This entire chapter was written by Crimson Haze. I'll be writing the entire next chapter.

Chapter 7 Cody's Gift

Carey paced back and forth after her children were taken away. She thought about calling their father again. She thought about getting herself a cup of coffee. She thought about everything to keep her mind off the fact that both of her sons were in God's hands.

'It's going to be okay,' she thought silently. She kept assuring the boys that it would be okay. She did it so often that she began to believe it herself. But now they weren't there for her to have to put a brave face. She sat down in one of the chairs, buried her face in her hands, and cried.

-----

Cody stared up at the bright lights on the bright white ceiling in the bright room.

'How do they expect me to fall asleep in this room,' he wondered to himself as the anesthesia dripped through his body, 'It's way too bright. I'm not tired at all.'

A face appeared above Cody's head. Although the face was wearing a mask, Cody recognized it as the surgeon named Jack.

"Cody, can you count backwards from one hundred?" he asked.

"One hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight…"

Cody was sort of surprised to hear how weak his voice sounded.

'Maybe I'll be able to get to sleep after all,' he thought before continuing, "ninety-seven, ninety-six, ninety…"

His eyelids deftly closed and Cody descended into darkness.

Jack looked at the other surgeons, Dr. Deana Evans and Dr. Mathew Smith, and nodded. Cody was out. Soon Cody was fully under with a tube in his mouth and tape over his eyes. The surgical team got to work. It went very smoothly. Cody's kidneys were easy to locate. With precision and skills, they removed one without any trouble at all. Although it was an easy task for someone as experienced as Jack, they were still in a race against time, because they only gave him enough anesthesia to get him through the surgery. They had to be very careful to not do any damage to Cody's body.

"Good work," Jack said, as one of the doctors packaged the kidney to be transported to Zack's room, "Close him up, I'll go put this into the other kid."

Deana rolled her eyes as she tended to Cody. She glanced at Jack as she watched him go. Although she respected him for his talent in the medical field, his crass word choice sometimes bothered her.

Jack went to Zack's room. He was still being operated on. Jack grabbed some scrubs and changed out of the ones he was wearing. He washed his hands and put on a fresh pair of gloves.

"How's he doing?" Jack asked, motioning to Zack.

Connor Finnegan, the surgeon who was operating on Zack shook his head, "This kid's a fighter," he said, "He's really banged up, but the surgery itself went okay. We just got the kidney out."

Jack nodded, "Yeah, he's a fighter," he agreed, "That's what got him into this mess—he was in a fight."

"I'm surprised he wasn't killed," Connor said gravely, "he certainly sustained enough injuries to kill him."

Jack shrugged offhandedly and stood above the operating table, "He's not out of the woods yet."

One of the assistant surgeons stepped forward with the kidney to be transplanted. Jack looked at it, than looked at Zack, "Let's get to work."
-----

Carey sipped her black coffee and stared out into space. It had been over two hours since Zack and Cody had been taken away. For the first hour, all she could do was cry. Once she got a hold of herself, she called the boys' father and left yet another message. She wished there was someone for her to talk to, but when she ran through the list of possible candidates, she realized she was on her own. She almost considered calling Maddie, who worked with her at the Tipton and babysat for the boys.

'I can't put a burden on her,' she thought to herself, 'besides she wouldn't understand. She's only fifteen.'

So she sat alone and waited.

"Miss Martin?"

Carey looked up. An orderly was standing before her, wearing an unreadable expression.

"Yes?" Carey asked, staying in her seat, 'Please let Zack and Cody be okay.'

"Cody's out of surgery. He's in recovery right now. Do you want to see him?"

"Yes," Carey said, sagging with relief, "Is he okay?"

"He's doing great," she replied, "He won't wake up for awhile though."

Carey stood up and they made there way to the recovery room.

"Thank you," Carey said once they got there.

"You're welcome," the orderly replied, "Someone will let you know about Zack in a few hours."

Carey went and sat beside Cody's bed. She ran her fingers through his golden hair and smiled down at him. He looked so innocent as he slept.

