Second Disclaimer: For Mention of Doctor Who and Torchwood only. No copyright infringement is intended and I make no profit from the following story. The Sarah Jane Adventures, Doctor Who, and Torchwood are owned by the BBC.
Luke had been able to take his exams early so he had been able to come home by Thursday morning. Clyde and Sky had already left for school, so after greeting his mum he went over to the Chandra home to see Rani.
Gita answered the door and hugged him after letting him in the house.
He hugged her back. "How's Rani?"
"She's not doing very well this morning with the pain and dizziness. You can see her but don't let her sit up for too long," Gita ordered.
Luke nodded, walked further into the house, and found his mate lying on the sofa and watching the telly. He knelt down next to her and hugged her. She hugged him back.
"You're home earlier than expected. How are you, Luke?" Rani asked.
"I've been better. How are you?" he then sat on the coffee table since he didn't want Rani to have to move from her position on the couch.
"Anxious to have this thing removed. I don't like how it's making me feel. I should be at school and living my life. I shouldn't be lying on the couch too weak to even get off of the couch," Rani groused.
"It'll be removed soon," Luke assured her. "And think of it as getting some rest. Let us take care of you, and get some sleep. Your doctor did prescribe medication for your symptoms right so you'll be able to sleep?"
"Yeah he did, my mum had me take some of it a bit ago but it hasn't taken hold yet," Rani told him.
"Do you want me to stay with you until it does?" Luke offered.
Rani nodded, so Luke stayed with her until the medication had taken hold and she had drifted off to sleep.
He kissed her, covered her up some more, and then found Gita in the kitchen.
"She's sleeping," Luke said. "Do you need anything? I can help you take care of Rani today."
"Thank you, Luke," Gita smiled and poured them each a cup of tea.
They spent most of the morning talking and tending to Rani. Sarah Jane joined them after she had finished working on an article and helped Gita get some of Rani's things ready for the hospital.
"She's going to be okay you know," Sarah Jane said after a short but awkward silence.
"I know, but it doesn't stop me from worrying especially when anything can go wrong with surgery or after surgery," Gita fretted. "I just wish that I could protect her from this or at least trade places with her."
"I've been wishing I could do the same," Sarah Jane confessed, "especially since she still seems scared."
Gita sighed. "Trust me she is scared. Haresh and I have both tried talking to her and we've tried to ease her fears. She acts like we've gotten through to her, but she's not fooling me."
They talked a bit longer and tried to figure out a way to help Rani get over her fears of the surgery and her fears of post surgery. They were still trying to figure out what to do by the time that Clyde and Sky came over during home time. Both of them hugged Luke, and Luke hugged them back.
"It's good to have you home, mate," Clyde said.
"It's good to be home although I wish it were under better circumstances," Luke whispered.
"You and I both, how's she doing?" Clyde asked.
"She was in a lot of pain this morning and was feeling all around yucky but she's doing better now," Luke filled him in.
Clyde walked further into the house and sat with Rani on the sofa. "Do you want to get out of here for a bit? You still have four or five hours before hospital check-in."
Rani nodded and looked over at her Dad. "I feel well enough right now to leave the house."
Haresh thought it over and tossed Clyde his car keys. Clyde caught them. "I want you driving instead of walking in case she starts feeling bad again. You're a careful driver I trust."
"With her in the car absolutely," Clyde assured him.
"Good, you take care of her," Haresh ordered.
"I will, sir," Clyde promised before he left with Rani.
He drove her to her favorite restaurant in the city. She smiled at him and then shook her head.
"What? You are hungry right?" Clyde inquired.
"I am, but how can you afford this place?" Rani pointed out.
"I'll worry about that," Clyde answered. "You just concentrate on having fun."
They went inside and Rani was stunned when she discovered that she and Clyde were the only customers and that all the lights were dimmed. She then had seen what she suspected was their table. There were two candles there that looked like they had just been lit. Also, for the flower piece her favorite flower was there. This looks suspiciously like a date. She thought and then turned to Clyde. "This looks suspiciously like a date."
"Actually I just wanted to help get your mind off of the surgery and everything, but we can call it a date too," Clyde hoped and smiled at her.
