The Only Exception

Madeline just stared at Leanne. The way she said it was so vindictive. Like, I’m nothing like you. I didn’t abandon my kid. And the look in her eyes, was fire and ice.

“That’s…”

“Don’t come near us.” Leanne said, and fighting the tears that wanted to fall, she stood and walked away from the table. She walked out of the restaurant and to her car. Once she was behind the wheel she started the engine and backed out. She burned rubber as she pulled out of the parking lot. She didn’t know where she was going but she had to get the fuck away from there. Her heart was beating fast and she couldn’t breathe evenly. She tried to take calming breathes, but couldn’t. And she stopped at a light and turned her stereo on and turning up the CD that was in her player. Not knowing what the hell it was. And she briefly spared the system a glance as Number Seven With A Bullet played. She just turned it up and let it blast as she pushed the gas pedal down and blew through the intersection like a bat out of hell, as soon as the light turned green.

Everything passed by in a blur as the song changed, and she drove fighting the urge to scream. However she was taking a turn too fast, and lost control of the vehicle and she swerved, and then hit the guard rail, and the car ended up flipping. She barely had time to scream, before she lost consciousness.

----

Brian was sitting talking to his parents as he waited for Leanne to come home.

“Are you okay son?” Brian asked looking at him.

“Yeah, I’m just a little on edge, I think we all are. With Lea finding out about her parents, and then of course you’ve got Jes and Matt on edge with Leila and her being so early, and everyone anticipating the birth of Sascha because Summer just can’t shut up about it. It’s nerve racking when you add it all together.”

“It’s life. But I meant is everything okay with you and Lea?”

“Yeah, we’re happy, we’re actually thinking of once Aaron’s a little bit older…” Brian dropped off talking and grabbed the phone from the charger it was sitting on beside where he was sitting. “Hello.”

“Is this Brian Haner? I’m calling from Huntington Beach Memorial Hospital. We have you wife, Leanne…”

“Lea…” Brian barely breathed the word. “Is she okay?”

“She’s in ICU. She was in a car accident.”

“Oh god… I’m on my way.” Brian hung up the phone and moved from the room, not a word to his parents. He quickly changed and pulled on shoes and without thinking grabbed Aaron’s diaper bag and was back downstairs, grabbing his keys and lifting his son into his arms.

“Son…” Brian Senior asked

“Lea… she was in an accident. I have to…I have to go.” And with that he was out the door.

----Leanne’s Point of View----

Where the hell am I? Everything hurts and I can’t move. Why can’t I move? Oh god am I dead?”

“She’s been out of it since she arrived, her vitals are strong. We’re hoping she wakes up in the next twenty four to forty eight hours.” Am I in a coma? What the hell is going on? And who the hell was that? I want…

“How bad are her injuries?” Brian asked. Lea wanted to scream that she was fine, but couldn’t.

“Surprisingly enough, they’re minimal. We think that it’s the shock of the accident that affected her the most. And the drugs are just keeping her under at the moment. Things are definitely looking good for her though. She has a clean medical history so like I said, it looks good.”

“Thanks.” Brian said and with Aaron in his arms, he walked over to the bed where his wife lay. He reached down and touched her hand.

I’m fine! It’s what I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to reach up and touch his face and tell him I was fine. And then I heard Aaron. Oh my baby! Was all I could think. They needed me. I had to wake up for them. I wanted to hold my son, be wrapped in my husbands arms.

“I love you Leanne. Oh god, baby I need you!” I wanted to cry, I could hear it in his voice he was going to cry, and this was Brian, he never cried. Okay, so that was a lie, he had let a few tears fall the day that Aaron had been born, but that was to only be expected, I had just made him a father. Now, he was crying because I was in the hospital.

“How is she?” I heard her voice and immediately wished I could tell him who she was. That she was the reason for this.

“Who are you?” I smiled as I heard the immediate defense in his voice. I think he knew who she was.

“I’m Madeline, I heard she’d…”

“You’re here mother.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. He knew where I had been.

“Yes.”

“Get out.” I wanted to tell him thank you, scream it at him but I couldn’t.

“I…” I heard her stumble over the words and heard, him shift, and put the baby back in his carrier and on a chair.

“Leave, leave my wife alone, leave our family alone. She doesn’t need you. No matter how much you think she does. She’s made it this far without you. She has the family she made for herself. I don’t ever want to see you’re face again.” I could hear the hardness in his voice and knew, he wasn’t stupid because there was no way in hell he hadn’t figured out just what was going on. A moment later I felt him sit on the edge of the bed and take my hand. I wanted to curl my hand around his, and more than that I wanted to reach up and wipe away the tears I knew were falling down his face. A moment later I felt a tingling sensation in my hand and tried to scratch the inside of my palm with my finger. My finger moved a fraction and I felt him move from the bed. And heard him call for a doctor before coming back to me and telling me I needed to wake up, that he and Aaron needed me. That he loved me.