章節 36: Chapter Thirty-Five
"What the hell are you doing here?" Bailey's eyes seemed to zero in on me as soon as I walked through the emergency room doors.
"Excuse me?" I asked her, unable to keep myself from giving a small chuckle at her bluntness and the confusion that seemed to fill her eyes.
"It's your day off, what the hell are you doing here?" She repeated herself, still looking at me as though I were crazy. "You should be at home or something, not here in the hospital."
"Call me crazy but I didn't feel like spending an entire day in my small apartment. I thought I'd come in, see if there was anything I could do around here." I shrugged. "Besides, my apartment's depressing."
"Crazy." She muttered under her breath as I continued past her and headed for the elevator.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Nearly an hour after I'd gotten to the hospital I found myself walking into the NICU, having no patients of my own to check on at the moment. Glancing around I saw a little more than a dozen babies covered with wires and tubes, nervous parents surrounding some of them, dressed in thin pink trauma gowns, like the one I had slipped on myself before I came inside. At my entrance though two people glanced up, a man and woman who had been talking to one another, a smile stretched across the man's face.
"Is something wrong?" The man asked me, a nervous look shining through his eyes that contradicted his smile.
"No," I shook my head, trying assure them both. "My name's Bria Howards, I'm a doctor here. It's my day off, but I thought I'd come in, help out in any way that I could."
"How far along are you?" The woman gave a small smile as she glanced down at my swollen stomach.
"Six months." I told her.
"Do you know what you're having yet?" She asked.
"A boy." I smiled as I walked over to where they stood besides an incubator that held a baby boy that looked to be a few months old, hooked up to a few tubes and wires but not as much as other babies seemed to be. "Is he yours?"
"Mine." The man told me, his smile only seeming to grow as he looked down at his son. "His name's Rhys, I'm Noah."
"Yeah, we're not together." The woman explained as she walked over to an incubator that was a few down from Rhys's. "We just both have kids in here, we lean on each other. My daughter, Samantha, is right over here, I'm Laura."
"Well, I'm sure Rhys and Samantha will both be home before too long." I assured them both as I felt my stomach knot, unease seeming to fill me as I stood there, surrounded by sick babies, dying babies. "What, if you don't mind my asking, is wrong with them?"
"They both need new hearts." The man told me, his smile faltering.
"Who's presenting?" I glanced towards the doors as Yang led Edwards and Murphy into the NICU.
"I guess I am." Edwards gave a small nod as she stopped in front of Samantha's incubator. "Samantha Morgan, three months old. Born with idiopathic neonatal cardiomyopathy. She's currently status one-b on the heart transplant list."
"What did I miss?"Noah asked, glancing between the three of the them nervously. "Is there any update on a heart?"
"I know how hard it is to just sit here and wait. But sometimes that's all we can do until a heart becomes available." Yang told her.
"Seventy-seven days." She told them. "That's how long she's been on the list already. But who's counting, right?"
"She'll get a heart." Noah assured her. "I know she will."
"The good news is, your daughter's stable for now." Murphy reminded them, looking between them both.
"Oh. Oh, no, she's not ..." Noah shook his head.
"He isn't ..." Laura tried to explain.
"I'm not, um ... Laura and I met here." Noah told them. "Our kids were born about a week apart. My son Rhys is right over there."
"We're both doing all of this alone." Laura added. "It helps to have a second set of ears to hear all the medical jargon."
"My turn next?" Noah asked as he led us all over to Rhys's incubator.
"Yes. Rhys Rutstein, status two on the heart transplant list, born with a single-ventricle defect." Edwards presented his case. "Post-op from receiving a central shunt and recovering very well."
"It's possible you might be able to take Rhys home some time next week." Yang informed Noah, causing his eyes to widen.
"Home? Next week?" His voice was filled with shock, disbelief.
"Ah, yes. There's no reason Rhys has to wait for a heart here." Yang nodded, I couldn't help but smile at the news. Another baby was going to get to go home. Noah was going to get to take his son home, get to finally raise his son outside of the hospital walls, away from the constant supervision of the nurses and doctors.
"Oh, Noah." Laura grinned widely at her friend. "That's amazing."
"Oh, I'm not ... I-I don't think I'm ready for this. I mean, I am, but ... home ... without all the doctors or nurses or you ..." I could see the fear in his eyes
"You can do this. You and Rhys are gonna be just fine." Laura assured him.
"We'll check in with you later." Yang told them before leading her interns away while I stayed.
"That's really it, I get to take him home? Today?" Noah asked me, his smile wide.
"It looks like it." I nodded.
"Oh my God," he whispered to himself. "I get to take him home. Home."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I brought coffee." I walked back into the NICU that afternoon with a coffee in each hand, one for Noah and one for Laura.
"Thanks, I feel like I'm about to fall asleep while standing." Laura thanked me as she took the coffee, taking a long sip from it while Noah did the same. All morning I had found myself in the NICU with the both of them, talking about their kids, what Laura went through during her pregnancy, and other things. Just topics that made the time pass by while we waited for Yang to come back to look over Samantha and Rhys again.
"When was the last time you got a good night of sleep?" I asked her, noticing the dark bags beneath her eyes.
"Seventy-nine days ago." She shrugged. "It's hard to get a good night's sleep when you're worried about your daughter dying while your not there, not awake. You're afraid to miss even the smallest things, not knowing how much time you have left."
"Will you please tell her to just take a deep breath?" Noah asked me. "Samantha's on the list and she's strong. She'll be getting her new heart any day now. I know it."
"He's right." I nodded in agreement. "Samantha's going to be back home a growing up before too long. Soon enough she'll be a teenage girl making you want to pull out your hair."
"I can't wait." Laura smiled at the idea as machines began to beep loudly, breaking the quiet of the NICU. Noah's eyes seemed to triple in size as he realized the sounds were coming from the machines connected to Rhys. I hurried over to his incubator and looked at the numbers, his blood pressure was falling.
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