One Wild Night

Marissa spotted her father and broke into a run. "Dad!"

He looked up and somehow managed a smile. He stood as she reached him. She hugged him, sandwiching Jacob between them. "How is she?"

"No change." Mr. Wolf's attention shifted past her. "Hi, Brian."

"Hello, Mr. Wolf."

"What happened, Dad?" Marissa demanded.

"Your mother had been complaining of a headache for most of the afternoon," he told her. "It had gotten really bad, so she was going upstairs for a long hot bath. I heard a sound and went up to check on her. She was laying on the floor, breathing but unresponsive." He took a deep, ragged breath. "She had an aneurysm."

Marissa's breath caught in her throat.

"The doctors are doing everything they can," Mr. Wolf added. "I gave them permission to do whatever they think is best."

"Shh, it's okay." Brian slipped his arms around Marissa and held her against him. "She'll be okay."

Marissa snuggled into the comfort he was offering. Mr. Wolf slumped down in the nearest chair with Jacob on his lap. There was nothing they could do now, except wait.

"I need a cigarette," Brian murmured eventually, pulling away.

"I'll come with you," Marissa said. She looked at her father. "Will you be alright, Dad?"

Mr. Wolf nodded. "I'll call you if I learn anything."

"Do you want us to take Jacob?"

"No. He's good company."

Brian linked his fingers with Marissa's and led her out of the waiting room. They found the nearest exit. Marissa wasn't surprised that they were alone on the sidewalk. The temperature had dropped noticeably in just the time since they'd left her apartment.

She watched her breath hang in the air for an instant before fading away. She remembered being little and pretending like she was smoking, imitating the actions of her mother. Then, she remembered crying and begging her mom to stop smoking after her grandfather developed emphysema and passed away.

"Marissa."

Her eyes flicked to Brian's face. "Don't tell me that everything's going to be fine. She had an aneurysm, Brian! Those usually result in death."

"But she's not dead," he pointed out.

"If she survives, she'll probably suffer brain damage." Tears glittered in Marissa's eyes. "That's a fate worse than death for her. She's not scared to die, but the idea of losing her mental capacities terrifies her. She can't stand the idea of not recognizing her loved ones."

"I'm sorry," Brian said, his sympathy evident. "I wish I could change all of this."

"Me, too." Marissa shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket and stared off into the distance, not really seeing it. Her mind was blessedly silent and she was numb, for the moment. "Thank you," she murmured. "For being here."

"You're welcome."

He finished his cigarette and they returned to the waiting room. Nearly forty-five more minutes passed before a doctor approached them with news. He introduced himself as Dr. Perry.

"We stopped the bleeding," he announced. "We performed a coil embolization, which went very well. She's not awake yet, but that's not unexpected. However, we won't know if she's going to have brain damage until she regains consciousness."

"Can we see her?" Marissa asked.

"They're moving her to a bed in the ICU. A nurse will come for you as soon as she's settled."

"Thank you, Doctor," Mr. Wolf said.

Dr. Perry flashed a professionally detached smile and walked away. Mr. Wolf exhaled a long, shaky breath. Marissa retreated deeper into the numbness, hoping that she wasn't going to lose it.

"Mr. Wolf?" A nurse appeared in the doorway of the waiting room. She saw Marissa and addressed the two of them: "Y'all can see her now."

Marissa instinctively looked to Brian, but he offered to take Jacob and insisted that she needed to be with family right now. "I'll be right here when you get back," he said, touching her cheek briefly.

Mr. Wolf led the way to the intensive care unit. A few people glanced at them, but no one stopped them. Marissa's hands were balled into such tight fists that her nails were cutting into her palms. Her heart was pounding with fear.

Mrs. Wolf was in the last bed at the far end of the room. Her skin was pale and her dark hair, liberally streaked with gray, was spread across the pillow. A thick white bandage was wrapped around her head, and they'd had to shave a swath at the point where the procedure had become invasive. Marissa stared at her for several seconds, realizing for maybe the first time that her mom had begun to look old.

