Sitting in the waiting room outside the operating theatre, Dave felt like the walls were closing in. Such a simple procedure...yet it would very possibly be the first of many. And he knew he was going to find himself in the exact same position many times in the near future.
Aaron holding tightly onto his hand was the only thing that kept him from completely losing it. he just wanted her youngest back in her arms, no matter how minor any procedure was. He wanted this cancer nightmare to be over.
"Spencer Hotchner-Rossi" came the kind voice of a nurse. Aaron and Dave both turned simultaneously, rising from their seats as the nurse approached them with a smile.
"He's doing fine. The sugery went really great, he took it like a champ. There isn't much else to tell, so I'll take you to see him. We're going to keep him in Recovery until he starts to come out from under the anaesthesia"
Nodding, they followed the nurse from the waiting room, down a couple of hallways, and into a ward. Spencer was in the bed farthest from the door on the left hand side.
Quickly approaching their son's bed, both Aaron and Dave immediately noticed how small their son looked lying on that bed.
"he's gonna be okay" they both said to each other.
It took nearly two hours for Spencer to even start to stir.
When he did, he was moved back to her original room on the paediatric floor.
The time eventually came when someone had to leave to get the other kids from their friend's house. Aaron convinced Dave to go, reasoning that he wanted to spend some time with their youngest, and he needed to spend time with their other kids.
After what felt like days had passed, Spencer finally spoke.
"Pappa?" came his groggy murmur from the bed.
"Pappa's not here, peanut, he's gone to get the others. I'm staying with you until he comes back," Aaron said softly, carefully brushing spencer's curly brown hair out of his eyes.
"Ok," Spencer mumbled, his eyes half closed as he tried to get a grip on reality.
"You wanna know something peanut?" Aaron whispered, taking his son's small hand in his.
"Yeah?" Spencer replied, turning his head to look at his dad with foggy eyes.
"I love you very much. And I will do whatever it takes to get you through whatever journey you have to go on from this point onwards," Aaron whispered. Spencer broke into a cute smile, placing his other hand over his daddy's.
"I love you too Daddy," he replied with a raspy voice. "Very much"
Aaron couldn't help the smile crossing his face as he leaned on the edge of Spence's bed.