DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Never were. Not making any $$. Don't HAVE any $$. Don't sue.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SPOILERS: All.
Shattered Hearts
By Aeryn Sun
16
Spencer looked at the disapproving expression on her mother's face and silently kicked herself. The last thing she wanted was to have to explain the whole ugly, dirty mess to her mother when Ashley was lying somewhere possibly dying.
"Fine," Spencer sighed again knowing that she had no choice but to tell. "A few weeks ago these girls, Denise and some friends of hers, confronted me in the girl's locker room after school. They kinda banged me around a little until Ashley showed up and chased them off."
"WHAT? And you didn't tell us?" Paula roared.
"She told me, Paula," Arthur spoke up. Paula glared at her husband.
"And you didn't tell me that this was going on?" Not wanting to see her parents fight over what was over and done with, Spencer spoke up again.
"I asked him not to, Mom. I knew that you'd get all upset and call the school or something and I was hoping that it would just stop. I didn't tell Dad that Denise was still bothering me. The only people who knew that until today were Aiden and…Ashley."
"OK, I'm not even going to think about the fact that you and my husband have been keeping things from me, Spencer," Paula said, obviously angry. "So tell me why this Denise girl was bothering you in the first place."
"She used to be on the cheerleading squad, Mom," Glen explained for his sister. He could see how tired and upset Spencer was and wanted to do what he could to take the pressure off of her. "Madison says that she threw her off the squad because Denise was stalking her or something."
"What does that have to do with your sister?"
"She blamed me for Madison being so angry," Spencer took over for her brother. "It was around the same time that I became friends with Ashley and she'd show up to cheer practice and it pissed Madison off. She and Ashley hate each other so Madison didn't want her around. She threw Denise off the team right before I quit."
"So Denise blames you and Ashley for being booted from the squad?" Paula wondered. Spencer nodded. "That really doesn't explain why she'd try to basically kill Ashley." Spencer swallowed the bile that rose to her throat at her mother's words.
"There's something else that happened, Mom," Clay took over now, having had the full explanation from Spencer the night before. "A nude photo of what everyone thought was Ashley was emailed to the entire school. But it was only Ashley's head. Madison had taken Ashley's head from a photo from when they were friends and Photo Shopped it onto another body."
"And when Ashley told me that, I came up with a way to get even," Spencer said quietly. "We took Madison' face and superimposed it onto a life-sized cardboard cutout of a naked woman."
"And then posted it on the bulletin board at school," Glen chuckled, unable to hide his amusement at his sister's antics. It had been so funny to see Madison so riled up and pissed. Now knowing that his sister was responsible, despite the fact that Madison was his girlfriend, he was proud of his little sister.
"Spencer Carlin," her mother gasped, shocked. Arthur hid his smile behind his hand as he pretended to cough. "I don't approve of your actions…but I can understand your motivation." Spencer stared at her mother in shock.
"What? I WAS a teenager once, Spence. I remember how tough it can be," Paula explained. "What does this have to do with Denise?"
"She's all defensive of Madison or something," Spencer shrugged, unable to really comprehend Denise's motivations. "She hopes to get back on the squad if she can get on Madison's good side." She sadly remembered Ashley saying something similar and then wondering if Madison even still had a good side. She wished she could go back a day and spend the time on the beach with her best friend again.
The guilt that Spencer felt about not telling the school or her mother what was going on was overwhelming her.
<Maybe if we'd told then this wouldn't have happened. God this is all my fault>
"Spencer?" Paula tried to recapture her youngest child's attention. The girl seemed to have wandered off mentally and the look on her face was utter pain. "Spencer?"
Spencer shook her head to try and clear it of the guilt that was beginning to suffocate her.
"Sorry," she whispered.
"Let me get this straight: Denise got kicked off the squad for stalking Madison. Instead of taking responsibility for her actions, she's blaming you and Ashley and trying to get even with you for something that you did to Madison months ago," her mother condensed the events and looked at all three of her children.
"Well, that's just ludicrous. You have nothing to do with her not being on the squad and the only person who should be upset with you over the photo incident is Madison. Sounds to me like this Denise girl needs professional help."
No one could really argue with that assumption.
"Excuse me? Dr. Carlin? There's a phone call for you on line 3," an orderly poked his head in the door and announced. "Claims to be Danger Davies." Paula stood up.
"Be right back."
17
Spencer shifted from one foot to the other as the elevator moved up at an excruciatingly slow speed. She figured it was actually going the correct speed but her anxiousness to see Ashley was making it feel like it was taking forever.
