A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read this story and left reviews. Every review is like a warm hug from an old friend and all are much appreciated. Hope you all enjoy this installment. Only one more to go.
The Search For Marco-14
The humming of machinery and the steady blip blip of the heart monitor was a bit overwhelming to Ms. Lopez when she first entered the recovery area to see Marco after his surgery. She walked gingerly over to his bedside and immediately felt the tears stinging her face. His pale and bruised body lay motionless beneath the white sheet covering him. His bare chest exposed and dotted with patches connecting him to the heart monitor. His mouth and nose were covered with an oxygen mask while IV's and a foley catheter completed the ensamble of medical equipment connected to him. He was alive though; and to his mother, her miracle had been granted.
She reached out and held his hand gently squeezing it. She then leaned in closely to his forehead and kissed him lightly. With her left hand she slowly ran her hands through his dark hair finding patches where it stuck together from his own dried blood. She made a mental note to wash it for him as soon as she could.
"Marco, I'm here. You rest ok? You're going to be just fine." She had to speak around the lump in her throat.
She smiled through her tears as she felt him squeeze her fingers in response to her voice. She knew he had heard her….and she knew that very soon she would see the shining eyes of the son she loved so much.
When a gentle hand squeezed her shoulder she immediately began drying her tears. Turning around, she saw the face of Dixie McCall smiling down at her; her own eyes red rimmed and swollen.
"Ms. McCall, thank you." Ms. Lopez looked back at her unconscious son. "He's going to be alright. I just know it."
"Yes, ma'am. He sure is." Dixie's response was heartfelt.
Remembering her last brief conversation with the head nurse, Ms. Lopez turned back around to address her question to Dixie directly.
"Ms. McCall, what about Heather?"
Ms. Lopez watched as a shadow made its way across the face of the nurse. She heard the hesitation and the emotion as Dixie responded to her question.
"Well, resting now. But my lack of forethought left her believing that the plan had failed. She waited all that time for some word that all had gone as planned and when it never came…..she became increasingly upset." Dixie hung her head and allowed her pent up emotions to flow.
Ms. Lopez knew that Dixie was blaming herself for not alerting Heather that their plan had been successful.
"Do not shoulder the blame, Ms. McCall. No one meant to cause her any alarm. It was truly an oversight." Ms. Lopez consoled.
"I know. It's just that, when I got to her room, she was in such a frenzied state of mind that the OB on call was about to have her restrained and sedated. She was in a complete panic and crying that she needed to see her sons." Dixie's tears continued and she sniffed while trying to finish her explanation.
"Oh Ms. Lopez, she was just wanting to say 'good-bye' to her boys. She truly thought that this whole thing had failed….or that we were all a part of some grand scheme to take her babies away." Her voice broke completely on the last word.
Now Ms. Lopez allowed her tears to join with Dixie's. "The poor dear; and she's all alone too right?"
Dixie nodded in affirmation as she tried in vain to dry her eyes. "No family."
Ms. Lopez stood and gave Dixie a lingering hug; rubbing her hands along the nurse's back to comfort her. When Dixie finally pulled away, Ms. Lopez continued her questioning.
"Ms. McCall, you said that she was resting now, is she, uh, medicated?"
Dixie smiled in response to the question. "Only a little. Her blood pressure was dangerously high and while we all tried to convince her that no one would take her twins away from her and that Marco was alive…well, she really didn't seem to believe us. She was given an antihypertensive and a very mild tranquilizer. She was told that as soon as she was rested and calm that she would be able to visit with her sons. Before the medication began to work officers Benjamin and Phillip came in and…..they gave her the consent form back. The one she had signed with Brennen earlier. That seemed to settle her down; after she destroyed it, I should say."
"Go on." Ms. Lopez encouraged Dixie to continue but Dixie knew the rest of the story might be somewhat difficult for the older woman to hear.
"The officers explained that Tucker Brennen had been in a shoot-out with the police." She looked Ms. Lopez in the eyes. "He died in the shoot-out, Ms. Lopez. He wasn't even armed. He forced them to shoot him." Dixie watched as this information was processed by Ms. Lopez.
Ms. Lopez sank back down in her chair. The man who had caused her son such pain was dead. She wasn't sure how she felt about that revelation. Her faith had taught her not to be happy when something like this happened but the mother in her felt a certain sense of gladness. Finally, she spoke.
"Well, now that he can cause no further harm, it's time for the rest of us to rally around his victims. Don't you think?" She wisped Marco's hair from his forehead and watched as his eyes fluttered open. Had he heard what Dixie had said? She didn't know. But for now, her heart was filled with happiness as she looked into the eyes of her son. And a small voice in the back of her mind knew that there was another mother who needed her just as much as Marco did.
E!
The crew of Station 51 remained in the waiting room; anxious for any word on Marco.
"Shouldn't be much longer now, fellas." Roy offered the group.
No sooner had the words escaped his lips than Dr. Early rounded the corner of the waiting room. The smile on his face spoke volumes and was immediately matched by the grins of those in attendance.
"Everything went perfectly. He'll be in recovery for a little while and then he can go to a room." Finally he spoke the words that everyone concerned with Marco had waited to hear.
"He's going to be just fine." Dr. Early gave a chuckle and then left the celebratory group.