Marissa's jaw tightened as she fought the tears threatening to fall. She reluctantly walked right up to the hospital bed. "Hi, Mom," she whispered. She brushed a stray strand of hair from her mom's cheek and took the older woman's hand in hers.

Mr. Wolf pulled a spare chair to the bedside and sank into it.

Please, God, let her be okay, Marissa begged silently. It's much too soon for you to take her. We're not ready for her to go. Tears spilled and Marissa kept her head lowered, her hair hiding her face from her dad. She had to be strong for him. Her mom was all her dad had in this world, and Marissa was determined to keep the hope alive for him. She'd break down on her own, in private, later.

Briefly closing her eyes, Marissa willed the tears away. She needed to be positive, like Brian had tried to be before she'd snapped at him. It was going to be fine. Everything was going to be okay. Please, let everything be okay.

She risked a glance at her father. He was gazing at Mrs. Wolf with an expression of such love and fear of loss that Marissa's heart ached. She had to say something.

"She'll pull through, Dad. She's healthy and strong. She won't go out like this."

Mr. Wolf gave her a weak smile. "Of course not, sweetheart." But there was more than a hint of defeat in his voice; the words had been spoken to humor Marissa, not because he truly believed them.

"Don't give me that bullshit, Dad!" Marissa's tone was harsher than she'd intended it to be, but she was scared, too, damn it. "You've already got her dead and in the ground, or waking up and being a completely different person because of the damage to her brain. God! What is wrong with you?"

"Marissa, honey, in case you hadn't noticed, we're not as young as we used to be," Mr. Wolf said soothingly, not even reacting to her anger. He was familiar with the trait--after all, she got her tendency to lash out from him.

"I don't care!" Marissa exclaimed stubbornly. "Age doesn't matter! She's still the strongest person I know."

Marissa suddenly recalled Jimmy saying the same thing about her. I have to tell him that I inherited my strength from my mom. Oh, God. Mom. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying.

"I guess we'll find out when she wakes up," Mr. Wolf commented, and his unspoken if stretched between them.

Marissa squeezed her mom's hand. Please wake up, Mom. Wake up and be okay. Show Dad how strong you are. You know how much you love proving him wrong. Please...prove him wrong.

****

"Marissa?"

Marissa's eyes opened. It took a second for her brain to catch up with her senses, and when it did, her neck throbbed in protest. She lifted her head from the back of the chair, on which she was curled up like a cat. Her entire body ached.

Stretching out her legs, she squinted at Brian against the glare of the fluorescent lights. "What time is it?" she asked through a wide yawn.

"Ten in the morning."

She frowned. "Where's Jacob?"

"Your Aunt Irene has him." Brian lowered himself into the chair on her left and offered her the bag in his hand. It was from Dunkin' Donuts, and Marissa's hunger stirred at the heavenly scent emanating from inside.

"My family's here?" she pressed, plucking some glazed pastry thing from the depths of the bag and biting into it. She moaned. "God, that's good."

Brian smiled. "Uh, yeah. Your dad's brothers and their wives and...a couple of cousins?" He shrugged his broad shoulders. "I don't know who everyone is."

Marissa nodded. "Since that's all we have left, I'd say you are correct."

He glanced at her. There was a question in his brown eyes; however, he didn't voice it, and Marissa wasn't really up to elaborating. Maybe later when they weren't in a hospital with her mother unresponsive in the ICU.

"I could really go for..." Her voice trailed away as Cameron, her favorite cousin, entered the waiting room with a steaming cup in each hand. Catching her eye, he grinned and lifted one of the cups slightly to let her know it was hers. "Bless you," she said. "You are truly an angel, Cam."

Chuckling, he handed her the cup. "The people in the other waiting room looked at me like I was an addict because I just kept pouring sugar and creamer in there."

The coffee in Marissa's cup was almost white. She sipped it, and the sweetness combined with the caffeine brought her more fully awake.

"Damn, Marissa," Cameron said, taking the chair on her right. "Dad putting bodyguards on you now?"

She laughed. "No. This is my, um, Brian. Brian, this is the best cousin ever, Cameron."

