A/N: This first chapter is a little angsty but I promise you it has a happy ending. If Leo Hendrie can only survive in my fictional world, then I'll make sure he does.
April couldn't breathe.
She couldn't focus on anything other than the pounding of her own heart and the sight of her husband's pale, lifeless face.
Sirens blared around her as the ambulance raced through the busy streets of Boston on a weekday morning but she couldn't hear them.
EMT's shouted orders at each other, trying desperately to keep the dying man alive but she couldn't hear them.
She was pressed up tightly against the back of the ambulance, eyes wide, breath shallow as she could only concentrate on Leo's face.
The ride to the hospital could have taken years or seconds, all time was lost to her but before she knew it the ambulance had come to a stop.
Daylight pooled in as the doors swung open and the stretcher was pulled out. She blindly followed behind, out of the ambulance and in through the Emergency Room doors.
She let out a squeak of protest as a nurse stopped her once they reached the double doors leading out of the waiting room. "He's my..." Her voice sounded unfamiliar to her ears, high pitched and full of desperation as she looked in panic to where he was disappearing out of her sight.
"Wife! I'm his wife!" She cried out and tried to reach past the nurse but she had a steady grip on her. "Please." She whimpered.
"I'm sorry ma'am, you are not allowed to go in there." The nurse told her calmly but firmly.
The double doors closed and Leo disappeared out of her sight and she let out a cry. Her legs weakened and her knees buckled and she collapsed to the floor, the nurse holding onto her the only thing that kept her from slamming to the hard ground.
She covered her face with her hands, muffling the sound of her cries as her body curled up.
She wasn't aware that the people in the waiting room had all fixed their attention on her and she wouldn't have cared if she was.
The nurse said nothing for a few moments, only rubbed her back comfortingly, letting the woman grieve.
"Here, darling," The nurse murmured to her after a minute, wrapping her arm around her back and attempting to guide her to her feet. "Come sit down."
April didn't hear a word that was being said but she allowed the nurse to help her to her feet. Her legs shook as they slowly made their way over to one of the chairs.
As soon as she was in the chair, April wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying to contain the pain that was ripping through her every cell.
She rocked slowly back and forth, her eyes trained on the off-white tile of the waiting room floor, tears rolling down her cheeks. Her sobs had slowly subsided but her breathing was erratic.
She could not believe this was happening. Just last night he was fine - celebrating their 'honeymoon in Italy'. They had made love just as they always had - and then they did end up eating her pasta dish because he was just too hungry to resist - and then had made love again. They had fallen asleep in each other's arms, satisfied and happy. She never could have imagined the horror she would wake up to.
She called 9-1-1 because he wasn't breathing. His pulse was weak and slow but present and soon the ambulance arrived. Everything since then was a blur and now she was helpless and alone, waiting in agony, not knowing if he was even still alive.
The nurse had gone but she didn't notice and a minute later she returned, gently touching her arm. "Ma'am?" She called softly and when April gave no response, tried again a little louder.
April finally looked up, blinking past her tears to meet the eyes of the nurse and finally saw something other than Leo's face.
The slightly older woman smiled sympathetically. "My name is Pamela." She introduced sweetly. "I'm sorry darling, I need to get some information from you, okay?"
April stared at her a moment, processing her words and then nodded quietly.
"The patient's name?" Pamela asked, turning to the clipboard on her lap.
April took a breath. "Leo Hendrie." She whispered distantly.
"And you said you were his wife?"
April nodded silently, a few more tears rolling down her cheeks.
Pamela noted this and continued to ask her the usual questions, his birth date, social security number, health insurance, address, and April answered the best she could.
"Thank you April." Pamela said softly after she was done. "We can have you fill out the rest later. Is there anyone we can call for you?"
April sat up slowly and felt around for her phone and then realized she was still in her pajamas and had grabbed nothing on the way out the door.
April sniffled and looked back at the nurse, eyes wide and pleading. "Would you mind if I used the phone to call my mother?"
Pamela hesitated for a moment before smiling and nodding once. "Of course. Come." She stood up and offered April her hand.
