"…After that, you may visit as you wish."
Chapter 16
It was several hours later before they were granted permission to see Lucas, at which time Karen headed in to visit her son. Lucas looked decidedly worse than when Karen had seen him earlier in the day—he was even paler, and it was obvious that he had a fever.
A few minutes into Karen's visit, Dr. Li came in for a post-operative checkup. After checking the monitors and giving a cursory physical examination, he turned to Karen. "I think it would be best if there were no more visitors this evening—his fever is up, which means he is fighting the infection—and I would prefer that we not introduce any more pathogens to the room than strictly necessary," he said. "Perhaps tomorrow will be better."
"I certainly hope so," Karen said, more to herself than to anyone else. Dr. Li smiled and patted Karen's shoulder as he walked out of the room. Karen stood, preparing to leave as well. "Well, Lucas," she said, "it seems that I must be going. You keep fighting those 'pathogens', sweetheart, and I'll be back as soon as they'll let me."
Karen headed back to the waiting room, where the four teenagers listened with concern as she told them of the latest developments in Lucas's condition.
A little while later, since it was clear that no one was going to be allowed into room 469 for the remainder of the day, Nathan suggested that they go back to the hotel. "It's more comfortable, and they'll call if anything happens," he said. Though there were protests, in the end he won. Everyone except Karen headed back to the hotel for the afternoon.
It was ten thirty pm. Nathan was watching Sports Center, and Haley had drifted off to sleep. In the next room, Brooke was showering and Peyton was sketching.
The phone rang.