She reached out and carefully placed her hand on Sara's shoulder, expecting the taller woman to tense up immediately.
"Leave me be," the brunette said sternly.
"Sara, I-"
"Catherine, please," Sara replied, her back still turned to the strawberry blonde. "Just leave me alone."
Sara's walls were crumbling and she didn't want Catherine to see her when she'd lose her controls. Even though she felt that things had definitely changed between the two of them, the brunette wasn't sure she could share all her feelings with Catherine -somehow she felt the need to be on guard.
Catherine was perplexed by Sara's words, though didn't let that stop her. She stepped even closer and embraced the taller woman, pulling the lean frame against her own body. "No, Sara. I won't. You were there for me when I needed you, now let me help you."
Sara tried to get out of Catherine's grasp, but the strawberry blonde only held her tighter. "No, Catherine."
"Sara, please. Don't shut me out…I thought we…I thought there-"
"Well you thought wrong," Sara snapped as she finally managed to break away from Catherine's embrace. "Go back to your daughter. She's the one who needs you, I don't."
"Fine," Catherine replied, anger building up inside of her as she noticed the blank, emotionless look on Sara's face. "If that's what you want." She turned and headed back for Lindsey's room, not looking back at the brunette -not seeing the tears that rolled across Sara's cheeks.
*-*-*-*-*
Lindsey was just asking Sam to go and find out whether there was news on Megan's situation as her mother entered the room again -immediately noticing the angry look on her mother's face.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Lindsey started as she took Catherine's hand. "Where's Sara?"
"She's going to see Megan," the strawberry blonde replied quietly, trying to keep her calm.
"I want to see her too," Lindsey said as she tried to get out of her bed, but was stopped by her mother and Sam.
"You can't go there. You need to stay in bed," Catherine said softly, raking her hand through her daughter's blonde tresses, hoping to calm her down.
"I don't care," the young Willows woman said as she flung her legs out of bed and tried to stand on her wobbly feet.
"Hang on," Sam said as she put her hands on Lindsey's shoulders, stopping the girl. "I'll get you a wheelchair."
"Thank you," the blonde replied, locking eyes with the paramedic. Sam nodded, then disappeared into the hallway.
Lindsey looked over at her mother and noticed that the anger had turned into hurt. "Don't let her stop you. She needs you now, just like you need her."
Catherine's sapphire eyes met Lindsey's green ones. "You know?"
"Come on Mom, I'm not blind…nor stupid," the blonde replied. "She likes you too, you know," she added, still staring at her mother intently.
"And how do you know that?" Catherine asked.
"Megan," Lindsey answered sighing deep.
"You've become fast friends with Sara's niece."
"Mom," the young Willows woman started, "we're more than friends."
Catherine quirked an eyebrow as her daughter's words registered in her mind. Just as she wanted to ask her about it, the door opened and Sam walked in, pushing a wheelchair in front of her.
"Okay," the paramedic said as she stopped next to the bed. She raised the girl from the bed and placed her in the wheelchair, then crouched in front of her. "Listen up. Megan's out of surge-"
"Is she alright?" Lindsey interrupted.
"She's in the ICU. Surgery itself went well, however, she's still in a coma," Sam said, placing a comforting hand on the girl's knee. "You can sit with her for a few minutes."
"Thank you," the blonde replied. She looked over her shoulder, towards her mother, then spoke up again. "You need to find Sara, tell her Megan's out of surgery…"
"You mean the tall brunette?" Sam asked as she stood back up. As she saw Lindsey nod, she continued. "She's already there."
Lindsey focused on her mother again. "You need her too…just like I need Megan. You just have to show her."
Catherine smiled a little as she placed her hand Lindsey's shoulder, giving her a soft squeeze. "You're right. Let's go," she merely said as she looked down at her girl. "Whereto?" the strawberry blonde asked as she locked eyes with the paramedic.
"Follow me," Sam replied.
*-*-*-*-*
The three women arrived at the fifth floor, where the ICU was situated. Rolling out of the elevator, they headed for room 522 -the room where Megan had been placed. Sam opened the door, allowing Lindsey and Catherine to pass, then turned to leave.
"Sam," Lindsey started as she noticed the short-haired blonde was about to walk off. "Don't go."
Both the paramedic as well as Catherine quirked an eyebrow, but neither spoke a word as Catherine pushed the wheelchair further into the room. As the two Willows women stopped beside the bed, Sam had found a spot at the back of the room.
Lindsey gasped when she saw Megan's battered appearance. There were scrapes and bruises covering her face, a line of stitches covering her cheek. Several machines were beeping, IVs were dripping, and a nurse was just finishing redressing the wound on Megan's left side.
She then turned to look at Sara who sat beside the bed, staring blankly at her niece's sleeping form the steady rhythm of her rising and falling chest the only movement the curly-haired brunette made.
