that was us part three
sam's in the hospital. he's going to be fine, but they're recommending that he stay in the hospital for a few days just in case. abby agreed immediately, telling sam that it would give her enough time to book them flights or a car home. they'll be avoiding trains for awhile, even though abby knows that derailments are rare and if they've already been in one, they'll probably never be in another. but she'd had to call sam's daughters and tell them what was going on, and really. one phone call like that in her life was more than enough.
she needs coffee. sam's been asleep for an hour and abby's been drifting off, but her elbow keeps slipping off the arm of the chair, jolting her awake just before she can truly fall asleep. abby makes sure to let the nurses know that she's stepping out for coffee before she leaves the floor; sam is generally a heavy sleeper but she has no idea what today has done for that.
the elevator is empty when she gets on and she can feel herself drifting off again. the cafe is only three floors down; she'll probably make it there before she falls asleep on her feet.
the elevator doors open and abby startles awake. for that brief second she's waking up to find out her mom has wandered off, waking up to tommy screaming himself out of a nightmare, waking up to realize the train has gone off the tracks.
tommy's standing in the elevator doorway, blinking at her. she's too tired to know for sure if he's really there or if she's still half asleep and imagining him. abby slides to the side and pats the railing, inviting him in. he's wearing a flight suit, which is a point for him actually being there — she's never seen him in one before, has no idea how to imagine it.
he slips into the elevator just before the doors can close, looking as tired as she feels. abby tips her head back against the wall, smoothing her hands down her thighs and trying not to notice them shaking.
she's only gone down one floor.
no one gets on the elevator before they reach the cafe. tommy holds the door open for her and abby orders them both a coffee, the habit still ingrained after all these years. it's terrible coffee. it always is, in hospitals, and abby thinks that if they just brought a better roast in than people might not be in such terrible moods every time they had to come for a visit.
tommy gives her a few minutes before he starts talking, telling her about the hiker they rescued earlier who'd skidded over the edge of a cliff — to get a selfie, god, was she ever that young and silly — and that he's finally started watching downton abbey, makes her laugh when he imitates the dowager saying "what is a weekend?", tells her that he's hit his maximum flight hours for the day and is just waiting for the truck to come and get him and switch out with another pilot.
abby knows she's being handled. she recognizes the grounding technique she'd used with tommy when he had nightmares, wonders if this is going to be what finally triggers some ptsd in her. but she's still grateful for the distraction — tess and natalie are states away and asleep anyway, and she can't really see herself telling two teenagers about how scared she was their dad wasn't going to make it.
she'd begged buck to save him and he'd done it even though abby had hurt him.
(she's really never deserved everything he offered her.)
she tells tommy she was on the train. his gaze darts up to the gauze over her left eye and she shrugs, tells him that was all that happened to her. tells tommy that sam got the worst of it, that he's sleeping upstairs. they don't think that they'll have to do surgery, but they told her what to expect anyway. tells tommy no, sam isn't the firefighter but she saw him at the accident.
asks if he was one of the helicopters she saw picking up passengers all night.
they've finished their coffee. abby checks her watch and it's been half an hour. she should get back upstairs.
tommy buys the coffee this time. he gets a third cup for his partner but takes the elevator up to abby's floor, walking her back to sam's room. she doesn't doze off in the elevator this time, thank god, or she'd probably have hallucinated buck. sam's awake when they get back, and abby has the pleasure of introducing her first fiancé to her last fiancé. it's funnier than it should be, and she swallows another laugh because she's worried she might be tipping over the line from tired to hysterical.
sam stays awake long enough to say hi to tommy, but then the medication and the pain take him back under. it should probably be awkward that they're all in the same room, but it just doesn't happen. abby walks tommy back to the elevator, thanks him for keeping her company, and then.
she's not really sure why she does it.
abby waits until the doors are almost closed and tells tommy that if he wants to tell her about a boy the next time they catch up, she'd be happy to listen.
the doors close on tommy staring at her. abby waits in case tommy wants to come back up, but the doors don't immediately open again.
she heads back to sam's room.
they've got a few more days in los angeles and she's determined to tie up the rest of her loose ends.
part one // part two