The elevator pinged, signaling her arrival to the floor and Spencer all but shoved her family and other people riding the elevator to the floor in her haste to exit.
"Spencer, calm down," her mother ordered as she caught up with her overanxious daughter. She had spoken with Danger and gotten him to fax over the paperwork allowing Spencer to see Ashley. He was also allowing Mrs. Carlin to oversee Ashley's care until he or her mother could get there.
Danger was trying desperately to cancel his concerts and return to the US to be there for his daughter but until then, he wanted someone he could trust to watch over his daughter. He didn't know anything about Paula Carlin other than she was a doctor and the mother of his daughter's best friend. He'd seen the wonderful changes in his rebellious daughter since Spencer had entered her life. He figured that her parents couldn't be all that bad, despite what Ashley had told him about Paula's narrow-mindedness.
"Spencer, you know that she's in bad shape. She's not going to look good," Paula warned, trying to prepare her daughter. Spencer had no illusions about Ashley's condition but as she rounded the corner into the room, she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Oh. My. God."
"Spencer, honey, we're going to go down the cafeteria for something to eat. Then your father is going to take the boys home, OK?" Paula said softly to her youngest as Spencer sat shock still in a chair beside Ashley's bed, holding one of the injured girl's cold, bruised hands. Her response was a nod.
"Will you be OK, Spencer?" Clay asked. He was worried about his little sister. Since she walked into Ashley's room and saw the beaten, bruised, and broken girl lying unmoving on the bed, Spencer hadn't uttered a word. She simply sat in the chair beside Ashley, holding her hand and staring at the unconscious girl's face. It was beginning to scare him.
Spencer nodded to let them know that she'd heard them and waited for them to leave. She just wanted to be alone with Ashley. She had so much to say that she didn't want to say in front of witnesses. It was for Ashley's ears only.
"Do you want me to bring anything back for you?" Paula asked. Spencer shook her head, making her mother sigh. "I'll bring you back something anyway. You need to eat something. Have them page me if you need me, Spencer." With one more nod, her family left and Spencer was finally alone with Ashley in the hospital room.
It was quiet, save for the eerie beeps of Ashley's heart monitor and the hissing of the ventilator that was currently pumping air into the brunette's wounded lungs.
She continued to stare at the silent form lying on the bed, working to try and reconcile the Ashley she knew with the fragile, shattered thing beside her. Ashley's nose was broken; her normally tan, beautiful face marred by the bruises and cuts she'd suffered. Spencer knew that under the mess of tangled hair, hair normally so magnificent and lovely, were countless stitches, patching the wounds caused by the broken glass of the car window.
Spencer tore her gaze from her friend's face and let it travel down Ashley's body, taking in the damage that she could see.
Tubes and wires ran from the machines lining the wall behind Ashley's head, disappearing under the blankets to tend to the injuries. Spencer knew that they were there to help but it didn't help make their presence any easier. They seemed alien, foreign and out of place. They shouldn't be there. And neither should Ashley.
"I am so…so very sorry, Ashley." Spencer was barely audible, her throat tight from unshed tears, her voice dripping with guilt and regret. "If I had just TOLD someone, this wouldn't have happened. I know that Denise is responsible for this. This is all my fault. If anyone should be hurt it should be me." The tears that she'd been trying so hard to hold back splashed down her face in streams. It was several minutes before she noticed something.
Ashley's heart monitor had started to pick up when she spoke, and now that she was quiet again, it was slowing back down. Tilting her head in curiosity, Spencer spoke again.
"Ashley? I know you can hear me." That was something that Spencer believed very strongly in; that the comatose or unconscious could hear you and if you spoke to them, it'd help speed their recovery. She wasn't sure if it was something that she actually did believe or something she needed to believe. But she believed it nonetheless.
"Do you want me to keep talking?" Again the heart monitor increased its tempo. Not to a rate that would alarm the doctors, but so that Spencer knew, just KNEW that Ashley was responding to her.
Despite the situation, Spencer smiled. She laid her head on the bed near Ashley's head.
"You told me, that day in the locker room, that my wish was your command," she whispered. That day seemed so long, a lifetime ago now.
"My wish is for you to come back to me."
18
Three days passed without any real change in Ashley's condition other than the removal of the breathing tube. Spencer tried to listen to and understand everything the doctors told her. Sometimes she'd have to ask her mother what things meant because it was beyond her. Spencer figured she now knew enough about 'intracranial pressure', temporal lobes, and the Glasgow Coma Scale to hold an assembly at school.