She softly kissed his cheek, "I'm so proud of you," she said to the sleeping boy, "What you did for your brother—that was very brave."

She slipped her hand into his and watched him sleep.

----

'Ninety-four, ninety-three, ninety-two...this is taking longer than I thought it would,' Cody thought, 'Maybe the anesthesia doesn't work for me...'

"Cody, sweetie?"

Cody blinked, 'mom?'

"Cody, can you hear me?"

A picture was coming into focus. Cody was in a different—not so bright—room. He was not surrounded by doctors. He was alone with his mother.

"Yeah," he said weakly, turning to face her.

She smiled at him. Her blue eyes glittered with tears.

"Do you feel okay?" she asked him.

He nodded, "I'm tired."

She smoothed his hair, "I know you are."

His eyes widened as he began to remember exactly where he was, "How did the surgery go?"

"Perfectly," Carey replied with a grin, "They got the kidney out without any trouble. The doctors are transplanting it into Zack's body right now."

"He's not out of it yet?" he asked, feeling disappointed.

She shook her head, "No. But it won't be much longer now," she paused, "As long as nothing goes wrong."

He nodded, "good."

Carey kissed his forehead, "That was a great thing you did for Zack."

Cody shrugged and closed his eyes, "He would have done the same for me."

'That's right,' Carey thought as she watched him. She held his hand and stayed with him as they waited for word on Zack.

-----

Jack watched as Connor stitched Zack back up. He wondered why Jake had been so hesitant on operating on Zack. The surgery went surprisingly well.

"He definitely has a strong will to live," he muttered.

Connor nodded in agreement, "He's going to need that."

Jack shrugged, "I don't know. It's been like a domino effect for him. Every time it seems like he's going to be okay, something else happens. It's like there's nothing left, you know?"

Connor chuckled lightly, "You should know better than to ever say that, Jack."

"Yeah," Jack said with a hint of a smile, "famous last words, right?"

"Murphy's law as the Irish call it."

"It's what the superstitious call it," Jack said as an orderly wheeled Zack away.

The two surgeons peeled their bloody gloves off and threw them away, and washed their hands.

"Are you going to be staying around for awhile?" Connor asked. He ran his newly clean hands through his bright red hair.

"Wasn't planning on it," he replied, "Why?"

They made their way out of the room, "I don't know. I have a feeling Jake's going to ask you to. He really seems to want the best around, in case anything else happens to Zack."

"That's the problem with Jake," Jack said, "He gets to attached to his patients."

------

"Is Zack out of surgery yet?" Cody asked immediately after he woke up for the second time. He knew the answer though. His mother would have woken him up if she had any news to share with him.
"Not yet," she whispered. She was getting tired of waiting. It had already been three hours since Cody got out of surgery.

"When can we go home?"

Carey looked at him, surprised.

"I don't know," she replied honestly, "Soon, I hope. You'll probably be released by tomorrow. As for Zack… I don't know yet."

Cody nodded sadly. He knew that Zack might still have a few problems ahead of him.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Carey called.

An orderly, the same one who brought Carey to Cody, walked into the room. She had a wheelchair with her.

"Zack's in a recovery room," she told them, "His surgery went well. Do you want to visit him?"

"Yes," they said together. Carey helped Cody into the wheelchair, and the orderly led them to Zack's room.

"Jake will be here in a minute," the orderly said, "You can have some time alone until then."

"Thank you," Carey said.

Cody was already out of the wheelchair, walking to Zack's bed. The walk from the wheelchair to the chair by the bed took all of his energy. He collapsed into the chair and closed his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Carey asked as she sat down next to him.

"Yeah," he answered. His voice sounded hoarse. He opened his eyes and looked at his brother.

"I feel like this is all I ever do anymore," Cody said softly, "watch Zack sleep."

Carey touched Zack's cheek, "poor thing," she whispered.

Cody nodded. When he stopped, the room still seemed to be bobbing up and down. He barely noticed anything as he slumped forward and slid out of the chair, landing on the floor.

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