The Series Finale! Linka's pregnant. Wheeler's in a coma after giving his dad part of his liver in a live donor transplant. Will he wake up? This is the last story in a series of stories that started with my first ever fic, Finding the Way Home (and now this one is my 20th!). In order to know what's going on, you need to read that one, Here and Now, and To Have and To Hold, so if you haven't read those ones, I highly recommend that you do so you know the whole story.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Please don't sue. I profit off of these fics in no way, other than the warm fuzzy feeling I get when I get reviews!
Beginnings and Endings
"Wheeler, I am pregnant...Did you hear me Yankee? You are going to be a daddy," she says as she kisses his cheek.
And still nothing. She thought for sure that when she told him she was pregnant, that she would feel better, but instead, she feels worse. She wanted him to be awake the first time she said those words aloud. He was still the first person she's told, but she may as well have been talking to the wall. She didn't know what she was hoping for. Some sort of miracle? That hearing those words would suddenly change everything, he would wake up, and all would be right with the world. Instead, she sat there in silence, the only response to her revealed secret being the sound of the monitors hooked up to Wheeler. She decides to keep talking to him. She takes his hand and continues,
"Well, you are being awfully quiet. This is not the reaction I was hoping for, Yankee. So, what do you think? Are you as surprised as I am? Are you as excited as I am? You cannot possibly be as scared as I am. Of course I would not be so scared if I knew that I was not going to be doing this alone. I am not going to be doing this alone, right? You are planning to wake up eventually...right? I have a doctor's appointment next week. I want you there. I NEED you there. To hold my hand. To hear what the doctor has to say. To find out how our baby is doing. How far along I am. Can we see it yet? Can we hear it yet? I do not know when or how this happened! Well, I know HOW," She chuckles.
"Wake up. Tell me everything is going to be ok. That we can do this...that you WANT to do this. I know you will make a good father, even though you are scared. I am scared too. I need you to help me do this! I need you to wake up so you do not miss watching your child develop. I need you to wake up so your son or daughter will have a father in their life and not somebody that they go to visit in the hospital." She starts to cry, lays her head on his bed, and cries herself to sleep.
It has been two weeks since Wheeler's surgery. Two weeks since he has been in a coma. Linka has been by his side the whole time, talking to him, holding his hand, begging him to wake up. The day had finally come for her first doctor's appointment. She had used the shower in Wheeler's room to get cleaned up and was now just waiting for her appointment time to arrive. She turned on the TV, took Wheeler's hand, pressed her lips to his, whispered, "I love you" in his ear, and rested her head on his bed. Then she felt it...his body jolted...like right before you fall asleep and there's that involuntary jerk. Neurons firing or something like that. Her head flies up to look at him and she gets up to stand at the top of his bed.
"Wheeler? You have never done that before...are you waking up?" She bends down and presses her lips to his and whispers "Come on Baby. Come back to me."
She can see movement behind his eyelids. He was trying.
"That is right. Open your eyes, Lyubov moya."
His eyelids flutter open and the first thing he sees is Linka. His vision is blurred as his eyes get used to the light and he struggles to focus. Once they finally do focus and he can clearly see Linka, he smiles.
"Hi," he says, his voice raspy from not being used.
"Hi," she replies, wiping away tears. "Here," she pours a glass of water and holds the straw to his lips.
"Thanks. Why are you crying?"
"Do you know...do you have any idea what I have gone through?!"
"I can tell by the look of relief on your face, it's been hard. What happened?"
Linka explains it all to him, how he made it through the surgery, but then began hemorrhaging in recovery. How he had died and been resuscitated and been in a medically induced coma for two weeks.
"I should call your doctor in here," she says.
"No, not yet. I just wanna be alone with you for a little while longer. They'll come in here asking all sorts of questions and doing tests."
"Ok, but they need to do those things! To make sure you are ok."
"I'm fine."
Linka leans down and is about to kiss him,
"No! I haven't brushed my teeth in two weeks!"
She gives him a look that says, "as if I care!" and proceeds to kiss him. When he thinks she's done, she's right back for more.
"Babe, my brain's already been deprived of oxygen once, you tryin' to knock me out again?"
"Do not even joke about that! Ever! I was so scared," she says as she hugs him to her and buries her face in his neck.
"I know Baby, I'm sorry," he whispers into her hair. "I promised you I'd be ok. And I am. I just took a little detour. I'm sorry I scared you."
"I think I can forgive you! So...do you remember anything?"
"I...I don't know. I think I had dreams. Like this one...I was watching you on the beach with...I think it was Illyana and Alexei. I couldn't really see their faces."
"Bozhe Moy! I had the same dream! Only I was watching you with them...weird."
"Yeah, weird. And I remember talking to Ma-Ti...he was in my head...but I don't remember what we said exactly, but I wanted him to make sure you knew I was ok."
"Da, he told me."
"I remember music...and singing. Musta been an angel singing to me," he says.
"I put my iPod on you. It was no angel...just me."
"Like I said, an angel was singing to me," he flirts as he takes her hand and kisses it.
"Oh Wheeler...I have missed you so much!" She brushes her hand across his cheek and leans down to kiss him again.
