AN: Sorry it took a while for me to update. Also, this is going to be a very long chapter. I must warn you, this chapter can get a bit upsetting, so read at your own risk. I hope you all enjoy :)
Morgan solemnly stared down from the operating theater towards Shaun on the operating table. He'd been in surgery for almost 12 hours. She never left the operating theater once, except to take care of a few basic human needs such as use the bathroom and get something to eat or drink, but sleep wasn't one of them.
She was supposed to be at home right now because she didn't have an assigned shift, but she didn't want to leave until she knew for sure what Shaun's prognosis was (as well as Lea's). Once in a while during the surgery, Park would look up at her from the field.
Neither Alex nor anyone in the operating field - Jordan, Dr. Andrews, Nurse Villanueva, Nurse Kim, JL - was communicating to her what was going on with Shaun (the commentary was turned off), but she didn't need to know every little detail because she could already see almost everything that was occurring in the surgical field.
The branch that impaled Shaun's torso was able to be removed successfully, but the damage looked tremendously drastic. For instance, other than stitch up his superficial wounds (they had an extra surgeon scrub in to take care of those while they looked at his more dire injuries) and remove the glass (especially the large piece that was deeply lodged in his thigh), they had to carefully fish out the pieces of tree bark. The stabbing of the branch, on the other hand, did not cause superficial wounds because he went into v-tach during surgery and also bled out a few times.
As of right now, after all the hard work of fixing Shaun's internal injuries, they were closing him up for good.
Morgan still didn't know about what was going on with Lea yet. Though, what she did know was that the baby's condition was stable. Also, Lea's parents and brother had finally arrived from Pennsylvania. She learned that via a text from Dr. Glassman.
For the third time since the surgery began, Alex stared up at Morgan with a stoic look; Morgan staring back down at him with a similar expression.
Meanwhile, the surgeons and nurses working on Shaun breathed in sighs of temporary relief as they were finally stitching up the last of Shaun's wounds.
The wounds on his forehead, neck, cheek, and shoulder were superficial, but the cut to his thigh was a different story. Although it thankfully missed his femoral artery, it did sever the saphenous nerve. They were able to tie it back together, but they weren't sure if he would still have sensation in his medial leg. There were no further injuries caused by the fractures to his clavicle and scapula, but the fractures to his humerus, radius, and ulna caused devastating internal bleeding in his arm, especially with the fractures to his radius and ulna being open and his humerus being broken into many pieces. They were able to fix his whole arm and shoulder with rods, screws, and plates. As for the wounds to his torso, that part of his body definitely took the brunt because one of the broken ribs punctured his lung and caused a pneumothorax (happening in the exact same lung that was injured in a bar fight a few years prior). Shaun was lucky that the branch didn't reach his aorta because if it did, he probably would have died before reaching the hospital. The branch did, however, cause a grade II laceration to his pancreas and a grade IV splenic laceration, resulting in the removal of his spleen due to a splenic hematoma. His stomach and transverse colon were punctured and his duodenum had a minor laceration, but they were able to repair those successfully. There was blunt trauma to his left ureter, causing it to rupture, resulting in the removal of his left kidney.
They all honestly didn't even think that Shaun would survive the surgery.
"Janet," Dr. Andrews said wearily to the anesthesiologist. "Before you go home, please make sure Shaun is taken care of in post-op."
JL nodded in return.
"Also, Jordan, Alex…please go home and sleep," he instructed his residents as they walked over to the sink outside the OR to wash their hands. He then told the same thing to Nurse Hawkes and Nurse Kim. "April, Sam…you, too."
Everyone who helped with the surgery - the doctors, nurses, and the anesthesiologist - were surprised that the surgical attending called them all by their first names. It wasn't something that Dr. Andrews was known to do to the people at the hospital. He'd done it before, but it was a rare occurrence.
The reason why he just did it right now was probably because of what was happening to Shaun and his girlfriend.
Little did Marcus know, Lea's injuries were fixed up around the same time Shaun's were.
"And, we're done…finally," Dr. Lim loudly exhaled with solace as she tried to hold back her tears of apprehensiveness once she and her team finished stitching up the IT director's entire abdomen.
She and Claire shot each other a quick glance, communicating non-verbal worry with each other. The two of them plus Asher, Nurse Villanueva, and Nurse Dhanoa worked strenuously to put Lea's pelvis and leg back together again.
