Watch What Burns

by Kirsty-Anne Still

  “Nicolas!” Tyler bellowed as he ran towards the house. “What the hell hap-” Tyler didn’t finish his sentence. He stalled within the doorway as he saw his wife and immediately his knees weakened and he found himself needing to use the wall to support him. “No,” he managed to say. “God no!” he cried out and pushed himself towards Austin, dropping to his knees beside her body. Ignorant of his father and father-in-law, Tyler grabbed his wife’s hand in his and shook it. “Aus, baby, wake up. You can’t let Grace see you like this.”

  “Ty,” Nicolas gasped to his son-in-law. When he looked up, Nicolas felt his heart clench painfully at the words readying in his throat. “Natasha took Grace. She’s gone.”

  “Gone?” Tyler asked, only able to wheeze the word out from his throat as it began closing. “No, no,” he cried desperately and looked down at Austin. “Sunny, wake up. Please. I need you to wake up and tell me where Grace is. Please,” Tyler begged with her and allowed his head to bow forward, his tears running freely, some dropping onto Austin, meddling with the blood on her. “Please, Aus. I need you.”

  Tyler thought he was hearing things as the ambulance turned up, and Austin groaned out weakly. He watched her open her eyes, then consequently blink and strive for consciousness before she recognized him hovering above her.

  “Ty-ler?” she rasped his name out, splitting the syllables to his name up as she struggled to keep her eyes open. She panicked as he gazed down at her and she faltered all over again. The look on his face told her this moment was still dire - for her and for Grace. “I’m so-so sorry,” she whispered at him, her ability to stay awake not lasting long. Her consciousness was intermittent for the most part, and Tyler tried his all to keep her with him.

  “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for,” Tyler told her, his voice caught in a seemingly tight vice as he strained to speak. He wanted to plead with her, but the moment the EMTs ran in he was immediately shunted away from the situation, only now aware of his father giving information to Steve about Grace being abducted. He hesitated, unable to leave his wife when he was weak and unable to do anything for either her or their daughter.

  “You need to step back, Sir,” the medic on Austin’s right pushed Tyler away.

  Suddenly James turned to see Nicolas moving away slowly, but Tyler remained stock still, getting in the way. “C’mon, son,” James said pulling Tyler away from the EMTs so they could work quickly and efficiently.

  “We need to hurry. She’s not going to last long if we don’t hurry,” the other medic said, speaking to his partner who forced Tyler away, as he continued to try to stabilize Austin’s state of health. Making it completely impossible for Tyler to remain beside his wife and force himself to believe all would be okay.

  Tyler sunk down against the wall, hands on his head, his eyes staring straight at his wife’s face. Her eyes watching him, the look in them distant as she weakened and the medics worked harder. When her eyes fell shut and she became still, Tyler felt his heart shatter - was he about to lose the two greatest loves of his life in one swift go?

  ***

  Tyler sat slumped forward on one of the plastic chairs in the hospital waiting room. He had his father and Austin’s around him, Sienna and Cassie were still unaware about what had happened only hours prior. In his hands sat his photo of his family, the snap shot only taken a few months before. He kept it in his wallet, and right now, it was serving as his sanity. His thumb ran over the smiling face of Grace, as his eyes roamed over the still shot of Austin kissing his cheek while her lips still held a bright, laugh filled smile.

  He needed that life back. He needed it to breathe, to function, to live.

  “She’s okay,” Tom spoke on approach, cutting into all the tension, making Tyler jump up. “I would love to say she’s resting, but she’s not. She’s distraught and it’s not healthy for her.” He watched them all just stand silent before him, and it unnerved him. However, he decided to carry on, using his medical knowledge as his security blanket right now. “It was a relatively minor surgery,” Tom remarked, knowing that to anyone without the same key knowledge as himself, any form of surgery was major. “They removed the bullet and stopped the bleed all in quick succession. There were absolutely no complications and once the bleed was stemmed, they stitched her up and brought her up to recovery. She’s got a nasty concussion that is being monitored, but she is already awake. She’s got a lot of bruising and tenderness, especially up her back which coincides with her falling down the stairs, but nothing life threatening. We have to watch out for any problems, but in a few days Austin should be able to go home.”