"I know. I can tell," he smiles up at her. "Oh! So how's my dad?!"
"He is fine. He came through the surgery just fine. He was very upset about what happened to you."
"Yeah, I'll probably get an 'I told you so' out of him."
"Nyet. He will just be happy that you are ok...now we should really get Dr. Richardson in here."
"Ok. Fine."
She presses the call button and a few minutes later, a nurse appears.
"Yes, can I help y...HE'S AWAKE?!"
"Yes, he is...can you get Dr. Richardson?"
"Of course!"
Linka takes Wheeler's hand as they wait.
"It is so nice to be able to look into your eyes when I talk to you. I was afraid I would never see those beautiful blue eyes again," she says.
"Stop being afraid. I'm here. I'm going to be ok," he says as he pulls her towards him for a kiss.
Dr. Richardson and Dr. Patrick enter the room, each looking at Wheeler's medical files.
"Jason...Oh sorry," Dr. Richardson stops when he sees Linka jump back, looking a little embarrassed at being caught.
"It's ok, doc. Once I told this woman that I didn't remember who she was, she insists on kissing me to try and bring my memory back," Wheeler says with a straight face.
The doctors get a worried look on their faces. They weren't expecting amnesia considering all his tests showed positive reactions to familiar stimuli. Maybe it's just temporary...
"He is kidding, which just proves to me even more that he is fine!" Linka says happily.
The doctors release a sigh of relief.
"Not so fast Babe. I'm not completely fine. I'm a little pissed off actually. What the hell happened? I thought this was supposed to have a less than 1 percent chance of complications. And then I almost died? No, I DID die, and then I had to be put in a coma because your people sewed me up before they checked to make sure I wasn't bleeding?! Do you have any idea what my wife went through?! And the worst part, I missed our one and two week anniversary!"
"Wheeler...you did not miss them. I was here with you. We were together. I talked to you about it. How happy I was, how I could not wait to spend more weeks with you, preferably when you were awake! And what matters most is that you are here now and you are going to be ok. I know you are mad. We all went through those feelings, so it is only right that you have them too. But do not hold onto that anger...let it go. You will feel so much better when you do," Linka says, holding his hand in both of hers.
It's like she's the only person in the room now. Wheeler is concentrating on her and what she's saying.
"Ok. I know you're right," he says.
"I told you before, you will get used to saying those words! Now I am sure the doctors would like to check up on you, so behave Lyubov."
The doctors ask Wheeler questions and he answers them honestly. He tells them the same things that he told Linka about dreams that he had and voices that he heard. They were satisfied with what they heard and were getting ready to leave. Linka walks with them out to the hallway and whispers to the doctors.
"I have something I need to tell him, something major. Do you think he can handle any sort of shocking news?"
"He seems fine...as long as you're not about to tell him that you met a doctor and are leaving him, he can handle anything," Dr. Patrick jokes.
"Ok. Good. Another question...I have a doctor's appointment in a little less than an hour, and I would like him to be there. Is it ok for him to be out of bed?"
"Well, he still has to be careful of his surgical wound, he's still hooked up to a catheter and monitors, and his legs might be a bit shaky from lack of use. We can arrange to have a wheelchair sent down for him and we'll have him unhooked from all the equipment," Dr. Richardson says.
"Or, better yet. Have your doctor come to you for the appointment..." Dr. Patrick suggests. "Who are you seeing?"
"Dr. Walsh."
"Oh ok...wait. She's a..."
"Yes. She is an obstetrician," Linka confirms.
"Are you...?"
"Yes."
"Oh wow! That's great! Did you know that?" Dr. Patrick asks Dr. Richardson.
"No! Congratulations to you both."
"Well...Wheeler doesn't know yet. I told him, but he was unconscious. And obviously he does not remember. That's the news that I wanted to tell him," Linka confesses.
"Oh. You didn't want to tell him before the surgery? He probably would have changed his mind, huh?" Dr. Richardson asks.
"Yeah, probably. But I did not know until he was IN surgery. I had not been feeling well, so while I waited, I went to see a doctor...he ran some tests and..."
"Wow...that'll be quiet a story to tell the little one when they're old enough!" Dr. Patrick says.
"Don't worry about anything. You tell him the news, tell him you've got a doctor's appointment, and we'll get a wheelchair down here so you can get to your exam with Dr. Walsh. Just take the elevator to the maternity floor, level 1. The receptionist desk is right there for you to check in," Dr. Richardson says.
"Thank you!" Linka says as she shakes both of their hands.
She walks back into the room where Wheeler is waiting for her and smiling.
"Everything ok? Did you apologize to the doctors for my outburst?"
"Da. Everything is fine...and nyet, I did not apologize for you. They are good men and care about your recovery, and they understand your anger...just as they understood mine."
"You musta been a wreck."
"I was."
"Glad I didn't have to put up with you!" He teases as he holds his arms open, indicating that he wants a hug.
She does as he asks, then realizes,
"Oh my God! I have not even told the others...They got called away on a mission. But your mother and father! They will want to know that you are awake!"
"They can wait...I just wanna sit here with you for a little while longer."
"Good. I uh...want to talk to you," she says as she sits next to him on the edge of his bed.
To Be Continued...