Everything is Okay Now
Carol Hathaway wasn't entirely sure what had happened. She could hear monitors beeping, and even though she couldn't quite open her eyes, she felt like there were bright fluorescent lights above her. She tried to turn, but it felt like someone was holding her hand firmly in place.
"Wh-what happened?" She choked out softly, her throat dry, her eyes still closed.
She felt another hand on her forehead. "You gave everyone quite a scare," a familiar voice said. "But everything is okay now."
At the sound of the voice, Carol's eyes fluttered open. "Doug?"
"Hi," he whispered, his eyes never leaving hers. "How do you feel?" He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, before bringing it to his lips and giving it a kiss.
"Groggy, confused." Slowly, parts of the day began to come back to her. "The babies?"
"They are the most beautiful babies in the whole nursery," he grinned. "Who would have thought Kerry Weever would deliver my first-born? I should probably make nice and thank her."
Carol tried to chuckle, but it quickly turned into a wince. "Umm...what about...about...me..."
"No hysterectomy," he smoothed her hair down and kissed her forehead. "I'm sure your influence and Mark's influence worked. You were lucky."
"Can I have another baby?"
He smiled softly and nodded. "There shouldn't be a problem if we wanted to have another one."
"We, huh?" She smiled. "I like the sound of that."
"Yeah, I do, too.""
"Umm, what are you doing here? What day is it? Isn't is almost a four-hour flight from Seattle?"
"It's still Thanksgiving – almost midnight."
She knit her eyebrows together. "I'm still a bit out of it because of the meds, but I don't understand how you are here already."
"Well, about that, I was already in town when Mark called after the c-section. Well, I was standing on your front porch, actually, debating on whether or not I should kick the door in since you weren't answering."
"Why did you come?" She asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
He shrugged. "Call it father's intuition? I just knew I had to see you, beg you to change your mind about staying in Chicago or beg you to let me come back. But none of that is important right now. You just need to rest. We'll talk about everything else later. Okay?" He kissed her hand again. "Just rest," he encouraged as she closed her eyes.
When Carol opened her eyes the next time, the room was dark and she was alone with two sleeping babies in their bassinettes. Slowly, the fog lifted and she realized Doug was never there at all, her dream was mostly likely just the result of the medication and stress of the day. She sighed heavily and tried to blink away her tears before they trickled down her face. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine Doug gently wiping them away with. "Oh, Doug," she whispered. "How did we end up like this?"
Carol could hear footsteps approaching and quickly wiped away any evidence that she had been crying. Mark was probably coming back to check on them.
"Am I disturbing you?" A gentle voice asked.
"No, not at all." Carol sat up. "Abby?" She asked. "I thought you weren't my nurse anymore." Carol stated as she flipped on the light above her head.
"I'm not, but I wanted to drop this off while I had a chance," Abby said as she held up a long-distance calling card.
"A calling card," Carol grinned.
"Yeah, we keep a couple of these around for emergencies, and when you said you needed to call Seattle, I figured it must have been important." Abby picked up the telephone from the table and handed it to Carol. "I hear Doug Ross is in Seattle now," she said, knowingly as she started to leave.
"How did you know?"
"That he's in Seattle? That's the talk of the hospital. You know how fast word travels around here."
"No, no. How did you know he is who I want to call in Seattle?" Carol looked towards her babies and then back to Abby.
Abby smiled. "Tess and Kate look like the perfect combination of you two. Although, if I must be honest, Tess favors Dr. Ross more and Kate looks more like you. I used to see you guys in the cafeteria together, so I put two and two together," she shrugged. "I don't know your situation but call him. He should hear about the birth of his children from their mother."
"Thank you, Abby," Carol said gratefully. Between her dream and the calling card, it was the sign she needed to call Doug herself and not have Mark do it for her.
"Let me know if you need an additional card, and I'll see what I can do," Abby added with a wink as she left.
Carol took a deep breath, picked up the phone, and dialed a number that she had memorized from all the times she thought about calling him before. This time, however, she let the phone ring and didn't hang up.
He answered on the third ring. It was a simple -"Hello?" - but his voice was music to her ears. It was strong, confidant and soothing.
"Doug, hi, it's me. Carol. Do you, uh, do you have a minute?" She let out in one rushed breath.
"Carol – is everything alright?" He almost sounded panicked.
Carol could picture the look on his face. "Everything is alright now, but we had a little bit of a scare earlier. Everyone is okay now."
"Carol, what are you saying?" His breath hitched.
"They're here, Doug. Our daughters," she half laughed, half sobbed. "Two beautiful, perfect healthy little girls. Tess came first – the little whirlwind. Kate came next and things got a little scary, but Mark was with me and everything is okay now. Um, if you aren't busy I can tell you all about it?" She used the back of her hands to wipe away the tears as she cradled the phone between her ear and shoulder.
"I have all the time you need," he was ecstatic with the news that his daughters were born, but he could tell by the tone of Carol's voice there was a lot more to say. He was also at a loss for words, in shock most likely, and didn't quite know what to say.
Nearly an hour later, Carol had finished recounting the events of her day. She gave every single detail and answered any medical questions she knew he would ask before he had a chance to. "And, so, yeah. That was what my Thanksgiving was like."
There was silence as Doug processed the extent of the medical scare she had today – his mind caught somewhere in between doctor, lover, and father.
"Doug, are you still there?"
"I love you, Carol. I love you so much," he finally said as he fought back his own tears. "And the girls. Do you think you could send me some pictures?"
"Of course," she answered without missing a beat. "Um, I know it's probably a lot to ask, and I'll understand if you say no but, um…." She paused.
"Go on," he said softly, encouraging her to voice her question.
"Um, maybe you can come visit us for a few days? If you can get the time away from the hospital-"
"How is Monday?" He asked.
She could hear the grin through his voice. "Monday would be wonderful. Thank you," she whispered. "I have to go now, Doug. It's almost time for a feeding," she said sadly, not wanting to lose contact with him even if it was just through the phone. It was the first time she truly felt calm in a very long time.
"One more thing, Carol..." He trailed off.
"Hmm?"
"Maybe you can call me tomorrow and let me know how you're doing – how Kate and Tess are doing?"
"Yeah, of course.". …..
"Call me anytime; I mean it. I'm on days at the hospital right now. You can have me paged there, okay?"
"Okay, thank you."
"Take care of yourself, kiddo," he said, using a name that he hadn't called her in a long time.
She smiled. "Doug?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you, too. Monday can't come soon enough," she said before hanging up.
Carol peered over into the bassinettes and gently touched her daughter's faces. "Good news, girls. Daddy's coming to meet you in a few days. Yeah. I can't promise you that we'll be a family in the normal sense of the word, but I love you, and your dad loves you, and that makes us a family no matter what happens. Okay? We're gonna be okay, girls. We're gonna be okay," she repeated softly. "I promise."