  “Thank God,” Nicolas said, breathing freely for the first time since finding her.

  “She can’t have many visitors, and right now, she doesn’t need them. She is too much of a mess, and in her condition, she needs to be resting. She is going to become unstable quickly if she doesn’t calm down.” Even as he said that, he felt stupid. Austin wouldn’t be able to calm until Grace was back in her arms, safe and sound. He looked directly at Tyler, his eyes saddened and heavy with grief. “She needs you, and I would say you need her.”

  “Where is she?” Tyler asked Tom, his tone desolate and void of any emotional output.

  “Follow me,” he remarked. “I’ll be back,” he told their families, all of whom took a backseat right now to try and allow their minds to settle so they could think rationally.

  Without another word, Tyler shadowed Tom’s every move until they made it through some doors to a row of the rooms. “She’ll be kept here until she’s settled,” Tom stated, trying to make sure Tyler knew every aspect of this. He watched Tyler for a moment as they stood a mere few yards from Austin’s room. “Tyler, she’s pretty beaten up and her blood pressure’s really high. There are so many things that can go wrong right now, but she needs you to help her,” Tom stated, he might not have been the attending doctor, but he pulled enough authority to read his sister’s chart. “I need you to go in there and help her calm down.”

  Tyler looked at his brother-in-law pleadingly. “Is there any news on Gracie? Has Austin said anything?” Tyler asked, his tone fraught and his gaze watching his wife through the doors. He might have Austin right before him, but he needed to know if she had said anything about Grace. Anything that could help them find their daughter.

  “Go and see Austin,” Tom stated simply at him, disregarding the questions and giving his brother-in-law a solemn look. “Just help her and we’ll deal with the rest after.”

  Tyler nodded, he knew he could do that. He could prioritize everything in life behind his wife and daughter and he always would. He walked into the room, hearing the sound of an erratic heart monitor and the gentle heaving of his wife’s weak cries.

  “Aussie?” he called out, grasping for her attention the moment he entered.

  She looked up at him, her face swollen and discolored from the assault, her body beaten and bruised. “Tyler,” she uttered, shuddering down into more sobs as she saw him. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed out, her voice tired and fragile, her condition unraveling. “I’m so, so sorry.” It was the same litany, but it was all she knew to say when the fault fell so heavily upon her.

  With that said, he rushed in, taking to her side. He looked down at her, her face reddening, the bruising beginning to shine brighter and brighter with each passing minute. Yet, the most startling thing he saw was not the discoloration to her face, or the swelling, or the situation that put her here. The look in her eyes so full of fear and loss, it sat so pronounced, it terrified him more than anything else in that moment.

  “She took her,” Austin uttered the words that unleashed a fury of terror. She looked to her husband, seeking his eyes for solace, but she regrettably found none. She found the ending of confusion as reality set in and common sense screamed at him what had happened. “Natasha took Gracie.”

  “I know,” he breathed out, still unable to comprehend everything.

  “She was screaming for me, Tyler. Our baby wa
s crying out for me and I didn’t save her,” Austin’s despair unraveled from her throat, her heart pumping harder and harder, her monitor going crazy. “This is all my fault,” Austin whispered to her husband, forcing herself up from the bed. “She took our little girl because of me.”

  “No,” Tyler breathed out, taking Austin’s guilt as his own. He pushed her back, trying to make her lie down.

  “I could’ve saved her,” Austin continued to speak lowly, her voice becoming wracked by the oncoming sobs. “If I had just fought harder, I could have stopped Natasha from taking Gracie.”

  “Baby, you couldn’t have. Aussie, you got hurt,” Tyler tried to hit her rationality on point and prove she was a victim too.