She smiled back and kissed him. He kissed her back and would've kept kissing her if the waiter hadn't of cleared his throat to interrupt them.
Clyde and Rani stifled back laughs as they tried to hide their embarrassment of getting caught. Once they were seated the waiter took their drink orders and then left them alone again.
"Fess up, Clyde, how many banks did you rob to pull this off?" Rani quipped as she looked over her menu.
Clyde laughed. "The money is legal okay," he then sobered a little. "My dad gave it to me and told me I can do what I want with it."
"I appreciate all of this, but you should use it for a car or for Uni," Rani advised.
"There's enough left over for both." He looked at his menu. "So what are you in the mood for?"
She told him, he committed it to memory so when the waiter returned he ordered for both Rani and himself. Moments later, one of Rani's favorite songs began to play over the stereo system in the restaurant.
"May I have this dance, my ladyship?" Clyde asked.
"Certainly, my lord," Rani quipped.
He smiled and led her to the dance floor. They danced a few slow dances; close in each others arms before their food arrived. They spent the rest of the time talking, laughing, and eating. Rani and Clyde also danced some more before they had left the restaurant.
"Clyde, thank you for today," Rani said. "I haven't felt this relaxed since all of this happened with that bloody tumor."
"No problem at all," Clyde said. "I'd do anything for you."
"And I you, you mean a lot to me, Clyde," Rani confessed. "And…" She hesitated a little but finally bit the bullet. "I'm in love with you. I have been for quite a while now."
"That's good to know because I've been in love with you since the first day I laid eyes on you," Clyde confessed. "And I'm sorry it took me so long to admit it."
She smiled as tears of joy began to fall from her eyes.
Clyde reached over and kissed some of her tears away and not long after they shared their second kiss of the day.
A few hours later Rani's parents took her to the hospital for Check-In. Sarah Jane, Clyde, Luke, and Sky went along as well.
"It'll most likely be quite a while before I can fully help out with aliens," Rani whispered to Sarah Jane.
"Make that completely help out with aliens," Sarah Jane whispered back in her protective voice.
"You mean I can't even hang out in the attic and monitor everyone's progress from there?" Rani questioned.
"That's what you'll be doing the first week that you're fully recovered and no sooner," Sarah Jane insisted. "I'm not taking any chances."
"And if an alien from our past tries to or succeeds in abducting me I'll have to fight back anyway."
"Oh they won't dare try that if they don't want to face my wrath," Sarah Jane replied. "Besides, you'll be protected don't worry."
"Mum, what if aliens decide to invade while Rani's in surgery tomorrow?" Sky whispered.
"The Doctor, Torchwood, the Brigadier, Mickey Smith, and Martha Jones have that covered," Sarah Jane replied having contacted all of them with Mr. Smith's help. "I'm not even going to pretend that I would be able to concentrate on saving the Universe when I'll be too worried about Rani."
Sarah Jane and the rest of the kids visited with Rani a bit longer before they headed home leaving her alone with her parents.
"Sarah Jane is terrified and so are you two," Rani stated the cold hard truth. "The tumor and surgery they're both very dangerous. I know there's a chance that everything won't work out."
"Darling, yes the chance is there," Gita replied. "But we're not going to let anything happen to you."
"I know, but if something does happen please don't spend the rest of your lives grieving me and please always remember that I love you and will always love you," Rani said to her parents.
Gita was about to argue but hugged her daughter instead. "I love you, baby, more than you can ever imagine."
Haresh hugged Rani instead and told her that he loved her. Please, God, don't let anything go wrong tomorrow. She's my little girl, he silently prayed as tears welled in his eyes.
Several hours later the sun rose and a few hours after that Rani's surgery began while her friends, boyfriend, and parents waited anxiously in the waiting room. They had done everything they could to keep from panicking and to keep their minds occupied since they knew it would be a long surgery. Several hours later Dr. Williams walked into the waiting room and was met by six expectant faces.
"How's Rani?" Sky was the first to say something.
"The tumor has been removed but not without complications," he stated as gently as he could.
"What sort of complications?" Gita inquired as she tried to remain calm.
"I had to cut one of the nerves in order to fully remove the tumor and that will result in some permanent hearing loss but not complete hearing loss," he answered.
