When It Rains
Disclaimer: Sadly I own neither Saving Hope nor Daniel Gillies.
Pairing: Joel & Alex (or if you prefer Alex & Joel)
Rating: T
Summary: Set somewhere in the future after my fic "The Road Trip."
The moment Joel Goran stepped out of the OR he heard the page over the intercom, "Dr. Goran to OR 4."
Joel sighed, and threw his surgical mask into the trash and wiped the palms of his damp hands on his scrub pants.
He'd have to call Alex and let her know he'd be late for dinner.
Joel strolled into the OR like he owned it. And he was surprised to see Dana Kinney standing over the operating table.
The anesthesiologist was pressing buttons setting the proper dosage for the patient, who was still awake on the table.
He looked at Dana, with a surprised expression, "You paged me, Dana? Do you need me for a consult?"
Dana shook her head, "Hey Joel. Yeah, I did page you. But not for a consult. You're here because the patient needs moral support."
He stared at Dana, genuinely confused, "We don't share any patients right now, Dana."
He saw Dana smile, behind her surgical mask, "No, but we do have more than one mutual acquaintance."
It was only then that Joel looked at the patient on the table. Even though she was dressed in a hospital gown and there was a surgical cap covering her dark hair, he would recognize the contours of her body anywhere.
Alex.
Joel took a step forward so he could look into her beautiful blue eyes, "Well I guess I don't have to call you and tell you I'll be late for dinner. But Reid, do you want to tell me why you're on the table in Dana's OR before I have a heart attack?"
His wife smiled, "Joel, baby, I'm sorry. I didn't want to say anything until I was sure. But then the more I thought about it, the more I needed you here for this."
It wasn't that long ago that she'd lost the baby.
When it rains…
Joel nodded, "I'm right here. Alex, just tell me what's wrong."
Alex sighed and reached up to grab her husband's hand, and Joel took it without hesitation, not caring that he'd have to rescrub.
"I found a lump on my breast. It's probably nothing… But I asked Dana to biopsy it…"
It pours.
Alex paused and then whispered, "Just to be sure…"
Joel stopped the flow of her words with a kiss. "You're gonna be fine. Do you hear me, Alex Reid?"
She nodded and replied, "Joel, I love you…"
Alex was about to go on when Dana cleared her throat, "Do you two lovebirds think we could get this show on the road? I do have other patients to see today."
"Sorry Dana," Joel mumbled, kissing his wife once more on the lips, before he whispered, "I'll be right back," and left the OR to rescrub.
As he scrubbed, Joel couldn't ignore the thoughts that ran through his mind.
Luke and Charlotte need their mother.
I need my wife.
I refuse to lose her.
I love her too much.
By the time Joel came back into the OR, Alex was already under anesthesia.
"She wanted a local. But I put her under general so I could cut deep enough to see what exactly we're dealing with here." Dana said, her voice matter of fact and all business, as usual."
"Thank you, Dana, I really appreciate this. We both do." Joel said, his gaze never wavering from his wife's unconscious form on the operating table."
"Reid, helped me out when I was dealing with my cancer. As far as I'm concerned, I'm just paying it forward."
Joel shuddered at Dana's use of Alex's name and the word cancer in the same sentence.
"I gotta say Joel, your wife has nice breasts." Kinney said, as she expertly cut through the skin of Alex's right breast, just above the nipple, where out of the corner of his eye, Joel could see a round red lump.
"Yes, ma'am, she does." Joel said smiling and watching his colleague carefully as she worked.
"Walk me through the possible scenarios here, Dana." Joel said, gently rubbing the top of his wife's hand.
"C'mon, Joel you already know all the possible scenarios." Dana said, never looking up from the surgical field.
"Humor me." Joel said, glancing from Dana to his wife and back again, trying to forget that the flesh and blood that Dana was cutting into was the love of his life.
"It could be a cyst." Dana paused, "How long ago did she stop breastfeeding?"
Joel considered the question for a moment before he answered, No more than two months."
Dana nodded, "It could be a blocked milk duct."
It was Joel's turn to nod, "When she was pregnant with Charlotte… She said her breasts were tender...If she didn't pump right away, it would make her uncomfortable. I didn't think anything of it before. But now…"
He always caressed her breasts when they made love. He knew them like the back of his hand. If something was different about one of them wouldn't he have felt it?
"But now you're wondering if you missed something…" Dana finished.
"Yeah, "Joel replied, listening to the heart monitor and the respirator beeping steadily, and trying to ignore the tube that was down Alex's throat.