  Austin shuddered into her grief, gripping onto her husband’s hands tightly. “I don’t care! She took Gracie.” She then suddenly pushed half-heartedly against Tyler’s chest, trying to push him away. “You should hate me! I let someone take our daughter, Tyler. I should be hated!” She closed her eyes tight, squeezing them together as she fought with the cracks ripping through her heart. “I lost your first child, Tyler,” she whispered regretfully, unable to look up at him. “Then I allow your second child to be abducted from right before my eyes. How am I good mother?”

  “Hey now,” Tyler began, gripping Austin’s arms to still her and make her look at him. He knew what she was doing and he wouldn’t let her deteriorate down to the girl he used to know. “This is Natasha’s doing again, Aussie. You didn’t ask for Grace to be taken, and I know it’s going to be difficult, but I will make sure our baby girl is in our arms before any harm comes to her. Right now she’s probably scared and wanting her mom, so please can you lose the guilt and work with me to bring her home?”

  “H-how can you be here?” Austin asked, unable to accept his compassion right now. “Look what’s happening.”

  “I am, and right now, I am a liability to saving Grace, but I am not a liability to looking after you. Our fathers are running the search, Steve has it sorted, and we’re looking into Robert’s disappearance. We have it covered,” Tyler told her the plan. Unable to allow her to continue this route into self-despair. “And in the morning, I will be speaking to Michael about helping. Aus, I need to know you’re going to be okay, and I know that you won’t be if you keep this up. We can’t get Gracie back if you’re not well enough,” Tyler attempted to reason with her. “Please, Austin. You can’t fight this, you can’t fight me. You can’t. We need to get her back together.”

  Gulping deeply, she realized how her adrenaline was promptly depleting on her and how weak she really was. “Just don’t let go,” she whispered as she felt his hands on her, holding her steadily against her pillows.

  Without another word, he lay beside her, his arms around her, allowing her to settle the best she could against him. “I won’t ever let go.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “I need to get to her,” Sienna reacted promptly just after her mother had relayed the previous evening events. Pushing herself up, she grunted against the pain in her thigh and forced herself to the edge of the bed.

  “Sienna,” Jane stepped in, pushing her back. “You are not going to her. What help will you be if you damage your leg worse?” Once Sienna gave up, Jane took to the side of her daughter’s bed, and took her hand. “Your sister was distraught last night, but Tom has said how she’s slept since Tyler got in there to her.”

  “I need to get in there,” Sienna fought back, as the reality began to settle in. “I need to help somehow in finding Gracie.”

  “You can’t,” Jane replied sternly. “We’re trying everything we can, but you’re injured, Sienna. You need to realize that. I know how much you love that little girl, hell we all do, but if we all go charging in, we’re only going to be getting in the way. We need her home safely.”

  Gulping deeply, Sienna knew her mother was right. She just didn’t want to see it right away. Looking up, she saw Michael coming back in and she tried to see passed his expression. She needed to have some belief right now. “Please tell me you have good news,” Sienna asked, hoping Michael was going to shed some light on something that would offer them a shred of hope.

  “Sorry,” Michael apologized sincerely as he shrugged, feeling at a loss. “The guys can’t catch a break to get here,” Michael commented solemnly as he came back into the room. “It’s just me and whatever tech I want at my disposal if we need one.” He kept his face neutral as he looked to them and sighed. “From what Tyler’s told me about the letters and confrontation at the prison, I don’t think she’ll have left town.”

  “Why not?” Sienna asked rashly. “She has Austin and Tyler’s pride and joy. She knows already what Grace means to Austin. If anyone, Natasha knows the most how important a child is to Austin.”

  “But she also wants Tyler to herself,” Michael stated calmly, confident in his conclusion. “I guarantee you, Sienna, Natasha is going to play games until she issues, Austin and Tyler, the finale of her plan.”

  “But why is she doing this?” Sienna asked, questioning every motive under the sun that Natasha could claim to be using.

  “If I told you half the things I have seen in my job, Baby, you wouldn’t believe me,” Michael replied, his eyes saddening at the thought. “People can be so twisted with hatred that their actions are unthinkable.”

