Chapter 3 Momentary Peace

The private waiting room was silent except for the light, squeaky sound of Cody's shoes against the polished floor. He paced back and forth as his mother sat in the couch, trying to read a magazine article. The words she was staring at went right through her head. All she could think about was Zack and how he was doing.

Cody paused and glanced out the window. It was getting dark. He wished he were at home with his mom and his brother, doing homework outside their room. Closing his eyes, he could see the way he wanted things to be. Carey would be cooking dinner. It was Thursday—spaghetti night. The TV would be on, the volume turned down to a slight droning noise. Cody would be working on his science homework, occasionally helping Zack with his math. Everything would be normal.

'But it's not normal,' he thought sadly, 'and it's all my fault. Zack would be fine if he didn't have to stick up for me all the time.'

Cody sighed, letting out a long shuddering breath. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was almost eight thirty.

"What's taking so long?" he wondered out loud. His voice was thick from concealing the tears that were threatening to escape.

Carey put the magazine down, "Cody?" she asked, "Come sit down."

He went to the couch and sat beside her, "They said it would only take two hours," he said, his voice filled with worry, "It's been over three."

She put her arm around his frail shoulders, "I know. Try not to worry though. They're just working on his ear—nothing life threatening."

"I just feel so bad for him," Cody choked out, "He wouldn't be in there if it weren't for me."

"Don't say that."

"It's true!" he cried passionately, "He doesn't have a problem with Drew and the other guys. It's me who they hate! They wouldn't have beaten him up if he didn't stand up for me the other day."

"You're not going to have to worry about them anymore," Carey said, hoping her words would bring him comfort, "I called the school earlier and I'm pressing charges."

Cody let out a bitter laugh, "Yeah, that'll really help things. They're just going to hate us more. We'll be in and out of the hospital until we graduate."

"Look at me," Carey told him. He did, "This is very serious. I can't believe you didn't tell me what was going on before now."

He sighed sadly, "I know I should have. If I did maybe this wouldn't have happened."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Cody shrugged and stared at the tiled floor, "I don't know. I guess I thought it would go away on its own. I never thought it would get this bad. Drew and his friends have beaten me up before, but never like this. And they never did anything like this to Zack before," he looked into Carey's eyes, "I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Of course you didn't," she said gently. She rubbed his back, "And it's not going to happen again. We'll get a restraining order. I'll transfer you guys to a different school if I have to."

Cody nodded, even though he didn't agree with what his mother was saying. He was tired of running away from his problems. That's what he did when it was just him that the bullies were picking on. But now that they dragged Zack into it, he wasn't going to take it lying down. He didn't care about what his mother said. He wanted revenge.

Before either of them had a chance to say anything else, Dr. Walker came into the room, dressed in scrubs. Carey and Cody stood up immediately.

"The surgery went very well," she told them before they could start firing questions at her, "his eardrum was damaged and some of his cartilage had to be removed because it was crushed. He may need a hearing aid in the future, but everything appears to be okay. When his ear heals I'll need to perform a follow up operation just to make sure everything is healing up nicely and to fix any other problems that pop up."

"Can we see him? Where is he?" asked Cody, anxious to see his brother.

"His arm is being set right now. That shouldn't take much longer. He's in room 304. You can go in whenever you want."

Cody and Carey exchanged relived glances.

"Thank you, Ellen," Carey said, "Is he awake yet?"

"No, he's not. That's something else I wanted to discuss with you. During the surgery we noticed that he had a slight reaction to the anesthesia. Dr. Conroy wants to wait until tomorrow for his second surgery because we don't want him to build a tolerance to it. He'll be in there in a few minutes if you have any questions about that."

"Will Zack be in pain?" Cody asked, with an edge to his voice. He did not want his brother to suffer.

"I do not know at this point," she replied, "Dr. Conroy has all the answers for you."

"Thank you," Carey said again. She picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder, "Come on, Cody, let's go see him."

They said goodbye to Ellen, then went up the elevator and down the hall to the room where Zack was recovering. His arm was in a cast and there was a bandage of white gauze on his ear. The edges were turning red with blood.

Cody made his way to the bed where Zack was sound asleep. He softly wiped away the drool that was trailing down Zack's chin. Carey joined him at Zack's bedside and kissed Zack's forehead.

"Mmhmm," Zack mumbled softly, "where am I?"

Cody stepped back, surprised. He was not expecting Zack to wake up for awhile.

"You just got out of surgery, baby," Carey said gently, stroking his forehead.

Zack opened his eyes and looked at Cody.

"How are you feeling?" Cody asked.

"Okay," Zack whispered, "Did they fix me?"

Cody smiled softly, relieved that Zack was well enough to attempt humor, "You did good," he told him, "The surgery was a success." He bent down and kissed Zack's cheek, "I'm proud of you, buddy."

Zack lifted his hand up slightly. He was too weak to get it very high. Cody got the message and gave it a squeeze, "Everything's going to be okay, Zack."

Zack nodded and closed his eyes. For the first time since he got to the hospital, he felt safe.

"Get some sleep, baby. We'll stay right here," said Carey. Zack mumbled a response and then fell asleep. Cody and Carey sat in silence and watched him sleep. Hs ear continued to bleed but stopped after a few minutes. Jake walked into the room about a minute later.

"Hi," said Jake.

"Hi," said Carey.

"So he'll be having his nose worked on tomorrow night. That operation will probably take longer and be more intense. We'll be using a different kind of anesthesia since he's building a tolerance to the one we used tonight," explained Jake. He took a small box containing a syringe and needle out of his pocket.

"What's that?" asked Cody.

"Drugs to make him sleep," said Jake. He gave Zack a shot in his arm.

"Now he won't wake up every twenty minutes," said Jake.

"Will he need more surgery after his nose?" asked Cody.

"I assume Ellen told you about his second ear operation. He is going to have surgery on his arm. That's going to be major so we'll hold off until he's stronger. He might need surgery on his lips. Those feel a little beat up. We'll just have to wait and see what develops really," said Jake. Cody nodded.

"Well I'll leave you with him. If you need anything, just ask a nurse," said Jake.

"Thank you," said Carey.

"Don't mention it," said Jake. He gave them a reassuring smile and then left. Cody and Carey turned their attention to Zack.

"Poor guy," said Cody, stroking Zack's arm.

"He's doing great. We both know Zack is strong. He'll make it through this," said Carey. Cody and Carey got comfortable and waited for Zack to wake up.

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