April gladly took it and shakily rose to her feet and Pamela led her to the nurses' station.
"The phone is right there." Pamela motioned to a phone on an empty desk near the back wall.
April thanked her quietly before moving over to the phone. She picked up the receiver and stared at the keypad, momentarily forgetting the number she had known for years.
Then it finally came to her and she dialed her home number and put the phone to her ear, holding her breath as she waited for it to be answered.
The phone rang and rang and she hoped desperately that her mother would still be there.
Finally the phone clicked and she heard her mother's voice, "Hello, Carver Residence. This is Sara."
April's jaw trembled and tears rushed to her eyes again at the sound of her mother's voice. "Mom?" Her voice cracked with a sob.
"April?" She could immediately hear the concern in her mother's voice. "Is that you, honey? Where are you?"
"I'm…at the hospital."
"What?" Sara gasped. "Are you alright? April, what happened?"
"It's not me." She clarified, her voice shaking. "It's Leo." Her voice broke in another sob and she covered her mouth momentarily to stifle it.
"Leo?" For a moment she could hear the relief in her mother's voice that it wasn't her but her concern was still there. "What happened?" She asked again.
"He wasn't breathing, Mom...I tried to wake him up and he wouldn't...Mom he was so still.." She broke into fitful sobs again, the memory still so fresh and vivid in her mind.
"Oh god, April..." She could hear her mother moving around, rustling on the other end of the line. "I am coming right now, April, Okay? Hold on, honey I'll be right there."
"Okay." She muttered and Sara said a final "see you soon" before they hung up.
April's knees shook and she found a chair to sit in behind her and she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself, and prepare herself for the next call she knew she had to make.
Telling her mother was hard but as she dialed the Hendrie residence and spoke to Leo's mother, she nearly lost it all together. By the time she ended the quick phone call, getting enough information out to let Leo's mother know about her son, she was in tears again.
She shakily hung up the phone and wrapped her arms around herself again, closing her eyes tightly, trying desperately to escape this moment.
After a minute she calmed down again and once again thanked Pamela before leaving the nurses' station and heading back to a secluded corner of the waiting room.
Just about fifteen minutes later, Sara came quickly walking in through the emergency room doors, looking around frantically for her daughter.
April sat quietly, numbly staring at the ground, her arms wrapped around herself for comfort.
"Oh April..."
April looked up at the sound of her mother's voice and saw her walking towards her. April let out a small sob and rose to her feet, rushing like a child into her mother's arms.
Sara quickly, tightly wrapped her arms around her eldest daughter.
April broke down as soon as she was in her mother's arms. She had been trying to keep her emotions at bay but in her mother's arms she couldn't hold it back any longer.
Sara rubbed her back soothingly, muttering nonsense, comforting words against her hair.
April started blubbering before she could even stop herself. "I don't understand. He was fine, Mom. He's the healthy one now...how could this happen?"
"I don't know, April." Sara said quietly, clutching her tighter. "I wish I did."
April closed her eyes tightly, grabbing onto her mother tightly. "I'm so scared...Mom, I think I could lose him." She broke down into sobs, now muffled by her mother's shirt.
Sara's heart broke as she held her daughter, remembering the deep pain she felt when she lost Thomas and hated that April had to go through the same thing.
She knew there was no words on earth that could comfort April so she just held her as tight as she could.
Another few minutes and April was pulled from her mother's arms by the call of her name.
She took a breath and looked behind her to see the Hendries standing just feet away.
April had never felt that close to them. She liked them well enough and they were now her in-laws but she never had felt that family connection. She imagined it was because her and Leo's relationship had progressed so quickly and they came from a different world.
But as she locked eyes with Leo's mother, knowing that at the moment a man they both loved more than the world hung in the balance between life and death, she didn't even need to question it and she rushed forward to hug her.
Leo's mother let out a small whimper as April hugged her and they stayed in each other's embrace for a moment before she pulled away and looked down at her daughter-in-law.
April nearly started crying again at the hopeless, fear filled look in her eyes. "April, what happened?" She asked in a panic.
April swallowed and recounted the story, trying not to cry again as she looked in the eyes of Leo's parents.
