Bette sat in the waiting area of the emergency surgery intensive care department. She just sat, numb and scared.  The ID in Alice’s purse gave Shane or Dana access to any medical information available and the policemen that spoke to Shane, phoned and spoke to the nurse in charge and explained that Bette was there in place of them. The nurse was an avid reader of Alice’s magazine and articles and knew who her girlfriend was and the current situation they were in.  The surgeon came out to speak to Bette, long after she had lost track of the time.

“Ms Porter.”

Bette looked up.

Direct as ever Bette wanted to know only one thing.

“Is she going to live?”

Dr Morgan took a deep breath.

“Ms Piezecki has suffered some very serious injuries.  Her right leg was crushed on impact, it was a fairly standard trauma injury and should heal well. However her windscreen shattered which caused several deep lacerations to her head and to a lesser extent, her face.  One of these penetrated her skull but we have repaired this with good effect.  We won’t know if there is any lasting damage until she comes round.

It was Bette’s turn to take a deep breath.

“Can I sit with her?”

The Dr hesitated.

“Dr Robbins is still working on her.  My work is done and it has gone as smoothly as we could’ve expected.”

“But??”

“But  it appears that on the initial impact Alice’s spine was traumatised in some manner.  Our bodies are extremely  and it immediately set about trying to repair. In a short time, a matter of seconds, her spinal column had started to swell.  By the time of the second and more severe impact, our scans show that the intercalated disks in her spine separated.”

“She’s broken her back?” Bette summarised

“In effect, yes.  But the swelling it seems in this case, caused a kind of protective barrier around the nervous fibres.”

“So what does this actually mean?” Bette’s patience was waning fast.

“If Dr Robbins is successful in his surgery and manages to fuse her spine back together it would create a possibility of Alice regaining the use of her legs. There are no guarantees. I have seen patients with less severe injuries than this never walk again but if this is successful it creates a slim chance.”