Empty Net

by Toni Aleo

  Now all they had to do was worry about its momma.

  Fallon glanced at the clock and saw that visiting hours were coming back up. She knew that Elli and Shea would be coming to the hospital soon, as would Piper. She had talked to them earlier that morning and they said they would be there as soon as visiting hours started. She would be glad to see their happy faces, but what she wanted more was to see her sister’s happy face. Fallon moved in closer, leaning against the door, but when she did, she kicked the metal trashcan, waking Tate. He sat up quickly, reaching for Audrey as he looked around the room. When his eyes met Fallon’s she sent him an apologetic smile.

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay, come in, sit down,” he said standing up as he rubbed his eyes. She came in and sat in the chair he had occupied all night and took Audrey’s hand in hers. She looked up at her sister’s beaten face and wished Levi Moss to the fiery depths of hell. The swelling along Audrey’s right eye had gone down, but along her nose and left eye, it hadn’t. When Tate’s hand rested on Fallon’s shoulder, she smiled up at him.

  “I’ll stay with her if you wanna go take a nap,” Fallon said softly but like she knew he would, he shook his head.

  “No, I don’t want to leave her.”

  “Tate, you need to sleep for more than five minutes.”

  “I’m not leaving her, Fallon.”

  Fallon eyed him for a second before saying, “You know this isn’t your fault.”

  Tate looked away, taking in a deep breath, “It isn’t yours either.”

  How did he know she had stayed up and blamed herself all night? She should have kept Audrey at her house until the guys came home, or when she found out about Levi’s crazy ass, gone and gotten Audrey. Then she would have found Levi there and she would have called the cops immediately. But she didn’t, she just called and called, not knowing that her suspicions were true. It killed her inside to know that she could have put a stop to everything, but she stayed home, not doing anything.

  “It’s hard to believe with all the shoulda, coulda, wouldas, swarming in my head,” she said softly. His hand squeezed her shoulder as he nodded.

  “I know. They are working overtime in mine.” Fallon nodded as she stroked Audrey’s hand softly. The room was silent except for the noise coming from the ventilator and Audrey’s heart monitor that informed them her heart was beating strong and steady. Everyone was quiet and Fallon actually was calm when Tate said, “Do you feel that she’ll pull through?”

  Fallon nodded quickly, “Yes.”

  “How do you know? How are you not scared?”

  “Because Lucas said she would,” she said glancing up at Tate, “if I didn’t have him, I would be a mess and I gotta believe in something. I like knowing that she is going to pull through and we are going to raise our babies together.”

  Tate’s brows came together as he held Fallon’s gaze, “You are pregnant too?”

  Fallon smiled as she nodded, “Yup, and on the kids’ first birthday we’re all gonna have a bash. I just know it. I just know that my sissy isn’t going anywhere but back to me and we are going to be happy raising our children together,” she said, her eyes filling with tears before they spilled over and ran down her cheeks, “We are going to trade off so that y’all will have time to yourselves and then Lucas and I will have time for us. We will have birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgivings, and go to games together as a family. God won’t take her from me, not now. He knows I need her. He’s gonna bless us with our Happily Ever Afters, I just know it.”

  When she looked up at Tate through flooded eyes, she saw that his eyes were pooling with tears too, “I hope that you are right, Fallon, because I need her too, and want all of that. I don’t want to be alone.”

  “No matter what you won’t be, Tate, we love you, and always will.”

  “Thank you, Fallon that means a lot to me.”

  “You mean the world to us, and you know what would make me even a little happier?”

  Tate looked away from Audrey and said, “What?”

  “For you to go home and at least take a shower, Tate. I can still see her blood on you and it hurts me every time. Go get some clean clothes, clean up, take a nap, eat something. Please. She’ll need you be strong when she wakes up, please, Tate.”

  Tate looked back down at Audrey, and didn’t say anything as a tear rolled down his cheek and onto the floor. It broke Fallon’s heart to see him like this and for a minute she thought he was going to ignore her, but he nodded before looking down at her, “Okay. You’ll stay with her?”

