Her eyes met mine, the look she gave me was dire. With the highest amount of authority, she could muster her voice carried straight to me. "Deacon, you need to lay her down."
My only response was to shake my head to deny her request.
"Deacon, listen to me right now. You have to lay her down flat on her back." Erin's voice came out stronger now. "Cassie was sent to get me, right? I can't assess Mia unless I can see her. Now lay her down as gently as possible."
It now wasn't the words she spoke that caught my attention, but the look that rested in her eyes. I had seen that look on her before.
"Erin, no. Erin, no, I just got her back. You can't ask me to be okay with this again." I sobbed aloud not caring who heard now.
Alex's POV
I had been frozen in some other place for I don't know how long. But the moment Deacon's eyes met Erin's I somehow knew.
I heard her ask him to lay her down first, then the demand, I didn't need to see the look in her eyes to know the answer to my question. It was written all over my brother's face. I grabbed Cassie and pulled her into me with so much force it knocked the wind out of her.
"Alex." She scolded me until she looked into my eyes, after that she clung to me for dear life.
In my eyes Deacon was the strongest person I had ever known. He had seen some horrible things as a child that no child should ever have to see, and never once had I ever seen him overly emotional. He had always had a way to put a straight face on and keep going. That disappeared in front of everyone in this room.
I watched as his entire body shook in fear, but it was his voice that broke me. My brother, the strongest person I would ever meet crying in front of us like this. My heart broke for him. If the look in his eyes and the pleading he was doing with Erin meant the same thing as I think it did. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wasn't just going to lose my sister, but I was going to lose my brother as well. He wouldn't make it through Mia's death and come out the other side whole. None of us would, but Deacon would lose the most of himself in this.
Please God if you're listening don't take her from him, from her children. We may not be the most righteous people in your eyes, but we try to do the right thing when possible. The only mistake poor Mia has ever made was loving us. Don't punish her for that. Punish us for not pushing her so far away from us that it made her hate us, but please don't take her from my brother.
Erin's POV
"Deacon, come on. Lay her down damnit!" I shouted loudly at him. I knew I was pushing my limits, but nothing seemed to be getting through to him.
I turned to Declan, "Get your son out of this room now. I don't care how you do, but do it now."
He turned and looked at me, fire surging in his eyes.
Right now, I could care less who they were. "Declan, he either leaves I do my job and if I'm right I can save her. If he stays here keeping her from me, I'm right she's going to die, right here in this bed and her life will be on his hands. Do you really believe seeing him right now that he can live with that and raise your grandchildren?"
Declan snarled at me, "You better hope you're right. Because if I have him pulled out of here and she dies alone without him by her side you'll rue the day you ever heard my name." He turned abruptly scanning the room. He fought himself for a few more seconds, looked back at his son who was holding his young wife and then turned back to the group that had gathered behind us. "I want this room cleared now!! Axel, Alex, Eric, Nicco get him out of here! I don't care how much he fights you. If you have to lock him in the pit so he can't barge back up here!"
I turned back to the bed just in time to watch Deacon let go of Mia's body out of shock of his father's command. I quickly moved her so that she was out of his reach and laying as flat as I could possibly get her. Fuck. She was still convulsing, this wasn't good.
Deacon's POV
I felt their hands wrapping over me. "No! No! No! I'm not going to let her go and not be by her side to say goodbye!" I bellowed loudly, but it was useless.
Before I knew what was going on around me, I had been removed from the room as had everyone else besides Mia and Erin. I heard the lock on the door click and I collapsed.
I just stayed there on my knees as everyone around me seemed to either be staring at me or were staring away from me. I looked around at the people who were surrounding me.
Alex had Cassie buried into his chest as she sobbed, Rose was again clinging to Axel as fear resonated over her entire face as she just stared at the locked door. Eric and Trisha were holding each other and praying all while crying silently. My father stood against the other wall back first as he hung his head. Nicco had found himself sitting in a corner completely alone, tears streaming from his eyes. Every face I met; they were all the same. All of us were crying for Mia and we hadn't lost her yet.
2 hours later
Deacon's POV
A couple of people had left, but most of us were still here just waiting in agony to hear something about Mia. Rose had fallen asleep on the hardwood floor, Axel's coat covering her. Alex had somehow managed to convince Cassie to go back to their room, something about she shouldn't be on her feet this long and that she needed to separate herself from all the stress for a while. The rest of us had just taken places on the floor as we waited. Now even Dimitri had joined the crowd awaiting information.
I heard the lock click, and found my way to my feet before the door opened as Erin exited looking around us all in the hallway. She looked straight at me and motioned me to come in with her.