Cameron reached across Marissa to shake Brian's hand. "I'm the original bodyguard. I helped her brother protect her for the first, oh, eleven years of her life." He attempted to ruffle Marissa's hair affectionately and almost got an elbow in the nose for his trouble.

She rolled her eyes and, her words muffled because her mouth was full of pastry, she explained "Brian is Jacob's father."

"Ah," Cameron murmured in understanding. There was a short pause, then he let out a snort of amusement. "Has Sasha met him yet?"

Marissa smirked. "I don't think so. Is she here?"

Cameron shook his head. "Not yet. The last we heard from her, though, she was on the way."

"Great," Marissa muttered. "Just what I need."

"Sasha is another cousin," Cameron informed Brian, who had been following the conversation with a politely quizzical look on his face. "She is the most stuck-up individual on the planet--"

"In the universe," Marissa disputed.

"--in the universe," Cameron amended. "She'll probably peg you as an alcoholic womanizer as soon as she lays eyes on you. Possibly an atheist as well."

"Hmm, she'll be two for three," Marissa said teasingly.

Brian pointed a finger at her in warning. "Hey, now! If I wasn't afraid I'd get a lap full of hot coffee, you'd have to pay for that comment."

Marissa widened her eyes innocently. Brian laughed softly.

"Marissa!"

Marissa, Brian, and Cameron all looked up at the dramatic exclamation and the click-clack of heels. Sasha was crossing the room, her expression appropriately sympathetic. She swooped down in a cloud of some expensive perfume and enveloped Marissa in a hug.

"Have y'all heard anything?" she inquired, drawing back and peering at Marissa from just inches away.

"No," Marissa replied.

"Hi, Cam," Sasha said, giving him a brief smile.

Cameron responded with a sarcastic little salute. Sasha's gaze flicked to Brian and there was a slight tightening of the skin around her eyes. Disapproval was a practically visible emotion coming off of her in waves. "Hello. And you are?"

Brian stuck out a hand. "I'm Brian, Marissa's baby daddy."

Cameron was suddenly struck by a coughing fit that Marissa was positive was hiding his laughter. She herself had almost inhaled half her coffee down her throat at Brian's words.

"Nice to meet you," Sasha said stiffly, letting go of his hand with noticeable haste. She bent to peck Marissa on the cheek. "I'm going to talk to the others and see if they've learned anything new." She bustled from the room.

"Yeah, because we'd just be sitting here if the doctors were actually telling us stuff," Marissa drawled.

"Wow," Brian said, shaking his head.

"I don't know why she doesn't like your tattoos, Brian," Cameron remarked, finally in control of his breathing again. "I mean, look at all the pretty colors!"

Marissa laughed and swatted at Cameron. "Stop it!" she scolded.

"Oh, fuck!" Brian swore, making both Marissa and Cameron stare at him. "Sorry," he said. "I just realized we need to go save our son. I don't want him around that woman."

"Marissa!" The shout preceded her Aunt Irene's appearance in the doorway.

Marissa, Cameron, and Brian were on their feet in a flash. Marissa's adrenaline spiked as fear washed over her in an icy wave, but then she saw that her aunt was smiling with tears in her eyes.

"Your mom is awake," she announced. "And she knows your dad. It looks good, baby. Real good."

Marissa would have literally collapsed with relief if Brian hadn't been supporting her. "Can I see her?"

"Yes!" Irene reached for Marissa, curving an arm around her shoulders and steering her towards the intensive care unit.

Marissa was barely aware of her extended family milling around outside the doors to the ICU. Irene hung back with them and Marissa continued forward alone. At the end of the room, through the curtain, she found her dad leaning over the bed, holding her mom's hand.

"Dad?" Marissa said, her voice trembling.

Mr. Wolf raised his tear-streaked face. He was smiling. "Hey, sweet." He turned his attention back to Mrs. Wolf. "Marissa's here, honey."

And Mrs. Wolf's green eyes opened. She focused on Marissa. A tired smile quirked the corners of her mouth. "Hey, baby."

"Hi, Mom." Laughing and crying, Marissa joined her dad, who wrapped his free arm around her and hugged her to his side.