Chapter Fifty One- Critical Conditions

-Third Person-

The phone rang wildly in the kitchen. Carson and Clayton had been messing around in the backyard with Callie. Their father had a business deal to take care of and wouldn't be back for some days, so they were relieved of their chores and were playing around outside, like brothers do.

Clayton is the one who answered the phone, gasping for breath smiling at his younger brother while whipping the sweat off his brow. "Hello?" He asked

"Is this the residence of Mr. Charles Dean?" A boring sounding lady said on the other end.

"Yes this is" Clayton said still breathing heavily. Carson stood at the back door, waiting for their game to continue.

"May I speak with him please?" The lady asked. Carson threw a tennis ball at Clayton, asking him to hurry the hell up.

"No he isn't here at the moment, but I'm his son, can I take a message?" Clayton asked motioning for Carson to 'shoo'.

"What is your name?"

"Clayton Dean"

"Is your sister Cassandra Mary Dean?" The lady asked. Clayton immediately started listening inventively at the sound of his sister entering the conversation.

"Yes, she is my sister is there-" Clayton began

"Your sister is here at Madison Hospital." The lady sighed tiredly "She is in are critical care center, about to go into an immediate surgery"

"What?! What is wrong?" Clayton shouted concerned.

"Sir please calm down, we will be able to give you full information if you please come down to the hospital"

"I'll be there" Clayton said, hanging up the phone and reaching for his jacket.

"What is it Clay?" Carson asked picking up on the mood.

Clayton stopped and looked at his confused little brother "Its Cassie...she's in the hospital, we need to leave now"

Carson ran into his room to grab some shoes. While Clayton wrote a note saying for their father to call them since they had no way of contacting him. They left the door in a rush.

Dan and Emma were hanging out in Rupert's hotel room. It was a Thursday night and they didn't have to work.

"So what do we have planned for this weekend?" Dan asked, placing down an Ace of clubs. He and Rupert were playing cards.

"We don't have to do everything together...besides I have a date tomorrow" Rupert said.

Dan stuck out his tongue "Fine then"

Emma was chewing gum and looking through a magazine when her phone rang. She looked at the collar i.d. and it said that it was from Carson, someone she hadn't talked to in weeks.

"Hey Carson, how are you?" Emma asked nonchalantly, popping her gum.

Rupert mouthed 'Carson' confused; Emma just nodded staring back at her magazine.

Carson sighed tiredly into the phone "Not good. You see it's Cassie-"

"Cassie?" Emma asked sitting up straighter and letting her magazine fall to the floor.

"She...she was in an accident" Carson told her, chocking up a bit.

"An accident?" Emma asked, making sure she was getting this right.

Dan and Rupert looked confused. "Put it on speaker" Dan said hurriedly.

Emma obliged and put the phone on speaker. "Yes you see apparently Cassie was riding a Ferris Wheel...long story short the ride broke, literally broke and she...fell" You could tell through his voice that he was really upset.

"Is she okay?" Dan asked concerned.

"N-no, she is having test done and such right now but she already broke her right leg in three different places, broke five ribs, had a very badly bruised back...and she has a temperature of 104.3 for being in the rain...there not sure if s-she is going to m-make it"

Emma, Rupert, and Dan looked at each other with their mouths open starring in horror.

Emma was the first one to partially recover "Where are you?"

"Madison Hospital"

Emma sighed "We'll be there tomorrow"

"Emma no...Ca-Cassie wouldn't want you guys taking off work"

"Nonsense, we have a couple of scenes tomorrow then it's the weekend and we don't have to work anyway"

"Oh alright" Carson sighed.

"Keep us posted, if anything changes?" Dan asked

"Of course, see you tomorrow" Carson said hanging up.

"Oh my god..." Rupert started.

Emma started crying silently. "I knew something was going to happen!"

"Why was she on a Ferris Wheel anyway?" Dan asked confused.

Emma face was shocked through the tears "Why was she?"

Rupert sighed determined "We will just ask her"

"What if we don't get the chance Rupert?!" Emma said annoyed

"It's Cassie...she has to" He explained, looking blank.

"Um...what are we going to do?" Dan asked hesitantly.

"Well I will call the airlines tonight and get us tickets and-" Emma started.