As soon as the baby was delivered and her superficial wounds were taken care of, they tried to hold off the bleeding in Lea's abdomen. She went into cardiac arrest five minutes later and they used chest compressions and later a defibrillator to get her stabilized.
She had a minor nasal fracture, but they were able to realign and reshape her nose safely and successfully. Her pelvic fracture was unstable; a vertical shear fracture as well as an open book fracture to be exact. When her femur pushed up into her torso, the top of it pierced out from her left iliac region. They were also able to repair the comminuted fractures to her tibia and fibula (that were crushed by the dashboard) as well as return her femur to its rightful place, using a bunch of rods, screws, and plates. There were also some internal injuries to Lea's bladder, left fallopian tube, left ovary, and descending colon. In addition, her uterus also wouldn't stop hemorrhaging during the surgery, so a hysterectomy was needed.
For what felt like forever, everyone could finally take a breath for five seconds and not have to worry about something serious like her going into v-tach or having a spontaneous bleed.
"Asher, do you think you can tell Lea's family?" Audrey asked, aware of how traumatized her residents probably were. "I completely understand if you don't want to do this. You, too, Claire. If neither of you can stomach talking to them right now, I can do it."
"Audrey, are you sure?" Claire inquired, wondering if this incident could add to the chief of surgery's PTSD. "I think it's best if you go home and rest."
"No," Audrey asserted. "Because honestly, now is not the time for a teaching moment."
Claire remembered when Dr. Melendez said those words to her and Shaun when they did the Whipple procedure during the second year of their residency.
Audrey was right. When a colleague (or even their significant other that also happened to be an employee at the same workplace) was being operated on, it was not an appropriate moment for teaching. It was a moment for processing everything that just happened.
After this, Audrey definitely needed to take a breather for a long time, and Claire, Asher, and the nurses did as well.
As soon as Marcus finished thoroughly washing his hands, he rushed to the nearby restroom to vomit in the toilet. This was the first time he ever vomited after performing a surgery.
He then headed out of the stall and towards the sink to wash his hands and face. He needed a few minutes to fully process everything that had just happened in the last 12-13 hours.
The disturbing image of one of his residents being wheeled into the ER all bloody and pale with a tree branch impaled in his side as well as the image of him opened up on the operating table was going to be exceedingly haunting, whether Shaun lives or dies. It was just as hard for him to fully process as it was difficult and shocking to learn that Dr. Melendez died on the morning after the earthquake from septic shock due to the injuries he received that he kept secret from everyone.
Many young people believed that by the time they reached the age cohort that Marcus was, they've seen and experienced everything and no longer need to grow or learn new things, but even in his 40s, he has grown and learned so much when it came to having an open mind and being aware of prejudices he didn't realize he was still harboring. As of right now, Marcus was actually concerned for Shaun as if he was his own child, a thought he probably wouldn't have had if Shaun was injured on his very first day at St. Bonaventure.
When Shaun started his residency here, Marcus and Dr. Melendez (may he rest in peace) were not fond of the idea of an autistic doctor working here. He even made a deal with Dr. Glassman that if Shaun didn't live up to his expectations, he would become president. Ironically, during Shaun's second year of residency, he would end up firing Dr. Han and reinstating Shaun against the wishes of the board, only for it to cost him his job as chief of surgery and president of the hospital.
During his time as a surgical attending, all of his residents were like his surrogate children (even Park, who was less than six years older than him), especially since his own niece used to be one of them. His new position seemed to fill the void of not having children. And speaking of children, he hated to admit that he was kind of jealous of Shaun and Lea since he and Isabel tried to conceive a child but had trouble due to Marcus's infertility. But that didn't stop him from being happy and thrilled for Shaun, and he was now just as worried for him, Lea (even though he didn't know her that well), and their baby.
In fact, not too long after Shaun informed him and Dr. Lim that he and Lea were going to have a baby, Marcus contemplated about talking to Isabel about fostering or maybe even trying adoption. Despite the fact that they decided not to have children after giving up on trying a few years ago, Isabel told him that fostering or adopting was something they could maybe consider.
He stared at his drained, exhausted, and distraught reflection in the mirror for a few seconds before finally heading to his locker to grab his things.
The first thing he grabbed was his phone. He needed to send Isabel a text to tell her that he was finally done with the critical patient that happened to be Shaun and now about to head back home.
