Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco
Alright guys. Let me just say this. This is all absolutely fictional; I only own the characters I've created, a.k.a. anyone who isn't a main character. I've put myself and my best friend Kimmie into this story, but changed last names to keep us all nice and safe.
And if you're wondering, I'd NEVER want this to happen to anyone, it's just a story I came up with. So grab a box of tissues, and enjoy!
Also, I don't really know how hospitals work, so, if anything seems messed up to you, I'm sorry. I've never been in a hospital. 'cept when I was born.
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Camisado
The I.V. and your hospital bed
This was no accident
This was a therapeutic chain of events
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Another loud bang and a flash of light made Kim whimper a little more. The rain came down in sheets, and she currently had no idea where she and her boyfriend, Ryan Ross, were. They'd left his friend Brendon's house and took some back road to get home 'the quick way.' It wasn't being very quick, and every passing second made Kim more jumpy and nervous than usual.
"Ry, I'm scared. Why did we have to go out tonight?" Kim asked Ryan as she curled further into the passenger seat.
"Because Brendon and Jenn were having a party, is that so much of a problem?" Ryan asked, not looking at her, but trying to focus on the road in front of him.
Kim just whimpered again, hiding her face in the hood of her sweatshirt. She silently cursed at Jenn for planning her party on a night with such bad weather. Not that Jenn could predict that the storm would be this bad, but still. "I hate Jenn." Kim mumbled angrily.
"No you don't."
"Yes I do."
"No, you don't."
"I do too!"
"Oh cut it out. You love her more than you love me."
"Well, now I hate her."
"Kimmie, please. We'll be home soon, like another ten minutes." Ryan cooed softly, trying to get his girlfriend to relax a little bit. "Why are you so afraid anyway?" Ryan asked, glancing at her for a second, then focusing on the road ahead of him. He took his right hand off of the wheel and grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers through hers quickly.
"I don't know. I'm just afraid of our safety, you know. You can barely see, even with the wipers on, and it's dark and wet." There was a crack of thunder, and Ryan smiled lightly as he felt Kim tighten her grip on his hand for a split second.
He slowed down a little bit, now going about ten miles below the speed limit, and looked over at Kim again. She was kind of smashed back against the seat, as if the further into it she got, the safer she would be. She put her legs down on the ground, instead of hugging them to her chest, and sat up a little bit.
She looked at Ryan, smiling, and raised her other hand to blow him a kiss. Ryan laughed; he had succeeded at brightening Kim's mood.
He smiled as he focused on the road again. There was a loud crack of thunder as lightening illuminated the sky, and Ryan pouted as he heard Kim whimper again. "Are you okay?" He asked her, his voice strong and soothing.
"Yeah." Kim squeaked, some of her wild brown and blonde curls sticking out of her hood. Ryan chuckled again as he realized what jacket she was wearing. It was her first real concert that she bought that sweatshirt at, she and Jenn both had it. It was dark grey with the words Panic! At The Disco in blue, orange, yellow, and red on the back, and some other crazy design involving a wig on a birdcage and hands hanging off of chains on the front. It was one of those that you could only get at a show.
The road they were on was a winding snake of pavement that swirled its way through the woods. Ryan thought it would be a better route, because there would be no traffic, and a lesser chance of getting into an accident.
He was praising himself on that when he spotted the taillights of another vehicle up ahead. The other car started to stop, but stopped too quickly, causing it to spin around.
Ryan was slow to react, he slammed his foot against the break but the water on the road was too thick. Kim shrieked as they slid towards the other car, which had spun so far it was facing them.
The tires screeched in much the same way Kim did. There was a sickening crack, signaling that their windshield had broken, and white clouded their visions.
Kim slipped into unconsciousness as the air bag hit her, as did Ryan. But the driver of the other car managed to call emergency services before passing out on the side of the road among the shards of glass, paint, and metal that now littered the road.
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Jenn's phone buzzed on her nightstand. 'I think we have an emergency, I think we have an emergency. If you thought I'd leave, then you were wrong. Cause I won't stop holding on. So are you listening? So are you watching me?' The phone sang the beginning of 'Emergency' by Paramore as it buzzed.
Jenn grumbled sleepily, reaching for the phone. She was tempted to throw it to the ground when she saw *Kimmie* flashing across the screen, but something told her Kim wasn't just calling to talk.
A groan from next to her told her Brendon was awake as well. She sighed, and answered her phone. "Hello?"
"Is this Jenn?" An unfamiliar voice on the other end asked cautiously.
Jenn's expression suddenly changed from sleepy to alert and she rolled over and sat up. Brendon gave her a quizzical look, but she ignored it for the moment. "Speaking. Who is this?"
"My name is Dawn Rider; I'm calling on behalf of the Community Medical Center." The woman responded. The color slowly drained from Jenn's face, and she felt Brendon take her hand in his.
"Can I help you?" She gulped, afraid of what she was about to be told. She glanced at Brendon quickly, confusion and fright written all over his face.
"Who is it?" He asked quietly. Jenn held up her pointer finger, as if to tell him hold on a moment.
"You were the last person on Miss... Uhh," Jenn's breath caught in her throat as she heard the ruffling of some papers, "Larson's phone. We are calling to inform you that she is in our hospital. There was a car accident; she was brought in with another man we've yet to identify."
Jen gasped, tears stinging at her eyes. She looked at Brendon. "Ryan..." She gasped again. "Kim and Ryan." She breathed, there was a bit of a tremble in her voice. "Kimberly Larson and Ryan Ross..." Jenn finally managed to mumble. Brendon's eyes widened, and he gently took the phone from Jenn.
"Ma'am?" He asked gently, his thumb idly running over the knuckles on Jenn's hand.
"Yes?" Mrs. Rider responded calmly.
"Thank you for calling, and we will be there as soon as we can." Brendon said, trying to keep his own voice from cracking as he spoke.
"Please." She replied, her tone calm and soothing. "Do be careful. The roads are still quite wet."
"Thank you again." Brendon said, snapping the phone shut. He looked at Jenn. Her face had paled to the extreme, and she was trembling as tears silently streamed from her eyes. "Come on. They'll need us to be strong for them." He said as he scooted as close as he could and hugged her.
She broke down and sobbed into his shoulder while he calmly rubbed her back, his hand smoothing circles on the back of her t-shirt.
"Now, come on. Kim needs you by her side, I know she does." Brendon said after a moment. He kissed Jenn's forehead, and threw the covers aside, hopping off of the bed and grabbing some clothes off of the floor. He put on jeans and a sweatshirt over his boxers and t-shirt, and held up a sweatshirt for Jenn. She already had on shorts and a red The Academy Is... T-shirt.
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Brendon dropped Jenn off at the door, and she practically sprinted in to the front desk. "I'm looking for Kimberly Larson and Ryan Ross." She said frantically, nearly panting.
"Take a deep breath," The woman said with a calming smile, "And go that way. Miss Larson in the last room down that wing." She pointed to her left, then looked at the papers she'd gathered once Jenn had said names. "Mr. Ross might still be in the ICU actually, he's still in bad condition." She pointed to her left again, but to behind her to her left.
"Thank you," Jenn muttered as the color drained from her face again. She took off at a quicker pace than normal walking speed, but slowed down dramatically when she remember what was waiting at the end of the hall for her: her best friend, bandaged and stitched, maybe still bleeding. She didn't want to have to see Kim that way.
She'd never seen the girl without a smile on her face, except once, maybe twice, in her entire life. And it drove Jenn to tears to see Kim cry. To see her like this? It would be hell for Jenn to stay calm.
She took a deep shaky breath as she pushed open the door. The sight that greeted her was not a welcome one. Kim was lying absolutely still in the bed, the lack of light in the room made her seem pale as a ghost, which was practically impossible with Kim's heritage. Her naturally tan skin came from being Italian.
Jenn put her hand over her mouth as she stepped closer to Kim. She felt the tears stinging at the backs of her eyes, but she struggled to not let them come. Kim had bandages wrapped around her arms, her chest was rising and falling normally, but the cut above her eye made Jenn wince. She reached out and ran her fingers gently over Kim's forehead, wiping her curly hair out of the way. The bandage, a thick pad of gauze, was taped at the edges, and reddened faintly in the middle.
She noticed as well, Kim had a bunch of tiny little scratches on her face, running horizontally under her eyes. The windshield, Jenn guessed, must have shattered before the airbags had a chance to deploy.
Jenn gulped, and picked up Kim's hand gently. It was her left hand, the one closest to where Jenn stood. She wouldn't have picked the other one up anyway, it was bandaged and wrapped in a cast; it was off white in color and lacked any sort of formalness.
She carefully played with Kim's fingers as she studied her face. She did indeed lack color. At a first glance, you'd say her face was expressionless. But Jenn knew Kim better than that, and she was looking harder. Kim was in pain, and Jenn knew it. She knew by how Kim's brow was slightly wrinkled, her cheeks and mouth and eyebrows all twitching the tiniest bit every once in a while, like she was re-living the car crash.