Dan shook his head "No...what are we going to do about Tom?"

Rupert's face grew angry "He doesn't have to know" He growled

"We can't just not tell him" Emma sighed.

"Why should he get to know? He is the one who always says he hates her!" Rupert disagreed.

"Hey we all know that he loves her" Dan said.

Tom sat in a chair backwards, the back of the chair hanging underneath his arm pits. His arms where crossed, chin resting upon them. He was dressed in dark jeans and a dark blue hoodie, with the hood over his head. He stared out into the night. The only light in his room was the little glow that came off of the two lamps that were on each side of his bed.

He thought of Cassie often. Remembering her curls blowing in the breeze, her smile gleaming in the sunlight, her gentle hands running through his hair...he shook his head. As much as he tried to forget her, he couldn't. Why couldn't he? She was just a girl. No...she wasn't just a girl, she was Cassie.

The door opened and in walked the three people he intended on avoiding lately. They just pissed him off. He didn't even turn to look at them. He just rolled his eyes and continued staring into the dark night.

"Tom?" Dan asked. This was a smart move for the trio, to get Dan to tell Tom. Dan was the one that Tom could relatively stand.

Tom just grunted. He wasn't a big fan of Dan's tone...it was scared.

"Well it's...it's..." Dan started, and then took a deep breath sighing "It's Cassie"

Tom stiffened a little, at the sound of her sweet name rolling off Dan's tongue, but the movement was too small to notice. He didn't reply.

"She...well she..." Dan stuttered again, not knowing the right way to spit out all of the information.

"She is in the hospital Tom" Rupert said butting in.

Tom's whole face relaxed in the shock. His jaw unclenched, his eyes softened painfully, and his sore muscles collapsed. "What?" he asked in a whisper.

"She fell; off of a rollercoaster...she is in the critical care facility in Madison Hospital. They say that she might not make it" Emma piped up.

"I don't care" Tom spoke. He couldn't even explain how hard it was to say these words, but he was mad and he wanted to be left alone.

Emma gasped, in shock "What?!"

Tom was growing mad. He had been trapped in a cage this whole time. All of his strong feelings for Cassie had been surrounded by the anger he felt towards her. The anger over powered the love. He stood up and looked at all of them.

They stood scattered around the entrance, only seeing shadow's of their faces through the light coming in through the hallway.

"I. Don't. Care." He said again, it was easier this time. "It has nothing to concern me"

Emma's anger level was rising fast, as she stared at Tom. "You're an idiot" She spat at him.

"An Idiot? How am I an idiot?" Tom asked sarcastically.

"She gave up everything for you!" Emma shouted, stomping her feet.

Tom grinded his teeth together, glaring at her, warning her that he didn't want to talk about this.

"You don't even know the extent, because you didn't care!" Emma screamed at him again.

"Didn't care" Tom hissed "Didn't care?! I always cared; she is the one who called it off not me..."

"She gave up her life! She gave up her home, she gave up her job, she gave up her friends, she freakin cussed out her father, who now won't even talk to her...all for you! She is an idiot too, what was the point of doing all of that? Giving up everything, and the person she gave it up for just spat on her! She just wanted to talk. TALK! And you throw her under a freakin train!" She screamed at him.

Tom didn't realize this. He didn't realize anything that Cassie did for him; he didn't realize the sacrifices she made for him. This didn't change anything though. She still broke his heart, and didn't even care.

He sat back down on the chair, staring back into the night "Leave"

"Bloody Hell! I hope you die alone Tom!" Emma hissed grabbing Dan and Rupert, and slamming Tom's door shut.

Tom closed his eyes painfully. The thought that she could die tortured him to no end.

"I can't believe him!" Emma shouted in anger pacing back and forth in Rupert's room. She was already packed for the short trip to Madison Hospital.

Rupert sighed "I'll try and get him to come...I'm not leaving until Saturday anyway"

Rupert wasn't leaving until Saturday; because he couldn't cancel his date...he was keeping on the optimistic point of view. She was going to live. She had to. It was just a fever that would go down, then she would heal and everything would be fine.

"It doesn't look so good" Dan told Rupert. Rupert was packing and had the cell phone in between his shoulder and ear.