Handshakes and a few hugs made their way through the group of friends who had been joined by Marco's relatives; his mother had been taken back earlier to speak with the doctors and to see Marco. No one wanted to leave until they'd had a chance to see Marco with their own eyes. They wanted him to know they were there and supporting him.
"Hey Roy, we haven't checked on Heather and her twins." Johnny said with his trade mark grin.
Roy took the hint. "Since it'll be a while before we can see Marco, let's go peek in on her shall we?"
The duo entered the elevator which stopped one floor up for another passenger.
"Dix, hey!" Johnny smiled placing a friendly hand along the nurse's upper back.
She smiled at them both trying to portray a happy exterior. "Hey yourself, nice work out there today with Marco."
She turned around to face the closing elevator doors as Johnny and Roy exchanged worried glances behind her. Both had noticed that she had obviously been crying.
Roy finally spoke. "Dix, are you ok?"
They had noticed and she felt like she needed to give them some sort of explanation. "Yea, just overwhelmed is all. I…" Dixie exhaled audibly before she continued. "Heather wasn't notified of the outcome of our undercover operation for a few hours and she got pretty upset. Her blood pressure spiked and she was, well, inconsolable for a while."
Neither man had time to respond to her statement before the elevator doors opened again and the three stepped out. Dixie realized then that the two paramedics were on the maternity ward and knew immediately that they were there to see Heather.
"Say, did you two come up to visit with her?"
"Yea,…well, we wanted to if she's up to it." Johnny's voice belayed his hesitancy. He didn't want to upset the young mother.
"I think the two of you might just be what she needs right about now. I was just going to check on her twins and then arrange a visit for the three of them. Maybe you guys can pick up her spirits and help her wake up enough to be ready." She finally allowed a smile then as she escorted the paramedic duo to Heather's door.
Heather was suspended somewhere between sleep and wakefulness when she thought she heard a soft rapping on her door. She waited wondering if it was real or a dream when she heard a voice she recognized.
"Heather, are you awake?"
She began pulling herself up in her bed as Dixie entered her room followed by the two paramedics who had delivered her firstborn.
"Ms. McCall?" She smiled and then cast her gaze on Roy and John.
"These two fellas wanted to say hello to you and see how you were feeling; I think they might want to peek in on the boys too." Dixie winked at her patient who finally allowed herself to relax a little.
"Ok, when can I peek at them too?" Her heart was beating much too fast as she waited for the answer to her question.
"I'm heading over to NICU now to see what their schedule is and hopefully I'll be back here in just a few minutes with a wheelchair for you." Dixie grinned then exited.
There was a brief silence and then Roy, John and Heather all began talking at the same time. The trio silenced themselves abruptly. Then with a nervous giggle Heather began.
"Thank you both for what you did for me….and my boys. We, uh, we wouldn't be here if it weren't for the two of you." Her eyes darted from one to the other discretely reading their name tags. She had tried to remember which name belonged to which man and now she had it memorized. Roy had delivered her firstborn while John took care of her; encouraging and instructing her through the process.
John was the first to speak. "Aww, you're welcome."
"So tell us about them, Heather. Weight, length, names?" Roy was trying to engage her in conversation hoping that she'd feel better if she were talking about her sons.
Heather looked in their direction but didn't make eye contact. She was thinking back to the last time she held them in her arms. "The first one weighed three pounds and twelve ounces and the second one weighed three pounds and eight ounces. They both were 16 inches long. The doctors said that they should be fine and might get to go home in a month."
"Yea, it takes some time to put the weight on them and let their lungs get fully matured. Most of the time preemies seem to get released about the same time that they should have been born if they were full-term." Roy smiled then and felt very thankful that his own children had been full-term. He couldn't imagine the pain of leaving his newborn in the hospital while taking his wife home with empty arms.
"The nurses in the NICU tell me that they have really big appetites so I'm hoping they'll start gaining weight soon." Heather said, relaxing in the company of her rescuers.
"Oh yea, boys do like to eat!" Johnny smiled his crooked grin.
"Especially this one." Roy smirked cocking a thumb in his partner's direction.
Heather felt her face break into a smile then suddenly thought to ask about Marco. "Um, how's Mr. Lopez doing?"
E!
Dixie pushed her hands into the pockets of her uniform as she left Heather's room. Walking down the hallway toward the neonatal intensive care unit, she heard a familiar voice calling her name.
"Ms. McCall….Ms. McCall."
She spun on her heels and greeted Ms. Lopez. "Hello again. Here to take a peek at the twins?"
Ms. Lopez flashed a sheepish grin. "Well, I do love babies." She said wrapping her arm around Dixie in a sideways hug.
"I didn't know if they'd let me see them since I'm not family but I thought I'd ask; gives me something to do until Heather is ready for visitors. Marco is resting well and should be in a room soon." Her smile was always contagious.
Suddenly, a plan began to formulate in Dixie's mind; one that would meet the needs of both Ms. Lopez and Heather. "Want to help me out with something involving the twins?"
Dixie knew the answer before Ms. Lopez even spoke. She and the older woman walked arm in arm to NICU while Dixie filled in Ms. Lopez on her plan.
E!
A/N: One more chapter to go. Thank you to everyone who is reading this and leaving me feedback. It certainly helps me update quicker.