He just wasn't sure how he was going to break the news to Olivia that one of her favorite mentors at St. Bonaventure and his very pregnant girlfriend were injured in a car accident.
It had been 20 minutes since Shaun and Lea were finally out of surgery and moved into separate rooms (they were right next to each other in the recovery room before they were separated).
While most of Shaun's colleagues and superiors would have usually gone home at this point, some of them were ironically still here, especially Claire, who was standing right outside Lea's room (after stopping by Shaun's room), somberly glaring through the glass.
The young woman had fresh stitches in her cheek and a nose splint and bandage in the center of her face. Hooked up to a ventilator, most of her body was covered with a blanket as she was connected to IVs and a heart monitor.
Her father was sitting right by her bedside, holding her hand and gently stroking her hair with a perturbed, solemn look on his face, which obviously showed evidence that he had been crying. Her brother was just angrily pacing around the room. Her mother wasn't in the room with her, so Claire just assumed that she was either in the NICU to see her grandson, in the cafeteria eating, or simply just using the restroom.
And speaking of the restroom, Claire was one of the first people outside of Shaun to learn that Lea was pregnant when she observed her dealing with morning sickness in the stall.
The thing that got Claire's attention the most was her brother's behavior - stomping around with his arms folded and snarling with anger before finally saying what was on his mind.
"Stupid Lea," he muttered loudly, crying his eyes out, which seemed to immediately catch his father's attention. "She was driving Grandpa Rod's prized possession, and now it's gone forever! First the shop, and now the car! Did she even make sure to see if the 44-year-old car was upgraded to be safe for a baby? How could she be so irresponsible? Why is she always so reckless? Her recklessness is exactly what destroyed Grandpa's small business and lead to her first divorce! I even heard that Shaun doesn't even have a license, so…"
"Donnie!" Mike hissed, turning his head away from his daughter and towards his son, shooting him a dirty look. "It wasn't Lea or Shaun's fault, and honestly, your mother and I have been sick of you and Lea's attitudes towards each other for the past few years, and the estrangement between the two of you is breaking our damn hearts!"
Claire didn't know Donnie very well, but she was surprised that he would blame Lea or even Shaun for their suffering when it was actually the fault of the drunk driver that caused this mess. However, she was aware of the strained relationship between Lea and her brother. Part of that was the reason why she moved back to San Jose in the first place.
She was wondering if this was also some kind of defense mechanism he was using because while he was probably still angry with her about what happened in Hershey, he most likely still loved her and was also deeply worried and afraid for her deep down inside.
"Right now, your little sister and her boyfriend are both in a coma while your nephew is in the NICU," Mike lectured, cholerically gripping the rails of the hospital bed with one hand while pointing to an unconscious Lea with the other. "So, now is not the time for blaming! Yes, I'm pissed about the car, too…but it's still just a car, and the life of my children and grandchildren are more important to me than your grandfather's car!"
"Okay, and where were you and Mom when Lea needed you? Hmm?" Donnie bit back, right after his face demonstrated some kind of regret over what he just said. "You and Mom took my side when we tanked the family business and told Lea she was reckless. Actually, you and Mom were barely even there for both of us. You even refuse to acknowledge that Mom has a prescription drug problem, which I think is probably what is causing her low blood pressure, insomnia, angina, and breathing problems. Lea and I actually both think that, but you're still in denial! And guess what, I'm worried about Lea, too! And unlike you, the fact that she was having an autistic man's baby, and also with him, doesn't concern me at all, which is something you even admitted."
Mike was then silent, his face falling as the sounds of Lea's beeping EKG became the only sound that could be heard in the room. Claire assumed that maybe he was coming to the realization that his wife did have a problem and maybe his possible prejudice he still could have. She did remember Lea mentioning to her that her mother would sometimes misuse her medication (some of them weren't even actual prescriptions), which were stimulants and sedatives.
"No matter what, maybe you should think about forgiving Lea about the incident. Your mom and I have. We're even trying to work on being less critical of her, and you, too," sighed Mike, looking back towards his daughter, shedding even more tears as she continued to stroke her hair and shoulder.
Donnie didn't even say a word, he just stood there and looked at Lea, letting out a silent tear of his own.
Claire couldn't help but think about the conversation between Lea's father and brother that she had eavesdropped on. Both Lea and Shaun believed that blood did not automatically mean family. When she asked the expectant parents advice about whether or not she should forgive her father when he showed up at her door, they both said similar things that contrasted from what others said.
