nyc prep continued

"Just try," Sam suggested. She touched his cheek, he looked so tired, so broken.

He nodded, "of course. I got your salad. " he said handing her a boxed house salad

"will you lay down with me?" Jeff asked

Sam nodded. "Yeah, but your not sleeping on the couch."

"Thank you," she smiled and took the box from him. "Here, you can sit," she offered the seat next to Carl. There were plenty of other seats and she didn't want to get in the way of his family.

This made Jeff actually chuckle, "ok."

"Oh no...I have a business meeting I have to get to Sooooo im not staying." He said as he finished unpacking the food

"Oh," she was a little startled. Carl was in the hospital... Why would he be going to a business meeting? But she smiled and thanked him again for bringing the food.

Sam stood up and took Jeff's hands, pulling him up. "Come on," she said and she lead him to his room.

Carls moon followed him out and harsh whispered could be heard through the door
"so...what do we have?" Carl asked

Jeff practically fell into bed crawling under the covers. He just entered to escape

Sam took her shoes off and crawled in beside him. "Try to sleep."

"He certainly did get a bit of everything," Brooklynn said as she opened the containers. "Pasta, another salad, chicken, goodness, he does expect you to be extremely hungry," she said with a smile.

Carl shrugged, "pasts sounds good."

Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe the high emotion but Jeff's eyes closed and soon he was asleep

She added a fork to the opened box and slipped it onto the tray, where he could easily reach it. "There you go."

Sam didn't sleep, she tried but she couldn't. She alternated between staring at the wall and the ceiling. If the shooter really was his daughter then everything that happened today could be her fault, her fault and David's.

"Do you think its a business meeting?" Carl asked as he picked up the fork

"I don't think he'd lie to you, Carl. I'm sure it's very important," Brooklynn replied. She was trying to be optimistic.

"Maybe." He allowed pushing his food around

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Do you think... do you think it's not a meeting?"

He sighed, " I think....I think that my parents are good at hiding things from me."

"I'm sure everything is fine," she assured him. "Don't worry about it. You should focus on healing."

"ok." He replied but said nothing more

Brooklynn ate in silence, concerned. She didn't want him to have toworry about his parents....

his mother came back in with a forced smile, "that man is always working," she Said as she stepped over to the table of food

Brooklynn smiled and shifted in her seat. "It's getting late, I should probably go soon," she looked at Carl. "So you can get some sleep."

"oh, well I'll cal' Lloyd to take you home," and before Brooklyn could protest she pulled out her phone and made the call.
"thank you for staying with me," Carl said with a slight smile.

"You're welcome. I'll come back to see you tomorrow, okay?" she asked.

he nodded," I'd lite that."

She squeezed his hand and pressed a kiss to the back of his hand. "See you tomorrow," she promised.

"ok. . . thanks again. "he said before letting to hand go

"Absolutely," she agreed. "Try to get some sleep and... and don't worry to much," she said. She didn't want him worrying about his parents.

"I'll try not to. You get some sleep as well! the instructed with a small smile

"I'll try," she promised. "Thank you for calling Lloyd," she told his mother, "I really appreciate it."

"of course, Brooklyn," she said pulling her onto hug, "we are just so glad you both are ok."

Brooklynn smiled and hugged the woman back. "Thanks, me too," she agreed.

Lloyd opened the door for het when Brooklyn came out and smiled, "good to see you miss."

"Good to see you too," Brooklynn gave him a smile. "Thanks for coming to get me, I really appreciate it." She slid into the car.

He nodded closing the door and then got into the drivers seat, "in jist glad I get another chance to drive you around." He said glancing in the rearview mirror

"Yeah... Me too," she agreed. "Have you heard anything about what happened? Have they said why? Or... Or given out any information?"

Lloyd shook his head, "nothing yet. I've been paying attention to the news. They just said how many were...shot...and that it was one girl...no more information as of now." He said sadly

"Do you know how many.... Uh, died?" She asked. She and Carl had both been lucky. But she knew others hadn't been. If she thought back to the classroom... Which she didnt want to do, she could remember seeing at least two others fall.

Lloyd took in a deep breath. Did this young lady really want to know? He glanced in the rearview mirror, "24 that they knew of this afternoon."