Scars of the Present (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

I don’t know how long I slept, but when I woke up I was still on the floor, my head using my dad’s thigh as a pillow. I blinked slowly for a minute before remembering where I was and what had happened. I jerked up quickly and looked around. Sarah was asleep in a chair across the room, her hand clutched in a sleeping Maddie’s. Sean sat on Sarah’s other side talking quietly to Matt. Amanda was asleep, using Matt’s chest as a pillow, and he had his arm draped across the back of her chair.

“What time is it?” I rubbed my eyes and looked at my dad.

“Almost one in the morning.” My mom’s voice surprised me and I saw her sitting on the opposite side of me. Her hair was still tied up in that stupid bun, but her face looked older and tired instead of the pinched and unhappy one I was used to.

“Mom?” I just stared at her, confused.

“You’ve been asleep for about three hours.” She didn’t acknowledge my unasked question, and I didn’t force it.

“Has the doctor been back out?”

My dad shook his head and I knew that was a bad sign. Sean had noticed I was awake, and he slowly pulled himself away from Maddie without waking her before crouching in front of me.

“Hey Syd.” He put a small smile on his face. “Can I get you anything?”

“No thank you,” I whispered and I reached for his hand. He held it for a moment before standing back up.

“I’m gonna get you some coffee just in case you decide you want it, okay?” He waited for me to nod and then disappeared from the waiting room.

Sean had only been gone for about five minutes when Dr. Malloy stepped through the double doors. I scrambled to my feet, almost kicking my parents in the process. I stared at the doctor, but he didn’t give anything away. He looked sweaty and exhausted, and I saw traces of blood on his scrubs. My parents stood behind me, but I shook my head when Matt moved to wake the other girls.

“Is he…?” I gave the doctor a pleading look and he exhaled deeply.

“I stopped the bleeding and repaired the heart again, but put in a patch this time so it wouldn’t be as constricted. We had to give him a blood transfusion, but he’s okay. We’re moving him back to the ICU for the night, and we’ll see where we’re at tomorrow. We intubated him for surgery, but we’re going to go ahead and take it out now since his lung function looks good.”

“Oh god,” I breathed, dropping my hands to my knees and letting my head hang for a moment. Dr. Malloy touched my shoulder and mentioned getting me when he was out of recovery, and he disappeared through the double doors.

I took several deep breaths before I straightened myself up. My dad pulled me into a hug, squeezing me tightly, and I felt my mom awkwardly pat my back.

“I need to wake Sarah,” I said after I had pulled away from my parents. “Thank you so much for being here… both of you.”

My dad smiled, and I saw his hand clasp mom’s. “We’re a phone call away if you need us, okay?”

I nodded and watched as they walked out of the room before I turned to where Sarah was sitting. I fell into the empty chair next to her, and touched her shoulder softly.

“Sarah.” I whispered quietly. “Sarah.”

She jerked under my hand and sat up straight, blinking her eyes several times. “What? Has the doctor come out?”

I nodded and gave her a small smile. “He’s okay.”

She let out a deep breathing and wrapped her arms around me. “Of course he is.”

Sean returned with coffee for everyone, and we all exchanged hugs until it was just Sarah and I left in the waiting room. A new nurse I had never seen came and got us, leading the way to the ICU, but she stopped suddenly when we got to the doors.

“I’m sorry, but only immediate family can come past these doors.” She looked directly at me and I narrowed my eyes at her.

“I don’t give a damn about hospital policy right now. I’ve been with him basically every second for the past five days, and you’re not going to keep me away now.”

The nurse matched my facial expression with a shitty one of her own. “I can call security and have you escorted out.”

Sarah stepped up to the nurse and scowled. “My brother wants her in there, and as his only family I give her permission to be.”

“That’s not how it works, ma’am.” The nurse glanced at me. “You need to go.”

A smile spread across my face as I reached into my pocket for my cell phone. “I can call Mary right now and sort this out. I’m sure she’ll love the call at two in the morning.”

“You know Mary?” Her sure expression faltered for the first time. Another nurse who had been walking by stepped up with a frantic look on her face.

“Debbie, Sydney is one of our Administrators. I know you’re new here, but she has special permission to be back there.” The new nurse gave me a shaky smile before turning back to Debbie with a look of warning.

“Oh,” was all Debbie said, and I didn’t wait for her to respond anymore. I grabbed Sarah’s had and pulled her to the ICU doors, swiping my badge, and walking in.