"My father hurt me. He was a bad man who did bad things. I already knew that," he said.
"Just because your father is dying doesn't mean he deserves to be forgiven," she advised. "If he dies without the two of you making amends, that's his fault."
The man had just died last week, and she was right there by his side, not regretting it at all…and she did forgive him because he did spend his last days not only acting like the best dad in the world, but also making her feel like he was.
Her thoughts were then interrupted when she noticed Donnie walked right out of the room, probably going somewhere private to think about what he should do. She wanted to follow him and give him advice, but she thought it was best if she let him be.
Then, her phone buzzed, seeing texts from Enrique and Jared, telling her that Shaun was in their thoughts. She hadn't spoken to Jared since he left for Denver, and she hadn't spoken to Enrique since he left for John Hopkins. She only followed them on Facebook, and she didn't send them one text until now, notifying them about Shaun and Lea.
JARED: I'm very sorry to hear about Shaun and his neighbor. When they wake up, tell them I said congrats on their baby!
ENRIQUE: Let everyone know that I send my love and that my heart goes out to Shaun, Lea, and their baby.
Audrey stood right outside the NICU, glaring through the window towards Lea's mother, who was at her grandson's bedside. For the past 13-14 hours, Aaron and Debbie would sometimes switch places, alternating between staying with Shaun and staying with the baby; same with Lea's parents.
When Debbie left the NICU to take care of things around Shaun and Lea's apartment (such as feeding their fish), she told Audrey that Pam's paranoia was getting annoying because she kept reminding Debbie to check for all the symptoms that can be a factor for something serious such as necrotizing enterocolitis.
"I was a nurse once," groaned Debbie, venting. "Pam honestly sounds like one of those people with medical degrees from Web MD."
She wanted to get a glimpse of the little boy, but she was afraid that seeing a very premature baby would trigger something. For instance, she had to deliver a premature baby during the pandemic (the baby's mother had COVID), and the baby ended up dying of COVID.
She then turned her back away from the NICU to look at the NICU Hall of Fame on the wall, which contained photos of the babies who were once in St. Bonaventure's NICU and recovered, now as children (some were even in their 30s at this point). However, the ones that really caught Audrey's eye were the photos of Persephone Monroe and Eva Fields.
Eva was the baby of Patty Fields, one of Neil's deceased patients; the case that eventually sparked the road to ending her and Neil's romantic relationship. She chose to risk her life and sacrifice herself for her unborn child. She died during the surgery as soon as the baby was delivered, leaving Andre, her husband, as a single father. In the photo, the toddler was sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a Moana shirt with her natural hair in pigtails, holding a stuffed kitten while she posed with her father, smiling.
Then, there was Persephone, the baby with gastroschisis and other problems, and also the case that she, Shaun, and Claire worked on with Dr. Han. In addition, it was also the case where Shaun's blunt honesty towards the mother got him in trouble and lead to him being forced into pathology. The photo of her featured a curly-haired red-head toddler with freckles happily swinging on the swing. Nigel and Diane, her parents, recently stopped by to put that photo up like ten minutes ago. They thanked Audrey and then told her to thank Dr. Browne, Dr. Murphy, and Dr. Han (Audrey shuddered when she heard that guy's name).
And now, ironically, Shaun himself was going to be a distraught father with a sick newborn once he wakes up. She hoped that both Shaun and Lea would survive and get to hold their baby, who actually had a higher chance of surviving than they did. They didn't even officially name him yet.
"I remember Percy," a familiar voice said.
Audrey turned around to see that it was Claire. "Yeah," she sighed. "We were just about to give up on her, and then Shaun came up with a way that we used to save her."
"If Dr. Han kicked Shaun off the case once he berated him, I don't think Percy's photo would be up there," added Claire.
"Yeah, probably not," Audrey agreed, still staring at the pictures of the children. "And I know you're going to ask about the baby, so I'm going to go ahead and answer it. He is stable. No complications…yet."
"Hey," pleaded Claire, not wanting to think about the worst-case scenarios right now as she gently placed her hand on her boss's shoulder. "Audrey, go home. It's been a rough day…for both of us."
"Yeah, it is," Audrey reached her arm out and wrapped it around Claire's shoulder. "Let's go have some drinks at my place. Want to do that? Take our minds off of this for a while?"
