to a nurse, he should be back any second." "What about...?" I trail off and Ryan starts stroking my hair as he says "He's still in surgery baby. He shouldn't be too much longer, they're just setting his bones now." I nod before slowly sitting up and as I do dad comes back into the room and takes a seat on the other couch. I get up and cross the room to him, sitting in his lap again and curling into his chest, his arms wrapping around me. "What's happening?" I ask and he sighs before saying "They relieved the swelling but he needs to be in a coma for a while before they can wake him up and they'll have to run tests to make sure there's no brain damage." I nod against his neck and his arms tighten on me as he says "He'll pull through, he's tough. He's got you to come back to baby." I nod again, not knowing what to say and my fingers start to trace over the tattoos on his forearm like I used to when I was little. A minute later Ryan comes over to sit on the same couch as us and his warm hand starts gently rubbing my back. "You hungry Rubes?" He asks and I shake my head before he asks dad if he'd like anything. "No, thank you" he responds and I slide myself back, sitting in Ryan's lap instead with my legs resting over dad's. We sit in silence for a few minutes before a nurse comes in and tells us pa is out of surgery and in recovery and we should be able to see him in the next half hour or so.

Notes

So I had a really fucked up dream last night that Frank had cancer and was dying so he started sharing all these pictures of his kids (with their faces visible) on twitter and saying stuff like he's sharing them now cause he feels like he owes the fans since he's leaving them and when I woke up I was so upset by it I had to check online and go through his twitter just to make sure : (

Hope you guys are enjoying the story