Previous Disclaimers Apply

Chapter 53

"Mom, what the hell happened?" Asked Rafe.

"You were hurt at work. Do you remember? You were getting some lumber down for a customer and the support failed. You got caught under the pile of lumber." Said Olivia.

"I don't remember."

Olivia was about to speak when she heard her wife start to stir.

"Hold that thought, Sweetie." Said Olivia as she got up to go to her wife.

Olivia went to sit on the side of the bed that she had just relinquished a few minutes ago. She picked up Natalia's hand and brought it to her lips; kissing it and stroking it.

"Hey, morning you?" Said Olivia and she leaned down to gently kiss her wife.

"Hey…" Replied Natalia sleepily.

"How did you sleep?" Asked Olivia.

"I sleep just fine as long as you are next to me." Said Natalia as they kissed again.

"So how's Rafe this morning?" Asked Natalia.

"See for yourself." Said Olivia as she pointed over to an awake Rafe smiling at his Ma.

Olivia helped Natalia from the bed and over to Rafe.

"Oh, Sweetie. You scared me and your Mom so much yesterday. Don't you do that again!?"

"I'll try not to get caught under a pile of lumber in the future."

Mother and son reached for each other. They embraced as best they could with Rafe's limited movement and Natalia's ever expanding belly. They were still lost in each other's presence (each thanking God for sparing Rafe's life and not letting his injuries be anymore serious than they are) when Rick came in.

"So how's my patient this morning?" Asked Dr. Bauer.

"OK, I guess, considering what happened. I don't remember the accident." Said Rafe.

"That's OK Rafe. You may not ever remember the actual event. What is the last thing you do remember?" Asked Rick.

"I remember being outside on the loading dock. I had fixed a cup of coffee and went outside with Bobby when he went out for his smoke break. Then Mr. Watson came out and said that George needed help getting some lumber for a customer. The last thing I remember is opening the door to go back inside."

"OK. Don't worry about that now. You just need to concentrate on getting better." Added Rick.

"What do I have to get better from Dr. Rick?" Asked Rafe as he pointed to his legs.

"Let's start at the top shall we? You have a moderate concussion and that is part of the reason for your memory loss. You twisted on your right knee pretty badly when you tried to dodge the lumber and wrenched it; but the damage will heal on its own without surgery. The weight of the lumber impacted your upper left leg. It crushed the femur bone. You were in surgery most of the night to have a steel rod put in to replace your femur bone. It took so long because we had to make sure we had all the bone fragments removed."

"Will I still be able to walk?"

"Yes, but you won't be able to jump right out of this bed like nothing happened. First of all, the injury to your knee would normally require 6-8 weeks on crutches with physical therapy. But because of the injury to your left leg, it can't support the weight for you to use crutches just yet. Your left leg, though now not broken still has to heal from the invasion of the surgery. Muscles, ligaments and tendons all had to be moved around in order to insert the steel rod; so they will need time to heal from all that displacement. You will need therapy on the left leg as well."

"So how long will I have to stay in the hospital?"

"At least 3 days here. We will move you to the in-patient PT section of the hospital then. You'll stay there approximately two weeks."

"Two weeks!"

"Yes, Rafe. Before you can go home, you'll have to learn how to get around in a wheel chair at least for the immediate future. Then as you progress with your therapy you can move to crutches; it all depends on how quickly your leg and knee heal during the therapy."

"Two weeks." Said Rafe defeated.

"Come on now. Your physical therapist will have you so busy, those two weeks will fly by. So before I go, how are you feeling? How is your pain level? Do I need to adjust your level of morphine?"

"No, I'm OK at the moment; just hungry."

"OK, your breakfast should be here shortly. If the pain gets worse just buzz for the nurse to find me."

"Thanks, Dr. Bauer. Oh, am I on a restricted diet or anything?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I just remember the food here is not very good. Is it OK if my folks bring me some meals sometime?"

"Let's wait a day or so on that, till we get your digestion back on track. Before surgery your stomach had to be emptied and with the anesthesia sometimes it takes patients a couple of days before things start to get back to normal with their digestion, OK?"

"OK. Thanks, again, for everything."

"You're welcome; ladies, you take care and I'll check on you later Rafe."

Rick left and the two ladies returned their attention to their son.

"You guys were here all night weren't you?"

"Yes, we couldn't leave you." Said Natalia.

"Well, you can leave now, at least for a little while. Go home, eat and get some rest. I think I am just going to lay here a while and zone out on some TV while I wait for breakfast."

"I don't want to leave you alone." Said Natalia.

At that moment, Olivia's blackberry vibrated in her pocket. She excused herself and stepped out into the hallway. It was Phillip on the phone. Emma had woken up early worried about Rafe. Phillip decided to take her to Company for breakfast to take her mind off of Rafe. They were just about finished and would be leaving for school shortly. She asked to speak to Buzz and Phillip obliged. She finished up her call and returned to her wife and son. She found them still arguing about leaving Rafe to go and rest.