But at least she knew what Ashley's condition actually was now instead of sitting there wondering where Ashley's mind was. She was unconscious but responsive. She murmured a lot when Spencer was talking to her and really didn't like it when the doctors and nurses tested her for pain reaction. All of which were good signs.
"Spencer, I have to go down and start my shift," her mother said, getting up from her seat next to her daughter. She didn't even bother to tell Spencer to go home because she knew that she wouldn't. Spencer refused to move from Ashley's bedside. Her argument was that there was no one else there for Ashley since her mother was still on the Caribbean somewhere and Danger couldn't get released from his concert obligations without being sued for breach of contract. So instead, Paula had them send meals to Spencer in Ashley's room and Spencer had use of the shower down the hall. Clay had packed some clothes for his sister and dropped them by while Aiden brought her the school work that she was missing. A cot had been set up near the window for Spencer to sleep in.
"Ok, Mom. I'm just gonna stay here and do my homework and talk to Ash," Spencer responded, her voice sounding tired to her own ears. The worry about Ashley's condition, the guilt that it was her fault and the fear that Ashley's heart monitor at any moment might stop was keeping Spencer awake at night. She was so afraid that she'd wake up and Ashley would be gone.
"All right. Think about joining me on my dinner break, Ok, honey?" Paula urged. She didn't want Spencer to stay stuck in that sterile room, waiting for Ashley to wake up. Her condition was still serious and could take a turn at any moment. She didn't want Spencer to witness it if Ashley deteriorated but there was no way to get her youngest child to leave. So Paula was left praying that Ashley pulled through. She didn't want Ashley to die at all but especially for Spencer's sake.
"Mom?" Spencer frowned. "What's wrong with the monitors?" All of the systems that were monitoring Ashley suddenly wailed at different pitches. Paula scanned the machines, reading them quickly.
"Spencer, step outside," she ordered, going from 'Mom' mode to 'doctor'.
"What, why? What's wrong?" Spencer asked becoming frantic. Ashley suddenly arched off the bed.
"She's seizing!" Paula called out as the team of doctors and nurses in charge of Ashley's care entered the room running. Paula grabbed Spencer by the shoulders and pulled her out of the room. Spencer fought to get away from her mother as the doctors in the room shouted orders at each other and called for various medications.
"Mom, let me go! I have to be there! She needs me!" Spencer cried desperately.
"Spencer! Spencer!" Paula grabbed her thrashing daughter tightly by the shoulders and turned her to look at her.
"Look at me, Spencer," she waited until frightened blue eyes met her own. "She's having a seizure, hon. It sometimes happens with people who've sustained a brain injury. You have to calm down because you're not going to do her any good by being in the way. Let her doctors do their job."
Spencer waited anxiously as the minutes passed, feeling like it was an eternity before the doctors and nurses left Ashley's room. One doctor stopped to talk to Paula.
"She's stable, Dr. Carlin," he said quietly. "You know that this wasn't unexpected. We're taking her down for an MRI to check the brain swelling." The doctor looked at Spencer.
"You can go back in until we take her down. She's OK." Spencer pushed passed him and into the room, leaving her mother to deal with the specifics. All Spencer cared about was Ashley.
Ashley was still twitching slightly but it seemed to be more out of irritation now than some sort of medical emergency. Spencer sat down and grasped the twitching hand.
"Jesus, Ashley, don't scare me like that," she said softly but without anger. The twitching seemed to slow as Spencer spoke. "That's it, calm down, Ash. I'm right here, I didn't go anywhere."
She fell asleep on her cot while Ashley was having her MRI done, her body finally succumbing to her fatigue. But even in sleep, Spencer couldn't escape the reality that she was in.
She dreamt of Ashley, alone in that parking lot waiting for someone to help her. In her dreams, Ashley hadn't been able to call her and instead was calling over and over out loud into the darkness for Spencer.
"Spencer! Help me, Spencer. Why aren't you here? Don't let me die, Spencer, please!"
Spencer sat straight up on the cot in horror, Ashley's terror and pain filled cries still echoing in her head. She got up and dashed to the bathroom, barely making it before her stomach emptied its meager contents.
"Christ," she sighed, sitting down on the floor beside the toilet and running a tired hand through her tousled hair. Looking at her watch she saw that she'd been asleep for nearly two hours. She frowned.