"Did he show any sign of being unwell?" Bruce Hendrie asked and for once, April saw him as a concerned father and not a cold-hearted politician.
April shook her head, forcing back tears. "He was fine, he was perfect. We had a date last night, at our apartment but he was fine." She let out a breath, continuing to shake her head, mostly out of disbelief.
A thought occurred to her and she quickly voiced it before the words' meaning really sunk in. "A few days ago he mentioned he had a headache. He didn't think anything of it so I didn't think anything of it I..."
Her jaw snapped closed and her eyes widened in horror. "Oh god...I could have prevented this..."
"Oh, April, no!" Her mother was instantly at her side, wrapping her arm around her, looking at her intently. "You cannot think like that. You couldn't have known..."
She turned to her mother. "He said he had a headache!" She cried. "He had a brain tumor...how could I not think..."
"It could have been just a headache." Sara tried to reassure her. "It might have nothing to do with this, April. The brain tumor was removed, he was cancer free, there was no reason to worry about a headache." She looked at Leo's parents for confirmation.
Catherine Hendrie swallowed thickly and met her husband's gaze for a moment before reaching out to take April's hands in hers. "Your mother is right, dear. You mustn't blame yourself. The brain is so...unpredictable. Leo is aware of what the symptoms are...if he didn't think anything of it..." She trailed off as her voice broke. Bruce wrapped an arm around his wife and she leaned into him, trying to keep herself together.
"Have you heard anything yet, April?" Bruce asked.
April shook her head, sniffling. "No, nothing. He just went in..."
In truth April didn't know how long it had been since they'd arrived. Had it been 5 minutes? 30? An hour? Time seemed to stop.
"Why don't we all sit down?" Sara suggested, feeling April quivering against her and then started guiding her back to her seat.
April followed her mother without protest and sat down with a long sigh. Sara sat beside her and immediately took her hand in hers, squeezing tightly.
After a minute, the Hendries followed and Leo's mother took the seat to the other side of April. Bruce remained standing by his wife, too restless to sit down.
After another minute of silence, Catherine reached over and took April's free hand in hers. April slowly looked over to her and the two shared a silent, understanding gaze.
For the next hour, the two families sat together, agonizing in silence. Small talk was out of the question, as casual chatter seemed inappropriate while the man they loved so dearly could be dying.
And talk of the man himself proved too painful so they remained in silence, comforting each other with soft touches and glances.
Leo's mother had eventually grown restless of sitting and she and Bruce had started walking around the room for a while, only to then return to their seats.
April did not let go of her mother's hand the entire time and sat staring at the floor, getting lost in her thoughts. She knew her mother and Leo's had told her not to blame herself for this but how could she not?
A headache in a man with a brain tumor, whether that brain tumor was still present or not, was never just a headache. And as a woman with cancer she should have known that.
Instead she pulled the cancer card on him. The guilt, the fear, the worry was eating her up and she didn't know how much longer she could handle it.
Thankfully, just over an hour since Leo was brought into the hospital, a doctor emerged from the double doors, calling out into the room full of people. "Mrs. Hendrie?"
April and Leo's mother both rose to their feet immediately and answered back, "Yes?"
The two women glanced at each other in momentary surprise. Catherine clearly not used to that title belonging to another woman and April herself was surprised she even responded to it as she had not decided yet whether she was going to legally change her name to Hendrie. And there was a hard knot in her stomach at the quick thought that there may no longer be a reason to.
The male doctor approached the two, looking between them curiously and Catherine elaborated. "I'm his mother and she is his wife."
"Ah I see. Well I'm Dr. Laurent-"
"How is my son?" Catherine cut him off rather sharply but Dr. Laurent seemed to take no offense, instead nodding politely and promptly answering.
"Mr. Hendrie is currently stable."
April and Catherine let out a cry of relief, glancing at each other and behind them Sara and Bruce sighed in relief.
"Yes, it was a little touch and go there for a while but we were able to bring him back and stabilize his vitals. You brought him here just in time...if it had been any longer I don't believe he would have had the chance to survive."
