Standing Tall

Over the course of the next day there was a never-ending parade through Rebecca’s hospital room. Zach Hill had returned as promised to pick up the paperwork to bring back to the legal department, and to make another statement to the press updating them on Rebecca and Tyler’s progress. Brayden and Lindsey had returned with Claude, Erica, Luke and Tiffany who all took turns sitting with Tyler when Rebecca needed to rest. Other members of the Flyers organization had stopped by to offer well-wishes throughout the day. But the most important visitor they had received was Gia.

After sitting with Tyler for a few hours, Rebecca had asked Scott to call her mother and have her bring Gia to the hospital. Scott cautiously asked if she was sure, and Rebecca assured him that she was fine and stated that they wouldn’t let her see Tyler in his condition. It only took half an hour for Jean to arrive with their daughter.

Seeing Gia brought a smile to Rebecca’s face, but didn’t last long once the little girl saw the bruises and casts on her arm and leg. Rebecca was sitting up in bed with Gia sitting on her abdomen, wincing every time the curious child touched the bruises on Rebecca’s face.

“Babe, hold her hands if she’s hurting you,” Scott said to Rebecca after what seemed like the hundredth time Gia had done it.

“It’s fine Scott. I’m more worried about my arm and leg…how am I going to keep up with her once we’re home?” Rebecca chuckled.

“Lucky for you, I’m home. And I’ll just have to wait on you hand and foot,” he laughed.

“Yes! Finally! So that’s all I had to do? Almost die?” Rebecca smirked but immediately frowned when she noticed that Scott didn’t seem amused at her comment. “I’m sorry…”

“Not funny babe. This is serious…we could have lost you. Tyler’s still not out of the woods yet,” he frowned.

“I know. You’ve been through so much, worrying about us, but we’re fine. I have faith that Ty will wake up and we’ll be able to go home soon. You can relax,” she said as she reached for his hand.

“I’ll relax when we’re all home and lounging on the couch watching Tyler’s favorite stupid movie,” he said as he took her hand and brought it to his lips, placing a sweet kiss on her fingers just below the knuckles. He ran his hand across the top of her head and let it rest on her shoulder, “I was scared. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life Rebecca. And I know you think I’m just being dramatic, but I really do not know what I would do if I lost you.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” she said softly as Scott leaned down and gently brought their lips together. “I love you,” she sighed as they broke apart.

“I love you Rebecca. More than you know,” he whispered while pressing his forehead to hers so that they were both looking into each other’s eyes.

Their quiet moment was interrupted by Gia pulling Scott by his ear to look at her and grabbing his face in her hands, planting a wet kiss on his lips. Rebecca couldn’t help but laugh heartily, which turned into moans as pain shot through her abdomen from the exertion of her laugh. Scott pulled Gia up into his arms and squeezed her until she squealed in delight. “Look what you did silly girl…you made Mommy have an ouchie. Give her a kiss…make it better,” he said as he held Gia in mid-air in front of Rebecca.

Gia puckered her lips and extended her arms to grab Rebecca’s head while Scott “flew” her towards Rebecca for a kiss. “Thank you baby…Mommy’s better,” Rebecca smiled.

*****************

“No, I’m not leaving you.”

“Honey come on…I’ll be fine. You need to sleep…like in a real bed.”

“No. I’m not leaving here unless we’re all leaving together.”

“God, you’re so stubborn,” Rebecca mused, “I really hope Gia doesn’t inherit that from you.”

“Look, I’m not letting you out of my sight any time soon. Better get used to it. I’ve got two months left before I even have to think about camp starting,” Scott smirked.

“You’re such a pain,” she chuckled.

“But you love me,” he smirked. “Now move your crippled butt over and make room for me,” Scott said as he pulled up the blanket on her bed and climbed in next to Rebecca.

Other than the time spent with all of their visitors, the day had been uneventful. Tyler still hadn’t woken up and Jean had taken Gia back to the house for the night by the time Rebecca was ready to sleep.

“So I’m probably going to get released tomorrow,” she said as she snuggled into Scott’s side.

“Right…” he said curious as to why she said it like that.

“Well they might as well just keep me and move my bed into Tyler’s room because there’s no way I’m leaving this hospital without my son.”

“How did I know you were going to say that…” Scott said before kissing the top of her head. “Now who’s the one who’s stubborn?”

Just as the couple was starting to drift off, Luke rushed into the room, seemingly out of breath. “Guys, we think Tyler is waking up. He’s moving.”

