She looked so pained when I first entered the room, but now that the medications have hit her system, she looks peaceful again. As peaceful as one can look in her condition.

The doctor comes in to let me know they were able to stop all of the bleeding from the gunshot wound and that what took the most time was meticulously removing all of the thumbtacks from her body. He looks utterly disgusted with life and mankind. I can’t blame him. I am too. It’s infuriating to see the amount of bloodshed that happened for no reason.

He tells me they saw similar injuries in Virginia, and I look at him confused.

“Oh, I guess you wouldn’t have had time to see any of the news. There was a very similar—eerily similar attack—in Virginia yesterday evening when a group of Marines and a couple of Army units arrived back home from deployment.

“What the fuck?” I ask him.

He nods. “I know. But the good news is there are more survivors than there are dead. We’ve saved a lot of lives today. You were on the scene first?”

I glance at Maddie, making sure she still looks peaceful before turning back to him and nodding. “Yes, sir.”

He puts his hand on my shoulder and grips it tightly. “I want you to know you saved her life. She wouldn’t be here without the treatment she received in the field. You did good, kid. I’m sorry you have to go through this after all you’ve done for our country. Thank you for your service.”

I nod, gritting my teeth. I do this because I love my country and I love helping people. I don’t need to be thanked for doing what’s fucking right in the world. I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t need to hear the words “thank you” from anyone but my wife right now. To be honest, I don’t give a fuck what she says; I just need to hear her voice.

“You think we can get that chest tube out soon?” I ask him.

He walks over, looks at her chart, checks her vitals, and calls for the nurses to add one last bag of blood for good measure.

“I think she’s stable enough to pull it out in average time—probably around four days, but she’s been through hell today, and that’s what I want to focus on for now. I’d like to keep her sleeping throughout the night, maybe through the day tomorrow. We will see how she does tonight.”

I inhale sharply. “You want to put her in a coma?” I thought she was doing okay.

“No, sir. I don’t think she’s unstable enough for that. I think her body is reacting generally pretty well, considering what has happened to her. I’ll just make sure she’s on sedatives and pain medication to keep her resting through the night. We will move her up to the ICU step down unit in a bit, and you’re welcome to bring your daughter up and set up camp there.” He finishes making notes on her chart.

“Thanks, Doc.”

He nods, slides on some gloves, and removes her breathing tube. We both stand there waiting for her to take her first breath on her own since having the tube inserted during surgery.

It feels like fucking eternity, but finally she takes a deep breath. She hoarsely mumbles something unintelligible and then falls back asleep.

I breathe a sigh of relief, and the doctor pats my back.

“I believe she’s going to be okay, son. I’ll see you once they get her moved,” he tells me as he pats her uninjured leg and walks out of the room.

I sit down beside her again and kiss her temple. “Will you ever fail to amaze me, Madelyn? Rest well. I’ll see you soon,” I tell her, even though I’m sure she can’t hear me.

I head down to Olivia’s room and let the nurse know what the doctor said. She makes a face like she’s confused, and I ask what’s wrong.

“I just don’t know if it’s a good idea for your daughter to see her mother in that condition,” she says quietly. “I would be happy to stay over my shift to keep an eye on her.”

“No need,” Cash tells her just as Matt and Katie walk into the room.

“Thank fuck!” I say as I give them both hugs. “You good, bro?” I ask Matt.

“Yeah, man. I didn’t even want to get checked out, but I was forced. But you know how the Air Force is. They had to make sure I wasn’t going psycho. I’m fine.”

“And you?” I shift my gaze to Katie.

She nods but doesn’t really say much.

“She’s just shaken up,” Matt says, pulling her close.

“How’s she doing?” they ask at the same time as they move to stand at the foot of Olivia’s bed. Her small frame now curled up in Cash’s lap.

“She’s good,” I tell them. “They gave her something to help her sleep. No real injuries, just some bumps and bruises. A couple of scratches. Seems Maddie took the brunt of it.”

“Thank God.” Katie sighs. “How’s Maddie?”

“She’s out of surgery. I just left recovery. They pulled her breathing tube, and she’s breathing on her own. They’re going to move her to a step down unit on the ICU floor to monitor her, and they’re going to keep her sleeping at least through the night. Maybe through the day tomorrow. It’s touch and go, but based on the injuries she received, she’s doing better than some guys I’ve treated in the field.”

The nurse nods, looking a little uncomfortable and out of place. “Well, it looks like you’ve got help, but buzz me if you need anything.”

“Thank you,” I tell her as she exits the room.

The moment the door closes I feel my posture slacken. I don’t know if I’m strong enough to be split between my wife and my child even if only for an hour or two.

I hate asking for help, and I hate taking help when it’s offered. Mads is much the same.

We’re fighters. We don’t run. We get shit done.

This time though, I know I don’t have a choice.

“Ya’ll mind sitting with Liv while I call my parents… and Maddie’s parents?”

“Of course,” Katie says as the guys nod in agreement.

“Whatever it is you need, you’ve got it,” Cash says before I walk out of the room.

