Adam

Anticipation and hope bubbled in my chest as I made my way down the hall to the nurses' station at the middle of the ward. On my way there, the doctor who'd examined Christie caught my eye and I pulled him aside.

"Do you have anything yet?" I asked anxiously. It wasn't until Dr. Lewis started speaking that I realized that I'd been holding my breath.

"Yes," he replied confidently. "And the two of you are a match."

A huge grin exploded across my face. "Well, then, we need to get started right away," I insisted.

Dr. Lewis walked back to Christie's room with me. "Now, Mr. Lambert, I understand that Christine is against the idea of this transfusion altogether…"

"I know she is…but Doc, we've at least gotta try this."

"Once again, I impress upon you the giant risk the two of you are taking—"

A vein was pulsating in my forehead and I clenched my fists at my sides. I briefly closed my eyes in an effort to keep my cool and not explode on this guy. He was, after all, just doing his job. But this constant reminding of his was really, really starting to bug me. I knew the risks, I knew what I was getting myself into, and I knew that Christie's life really was at risk now, especially if the transfusion didn't work, in which case, I'd never be able to forgive myself.

"Very well," Dr. Lewis agreed finally. "We'd better get started, then." He called for a nurse to bring in the necessary supplies for the procedure and the three of us returned to Christie's room.

Tommy had finally stopped crying and he sat silent and motionless at her bedside, looking almost as pale as she did. I swallowed hard, saying a quick prayer for this whole thing to go off without a hitch. I put on a brave smile and took Christie's hand, reassuring her that everything would be alright.

She sighed, doubt evident in her eyes. "Adam," she said. "I…you…" She scrunched her eyes closed for a minute, probably trying to fight off tears. "Thank you," she whispered shakily, brushing the top my hand.

I just nodded. Now the bravery and self-assuredness I had previously felt was slowly falling away and my heart started to race. I placed a hand over my chest, trying to still the uncontrollable palpitations.

An orderly rolled a stretcher into the room and placed it next to Christie's bed. I slowly sat and swung my legs up so I could lie down. A pillow was slid under my head and I tried to relax. I took a deep breath, but that didn't seem to help. Dr. Lewis left the room at the same time that a nurse entered.

"Ahh, Mr. Lambert," the older woman greeted me, recognition in both her voice and her eyes. She was short and slightly plump—the typical grandmother sort—with her graying hair pulled back into a tight bun. Wrinkles rimmed her kind blue eyes and her lips were surprising full for a woman of her age. Her nametag read "GINGER" and it had her picture on it. "Your presence has caused quite a stir here today." She smiled. "My granddaughters love you," she added. "They're right; you're very handsome, indeed!" We both smiled at that. "Of course," she laughed, "they refer to you as a 'sexy rock god'." She blushed slightly and I laughed even harder. I heard Christie giggle from her bed a few feet away.

"Maybe I could give you my autograph to give to them," I said, reaching for the notepad and pen on the nightstand. She told me their names, and on the pad, I scrawled, "To Allie and Madelyn—you guys rock! Love, Adam." I sketched out a heart at the end of the message. "Here, keep this," I added, holding the pad out to her. She tucked it into the pocket of her flowered blouse and smiled appreciatively.

"Now," she said, all business. "Let's get the show on the road, shall we? I'll need to take your vitals first, of course." She fastened a blood pressure cuff around my upper right arm, thrust a thermometer under my tongue, and clipped a blood-oxygen monitor to my fingertip.

Then I stiffened and blanched when I saw her pull a needle, syringe, and a few tubes from her little box of supplies. Bile started to rise in my throat and I willed myself not to pass out again.

"Nervous, are we?" she chuckled, smiling a little. "Don't worry, this'll only sting for a second, I promise."

She readied to snap the tourniquet around my arm and just as the latex strip touched my skin, I said, "Wait!" She looked up briefly. "I—I had a really bad experience the last time this happened…" I confessed, blushing furiously. "Could I...could I hold someone's hand?" God, I felt like such a child when I said that, but if I didn't, I was bound to have a repeat of what happened earlier in the lab.

"Sure, baby," Tommy said, getting up from his chair and kneeling down next to me. He grabbed my left hand and I took a deep breath and squeezed his hand hard when the needle pierced the sensitive skin in the bend of my right arm. Once the tiny catheter had been inserted and the needle was extracted, I let out the breath I'd been holding and rested my head back against the pillow behind me.

Ginger bent down further and hooked a few bags that were meant to collect my blood to a low pole. After that, she connected me with more tubes that attached to the bags, and my blood began rushing through the tubes and dripping into the bags. I had to look away; I couldn't stand to watch my own blood being drained out of me. But I knew that what I was doing was the right thing, and knowing that made me feel a whole lot better.