Jenn didn't move an inch as she heard the door open and shut behind her. She knew it could only be two people, a doctor, or Brendon.
As she felt arms slide around her waist and a chin rest on her shoulder, she knew it was Brendon. He gasped a little as he looked at Kim, the cut above her eye catching his attention first.
"Have you talked to a doctor?" Brendon whispered into Jenn's ear, afraid of waking Kim. Jenn lightly placed Kim's hand back on the bed, just now realizing the I.V. in her arm.
"No," Jenn choked out, her words sounding strangled and restricted. Brendon squeezed her for a second, then let go. She turned around and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her back, rubbing it lightly, and she sobbed gently into his shoulder.
"It's okay." He cooed. "They'll be fine; they're the two strongest people I know. Neither of them would give up on us. They'd never dream of it." He said, kissing the top of Jenn's head lightly. Jenn sniffled and pulled away from him, then turned back to look at Kim.
"Where's Ryan?" She choked again. Brendon sighed and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, then opened them and looked at Jenn.
"He's still in the ICU. He got hurt worse than Kim did. The car apparently hit on the drivers side of their car. I'm still not sure what happened yet, but I know they got hit," he paused, "Hard." Jenn sobbed again, bringing her hand to her face and wiping away her tears.
"I want to see him. Make sure he's alright." Jenn mumbled, her mind starting to haze over a little bit.
"We can't do that, Jenn." Brendon said calmly, afraid Jenn might snap at him. She didn't though, she just turned around again, the saddest look he'd ever seen gracing her face.
"Why not?" She asked, her voice small and fragile.
"Because he's still in the ICU. I promise you the doctors are watching him carefully. We can't go in because we're not allowed, Jenn." Brendon said quietly, sighing. Jenn buried her face in his chest as she hugged him. She often fell asleep listening to his steady breathing, so she thought it might soothe her.
"But I want to see him. I want to make sure he's okay. Not someone who has no idea who he is. They don't care as much as I do." Jenn whined softly into Brendon's chest.
"Jenn, sweetie, it's their job to care. They have to; it's what they do for a living. They're all people with too much good in their hearts, that's why they're doctors, and they take care of the sick and the hurt." Brendon said, hugging her back.
"Come on, we'll go sit in the waiting room." Brendon looked at his watch. "It's, like, three in the morning, and I'm sure you need sleep." He said, putting his arm around her waist and pushing her towards the hallway.
They found a sitting area at the end of the hallway, right about outside of Kim's room, and sat down on the bench. Jenn huffed as she leaned into Brendon, and he put his arm back around her.
They sat in silence for a minute, and Jenn closed her eyes, sleep calling her.
"They'll be fine, I promise they will. And we can see Ryan tomorrow." He said as she drifted off to sleep. It was a terrible sleep though, she was comfortable, because Brendon was there, but she was plagued with nightmares of the horrors of the hospital. Life and death looming together in one place could never be good, not in Jenn's opinion.
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Brendon had fallen asleep not long after Jenn had, and woke up to the sun beaming through the window behind them. He smiled as he saw Jenn sleeping soundly on his shoulder, but his smile quickly faded when he remembered what he'd promised her.
There was no way of knowing if they would be able to see Ryan today. If the doctors said they could, then they could. If not, well, then Brendon would have one very upset girlfriend.
He sighed, and stretched a little bit, trying not to wake up Jenn. The longer she slept the better. She had gotten a little... odd last night. Like she was a mix of tired and confused, her mind wasn't working right. It was the adrenaline rush wearing down.
Brendon looked at his watch again. Ten thirty and the hospital was already buzzing with life. A nurse walked past, and into Kim's room. Brendon watched through the window.
The nurse buzzed around the room like clockwork, checking the I.V., re-dressing the wounds on her face and arms, checking her leg, so on and so forth. Twenty minutes later, she came out and looked at Brendon with a smile on her face.
"Are you here for Miss Larson?" She asked quietly, noticing that the woman leaning on his shoulder was asleep.
"Yes." Brendon said with a nod.
"She's awake, and asking about someone. Ryan, is it?" Brendon's eyes widened.
"There was another male in the car accident, that's Ryan, her boyfriend, my best friend. Is he alright? Is he out of the ICU?" Brendon asked as Jenn stirred beside him. She sat up and stretched as she yawned.
"Ahh, Mr. Ross. Yes, he's fine." The nurse had probably recognized Ryan, and was trying to keep her cool around Brendon, he could tell by the nervous smile on her face that she was trying to hide how giddy she really was. "He was taken out of the ICU some time last night." She said.
"Thank you." Brendon replied, and the nurse turned and left, a little extra bounce in her step causing Jenn to laugh.
"Well, they know who you are." Jenn said, kissing Brendon's cheek. "Anything on Kim?" She asked, a look of sheer concern taking over her face.
"She's awake." Brendon said with a sad smile on his face. "I'm not sure if Ryan's awake yet, but Kim is, and she's asking about him. You go and talk to her, I'll go find Ryan." Jenn nodded, and stood up, walking over to Kim's door. Brendon went off to find someone to tell him where Ryan was.
Jenn opened the door slowly, and cringed at the sight of Kim. She was indeed awake, but she looked no better than she had the night before.
"Kimmie?" Jenn's voice cracked, and she bit her lip as she walked towards Kim's hospital bed.
"Jenn! Ohmygod! I thought I died! I woke up to absolute white light, and you weren't there. I thought I went to hell, cause my best friend wasn't there with me." Kim laughed, but it wasn't her usual whole hearted laugh, it was hollow and lifeless.
Jenn cringed a little and smiled. "Even if you're nearly dying in a hospital bed, you've still got your sense of humor. And why would it matter if you were in Hell? I'd be right there with ya if you went up or down." Jenn replied with her own sad laugh.
"Good. I'll hold you to that. And how many times have I told you, I broke my pinky, and then kept playing the same game of football with my broken finger. I'm like rubber, man. I bounce back so easily." Kim said, smiling as she grabbed Jenn's hand. "Aren't you the one who's supposed to be making me feel better?"
Jenn laughed a little bit. "I guess so, but you know I'm bad at that." There was silence for a minute, then Jenn's smile faded off of her face. "Ryan was in the ICU..." She said gloomily. Kim gasped a little bit.
"Oh, no! Is he alright?" She asked, sitting up a little bit.
"Bren went to go check on him, see how he was doing. I haven't seen him yet, but I wanted to so badly last night. Just so I could tell you when you woke up that he was okay." Jenn said, sniffling back tears. She bit her lip and sniffled again.
"I hope he's okay..." Kim said quietly, not wanting to picture how bad Ryan was.
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Brendon had run off to go find a doctor or nurse that could point him towards Ryan. "Excuse me," He called to a woman with a pile of papers in her hand. It was the nurse from earlier. She blushed as Brendon walked up to her.
"How can I help you, sir?" She asked nervously, shifting the papers from her right arm to her left.
"I'm looking for Ryan Ross? Can you tell me where he is?" He asked, his tone rushed.
She shuffled through the papers and stopped on one with Ryan's name printed across the top. Brendon glanced at it quickly, the charts that littered the page all showing negative data. He felt his heartbeat start to pick up speed as he realized that Ryan was, in fact, not doing well at all. "Yes, room 116, on the left down at the end of that hall." She said, pointing. Brendon barely mumbled a thank you as he practically sprinted down the hallway.
He found room 116, but hesitated to open the door. His heart was still racing, as was his mind. He didn't want to see Ryan, now that he saw those charts. But he had to, he had to be able to tell Kim that Ryan would be fine, reassure Jenn that they weren't losing their best friend, and favorite lyricist.
He gulped as he pushed the door open. He didn't see Ryan at first, there was another man in the first bed. Brendon walked quietly to the second bed, pushing the curtain aside to look in. He cringed, recognizing the brown fringe of hair that stuck out of the bandages wrapped around the head of the figure lying still in the bed. That was Ryan, a thick white bandage wrapped around his head. His hair was still covering his left eye though.
He had a bunch of cuts on his face, just like Kim did, and his right arm was in a cast, his left one had a splint around his wrist. He didn't have a hospital gown on, and you could just barely see the bandages wrapped around his chest sticking out from under the sheets. Brendon would later learn that Ryan had broken three ribs on the left side, and two on the right. He had about 300 stitches total, most of them on his chest, and he wouldn't wake up for another few hours.
Brendon just stood there in absolute shock, not believing what he was looking at. He took a step closer, looking at one of the monitors next to Ryan's bed. He had wires connected to every part of him, his arm had an I.V. in it, he had wires taped to his chest, and a breathing tube in his nose. It was hard for Brendon to look at him. It was the most disturbing site he'd ever seen, his best friend lying nearly dead in a hospital bed.