  “What do you think she’s really doing with Gracie?” Sienna asked, reaching out for her mother’s hand. Her question was hesitant, but she needed to ask it. “If people fuelled by hatred do the unthinkable, then what is she going to do to my niece? Michael, what have other people done in these situations?”

  Michael’s face fell at that comment from Sienna. “No, you cannot ask me to compare them.” He felt his throat begin to close on him at the thought of past cases he had dealt with. He closed his eyes, trying to take himself away from the situation. He had to desensitize himself to it. “No two cases are the same.” He swallowed before picking up his bravado again. “From what I’ve heard, she just wants to believe that Grace is hers and Tyler’s, and that Austin had nothing to do with her conception,” Michael admitted truthfully and saw how dire everyone took that. “It would add up, because if you remember Tom said how jealous she was when she heard that Austin was pregnant the first time with Tyler’s baby.”

  “I need to see my sister,” Sienna said throwing the sheets from her body.

  “Sienna,” Jane scolded, trying in vain to prevent her daughter from moving. “You need to rest, getting up will cause you more damage. You heard the doctor, you need to rest. Walking around will do you no good.”

  “Fine, get me a wheelchair then,” Sienna stated, folding her arms over her chest, waiting impatiently. She wouldn’t be settled until she saw her sister and could offer some type of help. She wouldn’t feel at peace until she saw her sister, even for one second.

  ***

  Walking in they found Austin sleeping, her body turned towards Tyler’s chest as he lay there, running his hand rhythmically around her face. His eyes were stuck on her, his expression heavy with grief. He looked as if he had aged ten years in only a few hours.

  Hearing people, he looked up and tried to force a smile. “Hey,” he whispered as he saw his mother, Austin’s, and Sienna being pushed by Michael. “She hasn’t woken up at all.”

  “It’s probably best she sleeps,” Jane commented, reaching the side of the bed, and running her hand over Austin’s hair as if she were still the same eight year old girl that wanted her mother’s hugs when she was ill.

  “Has the doctor been in?” she asked, tearing her attention from Austin to look at Tyler.

  Tyler pushed up a little, rubbing his palm across his face to move off some of the fatigue. “Yeah, he said she shouldn’t be kept in for very long if she has a few good days. She’ll be on a lot of rest when she’s discharged, but apart from that, he couldn’t do a lot because she was sleeping. It’s just speculation right now.”

  “Did you get any sleep?” Tanya
asked her son, hoping he at least tried.

  “No,” he scoffed miserably. “I left for a little bit and headed to the station. I tried to help,” Tyler admitted, his tone dead to the ear. Without Grace he was missing just as much from himself as Austin was. “I was turned down. They won’t let me help.” He closed his eyes at the bitter thought of being helpless and tried to see some form of sense. “I need to be helping,” he told them, looking up to the four people now in the room. “How can I be her hero if I’m not allowed to help? I don’t want to be a failure in my own daughter’s eyes.”

  “You’ll be her hero by waiting to take her in your arms,” Tanya told her son as she came forward, settling onto the end of the bed. “That’s the best thing you can do. Be ready to take her in your arms and never let her go.”

  “I want her now,” Tyler admitted weakly, and the tears began to fall heavily. “I want her so bad.” Unashamedly, Tyler cried for his daughter, and the feeling of weakness at not being able to help her or his wife. He had taken vows, promising to protect Austin and their family forever and always, but he was breaking his own vows. He was breaking his promises and his own career oath to serve and protect. “I want my baby,” he literally wept, becoming the rawest form of himself. Suddenly he felt trapped on the bed. Releasing his wife, he got up from the hardened mattress and began to pace vehemently. “I’m supposed to keep her safe. I promised her that when she was born and I have absolutely no clue where she is or if she’s okay and it’s,” he paused as all viable air was taken from his lungs. He reached out for the windowsill, needing it as a support to him. “It’s killing me.”

  Tanya, immediately feeling her heart breaking for her son, rushed forward and took him into her arms. He might have been well over six foot, but her power as his mother always brought him comfort, and the moment she felt him shudder against him, she knew he needed this.