April's throat tightened, feeling both fear and relief. She didn't know what had woken her up at that moment - it was even a little early for her. She had taken to sleeping in a little later since her cancer returned.
If she had...
She didn't dare finish the thought.
"What happened to him?" Leo's mother asked, and April was grateful she had the voice to ask the questions April couldn't form but so desperately wanted answers to.
"It was an aneurysm." Dr. Laurent explained and April inhaled sharply. "They are unpredictable and often come without warning. He was asleep when it happened, is that correct?"
April nodded, clearing her throat before answering. "Yes. He was fine the night before."
"With aneurysms that is often the case. Any warning signs that might have been seen happened while he was asleep."
"So there is no way we could have known this was going to happen?" Sara asked, stepping up beside April, her hand on her back and April knew her mother was asking on her behalf.
"No, there wasn't. It was lucky you found him when you did."
"He...he mentioned a headache a few days ago." April said, still feeling the guilt sitting heavy on her.
Dr. Laurent glanced to her. "Just a headache? Was it severe? Did he complain of any neck pain or blurred vision? Did you notice any changes in his speech?"
April blinked and thought back to that day. He was complaining about cleaning the apartment but that was just about it. "No...just the headache. It didn't seem to bother him too much."
Dr. Laurent's lips twitched up reassuringly. "Then I wouldn't say it was directly related, especially if it was days ago. The symptoms are usually as I described: a severe headache, blurred vision and slurred speech just shortly before the aneurysm occurs."
April let out a slow breath, feeling a slight weight come off her shoulders at the explanation. Though it didn't make her feel any better about Leo's current situation, at least the guilt was fading.
"Doctor...I assume you ran some scans on Leo?" Catherine asked and Dr. Laurent turned to her.
"Yes ma'am, we performed an MRI and a CT scan - it is how we diagnosed his condition."
Her jaw tightened for a moment before she asked slowly, "Has his cancer returned?"
April's breath hitched and she turned wide-eyed to Dr. Laurent.
Dr. Laurent pressed his lips together and then answered. "The aneurysm did cause a slight hemorrhage which is what caused him to stop breathing. His brain does have some swelling and we did check the scans for any sign of a brain tumor. We did not find any however, due to the swelling we may not be able to see it. We will continue to monitor him every day and wait until the swelling goes down before we make an accurate diagnosis regarding the cancer."
"Can we see him?" April asked, wanting nothing more than to do just that. Brain tumor or no brain tumor, she needed to see him. To see for herself that he was alive.
"Yes, of course." Dr. Laurent nodded. "Please, follow me."
April glanced over at Leo's parents and Catherine nodded for her to go first. April then followed after Dr. Laurent with the Hendries and Sara following behind her.
"We have Leo in the ICU now." Dr. Laurent explained as they weaved through the hallways of the hospital. "That way we can keep a sharper eye on him should anything go wrong. We would like to keep him there overnight and if he remains stable through tomorrow we'll then be able to move him to a private room."
April swallowed thickly, playing with the tail of her pajama shirt anxiously as she walked beside Dr. Laurent.
"Do you…expect something to go wrong?" She wondered, her voice tinged in concern.
"When you have a case with the brain it's hard to predict what will happen. Things can go wrong in an instant but it doesn't mean that it will. We just have to keep a close eye on him to make sure it doesn't and if it does, that we act quickly enough to hope that we can prevent further brain damage."
That stopped April and her blood ran cold. "F-further?" She squeaked out. "Does he have…?"
Dr. Laurent turned to look at her. "It is hard to say. We monitored his brain activity and everything seemed rather normal but with the hemorrhage-" He paused and he sighed quietly, taking in the panicked, heartbroken look in her eyes. "As of right now, I cannot tell what damage has been done, if any at all. We will continue to monitor his brain activity but," He paused again, stopping as they came to stand in front of the ICU doors and turned to face the group, looking at each individual, "We have him intubated and on oxygen because right now he can't breathe on his own."
April covered her mouth with her hand and a second later felt Sara's comforting hand on her back. Leo's mother let out a small whimper and leaned against her husband who frowned deeply.
