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I Will Never Forget You
I don't think the heart ever grows old.
Samantha Carter (Stargate SG-1)
Noah could feel the anxiety swelling up inside of him like a river during a monsoon as he entered the ward, nodding curtly at the nurses who greeted him as they walked by, knowing him well from his nearly daily visits by now. It would have been incorrect to say that he hated hospitals – he was studying to become a surgeon, after all – but he still had chills running down his spine whenever he entered this specific ward. Maybe because what would await him was getting worse with every day, and he knew it beforehand. Still, he couldn't bear the thought of not coming here.
After knocking gently, he opened the door to a room, forcing a smile on his face even though he felt like crying as he entered and then shut the door quietly behind him.
"Hey Papí, how are you doing?" he gently asked and took the hand of the old man lying on the bed. Green eyes looked at him in confusion, holding no recognition as they examined Noah's face.
"Are you my new doctor?"
Noah gulped hard, a lump forming in his throat, but he forced himself to keep his smile up as he looked down at the scrubs he was wearing under his winter jacket – he'd just come from a shift in the emergency room.
"No, Papí. It's me, Noah. Your son," he explained, sitting down on the edge of Rafael's bed. It hurt to see this brilliant, intelligent lawyer and loving father disappear more and more; he was only a shadow of himself, and Noah had lost count over how many times he'd reminded Rafael who he was.
For a moment, Rafael looked like he remembered, but then his face fell, he blinked a few times, and then he asked: "Excuse me, do you know where my wife is? Olivia, she... she said she would meet me for coffee when I'm done in court."
Noah suppressed a sob, squeezing Rafael's hand; love was shining in his father's eyes as he continued to talk about Olivia. There were days on which Rafael wouldn't recognise him, or even forget his own name... but there was one thing he never forgot. No matter how bad his condition was, he always knew who Olivia was – the love of his life.
Sorrow weighed heavy on Noah's shoulders whenever his mother was mentioned – she'd only died half a year ago, before Rafael's Alzheimer had worsened, and he wasn't over losing her yet. Maybe it had been the pain of the loss that had caused the condition to progress negatively so rapidly, and a part of Noah was glad that Rafael was oblivious that Olivia would never meet him for coffee again.
Noah hoped that one day, he would find a love that was just as deep and strong and unbreakable as the of his parents. And though he didn't want to lose his father so soon as well, he also wanted it to be over; he couldn't bear to see him like this, and he knew that the time when they would be reunited was coming closer.
With tears burning in his eyes, he carefully pulled a sweater out of his backpack; it still smelled like his mother, and he could see Rafael relaxing the moment he placed it next to his head. Rafael closed his eyes and took deep breaths, inhaling the familiar scent, and a small, content smile lifted the corners of his mouth.
A tear sprung from Noah's eye and left a salty trail on his cheek as he pressed a soft kiss onto his father's cheek, whispering: "I love you, Dad."
*wipes tears away* Yeah... uh... sorry. *hands out tissues*
