Flowers and Cards: Mama's Here

[Elaine Tonaya]

As soon as she got the call about Morgan being in the hospital, Elaine closed her shop. She let everyone there know that there had been a family emergency and she put a sign on the door apologizing, then she locked everything up and was on her way.

There had been a small pile-up on the road out of town, and it took almost half an hour before Elaine was able to maneuver around the accident. No one in the cars looked to have been hurt, it just backed up all the cars in the area. Because of all this, and because she was scared about what might have happened, Elaine was angry and frustrated when she pulled up at the hospital. She slammed the door and almost caught her purse in the door frame.

Inside, she strode forward purposefully. She went to the front desk where the nurse sat, oblivious to the storm heading her way.

"I am here to see my son," Elaine said, plopping her purse onto the counter. "Morgan Tonaya. T-O-N-A-Y-A. I am his mother, Elaine. What room is he in?"

The nurse looked lazily up at Elaine. "I'll need to check."

"Well then do that. I want to get up to see him."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but it will take some time. We need to check your ID first, and then I need to see if he's free to take visitors. Do you know why he is here?"

"I know that I got a call and he needs me. I was told he had been in some sort of accident."

"Oh, is he one of the group that came in? There were a lot of wounded people who came in, apparently from that boarding school in Pilot Ridge. Does your son work there?"

"Yes! Do you know what happened?"

"Uh-uh, no one would tell us."

"Well where are they? I need to see them. All of them, and my son."

"I'm sorry, you can see your son, but I can't be sure about the--"

Elaine was getting tired of all this. She was sick of delays that were keeping her from being able to go find her son and make sure he was all right. And this nurse was in her way.

Drawing herself up to her full five feet and four inches, Elaine put on her most menacing glare--the sort used to intimidate young children when they had done something particularly bad.

"Miss, I don't care what kind of stupid policies you have here. I have shown you my identification and that is my son in there. You will tell me where he is so that I can find him, or God help me I will go through this hospital by myself looking for him. Now tell me. Where. Is. My. Son."

The nurse pointed down a corridor. "Down by the emergency room. Can't miss it, lots of moaning people."

Elaine frowned at the nurse, who she suspected might be trying to get away with being impertinent, but she didn't have time for that now. Snatching her purse off the counter, she headed toward the ER.

She started to recognize some of the people around her, and some were in worse shape than others. But she couldn't stop to talk to them or ask what was going on. She had more important things to do. She continued walking, looking in doorways and glancing behind curtains until she saw a familiar head of bright blond curls.

Elaine dashed forward and wrapped her arms around Morgan, who was lying in bed, part of his face covered with bandages.

"Oh my god, Morgan! What happened? I got the call and I rushed over as fast as I could, but they didn't tell me...oh my god, what happened to you? Are you all right? Is there anything else wrong? Please, you have to tell me...tell me everything...." She was letting her words rattle over one another in her rush to try to comfort him and understand everything that was going on. She didn't notice anything else in the room, just her baby who was in pain.

[Morgan Tonaya]

Morgan tensed and nearly lashed out when there was suddenly another warm body around him, engulfing him and frankly scaring the shit out of him. His heart began beating wildly, but he immediately calmed himself when he inhaled a familiar scent. He clung to it as if it were life itself, ignoring the burning pain in his hands as he did so, turning his head to bury his face in his mother’s shoulder.

“Mama…” He murmured, just hugging her for as long as she would let him before she began to break down. Normally Elaine was fairly level-headed…her being so distressed made Morgan exceptionally nervous. Though he supposed he couldn’t blame her, he only wished he could see her.

“Mama, please. Calm down.” He prompted, releasing her to lay back against the bed. He kept one hand on her, letting it slide down her arm to grope for her hand. “They didn’t tell you what happened?” He asked slowly, not sure he could recount everything himself. It had all happened so fast, and he’d been injured so early. He gave her hand a squeeze, as there was only one thing he could thing to say.

His eyes burned painfully as tears welled up, and he strained to hold them back. “…Jake, He…” Morgan trailed off, his breath hitching. “He wasn’t who I thought he was.”

[Elaine Tonaya]

When Morgan asked her to calm down, Elaine's breath hitched. She was supposed to be the one taking care of him, and that was the way she would always see herself. So she carefully sniffed and took a deep breath to calm herself. As Morgan laid down against the bed, she took one hand in hers and held it tightly, then used her free hand to reach up and carefully lay it against his cheek.

"I haven't heard anything," she said softly to Morgan. "Only that you were hurt and that I should come in. They only told me at the desk that there were other people from the school here as well." She continued clenching his hand and gently stroking his face, which was half-covered in bandages.

She watched Morgan struggle with himself. When he mentioned Jake, though, Elaine was surprised. This happened because of Morgan's boyfriend? She started inwardly kicking herself, thinking that she should have been able to see all this coming. Why hadn't she noticed anything on Jake when she first met him? She wanted to ask her son more about what was actually wrong, but she could see that it was too difficult a subject for him to talk about right now. Instead she just leaned down and gave him another hug.