  “Yeah, if I’m not here, mom will be,” Fallon answered. Tate nodded again and she felt his hand start to shake against her shoulder. “I’ll call you as soon as I hear something.”

  “They should be coming in soon for rounds,” he informed her.

  She nodded, “I know, and I’ll call you if they come before you get back.”

  “I’ll be back quick. Okay?”

  “Take your time, Tate, she’ll be here when you get back,” Fallon promised even though it wasn’t something she could promise. And with one look at Tate, she knew he knew that too, but he nodded, and leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on Audrey’s forehead. He cupped her face and kissed her temple softly before turning and squeezing Fallon’s shoulder again.

  “I’ll be back soon.”

  “We’ll be here,” she said as she watched him leave. He paused twice and she didn’t think he was going to go, but finally he disappeared down the hall, leaving Fallon with her baby sister. Fallon felt proud of herself for getting Tate to leave. He needed to go home, breathe, and clean up. As much as they both wanted to stay close to Audrey, they needed to take care of themselves too. As soon as he got back, she would go and clean up, check on Aiden. She had to; Audrey would kill her if she didn’t.

  With a sad smile on her face, she leaned against her sister’s hands, and cried until she fell asleep.

  It seemed as soon as she fell asleep, Lucas was there, shaking her to wake up.

  “Baby, Elli, Shea, and Piper are here.”

  “Oh,” Fallon said sitting up and looking behind her to see Nora in the doorway.

  “I don’t want people seeing her like this,” Nora said, “So just go out there with them.”

  “That’s fine momma, I agree,” Fallon said as she got up and made her way out of the room with Lucas. He wrapped his arm around her waist, bringing her in close to kiss her temple.

  “How’s my beautiful wife?” he whispered against her temple.

  “She’s better now that she’s with her hunky husband.”

  Lucas gave her a smoldering grin before they reached the waiting room and Elli attacked her. Fallon hugged her friend tightly with her eyes closed. When they parted Elli had tears in her eyes as she said, “How’s she doing?”

  Fallon shook her head, “Still not good, the swelling still hasn’t gone down but the good thing is it hasn’t gone up either. They changed her meds at, I think, 3am, so they are hoping for a change by the next MRI.”

  “Oh goodness, I am praying like crazy Fallon, I am. This is insane. That son of a bitch,” Elli said anger filling her eyes as she looked up at Shea and then back down to Fallon, “This isn’t right.”

  “We’re so sorry about this all, Fallon. We brought flowers and breakfast for you and your family,” Shea said, his hands full of things while Elli still wouldn’t let Fallon go.

  “Thanks so much Shea, Elli, y’all are the best,” she gushed and then she saw Piper, “Piper, thank you, for coming.”

  Piper nodded, looking small as she asked, “How are you? How’s Tate?”

  “I’m making it,” she said as Lucas’ hand rested against the small of her back, “And Tate is trying. He is having a really hard time.”

  “I bet,” Elli said sadly, “after everything he went through, it isn’t fair he has to go through this. I’m so sorry, Fallon.”

  Fallon nodded as Piper said, “Have y’all gotten anymore news?”

 
Fallon shook her head, “The only thing they have been able to tell us is that the baby is okay, but nothing about the swelling.”

  “Baby?” Piper asked.

  “She’s pregnant?” Elli asked, shocked.

  “Yeah, six weeks,” Fallon said, “she just found out yesterday.”

  “Oh my God, poor Tate, your family must be a mess, how is Aiden?” Elli asked. Out of the corner of her eyes, she watched as Piper braced herself against her knees, looking shocked and sick at the same time.

  What was that about?

  “He doesn’t know,” Fallon said slowly, “Are you okay Piper?”

  Piper looked up and nodded, “Yeah, excuse me.”

  They all watched as she made her way to the bathroom before turning back to each other as Elli asked, “Who has Aiden, do you need me to go get him?”

  “Elli, you have two little ones and two in your belly and you want to take mine? No way, thank you so much, but my baby sitter is fine with him for the week, after that I might have to call you,” Fallon said with a warm loving smile.