Without hesitation, Scott swung his legs over the edge of the bed to stand up. He crossed the room and pulled the wheelchair from the corner and brought it to the side of Rebecca’s bed. He carefully helped her into the wheelchair and once she was situated, rushed towards Tyler’s room. They passed Luke who had stopped at the nurse’s station to inform them of the development.

As they made their way into Tyler’s room they saw Tiffany standing next to his bed, with his hand in hers, and tears in her eyes. She excused herself once Scott and Rebecca entered the room, telling them that she would call everyone to let them know that Tyler was now awake. Scott pushed the wheelchair as close to the bed as he could get it so that Rebecca wouldn’t be able to try and stand like he knew she would. By the time they reached him, his eyes were open and darting around the room. Once he had seen his mother enter the room, tears began to fill his eyes.

“Baby, don’t be scared. You’re going to be alright,” Rebecca said as she took his other hand in hers. Scott patted Tyler’s shoulder with one hand and held onto Rebecca’s free hand.

“Mom,” Tyler looked between her and Scott, “what happened?”

“We were in a car accident on our way home from the mall,” she said.

“I don’t…remember…,” Tyler’s voice trailed off as he tried to recall the last thing he could remember.

“It’s alright Ty, you may not be able to for a while. The doctor said that’s normal,” she assured him.

“My head hurts,” he said as he squeezed his eyes shut.

“I’m sure it does. Just try and relax,” Scott said.

Just as Tyler was about to say something Doctor Drake a nurse entered the room. “Good to see you awake Tyler. I’m Doctor Drake. How are you feeling?” she asked as she made her way to the side of his bed.

“My head hurts. Actually my whole body hurts,” he said as he tried shifting his body.

“Unfortunately your head will be hurting for a while. We had to perform surgery on you last night to repair broken blood vessels. But it’s nothing that won’t heal in time,” she said with a smile. She glanced at all of the machines that were stationed next to his bed, making notes on his chart and nodding to herself. “Can I check your eyes real quick Tyler?” she asked as she pulled out her small flashlight.

“I guess,” Tyler responded. Doctor Drake told him to stare straight ahead while she shifted the flashlight side to side and then up and down watching for changes in his pupils.

“Okay, you’re pupils are reacting as expected but they’re still slow which means you still have a concussion. So don’t try and do anything too strenuous for a few days. Not that you’ll have a choice, because you’re not getting out of here just yet,” she said with her attempt at making a joke.

“Okay,” was all Tyler could say.

Doctor Drake turned her attention to Rebecca and Scott, “And how are you feeling Rebecca?”

“I’m alright. Tired, but I’ll deal,” Rebecca said.

“As is expected. Provided that you don't encounter any setbacks overnight, we'll release you tomorrow evening. We'll need to keep Tyler at least four more days to make sure there aren't any problems from the surgery," Doctor Drake said as she finished scribbling notes onto Tyler’s chart.

"Okay, thank you Doctor Drake," Scott said, extending his hand for her to shake.

She shook his hand and Rebecca's and said, "The nurses will be in periodically overnight to check on Tyler. I'm sure you want to stay with him, but you need your rest as well, so don't stay too long. I'll see you all in the morning."

Rebecca nodded her understanding and watched Doctor Drake and the nurse exit the room.

"I'm going to find Luke and Tiffany and tell them they can head home for the night, " Scott smiled before leaning down and placing a kiss on Rebecca's cheek. "Do not try and stand up while I'm gone," he said sternly.

Rebecca saluted his order with a smirk before he turned and walked out of the room. Scott shook his head as he walked down the corridor to the waiting area where Luke and Tiffany had made themselves the command center to inform the world that Tyler was awake. Both were on their cell phones, convincing friends and family members not to come to the hospital until visiting hours the next day, if not later.

When they were finished with the phone calls they were currently on, both hung up and waited for Scott to give them an update on Tyler.

"He's awake, but of course he's saying that his head hurts. He seems like he doesn't have any major memory loss, except he did say he doesn't remember the accident. The doctor says that's normal, to not remember the actual cause of the trauma, but it should come back eventually," Scott rambled.

Tiffany crossed the room and wrapped Scott in a hug. He squeezed her back and dropped his head onto her shoulder. In the time that he and Rebecca had been together, Luke and Tiffany were as inseperable as they were. Scott had become close to all three of Rebecca's best friends and thought of them like sisters.

