Mom, Lucy and JoAnn made their way to the door, Brody walking behind them. “Thanks for all your help today,” I said as I softly rubbed his arm.

He looked surprised. “I’m not going anywhere, I’m just walking them out.”

“Oh,” my eyebrows shot up, “you’re staying for awhile?”

“Or for the night.” He laughed. “I’m not leaving you here alone.”

I didn’t argue, I was glad he was staying with me.

The next morning, my back was screaming at me and my neck was sore. Sleeping on a hospital couch was never comfortable. Ever. I cracked my eyes open as soon as the sun filled the room and peeked at Piper who looked the same. I sat up and stretched, a white blanket slipping off my lap. I didn’t even have to think hard about who covered me.

I looked over at Brody, sleeping on a chair with his feet propped up on the end of Piper’s bed. His hands were locked and resting on his stomach, while his mouth hung open. I didn’t even remember falling asleep last night; the last thing I remembered was him asking me if I needed anything to drink.

Slipping quietly into the bathroom, I washed my pale face and pulled a new toothbrush out of the package that was sitting on the counter. I knew who put that there also.

“How’s our girl this morning?”

I hurried out of the room and saw Dr. Wagner standing next to Piper’s bed. Brody was sitting up, rubbing his eyes with his palms.

“Good Morning.” I walked up next to them.

“We’re gonna take our all-star patient for another CT scan, and we’ll make our further decisions based on that, okay?”

I nodded, still in a daze as a nurse came in and swiftly unhooked Piper from her machines before wheeling her out the door.

“That was fast.” Brody yawned.

“Yeah, we need good news on this scan.” I hugged myself, suddenly cold from nerves.

He tilted his head and brushed my cheek with the back of his hand. “Think positive, I have a good feeling about this one.”

I closed my eyes and leaned into his hand slightly.

“You wanna take a shower?” I snapped my head up, trying to keep from making physical contact with him.

He sighed. “Yeah, I’ll go quick.”

I paced the room nervously while Brody showered, praying over and over for Piper’s body to have begun healing itself already.

The door opened a little while later, Piper’s bed rolling through it. The nurse smiled as she pushed her into the room and hooked her back up to her machines.

“It’ll be just a few minutes.” She offered on her way out the door.

I already knew that, but didn’t bother responding.

Brody came out of the bathroom, freshly showered but wearing the same clothes.

He looked down at himself and shrugged. “Sorry, it’s all I got.”

I laughed. “Have you seen me? Trust me, I’m not judging you.”

“You look brave,” he said softly. “You look like a woman whose heart has been ripped open and is bleeding out all over the place, but you’re so damn concerned about everyone else, you haven’t even bothered to take care of your own wounds.”

My eyes stung. “My wounds can wait,” I said in a shaky voice.

Dr. Wagner came back in the room. He was a huge man, easily as tall as Brody and quite built. His black hair had gray speckles around the temples and his Polo eyeglasses balanced on the tip of his pointy nose.

“Guess who’s coming off her sleepy meds?”

“Really?” I clapped my hands together as my heart pounded wildly.

“Really, really. Her CT looked good, swelling went down. We’ll probably keep her one more night just to watch her, but we’re going to wean her off her meds in the next hour. Then it’s up to her to pull herself out. Her brain function looks great, no permanent damage.”

Tears rolled down my face as I lunged forward and hugged Dr. Wagner.

“Thank you, thank you so much.”

He laughed. “Thank her, she’s a tough little girl.”

I pulled back and looked at Brody who was wiping his own eyes.

“Okay, Mom and Dad, just hang tight and we’ll get this process started in a few minutes.” Dr. Wagner said.

“Oh, we’re not-”

Brody reached out and grabbed my arm. “Thank you, Doctor,” he interrupted, reaching out to shake the doctor’s hand.

Dr. Wagner narrowed his eyes and studied Brody’s face. “You look really familiar. Have you done any acting?”

Brody smirked and shook his head, giving a quick wave as Dr. Wagner turned and left the room.

He looked at me and wiggled his brows up and down. “Except for when I pretend to be the baby daddy.”

I grinned and shook my head, elated that this horrible ordeal was going to turn out okay.

A jolt of pain shot through my neck as I lifted my head to look at my phone and check the time.

Who the hell is banging on my door at 7:15 in the morning?

I pushed myself off the couch and rubbed my eyes as I slowly walked toward the door.

“Open up, Brody,” Andy bellowed from the other side.

I opened the door and almost fell back as he marched past me.

“Since when do you put your deadbolt on? I don’t have a key for that,” he accused.

“Sorry,” I followed him into the living room and lay down on the couch, “my brain is a little fuzzy.”

He sat back on the leather chair across from me. His face was tight and I could tell he was anxious. “Where have you been? I called you all day Sunday and yesterday. You never returned my calls.”

I’d spent the last two days at the hospital with Kacie and barely even looked at my phone.

“I was up north. I got home late last night, really late.” I yawned.

“Oh. I thought you were just dodging my calls.” His tone relaxed slightly. “Up north? You two seeing each other again?”

“No, I don’t know. It was a crazy weekend.”

He frowned and blinked at me, waiting for me to elaborate.

“I went to the charity event with Shae on Saturday, then went up north Sunday to try and talk to Kacie. We barely started talking and there was an accident with one of her daughters.”

His eyes grew wide. “What happened?”

“Some asshole in the lake was driving his WaveRunner around like a dick and came in too close, ran her over.” My heart raced as I thought about that moment all over again … Piper on the ground with blood under her head, the pure fear splayed across Kacie’s face as she stared at her daughter. Lucy curled up in my arms covering her face from the events unfolding around her. I would give anything to be in a room alone with that guy for ten minutes.

“Holy shit.”

“Holy shit is right, it was intense. Beyond intense.” I rubbed my eyes with my palms, trying to force the images out of my head.

“Is she okay?”

“She has a concussion and she looks pretty beat up, but she will be okay. She woke up yesterday and the first thing she asked for was ice cream.” I chuckled. “She’s going home this morning.”

“You didn’t stay up there to take her home?”

My stomach tightened. “I wanted to, but I didn’t want to push Kacie. I’d already been there for two days and she thanked me over and over for it, but I’m trying to give her space, especially now with this stuff with Piper. As bad as I want to force her to talk to me, Piper needs her more.”