As Stella was being prepped for surgery, the nurses allowed Danny, Don and Catharine to be in her room. Don had held her hand and not opened his eyes since they put the first IV in. He promised Stella he'd stay by her side right up until she was wheeled into the operating room, but right now he couldn't stomach the thought of her not coming back out.
Danny was sitting on the windowsill watching them while Catharine paced back and forth.
Stella sighed as the nurse pulled Don back a couple of steps. "Sorry, hun, but he'll need to step away for a few minutes while we prep the spot for the actual incision." She nodded.
Don watched with tears in his eyes as the nurse cut her hair in the back, shaving it clean off. Than she pushed a needle into her head, an anesthetic he assumed.
The nurse looked over at him. "You have fifteen minutes before she falls asleep."
"Fifteen!" Don flipped. "Why did-"
Stella held her finger to her lips and waved him over as the nurse left. "It's okay, Don, just hold me."
He nodded, tears filling his eyes not for the first time that day.
It only felt like seconds before Stella was asleep and he lost it. He started sobbing as he collapsed to the ground. Catharine was at his side, holding him against her, Danny on the other side. The nurses were taking her out, leaving the three of them in the empty space where her bed had been the past few weeks.
Catharine and Danny helped him to his feet and the three left, heading toward the OR waiting room where Warrick and Lindsay had been watching Jordan. Danny sat with Don, who had his head resting on the other's shoulder.
Catharine had become emotionally drained from watching her brother's helplessness and she sought Warrick's comfort, slipping herself into his tight, strong embrace. Jordan watched everyone quietly, before standing up and crying. "Mommy!" Lindsay picked her up and rocked her back and forth.
They all waited. For hours, hoping that any doctor or nurse who emerged from those double doors marker "Authorized Personnel Only" would bear good news… or even no news. Anything, so long as it wasn't bad, would be taken well by this group of friends and family.
Short chapter, I know… only one more to come… it could go either way from here.