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I sit in the waiting room waiting for my mom and boyfriend to come out of surgery. Okay, I guess I'm exaggerating a bit. Tobias isn't in 'surgery'. He's just in a hospital room (under anesthesia so he's not in pain) getting a giant needle poked into the back of his pelvic bone! To be honest, I'm panicking more than a little. The doctors said that he would probably feel a little pain for a couple weeks, but he said he didn't mind. He is so strong.
My mom is strong too. Stronger than I ever expected her to be. I didn't know that Grandma was a Dauntless leader who had encouraged my mom to choose a different faction when she discovered her divergence. She left her family and everything she knew and loved to become someone completely different. That takes a lot of bravery.
Right now though, I am worried for her even though I know that she is stronger than I could ever be. She was celebrating yesterday because she knew she'd be getting this transplant, not being afraid or chickening out.
Dr. Medd told me about how the process will happen. They're going to take Tobias's marrow in blood bags to my mom's room. They will then infuse the marrow through a central line surgically inserted directly into a vein in her chest. This infusion should take approximately an hour they guessed.
Caleb sits next to me, and he's not worried because the statistics/success rate of this procedure comfort him. Not me though. I'm not an Erudite; I don't find comfort in numbers, and I don't trust these people with my mother's life.
I can't help but feel uncomfortable sitting next to Caleb since he saw me making out with Tobias last night. We don't even talk about it. Really, we don't talk at all. We don't try to catch up on what each other has been up to after the choosing ceremony. We are just silent. Part of me wishes that Addy hadn't gone out to get doughnuts because then there would be conversation instead of awkward silence. The other part of me though, is glad that she's getting breakfast seeing my stomach is roaring like a lion.
We sit in silence for ten more minutes and just read the magazines lying around. After that torturously uncomfortable time, Addy's back with four chocolate long johns. One for each of us and one for Tobias. She also holds three pink peonies in a vase.
"Sorry I took longer than I expected. I decided to stop at my apartment to pick some flowers from my window box for your mom." The last sentence she says shyly and a little unsure of herself.
"That's sweet," I respond. "I'm sure she'll love them. Good idea, Addy."
We dig into the doughnuts like hungry animals, and I swear the nurse was watching, waiting for the moment when our mouths were all stuffed to walk into the room to talk to us.
"Are you the family and friends of Natalie Prior and Four Eaton?" she says reading their names off of her clipboard.
We all take a second to swallow and wipe the frosting off our lips with napkins. "Yes," Caleb manages to get out.
"Alright. I have some updates about the patients."
We wait in anticipation while she flips to the right paper on her clipboard with the information about them. She's must just be someone the sent out to tell us the news and not actually involved in either of the procedures.
"Natalie is doing great. Her body is taking to the donor marrow very well. She's not in any pain, and this transplant should eliminate her cancer cells after a couple months of chemotherapy and radiation."
Good, I think. I couldn't stand worrying about what may have happened to her otherwise. But what's going on with Tobias?
"Four will be as good as new also. He should recover from the back pain in a couple weeks as you already know, but my records do say that he had an allergic reaction. It's routine for us to keep them in the hospital for a couple hours after the donation just in case these things happen, so its a good thing that we didn't give into his wishes and let him come out to be with you guys," she says with a calm smile.
"He'll be okay though, right?" I ask.
"Oh, of course. And the insurance covers the medicine he needed to counter the reaction, so you won't have to worry about that. Dr. Medd plans on having him stick around two or three hours just to make sure he's healed properly form the donation and reaction."
Caleb pats my shoulder. "That's good huh, Tris?" That was the first time he's spoken to me all day, but I try not to make it seem like I'm not surprised or anything by the communication and contact.
"Very good," I smile at him. I'm glad he's trying to put last night behind us.
The nurse speaks up again. "Natalie is still in surgery, but if you'd like to visit with Four, you may."
"Lead the way!" I say with excitement as I walk towards the door she came out of.
The nurse walks with brisk, purposeful steps, and her blue pants swish quietly back and forth with every step she takes. She leads Caleb, Addy, and I down a series of twisting and turning halls until she suddenly turns off into a room on our right.
Immediately I notice how uniform everything is in it. The floors are white. The walls are white. The curtains are white. The sheets on the bed are white. But there's a tanned man with bright blue eyes who throws the whole white theme off. He looks thrilled to see me. Tobias.
"Hey, Tris!"
"We don't get a greeting?" Addy says sarcastically putting a hand on her chest pretending to be hurt by his lack of acknowledging her. She's goofy and fun to be around. I'm glad we met her.
"Oh. Hey, Addy," he nods to her. "Caleb," he nods towards him as well. "Now come give me a hug, Tris!" he says excitedly.
I chuckle and lean over to give him a hug then choose to just sit next to him on the bed. Caleb and Adelaide take the chairs and scoot them closer to the bed so we can all talk together. Caleb opens the box of doughnuts then says with enthusiasm, "Finally! We can finish eating these!" We all laugh and lean over to grab or left-overs while Tobias grabs his full one.
Caleb turns to Tobias, "So how was getting your butt stabbed, man?"
"Definitely not one of my favorite things to do," he responds with a chuckle.
"But thank you for it," I say. Caleb nods in agreement. I rest my head on Tobias's shoulder, and we all wait there until Mom is finally done with her surgery, so we can go see her.
I know, lame ending to the chapter. Sorry about that.