<It shouldn't take that long for Ashley's test> Fear raced through her as she pushed herself off the floor and stumbled out of the bathroom towards the nurse's station.
"Excuse me, where's Ashley Davies?" she asked the nurse on duty, Marcie. Marcie smiled to reassure Spencer.
"Hi Spencer, she's still downstairs. There was a backlog at the machine so they decided to run a few more tests while they waited. She should be back soon, though."
"Ok, thanks," Spencer turned to return to Ashley's room.
"I think you're great, you know," Marcie said. Spencer turned to face her again, confused.
"What? Why?" Again Marcie smiled.
"You are so dedicated to her and I think that is so special. How long have you been together?" Spencer stared at the nurse in shock.
"Together? We're not together. She's my best friend," she explained. She wished that it was different, wished it more now that she knew exactly what she might lose. If any good had come from this situation, it was the clarifying of Spencer's feelings. She knew what she wanted, who she was and how she felt about that.
She wanted Ashley; as a friend, as a girlfriend, as a lover. All of it. She wanted a relationship, a partnership with the mercurial brunette; she knew that now. Spencer knew that she was gay. All her questions, doubts, fears and worries were erased when she had looked down at her bloody hands and realized that Ashley was dying. The thought of Ashley's death crystallized all her emotions into stark clarity.
It wasn't an 'experiment', a 'phase', or anything else that she feared it was. She was in love with Ashley Davies, her best friend. And that fact made her happy and proud. She wanted Ashley to recover so that she could tell her all of it and see if her hope that Ashley felt the same was possible.
"Oh," Marcie said disappointed. "Wow, I really thought you two were a couple, the way her condition is stable when you're there and how she responds to you. I think you have to have a pretty strong bond with someone to reach them like you reach her. It's too bad, really. Most of us here thought you two were such a cute couple."
"Don't tell my mother that," Spencer snorted.
"Well, don't give up on her, Spencer. She'll come back to you," Marcie winked. Spencer shrugged and walked back into Ashley's room.
"God I hope so," she whispered desperately. "She has to. I wished it."
19
"You know, I've been thinking," Spencer announced the next day after Ashley had been moved from ICU to the Neuro floor. She had her feet propped up on Ashley's bed as she worked on a sketch. This one was of Ashley on the beach, bright broad smile illuminating her face. Spencer was taking her time with it and was thus far, fairly satisfied with its progress.
"And it could be the stress or the lack of sleep but, whatever," she shrugged. She sat her sketchbook and pencil down, sitting up to look at Ashley's face.
"But I've been thinking that you remind me of a sleeping princess," she went on, grasping Ashley's hand, relieved that it was now warm and not ice cold like it had been. "You don't really look like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. More like Belle from 'Beauty and the Beast' but that would most likely make me the Beast and my self-esteem doesn't need any help in sucking right now. So, I'll just say you look like a sleeping princess."
If anyone overheard the conversation, Spencer knew that they'd deem her mentally unstable. But she knew exactly what she was going to say and didn't really care what anyone thought. And without Ashley, she did kind of feel like she was losing her mind.
"And all a sleeping princess needs to wake up is a kiss from her Prince Charming," she declared. "Or a handsome knight. Depends which fairy tale you read. Anyway, that got me thinking about that kiss we almost had that night when Aiden interrupted us. I never got the chance to tell you why I left that night. To explain to you why I ran away. It had nothing to do with you, Ash. It was all me."
"See, I really wanted to kiss you. God, did I ever. But it just didn't seem right to go from Aiden's lips to yours. It wasn't fair to me, or you and certainly not to Aiden." She paused to gather her thoughts, staring at the monitors that reassured her that Ashley was still with her.
"The entire time I was kissing him, I kept thinking about you and how much I wished it was you that I was kissing instead of Aiden. He's a great guy and he's been here everyday to see you and visit with me. He's been terrific through this whole thing. And that just makes me even more sure that that night wasn't the right time for you and I. If Aiden was just some dumb jock friend or an asshole, then I wouldn't have had a problem with it."
"But he's a nice guy with a big heart who didn't deserve to have you and I play with him that way. I've apologized to him for it and he says it's no big deal but, he has feelings too. And we hurt them, I think." She reached up and brushed some of Ashley's brown hair away from her face, caressing her cheek
"Anyway, back to the subject of a kiss. I dream about kissing you. You have beautiful full lips that look so soft. Even now, when you kinda look like you need Chapstick, they're still gorgeous. I dream about it and I wonder how you'd kiss. I saw you kiss Aiden and I was so jealous. All I could think was how that should be me that you were kissing. I was so jealous of Aiden for that. Actually, I'm jealous of him for a lot of things."