"Yes, I could honestly really use a drink right now," sighed Claire, wanting to forget about everything for just one minute.
They did the exact same thing the morning after Neil's death.
While Debbie went to Shaun and Lea's apartment to take care of things, Aaron stayed next to Shaun's bedside.
The young doctor's face and neck had fresh stitching and a bruise on his cheek. His arm was in a sling. Underneath the hospital gown, he was bandaged. He was unconscious, intubated, and hooked up to wires and IVs. The only sound that could be heard in the room was the beeping of his EKG machine, showing his steady and stable heartbeat. His girlfriend's condition was similar.
Clutched in his hand was Shaun's toy scalpel. In his pocket was Shaun's ID badge (he had given Lea's to her parents). On the side table by Shaun's bed was his pocket book, which contained things like his list of pros and cons to having a baby. There was also a page that contained a list of baby name ideas.
Right next to Shaun's pocket book was Lea's list of baby names. He actually saw her writing it at her desk in her office, hours before she left the hospital and then got into an accident.
He hesitated, but he reached for the baby name lists and decided to read them…and their suggestions were quite different.
Lea seemed to like names such as Fox, Gus, Ezra, Levi, Luca, Mateo, Parker, and Dominic. Shaun, on the other hand, preferred names like Finn, Declan, Emmett, Jasper, Oliver, Atticus, Theodore, and Benjamin. Fortunately, there were five baby names that appeared on both of their lists - Milo, Henry, Linus, Calvin, and Gideon.
He played around with the names in his head, although it was up to Shaun and Lea what their baby's name was going to be. It was unclear when or if the parents would wake up, so the baby was going to be nameless for a while.
Everything was just a waiting game right now for Shaun and Lea. They could wake up soon, take days or weeks to wake up, be in a coma for a very long time and leave everyone with the decision to remove them from life support, they could wake up and have irreversible brain damage, or be in a persistent vegetative state. Or maybe, their bodies could develop a self-destructive inflammatory reaction.
Anything was possible, but all Aaron could think about was the worst things that could happen. He wanted to remain optimistic, yet he felt nothing but pessimism.
Diego, Lea's assistant, was already having to step up as temporary IT director earlier than he was ready to do so…but he seemed to have it in the bag because Lea made sure he was well-prepared. However, he had just sent an email to Aaron, telling him that maybe they should hire another temporary IT director to help him since it was going to be a long time before Lea and Shaun get back on their feet or even go back to work.
That is, if Shaun and Lea live, Aaron thought sadly, silently letting himself cry out a waterfall full of tears. The last time he cried this hard was when he lost Maddie, as well as the moment he stared at her body in her open casket at her funeral.
Nobody knew this (not even Shaun and Debbie) but him and his ex-wife, but Maddie's autopsy report at the time confirmed that she was pregnant at the time of her death. It was fairly early at around five weeks, so she might not have known about it herself.
He hated to admit it, but Lea sometimes reminded Aaron of his own daughter, and once he became aware of her pregnancy, it was the first time he ever thought about Maddie's unknown pregnancy in years. Now, with both Lea and Shaun in a coma right now (adding the fact that Lea had a perimortem c-section), it was painfully brought up again and so was his guilt over Maddie.
On the night that she died, he kicked her out of the house, resulting in her taking her own life with an overdose. Sometimes, he would think about what would have happened if she didn't kill herself and instead went to her aunt's or Jessica's. She would have eventually found out about the pregnancy. Aaron's guess was that she probably would have gotten an abortion, but he sometimes wondered what would have happened if she decided to continue the pregnancy. He definitely would have supported her if she told him…or maybe she would have ended up as a homeless pregnant teenager all alone.
That situation was the last thing he wanted to think about, considering that he almost lost both Shaun and Lea.
"Shaun, I'm sorry," he sniffed, taking a hold of his surrogate son's hand. Shaun was supposed to be gowned up and gloved up in the NICU with Lea, sitting at their son's incubator and talking to him, maybe even having skin-to-skin contact with him. Instead, they were unconscious and intubated. Heck, they probably assumed that their baby was dead before they lost consciousness.
"Your son is beautiful, and he is stable for now," he murmured quietly at the unconscious doctor before letting out a tiny, nervous laugh, smiling a little bit. "His chances of survival are in the 90s. I think he has your blue eyes. He really misses his mommy and daddy, but the staff is taking good care of him. He's in good hands because Dr. Nguyen is actually one of the best neonatologists in the Bay Area."