  Elli smiled, taking Fallon’s hand in hers, “I’m a phone call away, we’ll leave everything out here for y’all and tell Tate he’s fine, game wise, I’ll take care of everything.”

  “Thank you so much, Elli-”

  “Fallon!”

  Fallon and Lucas turned quickly to see William standing outside Audrey’s room. “The doctor is here.”

  Fallon didn’t even say bye to Elli, she ran towards the room, hoping for some answers. Not only for her sake and her family’s, but for Tate’s too.

  ***

  Tate didn’t know why, but he found himself standing in the doorway of Audrey’s condo.

  William had hired people to clean up the mess from everything that happened and it seemed they had done a nice job. Nothing looked out of place, and no one would be able to tell that Audrey’s lifeless body had laid bloody and beaten right below his feet. Walking past the spot that would haunt him for the rest of his life, he went to the island to see the bags from the grocery store she had gone to the day before. Beside them was her phone. He picked it up, and plugged it in to charge it so that when she woke up, she could have her phone. She would need it. She always did. With a smile, he went through the motions as if Audrey was upstairs changing instead of in the hospital, fighting for her life. He put away the things that hadn’t spoiled and then went around picking up the things that Audrey hadn’t gotten to.

  Making his way upstairs, he went to her closet and was enveloped in her smell. He had missed the way she smelled of sugar. With her being in the hospital, it was nice to be around her things that smelled as familiar as she used to before the staff cleaned her up. Moving through the closet, he packed a bag of clothes and heels. She would need them when she came home. He felt like a girl, matching her clothes for her, but she would flip if she wasn’t matching. Going to her bathroom, he gathered all her toiletries and anything else she might need. After having everything packed, he moved back into the bathroom and removed his clothes. Turning the water on hot, he stepped into the shower, leaning his head against the shower wall as the hot water burned his body. He welcomed it, anything to make him feel like he was alive.

  He didn’t move as he rethought the last twenty-four hours. It all seemed unreal and at any moment, he thought Audrey would come into the shower and wash him, like she had done so many times before, but he knew it wouldn’t happen. Picking up Audrey’s nailbrush, he brushed her dry blood from underneath his nails. Tears dripped down his cheek, mixing with his shower as he cleaned every bit of Audrey off him. He went numb. He didn’t understand the feeling either. All he knew was that he wanted his Audrey back, he wanted to hold her in his arms, he wanted to kiss her lush mouth and he wanted to live the rest of his life, looking into her bright caramel eyes.

  Closing his eyes, Tate went under the spray, washing his hair as he choked back a sob. He needed to get it together, he needed to be strong. But it was so hard. All he wanted to do was fall apart and beg for her to come back to him, but really he hadn’t lost her yet. She was still fighting, so really he had to fight too. He had to be strong for her and for his baby.

  He had too.

  An hour later, Tate rushed through the hospital, his arms full of things for Audrey. He brought her phone, clothes, shoes, pictures of Aiden, them together, and Fallon and Audrey together. He wanted her to feel at home when she awoke, he didn’t want her to be scared. He wasn’t going to leave her anymore, not until the day she went home, so he brought stuff for himself also. He hoped the hospital staff didn’t mind him playing his guitar, because he had brought it with him too.

  Riding the elevator up to the ICU, he got off and found the waiting room empty. Where was everyone? Making his way down the hall, his pace picked up speed. Reaching Audrey’s room, he found everyone surrounding her bed. Fallon looked up and said, “Tate, I’ve been calling you for an hour!”

  Tate’s heart sped up as dread filled his stomach. He missed something? Fallon’s eyes were red with tears, Nora was crying and William wouldn’t take his eyes off of Audrey, while Lucas held Fallon, not looking at Tate. Dropping everything he had in his arms, he made his way towards her bed and said, “What is going on?”

  With a bright grin, Fallon yelled out, “Her swelling has gone down! They are going to slowly wake her up!”

