Best Thing In Town

How ironic was it that Pearl Jam's 'Last Kiss' was playing in the hospital waiting room? A song about a car accident happening on a rainy night and the guy losing the girl. Not exactly the kind of song Mike wanted to hear. In fact, he didn't want to hear anything. He'd give his broken, left arm for the resounding silence he craved. He felt hollow, zombie-like, depressed. He was still in shock with what had happened, just sitting by himself in the waiting room with a cast on his arm, stitches and babdages here and there. He's head was sore, as was his chest. He knew he had horrible bruises on his face and body from glancing at himself in the bathroom mirror. The same place he'd punched his right fist into the wall until he saw blood.

Someone who had walked into the bathroom in the midst of Mike's physical outburst on himself was able to pull the bassist away from the wall and lead him out of the bathroom to get him fixed up again. And now he was more or less calm. But only in the sense that he was unmoving. His mind was another story. Raging with anger, fear, grief, confusion, hate...

To look into his blue eyes was almost as if looking into an empty wine glass. Devoid of emotion. Just...empty.

The ding of the elevator from down the hall and around the corner was too far away to reach Mike's ears. Stepping out in a sort of panic, was Billie Joe and Adrienne, followed by Joey, Jakob, Katarina and Audrey's grandma who was carrying little Lorelei in her arms. Billie Joe seemed the most calm out of the group, with the exception of the kids who were more or less oblivious to the seriousness of what was going on. He spotted Mike in the waiting room almost immediately and rushed up to his best friend, sinking into the seat beside him.

Adrienne had to cover her mouth to keep from advertising her shock at how banged up Mike looked. She touched her hand to Gloria's shoulder, both women feeling the same wave of emotion wash over them.

"Mike, man, we got here as soon as we heard," Billie Joe began. "How ya holding up?" The younger man didn't respond, which caused the lead singer to frown with worry. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"Sh-she was right beside me," Mike mumbled finally. "She was putting her seatbelt back on...and...but he just hit us...a-and I heard her scream, but I--"

Billie Joe patted his friend's back and wrapped his arm soothingly around Mike's back to pull him in for a supportive hug. "It's alright, man. I'm here for ya. We're all here for ya."

Gloria was crying hard now so Adrienne took Lorelei from her so the older woman could sink down into a chair across from Mike to put her face into her hands and cry away. Katarina looked so confused, not knowing why her great grandma was so sad. She didn't know what was going on either. Billie Joe had simply told the kids in the car that Mike and Audrey had been in a car accident and it wasn't good.

"Have they said anything?" Adrienne wondered.

Mike shook his head. "They won't tell me anything. Probably because they think I'm unstable as it is right now." He lifted up his bandaged, right hand. "This wasn't from the accident, if you catch my drift."

Being the concerned friend he was, Billie Joe gave Mike a hug and kissed him on the temple. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go see what's up, 'kay?"

Mike gave a simple nod as Billie Joe stood up. He gave his wife a nod and walked by her and out of the waiting room to the nurses' station where he slammed his palms down on the counter and pursed his lips and gave a stern glare.

"Yes?" the nurse behind the desk question. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, you know, you can. I'd like to know why the fuck no one around here has the goddamn balls to tell my friend what's happened to his wife? He's sitting over there in your fucking waiting room, not knowing if his wife is alive or dead!"

"Sir, could you please lower you voice and watch your language? There's children over there."

"I know there's kids over there. They're fucking mine. Now do everyone a favor and go get me a doctor who knows something." The nurse scowled and stood up. "I can scowl, too. Your's ain't gonna stop me from finding out what I need to know. Go ahead. Go on." He glared right back at her until she got up and walked away to hopefully find a doctor.

Billie Joe sauntered back up to the others in the waiting room, placing his hand on the small of Adrienne's back.

"What'd they say?" she asked.

"I had a nurse go find a doctor or someone who knew what was up." He glanced down at Mike who leaned forward and mirrored Gloria's actions by resting his head in the palm of his bandaged, right hand and began to sob. Billie Joe's heart broke for his friend. It was horrible to keep a distraught man in the dark about the love of his life. If someone were to do that to him about Adrienne, he'd fucking snap.

Katarina bit her lip and walked up to Mike and patted his shoulder with her small hand. He sat up and tried to smile at her through his tears. When she saw him crying, it made her cry too because it was confusing her. Why was her daddy so sad? Where was her mommy? Mike opened his arms and brought Katarina in for a hug. She pressed the side of her face against his chest and hugged him as tightly as her arms would allow.

"It's okay, daddy."

Mike let out a mix between a sob and a laugh just as a doctor stepped up beside Billie Joe and looked down at Mike.

"Mr. Pritchard?"

Mike lifted his head and looked up at the doctor with weary eyes. "Uh, yeah." He moved Katarina away as he stood up with a slight limp.

"I'm Dr. Kuperan, and I'm aware you're concerned about what's happened with you wife."

"No shit, Sherlock," Billie Joe mumbled before Adrienne slapped him across the chest with the back of her hand.

"Y-yeah, I am. No one will tell me anything and it's driving me crazy. What's happened to Audrey?" He lowered his voice and took a wobbly step closer to the dock. "Is she even alive?" His voice trembled, holding back a sob. It killed him to even ask that out loud for fear of the answer.

Dr. Kuperan placed his hand on Mike's shoulder and began to pull him away from the others so they could chat semi-privately. The doc took a deep sigh and frowned which didn't make Mike feel any better.

"So...what's the good and the bad news?" Mike wonder impatiently.

"Well, the good news is not completely good," Dr. Kuperan began. "Audrey's alive. But just barely. When your car was hit at that impact, she was thrown through the windshield headfirst. She was left on the pavement as your car skidded across the road and flipped over. She's suffered severe trauma to her head..."

"Yeah, and?" the bassist nervously pestered. "What's the bad news?"

"She's lost the baby," Dr. Kuperan responded. He expressed his sympathy by way of grim expression as Mike seemed to crumble at that moment. "And--"

"And what?" Mike cut off, looking the doctor in the eye. What else could be wrong?

"Audrey's in a coma. And it doesn't look good, Mr. Pritchard. There's a possibility she'll never wake up. She could stay in a coma for days, weeks, months...even years. Or...there's the likely possibility of death," Dr. Kuperan explained. "I'm terribly sorry."

"Oh God..." Mike gasped. "Oh God, oh God..."

"I took the liberty of placing her in a private room and see that you can visit her shortly."

With that the doctor walked away, leaving Mike to nearly collapse to the floor. Billie Joe turned when he heard the thud. Mike was kneeling on the floor, hunched over and covering his head with his hands, crying as quietly as he could.