The old man paused for a few minutes, rubbing his face with his palm, before he continued with the one-sided conversation.
"Shaun please live, okay! And Lea needs to live, too," he sobbed, his glasses fogging up. He took them off to wipe them as well as dry out his tears. "Your baby needs you! He needs both of you!"
He continued to cry until he was startled by an unfamiliar voice behind him.
"You're Dr. Glassman?"
Startled, Aaron abruptly turned his head around to see a man he never met before. Possibly in his early to mid 30s, He had brown hair and hazel eyes, wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
"Yeah?" He replied nervously.
"Sorry, um, I'm Donnie, Lea's brother," the man sighed. "I heard that you're Lea's boss. I'm guessing you're Shaun's dad?"
"Um, yes, sort of," Aaron chuckled nervously.
"Sort of?" Donnie raised his eyebrow.
"I'll explain later," exhaled Aaron, turning his attention back towards Shaun. He was confused as to why Donnie was in here because Shaun didn't even know him very well. They've never even met. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Lea's room? She's your sister."
"Actually, I came here to ask you for advice," the younger man folded his hands. Aaron was guessing that this was going to be about what happened in Hershey.
"Okay, what do you need?" Aaron turned away from Shaun to face Donnie, all ears and ready to listen to whatever Donnie was going to tell him.
After performing an exhaustingly long 12 hour surgery on Dr. Murphy, Jordan was ready to go home, relax in her bed, and take her mind off everything that just happened. But before she was going to head on home, she wanted to go to the hospital chapel and say a quick prayer for Shaun, Lea, and their son.
She was relieved that the baby was alive and that neither Shaun nor Lea died on the operating table, but she still had a strong, sad feeling that Shaun and Lea weren't going to make it and that their poor baby was going to be left an orphan.
When she reached the chapel, she noticed that Asher was sitting in the pews all by himself, crying soundlessly. Without saying a word, she sat right next to him and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Worried about them?" She inquired.
"Yeah," Asher sighed, his hands folded as he stared downwards. "I wish I could do more for them."
"You've already done everything you could," reassured Jordan. "And so have I and everyone else. All we can do now is just wait. Anyway, what are you doing sitting here? Just…curious. I'm not judging you at all."
"I don't know what I'm doing here to be honest," blubbered Asher, lifting his head up a bit and staring at the statue of Jesus on the crucifix. "I don't believe in God, and I wasn't even a Christian when I did. But, somehow, I want to try praying even though it's probably not going to do anything. Also, I'm wondering why I didn't just try and find the nearest synagogue instead and go there."
Jordan was silent for a bit before she reached out to gently grab Asher's hand.
"Actually, I came here to say a quick prayer before going home. Even if it doesn't do anything, maybe we could pray together? One Baptist prayer and one Hasidic prayer, and then maybe one…do you have any idea what religions Shaun and Lea follow, or followed?"
"I don't know," shrugged Asher, finally looking at Jordan and even softly chuckling. "Their surnames are Irish and Italian, so my best guess is that they were probably raised Catholic. Well, Lea definitely was because I saw her mom with a rosary."
"Yeah, probably. Or maybe Shaun could have been raised Mormon?" Jordan guessed, slightly joking. "Because for one thing, he doesn't drink coffee. He also does sometimes give off the vibe of a Morman missionary. Also, he said he was from Utah, right?"
"Actually, I doubt that Shaun is a Morman," objected Asher. "He said he just hates coffee because he doesn't like the smell, and I have seen him drink alcohol before. Also, he's actually from Wyoming."
"My bad," chortled Jordan, wiping a tear from her face before putting her hands together to get ready to say a prayer. "You want to say a prayer with me, we can start with a Hasidic prayer."
"Sure," agreed Asher. "I'm ready to say our three prayers."
Morgan and Alex were silently walking down the hall to the parking garage, ready to go home and holding hands on the way.
The two of them had been in a relationship (from sexual to actual romantic) for six to seven months, pretty much for as long as Lea has been pregnant. The funny thing was that it was Shaun and Lea who found out about their relationship first. The two of them caught her and Alex making out in his car as they just happened to walk by. It was awkward because once Shaun and Lea saw what was happening, they just stood there and watched (trying to hold in their giggles of shock) until Alex noticed that the expectant parents were standing right there.