He sighed "Well I'll be there soon"

"Don't forget about-"

"Tom. I know. I'll call you when we land"

"Good luck" Dan said encouragingly.

"Yeah thanks." Rupert mumbled and closed the phone.

Rupert walked into Tom's room without a knock or anything, going straight for his closet.

"What are you doing?" Tom asked, looking up from his desk confused.

"Packing, we leave in fifteen minutes" he said throwing some clothes into a bag.

"Leaving? I'm not leaving." Tom said seriously.

Rupert stopped and stared at him. "She is on the verge of dying Tom; this could be your last time to see her"

"I don't wan't-"

"No I don't care what happened between you two! She is still your friend, so stop being such a pansy about it a get the hell up."

"I can't" Tom said solemnly.

"You know you're going to regret it if you don't. You're going to regret it for the rest of your life, so just get on the damn plane and go see her!" Rupert shouted annoyed.

Tom grinded his teeth together and snatched the bag away from Rupert "Fine"

Rupert had a small smile on his lips the second Tom turned away.

"They would let her go if she wasn't sick" Clayton spoke. He was sitting next to the hospital bed, holding Cassie's petite hand in both of his.

"I hate seeing her like this" Emma spoke, sitting on the edge of her bed, careful of her broken leg.

"Everyone does Em" Dan sighed.

Carson walked back into Cassie's room hands filled with coffee. He slowly distributed them and then took a long gulp himself.

"Where is your dad?" Emma asked after a few minutes of silence.

Clayton looked at Cassie "He knows said he was busy"

"To come see his own daughter?" Dan asked, astonished.

Carson frowned "Cas really pissed him off"

Dan looked at his phone that had buzzed in his pocket.

The text read from Rupert saying that Tom was coming. Dan smiled and thumbed up at Emma. She smiled too. She was still mad at Tom, but she thought that Cassie would appreciate him coming.

Tom sat uncomfortably in his seat, shifting every few minutes. Rupert was next to him with his eyes closed, sitting peacefully. Tom sighed and looked out the airplane's window, still having this empty feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"What is" Tom gulped "What is wrong with her?" He couldn't even try to say her name aloud.

Rupert opened one eye, glancing a Tom and then slouched more into his seat "She has a broken leg, five broken ribs, a bruised back, and a fever"

Tom took in a shaky breath. "Do you know why...why she was even on...?" He trailed off.

"Look no one has talked to her, she blacked out. We don't know why she did it..." Rupert told him.

Tom ran a hand through his hair, and turned away from Rupert, starring back at the clouds in the sky.

He wished that everything was fine. He wished that they had never broken up. She would be perfectly safe. Not a single scratch. He closed his eyes slowly, trying to keep the moisture from pouring out his eyes, but he couldn't help a few tears from falling.

"Are you...are you crying?" Rupert asked leaning forward trying to see Tom's face clearly.

Tom didn't reply. He didn't move. He just let the tears fall, not bothering to wipe away the evidence.

Rupert sighed leaning back "You love her."

"I've always loved her" Tom whispered.

"Then why did you have to-"

"Be the worst boyfriend in the world?" Tom asked finishing Rupert's question "She made it seem like she didn't want anything to do with me. Have you ever noticed that she runs from everything? She has ran from every fight that we have ever had. This time I wasn't going after her. If she wanted to leave, then I wasn't going to stop her"

"How can you do that?" Rupert asked confused, glaring at the seat in front of him.

"Do what?" Tom asked rubbing his temple with his index finger.

"Make it seem like this is her fault"

"It is her fault" Tom stated bluntly.

"No its not. Didn't you hear Emma at all? Or were you just blocking out everything we said? She told Emma that you said she wasn't committed. Tom that girl is the most committed. She sacrificed her life, now she has none." He sighed and mumbled "No wonder she was pushed over the edge."

Tom rolled his eyes, and then stared at Rupert "Pushed over the edge? What do you mean?"

"I think that she wanted something to happen to her."

"Rupert she would never want that. Why would she? She always loved life" Tom said shooting down his theory.

"Her life hasn't been fantastic lately mate. Think about it...she always said rollercoaster's were a death wish."

Tom shook his head, refusing to hear that Cassie would want to be hurt "She wouldn't do that"

Rupert shrugged but did not object.