“Lovely woman,” Sarah muttered under her breath, and I grinned for the first time since David had gone back into surgery.

“If she’d been a little nicer, I probably would have told her instead of pulling my Mary-card.” I let out a delirious giggle as we walked down the hallway.

We approached his bed and his pale look had returned, but the tube was missing. A nurse was scribbling down his vitals and she looked up at us with a smile.

“He probably won’t be awake for a little while, but everything looks good so far.”

Sarah sighed, and moved in to give him a kiss on the forehead. “You’ll call me if anything changes, Sydney? I’m going to go home and sleep.”

“Yeah, of course,” I nodded. “I’ll let you know when he’s awake.”

“Good.” She turned to walk away, pausing to look over her shoulder. “Tell him I want to kick his ass for doing that to us again.”

I took my seat next to his bed, wrapping his hand in mine, and after a little while the sound of the different machines in the ICU lulled me back to sleep.

–––

My sleep was restless, maybe about thiry minutes at a time, and something amongst the ICU kept waking me up. The sun had just come up when I woke to fingers stroking my hair.

I sat up slowly, my neck feeling achy, and my eyes collided with David’s. He had brought the bed to an upright position, and his skin had a bit more color.

A slow smile filled his face. “Hey,” he murmured quietly.

I tried to smile, but instead I started to cry and buried my face his lap.

David let me cry, his hand never leaving the back of my head, and after a few minutes I sat up.

“Sorry,” I said, wiping my face with a tissue from the table near the bed. “It was just a long night.”

“Oh Tink, don’t apologize. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through all of this. What happened?”

I told him about his heart, and he peered down at the new bandage on his chest and sighed.

“Is Claire traumatized?”

“Randy says she’ll be okay. She was pretty shaken up when they left, but Sarah says he’s trying to distract her.” I stood, cupping his cheeks in my hands, and kissed him gently. “No more, okay?”

“Okay.”

We went through the motions a second time, getting moved into the general ward, but this time having daily ultrasounds of his heart as it healed. Dr. Malloy had said that as soon as he was sure the risk for tearing was passed, that we would be able to take him home.

Two days after his second surgery I had snuck out to get some coffee while he was sleeping. After I had a warm cup in my hand, I made my way back to his room and heard voices as I came to the door. I slowed my steps, not wanting to interrupt, when part of the conversation caught my ears.

“He’s lost most of his privileges for thirty days, but his outgoing mail is suspended indefinitely.” Patty’s voice was unmistakable as she spoke.

“I knew he’d write again,” David replied quietly. “What did this one say?”

Patty groaned. “He basically wrote a four page mini-story featuring him and Maddie. It was pretty graphic.”

“Did Maddie read it?” David’s voice was louder now, and he sounded pissed.

“Whoa Dave, calm down,” Patty’s voice sounded frantic as the heart monitor he was on beeped quickly. “Your pitbull will kick my ass if I get you all worked up.”

David laughed for a moment. “Did you just call Sydney a pitbull?”

“You’re right. She’s more like a chihuahua. Those things are tiny but mean.” Patty laughed too. When she spoke again her voice had a gentler tone to it. “She’s pretty protective over you. I’m really glad you two have worked it out.”

David’s loud sigh could be heard into the hallway. “Me too, Pat. I can’t even see a future with her anymore.”

I took a few steps back, not wanting to eavesdrop anymore and I headed towards the nurses station with a smile.

As the days went on, I still didn’t leave his side for very long at a time. Mary had been incredibly patient and understanding with my circumstances, and I was doing a lot of my work from his hospital room. David protested and told me I didn’t need to do that, but I was afraid to leave him alone. The physical therapist came by twice a day, and by day ten he was walking independently and bored out of his mind. He had taken to bothering the doctor every time he saw them, and I started to think they wanted to leave just as badly.

“Well,” Dr. Malloy said, replacing the ultrasound wand to the portable machine. “Your heart looks great so I think you can probably go home. Dr. Pierce is going to come check your shoulder first, because we might be to get rid of this sling, too.”

David grinned at the idea of being freed, and he glanced at me. “Going home sounds fantastic.”

Claire had been by for an hour or so the past few days, and she didn’t seem scarred or traumatized. She did, however, scold her dad for being silly the other day. She had been staying with Sarah and Randy since Alicia had gone back to work, but she asked her dad every day when they could all go home.