He sat down in the chair to Ryan's left as a doctor came in. Brendon didn't notice him though, not until he walked up and picked up the clipboard off of the end of the bed.
Brendon quickly stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes. "It's okay to cry, son." The doctor said as he looked over the chart. His hair was graying at the base, but it was brown otherwise, and he had very thin glasses at the tip of his nose. He pushed them up and examined the clipboard, flipping up the top page to look at the second, and through until he reached the fifth page. "Your friend is in stable condition. He's been unconscious since we got him, but he's finally breathing right, and his heartbeat is back to normal."
Brendon let out a small sigh of relief, and took a step towards the doctor. "Brendon Urie," he said, holding out his hand.
"I'm aware." The doctor replied, Brendon looked a little shocked. "My sixteen year old daughter has pictures of you bunch from magazines and the internet littering her walls. She is probably one of your biggest fans. I had to stop myself from telling her that I had Ryan Ross as one of my patients." He laughed and so did Brendon.
"Well, make sure you tell her she's Panic!'s third biggest fan, behind our girlfriends, Kim and Jenn." Brendon said.
The man took Brendon's still outstretched hand. "Connor Masters, PhD. I'm the, well, the lead doctor." Brendon smiled at him.
"Thank you, sir." He said, sitting back down and looking at Ryan. "How long will it take him to heal?" Brendon asked quietly.
"Probably a month or two, some things longer, some shorter. The ribs will take the longest. Are you aware of what happened?" Brendon shook his head. "The other driver wasn't hurt half as badly as Mr. Ross was, and he's woken up, and been taken home with no more than a broken leg and a few scratches. But he woke up and told us what happened. He was trying to stop because a tree branch had fallen in front of him, and he stopped too quickly, causing himself to spin out and careen towards the other car. Amazingly he was able to crawl out of his car and call the paramedics before he fell unconscious on the road."
Brendon gasped, wincing as Dr. Masters told him the story. "There was another person in the car with Mr. Ross, no?"
"Yes," Brendon said. "That's his girlfriend, and my girlfriend's best friend. Kimberly Larson." Dr. Masters nodded.
"She's doing well, I suppose? She wasn't hurt as badly as he was either." He asked cautiously.
"Yes, she's awake and talking to Jenn, I believe. I should go see how she is. Jenn, I mean. I know Kim's fine." Brendon said with a laugh. He sighed as he looked at Ryan, and left the doctor to do what he needed to.
His cell phone buzzed in his pocket as he let the door click shut. He pulled it out of his pocket, and hit send.
"Brendon? Where are you? I called your house like five times, why didn't you answer?" Brendon huffed again as Spencer babbled for a minute. "What's wrong?"
"Ryan and Kim are in the hospital, Spence. Jenn and I got a call last night, and we came over here." Brendon paused, but Spencer didn't respond. "Ryan's not doing so well. He's got a bandage wrapped around his head, his chest, and his arms. An I.V. and a breathing tube, plus a bunch of wires monitoring his heartbeat and his lungs." He could practically hear Spencer wince.
"Oh my god...." Spencer paused, soaking up the information. "Well what about Kim?" He asked, concern clear in his voice.
"She's better than Ryan is. A gash above her eye, her right arm has a cast. She's got an I.V. too, but she's not half as bad as Ryan is. She's awake at least, and talking to Jenn. I was just on my way to go see if they were alright, and tell them about Ryan..." Brendon's voice faded as his thoughts drifted back to Ryan.
"Brendon?" Spencer said some time later.
"What's up?" Brendon asked as he made his way down the hall towards Kim and Jenn.
"What hospital are you at? I'm coming." Spencer said.
"The Community Medical Center. Ask to find Kimmie, that's where Jenn and I will be. See you when you get here. Ohh, and uhh, do me a favor and call Jon to tell him practice is cancelled." Brendon paused. "For like, a good week or two. Ryan's arm is pretty bad, both of them actually. We can't have him playing his guitar until he's completely healed."
"Got it. See ya in a few Bren." Spencer said, and Brendon hung up his phone and entered Kim's room. The curtain around the other bed was closed, and Kim and Jenn were chatting happily, but they both froze when they saw Brendon.
He sighed sadly, and Jenn stood out of her chair. He sat down and pulled her into his lap. "How is he?" She asked as he snaked his arms around her waist.
"Not good. Not dying though. Dr. Masters, he's taking care of Ryan, said that his breathing and his heartbeat are finally normal again. But there's bandages wrapped around his chest and his head, both arms are broken, one elbow one wrist." By the look on Kim's face, Brendon though it might be nice to find a gun and shoot himself. He hated being the bearer of bad news.
"Oh my god..." Jenn breathed a minute later. "Is he awake?" She asked, already knowing the answer.
"Not an hour ago when I was in there..." Brendon said.
"Wait? An hour? Why did it take you an hour to walk back?" Kim asked, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Spencer called, and I was talking to him, and walking very slowly." Brendon said calmly, feeling a lump starting to form in his throat.
"Did Ryan look bad?" Kim asked quietly.
"He looked more peaceful than you did when you were sleeping. But, with the wires attached to his chest, and the breathing tube in his nose... Yes, he looked bad." Brendon replied solemnly. He sighed as he watched Kim silently break down. She was so worried about Ryan, she had been since the moment she was awake. Jenn stood up off of Brendon's lap as she started crying again. She paced for a moment, then settled in a spot next to Kim, holding her hand. Jenn seemed to be taking this harder than Kim was.
Brendon was about to open his mouth again when Spencer and Jon walked into the room. Spencer walked over to Kim's bed as Jon shut the door quietly. "I managed to pick up a spare on my way over..." Spencer mumbled, looking Kim over.
Jon nodded at Brendon as a silent 'hello' and stood next to Jenn. "Hey guys." He said quietly, which was odd for Jon, to be quiet. Spencer looked at him curiously and then looked to Brendon.
"Where is Ryan?" He asked, catching Brendon's attention. Jenn let go of Kim's hand and moved over to stand next to them.
"Room 116, it's down to the end of the hall, across the waiting area, and to the left." Brendon said sullenly.
"I'm gonna go with Spence okay?" Brendon nodded. Jenn smiled sadly and kissed his cheek before leaving with Spencer.
Their walk down the hall was silent until they crossed the waiting room. "So, someone called your cell phone last night, and said..." Spencer let his voice fade so Jenn could finish the sentence.
"'You were the last person on Miss Larson's recent calls list. We're calling to inform you that she's in our care, along with another male. There was a car accident, but both are in stable condition.' Basically they told me my friends were hurt." Jenn mumbled the last part, but Spencer heard it. A doctor rushed past them, off to another room to help another hurt patient.
Jenn sniffled back tears as she spotted the '116' on the door. Spencer held his breath as he opened it, not at all excited to see what lay beyond the doorway. Jenn went in first, silently crying already. The way Brendon had described Ryan wasn't pretty, looking at him surely wouldn't be.
Spencer gasped as he peeked into the curtain. He pushed it aside and Jenn filed in. She sat down on the chair to the right side Ryan's bed and clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle her crying. Spencer stood by the left side of the foot of Ryan's bed absolutely speechless. His eyes were wide as he took in the site of his best friend in the least becoming state he'd ever seen him in.
Jenn's hand found its way away from her mouth and to Ryan's hand. She didn't care if his arm was in a cast, she felt like she needed to let him know she was there. So she twisted her fingers into his, tears still streaming down her face.
Spencer sadly fingered the edge of the sheet that covered Ryan's body. His brow furrowed as he noticed the bandages on his chest, and he pulled the sheet down a little bit. He winced, looking at the red slash across the stark white bandages. Something had hit Ryan hard across the chest, hard enough that he was still bleeding. He looked up as he heard Jenn inhale sharply.
"What?" He asked quietly. "You alright?" He sniffled and wiped tears he didn't know he had away from his cheek.
"He's conscious. Ryan? Ryan, can you hear me?" She croaked, her throat sore from all of the crying.
"How do you know?" Spencer asked, looking up to Ryan's face.
"Because he's holding my hand, his hand isn't limp any more." Jenn's voice cracked again. "Ryan, its Spencer and Jenn. Please be okay, I need- we need you to be okay for us. And we're here for you..."
Spencer watched closely as Ryan's face twitched a little bit. He leaned forwards and wiped Ryan's hair out of his eye just as it snapped open. Spencer jumped a little and then laughed silently at himself. He should have been expecting that, but wasn't in the least.
"Hey, Ryan. How ya feelin' buddy?" Spencer asked, putting on his happy face for his friend. He was actually happy though; he was so relieved that Ryan was awake now.
Ryan slowly moved his head so he was looking at Spencer. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again.
"It's okay Ry; you don't need to talk right now." Jenn said softly, her voice cracking the tiniest bit. He turned his head so he was looking at her. She smiled, and he smiled back. "I'm glad you're okay. Well... As okay as you can be right now."
