“Can we see him?” Nate speaks up.
The nurse gives us a kind smile and nods. “You can have five minutes. Traditionally, we let the parents in, but since they’re not here, we can allow you to go back.”
We mutter our thanks, and she points us to a sink to wash and sanitize our hands. Then we follow her down the long hallway to his room. When we get to the doorway, she reminds us of our five minutes and then opens the door.
The sound of beeping and the smell of antiseptic hits me hard, and I swallow down the three sips of water that threaten to reappear. Nate guides me to the side of the bed, and I close my eyes. When I open them and focus on Bryce, my body starts to tremble.
His beautiful face is covered in bruises and small cuts. There’s a large bandage or brace around his collarbone, and his arm is placed in a sling. I move around to the side and slip my hand in his, using my other to run my fingertips across his forehead.
“Bryce, can you hear me?” I whisper.
Nothing.
“It’s me… Devon. Nate’s here too.”
Nothing.
“Baby, you’ve been in an accident, but you’re going to be fine. The doctors are going to take care of you.”
One eyelid flutters, and I look at Nate for direction. He jerks his head for me to continue talking.
“When you get out of surgery, we’ll all be right here waiting.”
Nothing.
I take a deep breath and force down all the emotions bubbling to the surface, then lean in to kiss his bruised cheek. “Baby, I love you so much, and I need you to come through this. The minute they let me, I’ll be right here by your side.”
His fingers twitch, and the heart monitor picks up. Nate lays a hand on Bryce’s thigh and pats encouragingly.
A throat clears, and we turn to see the same nurse with Sheila and Dave in the doorway. I kiss his cheek once more and go straight to them. Nate whispers something in his ear and follows.
I don’t say anything but squeeze Sheila’s hand and pass them, going back to the waiting room. As soon as I see my parents, my resolve breaks, and I stop walking. Tears spill down my cheeks, and my dad gets to me first. His arms hold me up as I allow my fears to pour out.
After a few minutes, I straighten up and look around the room. Everyone is watching me closely with their own sadness. My eyes meet Morgan’s, and I remember our talk then suck in my cries. Mom wipes my cheeks and hands me some tissue.
By the time Sheila and Dave join us, I regain the little composure I have and go to them. The three of us hug until Dave needs to step aside and hold Sheila’s shaking body. We lead her to a seat, and Quinn offers coffee and water to everyone.
When the room seems calm, I give Nate an expectant look. He drops his head and leans his elbows on his knees then starts to explain.
“It was a freak accident. We knew one of the machines in the room was faulty, and that’s why we headed in a few days early. Bryce and my team handled our project, and we were assigning our group to this problem once we were back. The whole ship had great responses during this underway. The CO decided to close up this engine room, and we’d hit it hard next week with a whole new set of eyes.
“There were a few of us throwing out ideas, and Bryce and I decided we needed some pressure measurements and gauge response times. These were recorded by another team, but when we read through them, we knew there was a miscalculation. I was scheduled to do a test the next morning, so I headed to bed.”
He takes a deep breath and looks directly at Sheila and Dave. “That’s where the details get messy. For some reason, Bryce went by himself. Once word of the explosion spread, it was assumed it was me because we’d told a number of people I was conducting the test. The first people on the scene say Bryce’s camo was partially on fire, so they ripped it off, not reading the name. Then they got him to safety and a medic.”
“At what fucking point did they figure out it was Bryce?” Dave asks angrily. “This still doesn’t make sense.”
“Oh, don’t worry. Both our families will be getting a formal apology. My name was flying around the boat, and Tommy and Rick had the sense to come find Bryce and tell him, assuming he was asleep. When they found me instead, it was obvious there was a problem. We rushed to the med-bay and tried to get a look at the man they were working on, but I knew in my gut it was Bryce. They had assessed that he had hit his head and made the call for flight here. As soon as that decision was made, the call went to my parents.
“In less than a minute the error was realized. At the same time I was screamin
g their mistake, a tech read the removed dog tags. Then it was pandemonium. As hard as they tried, I wouldn’t leave him and insisted on being on the chopper. Usually, this would be questioned, but since they had made a massive error, the CO allowed it.”
“Jesus Christ! Massive error? What a bunch of fucking idiots,” Quinn practically screams.
I can’t help but giggle at her inappropriate yet accurate point.
Nate grins and mumbles, “Well said.”