As I entered our room again following Erin my body began to shake again from my nerves. After the door was closed and locked again, she guided me silently over to the bed to stand by Mia's bedside.
I looked down at her, she wasn't shaking anymore. She was still and looked so peaceful. My fear raised into my throat as I looked back at Erin. "I didn't get to tell her goodbye Erin. I wasn't here."
"Listen to me Deacon." She said soothingly. "Mia is sedated right now, that's why she looks like this."
I looked at her in shock. "She's not?"
"No." She replied curtly. "I'm not going to lie to you though, I had a few close calls."
"But she's going to be okay right?"
"I can't say for sure, but for this moment she's doing okay." She said calmly.
"What was that earlier?"
"That Deacon, that is what happens when trauma to the brain is missed. Sometime between the time she was taken and last night when you got to her, she received at least one if not several more blunt force hits to the head. There are several knots more towards the rear and sides of her skull. I can't tell you what she was struck with, but from what I've seen in the past these aren't from someone punching her." Erin paused before continuing. "If I had more equipment in this room, I could tell you a lot more. I am however afraid of moving her to get her down to the equipment. I don't know what triggered the initial start of the episode today, you however would."
"Dee came in, she wasn't here last night when we returned so she wasn't aware of anything. She was just being her, at first, I think Mia was honestly just startled. When Dee said about having breakfast there was when Mia well you saw."
I watched Erin as she contemplated for a moment. "Whatever that triggered in Mia's mind, it caused that seizure. I'm not going to sugar coat this Deacon. I don't know how or why that seizure didn't kill her; I also can't promise that when she wakes up that she's not going to have lasting damage from it either."
"What kind of damage are you talking about Erin?" I asked holding my breath as I awaited the answer. "And how bad could we be talking about?"
"This is a broad scale, like I said, because I feel extremely uneasy moving her right now. Should it happen again, it is probably better if she is on a softer surface such as this bed."
"What do you mean should it happen again? You're telling me that as physically weak as her body is this could happen again? Erin, I'm not a doctor by any means, but even I know her body is not strong enough to endure something like that again."
"I'm well aware of her physical condition Deacon." She retorted grimly.
"Before we continue this conversation any farther, we need to go to my office.
There are a lot of people out there who want to know if she's going to be okay or not, and I'm not going to deny them that." I said firmly, turned and started towards the door.
"Of course, but before we go, I strongly recommend that you inform her family of the current situation."
It wasn't what Erin had said that had halted my movement, but it was the way in which she said it. I turned slightly to look at her with a sideways glance. "Myself, those waiting outside this door and our children are the only family Mia has, and we're all she needs."
"Have you ever considered..."
I cut her off as I raised my hand at her. "Yes, I have fucking considered it. The reason I haven't is because Mia requested that I didn't. She doesn't want to know why they didn't want her and that's her right." I turned fully to face Erin this time. "Let me remind of something while we are in private Erin.
You work for my family. We have always taken very good care of you. You live here for free, collect a substantial paycheck every week as everyone else who does their job properly does as well. You made a request when I was young for the private medical and surgical bays that were built, my father was happy to comply.
I however am not my father. You crossed a line today when you yelled in my face in what could have very well been my wife's last moments when she would have needed to feel loved the most. You crossed an even bigger one when you yelled in my father's face telling him if Mia were to die it would be on my hands. Yes, Erin, I may have been distraught, but that doesn't mean my senses shut down. That's when they work their best. You convinced my father to clear the room of the people who love her and she that loves back dearly. You even managed to somehow even get him to have me forcibly removed from my wife's side.
Mark my words Erin, do not go digging into something when she wouldn't allow me to. You already crossed far too many lines with me. This is one even you wouldn't dare cross, and so help me if I find you did, you will see first-hand why I have been called a monster in the past.
That woman right there in my bed, she carries my last name, my families last name." I grinned down at her as for the first time in a long time I stood to full height of my 6'5" frame. "If I so much as catch wind of you ever speaking to anyone in this house the way you spoke to myself and my father today. You won't need to worry about another patient ever again, because you'll be the patient for the rest of your life. Are we completely clear?"
"Yes." She managed to squeak out as she shivered under my gaze. "We are crystal clear Sir."
"Good. Now let's head to my office." I smiled at her.
When I opened the door to step out every set of eyes rose to meet mine instantly. "We will all be gathering in my office so that Erin can give us all a full update. Alex, if Cassie wanted to be present, I would go get her."
He nodded in agreement as he went off down the hallway to their door.
In less than five minutes total we were all gathered in my office. The tension between myself and Erin very noticeable as she did everything in her power to avoid coming anywhere near me while we were waiting.
"The floor is all yours Erin." I said and gestured to the crowd.