That incident ended in a good laugh with Shaun and Lea promising not to tell anyone about their sexual relationship, especially Shaun, the guy who wasn't that great at keeping secrets.
Alex was shocked when he was informed about the accident. He knew how much Shaun was looking forward to being a father. He could barely go one day without asking him for advice on things from how to be a supportive partner during labor and how to be there for as many moments as he could.
Most of all, as a father himself, it broke Alex's heart to see Shaun and Lea's baby in the NICU without his parents by his side. It was a good thing he had his grandmother with him at least. Seeing that made him remember staying with Casey as he slowly died from crush injuries from the earthquake, waiting for his father to come and spend his last moments with him. He even pretended to be Casey's father when he was hallucinating. That incident even prompted Alex to return to Phoenix and live closer to Kellan, but then COVID hit and plans changed.
And speaking of Kellan, he was coming to visit tomorrow (he was thinking of applying to San Jose State), and he was coming with a homemade DIY gift for the baby. Alex expected his son to react negatively to his relationship with Morgan, but instead, he said that he was happy if his dad was happy.
"I think you and mom are actually way better off apart and as friends," said Kellan. "Maybe you guys getting divorced was better for me in the long term. I do sometimes wish you just lived closer to us, though."
Before making their way out towards the parking lot, they stopped by both Shaun and Lea's rooms as well as the NICU, where they bumped into Carly.
"How is he?" Carly asked nervously. She was on her way back to the pathology lab. Her shift was going to be over in an hour.
"Shaun or the baby?" Morgan questioned, noticing the ring on Carly's finger.
"The baby," replied Carly, looking somber. "And I'm also asking how Shaun and Lea are doing, too."
"They're all stable," Alex answered. "The baby has a very high chance of surviving, but I don't know about Shaun and Lea. I know that Shaun lost his spleen and kidney and Lea needed a hysterectomy."
"Isn't it weird for you to be concerned for an ex-boyfriend and his girlfriend?" Morgan teased, sparking a laugh to come out from Carly.
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I worry about them when I hear they were hit by a drunk driver?" Carly sighed.
Finally, Morgan changed the subject and drew all the attention towards the ring on Carly's finger. "Oh, my god! Is that an engagement ring?"
"Yes, it is," Carly smiled.
"Aw, congratulations!" Morgan saluted.
"Thanks," acknowledged Carly before curiously asking them about Shaun and Lea's baby. "Anyway, does the baby have a name yet?
"Nope," responded Alex. "It's still Baby Dilallo-Murphy. I do know that his middle name will be Steven, after Shaun's brother."
Carly, looking at her watch, sighed in sorrow along with Morgan. "Well, I should get back to work now. When Shaun and Lea wake up, tell both of them that I send my love, please?"
"Sure thing," Alex simpered before Carly took off for the pathology lab.
And then, Alex and Morgan made it to Alex's car and headed home.
"I admit that I regret what happened in Hershey. It was equally both of our faults, not just hers," grumbled Donnie. "I've actually been wanting to call and apologize for years. Instead, right now, while my baby sister is in a coma, I just continued to take all of my anger and regret on her."
"Well, when Lea wakes up, maybe you two need to have a heart-to-heart talk," sighed Aaron. "My wife is on her way back from Shaun and Lea's apartment. Maybe you could stay there and take care of their fish?"
"That would be great," smiled Donnie, trying to not cry for one minute.
"And about your mom's prescription drug problem, I guess you could talk to her about counseling," suggested Aaron.
"Thanks, I enjoyed talking to you, Dr. Glassman. Also, from everything I've heard about Shaun, he seems like a really nice guy," Donnie stood up out of his seat and then waltzed out the door of Shaun's room.
Right on cue, a nurse walked in to check on Shaun's vitals.
Aaron had been meaning to ask her something, but he kept forgetting…and now was his chance.
"Hey, um, do you think Shaun and Lea can be moved into a room for two patients so they can be together whenever we bring their baby in? We should also at least let the baby have close contact with his parents, like maybe give them skin-to-skin contact. We don't know if they will ever wake up," he requested.
"Of course, we could do that," the nurse concurred after dithering for a while. "We can move them into a room meant for two."
AN: I hope you enjoyed this incredibly long chapter, and please review.