The expression on Elmer's face was one of fury as he moved so that he was standing in front of Lona, keeping Hook from even approaching her without having to push past him. Hook had had a bad feeling that Elmer would have reacted like this when he got the news about the living will and Lona's condition but he had been definitely hoping for some sort of better response.
"I'm not going to let you do it! You're not hurting her!" Elmer
said, wanting to shout at Hook to get away but knowing that raising his
voice might disturb Lona. He wouldn't risk anything that could hurt her,
not like some people that he could think of. "How could you even think of
doing that to her? I thought that she was your friend. I thought that my
father...." Elmer shook his head as he thought about it. His father had
been really acting like he cared about him, had almost managed to fool him
completely. He should have known better than to let himself start to
believe it. His dad had never loved him before, after all. He just wished
it wouldn't hurt so much.
"Elmer, please." Hook's heart was definitely going out to the younger doctor, outweighing his annoyance with him. He didn't even want to think about how badly he was hurting right now. "Listen, you need to sit down and read what Lona wrote out, okay? I don't want to do anything. I swear to you I don't want to have to take her off of those machines. We have to look at what Lona wanted, though, and she didn't want to have to live like this if there wasn't a chance for her to get better, if she had brain damage." Hook was glad that Louis wasn't in here now, actually. He didn't need to deal with Elmer's anger over the situation, not now, not when Elmer's own life was in danger. Hook could take the anger way better than he knew Louis could.
"She didn't want to die!" Elmer picked up the papers and threw them at Hook. Hook had assumed that he hadn't read, hadn't paid attention to what Lona was saying but hadn't any of them read between the lines and got what Lona really meant? Honestly, everyone always thought that he was a total idiot and didn't know anything but he was getting the feeling that they were definitely the stupid ones now.
"Elmer, did you even look at what she wrote?" Hook asked him
gently. "You know what Lona's like and how focused she is on her research.
Do you really think that she would want to live a life where she wasn't
able to do the things she loved? I swear to you, I don't want to lose Lona
either and right now I'm just hoping that Chris is going to figure out
something that will fix this but we need to think about what will happen if
there just isn't anything else that we can do, especially with Lona having
what she wanted written out. Elmer, I'm legally obligated to follow her
wishes. You ought to know that." Had the young doctor somehow skipped
those parts of his medical training?
"You're wrong about what she wanted." Elmer muttered. Why didn't Hook get it? "And she's only been sick a few hours! How can you even think of bringing the stupid living will in now? Doesn't she deserve some time?" Lona could get better, he knew she could if they would just give her the time that she needed to recover. Why were they just rushing to give up on her like this?
"We're not looking at doing anything right now, okay, Elmer?" Hook
told him, wishing he could think of what to say to get through to Elmer.
Natalie Rickman had grasped how seriously injured her husband had been and
she wasn't a doctor. Why wasn't Elmer seeming to understand this? "We
just have to think about things and to think about what Lona would want.
Do you really think that she would want to live without being able to do
her research again?"
"She wouldn't have to. I could help her." Elmer said as he glared at Hook once more. Did they think he would just abandon Lona if she did have brain damage, not that he believed that she did. They just hadn't figured out the right thing to try with her yet, was all. Why were they all just giving up on her like this? And his father.... Elmer frowned as he looked at the papers, recalling the note that Lona had written to his father. A bit of fear started to rush over him as he thought of that, of all of the nice things that Lona had said about his dad. He didn't want to even imagine it, but had Lona maybe been in love with him? He shook his head fiercely, trying to force that notion away. She couldn't have been and even if she was, his dad obviously didn't feel the same way, didn't love Lona nearly as much as he did. He wouldn't be trying to get Hook to take her off of the machines if he really loved her. He would be fighting to save her life.
"Elmer...." Hook tried to reach out, to gently touch Elmer's shoulder but the younger man pushed his hand away. "Listen, do you want me to see about getting your dad down here to talk to you about this, to let you know what Lona was thinking? Would that help?" Hook hated to bring Louis in when Elmer was so angry and upset but maybe his father could do something to get through to Elmer what Lona's wishes had been.
"No, because my father obviously had no clue what Lona really
wanted or he wouldn't have signed this blasted thing! He can just stay
away from me and from her!" Elmer said as he shot an angry look at Hook.
Obviously he was convinced that Elmer was just some sort of stupid child
who couldn't possibly understand things. Why didn't they see? "I'm not
letting you do it. I'm not letting you take her off of those machines.
That isn't what Lona wanted."
"Elmer, you saw what she wrote as well as I did." If Elmer wanted
to stay in denial as to Lona's wishes, Hook couldn't force him to face
reality, but he knew his legal obligations. "I'm not going to do anything
right now and we're not giving up on Lona. We're going to do everything
that we can to help her. At some point if we can't find something that
will help her, though, we're going to have to take into account what Lona
said she wanted in a case like this. You just need to let yourself prepare
for it, okay? I don't want to think about losing her either but we have to
with how sick she is and the fact that she isn't responding. I'm so sorry,
Elmer. I really am."
Elmer didn't say anything but just shot another angry look at Hook
before sitting down once more, moving his chair so that he was blocking
Hook from coming near Lona. He wasn't going to let them hurt her. They
would have to hurt him first before he would let any harm come to Lona.
"It's okay." He whispered as he leaned down, speaking softly into
Lona's ear so that Hook couldn't hear what he was said. "I promise that
you're going to be okay. I'm not going to let them do anything to hurt
you. I love you. You're not going to end up alone and abandoned, I
promise. I'm going to stay right here and take care of you. I love you"
He reached out, gently stroking her hair as he spoke to her. No, there was
no way that Hook and his dad were going to do anything that would harm
Lona. He wouldn't let them.