The American Patient

The green lines and electronic beeps eventually blurred all together into the whir of the hospital, doctors and nurses calling out codes and people crying, it all seemed so inconsequential to Serena compared to the unconscious form she lay curled up next to in the bed.

"Dan when will you wake up?

I need you here with me; things are so hard at home Lily is being extremely difficult she wants me to leave you because you went off to war.

The day I got the news about you we were supposed to go out to lunch, I'm positive it would have been another set up attempt.

You have no idea how many times I've wanted to slap her across the face and tell her we got married… but I couldn't do it without you there to be strong for me…"

She broke down for a moment burying her head into his good shoulder and letting the tears soak through his hospital gown, the rhythm of his respirator was almost enough to lull her to sleep

A doctor making his rounds wandered in on the woman curled up in the bed

"You really can't be up there with him when he's on that respirator"

"Oh okay…" was all she could mutter as she lifted herself out of the bed and wiped her eyes dry and a question formed on her lips.

"How much longer does he have to be on it?"

The doctor paused considering her question before grabbing his chart and looking at it

"well he's been out of surgery for 48 hours so we should be able to take him off of it within the next few hours if he starts to breathe on his own he can stay off of it but if he doesn't we have to hook him up again"

"Do you have any idea when he's going to wake up?"

"Given the amount of trauma the wound caused in his pneumothorax and the hypoxia from blood loss it's hard to say, but he won't be the same for a while even if he does wake up"

"What? Why not?"

"Ma'am because of the amount of blood he lost his brain entered a hypoxic state for approximately 20 minutes and he had a brain ischemia"

"I don't understand, what does that mean?"

"He essentially had a moderate stroke to go along with the physical trauma from the bullet wound we won't truly know the extent of the brain damage until he wakes up, it could be as mild as some temporary slurred speech or as severe as permanent hemispherical paralysis and anterograde amnesia"

"Amnesia, he won't forget who I am will he?" the very thought of it horrified her

"no he won't forget anything from before, he just may not be able to remember things after it, think of it as severe short term memory loss, he'll remember everything from before he was wounded, but won't be able to hold on to anything that happens after"

"Oh okay…" as terrible as that sounded she couldn't help but be relieved that he wouldn't forget her.

After informing her of all the possibilities of Dan's prognosis and checking on his current condition the doctor excused himself to finish his rounds. Serena checked the time on her phone and saw that it would be around 9:30am in New York, she decided to call chuck and inform him of Dan's condition and prognosis, he was one of the few people who knew that she and Dan had eloped, for he and Blair had been the witnesses during the small ceremony in Brooklyn, much to their distaste.

The phone rang a few times before it was picked up.

"Hello?"

"Chuck? This is S"

"Oh hey sis, how are you doing?"

"Not good chuck I'm a mess"

"Oh… how's Dan?"

"Unconscious and on a respirator… he lost a lot of blood, they said he had the equivalent of a moderate stroke…" by this point the fatigue of being awake for more than two days straight and the reality of Dan's prognosis finally hit her and she started to unravel she became a sobbing mess of emotion

"S, you need to calm down and get some sleep, don't bother calling anyone else. I'll inform them all about what happened"

"Okay, thanks chuck, also I have one favor to ask…"

"Anything"

"Don't tell anyone we eloped just yet, I can't bear doing it without him"

"Okay I won't but I still can't see why you don't. It'd definitely get Lily off your back about those dates she keeps setting you up on…"

"It's just I can't… not without him with me…"

"Okay I'll leave it then; I'll call you back in a few hours and let you know what's going on stateside okay"

"Okay thank you chuck"

"Anytime, now get some sleep"

"Bye"

And with a dull click she collapsed into the chair next to his bed and about got some much needed sleep when a crew of doctors and nurses walked in.

"What's going on?" The bewildered blonde asked as soon as she was aware enough to notice all of them

"Don't worry honey this is a good thing, we're going to see if he can breathe without the respirator"

A weight felt like it was beginning to lift off of her chest when she heard those words.

Slowly the nurses carefully removed the tape from his mouth and nose, next came the intubation tube and mouthpiece as they switched the respirator off, and slowly Dan's chest continued to rise and fall on its own.

"Well looks like he's breathing fine on his own, he shouldn't need that machine anymore"

"Thank god, can I sleep up next to him now? The doctor before said I couldn't be up there because of the respirator"

"That should be fine hon"

"Thank you I sleep so much better when I'm next to him"

She climbed into the bed and slipped into blissful sleep as she curled up under his limp arm, and for the first time in 2 days she slept with just a hint of a smile on her face, maybe things were finally getting better.

She was roused from her slumber a few hours later by the buzzing of her cellphone, looking at the caller she decided that she had to take it and lifted the handset to her ear.

"Ugh, chuck what is it?"

"Nice to hear from you too sis, what did I do to earn such a warm greeting?" the sarcasm was practically dripping out of the speaker from an ocean away.

"You woke me up; I've finally been able to sleep, like you told me too."

"Well that good I guess, but back to the reason I called; I talked to Lily and Rufus and informed them of Dan's condition."

"And?"

"Well you aren't going to like it. Lily said, and I quote "well I can't say I'm surprised, it's his fault for going off to that dreadful war in the first place" Rufus wasn't much better but at least he showed concern for Dan, he says he'll fly out at the end of the week…"

"You have got to be kidding me… Dan is sitting here unconscious in a hospital bed and my mother blames it on him, I bet she's just all obsessed with how this is going to make her look in front of all of her political friends, I mean the it was bad enough having a military member in the family for the guilty liberal rich to despise, but now a wounded war hero as a step-son? She's probably concerned they will just stop inviting her to their events all together."

"wow settle down there S, it'll be fine, I mean just imagine the look on her face when he comes back with a purple heart on his chest" she caught herself chuckling at that thought.

"Yeah that'd be pretty priceless, thanks for that chuck I needed to laugh"

"Anytime, just get him home safe for us, I owe him a few drinks for serving."

"Will do, I have to go now I'm still pretty tired"

"Okay keep us in the loop, bye S"

"Bye"

With that over she felt a rage grow inside her chest at her mother, how could she say something like that, it was unconscionable. One thing was for sure if she and Dan ever got to have any kids Lily Van Der Woodsen was never getting anywhere near them.

After fuming in her own thoughts for a while she settled herself back into Dan's side and drifted off to sleep.