"Can you breathe alright?" Spencer asked. Ryan nodded. "And you're comfortable otherwise?" Ryan shrugged.
"As much as I can be." He managed to mumble with some effort.
"Shh. Don't hurt yourself, kay, Ry?" Jenn said, her voice still quiet. He smiled warmly at her and nodded. "I have to go tell Brendon and Kim and Jon that you're awake. Any messages?"
"Tell Kim I love her, please?" Jenn smiled as she stood up.
"Of course." She blew Ryan a kiss, hugged Spencer and walked out of the room.
Jenn walked back to Kim's room with a smile on her face. She opened the door slowly, and closed it behind her without sound. She walked over to Kim and leaned over to whisper something in her ear. Kim smiled widely, and squeaked. "That means he's okay?!" She squeaked. Jenn nodded, then laughed at the looks on Brendon and Jon's faces.
"Ryan's awake. He's talking to Spence right now, and I came to tell you that he's awake, and Kim that he loves her. He's too cute. Why can't you be cute like Ryan is, Bren?" Jenn asked with a laugh.
"I'm cuter than Ryan is." Brendon grumbled in protest.
"But you're not." Jenn said back, high-fiving Kim. She walked over to Brendon and kissed him. "You are, on the other hand, sexier than Ry is..." She whispered in his ear. He smirked and then turned to look at Jon.
"Come on, let's go see Ryan." Brendon said, then walked out of the room with Jon trailing behind him, leaving Kim and Jenn to talk.
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"You sure you're fine?" Spencer asked for the fifteenth time in ten minutes as Ryan tried and failed to sit up. Spencer hated how helpless Ryan looked with all those wires attached to him.
"Can you move that stupid pillow so I can sit up?" Ryan asked, obviously annoyed.
"Maybe you should stay lying down. You know, with all those wires and stuff." Spencer said, and Ryan sighed before lying down, stiff as a board. Brendon and Jon had walked in just in time to hear Spencer's comment, and they laughed a little bit as they saw Ryan huff and lay back down.
"Hey, buddy." Brendon said, walking over to Ryan's bed and standing to his right side, opposite Spencer and Jon.
"Damn, Ryan. I thought Brendon was over exaggerating when he said just looking at you made him cry." Jon commented, causing Brendon to glare at him.
Ryan gave him a quizzical look. "You cried?" He raised an eyebrow at Brendon.
"Looking at my lifeless best friend laying in a hospital bed, yes, I cried. And right after I had seen my girlfriend cry because her best friend was nearly dead in a hospital bed too." Brendon kind of snapped at him. "It was not a pretty sight. If the roles had been reversed, you'd have cried too." Ryan just nodded, along with everyone else.
There was a long and awkward moment of silence that ended with Jon laughing. Everyone looked at him like he was mad, laughing in a hospital. "We should sue the guy who messed up Ryan's angelic face. There goes all of our popularity right out the window, now we've only got half of our appeal. And we all know that Brendon's not as hott as Ryan is..." He joked.
"Excuse me." Brendon said, offended. "What is it, beat up on Brendon day?"
"We're just trying to make Ryan feel better. I mean, he's the one that's hurt here." Spencer added.
"Doesn't mean you have to make me feel like nothing." Brendon shot back.
"It's okay Brendon; I know they're all liars." Ryan laughed a little bit. He waved at someone and everyone turned to see Jenn standing there.
"Why aren't you with Kim?" Brendon and Ryan asked at the same time. They gave each other a confused look, then looked back to Jenn.
"The nurse said I had to leave." She said sadly, shrugging.
"Jon said just before that we should sue the guy who messed up 'my angelic face' because now we've lost all of our popularity." Ryan said, putting finger quotes around 'my angelic face' as he spoke. Jenn laughed.
"I'd agree, but it was truly an accident." Jenn said.
"Aha, that's where you're wrong." Brendon said, and Jenn looked at him, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "This was no accident; this was a therapeutic chain of events..." He sang quietly. She laughed and rolled her eyes at him.
"Don't use Ryan's own words against him. That's like, illegal." Jenn said with a smile.
"He's right though..." Ryan commented softly, his hand on his chin in thought.
"What do you mean?" Spencer asked.
"Well, it was a chain of events. I dunno about therapeutic, but chain of events, yes. One thing caused another caused another. But if you really want to point the blame on someone, point your fingers at Brendon and Jenn. They're the ones with the party." Ryan said bluntly.
Jenn looked like she had just been slapped. "You can't honestly blame this on me." Brendon just stayed silent behind her. "It's not like you even had to go home, we invited you to stay over because the weather got bad. You're the one who decided that you absolutely had to be home. So don't point your fingers at me, point them at yourself." She didn't yell; how low her voice was made it twice as dangerous. But no matter the case, you could tell she was mad.
"Jenn, chill. He wasn't serious." Spencer commented a moment later, when he was sure Jenn's glare would burn a hole in Ryan's forehead.
She glared at Spencer for a second, then back to Ryan. "He obviously was, since he hasn't said anything to back you up."
"Jenn, babe, stop it." Brendon said, turning her around to look at him.
"Why does everyone defend him? He totally just blamed his injury on us, I back us up, and even you're on his side!" Jenn was shocked. "Ohh, forget you all." She said, breaking away from Brendon and walking out of the room.
He turned back to Ryan a moment later. "What was that all about?"
"Spencer was right, I wasn't serious." Ryan said after another moment of silence. Jon shuffled a little bit, sitting down in a plastic chair, and Spencer stood still next to him. Now the showdown had moved from Ryan and Jenn to Ryan and Brendon.
"Guys, you know, this is really a stupid thing to be fighting over. Ryan, you shouldn't have said that, and if you did, you should have said sorry. Brendon, you really have nothing to do with this, so go find Jenn and calm her down, tell her Ryan is sorry, and that you don't want them to fight." Jon said calmly. Brendon nodded, and Ryan huffed as Brendon got up to leave.
"Now, Ryan, why didn't you say anything?" Spencer asked once Brendon had left.
"I was shocked that she took me seriously. I didn't know what to say after she shot me down like that." Ryan said sadly.
"Alright, well, Brendon'll fix this, and we'll all be good. Kay?"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Come on, Jenn, do you always have to be such a drama queen?" Brendon snapped at her as he caught up to her in the hallway. He put his hand on her shoulder and spun her around so she faced him. "Ohh, Jenn." He breathed as he saw her face, tears streaming down her face again.
"I'm such a bitch. He wasn't serious, but I had to overreact anyway. And I stormed off before I actually thought about anything I said. I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings." Jenn rambled.
"It's alright. Come on, say you're sorry, Ryan will say he's sorry, and we'll all be better." Brendon said as he pulled her into a hug. She cried into his chest for a minute. "Snap out of it and come on." He said as he let her out of the hug, still holding onto her shoulders. She nodded, and he let her go and walked her down the hallway back to Ryan's room.
As soon as they got in the room, Ryan snapped his eyes to Jenn. "I'm sorry Jenn!" He said dramatically, throwing his hands into the air. Jenn laughed a little bit and walked over to him. Brendon sat down in the chair sitting to Ryan's left.
"I'm sorry, too, Ry. I shouldn't have exploded like that." She pouted, sticking out her bottom lip. "Forgive me?"
"Of course!" He said with a smile, holding his arms out still.
"Aww, I love you, Ry." Jenn said, then hugged him. She pulled away a minute later and walked back over and sat on Brendon's lap. She rolled her eyes at the jealousy that was clear in his face. "Oh, chill, Bren. I don't love anyone more than you. Well, except Kimmie... But she's different." Brendon rolled his eyes and Jenn giggled and smacked his arm.
"So when do you get out of here Ryan?" Spencer asked.
"Why would they tell him?" Jon asked Spencer.
"Because he's the one stuck here. Duh," Spencer shot back.
"I think I'm here for a week, maybe less, maybe more." Ryan said, ending the glare feud between Jon and Spencer.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ryan's POV
That was two weeks ago. I've still got a little scratch on my forehead, and my wrist is still in a cast, but, besides the ribs, everything is healed. Kimmie, who got off easier than I did, is just a little bruised still, everything else on her healed nicely and quickly.
Practices have sucked for me, because I can't play yet. My wrist kills me when I move it, so I've been sitting back and watching. And the guys have been great. I can be really picky when I'm trying to fix something, and the fact that I can't show them how to do it, I can just point and say "No like that," really bothers them.
But they're great, so they cooperate nicely. I'm so glad I've surrounded myself with these people. Having friends like these guys, and girls, made it so much easier on me during this whole experience. Just knowing help was a call away was so reassuring. Knowing that someone would be there when I woke up in that hospital bed, it was the best feeling ever, however strange that may sound. But when you've got people who care about you, it makes you feel on top of the world, even at your worst moments, because you know they'll be there for you.