"Mom, please will you help me here? Ma needs to go home and rest."

"Yes, she does." Said Olivia.

"Olivia, I'm not leaving him alone."

"You won't have too."

"What do you mean?" Asked Natalia.

"You said you didn't want to leave him alone and you won't have too."

"Buzz is on his way. He said he would sit with Rafe until we come back after lunch."

"No, Olivia. We can't ask him to do that."

"Princess, Buzz said if we needed anything, if there was anything he could do, to let him know. You know that man loves you like a daughter."

"But that is still too much. He has Company to run."

"He's the boss. He can come and go as he pleases."

"And I choose to be here today." Said Buzz as he entered the room along with Phillip and Emma.

Emma made a b-line for Rafe and climbed up in the chair next to his bed.

"Rafe you're awake. Are you OK? When will you get to use crutches? Can you feel the rod in your leg? Does it feel different? When can you come home?"

"Slow down there, munchkin. That's a lot of questions. First, I am going to be OK. I can't use crutches for a while; we have to let my legs heal a bit first. So I will have to get around in a wheelchair. As for how my leg feels, well, I am on some pretty good pain medicine at the moment, so I am not really feeling anything right now."

Emma laid her head down on her brother's chest and hugged him as best she could.

"You need to be OK Rafe. We have to be able to go to the pond and feed the ducks and play baseball in the front yard and go to the park so you can push me on the swings."

"I'll still be able to do all those things Em; but it will take some time for me to get better. OK?"

"OK." Said Emma as she pulled away from her brother trying to fight tears.

Natalia and Olivia spent a few minutes with Emma before Phillip left to take her to school. Buzz had already taken up residence in the chair next to Rafe's bed.

"OK ladies. You heard your son. Go home. Eat. Sleep. And then come back; but we don't want to see you before 1 o'clock, got it!"

"Rafe…" Natalia said in protest.

"No, Ma. Go home please."

"Buzz you'll call…" Asked Natalia.

"Yes, if I need to, I will call you. Now vamoose…both of you go now!!!"

They each took a moment to kiss their son and say goodbye. Olivia still felt as though she had to tug Natalia along down the hospital corridor. Doris and Blake had brought Olivia's SUV and left it for them last night. They were barely out of the parking lot when Olivia noticed that Natalia had fallen asleep again. It was not quite 7:30am when they arrived at the farmhouse. Olivia woke Natalia and they made their way inside. Olivia helped Natalia shed her coat and sat her wife at the kitchen table as she fixed some chamomile tea and juice for them. In quick order Olivia had scrambled some eggs and made a couple of slices of toast.

They ate in silence. When they were done, Olivia cleared the table and placed the dirty dishes in the sink. She locked the door and then led her wife upstairs. Olivia took them into the bathroom and began to undress her wife. Natalia was partially unclothed when Olivia left her for a moment to retrieve their pajamas. When Olivia returned, Natalia was already in the shower. Olivia quickly shed her clothes and joined her wife. Again, no words were spoken. Natalia let Olivia shampoo her hair and then massage her sore tight muscles with Natalia's vanilla body wash. Olivia took a few minutes to quickly wash herself.

Olivia exited the shower and helped Natalia. She toweled her wife off, then herself while Natalia put on her PJs. Natalia went on to brush her teeth. Olivia got her PJs on and quickly brushed through her hair. Olivia then pulled the stool out from the vanity and motioned for her wife to sit. Olivia pulled out Natalia's hair brush and the hair dryer and she began to dry her wife's hair. In quick order Natalia's hair was dry. She got up from the vanity and returned to the bed room. Olivia took a few minutes to dry her own hair and brush her teeth.

When Olivia entered the bedroom she saw her wife already settling in their bed. Olivia went to turn off the lights and draw the shades before crawling into bed next to her wife. Natalia had turned on her side; Olivia crawled in beside her wife and spooned her. They both settled in and let out sighs trying to wash away the events of the last 24 hours.

"He is going to be OK, Princess." Said Olivia as she nuzzled her wife's neck just behind her ear gently placing a kiss there.

"How is it you always know what I am thinking and feeling?" Asked Natalia as she pulled her wife's hand from where it lay on her torso and brought it to her lips giving her wife a kiss in return.

"Because I love you and I've made it my life's mission to make sure I know what you need before you do."

"I love you too, Olivia."

"Sleep my love." Said Olivia as she nuzzled her wife's neck one more time.

Natalia moved both of their hands to rest on her belly as if to protect the two beautiful lives growing inside. In a few more cleansing breaths both ladies finally let sleep over take them.

TBC