"That's a complication," Haresh replied. "You said there were complications."
"She's having trouble coming out of the anesthesia. She should've started to come around by now but she isn't," Dr. Williams replied.
"But she'll come out of it?" Gita began to panic. "A lot of patients have trouble coming out of anesthesia but they come out of it right?"
"We're doing everything we can to make sure that she does," he answered. "But…"
"No, don't start with that," Clyde angered. "Rani, will come out of it she's just having trouble that's all."
Dr. Williams sighed before he told them that there was a slight chance that Rani would never come around.
Luke wanted to punch him but restrained himself knowing that the doctor meant no harm he just had to tell them everything for professional and legal reasons.
"So what is being done to help bring her around?" Sarah Jane inquired as she wiped an escaping tear from her eye. "What can we do to help?"
Dr. Williams proceeded to tell them what the Anaesthetist and the rest of the medical team was doing to try and bring Rani around. "You can try talking to her. Hearing voices of loved ones can be very helpful to a patient, but only two at a time and only fifteen minutes each."
Rani's parents visited with her first and tried talking to her, Clyde and Luke visited with her next, and then Sarah Jane and Sky visited with her. While Rani's loved ones talked to her the Anaesthetist and the rest of the medical team still did everything they could to bring Rani around so she wouldn't slip into a coma or die.
Gita and Haresh's turn rolled around again. Gita gently hugged her daughter and kissed her. "Surgery is over, sweetheart, it's time to wake up now," Gita gently stroked her daughter's face. "Please, Rani,"
"Come on, love," Haresh encouraged and a smile began to form on his face when she started to come around.
"Cold," Rani managed as she woke up shivering.
One of the nurses covered Rani with another blanket. "There you go, love, how are you feeling?" the nurse inquired. "Is that better?"
"Terrible," Rani groaned in a barely audible tone. However, her shivering ceased.
"Terrible how?" Gita gently asked her.
"My head and ear hurt, and I feel like I'm going to throw up," Rani answered.
Her medication was adjusted to combat the pain and nausea. Once the medication began to take hold she drifted off to sleep again. She had spent the next twenty hours sleeping on and off, and after the twenty hours were over she woke in a regular hospital room. Her parents were sleeping on the sofa in her room, and Sarah Jane had fallen asleep in a chair by her bedside. Rani decided to let them sleep and motioned for her mates to be quiet when they walked into the room.
Sky hugged her. "How are you feeling?" she whispered.
"It still hurts a lot, but I'm more alert I think," Rani whispered back.
"Why are you two whispering?" Sarah Jane woke up and hugged Sky and Rani.
Rani hugged her back. "So we don't wake you and my parents."
"Yeah, mum," Sky said as she hugged Sarah Jane back.
"Oh we'll be fine," Sarah Jane said. "Rani, are you hungry?"
"Starving," Rani answered.
"For what?" Sky asked.
"Do I smell cinnamon rolls?" Rani answered with a question of her own.
"You do" Clyde smiled and kissed her. "We managed to sneak them past the nurse's desk."
"How many do you want?" Luke asked.
"Just one for now," Rani answered.
Clyde helped her eat it since she was having trouble moving around after the surgery. All four of them ate and talked a while before Sarah Jane and the kids had to leave.
A few hours later Gita and Haresh woke up and found the cinnamon rolls that were left for them.
"They're very good," Rani said to them. "Clyde, Luke, and Sky brought them by earlier."
Gita smiled. "Hey, you," she said and was hugging her daughter seconds later. "You're looking alert now and you also look like you feel a little better."
"It still hurts but I'm feeling better. Maybe I can go home tomorrow?" Rani hoped.
"I would love that," Gita said. "But that would be much too soon."
Haresh hugged Rani and kissed her. "And we're not letting anyone release you until it's safe to do so."
She hugged her parents back.
Five days later Rani was released from the hospital. She continued to wear a hearing aid due to the hearing loss caused by the tumor and the hearing loss caused the nerve that had to be cut during surgery. She had also continued to have balance and vertigo issues but with time and therapy both issues went away. She also had an MRI done each year after the surgery for the next five years, and thankfully no more tumors appeared.
The End