"I do not wish to give you all false hope but that is also to say that I don't think you shouldn't hope. Right now, Leo could pull either way. We were able to drain some of the blood out of his brain and that should greatly reduce the swelling. It is all a matter of time to see what will happen."
Dr. Laurent then pushed open the doors of the ICU, allowing them to step through.
April thought she'd be used to the sounds of the hospital but she hadn't been in the ICU. There was beeping of several machines behind every curtain, and rows and rows of curtains, all with beds containing people who were dying and it was extremely overwhelming.
She took long, deep, even breaths as she just concentrated on her every step, following behind Dr. Laurent.
Finally the doctor stopped in front of a closed curtain toward the end of the row and then slid it open.
April slowly turned her head until her eyes fell upon him and she let out a shuddering breath.
He lay just as still and silent as she had found him that morning. He was hooked up to several different machines all beeping in constant harmony with each other. There was a tube down his throat, no doubt feeding him oxygen and wires were attached to his skull.
His chest rose and fell in a steady, slow rhythm, in constant time with a hiss from the oxygen tank beside him.
It pained her to see him like this but she could not deny that twinge of relief that he was alive.
She moved in to the left side of his bed while his parents moved to his right. She let out a shaky breath as she took in his appearance. He was still pale but there was a hint of life in him that wasn't there when she found him that morning.
She placed her hand over his, cringing a little at how cool his skin still felt.
Leo was always warm and that was one thing she loved about him. Especially when she was sick, she became especially cold and no amount of blankets could match up to her own personal human heater.
She ran her fingers over each one of his, furrowing her brow as she realized something was off.
"Where's his ring?" April asked, turning around to look at Dr. Laurent and felt an overwhelming sense of panic sweep over her.
It was just a ring, she knew that, a little piece of jewelry but it was symbol of their marriage and if it was gone…
Dr. Laurent quickly pointed to the table beside her, seeing her panicked expression. "We had to take it off for the MRI."
April quickly followed his motion and found the ring in a little plastic baggy resting safely on the table.
She let out a quiet sob, closing her eyes and leaned down until her forehead was pressed against his knuckles.
Sara walked up behind her and started to rub her back comfortingly, a frown etched on her lips.
On the other side, Catherine took his other hand and just quietly, sadly stared down at her son.
For the next several hours, they didn't move from his side. They got a couple of chairs to sit around his bed where they had been standing, April on his left, his mother on his right, each holding one of his hands.
Bruce had been in and out having to keep answering phone calls. Catherine had told him to shut off his phone which landed a quiet argument about how his meetings were "very important" and she would retort how their son should have been the most important of all. Eventually, he couldn't avoid the meetings any longer and had to leave, promising to be back as soon as he could.
Around noon, Sara had left to go and get lunch for everyone, though she doubted April or Catherine were very hungry. However she would not let her cancer-sick daughter go without eating so she left to go to her favorite sandwich shop just a few blocks from the hospital.
When Catherine excused herself for a few minutes to use the bathroom, April was glad to finally have a little alone time with Leo.
She covered his hand with both of hers and inched the chair as close as it could possibly go against the side of his bed.
She had stopped crying hours ago and looking at him now she just felt exhausted, like her whole body had been drained.
"Leo…" She started quietly, staring intently at his face, as if looking at his closed eyes would will them to open.
She opened her mouth to continue but felt at a loss for words. She had been waiting all morning to get a moment alone with him, to speak to him and tell him how she felt but now that she was alone with him, she didn't know what to say.
"What are you doing?" She finally asked, trying his approach at dealing with horrible situations: snarky humor.
"Hm? You know you're supposed to be the healthy one. I'm the one with cancer now…I'm the one who gets hospitalized…I'm the one who has no-" She stopped herself and looked down, closing her eyes.
She had been anxious for weeks about her future or possible lack thereof. Just sixteen hours ago she had been sitting on his lap with him reassuring her that it was true they didn't know what the future held but they could still look forward to it. And there was always something magical about Leo that made her believe him.
Now he was the one who was sick and their possible future lay in balance because of him.
Life had a funny sense of humor, she thought. A cruel one.