Anyway, Brendon is butchering my guitar chords, I've gotta go help them.
And if you're wondering, I'd NEVER want this to happen to anyone, it's just a story I came up with. So grab a box of tissues, and enjoy!
Also, I don't really know how hospitals work, so, if anything seems messed up to you, I'm sorry. I've never been in a hospital. 'cept when I was born.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Camisado
The I.V. and your hospital bed
This was no accident
This was a therapeutic chain of events
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Another loud bang and a flash of light made Kim whimper a little more. The rain came down in sheets, and she currently had no idea where she and her boyfriend, Ryan Ross, were. They'd left his friend Brendon's house and took some back road to get home 'the quick way.' It wasn't being very quick, and every passing second made Kim more jumpy and nervous than usual.
"Ry, I'm scared. Why did we have to go out tonight?" Kim asked Ryan as she curled further into the passenger seat.
"Because Brendon and Jenn were having a party, is that so much of a problem?" Ryan asked, not looking at her, but trying to focus on the road in front of him.
Kim just whimpered again, hiding her face in the hood of her sweatshirt. She silently cursed at Jenn for planning her party on a night with such bad weather. Not that Jenn could predict that the storm would be this bad, but still. "I hate Jenn." Kim mumbled angrily.
"No you don't."
"Yes I do."
"No, you don't."
"I do too!"
"Oh cut it out. You love her more than you love me."
"Well, now I hate her."
"Kimmie, please. We'll be home soon, like another ten minutes." Ryan cooed softly, trying to get his girlfriend to relax a little bit. "Why are you so afraid anyway?" Ryan asked, glancing at her for a second, then focusing on the road ahead of him. He took his right hand off of the wheel and grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers through hers quickly.
"I don't know. I'm just afraid of our safety, you know. You can barely see, even with the wipers on, and it's dark and wet." There was a crack of thunder, and Ryan smiled lightly as he felt Kim tighten her grip on his hand for a split second.
He slowed down a little bit, now going about ten miles below the speed limit, and looked over at Kim again. She was kind of smashed back against the seat, as if the further into it she got, the safer she would be. She put her legs down on the ground, instead of hugging them to her chest, and sat up a little bit.
She looked at Ryan, smiling, and raised her other hand to blow him a kiss. Ryan laughed; he had succeeded at brightening Kim's mood.
He smiled as he focused on the road again. There was a loud crack of thunder as lightening illuminated the sky, and Ryan pouted as he heard Kim whimper again. "Are you okay?" He asked her, his voice strong and soothing.
"Yeah." Kim squeaked, some of her wild brown and blonde curls sticking out of her hood. Ryan chuckled again as he realized what jacket she was wearing. It was her first real concert that she bought that sweatshirt at, she and Jenn both had it. It was dark grey with the words Panic! At The Disco in blue, orange, yellow, and red on the back, and some other crazy design involving a wig on a birdcage and hands hanging off of chains on the front. It was one of those that you could only get at a show.
The road they were on was a winding snake of pavement that swirled its way through the woods. Ryan thought it would be a better route, because there would be no traffic, and a lesser chance of getting into an accident.
He was praising himself on that when he spotted the taillights of another vehicle up ahead. The other car started to stop, but stopped too quickly, causing it to spin around.
Ryan was slow to react, he slammed his foot against the break but the water on the road was too thick. Kim shrieked as they slid towards the other car, which had spun so far it was facing them.
The tires screeched in much the same way Kim did. There was a sickening crack, signaling that their windshield had broken, and white clouded their visions.
Kim slipped into unconsciousness as the air bag hit her, as did Ryan. But the driver of the other car managed to call emergency services before passing out on the side of the road among the shards of glass, paint, and metal that now littered the road.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Jenn's phone buzzed on her nightstand. 'I think we have an emergency, I think we have an emergency. If you thought I'd leave, then you were wrong. Cause I won't stop holding on. So are you listening? So are you watching me?' The phone sang the beginning of 'Emergency' by Paramore as it buzzed.
Jenn grumbled sleepily, reaching for the phone. She was tempted to throw it to the ground when she saw *Kimmie* flashing across the screen, but something told her Kim wasn't just calling to talk.
A groan from next to her told her Brendon was awake as well. She sighed, and answered her phone. "Hello?"
"Is this Jenn?" An unfamiliar voice on the other end asked cautiously.
Jenn's expression suddenly changed from sleepy to alert and she rolled over and sat up. Brendon gave her a quizzical look, but she ignored it for the moment. "Speaking. Who is this?"
"My name is Dawn Rider; I'm calling on behalf of the Community Medical Center." The woman responded. The color slowly drained from Jenn's face, and she felt Brendon take her hand in his.
"Can I help you?" She gulped, afraid of what she was about to be told. She glanced at Brendon quickly, confusion and fright written all over his face.
"Who is it?" He asked quietly. Jenn held up her pointer finger, as if to tell him hold on a moment.
"You were the last person on Miss... Uhh," Jenn's breath caught in her throat as she heard the ruffling of some papers, "Larson's phone. We are calling to inform you that she is in our hospital. There was a car accident; she was brought in with another man we've yet to identify."
Jen gasped, tears stinging at her eyes. She looked at Brendon. "Ryan..." She gasped again. "Kim and Ryan." She breathed, there was a bit of a tremble in her voice. "Kimberly Larson and Ryan Ross..." Jenn finally managed to mumble. Brendon's eyes widened, and he gently took the phone from Jenn.
"Ma'am?" He asked gently, his thumb idly running over the knuckles on Jenn's hand.
"Yes?" Mrs. Rider responded calmly.
"Thank you for calling, and we will be there as soon as we can." Brendon said, trying to keep his own voice from cracking as he spoke.
"Please." She replied, her tone calm and soothing. "Do be careful. The roads are still quite wet."
"Thank you again." Brendon said, snapping the phone shut. He looked at Jenn. Her face had paled to the extreme, and she was trembling as tears silently streamed from her eyes. "Come on. They'll need us to be strong for them." He said as he scooted as close as he could and hugged her.
She broke down and sobbed into his shoulder while he calmly rubbed her back, his hand smoothing circles on the back of her t-shirt.
"Now, come on. Kim needs you by her side, I know she does." Brendon said after a moment. He kissed Jenn's forehead, and threw the covers aside, hopping off of the bed and grabbing some clothes off of the floor. He put on jeans and a sweatshirt over his boxers and t-shirt, and held up a sweatshirt for Jenn. She already had on shorts and a red The Academy Is... T-shirt.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Brendon dropped Jenn off at the door, and she practically sprinted in to the front desk. "I'm looking for Kimberly Larson and Ryan Ross." She said frantically, nearly panting.
"Take a deep breath," The woman said with a calming smile, "And go that way. Miss Larson in the last room down that wing." She pointed to her left, then looked at the papers she'd gathered once Jenn had said names. "Mr. Ross might still be in the ICU actually, he's still in bad condition." She pointed to her left again, but to behind her to her left.
"Thank you," Jenn muttered as the color drained from her face again. She took off at a quicker pace than normal walking speed, but slowed down dramatically when she remember what was waiting at the end of the hall for her: her best friend, bandaged and stitched, maybe still bleeding. She didn't want to have to see Kim that way.
She'd never seen the girl without a smile on her face, except once, maybe twice, in her entire life. And it drove Jenn to tears to see Kim cry. To see her like this? It would be hell for Jenn to stay calm.
She took a deep shaky breath as she pushed open the door. The sight that greeted her was not a welcome one. Kim was lying absolutely still in the bed, the lack of light in the room made her seem pale as a ghost, which was practically impossible with Kim's heritage. Her naturally tan skin came from being Italian.
Jenn put her hand over her mouth as she stepped closer to Kim. She felt the tears stinging at the backs of her eyes, but she struggled to not let them come. Kim had bandages wrapped around her arms, her chest was rising and falling normally, but the cut above her eye made Jenn wince. She reached out and ran her fingers gently over Kim's forehead, wiping her curly hair out of the way. The bandage, a thick pad of gauze, was taped at the edges, and reddened faintly in the middle.
She noticed as well, Kim had a bunch of tiny little scratches on her face, running horizontally under her eyes. The windshield, Jenn guessed, must have shattered before the airbags had a chance to deploy.
Jenn gulped, and picked up Kim's hand gently. It was her left hand, the one closest to where Jenn stood. She wouldn't have picked the other one up anyway, it was bandaged and wrapped in a cast; it was off white in color and lacked any sort of formalness.
She carefully played with Kim's fingers as she studied her face. She did indeed lack color. At a first glance, you'd say her face was expressionless. But Jenn knew Kim better than that, and she was looking harder. Kim was in pain, and Jenn knew it. She knew by how Kim's brow was slightly wrinkled, her cheeks and mouth and eyebrows all twitching the tiniest bit every once in a while, like she was re-living the car crash.