"Afternoon, Spencer, how's the patient today?" one of Ashley's nurses asked as she walked in and interrupted Spencer's stream of consciousness rambling. Spencer shrugged.
"The same. There," she responded blandly.
"Well, the doctor says she should come around any time now, so you keep talking to her," the nurse instructed, turning to leave after taking her hourly readings on Ashley.
"Hey, uhm, is it OK if I put some ChapStick on her?" Spencer asked nervously. "Just a little?" The nurse nodded.
"Of course. I know you'll be careful." She left Spencer as the teen rummaged through her bag.
"Let's see, Ash. I got: cherry, vanilla, strawberry smoothie, mint, and Dr. Pepper. But I know you like the mint kind so, I'll use that." She gently sat on the bed and leaned up into Ashley's face, gingerly applying the lip balm to Ashley's dry lips.
"I know how you hate having chapped lips," she smiled. She decided to stay where she was on the bed as she continued speaking.
"There, that's better. No one wants dry cracked lips, baby. Where was I before the nurse came in? Oh yeah, jealous of Aiden."
"See, I'm jealous because he has all this history with you. All these things and events and personal moments that I don't have with you. I can't help envying him for all that. He knows so much about you and I'm still learning. And then I get jealous of that connection that you two have. The one I noticed the first time I saw you talk to him. You guys were going to have a baby before you lost it. That's huge, Ash. And for whatever reason, I'm jealous."
"I know that I shouldn't be," she sighed. "I know that when you're with me, you really are all there, with me. But I guess I just wish I could know all of you, like he does. I know that you hide a lot of yourself from people because you've been hurt so badly. So many people have hurt you, Ash. People who shouldn't have, like your parents. No child should have to feel the way you do. I know that you try and brush it off like it doesn't hurt, but I know that it does."
Paula stopped where she stood in the doorway to Ashley's room, listening to her daughter talk so lovingly to the injured girl. She knew that should Ashley recover, there were going to be some issues that they'd have to address concerning her and Spencer. She still didn't like how close Spencer seemed to be getting to the rebellious teen. But for the time being, she was willing to wait to see if Ashley did recover and if there actually was a problem for her to address.
For now, she turned around and headed back to the elevator, unwilling to interrupt her daughter at the moment. She'd deal with whatever she had to when the time was right.
Unaware of her quick visitor, Spencer pulled Ashley's hand to her mouth and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it.
"I miss you, Ashley. I miss those eyes. They're such a beautiful shade of brown. I could just stare into them forever, trying to see who you really are and just get lost. And I miss your voice. I love those nights when we talk on the phone until I fall asleep and the last thing I hear is you. I sleep so well those nights, your voice still ringing in my mind."
"So you need to wake up soon and come back to me so that I can learn all those little things that you hide from everyone. I need to see you look at me in that way that makes my stomach flip and the butterflies to invade making my heart race. That's what a look from you does to me. And your voice, Ashley. I still haven't heard you sing. You can't deny me that. I need you to come back. I don't know what else to do but this."
Spencer let out a deep breath and then leaned over Ashley, placing a soft, gentle kiss on the still girl's lips.
"I know I'm no prince, Ashley. But it's the best I can do. Please wake up."
20
The first thing she noticed was that her head really hurt. Then the fact that it felt like her body was being weighed down by a team of Sumo wrestlers followed.
<OK, I can feel my fingers and my toes. YAY> she thought sarcastically. <Now, if I could get my eyes to open so that I could see what the fuck is going on here>
Slowly her eyes fluttered open but they wouldn't focus. All she could really see were fuzzy colors; white, light blue…well really mostly white. It took a few tries for her to keep her eyes open for more than a few seconds. When she did she looked down at the weight on her hand and saw a vaguely yellowish-brown blur. It stood out in stark contrast to the bland whiteness of the rest of the room.
Concentrating, she managed to wiggle her trapped fingers, feeling soft strands of hair tickle her fingers. She smiled…or at least thought that she smiled.
<Spencer! It's gotta be. That colory blur must be her hair. She's sleeping next to me. Next question, where the hell am I?> She wiggled her fingers again, hoping to wake Spencer. It worked because the blonde's head snapped up with a snort and a confused tilt of her head.
"Mmmm, Ashley?" Spencer mumbled more to herself than anything. She rubbed her free hand over her face trying to push the last vestiges of sleep away.