She took a deep breath and then willed herself to look back at him and dropped the "Leo" approach and stuck with the "April" approach.
"Listen to me." She said, quiet but firm. "You can't leave me yet, alright? We just started…" She swallowed thickly. "I need you – you are the only one who really gets all of this. I don't want to go through this…my cancer treatments….my life ..without you."
She bit her lip and rested her forehead against his hand for a few long moments.
Then she lifted her head and turned her eyes upward, looking past the ceiling and imagining the sky and far beyond.
"I'm still not sure if I believe in you." She whispered to God. "But if you are real…I ask for you to save him. Please…save him." She let out a shuddering breath. "One of your followers once told me that it was you who had brought Leo to me that day in the chapel. Leo has been one of the greatest things that has happened to me and I never thought I could be so happy in the same year I find out I have cancer. He brings that to me – he is my joy…please don't take him away from me now."
Tears pricked at her eyes and held back a small sob, bowing her head, silently finishing with one more plea.
"April?"
She lifted her head at the sound of her name and found the source standing at the foot of Leo's bed.
"Dr. Hamburg." She greeted with a sniffle, wiping at her eyes as she sat up to face her doctor.
Dr. Hamburg's lips twitched in a small, sad smile and she glanced at Leo. "I heard about Leo when I got in this morning." She turned back to April. "I'm so sorry, April."
April nodded quietly and her lips twitched slightly in return.
"How is he doing?" Dr. Hamburg asked softly.
April shrugged and looked back at Leo, sighing as she once again took in his appearance. "I don't know." She whispered. "He's alive…and breathing. Not on his own though…" She frowned, furrowing her brow.
"He has been through a lot." Dr. Hamburg noted. "He's very strong…if there was anyone to pull through, I'd say it'd be him."
April glanced up at her doctor and smiled faintly. "Thank you."
Dr. Hamburg nodded in reply and then switched her attention to April. A frown slowly crossed her lips as she observed her.
"April….how are you doing?"
April inhaled and then shook her head slowly, keeping her eyes on Leo. "My husband is possibly dying…I still have cancer with no treatment as of yet…so," She scoffed lightly, "I could be better."
Dr. Hamburg went silent for a few moments.
"You don't look well, April." She finally told her and April slowly looked over to her.
"How do you expect me to look when the man I love is dying?"
Dr. Hamburg shook her head and took a few steps closer to April. "That is not what I meant. Have you eaten at all today, April?"
April shook her head. "No." She answered quietly. Food was the last thing on her mind when she left the apartment, the cake she was planning to share with him for breakfast probably melting on their bed. Her mother had just gone to get food but she still couldn't even think about eating now. Her stomach was in knots and if she concentrated on it too long she felt like she'd throw up.
"April, as you well know, you do still have cancer and you also have to take care of yourself. I know how difficult it is for you right now and the pain you must be feeling but your body needs to be taken care of."
She paused a moment to wait for April's reply but she went silent, concentrating on Leo.
"April I would like you to come and get some blood drawn."
April whipped her head up and looked at her, her eyes widening.
"I think it would be a good idea to check your blood levels and get you set up with some fluids so you can maintain your strength."
April frowned, pressing her brow together and gripped onto Leo's hand like it was her lifeline. "I'm not leaving him."
Dr. Hamburg gave her a sympathetic look. "I know you don't want to but it wouldn't take long. An hour, at most. Just so we can hook you up to some fluids, you can come right back down here with the bag and everything."
April swallowed thickly and looked back at Leo. Her heart ached at the thought of leaving him, especially if something were to happen and she wasn't there…
But then she imagined what he would say if he was awake.
"What, me? Pfft April I'm fine. Go take care of yourself. I'll be right where you left me. Not like I'm going anywhere with these ten hundred wires sticking out of me, right?"
"But…" She whispered aloud.
"No but's or I will be forced to get out of this bed and drag you there, brain hemorrhage and all."
Despite herself, her lips twitched up slightly. The image of him was so clear it was almost real.
But the reality quickly sunk back in when she took in his still form.
Still, she knew Leo wouldn't want her to neglect her own care for his sake so she turned to Dr. Hamburg with a nod.