Jenn didn't move an inch as she heard the door open and shut behind her. She knew it could only be two people, a doctor, or Brendon.
As she felt arms slide around her waist and a chin rest on her shoulder, she knew it was Brendon. He gasped a little as he looked at Kim, the cut above her eye catching his attention first.
"Have you talked to a doctor?" Brendon whispered into Jenn's ear, afraid of waking Kim. Jenn lightly placed Kim's hand back on the bed, just now realizing the I.V. in her arm.
"No," Jenn choked out, her words sounding strangled and restricted. Brendon squeezed her for a second, then let go. She turned around and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her back, rubbing it lightly, and she sobbed gently into his shoulder.
"It's okay." He cooed. "They'll be fine; they're the two strongest people I know. Neither of them would give up on us. They'd never dream of it." He said, kissing the top of Jenn's head lightly. Jenn sniffled and pulled away from him, then turned back to look at Kim.
"Where's Ryan?" She choked again. Brendon sighed and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, then opened them and looked at Jenn.
"He's still in the ICU. He got hurt worse than Kim did. The car apparently hit on the drivers side of their car. I'm still not sure what happened yet, but I know they got hit," he paused, "Hard." Jenn sobbed again, bringing her hand to her face and wiping away her tears.
"I want to see him. Make sure he's alright." Jenn mumbled, her mind starting to haze over a little bit.
"We can't do that, Jenn." Brendon said calmly, afraid Jenn might snap at him. She didn't though, she just turned around again, the saddest look he'd ever seen gracing her face.
"Why not?" She asked, her voice small and fragile.
"Because he's still in the ICU. I promise you the doctors are watching him carefully. We can't go in because we're not allowed, Jenn." Brendon said quietly, sighing. Jenn buried her face in his chest as she hugged him. She often fell asleep listening to his steady breathing, so she thought it might soothe her.
"But I want to see him. I want to make sure he's okay. Not someone who has no idea who he is. They don't care as much as I do." Jenn whined softly into Brendon's chest.
"Jenn, sweetie, it's their job to care. They have to; it's what they do for a living. They're all people with too much good in their hearts, that's why they're doctors, and they take care of the sick and the hurt." Brendon said, hugging her back.
"Come on, we'll go sit in the waiting room." Brendon looked at his watch. "It's, like, three in the morning, and I'm sure you need sleep." He said, putting his arm around her waist and pushing her towards the hallway.
They found a sitting area at the end of the hallway, right about outside of Kim's room, and sat down on the bench. Jenn huffed as she leaned into Brendon, and he put his arm back around her.
They sat in silence for a minute, and Jenn closed her eyes, sleep calling her.
"They'll be fine, I promise they will. And we can see Ryan tomorrow." He said as she drifted off to sleep. It was a terrible sleep though, she was comfortable, because Brendon was there, but she was plagued with nightmares of the horrors of the hospital. Life and death looming together in one place could never be good, not in Jenn's opinion.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Brendon had fallen asleep not long after Jenn had, and woke up to the sun beaming through the window behind them. He smiled as he saw Jenn sleeping soundly on his shoulder, but his smile quickly faded when he remembered what he'd promised her.
There was no way of knowing if they would be able to see Ryan today. If the doctors said they could, then they could. If not, well, then Brendon would have one very upset girlfriend.
He sighed, and stretched a little bit, trying not to wake up Jenn. The longer she slept the better. She had gotten a little... odd last night. Like she was a mix of tired and confused, her mind wasn't working right. It was the adrenaline rush wearing down.
Brendon looked at his watch again. Ten thirty and the hospital was already buzzing with life. A nurse walked past, and into Kim's room. Brendon watched through the window.
The nurse buzzed around the room like clockwork, checking the I.V., re-dressing the wounds on her face and arms, checking her leg, so on and so forth. Twenty minutes later, she came out and looked at Brendon with a smile on her face.
"Are you here for Miss Larson?" She asked quietly, noticing that the woman leaning on his shoulder was asleep.
"Yes." Brendon said with a nod.
"She's awake, and asking about someone. Ryan, is it?" Brendon's eyes widened.
"There was another male in the car accident, that's Ryan, her boyfriend, my best friend. Is he alright? Is he out of the ICU?" Brendon asked as Jenn stirred beside him. She sat up and stretched as she yawned.
"Ahh, Mr. Ross. Yes, he's fine." The nurse had probably recognized Ryan, and was trying to keep her cool around Brendon, he could tell by the nervous smile on her face that she was trying to hide how giddy she really was. "He was taken out of the ICU some time last night." She said.
"Thank you." Brendon replied, and the nurse turned and left, a little extra bounce in her step causing Jenn to laugh.
"Well, they know who you are." Jenn said, kissing Brendon's cheek. "Anything on Kim?" She asked, a look of sheer concern taking over her face.
"She's awake." Brendon said with a sad smile on his face. "I'm not sure if Ryan's awake yet, but Kim is, and she's asking about him. You go and talk to her, I'll go find Ryan." Jenn nodded, and stood up, walking over to Kim's door. Brendon went off to find someone to tell him where Ryan was.
Jenn opened the door slowly, and cringed at the sight of Kim. She was indeed awake, but she looked no better than she had the night before.
"Kimmie?" Jenn's voice cracked, and she bit her lip as she walked towards Kim's hospital bed.
"Jenn! Ohmygod! I thought I died! I woke up to absolute white light, and you weren't there. I thought I went to hell, cause my best friend wasn't there with me." Kim laughed, but it wasn't her usual whole hearted laugh, it was hollow and lifeless.
Jenn cringed a little and smiled. "Even if you're nearly dying in a hospital bed, you've still got your sense of humor. And why would it matter if you were in Hell? I'd be right there with ya if you went up or down." Jenn replied with her own sad laugh.
"Good. I'll hold you to that. And how many times have I told you, I broke my pinky, and then kept playing the same game of football with my broken finger. I'm like rubber, man. I bounce back so easily." Kim said, smiling as she grabbed Jenn's hand. "Aren't you the one who's supposed to be making me feel better?"
Jenn laughed a little bit. "I guess so, but you know I'm bad at that." There was silence for a minute, then Jenn's smile faded off of her face. "Ryan was in the ICU..." She said gloomily. Kim gasped a little bit.
"Oh, no! Is he alright?" She asked, sitting up a little bit.
"Bren went to go check on him, see how he was doing. I haven't seen him yet, but I wanted to so badly last night. Just so I could tell you when you woke up that he was okay." Jenn said, sniffling back tears. She bit her lip and sniffled again.
"I hope he's okay..." Kim said quietly, not wanting to picture how bad Ryan was.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Brendon had run off to go find a doctor or nurse that could point him towards Ryan. "Excuse me," He called to a woman with a pile of papers in her hand. It was the nurse from earlier. She blushed as Brendon walked up to her.
"How can I help you, sir?" She asked nervously, shifting the papers from her right arm to her left.
"I'm looking for Ryan Ross? Can you tell me where he is?" He asked, his tone rushed.
She shuffled through the papers and stopped on one with Ryan's name printed across the top. Brendon glanced at it quickly, the charts that littered the page all showing negative data. He felt his heartbeat start to pick up speed as he realized that Ryan was, in fact, not doing well at all. "Yes, room 116, on the left down at the end of that hall." She said, pointing. Brendon barely mumbled a thank you as he practically sprinted down the hallway.
He found room 116, but hesitated to open the door. His heart was still racing, as was his mind. He didn't want to see Ryan, now that he saw those charts. But he had to, he had to be able to tell Kim that Ryan would be fine, reassure Jenn that they weren't losing their best friend, and favorite lyricist.
He gulped as he pushed the door open. He didn't see Ryan at first, there was another man in the first bed. Brendon walked quietly to the second bed, pushing the curtain aside to look in. He cringed, recognizing the brown fringe of hair that stuck out of the bandages wrapped around the head of the figure lying still in the bed. That was Ryan, a thick white bandage wrapped around his head. His hair was still covering his left eye though.
He had a bunch of cuts on his face, just like Kim did, and his right arm was in a cast, his left one had a splint around his wrist. He didn't have a hospital gown on, and you could just barely see the bandages wrapped around his chest sticking out from under the sheets. Brendon would later learn that Ryan had broken three ribs on the left side, and two on the right. He had about 300 stitches total, most of them on his chest, and he wouldn't wake up for another few hours.
Brendon just stood there in absolute shock, not believing what he was looking at. He took a step closer, looking at one of the monitors next to Ryan's bed. He had wires connected to every part of him, his arm had an I.V. in it, he had wires taped to his chest, and a breathing tube in his nose. It was hard for Brendon to look at him. It was the most disturbing site he'd ever seen, his best friend lying nearly dead in a hospital bed.
He sat down in the chair to Ryan's left as a doctor came in. Brendon didn't notice him though, not until he walked up and picked up the clipboard off of the end of the bed.