Suddenly troubled, dark brown eyes met her tear-filled, green ones. "I'll leave you two alone," Sara said as she vacated her chair, ignoring Catherine, and giving Sam merely a curt nod. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
The blonde turned to look over her shoulder and locked eyes with her mother, wordlessly indicating that she should go after her.
Catherine gave her daughter's shoulder a squeeze, then headed after the tall brunette.
Turning back to Megan, Lindsey carefully reached for the girl's hand, taking it in hers and bending down to place a soft kiss on the palm of her hand. On the way over, Sam had already explained that though Megan was still in a coma, she could hear everything around her and that Lindsey should talk to her to try to get her to wake up. "Hey," she said, smiling through tears, "it's me."
She waited for Megan to reply, but to no avail.
Chapter 12
The strawberry blonde walked over and sat down next to Sara. Sara's demeanor changed to hostile again, and as she was about to speak up Catherine interrupted, "No matter what you say or do, I won't go."
She reached for Sara's hand and pulled it into her lap entwining their fingers. At first Sara didn't respond at all, just stared at their hands, then all of a sudden it seemed as though the dams broke and she started to cry, tears running down her cheeks uncontrollably.
Catherine pulled her close, putting her arm around the brunette's shoulder. Sara held on tightly to the older woman. "Catherine...I…I…" she stuttered in between sobs.
"Hush, it's okay…Let it all out," the strawberry blonde said before placing a soft kiss on Sara's forehead. "I got you."
"I'm sorry," Sara said after a few minutes, still sobbing and holding on tightly to Catherine.
"It's okay," the older woman started, "but next time, please don't push me away." She let her hand pass through Sara's hair. "I thought we…" she said, but as she felt the brunette tense she quickly added, "Never mind."
Sara pulled back and looked into Catherine's sapphire eyes. "No," she started, shaking her head once before continuing. "I do mind. You are right." She smiled a little through her tears as the older woman's eyebrows raised in surprise.
As one drop found its path down the brunette's cheek, Catherine reached up and wiped away the remnants with her thumb. Unconsciously, she was leaning closer to Sara. Her breath already caressed the brunette's lips and seconds before their lips would meet they were interrupted by someone clearing their throat.
They sat back up quickly, careful to avoid one another's eyes. Sam was standing in front of them, a bemused little smirk on her lips. "Someone asked for you," the paramedic stated.
Both Sara and Catherine looked at the short-haired blonde questioningly.
"Megan?" Sara inquired as she quickly vacated her chair.
Sam nodded, "She just woke up."
"Wow…that's wonderful," Sara said as she took a step towards Megan's room then stopped and turned back to Catherine, holding out her hand for the strawberry blonde to take. Wordlessly, Catherine took hold of the brunette's hand, linking their fingers. Hand in hand they followed the paramedic back to Megan's room.
*-*-*-*-*
Lindsey was holding on to Megan's hand, their fingers entwined. Tears of happiness were rolling across her cheeks. As she had been talking to the brunette, she'd suddenly thought she'd felt a soft squeeze in her hand and as she looked closer she saw she'd been right because Megan squeezed her hand again.
The blonde had immediately warned Sam, who did a quick check to see whether Megan was really waking up. The paramedic had set off to inform the doctor, then on her way back stopped to get Sara and Catherine.
"Megan, I'm here. It's me Lindsey," she said as she got out of her chair and leaned over to her girlfriend.
The younger Willows woman caressed Megan's face, placing a brown lock behind Megan's ear. Megan opened her eyes and Lindsey greeted her with a softly whispered 'Hey'. Suddenly Megan became restless, and started to trash violently, one hand grasping for the tube that was put in her throat to help her breath, the other reaching for her eyes.
"Megan, calm down," Lindsey started, very concerned at the violent behavior of the brunette.
At that moment the doctor came walking in, Sara, Catherine and Sam in tow.
Sara spotted Megan was trying to pull out the tube and clawing at her eyes. "What's wrong with her?"
Catherine noticed how upset Lindsey was, staring at Megan in shock, and so, quickly walked over, gathering her daughter in her arms as the doctor started to examine the other girl.
"The tube is irritating her, I'll remove it now I know she's awake. She's able to breathe on her own again," the doctor said as he started to work on the curly-haired brunette.
"Why is she…" Lindsey started, but couldn't finish as she was interrupted by Megan's croaking voice.
"Lin…Lindsey?" the brunette asked.
"I'm here," Lindsey replied as she stepped back to the bed, and took Megan's hand.
The brunette turned her head to Lindsey, but it seemed as though she wasn't exactly looking at her. Then she spoke up again, "Sara, are you there?"
Lindsey looked at Megan questioningly. Something was wrong…Suddenly it dawned upon her. "Megan," she started carefully, "Can you s-"
"No, I can't" the brunette interrupted harshly, her voice back to normal again.
Continued…
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