Two days later Hannibal and Clarice sat in the waiting room of the hospital. Mischa had volunteered to watch Julie so that Clarice could go to the hospital with her husband.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" she said holding his hand.
"I'm sure," he said. "This is really my best shot. I want to see Julie grow up. I want to see Mischa get out high school."
"You will," she said in a comforting voice. "Everything is going to be alright. Don't worry about it."
"I hope so," Hannibal said looking away from his wife.
"Will Milton," a nurse said walking into the room.
"See you in a few hours," he said kissing her wife goodbye.
Clarice waved goodbye to her husband. She kept her eyes on him until he was out of eye shot.
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Clarice only left the waiting room to go to the bathroom and to get some food out of the vending machine. She wanted to be there in case something went wrong. About two hours into her waiting her cellphone rang.
She quickly pulled it out of her purse and opened it.
"May Milton here," she said into the phone.
"Hi Mommy," Mischa's voice came. "Is there any word on Dad yet?"
"No yet," Clarice said with a sigh. "I assume everything is fine. How are things there?"
"Julie is fine," she said. "She just got done eating lunch and is watching tv right now."
"That's good," Clarice said smiling. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine," Mischa said. "I'm nervous and I hope everything is going to be ok."
"I'm sure it will be," she explained. "You're father is a strong man. You know that."
"I know," she said in a whisper.
Clarice didn't know what to say to her daughter. She could tell she was more upset and nervous than she was letting on.
"May Milton," a doctor had entered the waiting room.
"I have to go honey," Clarice said. "There is a doctor here."
Mischa said a quick goodbye and hung up the phone. Clarice put away her phone and walked over to the doctor.
"I'm Dr. Marko," he said extending his hand.
"Nice to meet you," she said shaking hands with him. "Is my husband alright?"
"He is resting right now," the doctor explained. "His surgery went great. It was clumped together hard. That is why he was in so much pain. It made it easy to take it all out."
"So he is going to be just fine?" Clarice asked smiling.
"It looks like it," Dr. Marko said smiling as well. "He needs to take it easy for a while. I want to get another chest x-ray in a month just to make sure we got it all but right now it looks good."
"Can I see him?" she asked.
"Of course," he said. "If you'll just follow me."
Clarice nodded and followed the doctor down the hall.
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A few doors down Hannibal lay in bed staring at the celling. The doctor had been in a few minutes ago and told him he was going to be fine. He couldn't believe it. The surgery had gone so well. He had been so afraid something was going to go wrong.
There was a knock on the door and then a few second later it opened to allow the doctor and his wife in.
"Honey," she said running over next to him. "How are you feeling?"
"A little groggy," Hannibal said. "But I'm ok."
"When can he go home?" Clarice asked turning to the doctor.
"Whenever he feels ready," Dr. Marko said looking at his chart. "If he feels comfortable with going home I'm not going to force him to stay here."
"I want to go home," he said. "I need to my kids. Mischa is going to be so happy when she finds out everything went well."
"Alright then," the doc said setting some papers down on the table. "There are you release papers. Take it easy and don't start smoking again.
"You don't have to worry about that," Hannibal said. "I will never touch another cigarette as long as I live."
He waved goodbye to them and then walked out of the room.
"Are you sure you want to go home?" Clarice asked.
"Yes," he said sitting up. "I never did like staying over night at hospitals. Something about it always gave me the creeps."
Clarice laughed helping him up from the bed.
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There will be one more chapter to it and then I'll start the next story :D