Chapter Six
"Oh, so suddenly this whole thing is my fault?" Dawn squawked, her head bobbing in classic Dawn Atwood style. Seth found himself wondering how in the world Ryan had turned out the way he did. Sure, Ryan had a temper and sometimes had an attitude, he at least, for the most part, was able to process actual thoughts and emotions. Dawn seemed unable to do such things and usually just displayed whichever emotion popped into her head. It was making for a good fireworks show, but was unfortunately drawing the attention of everyone in the ICU waiting room. Seth sat quietly, once in a while glancing over at the two other families who were waiting for news on their loved ones. They seemed to be more interested in the show Dawn was putting on than they were in finding out about their family members. Seth wondered if any of them had someone who was in as bad of shape as Ryan.
Sandy Cohen, who was quite the opposite of Dawn when it came to controlling his temper, was slowly losing his patients. He was used to this, used to hearing people make up excuses. It was what he did for a living. But at least the excuses made up in court could be somewhat plausible. Nothing Dawn had to say would convince Sandy that she was doing the right thing. And he was going to make her know that.
"No, I am not blaming this on you," Sandy waved his hands towards the doors that separated them from Ryan. "You couldn't have made this happen. What I do blame you for is the fact that you came into a hospital flying high. Do you know how wrong this is? You have put that boy through enough. You left him with us for a reason, so things like this don't happen to him anymore."
Dawn's face turned red and she pointed a shaking finger at Sandy's face, but Seth's father didn't even flinch. Seth gave him mad props.
"I left him with you to give him a better life, something that I knew I couldn't give him," Dawn said, tears forming in her eyes. "But he didn't get shot on my watch, this didn't happen under my care."
"No, you're right," Sandy's voice was rose a notch. "But we're here taking care of it. We're here making sure he's getting the best medical treatment Newport has to offer. And if that's not enough, we'll take him somewhere else that can treat him. Bad things happen, Dawn, things not even we can control. But we're not giving up on this kid, that's your job."
"Sandy," Kirsten warned. Sandy took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. He looked towards Dawn, who looked like everything a stricken mother should look like, minus the slight dilation of her eyes.
Sandy ran a hand through his hair. "Look," he said, more calmly. "What Ryan needs now is to know that he's being cared for. He needs to feel like he's safe. No matter how tough you think this kid is, and believe me, he's tough, we know…he's been through a very traumatizing event. I've seen the effects stuff like this has had on kids. And for Ryan, this is just going to be another bad nightmare for him to get pass. He doesn't need his drunken mother coming in here, causing a scene and making him feel like things won't be all right."
Dawn was visibly struggling not to cry. Sandy's eyes showed that he felt sympathy for her, but he wouldn't ever let up when it came to Ryan's well being. Dawn nodded suddenly and grabbed her jean jacket, putting it on and placing her sunglasses on the top of her head. "You're right," she said, frowning away a sob. "Ryan has been through a lot. But you need to know that I've tried my best. It's just not in the cards. Just tell him I said I'm sorry?"
Sandy nodded and Dawn looked towards Kirsten and Seth, nodding at them, her eyes meeting Kirsten's for a moment before she turned and walked out the door, pulling out a cigarette as she did so. As soon as the doors closed, the ICU waiting room was filled in an awkward silence. Sandy glanced at the other families, who all looked away, embarrassed to have been caught watching the scene. Sandy sighed and took a seat beside Seth, who was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed.
"Well, I'm glad she's gone," Seth said brightly, though his face hardly showed it.
Kirsten patted Seth's knee. "As much as I'm glad she's not here, I'm not looking forward to telling Ryan that his mother has abandoned him again."
"Then tell him we chased her out," Sandy suggested. "He'll understand."
"Do you think he's okay?" Seth asked, looking up at his parents. They both looked at him, question in their eyes. "I mean, I've never seen someone throw up blood before, except for in like, movies and stuff, but then they're usually dying. Do you think Ryan's going to be all right?"
Kirsten took hold of Seth's hand. "We hope so," she said, forcing a smile. "It could be just that his stitches came out."
"Or it could be something more serious," Seth said, looking at his shoes.
Sandy sighed and leaned back in his chair, staring at the closed doors. "It always can be something serious. We just have to keep faith that the doctors know what they're doing and hope for the best."
"Way to be optimistic, Dad," Seth joked.
Sandy rubbed Seth's hair, to which Seth immediately went to work fixing what damage had been done to his precious locks. As he was doing so, Luke and Marissa came into the waiting room. Marissa looked near frantic. Sandy rose, his fatherly instincts towards the girl kicking in. She came over to them.