Ashley tried to open her mouth to talk but no sound came out. Annoyed, she swallowed trying to get moisture to her dry throat and licked her lips.
<Mmm, mint. OK, gotta let Spencer know that I'm here but can't seem to speak. Not gonna stress that right now, just gotta concentrate on Spencer> She focused on her hand again, the one that she could now feel Spencer grasping lightly. Painstakingly slow, she worked on curling each finger so that it grasped Spencer's as tight as she could manage. Ashley watched the colored blur that she knew was Spencer look down at their hands.
"Ashley?" she wondered. Spencer took at really good look at Ashley's rapidly blinking eyes, eyes that were obviously trying to focus on her. Her heart leapt to her throat.
"Are you awake, baby?" she squeezed Ashley's hand back, hoping to feel the injured girl respond.
<Did she just call me 'baby'? What the hell is going on?>
"Urrrrrrgh…" Ashley groaned. She was trying to say 'hey Spence' but even she heard how far off she was. Tears of frustration started to fall.
"SShhhh, don't cry, Ash," Spencer soothed, wiping away the falling tears. She pushed the call button so that the doctors would come and check on Ashley. Her eyes were finally open and through her tears, Ashley could see Spencer, talking to her, soothing her and holding her hand. She could see her, feel her…something felt off though.
Looking at Spencer, Ashley could see concern warring with relief on the other girl's face. As her eyes continued to focus, she could also see how tired and worn out Spencer was.
<God, how long has she been sitting there?> Ashley wondered, still not sure what was going on or why she seemed to be in the hospital. <Did I crash my car?> Looking away from Spencer for a moment, she took stock of herself.
<OK, I'm in the hospital. My head is killing me…my right arm is in a cast and well, I'm sure that if I could actually feel my chest, I'd regret it. But Spencer looks fine. That's good> She felt Spencer squeeze her hand again to regain her attention. She looked up at the blonde and tried to smile as Spencer spoke.
"Ash…….u…..ng……ine….ease…..m……." She frowned and shook her head. Something just didn't seem right. Ashley winced as the shaking action turned the dull pounding in her head to a hard sharp pain. Spencer brushed some of hair out of Ashley's face and kept talking.
"So glad………..ever…….cked……scared……you." A creeping sense of dread enveloped Ashley's senses as she realized that Spencer sounded like a CD that was skipping. And that it wasn't Spencer causing that effect.
<Her mouth is moving but I'm only getting bits and pieces> she began to panic. <Holy shit! I can't hear!>
Ashley's heart monitor suddenly started racing, scaring Spencer as she watched pure unadulterated panic come over Ashley's bruised face. She sat on the side of the bed, closer to her alarmed friend.
"Ashley, Ashley please calm down," she pleaded as Ashley started thrashing on the bed, grabbing weakly at her ears and ripping off the bandage on her right one.
"Noooooooooooooo," Ashley wailed softly, in tears. Spencer tried to pull Ashley's hands from her ears before she hurt herself, confused at her friends' behavior.
"What is it, Ash? What's wrong?" Unknown to Spencer, her question translated to Ashley as:
'"Wh…..sh?....ong?"' and only served to increase her distress. Still unable to do more than moan, the words not rising to her throat, Ashley looked at Spencer, desperate to make her understand.
<Please Spencer, help me!> she pleaded with her eyes. She saw Spencer start to cry and cursed herself.
<Damn it no, don't get upset. It's not you, please understand me, Spence! I need you to understand me!> The doctors were now entering the room and Ashley knew that if she didn't calm down, they'd sedate her and she'd never get any answers.
Spencer moved to get off the bed and out of the way when Ashley's hand darted out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her hard back onto the bed. Ashley shook her head slightly, the pain there getting unbearable. Spencer slowly sat back down, looking at Ashley, her apology written clearly in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Ash. I don't understand," she said softly. Ashley watched Spencer's lips carefully, trying to read them. Thankfully all those music videos watched on mute while on the phone actually paid off.
She ignored the doctors poking and prodding on her other side, instead reaching up to touch Spencer's lips with her fingers. Once she knew that Spencer was paying attention to only her, she drew her hand back and touched her ears, shaking her head sadly. She knew Spencer was smart enough to understand.
And she was right moments later as Spencer's eyes widened in horror and her hand flew to her mouth. She reached out and stroked Ashley's face, wiping the tears that still flowed away.
"You can't hear me. Oh God, Ashley…you can't hear."
To Be Continued