Craig walked in an hour later as I was finishing paperwork, and he clapped his hands together.

“Let me see that shoulder.”

I put my paperwork aside and watched as Craig deftly inspected the wound, rotating the shoulder a few times.

“Any pain, David?”

“Just a little on rotation like that,” He admitted, even though I knew he wanted to say ‘no.’

“Okay, let’s keep the sling on for four more days, okay? We want to be pain free when we take it off so that it doesn’t end up re-injured.” Craig smiled at him as he put the sling back on. “You can take it off to shower, dress, and sleep, but I want it on the rest of the time, okay?”

“I guess I can accept those terms.” David sighed. “I just want to go home.”

“Well, you’re clear on my end, and I think Dr. Malloy has cleared you on his, so let me go find a nurse and see if they have your discharge paperwork ready.” Craig left the room and David looked at me.

“Come here.” He scoot over so there was room next to him.

I stood from my chair and cuddled up against his side as his arm fell over my shoulders.

“I love you.” The words fell out of my mouth so easily, and I knew I meant every single one.

“I love you, too, Tink.”

We sat in silence, and I could tell he wanted to say something. I looked up at him and raised my eyebrows.

“What is it?”

“Don’t get upset, okay? I just want to know.” David glanced down at me and ran his fingers along my cheek.

“Okay…” I didn’t know why, but I was suddenly nervous.

“During our time apart, did you sleep with anyone else?” He said it nervously, and I wasn’t sure if it was because he thought I had or he thought I’d be upset at his question.

The day after his second surgery, I had told David most of what had happened during our time apart. He had been just as shocked to learn about my mom as I had, although it didn’t lessen his dislike for her anymore- especially after I told him about her slapping me. My parents hadn’t been by since he was in surgery, but my dad called to check on David every day. I didn’t have any sexual stories to tell, but I wondered if he thought I’d just omitted them.

“Just this super-hot detective up against the wall in my living room,” I said with a smile, stretching so I could place a soft kiss on his neck. “I missed you so much. The thought of being with another man was totally unappealing.”

He exhaled in relief and leaned his cheek against the top of my head. “I’d go out of my mind at night, picturing you going home with someone and letting them touch you. I want to be the one who touches you.”

“So, does that mean you didn’t take that girl home that night I saw you at the restaurant?” I didn’t mean to sound bitter, but I could hear it in my voice anyway.

“Oh Sydney, I didn’t even want to go, but I guess the guy who wanted to fix us up had already told her and she was looking forward to it. I was already not into it, and I knew she could tell, but when we ran into you in the parking lot she called me out on it. She watched us together and said, ‘Oh, there’s the girl who has your heart.’ I took her in to eat, but dropped her off at her place afterwards.”

“No goodnight kiss?”

“A goodnight handshake. I’ve kissed one other girl since that night I saw you in the parking lot of the club, and I definitely don’t kiss her the way I kiss you.”

We both turned at the same time, and our lips met softly, but my body had missed him. It was only seconds before we were making out heavily in the hospital bed, only to have the nurse walk in and clear her throat.

I pulled away from him quickly and I could feel the blush creep up my face. The nurse just grinned and handed me some paperwork.

“These are all his discharge instructions. Try to keep the incisions as dry as possible, especially the one on the chest since it’s still fairly fresh. Dr. Pierce said he has already talked to you about the shoulder, which has dissolvable stitches like your chest. If you have any chest pain, Mr. Bradley, you need to call Dr. Malloy immediately. Anything, even heartburn, for the next six months, okay?”

“Okay,” David agreed, nodding his head. “But can I resume normal activities?”

“Light activities for the next four weeks, and Dr. Malloy will clear you when you see him after that.”

He ran a frustrated hand down his face and looked at her expectantly. It took her a moment and then she laughed.

“Sex is fine as long as don’t overexert yourself. It’s, um, recommended that your partner do the majority of the work for the first few weeks. And keep weight off your chest incision.”

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. “Of course. You’ve been incredibly needy this week, anyway. I’m used to it.”

David’s eyes looked mischievous and he just laughed. “So can I go?”

She moved around the side of the bed and disconnected the IV before pulling the needle out of his arm and taping it up.

“You can go, but let me call someone from transportation. It’s hospital policy. I’ll be right back.” She left the room and David sighed.

“I am going to make good on my caveman threat, Tink.”