"Okay." She agreed. "Can we wait a few minutes though? Just until his mother gets back…I don't want to leave him alone."
"Of course." Dr. Hamburg nodded and so they waited and just about two minutes later Catherine returned from the bathroom. Just thirty seconds later Sara returned with the sandwiches and April explained what was going on, asking her mother not to worry as it was just preventative measures.
April got her bloodwork done and they set her up with fluids and within a half an hour she was back in the ICU at Leo's side and remained there for the rest of the day.
Once it had reached the afternoon, Sara left to go home and inform Brenna on what had happened. They both returned so Brenna could pay a visit and April was glad to have her sister there.
In the month that they had been married, Leo had been spending a lot more time with the Carvers and Brenna was beginning to care for him as the brother-in-law that he was and it worried her to see him so sick.
They stayed for only a couple hours after April insisted that she would be fine by herself and that they should go home and rest and eat.
Bruce had returned by late afternoon, shutting off his phone for the rest of the night and both Hendries had stayed until about ten pm when they were getting tired. Still, they were reluctant to leave their son's side but April promised she'd let them know if anything had happened and they took a little peace with that and left, promising to be back in the morning, leaving April alone with her husband.
Dr. Hamburg had routinely stopped by to check on April and once it started getting late, tried to insist that they admit her and put her in a real bed for the night.
April adamantly refused, she knew there was no way she'd be able to spend a night apart from him. The chairs she had pushed together to make a bed were not the most comfortable but they would do.
It was nearing midnight and April was just beginning to doze off when several alarms started beeping loudly on Leo's machines. She was instantly awake in a second, sitting up and looking first at the machines then to him, her heart racing.
A few seconds later a team of nurses and doctors were surrounding him, and ushering her out of the way.
As she stood outside his curtain, she once again felt helpless and panicked. She didn't know what was happening, the nurses and doctors were shouting medical phrases at each other but they went in one ear and out the other.
After a very long minute, the alarms had stopped and the machines went back to their normal beeping. The nurses and doctors trickled away until there was just one nurse, fixing a few of the wires and tubes attached to Leo.
The nurse looked over at her and saw the horrified, panicked look on her face and smiled reassuringly, walking over to her, touching her arm gently.
"He's alright." She told her and April looked up at her wide-eyed and hopeful.
"His heart rate dropped a little low." She explained. "But we gave him something to bring it back up and it's all back to normal now." She motioned to the heart monitor, beeping out a little slow, but normal rhythm.
"He's okay." April whispered to assure herself and the nurse nodded her confirmation.
"Yes, he's okay." She patted her arm lightly and then left to return to her duties. April let out a slow shuddering breath and returned to his side.
She was no longer able to sleep and sat up by his side, holding his hand for a few more hours, just to be sure he was okay.
She wasn't sure exactly of the time that she finally did fall asleep but she was woken up sometime in the morning by a nurse shuffling around her doing a routine check on Leo.
Around 9 a.m, just about twenty four hours after he had been admitted to the ICU, his doctor cleared him to be able to be moved to a private room.
With a little help from Dr. Hamburg, who was still concerned about April's health, managed to find them a room with two beds, which the Hendries were more than willing to pay for.
Once both she and Leo were settled into the room, April had tried to stay awake to be with Leo but her restless night, and the cancer, proved too much for her body to handle and she fell asleep for hours.
When she awoke it was well into the evening and she almost panicked about sleeping the whole day away and not sitting by Leo's side and more importantly, not knowing how he was.
Luckily, Catherine had been with him all day, allowing April to sleep soundly as she so desperately needed.
"How is he?" April asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she took a seat in a chair on the opposite side of Leo's bed, immediately reaching for his hand.
"Well the doctors said the swelling has gone down." Catherine explained with a small, tired smile. "They say that's a good sign…but other than that," She turned her attention to her son, still laying painfully still, "There's no real change."
April nodded quietly and just squeezed his hand gently, willing him back to life.
Two and a half days later, April had been stirred out of a light sleep by the sound of coughing.