  Pressing his hand to his heart, his body slumped forward as he bowed his head. A relieved sob broke from him because he knew she was coming back to him.

  He just knew.

  Chapter 29

  Tate had become a permanent fixture on the south wall of Audrey’s room.

  It had been three days since the doctors had taken her out of her medically induced coma and she still wasn’t awake. Fallon sat in a chair to her left, tearing her nails apart with her teeth while her mom sat in a chair to Audrey’s right, trying to read her Kindle. Lucas stood along the other wall, playing on his phone while keeping a close eye on Fallon and Audrey. William came in and out, and Tate didn’t know how much more William could take. When Audrey didn’t wake up the first day, William freaked, and went nuts saying he couldn’t handle this anymore. He was gone for hours before anyone could get a hold of him. It wasn’t good, but thankfully, he had come back, and tried to support everyone while keeping it together.

  Tate knew it wasn’t easy.

  He was having the hardest time keeping faith that Audrey was going to wake up. The doctors had said it could happen at any time, but they said if she wasn’t awake in a week, they would need to discuss other options. They had done another ultrasound and their baby was still holding on. It was a miracle and he swore that baby was meant to be held by him. He had to believe that and he had to believe that Audrey was going to wake up at any second. Because if he didn’t believe, he would freak out like William had.

  “What are we going to do if she doesn’t wake up by the end of the week?” Everyone looked up meeting Fallon’s gaze. “She wouldn’t want to be living off a ventilator and we all know that.” Tate came off the wall and crossed his arms.

  “I don’t know that at all,” Tate said receiving a look from everyone but Lucas. His eyes stayed glued to Audrey.

  “Tate, we have to be realistic here, hun,” Nora said, “she should be awake by now.”

  “I am being realistic. She will wake when she is healed,” Tate said sternly.

  “But what if we take her off the ventilator and that helps. It wakes her up?” Fallon asked, “I read that it could happen in some cases.”

  “No, because what if it kills her, then what?” Tate said frantically.

  William stood, pinning Tate with a look before saying, “This really doesn’t concern you, she is our daughter.”

  “Dad!” Fallon yelled as Nora said, “William, please.”

  “Um, yeah it does. Audrey is my future wife. She is carrying my baby!” Tate yelled, his emotions getting the best of him. “You will have to get through me to turn that ventilator off; I�
�ll be damned if I let you take her away from me.”

  “I can have you out of here and on your ass in two second flat!” William yelled back taking a step towards Tate.

  “Try it! I’m not going anywhere as long as she’s in that bed! I love her!” Tate yelled back, his heart hammering against his chest.

  “I don’t care. She is my daughter and I’m not going to keep her here on this earth because I am selfish.”

  “I’m not being selfish. I’m giving her time to heal, to grow my child, what is your deal? Do you want to kill her!?”

  William’s chest puffed up as his eyes went wide with anger. Tate didn’t care though, no one was touching Audrey. He would kill them if they did.

  “Whoa,” Lucas said finally, coming between them, “this isn’t right. Audrey wouldn’t want this.”

  “He’s right, please stop,” Fallon begged from beside him, “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

  Lucas pushed Tate back, moving him out the room. Tate shook his head, walking away from Lucas to catch his breath and will his tears away. “You gotta keep it together, Tate. William is an asshole but you can’t say shit like that.”

  “I don’t give a fuck about that guy, no one is touching Audrey,” Tate said, not looking back at Lucas as he walked quickly through the ICU to the waiting room. When he reached the windows, he looked out at the Nashville skyline and let out a long shuddering breath as tears spilled over his cheeks. “I’m not going to kill her,” Tate whispered.

  Lucas came up beside him, nodding his head as he leaned his forehead against the window, “I just want this all to stop. I want her to wake up so everyone stops feeling all this pain. I’m tired of watching my wife cry, and clutch her throat in distress. She is chewing her nails to hell, and then there is you. I’m not even sure you’re here half the time. I’m so worried that you’re going to lose it, that I won’t even leave.”

  “I’m fine,” Tate said through his tears, “I’m just scared.”