Chapter 10
Alexis arrived at the hospital in record time, not even sure exactly how she got there. She had told Garrett that she had to go back to the office to take care of something for an important client. She hated lying… truthfully, she was bad at it. After all the years of pushing away her past and hiding the truth, she was tired of it. She no longer had the energy. But right now, she needed to find it… she had to find the energy.
"Thank you," Alexis smiled, drawing a deep breath as the nurse guided her into the doctor's office, where Dr. Simon stood behind her desk accompanied by a doctor Alexis had never seen before. As usual, they cordially shook hands upon her arrival.
"Ms. Davis…" Dr. Simon pulled her hand away from the greeting and proceeded to introduce her colleague, "This is Dr. Cramer."
"Hello," Alexis nodded as she shook the gentleman's hand and they all had a seat.
"Ms. Davis… as I said on the phone, I looked over your x-rays as soon as they came through this afternoon…"
"Yes?" Alexis knew from experience that when there was more than one doctor for news about an x-ray, it isn't usually favorable.
"You will be happy to know that we did not find any evidence of cancerous masses in either lung."
"Oh, okay…" She continued to study them carefully, watching as they prepared to continue.
"But, the x-ray wasn't completely clear, though…" Dr. Simon rose to her feet and placed the x-ray on the light-box, "Right here is where we may have found the cause of your shortness of breath…"
Alexis narrowed her eyes as the doctor outlined the area around her lungs.
"You seem to be experiencing significant fluid retention in your chest cavity in and around your lungs."
"Isn't that pneumonia?" Alexis observed the doctor's nod before the second doctor spoke up.
"Pneumonia is certainly a possibility… but Dr. Simon did not express that you presented with a a fever or bronchial inflammation? Have you been having any cold-like symptoms?"
"Uh… no…" Alexis cleared her throat, shaking her head, "No, I'm not."
"Very well…" Dr. Cramer nodded as Dr. Simon took her seat.
"I've enlisted Dr. Cramer's assistance in this because he is the cardiologist that I was speaking to you about earlier…" She watched Alexis acknowledge her statement, "Dr. Cramer is the best in this hospital- aside from Dr. Quartermaine, of course."
"Of course…" Alexis nodded, a nervous smile appearing.
"Ms. Davis," Dr. Cramer began, "I know that Dr. Simon discussed having an EKG performed… if you are able to, I would strongly recommend that you allow us to perform that while you're here, tonight. I would also like to follow-up with an echocardiogram if necessary."
"Oh… well." Alexis drew a deep breath, "Will it take long?"
"No… they are both simple tests." The dr. answered, "I will take you directly to the room right down the hall and the technician will be right in. Shouldn't take longer than an hour."
"When do you get the results of this?" Alexis' head was swirling, she wasn't even sure exactly what was going on.
"We will contact you in a day or so to let you know what we found. And you have to remember, there might not be anything to report. If this is pneumonia or a strange build up of fluid around the lungs due to an allergy or medical reaction of some kind, we will be able to treat it and move on."
"You're just trying to rule out something more serious…" She replied, knowingly.
"Yes," Dr. Cramer answered honestly, "When a patient x-ray comes back with fluid around the lungs and chest cavity, we don't take it lightly."
"All right…" Alexis exhaled, "let's get this out of the way then."
An hour turned into two, and the wait was longer than was originally expected but Alexis finally arrived home- to an empty house. As she set her bag and the keys on the table, she took a glance around the dark room. When the doctor insisted on doing the tests immediately, she had called home and told Garrett that she was stuck at the office. She hated lying, but she didn't need to worry them over nothing. Instead, she let them down as Danny was counting on her coming along on their pumpkin adventure. As the sun had set, she assumed they were probably heading home or about to, probably wondering what she was held up doing.
She took a deep breath and pulled out a bottle of red wine from the cabinet by the table, looking it over quickly, she set it down on the table and instead made her way to the sofa, kicking off her shoes before sitting down.
It had been a long day… and she couldn't help but be a little worried. As she rested her head in her hand, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The darkness in the room gave a bit of a comfort, a feeling of hiding away from the world for a moment… away from life and it's innate possibilities- good and bad.
The peace was short-lived when she heard the front door open softly.
"Mom?"
Alexis looked up to see Kristina coming in the door, "Kristina… Hi, honey."
"Why are you sitting in the dark?" Her voice was clearly concerned.
"You can turn it on…" Alexis sighed, "Just been a long day. I was sitting for a minute."
"Everything okay?" Kristina turned just one dim light on as she entered the room, setting her purse and keys on the table before joining her mother on the sofa.
"Yeah…" Alexis smiled as she held out her arm for Kristina to join her, "Just tired, sweetie. How was dinner with your dad?"