She turned, wide-eyed to Leo whose eyes were still closed but was making a sharp coughing sound and she immediately alerted the nurses.
The coughing, they explained, was Leo regaining the use of his lungs.
"What does that mean?" April asked.
"It means," The nurse explained as they removed his breathing tube, "He can breathe on his own again."
April watched hopefully as the breathing tube was removed and Leo started coughing rapidly. After a few seconds, the coughs died down and he fell back into silence.
April slowly frowned as he once again grew still, his eyes remaining closed as they had been the last four days.
"He's not waking up."
"The cough is a natural body reaction." The nurse explained to her. "He doesn't need to be awake to do it." She walked over to the disappointed April and touched her arm gently.
"It's a good sign, dear." She assured her.
April knew she was right, the swelling on his brain had gone down and hadn't returned, the many scans they had done since then had proven to show no signs of cancer, and he could now breathe on his own…she just wished he'd wake up too.
The days continued to crawl by and while Leo hadn't gotten any worse he also didn't seem to be getting any better. The doctors told April that it was a good sign his brain hadn't swelled any more or that there wasn't any more bleeding…but April wouldn't consider it "good" until Leo was awake and able to speak and tell her he was alright.
And the stress of the whole situation continued to do nothing for April and her health. It helped her immensely that she was in the same room as Leo, her bed just feet away from him but every waking moment was spent worrying about him. She hated to go to sleep in fear that when she did something would happen to him and she would miss it.
Her family and Beth were a constant comfort, however. Even Dominic came one day to see how she was (and she noticed he merely glanced once at the unconscious man in the bed beside her, expressed his condolences – though they were genuine- and then ignored him for the rest of his visit.)
Beth and Brenna would always come by when they could after work or school and try to distract her in the all the ways they usually did when she was hospitalized.
Sometimes it worked, sometimes they could get her to smile or laugh.
Sometimes all she wanted to do was sit by Leo and watch him sleep, wait for any sign that he would wake up.
Catherine stopped by almost every day, there were a few days that even she got caught up in work.
As terrible as the situation was, April was almost glad to have this time to get to know her mother-in-law better. The two would often sit for hours and talk, both on opposites of Leo. Both of them secretly hoped the familiarity of their voices would trigger something and wake Leo up.
Bruce stopped in when he could and when his wife asked him about it again, how he could always be rushing off to meetings when his son's life was in danger, and he answered that it was a distraction.
April understood where he was coming from. She had tried to lose herself in her work when she first was diagnosed. She tried to forget about her condition, pretended like it never existed.
She almost wished she could do that now. Her mother had brought in her laptop at her request and she tried to work on her book but her own weakness and the ever present thought of Leo unconscious beside her proved useless in writing.
She started crying the moment she saw the title of the second chapter still on the document and she couldn't bear to change it. She truly did have the best husband in the world.
Soon enough a week had come and past and still there was no conscious life signs from Leo. According to all his scans and tests, his brain was still actively working. And she reminded herself that he had been in this position before and for much longer. He had been in a coma for months and came out of it with nothing wrong except muscle atrophy which was remedied quickly with physical therapy.
It was one particular day, the eighth day that Leo had been unconscious, and the night before had been restless for April. She started having nightmares – twisted memories of that morning…of being too late and finding him long gone.
Sometimes it wasn't even nightmares. Sometimes the dreams were good – dreams of Leo waking up and talking to her. Of them being able to go home and return to normal – as normal as they could be anyway. Of this whole thing never happening. Of their future – traveling around the world, and having children.
Then she'd wake up and find him just as lifeless as always and her hopes would come crashing down again.
She found it more difficult to sleep than ever and it was wearing away at her already weakened body.
Her mother had stopped by that morning and talked to her for a while but April was half asleep. Eventually, the quiet conversation lulled April to sleep, which Sara was grateful for.
She stayed by April's bed side, holding her hand gently as she slept, to be a silent comfort, hoping to give her a few hours of restful sleep, not plagued by hellish nightmares.
Sara cast a look sideways to the other bed in the room. "Oh Leo," She murmured to her son-in-law, "For her sake, I hope you wake up soon."