Collision

It was completely unadulterated panic…

Janet Tucker couldn't seem to get to the hospital fast enough. And the longer she had to wait for the god forsaken traffic light to turn green the higher her blood pressure rose and the faster her heart beat. She was sure it was going to go shooting right out of her chest here soon enough.

When the large white hospice came into view Janet all but went accelerating into the parking lot and braked hard, tires squealing, as she halted in the middle of two spaces. Whoever got mad because she had done so could go screw themselves. Her baby was hurt. Her baby girl was hurt and nothing could stop her from seeing her.

High on adrenaline, the flustered woman threw open the doors to the hospice and marched right up the front desk.

"Where's the emergency room," she demanded angrily to the receptionist. When she didn't receive an answer fast enough she slammed her hands down on the counter with white hot fury, "Where's the fucking emergency room."

"Ma'am please-." She tried to soothe the mother to no avail.

"Where is it?!" she screamed.

Now thoroughly shaken up, the LPN-trainee pointed a shaking arm to the hall down her left. Without so much as a half-hearted 'thanks' Janet stormed down the halls and broke into a frenzied run as she caught sight of her daughter wheeling past on a gurney.

"KARA!" Janet screamed.

Tears began dripping down the mother's face as her baby lay there nearly motionless on the gurney.

~o~ Six Hours Later ~o~

Janet stared down at the floors, only glancing at the light bruises forming on her arms from when she tried fighting the doctors to get to her baby. They'd finally managed to shove her out of the room with another doctor.

She'd screamed at the man for a solid eight minutes, demanding to know what had happened to her baby, her condition, if she was going to live, and the list when on and on. When she'd screamed herself out, face still stained with tears, the doctor spoke to her calmly and with all the professionalism the mother needed to hear at the moment. The doctor explained everything…well, everything that he'd been able to.

He said that Kara had been heading down the highway and had swerved to avoid some debris that had fallen just as she'd went over the pass. However, as Kara swerved she managed to avoid the debris but another car heading up the ramp going to wrong way had been just on the other side.

It had been nearly a head on collision. The front of the other car had rammed right into the driver's side door of Kara's car. Thankfully, the teen had been wearing her seat belt but still suffered a broken nose, cracked jaw, a fractured collarbone, four broken ribs, a fracture to her left arm, and another fracture to her hip. Her left leg had been mildly cracked and she had also suffered a concussion.

This was the extent of the injuries he'd assessed on scene, there could be more.

And if Janet had learned anything from her grandpa, there was always more in these types of situations.

But then the story got a little weird. The military had contacted to hospital saying that the car that had hit Kara was military issued and that one of the personnel had been the one to hit her daughter. This person was also under heavy orders not to harm civilians.

The reason behind the orders, the doctor didn't know.

Nonetheless, the soldier that had hit Kara claimed to have gone back to check on her. Apparently the courtesy had been lost on his superiors who were demanding a meeting with Kara and her mother once Kara was awake and healthy again.

By the time the doctor had finished explaining everything to Janet, she was left alone to think. And when she'd done at least an hour's worth of thinking, she realized just how pissed she was.

Janet was pissed off, confused, and scared for her daughter's very life.

The mother roughly wiped away tears as they began pooling at the edges of her eyes once more. She wasn't going to cry…not while there was still hope.

~o~ Later that Day ~o~

Janet had refused to leave the hospital, even fighting tooth and nail to stay by her daughter's side as the doctors 'gently' pushed her out the doors.

Despite pounding her fist on the doors, Janet eventually got in her car and laid her head on the steering wheel to have a good cry.

"Kara…Kara I'm so sorry." I mother sobbed.

After a good twenty minutes of crying the mother gathered up the willpower to peel out of the hospital parking lot and out into the street. "To home I go…" Janet murmured.

As the blonde pulled into her garage she caught a glimpse of someone sitting on her porch steps. Blinking in confusion, the mother quickly gathered her things and hopped out of the car. Hurrying to meet the man at the porch she stood in front of him with an expectant look.

"Mrs. Tucker?" he asked.

"It's Ms. Tucker;" She corrected him softly, "My husband is no longer with us sadly."

The man coughed awkwardly and took off his hat, "Sorry to hear that," He murmured.

Janet glanced over his outfit and saw the badges, "Military?" she asked.

"Hm, oh yeah…" He nodded quickly, "My name is Captain Lennox…William Lennox." He introduced himself.

"Ah, should I call you William?"

"Will is fine."

There was a brief moment of silence, "Look, I'm sorry about this but the board demanded this…" he began sounding sheepish.

"Is it about Kara?" Janet asked sounding wistful.

"Yes," he sighed and looked away, "I apologize for the suddenness. Lord knows I wouldn't want someone walking up to interrogate me if it were my own daughter."

Janet smiled faintly, feeling a little more at ease with the situation as the man could relate to her own troubles. "You might as well come in then." Janet sighed and opened the door.

"Alright then," Lennox sighed and walked inside.

Janet took one last glance at the setting sun before closing the door behind her.