I dread the phone call to my parents, but they’re probably worried sick, despite getting a text. I’m sure Maddie’s parents are pretty fucking concerned too. So now that everyone’s settled and resting, it’s as good a time as any to try to pass along the gruesome news of today.

I call my parents and my mom answers with, “Thank god you’re okay.” I swallow the lump in my throat and nod as if she can see me.

“I’m okay, Mom. Can you get Dad on speaker? Hang on one second. Don’t hang up. Okay?”

“Okay, sugar,” she replies. It makes me feel like a kid again, but it’s my mom. I never complain about it.

I decide to three-way Maddie’s parents to make it easier to tell everyone at once.

“Hello?” Maddie’s mom, Elizabeth, answers.

“Hey, Ms. Liz,” I tell her with a smile on my face. Maddie’s mom was always so great to us and has never wavered in her belief in me, even if she’s a little on the crazy side sometimes. “Don’t worry. Everything is okay. My parents are on the line as well. You may want to put Dan on speaker. I’m trying to tell everyone all the details at once. I promise it’s okay,” I reassure her.

“Hi, Abby, Les,” Maddie’s mom greets my parents, and I can hear the fear in her voice.

I feel absolutely awful this is how they’re going to find out the news that Maddie is in all but a medically induced coma and it might be for longer than tonight.

I take a deep breath as the two fathers say hello.

“Hey, Dad. I’m okay. This is going to be long, so I’m just going to say this. Everyone remain calm and then ask questions after I catch you up. Okay? Okay. So, Maddie was directly injured, pretty critically by the blast. Liv is absolutely fine. They gave her some meds to induce sleep because she’s seen a lot of nasty shit today.”

“Seth Christopher Blaise!” my mom exclaims.

Whoops.

“Sorry, Ma,” I say before I continue. “So Liv is sleeping. Just a few scratches. Maddie protected our little girl by getting her into the bathroom with some other ladies, from what I can gather. She didn’t go in with them. She took a post outside the door and stood her ground. You should be very proud of her.” My voice trembles, so I pause for a moment.

“She’s in pretty bad shape, but the doctors think that with time she will make a full recovery.”

“Seth, what does all of that mean? What are her injuries like?” Maddie’s dad asks.

“She has a pretty severe concussion, and she has a gunshot wound on her thigh that needed surgery, but it just barely missed a major vein. She had a complication on the scene with her lungs; it’s called a tension pneumothorax. I was there and was with her the whole flight to the hospital. She’s got a couple of broken ribs and a lot of random shrapnel wounds.”

“We heard on the news that some of the victims had thumbtacks embedded in them. That didn’t happen to her, did it?” Maddie’s mom asks fearfully.

“It did. That’s part of the shrapnel.” I lean against the wall and run my free hand along my too long buzz cut.

“Is she awake and talking?” Ms. Liz asks.

“No, ma’am.” I hear her gasp. “But it’s because the doctors are giving her body some time to heal. She was alert when we got to the hospital and would be alert now without the doctor’s keeping her asleep.”

“Thank you, Seth. Thank you for explaining it in regular people terms.” Liz is trying to stay strong, but I can hear the sniffling she’s attempting to hide escape every few seconds.

Our families aren’t rich. The military sure as fuck ain’t made me rich.

“We will find a way to get there,” my father-in-law tells me.

“Yes, sir. One way or another, I’ll make sure you get here,” I say as Cash comes into the hallway next to me. “Let me see what kind of ticket prices I can find, and I’ll give you a call back. As soon as Liv wakes up, I’ll call you so you can talk to her.” I need to give them something to hold on to.

“Okay. Thanks, Seth,” both of Maddie’s parents say.

“Thanks, Son,” my dad says.

“I love you, baby,” my mom says.

“Love you too, Ma. I’ll be in touch soon. Let me see what I can find.” I hang up the call.

“You need a lift somewhere, Blaze?” Cash asks casually.

“Nah, gotta get the parents here somehow. You know how it is.”

“Where are they coming from?”

“Louisiana.”

“Gimme two minutes.” Cash grins and taps out a text on his phone. A few seconds later, he receives a text back.

“What now, Garrison? You know a pilot with some fancy private jet or something too?” I ask him, jokingly.

“Maybe. Get me their socials and tell the parents to be at the airport tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. Their tickets will be in the system. It’s a private plane,” he answers like it’s not a big deal.

“Man, Cash, I don’t even wanna know what you’re into,” I tell him. “Thank you.”

“I’m into something you’d enjoy doing. Might be something to think about when you hang up that PJ patch.” Cash pats my shoulder patch.

“Grabbing a coffee. You want one?” he asks.

“Sure. Thanks again,” I answer bewildered. How did he do that? I know Maddie needs her support team, so I don’t care enough to pry for information, not right now at least.

I walk back into the room where Katie and Matt are lying on the pull out sofa in Olivia’s room.

“You know ya’ll don’t have to sleep here,” I tell them, honestly.

“You know we’re not going anywhere else,” Katie says as Matt nods in agreement.

There’s no use in arguing with people who love you as much as our people love us, so I nod and snuggle into the hospital bed with Liv and fall asleep in seconds.