My Christmas gift to you all! Another (short) take on Brianna (and her sister) joining the Alister-Lincoln family!
A Package Deal
An alternate beginning to Brianna's meeting Drew…with a few more twists.
Disgusted. Appalled.
There were no words to describe how Dr. Drew Alister first felt about this case at first. The sweetest, most loving thirteen-year-old girl had been admitted to hospital three months ago. Her name was Brianna. She had Cystic Fibrosis, she-and her five-year-old maternal half sister, Jorja, who suffered from Lupus and experienced up to three seizures a day were now abandoned by the foster family who had cared for them for eight months. Both had been in the system their whole lives. The only bright spot being, thanks to determined caseworker most of that time the two were placed together. Jorja had been a sickly child all her life, beginning with her premature birth at just 25 weeks and it was only a year ago her condition were formally diagnosed. Thus, her bad health being "out of control." A team of doctors who Drew and his husband knew were doing the very best to try to stabilize the younger child's condition.
Drew and then just quickly his husband Rick, had bonded with the siblings. Almost overnight, the process of them adopting, fostering the girls first, started. When Brianna was admitted to the hospital she was in dire need of a double-lung transplant. Without it, even Drew couldn't fool himself that the teen would survive more than three months. After two months and the candidate ahead of her passing away Brianna received that chance of an extended, better life. A month following the surgery, Brianna was doing well. Jorja was stabilizing at a snail's pace. Brianna was happy to have her transplant but she was adamant she was not leaving San Antonio Memorial without her "baby," Jorja. Her doctors knew separation would cause Brianna such a level of stress it would affect the success of the transplant refused to discharge Brianna, unless or until it was to Drew and Rick and Jorja was being placed with her.
Jorja nowhere near healthy enough to be discharged and would go into an anxiety attack, often triggering a seizure if she didn't get to see her "sissy" every day and for more than a few minutes. Rick Lincoln had already resigned from his SWAT team position to be a stay-at-home dad to the girls whenever they released from the hospital. Both he and Drew were approved to foster the siblings once the required medical training (which they were currently doing) was complete.
Although Brianna was blonde and Jorja's hair was black and curly, both sisters had the same blue eyes, dimples and impish grin. It was only now Jorja was really starting to talk to them, literally, in the slightest about anything. Jorja spoke to nurses and doctors just enough to let them know how she was feeling. She talked non-stop with her sister. Brianna was like a mini-mom to her sister with the exception of the discipline part. She had been all of her life, even when she herself required an oxygen tank to breathe. Before the teen was put under for her lung transplant, she begged Drew to take care of Jorja. Her sister her only concern. Brianna didn't regain consciousness for over a week after that. That time leaving Jorja inconsolable. The reunion between the sisters made the most seasoned nurses wipe away tears. When the couple bought the subject of adoption to Brianna, she literally jumped for joy. They asked Brianna if she thought her sister would approve too.
"Definitely!" Brianna grinned. "She loves you, Rick. No adult ever sat down on the floor, play with her, sang songs with her before. That's her favorite thing to do. A lot of people thought it was humiliating."
People take themselves too seriously, Rick thought. Sure it wasn't for everyone but Rick enjoyed that time too. Jorja's laughter was precious! Even if it was "silly" the sound of Jorja's giggles were worth it.
Standing outside the door both in their street clothes the two men while Brianna told Jorja that they would have to leave the hospital sometime, but together, she reassured her. I won't ever not leave you, she said. But how would she like it if Drew and Rick became their dads?
"For how long?" Jorja asked.
Nothing had ever been permanent in their lives. The two sisters had been each other's only
"Forever. They want to adopt us."
The little girl cheered.