Brendon quickly stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes. "It's okay to cry, son." The doctor said as he looked over the chart. His hair was graying at the base, but it was brown otherwise, and he had very thin glasses at the tip of his nose. He pushed them up and examined the clipboard, flipping up the top page to look at the second, and through until he reached the fifth page. "Your friend is in stable condition. He's been unconscious since we got him, but he's finally breathing right, and his heartbeat is back to normal."
Brendon let out a small sigh of relief, and took a step towards the doctor. "Brendon Urie," he said, holding out his hand.
"I'm aware." The doctor replied, Brendon looked a little shocked. "My sixteen year old daughter has pictures of you bunch from magazines and the internet littering her walls. She is probably one of your biggest fans. I had to stop myself from telling her that I had Ryan Ross as one of my patients." He laughed and so did Brendon.
"Well, make sure you tell her she's Panic!'s third biggest fan, behind our girlfriends, Kim and Jenn." Brendon said.
The man took Brendon's still outstretched hand. "Connor Masters, PhD. I'm the, well, the lead doctor." Brendon smiled at him.
"Thank you, sir." He said, sitting back down and looking at Ryan. "How long will it take him to heal?" Brendon asked quietly.
"Probably a month or two, some things longer, some shorter. The ribs will take the longest. Are you aware of what happened?" Brendon shook his head. "The other driver wasn't hurt half as badly as Mr. Ross was, and he's woken up, and been taken home with no more than a broken leg and a few scratches. But he woke up and told us what happened. He was trying to stop because a tree branch had fallen in front of him, and he stopped too quickly, causing himself to spin out and careen towards the other car. Amazingly he was able to crawl out of his car and call the paramedics before he fell unconscious on the road."
Brendon gasped, wincing as Dr. Masters told him the story. "There was another person in the car with Mr. Ross, no?"
"Yes," Brendon said. "That's his girlfriend, and my girlfriend's best friend. Kimberly Larson." Dr. Masters nodded.
"She's doing well, I suppose? She wasn't hurt as badly as he was either." He asked cautiously.
"Yes, she's awake and talking to Jenn, I believe. I should go see how she is. Jenn, I mean. I know Kim's fine." Brendon said with a laugh. He sighed as he looked at Ryan, and left the doctor to do what he needed to.
His cell phone buzzed in his pocket as he let the door click shut. He pulled it out of his pocket, and hit send.
"Brendon? Where are you? I called your house like five times, why didn't you answer?" Brendon huffed again as Spencer babbled for a minute. "What's wrong?"
"Ryan and Kim are in the hospital, Spence. Jenn and I got a call last night, and we came over here." Brendon paused, but Spencer didn't respond. "Ryan's not doing so well. He's got a bandage wrapped around his head, his chest, and his arms. An I.V. and a breathing tube, plus a bunch of wires monitoring his heartbeat and his lungs." He could practically hear Spencer wince.
"Oh my god...." Spencer paused, soaking up the information. "Well what about Kim?" He asked, concern clear in his voice.
"She's better than Ryan is. A gash above her eye, her right arm has a cast. She's got an I.V. too, but she's not half as bad as Ryan is. She's awake at least, and talking to Jenn. I was just on my way to go see if they were alright, and tell them about Ryan..." Brendon's voice faded as his thoughts drifted back to Ryan.
"Brendon?" Spencer said some time later.
"What's up?" Brendon asked as he made his way down the hall towards Kim and Jenn.
"What hospital are you at? I'm coming." Spencer said.
"The Community Medical Center. Ask to find Kimmie, that's where Jenn and I will be. See you when you get here. Ohh, and uhh, do me a favor and call Jon to tell him practice is cancelled." Brendon paused. "For like, a good week or two. Ryan's arm is pretty bad, both of them actually. We can't have him playing his guitar until he's completely healed."
"Got it. See ya in a few Bren." Spencer said, and Brendon hung up his phone and entered Kim's room. The curtain around the other bed was closed, and Kim and Jenn were chatting happily, but they both froze when they saw Brendon.
He sighed sadly, and Jenn stood out of her chair. He sat down and pulled her into his lap. "How is he?" She asked as he snaked his arms around her waist.
"Not good. Not dying though. Dr. Masters, he's taking care of Ryan, said that his breathing and his heartbeat are finally normal again. But there's bandages wrapped around his chest and his head, both arms are broken, one elbow one wrist." By the look on Kim's face, Brendon though it might be nice to find a gun and shoot himself. He hated being the bearer of bad news.
"Oh my god..." Jenn breathed a minute later. "Is he awake?" She asked, already knowing the answer.
"Not an hour ago when I was in there..." Brendon said.
"Wait? An hour? Why did it take you an hour to walk back?" Kim asked, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Spencer called, and I was talking to him, and walking very slowly." Brendon said calmly, feeling a lump starting to form in his throat.
"Did Ryan look bad?" Kim asked quietly.
"He looked more peaceful than you did when you were sleeping. But, with the wires attached to his chest, and the breathing tube in his nose... Yes, he looked bad." Brendon replied solemnly. He sighed as he watched Kim silently break down. She was so worried about Ryan, she had been since the moment she was awake. Jenn stood up off of Brendon's lap as she started crying again. She paced for a moment, then settled in a spot next to Kim, holding her hand. Jenn seemed to be taking this harder than Kim was.
Brendon was about to open his mouth again when Spencer and Jon walked into the room. Spencer walked over to Kim's bed as Jon shut the door quietly. "I managed to pick up a spare on my way over..." Spencer mumbled, looking Kim over.
Jon nodded at Brendon as a silent 'hello' and stood next to Jenn. "Hey guys." He said quietly, which was odd for Jon, to be quiet. Spencer looked at him curiously and then looked to Brendon.
"Where is Ryan?" He asked, catching Brendon's attention. Jenn let go of Kim's hand and moved over to stand next to them.
"Room 116, it's down to the end of the hall, across the waiting area, and to the left." Brendon said sullenly.
"I'm gonna go with Spence okay?" Brendon nodded. Jenn smiled sadly and kissed his cheek before leaving with Spencer.
Their walk down the hall was silent until they crossed the waiting room. "So, someone called your cell phone last night, and said..." Spencer let his voice fade so Jenn could finish the sentence.
"'You were the last person on Miss Larson's recent calls list. We're calling to inform you that she's in our care, along with another male. There was a car accident, but both are in stable condition.' Basically they told me my friends were hurt." Jenn mumbled the last part, but Spencer heard it. A doctor rushed past them, off to another room to help another hurt patient.
Jenn sniffled back tears as she spotted the '116' on the door. Spencer held his breath as he opened it, not at all excited to see what lay beyond the doorway. Jenn went in first, silently crying already. The way Brendon had described Ryan wasn't pretty, looking at him surely wouldn't be.
Spencer gasped as he peeked into the curtain. He pushed it aside and Jenn filed in. She sat down on the chair to the right side Ryan's bed and clamped her hand over her mouth to stifle her crying. Spencer stood by the left side of the foot of Ryan's bed absolutely speechless. His eyes were wide as he took in the site of his best friend in the least becoming state he'd ever seen him in.
Jenn's hand found its way away from her mouth and to Ryan's hand. She didn't care if his arm was in a cast, she felt like she needed to let him know she was there. So she twisted her fingers into his, tears still streaming down her face.
Spencer sadly fingered the edge of the sheet that covered Ryan's body. His brow furrowed as he noticed the bandages on his chest, and he pulled the sheet down a little bit. He winced, looking at the red slash across the stark white bandages. Something had hit Ryan hard across the chest, hard enough that he was still bleeding. He looked up as he heard Jenn inhale sharply.
"What?" He asked quietly. "You alright?" He sniffled and wiped tears he didn't know he had away from his cheek.
"He's conscious. Ryan? Ryan, can you hear me?" She croaked, her throat sore from all of the crying.
"How do you know?" Spencer asked, looking up to Ryan's face.
"Because he's holding my hand, his hand isn't limp any more." Jenn's voice cracked again. "Ryan, its Spencer and Jenn. Please be okay, I need- we need you to be okay for us. And we're here for you..."
Spencer watched closely as Ryan's face twitched a little bit. He leaned forwards and wiped Ryan's hair out of his eye just as it snapped open. Spencer jumped a little and then laughed silently at himself. He should have been expecting that, but wasn't in the least.
"Hey, Ryan. How ya feelin' buddy?" Spencer asked, putting on his happy face for his friend. He was actually happy though; he was so relieved that Ryan was awake now.
Ryan slowly moved his head so he was looking at Spencer. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again.
"It's okay Ry; you don't need to talk right now." Jenn said softly, her voice cracking the tiniest bit. He turned his head so he was looking at her. She smiled, and he smiled back. "I'm glad you're okay. Well... As okay as you can be right now."