"What happened?" She asked, her eyes glancing between all three of the Cohens. "We saw Ryan's mom leave, she was crying. Is Ryan okay?"
Sandy reached out a hand and grabbed her arm, trying to calm her. "They had to take him back into surgery," he said quietly. "We don't know anything yet. But Dawn won't be coming back."
"Unless the hospital decides to host a happy hour," Seth chimed in, gaining equally lethal glares from both his parents. He smiled and shrugged.
Marissa and Luke both took a seat next to Seth as Sandy went in search of coffee. Kirsten stepped out in the hall to call Jimmy, and possible her father. Seth leaned back in the chair, rubbing his eyes. Marissa waited until he was stretched to prod him for details. "So, how did he look? Did you get to see him?"
Seth nodded. "Yeah, he seemed fine, besides the whole, you know, puking blood."
"What?" Marissa shocked, her eyes going wide. "Was it bad? Did they say anything?"
Seth shook his head. "We don't know anything. They took him into surgery about an hour ago."
Luke leaned back in his chair, looking at the doors that led to the ICU unit. He twitched his mouth. "Hey at least that Eddie kids going to be gone for a while. What a freak."
Seth and Marissa gave Luke an incredulous look, to which he promptly ignored them, or was just oblivious. "Yeah, and Theresa's on her way to Atlanta." Marissa added.
"What?" It was Seth's turn to look shocked.
Marissa looked almost hurt that Seth would care whether or not Theresa was leaving, but she decided to leave her personal issues out of this one. "Yeah, she left this morning. She gave me a note to give to Ryan."
"Did you read it?" Seth asked before he could think.
"No!" Marissa jolted. "I wouldn't do that."
Sandy came back with five cups of coffee balanced onto a cardboard holder. He handed out the coffees, saving one for Kirsten as he took a seat. There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Seth, ever faithful, decided to break it. "Dad, I think we should take this as a sign."
"Oh yeah?" Sandy asked, rubbing the side of his face.
"No more parties," Seth said. Sandy smiled, though it was a small one. "And especially no more parties for Grandpa. Whenever Mom hosts one, we always fall under the Caleb Nichol curse where at least one person leaves with a black eye."
"No argument here," Sandy joked.
Kirsten came back into the room, her cell phone still in hand. She looked as though she had something important to say. But as soon as she opened her mouth, a doctor came into the waiting room, halting any conversation that didn't have to do with how Ryan was doing. Sandy rose quickly to his feet, as Seth and the others were more slow about it.
"How is he?" Kirsten asked, beating them all to the punch.
The doctor smiled warmly, but the smile didn't meet his eyes. "Well, the good news is that it was nothing too serious. The stitches in his stomach had come out. We've decided to keep him heavily sedated for a few days so it won't happen again. It seems he's a restless sleeper. We're going to keep him in ICU for the next two days and if we feel he's made sufficient improvement, we're going to move him to the standard wing for at least the next week."
"A week?" Sandy asked. "I knew it was serious, but seems like a lot just for a few ripped stitches."
The doctor nodded. "You're observant," he gave. "We had a close call during the surgery. Ryan went into cardiac arrest for about a minute." Seth felt his own heart stop. Dear God, he had come so close to losing his best friend. Seth felt like he might pass out, but Marissa slung an arm through his and the contact made him feel a little less light headed. He wasn't alone. Kirsten had paled visibly and Luke looked a little disturbed. Sandy was the only one who seemed to be holding it together, except fort he wide eyes and obviously distressed look he held in them. "He's fine now. We've given him sedatives. He's going to be out for the next couple of days, like I said. He's lost a lot of blood, so we had to give him a blood transfusion. Now we're pretty certain we've gotten all the bleeding under control. We're going to be checking up on him hourly to make sure something like this doesn't happen again."
"Are there," Kirsten had to swallow the lump in her throat before she could continue. "Are there going to be any complications from…from that minute?"
Knowing what she was asking, the doctor sighed. "There is always the possibility that when a person's heart stops, that there may be complications, yes. The lowest of the scale would be that Ryan will be more susceptible to heat, he'll have to exercise daily to get his heart's strength back up, eat the right foods and do everything he can to keep his blood pressure down. Worse case scenario, even though we had him on oxygen, his lungs could have stopped working without the heart to power them and he could have suffered from a lack of oxygen to the brain."
"In other words," Sandy whispered, almost too quiet for Seth to hear. "He could have brain damage."
"It's a possibility," the doctor admitted. "However, from my professional experience, I would say that it's mostly unlikely. Most brain damage occurs from longer periods of time without oxygen to the brain. It would be unusual if it happened to Ryan."