"Okay. Ssh, it'll be all right. You don't have to say anything. We'll just focus on getting you better for now. Here..." She pulled back for a moment and rummaged in her oversized purse, though she left one hand gripping Morgan's. "I brought you something," she said, pulling out her gift and setting it next to him. "I didn't have time to bake anything special, and I didn't think they'd let me bring a lot of flowers, but I did have something else on hand."

She had brought a small bunch of flowers--carnations--and she set these on the table next to Morgan. She wished now that she had brought a flower that smelled more strongly, since Morgan might not even know that these were there. But perhaps the other gift could make up for that. She took a small Green Lantern figure from her purse and placed it next to her son's face. "I always keep this near me. It's the one that I bought you after you hurt your arm. I remember you bandaging up his arm and the two of you were cast buddies until all the bandages came off. I like having it on hand because it reminds me of you, but I think you should take it back for now. Until you get better."

She sat next to Morgan on the bed. Silently, she watched him for a moment. "Morgan," she said quietly, "Do the doctors know how long you will be here?"

[Morgan Tonaya]

Morgan didn’t know if he was relieved or mortified that Elaine didn’t know anything. He’d kept her in the dark about it to protect her and to save her from a heartache. Now that it was all said and done, he was still causing her pain. He was at a loss, unsure if he should explain or simply leave it to someone else. When it came down to it, could he explain?

Breathing in slow, quiet, ragged breaths, Morgan managed to choke down the tears. His eyes hurt so badly he didn’t even dare to let the tears fall, even if all he wanted was to do so. Whatever could wash away the memories, he was prepared to do it. Morgan pressed his forehead into his mother’s shoulder when she hugged him again, praising God that she was alive and well and here without a scratch.

He could hear shuffling sounds, but couldn’t discern their meaning. He was uneasy in that fact: being so reliant on his sight that he couldn’t identify sounds around him. Morgan assumed grimly that he would just have to get over it. Whatever condition he was in now, he assumed he would be in almost permanently. That meant dealing with the dark.

Elaine’s first gift was lost on Morgan, but he immediately reached his free hand to the side of his face and gingerly took the figurine in hand. He ran his thumb over the plastic of its arm, chuckling at the rough patch where he’d used athletic tape to give him a cast all those years ago. It managed to give him a little hope. Clutching the figure as tightly as his bandaged, injured grip would allow, Morgan sighed gently.

“Thank you, Mom…” He murmured. Morgan was struck by the reality of the situation full force when next Elaine asked how long he would be in the hospital. Morgan shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure if they do. I…haven’t been awake very long.” He admitted, chewing his lip.

[Elaine Tonaya]

Elaine watched as Morgan held his action figure again and was struck by how much she still thought of him as a little boy that she had to protect. Yet he was growing up now, and this was something she would have to face. He was caught in something that was big and dangerous, and she would have to learn to deal with that and not make him stay at home. She had to trust that he knew what he was doing and could make his own decisions.

"Okay then, I will ask the doctors to see if they have any more information. And then I have a phone call I would like to make. Can you wait for me for just a moment?"

She stepped away to speak to one of the doctors briefly and then called Cobalt to tell him that Morgan was in the hospital. When the conversation was done, she returned to Morgan's bedside.

"Morgan, I just called Cobalt. We both are going to make sure that you get the best care possible. Would you like anything for the time being? Is there anything I can do to help?"

[Morgan Tonaya]

Morgan was starting not to trust himself to make his own decisions. It seemed that everything that he’d tried in the past year had just completely exploded in his face. As much as he’d tried to make things safe for his mother, all he’d managed to do was go blind.

“Yeah. Uh…yeah.” Morgan managed, the pain medicine suddenly a rather hazy reminder of what had happened. Had he felt this soft the entire time he’d been awake? The drip in his IV had increased momentarily, a detail that Morgan couldn’t see, and given him his fast acting dose.

“Cobalt?” Morgan repeated, clearing his throat slightly. He was getting very tired. “I…No. I’d like to…I’m fine.” He stammered, stumbling over thoughts. He’d have loved to see Cobalt, but he just couldn’t seem to get the words out. “Mom?” He murmured, groping for her hand again. “Mom…” He cleared his throat and clutched her fingers in his. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to protect you.”

[Elaine Tonaya]

Elaine choked up a bit when she heard Morgan stumbling over his words. And he wanted to protect her? Wasn't that supposed to be her job? She was his mother, she always should be there for him...yet he was an adult now, and he loved her just as much as she loved him. If something was wrong, he would try to stop it. That was what she raised him to do.

"You should sleep now," she said quietly, rubbing her hand against his cheek. "You must be exhausted. Don't worry about me. I'll stay right here. For as long as you need me, I will be here. And then maybe tomorrow Cobalt can come up to visit you. We'll get you taken care of."

She pulled a chair over to the bedside so she could sit down and still hold Morgan's hand. As she sat, she started to hum a very quiet lullaby. He needed rest, needed to sleep so that he could begin to heal. So she waited for him to rest again. Then she could ask the doctors what was going on and what might be done. Later. For now all she wanted to do was to be with her family.

[ooc: I am so sorry about the delayed response. I am a horrible person sometimes.]