"Can you breathe alright?" Spencer asked. Ryan nodded. "And you're comfortable otherwise?" Ryan shrugged.
"As much as I can be." He managed to mumble with some effort.
"Shh. Don't hurt yourself, kay, Ry?" Jenn said, her voice still quiet. He smiled warmly at her and nodded. "I have to go tell Brendon and Kim and Jon that you're awake. Any messages?"
"Tell Kim I love her, please?" Jenn smiled as she stood up.
"Of course." She blew Ryan a kiss, hugged Spencer and walked out of the room.
Jenn walked back to Kim's room with a smile on her face. She opened the door slowly, and closed it behind her without sound. She walked over to Kim and leaned over to whisper something in her ear. Kim smiled widely, and squeaked. "That means he's okay?!" She squeaked. Jenn nodded, then laughed at the looks on Brendon and Jon's faces.
"Ryan's awake. He's talking to Spence right now, and I came to tell you that he's awake, and Kim that he loves her. He's too cute. Why can't you be cute like Ryan is, Bren?" Jenn asked with a laugh.
"I'm cuter than Ryan is." Brendon grumbled in protest.
"But you're not." Jenn said back, high-fiving Kim. She walked over to Brendon and kissed him. "You are, on the other hand, sexier than Ry is..." She whispered in his ear. He smirked and then turned to look at Jon.
"Come on, let's go see Ryan." Brendon said, then walked out of the room with Jon trailing behind him, leaving Kim and Jenn to talk.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"You sure you're fine?" Spencer asked for the fifteenth time in ten minutes as Ryan tried and failed to sit up. Spencer hated how helpless Ryan looked with all those wires attached to him.
"Can you move that stupid pillow so I can sit up?" Ryan asked, obviously annoyed.
"Maybe you should stay lying down. You know, with all those wires and stuff." Spencer said, and Ryan sighed before lying down, stiff as a board. Brendon and Jon had walked in just in time to hear Spencer's comment, and they laughed a little bit as they saw Ryan huff and lay back down.
"Hey, buddy." Brendon said, walking over to Ryan's bed and standing to his right side, opposite Spencer and Jon.
"Damn, Ryan. I thought Brendon was over exaggerating when he said just looking at you made him cry." Jon commented, causing Brendon to glare at him.
Ryan gave him a quizzical look. "You cried?" He raised an eyebrow at Brendon.
"Looking at my lifeless best friend laying in a hospital bed, yes, I cried. And right after I had seen my girlfriend cry because her best friend was nearly dead in a hospital bed too." Brendon kind of snapped at him. "It was not a pretty sight. If the roles had been reversed, you'd have cried too." Ryan just nodded, along with everyone else.
There was a long and awkward moment of silence that ended with Jon laughing. Everyone looked at him like he was mad, laughing in a hospital. "We should sue the guy who messed up Ryan's angelic face. There goes all of our popularity right out the window, now we've only got half of our appeal. And we all know that Brendon's not as hott as Ryan is..." He joked.
"Excuse me." Brendon said, offended. "What is it, beat up on Brendon day?"
"We're just trying to make Ryan feel better. I mean, he's the one that's hurt here." Spencer added.
"Doesn't mean you have to make me feel like nothing." Brendon shot back.
"It's okay Brendon; I know they're all liars." Ryan laughed a little bit. He waved at someone and everyone turned to see Jenn standing there.
"Why aren't you with Kim?" Brendon and Ryan asked at the same time. They gave each other a confused look, then looked back to Jenn.
"The nurse said I had to leave." She said sadly, shrugging.
"Jon said just before that we should sue the guy who messed up 'my angelic face' because now we've lost all of our popularity." Ryan said, putting finger quotes around 'my angelic face' as he spoke. Jenn laughed.
"I'd agree, but it was truly an accident." Jenn said.
"Aha, that's where you're wrong." Brendon said, and Jenn looked at him, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "This was no accident; this was a therapeutic chain of events..." He sang quietly. She laughed and rolled her eyes at him.
"Don't use Ryan's own words against him. That's like, illegal." Jenn said with a smile.
"He's right though..." Ryan commented softly, his hand on his chin in thought.
"What do you mean?" Spencer asked.
"Well, it was a chain of events. I dunno about therapeutic, but chain of events, yes. One thing caused another caused another. But if you really want to point the blame on someone, point your fingers at Brendon and Jenn. They're the ones with the party." Ryan said bluntly.
Jenn looked like she had just been slapped. "You can't honestly blame this on me." Brendon just stayed silent behind her. "It's not like you even had to go home, we invited you to stay over because the weather got bad. You're the one who decided that you absolutely had to be home. So don't point your fingers at me, point them at yourself." She didn't yell; how low her voice was made it twice as dangerous. But no matter the case, you could tell she was mad.
"Jenn, chill. He wasn't serious." Spencer commented a moment later, when he was sure Jenn's glare would burn a hole in Ryan's forehead.
She glared at Spencer for a second, then back to Ryan. "He obviously was, since he hasn't said anything to back you up."
"Jenn, babe, stop it." Brendon said, turning her around to look at him.
"Why does everyone defend him? He totally just blamed his injury on us, I back us up, and even you're on his side!" Jenn was shocked. "Ohh, forget you all." She said, breaking away from Brendon and walking out of the room.
He turned back to Ryan a moment later. "What was that all about?"
"Spencer was right, I wasn't serious." Ryan said after another moment of silence. Jon shuffled a little bit, sitting down in a plastic chair, and Spencer stood still next to him. Now the showdown had moved from Ryan and Jenn to Ryan and Brendon.
"Guys, you know, this is really a stupid thing to be fighting over. Ryan, you shouldn't have said that, and if you did, you should have said sorry. Brendon, you really have nothing to do with this, so go find Jenn and calm her down, tell her Ryan is sorry, and that you don't want them to fight." Jon said calmly. Brendon nodded, and Ryan huffed as Brendon got up to leave.
"Now, Ryan, why didn't you say anything?" Spencer asked once Brendon had left.
"I was shocked that she took me seriously. I didn't know what to say after she shot me down like that." Ryan said sadly.
"Alright, well, Brendon'll fix this, and we'll all be good. Kay?"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Come on, Jenn, do you always have to be such a drama queen?" Brendon snapped at her as he caught up to her in the hallway. He put his hand on her shoulder and spun her around so she faced him. "Ohh, Jenn." He breathed as he saw her face, tears streaming down her face again.
"I'm such a bitch. He wasn't serious, but I had to overreact anyway. And I stormed off before I actually thought about anything I said. I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to hurt his feelings." Jenn rambled.
"It's alright. Come on, say you're sorry, Ryan will say he's sorry, and we'll all be better." Brendon said as he pulled her into a hug. She cried into his chest for a minute. "Snap out of it and come on." He said as he let her out of the hug, still holding onto her shoulders. She nodded, and he let her go and walked her down the hallway back to Ryan's room.
As soon as they got in the room, Ryan snapped his eyes to Jenn. "I'm sorry Jenn!" He said dramatically, throwing his hands into the air. Jenn laughed a little bit and walked over to him. Brendon sat down in the chair sitting to Ryan's left.
"I'm sorry, too, Ry. I shouldn't have exploded like that." She pouted, sticking out her bottom lip. "Forgive me?"
"Of course!" He said with a smile, holding his arms out still.
"Aww, I love you, Ry." Jenn said, then hugged him. She pulled away a minute later and walked back over and sat on Brendon's lap. She rolled her eyes at the jealousy that was clear in his face. "Oh, chill, Bren. I don't love anyone more than you. Well, except Kimmie... But she's different." Brendon rolled his eyes and Jenn giggled and smacked his arm.
"So when do you get out of here Ryan?" Spencer asked.
"Why would they tell him?" Jon asked Spencer.
"Because he's the one stuck here. Duh," Spencer shot back.
"I think I'm here for a week, maybe less, maybe more." Ryan said, ending the glare feud between Jon and Spencer.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ryan's POV
That was two weeks ago. I've still got a little scratch on my forehead, and my wrist is still in a cast, but, besides the ribs, everything is healed. Kimmie, who got off easier than I did, is just a little bruised still, everything else on her healed nicely and quickly.
Practices have sucked for me, because I can't play yet. My wrist kills me when I move it, so I've been sitting back and watching. And the guys have been great. I can be really picky when I'm trying to fix something, and the fact that I can't show them how to do it, I can just point and say "No like that," really bothers them.
But they're great, so they cooperate nicely. I'm so glad I've surrounded myself with these people. Having friends like these guys, and girls, made it so much easier on me during this whole experience. Just knowing help was a call away was so reassuring. Knowing that someone would be there when I woke up in that hospital bed, it was the best feeling ever, however strange that may sound. But when you've got people who care about you, it makes you feel on top of the world, even at your worst moments, because you know they'll be there for you.
Anyway, Brendon is butchering my guitar chords, I've gotta go help them.
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