"It was really nice," She smiled as she snuggled into the crook of her mother's arm, "Gia is just the cutest little thing!"
"She is, isn't she?" Alexis smiled, "She looks like you when you were a baby…"
"You think?" Kristina sat up, giving her mother a surprised look.
"Yes… she's got those chubby little cheeks big brown eyes." Alexis ran a hand down her middle daughter's hair, "And beautiful olive complexion."
"Mom…" She tilted her head adoringly, "I wasn't that cute…"
"Yes you were. You were the cutest baby in the world." Her mother protest as Kristina nestled herself back in her arm.
"Yeah, since Sam and until Molly came along…" She rolled her eyes as they both chuckled.
"All my girls were especially cute babies in their own way," Alexis assured as she hugged her close, "Molly was pretty cute, though… you have to admit."
"Yeah… she had chubbier cheeks than me." Kristina laughed.
"She was overall chubbier than you!" Alexis laughed as she remembered, "And she had littler eyes… like her dad…"
"She still does," Kristina added, "She still looks like her dad."
"All my girls do…" She absent mindedly ran her finger through her daughter's hair.
"You think so?" The young girl questioned, "I think we all look like you. Even Danny looks like you!"
"No!" Alexis protested, "Danny looks like his Dad. He does have Sam's little nose and mouth…"
"We look like you, mom." Kristina declared gently, "That's why we're all so good looking!"
"Oh, stop it…" she laughed, rested her cheek atop Kristina's head.
"I'm serious, mom… you're gorgeous." Her daughter spoke softly as she herself was absently playing with the rings on her mother's hand that rested in hers.
"Well, thank you sweetheart." She kissed her head, "I love you…"
"I love you too..." She wrapped her arms around her mother's mid-section, "I love being here with you."
"Oh, baby. That's the best thing you could ever say to me." Alexis bit her lip, holding back tears, "I love you being here…" She again, kissed her daughter's head, "But I know that you need to go back to Greece, eventually."
"I kind of wish I didn't," Kristina sat up, looking her mother in the eye, "Until I got here… I didn't really know how much I missed it. How much I missed you…"
"Aw, honey…" Alexis smiled through her now brimming tears, "Do you know how precious you are to me?"
"Mom…" Kristina looked away, slightly embarrassed. It was no secret she had put her mother through a lot when she was a teen and through the past few years. She couldn't regret, only learn, and she knew one thing- she was lucky to have her mom.
"My girls… my family." Alexis shook her head as she hugged Kristina close again, "My little Danny and the three of you… you just mean everything to me. You're my life."
"We are so lucky." Kristina sighed as she snuggled close to her, "So lucky. We have the best mom…"
Alexis couldn't say a word, only revel in the words her daughter spoke. They were both drawn to the door when they heard jingling of keys as Sam entered with Molly following close behind. Last to enter was Garrett who was holding a sleeping Danny on his shoulder.
"Hey, you two…" Sam smiled as she made her way to the shelf under the window to retrieve Danny's bag. She stopped, leaning over the back of the sofa to kiss her mother and sister on the cheeks.
"Hi honey," Alexis smiled as she reached up and caressed her daughter's cheek before rising from her seat and heading towards Garrett and Danny who were waiting in the doorway, "Somebody's all tired out from pumpkins…"
"Yeah…" Garrett smiled as Alexis rubbed Danny's back and kissed his cheek, "He fell asleep on the last leg of the hayride."
"Aww… sweetie," Alexis cooed as she kissed the side of the sleeping little boy's head, "I'm sorry I missed it…"
"We are too…" Sam rejoined, hoisting Danny's bag on her shoulder, "Danny missed you."
"I'm sorry…" Alexis turned clearing her throat, "I, uh… I really would have been there if I could… I just had something that I had to take care of at the office."
"I know," Sam smiled, giving her mother a hug, "Don't worry... your house has already been established as next week's pumpkin carving central so you won't miss that one."
"Great," Alexis forced a smile as she broke from their hug and watched her daughter meet up with her father.
"Ok… I better get Charlie Brown, here, home." Sam sighed as she went to take Danny from her father's arms.
"It's all right… I can put him in the car for you."
"Oh… okay…" Sam guided the way, turning to say goodbye to her sisters, "Zoo tomorrow! Don't forget!"
"Oh, tomorrow's Saturday already!" Molly remembered, "Zoo! Are you coming, Mom?"
"Hmm?" She turned, having not heard her daughter.
"To the Zoo!"
"Oh, I don't know…" Alexis shook her head, wrapping an arm around Molly.
"Okay, I'll call you guys in the morning." Sam smiled before opening the door and guiding her father and Danny outside.
"Hey, Mol… So where's my pumpkin? I hope you picked me a…" Kristina started.
