My writing partner wrote the first little bit of the chapter so the writing style will change a few paragraphs in. This chapter kind of brings everything to conclusion since some really bad stuff will start happeneing.

Chapter 10

The doors of the ER swung open as Chance and Lisa brought Ryan in to get him checked out. Lisa was hyperventilating and Ryan was still in tears. Chance was doing his best to keep his wife and son calm, but wasn't doing a great job. Chance walked up to the desk "excuse me miss" he said to the nurse, "my son…" he couldn't finish, we wasn't really sure how to explain it, so he just pointed to Ryan. The nurse cringed. "my baby!" Lisa moaned.

"Ma'am, ma'am" the nurse said, trying to calm Lisa down, "You're son is going to be just fine" The nurse called a few doctors and seconds later, there was a stretcher for Ryan. Chance picked his son up and plopped him onto the stretcher. "Ma'am, I'm Doctor Brady" a man in a white coat said, "We're just going to take (looking down at a file) Ryan in for a little check up. We'll get him cleaned up and do a little examination to make sure there's nothing serious we can't see"

Lisa and Chance smiled and kissed Ryan goodbye. Chance held Lisa in his arms as they watched their bleary eyed son being wheeled away. They sat down and did the only thing they could; wait.

Dr. Brady stood by Ryan's bed on the way to the examination room. He made eye contact the whole way with him, so that Ryan would know he was safe.

"Don't worry son," Brady could sense the fear in Ryan's eyes, "you're going to be just fine. This is just to clean you up, and the examination is strictly cautionary" Ryan smiled a weak smile and closed his eyes.

The doctors picked Ryan up off the stretcher and laid him down onto a bed in a private room. Brady and his team began cleaning Ryan up. They found that some of his cuts were deeper than others and would most likely require stitches. Ryan yelped in pain as one cut on his eyebrow stung as Brady cleaned it. Brady had to call Chance and Joan in to calm Ryan down so he could stitch up the cuts. Ryan cried and screamed as four cuts were stitched up. Ryan received a total of 21 stitches. After calming Ryan down with some medicine, Brady explained to Chance and Joan what injuries would need to be fixed in the OR.

"The injuries could have been a lot worse. The main thing that will need to be taken care of is Ryan's spleen. That seems to have burst so it will need to be removed. Also his lips will need some work. I normally wouldn't be worried about an injury to the lips but since your son's lips are unusually thick for a boy his age, we need to play it safe." Ryan started to cry. Brady excused himself so Chance and Lisa could have a moment alone with their son. Joan held Ryan in her arms as Chance rubbed his back. They figured it was best to just let him cry.

"I don't want to go into surgery," said Ryan, through his tears.

"It's the best thing for you, buddy," said Chance. Ryan cried for a few more minutes before finally calming down. Chance and Joan helped him change into a hospital gown and then took him to the surgical waiting area. They were told only one of them could go in. Joan went with him since she had down the OR thing with him before. Ryan cried a little more as he was put to sleep. Joan stayed with him right until he was completely asleep. She gave him one last kiss and then left Ryan in the hands of the surgeons.

David watched as Jake was wheeled to recovery. The operation had been a complete success. Mike's kidney was working perfectly in Jake. Julia walked up to David.

"Jake's friend Ryan was just taken into surgery. Looks like he got his ass kicked by the same punks who threw Jake in the canal," said Julia.

"Chance won't let them get away with that," said David.

"And I need you down in examining room nine. A woman just brought her son in. The boy is a regular at the same skate park," said Julia.

"Is he as sick as Jake?" asked David, as he and Julie started walking towards the room.

"Not as bad but he's in a lot of pain. He says he knows Jake and Ryan and that he is one of Jake's best friends," said Julia.

"Was he thrown in that canal too?" asked David.

"No. Dave, if this boy got sick off bad water that means that toxic shit is infecting the drinking water. We need to stop the infection before people outside of the skate park get sick," said Julia.

"Let's examine him first," said David. They reached the examining room. A boy of about thirteen was lying on the examining table. His mother was doing her best to console him.

"Hi, I'm Dr. David Gates. This is Julia Harris," said David.

"Natalie Myers. This is my son, Colton," said the mother, shaking David's hand.

"So what's wrong, pal?" asked David.

"My stomach hurts really bad," said Colton.

"When did this stomach ache start?" asked David.

"Last night," said Colton. David helped Colton move onto his back so he could examine him. Colton lifted up his shirt. He moaned as David felt his stomach.

"What hurts the most?" asked David.

"The area around my bellybutton," said Colton.

"Anywhere else?" asked David.

"No," said Colton. David bit his lip.

"I think your appendix burst. You'll need surgery and that's about it," said David. Colton nodded. David pulled Julia aside.

"Appendix?" asked Julia.

"It has the all the tell tales of a burst appendix. I want you to oversee the operation. If there is more blood or puss then usual, then have the surgeon open him up completely. Now his appendix could have been irritated by whatever is in that water. We should keep our eye out for more skaters with bad stomach aches."

"No problem," said Julia. She went to comfort Colton and his mom. David went to check on Jake.

Jake was stable and was recovering nicely. Mike had just come out of surgery and was also doing fine. Kate was sitting next to Jake's bed, holding his hand.

"He seems to be doing a lot better," said Kate.

"Yeah. The new kidney is going to do wonders," said David.

"Any word on Sarah?" asked Kate.

"Her operation started about an hour ago. We don't think the mass is cancerous," said David.

"Oh thank God," said Kate. "Um, how long are the boys going to be asleep?"

"Jake should be waking up soon. Mike may be asleep a little longer just cause he's younger. But they'll be fine," said David. Kate smiled and shook her head.

"If anything comes up, just let a nurse know," said David.

"OK. Thank you," said Kate. David nodded and walked off.

Meanwhile Ryan's operation was going smoothly. His lips were almost fixed and no other major problems had shown up. Two hours into the operation, the doctors finished working on his lips. They carefully placed some gauze in Ryan's mouth. They had to be careful so they wouldn't knock the air tube out of Ryan's mouth. They then started to cut Ryan's stomach open so they could remove his spleen. In the waiting room, Chance and Lisa could only wait and pray.