Private - Tracey and me only

She came around front and started to drive "Would you rather be at your apartment or the dorm?

"Whatever's the easiest for you, honey," he told her gently.

"Well, we'll put you in my bed for the time being." she said and started to head towards the college dorms.

He nodded quietly, still tired from the pain meds. It'd take at least twelve hours for them to wear off to where he was completely coherent.

She pulled out the wheelchair from the trunk, and when he was in it she wheeled him inside to her room. Hope looked up and pointed at her dad "Whats that on his leg?"

Chad smiled sheepishly. "It's a cast, sweetie. My leg is broken - I can't move it."

"what happened?" she asked walking up to him and touched the cast.

"Oooh, no Hope we dont want to touch daddy's leg alright? Not unless he gives us permission. You know when you fell and scrapped your knee at grandma's house? It hurts even worse than that." she said gently picking Hope up and setting her on the couch.

Chad rolled himself to the couch and held out his arms to hug his baby girl. "There was ice on the road and my car slipped," he told her gently.

Hope hugged him tightly, and Jamie just winced. That deffinately didn't look good. "Hope not to hard! Daddy's tummy doesn't feel good." she said, deciding against the idea of explaining to her what ribs were.

He winced, too, and chuckled softly. "It's okay. Be very gentle with me, honey," he told his daughter gently. "Everything hurts and I'm very tired. You wanna take a nap with me," he asked her, kissing her forehead.

"Daddy, I'm not tired..." she said.

"She just got up from her nap." her roommate said

"Okay, well I'm gonna go take a nap," he smiled and kissed her cheek. "I love you," he told his daughter, hugging her and putting her back down on the couch. Right now, he was just glad that neither Hope nor Jamie had been in the car with him when he'd crashed.

"Night Daddy." she said and went back to watching Dora the Explorer on tv.

Jamie wheeled him into her room and told Hope to behave herself as her roomate went out for the evening. "If you need anything knock on the door alright?" she asked.

"Yes Mommy." she said

Jamie closed the door behind her looked at Chad "Alright, time to get you in bed..." she said helping him out of his wheelchair and easing him down on her bed.

He winced but held his tongue as he was laid down on the bed. "Thank you, honey," he smiled at her, stroking her cheek.

She nodded leaning up against the wall with his head in her lap. She didn't plan on moving for awhile. She could read her book while he was asleep and when he got up she'd go grab all the prescriptions. "It's not a problem." she said gently," I'm here for you."She smiled to try and hide the worried look on her face.

He squeezed her hand. "I love you," he whispered. "Don't worry about me- I'm fine."

She signed quietly caressed the back of his hand with her thumb. "It's not that....it's....after all of this." she sighed. "We can't do this....without the help of my parents, and the last thing I want to do is go to them right now. Not when everything was going so well." she admitted.

He nodded. "I know where you're coming from... I have no idea how I'm gonna afford the hospital bill, my car's insurance, and Hope's Christmas..." he sighed. He hated to admit it, but he did need her parents' help. If they were willing to give it.

Jamie ran a hand through her hair absentmindedly and brought up his hand to kiss it "...I know....and, Hope can be a handful...you being....loopy and supposed to be relaxing inst going to help when I'm in class." she said gently "Daycare costs money...and we need to save it rather then spend it." she sighed looking out the window "Just get some rest right now...."

He sighed, nodding. "Once this wears off, I can watch her, " he said softly.

"You'll be on meds though, dunno how those will effect you, you know?" she said gently running a hand through his hair.

"I guess," he sighed softly, yawning.

She stroked his hair untill he fell asleep and picked up her book and started to read.

Chad slept soundly for about six hours. He yawned as he woke up and blinked open his eyes. He was even more stiff than before.

Jamie had moved by then went out to make Hope dinner and to get all his medications. She was just walking in when he woke up.