The Next Day.
----
Mana went back to her room around MIDNIGHT and was still sleeping as the doctor finally came in with news.
Everyone was sleeping when the nurse came and got them up and ushered them into the waiting room.* The doctor was looking at his clipboard when the gang ( including the kids) rushed in, nearly knocking him over. He picked up his clipboard and pen from the floor then glanced at everybody. He took a deep breath and smiled.****
" I have good news and I have bad news." he said bluntly.
Dr. - The bad news is that Carl is still in a coma. Also, you friend Terri lost her babies. I'm so sorry. We did everything that we could to save them but she suffered a mis-carriage. The good news is she's alive and well and is gonna be okay. She should be released around the same time as her husband Erik.
The group cheered and hugged each other while crying and laughing at the same time. Julie and Jen then realized something and spoke up.
Julie - Does Erik know about this?.
Jen - Yeah and what about Terri and Mana?.
Lori - How'd they take it?.
Julie - Well, answer already!!!!.
Dr. - I'm sorry they don't know as of yet. They're both resting and we don't wanna disturb them right now. Poor girl has had a rough and long day. Her husband will know ASAP and so will she I assure you. I'm just going to wait until their strength's back to tell them and now if you'll excuse me, I have some hospital errands to run.
The doctor walked out and Mana went up to the nurses' station to see what room number her friend was in.
She headed over to Terri's room and opened the door. Terri lay asleep with all sorts of machines hooked up to her. Mana smiled. She look so peaceful. Walking in, she stayed quiet and sat by her friend's bedside, just talking to Terri even if she couldn't hear her.
Mana got up and went into Carl's room. He was still out. She then decided to walk over to JC's room. Lori was in there and Mana noticed that she hadn't been sleeping much and was crying ALOT. She didn't blame her. JC had been showing signs of improvement from what she heard at the nurses' station, but had yet still to wake up. Their baby daughter was sleeping in her mother's arms. She brought Lori some coffee, Tylenol, food, pillow, and a brush then left the room. She could hear Lori singing in the room and sighed. Mana just wanted this to be over with then everything would get back to ,well certainly not normal, but close to it anyway. Finally, she headed over to Erik's room. At first, she was hesitant, but after a few moments she pushed open the door. Taking a deep breath and composing herself, she paused again and walked to the right side of the bed and sat down beside Erik and woke him up so they could talk. Actually, Erik couldn't talk but Mana talked to him and he nodded/shook his head and squeezed her hand for signals. Mana knew he wanted to see Terri and she wanted so desperately wanted to tell him what the doctor had said but she couldn't. Erik studied her face and knew something was up. Mana said nothing hugged him and kissed him on the cheek to show friendship as she walked out.
Mana went back into her room, feeling depressed. She sighed and looked and jumped, startled. Shirley smiled at her then gave her a hug as the rest of the band said hello. Mana feebly waved hello and walked over to her bed, running her fingers over the comforter Shirley had brought her. It had the Garbage symbol on it, with pictures of the whole band, and it was pure black. Her pillows were now No Doubt ones. It had a picture of the planet Saturn and had No Doubt printed in Pink Letters. On the back was a picture of Gwen from when she performed at Spring Break 2000 in Cancun/La Vegas on TRL.
Mana - Thank you.
Shirley - No problem.
Band - Hey don't we get a thank you too?. ( Mana and Shirley laugh ).
Mana - Of course you do. Thank you.
Band - You're Welcome.
----
Sat. of next week.
Erik could have jumped for joy today. Actually he did, but he was so nervous. He was pacing like a worried father in the delivery room. Erik really wanted to see Terri but she was getting dressed and checked over by the nurse so she could be released and so he couldn't go in until his wife came out. What the both of them didn't know would shock the living daylights out of them. The doctor was worried and anxious about telling this young couple that their twin sons had died. He knew that neither would take it easily. Time seemed to go by even slower until Terri finally was done with her evaluation thing, which was annoying the heck outta her b/c she wanted to go home. She came out of the room and drew in a breath as she saw her husband and he stared back. They ran to each other and hugged each other tightly. They kissed and the doctor took a deep breath, not wanting to interrupt this tender loving moment but he had to.
Doctor - ( they share a 6 min. passionate kiss ) - I hate to interrupt but I have some bad news for you.
Erik - What is it Doctor?.
Dr. - This is very hard for me to say.......
Terri - Is it about my baby ( the doctor nods as Erik puts his arm around her waist protectively and kisses her neck ).
Dr. - You suffered a mis-carriage when Chris shot you. We tried everything we could, but we lost the babies. You had twin sons. We couldn't tell you before b/c you both were so weak, everyone was afraid you wouldn't make it if you were told of the news when it happened.
Terri - No No. It can't be true YOUR LYING YOUR LYING!!!!!!!!!!. It can't be true. I can't have lost my babies, MY SONS !!!!!!!!.
Erik pulls her close and cries too, trying to tell her it's gonna be okay and comfort her. He couldn't think of much to say. How could you comfort the woman that you love if they lost their baby or babies?. It takes time to heal the emotional scarring. Erik hugged her and rocked her as he talked to her softly and stroked her hair. The entire hospital staff had tears running down their face and had sadness in their eyes watching this poor couple lose their unborn children. Mana and the gang ( including JC who was released when Erik was since he had woken up two days earlier prior to it) came over and hugged the both of them. Jen really felt bad for them like everyone else, and all of them knew that something like this wouldn't be forgotten overnight. The nurse brought out a wheel chair for Terri but she was reluctant to get into to at first. Finally, Erik picked her up and carried her as she buried her head in his chest and cried all the way to Mana's van.
Erik had Terri sitting in his lap the whole with her head in his chest. She was spacing out and crying. Erik was doing the same but she was worse then him. Erik felt really bad that he hadn't been able to prevent Chris from shooting at her and killing their sons. He smiled at that thought. ' It would have been nice to have sons.' he sighed, looking down at his love, stroking her hair. He noticed that she had finally fallen asleep. Erik knew that it was Chris' fault neither his nor hers that babies were killed but he knew that she was enrage and depressed but too weak to do anything and Erik was worried about her.
Everyone stayed at Mana's house for the remainder of the month and 6 days more until they were all ready to go back to where they lived and try to move on with their lives and forget the Chris escapade, which wasn't going to be easy like before 4 yrs. ago.
----