The tension in the room seemed to ease a bit at the doctor's statement. "What will most likely be the case is that we'll have to prescribe medications for blood pressure, along with whatever pain relievers he'll already be on. But we'll worry about that when the time comes. It may come down to it that he won't need anything but the pain relievers."
"Thank you doctor," Sandy said.
"Can we see him?" Marissa asked, her eyes pleading.
"I'm afraid only family is allowed in the room, and we'll have to go back to one at a time. Even though he's on sedatives, he don't want any unnecessary stimulants." Marissa and Luke both looked defeated, but didn't say anything. They thanked the doctor again before they were left to contemplate just how strong Ryan Atwood was turning out to be.
Review Responses:
All: Holy crap you guys! Look how many people are reviewing. Thanks so much to all of you. I'm glad you all like it so much. Sorry for a bit of a longer wait. I had finals this week (summer courses). But now I have a WEEK of nothing to do before fall semester starts, so maybe I'll finish this story this week? Maybe...I'm not sure...I dont' really know where it's going to go, lol.
Misty-Kid: Hehe, I'm glad you like it. You must have missed the memo. ;) I'll be sure to notify you next time, hehe.
KikiCohen: I love hospital dramas too, but only because of the time when they get to go home and deal with their problems there, trying to get back into "real life." Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this story enough to make that part the best. :)
knadineg: I wrote that first part just for you! I kept rewriting it because I made Sandy too out of character by cussing, lol. I was using my own voice instead of Sandy's. Sandy tends to keep calm. Maybe I should have had Kirsten stand up...but I think she sympathizes too much for Dawn. Ah well, Dawn got a Sandy Cohen cussing out. lol!
xoleanderx: Yeah, as much as I hate Dawn, there's no denying the fact that she is still Ryan's mother. I only thought it practical to bring her in. I really want to write another story that deals with Ryan and Dawn's relationship a bit more. As much as she sucks at being a mother, deep down I know that she knows what she's doing is wrong. I kind of feel sorry for her...kind of.
kandy4eva: Yes, poor Ryan indeed. I'm afraid it's only going to get harder for him.
Callie-Cat: Yeah, Dawn sure knows how to ruin a party. ;) I thought it would be a good thing to have her make an appearance. Maybe she'll come back later to apologize or something. But I make no guarantees. I'm glad you're liking the story!
jess: Haha, yeah, Dawn came and went. But I'm not sure if she's completely out of the picture just yet. She's trying really hard to give Ryan the life that he needs, but I can make no guarantees that when she boozes up again that she won't come back to apologize and just make sure her son is alive.
Gator-Girl: I love angst. I love reading it, I love writing it, I love watching it on tv. :) You can expect most of my stories to be angsty. This one is probably the most angsty I have in mind right now, like injury-wise, but there will be a lot of others with Ryan angst, both mental and physical.
beachtree: Thank you for such a long review! I'm glad that you like the story. The Ryan guilt thing is something that I love to play with. I love watching the episodes and looking for it. That's how I get most of my inspiration. Yeah, and I never planned on sending Ryan home in a day or two, lol, that just wasn't going to happen. We just have an optimistic doctor. ;) I'm no doctor, so I don't know a lot of medical stuff other than stuff I learn from tv, movies, books, and high school biology classes. So the medical stuff you see here is mostly me winging it and hoping that I get something right, lol. Just don't think you're learning anything factual from this. Although, I did look up side effects of cardiac arrest for this chapter...but still...
Dumbeblondi02: Sorry for the little bit of a wait! I had finals and was pretty stressed out. I couldn't promise a good chapter, so I waited a day, hehe.
Vancouverite: Yes! I'm a Ryan torturer! Ah...life is complete, lol! I love reading Ryan angst. I don't know...I just love it when my favorite characters are hurt. And I think guys who have broken arms are the hottest thing in the world. I think I have an extreme case of the Nightengale Syndrome (is that the right syndrome?) except without all the, let me break your arm and then nurse you back to health, lol. Because I would only break someone's arm in fiction. :)
Gartan: I know, I'm a meanie, hehe. Hopefully this is somewhat less of a cliffie for you. :)
slimkay: I know you wanted Ryan to heal fast, and he's trying, but what's a little angst without the complications?
I-Believe-In-The-Butterflies: I love drama too. Dawn leaves a foul taste in my mouth too, but I can't help but want to bring her into my stories, because I just know that she wants to be a good mom, but just can't because of her alcohol problems. I don't know if this is the last we'll be seeing of her or not. She may make another appearance.