"That sounds like a normal side effect of pregnancy. Trust me, if you were responsible for feeding another human being; your boobs would be sore too." Dana said, cutting the lump free from the surrounding tissue and placing it in a metal bowl, and handing it carefully to the nurse.
"Get that to pathology for me," Dana told the nurse. And when she spoke the next words, she and Joel spoke them in unison. "Put a rush on it."
Joel chuckled, and wished for a moment that Alex's hair wasn't concealed under the surgical cap. He longed to brush the soft strands away from her forehead and kiss her.
When it rains…
As the nurse left the OR to deliver the sample to pathology, the room fell silent for a few minutes until Dana finally spoke.
"And of course you already know what the third possibility is."
Cancer.
It pours.
"We have two kids, Dana. They need her. I need her. She had an ectopic pregnancy recently and lost the baby. She's fragile right now…"
"I know, Joel…" Dana interrupted.
More fragile than she lets on.
"She's the strongest person I know. But she's not that strong…Cancer would break her."
He shuddered at the thought of cancer destroying his beautiful wife and turning her into a shell.
It would break me.
"I know, Joel…" Dana shouted interrupting his thoughts.
Of course Dana knew. She was a cancer survivor herself. Which is why Alex had asked her to perform the procedure in the first place. Well that and the fact that Dana Kinney was one of the best plastic surgeons in country.
"I'm sorry Dana," Joel said, softly, watching as she stitched the delicate skin of his wife's gorgeous breast back together. The stitches were so meticulously done that only he and Alex would even know that they'd been there at all.
Dana placed a bandage over the wound and secured it with surgical tape. "The stitches should dissolve in about a week or so. Keep it clean and dry for forty-eight hours. No heavy lifting for forty-eight hours….OTC meds are fine for pain since I know she won't let me write her a prescription."
Between her mother's and her brother's addictions, Alex hated drugs.
Dana paused, "And I trust you'll tell her all of this. Even though she already knows it all."
Joel smiled and nodded, "Yes, I will. And yes she does."
"Great." Dana said, looking at the anesthesiologist, "Wake her up," Dana glanced at Joel once more. "You can go with her to recovery and I'll come see you both when I have the results."
Joel reached for Dana's hand, "Thank you."
Dana waved her hand nonchalantly, "I did my job. It's not like I cut off a woman's leg with a set of bolt cutters."
Joel smiled at the memory, "That was fun wasn't it?"
It was Dana's turn to smile. "Yeah, it was."
"But seriously, Dana," Joel said, "Thank you for taking such good care of Alex."
"No problem. I'll find you as soon as the results are back." Dana said as she walked out of the OR.
When Alex awoke, Joel's smiling face was the first thing she saw, "Hey, how're you feeling?" He asked, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing it.
"I'm okay." Alex murmured drowsily, "Are you mad at me?"
Joel looked at her incredulously, "What? Why would I be mad at you?"
Alex shrugged, "Because I just sprung that on you and made you come to the OR? I didn't tell you first…"
Joel silenced the flow of her words with a kiss, "Does that answer your question, Reid?"
Alex smiled, "Yes, it does, Dr. Goran."
She was silent for a moment and then she sat up, a little too quickly, and winced in pain.
"Has Dana been by with the results yet?" She asked.
Joel noticed that her hand was shaking.
A clear sign that she was anxious.
Joel took hold of her hand, and rubbed it until it stopped shaking.
"Take it easy." He whispered, wrapping his arms around her, careful not to brush her wound, "It's going to be okay."
"Joel, you don't know that…It could be…"
"It's not." He interrupted. "And even if it is…we'll get through it."
"How does it look?" She whispered, under her breath, looking away from him for a moment. "Do you still think I'm sexy?"
Joel smiled, "It's still yours Alex. And I'll always think you're sexy."
As if to prove his point, he gave her another long kiss.
They were still in the middle of said kiss when Dana entered the room, clearing her throat dramatically.
"Well, I guess I don't have to ask how you're feeling." Dana said smiling.
They really are the perfect couple.
"Hi, Dana. Do you have the results?" Alex asked, looking from Dana to her husband and back again, nervously.
When it rains…
"Yeah I do." Dana said, smiling, "Congratulations Reid, the lump I removed from your breast was benign."
Alex let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Thank you Dana," She whispered, reaching for her husband once more.
He was wearing one of his trademark Joel Goran grins when she leaned forward to kiss him.
"I think that's my cue," Dana said, smiling before she disappeared down the hall, her heels clicking in her wake.
The moment they were alone the dam that had been holding Alex's emotions broke and Joel just held her while she cried tears of relief.
It pours.