In this moment he was thankful to have her there, to support him when he needed after almost three days of stress and worry. Now, he was letting all of it go, through his arms around Tiffany's body and the tears falling down his cheeks. She held him as tight as she could and ran her hand along the back of his head.

After a few moments, he straightened up and wiped his eyes before looking down at her. "I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from."

"Scott, it's alright. Obviously you needed to let it out. You've been here almost three days without a break. I'm surprised it took this long," Tiffany smiled gently.

"Yeah. I guess. I'm just thankful that they're both going to be getting better and come home with me. You have no idea how worried I was that one, or both, wouldn't be," he said as he shoved his hands in his pockets and crossed the room to the windows.

Luke followed him and put his hand on his shoulder as he stood next to him. "Well, it's almost over. Now it's just a waiting game until they can leave."

"Exactly. And speaking about leaving," Scott turned around to look at them, "you guys can head out. I'm sure Rebecca is trying to convince the staff to roll her bed into Tyler's room as we speak so that she can sleep in there with him. Thanks for keeping an eye on him...all of you. We appreciate it."

"We're family. It's what we do, " she smiled and stood up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "We'll be back tomorrow afternoon."

"Alright. See you then," Scott said, hugging her again before pulling Luke into one of those man-hugs that they always share.

Scott watched Tiffany and Luke wrap their arms around each other's waist and walk towards the elevators. He couldn't help but wish that they could go back to the last time they were all together, celebrating Tiffany and Luke's engagement, instead of in this hospital worrying if Rebecca and Tyler would be alright.

He took a few moments to himself before heading back to Tyler's room.

**************

"How long have we been here?" Tyler asked his mother.

"Almost three days. I woke up last night while you were in surgery."

"How...the accident..." Tyler tried to ask.

"Apparently we were hit by a drunk driver on the way home from the mall. You were driving...do you remember driving?" she asked noticing the confused look on his face.

"No, I can't..." he rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes hoping to see anything about how they ended up in the hospital on the backs of his eyes.

"It's alright sweetie. Don't try and force it. It'll come back eventually. But maybe it's better that it doesn't," she said as she placed her hand on his.

"I just...I can't remember..." Tyler tried desperately to process what was going on, but with the pounding in his head it wasn't working.

"Just try and rest. There's no rush. We're going to stay here until the doctor says you're able to go home. Don't worry about trying to remember the accident," she responded.

"No mom, it's not that," Tyler paused, "what is....why is..."

"What baby?" Rebecca asked after seeing confusion on Tyler's face.

"Why is Scott Hartnell here? And why did he kiss you?"

Rebecca sat stunned at the questions Tyler just asked. Could he really not remember Scott and that he's a part of their lives?

Just as she was going to ask that very question, Scott returned with a smile from ear to ear. He was so happy that they were going to be alright, how could she bring him down off that cloud?

Scott noticed her demeanor and asked, "Everything okay?"

"Ummmm, can we talk outside?" she asked. "Ty, I'll be right back."

Scott crossed to her and pushed the wheelchair she was sitting in out of the room into the hallway. When they were outside the room and he had found a bench to sit on so that he could be eye level with her, Scott asked, "What happened babe?"

"I'm really sorry...." she sighed.

"Sorry about what?"

"Tyler doesn't remember you. Well, he knows you....because you're Scott Hartnell, Philadelphia Flyer....but he doesn't remember you, my husband," she said as she hung her head and fidgeted with the robe she was wearing over her hospital gown.

"What?" Scott asked in disbelief.

"While you were gone we were talking about the accident and he said he couldn’t remember. I thought he meant he couldn't remember the accident, but he said that wasn't it. And then he asked why you were here...and why you kissed me," she said, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to stream down her cheeks.

Scott placed his hands on her knees and leaned closer to her. "It's going to be okay. Maybe it's just because he just woke up. Let's just wait to see what Doctor Drake says when she comes back tomorrow. Let's not worry until she says there's something to worry about."

He brought his hands up to her face and gently placed them on her cheeks before pressing his lips to hers. "I love you. And I love Tyler. Everything will be okay. I promise. I'm going to go let the nurses know what's going on so they can let Doctor Drake know. I'll be right back," he said as he stood up and headed for the nurses station.

Rebecca couldn't believe this was happening. Why did this have to happen to them? Everything was perfect. They were happy. Now there was a possibility that Tyler wouldn't remember any of it.