Thursday's Child

tobebroken

Piper doesn't know where she is when she wakes up. She's in pain and she's dazed. Her eyes slowly take in the room and she doesn't quite register where she is until she goes to sit up and gasps in pain, letting her body fall back onto the bed. She glances down at her right arm and takes in the blue cast on her wrist. Hesitantly, she reaches up with her left arm and touches her forehead, feeling the gauze taped on the left side. Then it all comes back to her.

"Daniel," she whispers in horror, pushing her injuries to one side. He was in the car with her. Without thinking of much, she pulls back the sheet that covers her and begins yanking any and all wires that connect her to the machine next to her. After she pulls the needle out of the back of her hand, she swings her legs over the side of the bed and goes to stand only to fall to the floor as pain shoots up her legs.

A nurse comes rushing over. "Miss Clinton, you're not supposed to be out of bed," she frets, helping Piper up and guiding her back to the bed.

"No, I have to get to Daniel," she mutters, trying to get away from the nurse. "Where is Daniel?"

The nurse manages to get her back in bed and starts wiring her up again. "You should have buzzed when you were awake. It's really not good for you to be out of bed," the nurse says. Piper just leans back against the pillow.

"I just hurt and Daniel, where's Daniel?" Before the nurse can try and make sense of the words, Taylor comes back from the vending machine. When he sees that Piper's awake he rushes over to the bed.

"You're awake," he says in relief and she barely nods. "God, Piper, you scared me. I got a call from your work saying you had just left in a hurry for an emergency and then the hospital calls because you were involved in an accident." He looks to have tears in his eyes and she doesn't quite know why because she's alive, isn't she? He always did overreact with things.

The nurse, content that she's back in bed and now with someone to watch over her, informs them that she's going to get the doctor and will be right back. She then leaves them alone and Piper looks at Taylor.

"Where's Daniel?" she whispers.

He furrows his eyebrows. "Daniel?" he questions and then realisation dawns in his eyes. "Oh, he was the driver, wasn't he? They wouldn't tell me anything because I'm not family."

She doesn't say anything more because she doesn't know what she could say. She knows that she was in a car accident with Daniel, and she knows that it's probably her fault that they crashed, but she couldn't remember what happened before then. Her left arm rises and rubs her forehead a bit, trying to see whether it could help clear her mind so that she could remember what she wasn't. Why was she in a car with him? Where were they going? Did he forgive her? The last one she doesn't think could be true, but then how did she get in the same car as him?

The doctor comes in shortly after and greets both Piper and Taylor. "How do you feel, Miss Clinton?" he asks, picking up the clipboard from the end of her bed and looking through it. He then glances back up at her.

"I don't know. Where's Daniel?" she asks desperately, hoping that someone could answer her question. "He was the driver, dammit! Where is he?"

Looking between the two of them, the doctor looks at the clipboard one last time before placing it back down. "I'm sorry but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The impact with the steering wheel caused internal head injuries, and by the time anyone had arrived at the scene, it was too late," the doctor tells her sombrely. "I'm so sorry for your lost."

She looks at him for a moment, trying to think of why he would lie to her. Daniel couldn't be dead, that's absurd. "You're lying," she whispers, blinking away her tears. "He's not dead. Daniel's not dead!"

The doctor looks between Piper and Taylor. "I'll be back later to check you over," he says before slipping away. It's just in time because as he leaves, Piper starts crying heavily.

"He can't be dead, he just can't!" she bawls, unable to keep herself together. Taylor pulls her into his arms, holding her close and trying to comfort her. They don't stay like that for long because she pushes him away before pulling her knees to her chest, despite the pain, and wrapping her arms around them, slowly rocking on the bed.

"It's all my fault," she whispers, her eyes wide. "I killed Daniel. How could I? How could I? How could I?!"

Taylor reaches for her. "Piper, you didn't kill Daniel."

Her tears just slowly fall down her cheeks. "He can't be dead. Not now, not Daniel."