"… tall and skinny." Molly nodded, rolling her eyes, "I got the perfect one. They're outside in the back of Garrett's SUV."
"Thank you," Her older sister smiled as she joined her mother and Molly for a group hug, "I wish Sam and Danny lived here…"
"Me, too…" Alexis agreed, "But they need their own space… I can understand that."
"Well, when Molly moves out, it's gonna be awfully quiet around here!" Kristina reminded.
"Well, maybe I won't…" Molly shrugged, prompting her mother to pull away and look her in the eye.
"What?" Alexis furrowed her brow, "You won't move out? What are you talking about?"
"I don't know…" Molly shrugged again as she stepped away from her mom and sister, "I've just been thinking maybe I'll stay home instead of going to NYU and just go to PCU instead…"
"Molly!" Alexis pressed on but Molly turned and headed down the hall.
"I'm going to take a shower…"
Alexis turned swiftly back to Kristina who was looking at her wide-eyed, "What is that all about?"
"I don't know… she was talking like that the other night at Sam's too." Kristina sighed as they both took a seat together on the sofa, "Apparently she doesn't want to go away to college anymore."
"Well, why on earth not!?" Alexis was baffled, her youngest had been waiting on the edge of her seat to find out about her accepted to NYU for months.
"She doesn't want to leave home…" Kristina pulled away from her mother, sitting back to look at her, "I don't know what it is, but she says she has this weird feeling about moving away…"
"Weird feeling?" She raised a brow. How could she have not known that her daughter was having trouble coping with the impending college transition?
"Sam tried to talk to her about it… told her that the last thing she ever wants her to do is to ignore her instincts but that she needs to determine whether it's an instinct or just fear taking over."
Alexis smirked, "Sounds like…"
"Something you would say?" Kristina nodded, "Don't worry, I told her that."
"Good girl…" Alexis smiled, hugging Kristina close, "Well, I will definitely have a longer talk with her about that. But I got the impression she wasn't in the mood to do so, tonight."
"I don't think so, no…" Kristina smiled before leaning up to kiss her mom's cheek and rising from the sofa, "I'm going to get my pajama's on. I'm exhausted and so full of spaghetti."
"Okay, honey." Her mother smiled as she watched her walk away. Glancing over to the table to noticed the unopened bottle of wine that she had pulled out when she arrived home, "That sounds perfect right about now…"
"Sure does…" Garrett smirked as he entered the house, closing and locking the door behind him. They met with an embrace and a kiss, "So… did everything go okay?"
"Hmm?" Alexis immediately grew nervous, looking at him curiously.
"At the office…"
"Oh! Yes… yes, everything is fine…" She reassured as she broke from their embrace and retrieved goblets as Garrett took over with opening the bottle of wine.
"Danny picked you a pumpkin…" Garrett smiled as Alexis looked at him lovingly.
"He did?"
"Before he even picked his own…" He shook his head with a chuckle, "The first order of business was to make sure he got you the perfect pumpkin. We had to write your name on it and everything…"
"Aw…" Alexis looked away as Garrett filled her goblet. She made her way towards the sofa, taking a seat, "I'm really sorry that I wasn't there. He wasn't upset was he?"
"No…" He shook his head as he joined her on the sofa, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "He understood."
"I don't want to miss things like that…" Alexis shook her head as she focused on the goblet in her grasp, "Life's too short, you know?"
"Yeah…hey…" Garrett studied her carefully, "You okay?"
"I'm fine," She nodded, forcing a smile as she met his eyes and they kissed, "I'm just tired."
"Lex…" Garrett looks at the hand holding her wine goblet in front of her, "What's wrong with your hand?"
"Hmm?" She was caught off guard and then realized he was referring to the band-aid and bruise that was beginning to form on the top of her hand, "Oh, this? It's just from earlier… from my doctor appointment… they took blood, that's all."
"For anxiety?" Garrett was suddenly nervous.
"She just wanted to rule out other causes… no big deal…" Alexis shrugged.
"From the top of your hand? That's a little strange…" He raised a brow, looking more carefully at it before she switched the glass to her other hand and strategically crossed her arms.
"Yeah… they did." She sighed before sipping her wine and narrowing her eyes to him, "Anybody ever tell you you're nosey?"
"Hey…" He chuckled slightly before realizing she may be serious, "What's the matter with you?" He gave her a perplexed look, to which she relaxed and smiled.
"Nothing… I'm sorry. I'm just tired and I guess a little grumpy. It's been a long day."
"I suppose it has… what do you say we go to bed?" Garrett smirked before they kissed again.
"That sounds like a great idea…" Alexis smiles before kissing him again before they rose from the sofa together and disappeared down the hallway.