A/N: thanks for sticking with the story guys! Thanks for the PMs and reviews, please keep them coming, they inspire me to continue writing! Reviews are your friends!
Chapter 20
"Jake, these people have been through a lot... maybe we should wait a while" said the blonde hacker girl. "What are you talking about... I don't give a shit what they've been through. This is happening. I'll give you one more week for planning and then we have a week to execute. We need to get this done now, I'm tired of fucking around." He walked out of the room. The blonde girl stared at the screen showing the video feeds from the hospital. She felt sorry for them for a second but quickly shook her head to snap out of her moment of weakness.
A nurse entered the family room to tell them that Tegan was back in her room and that they could see her. Lindsey jumped up and briskly walked towards Tegan's room. Sonia was hesitant, "I should stay with Sara for now, she can't be alone when she wakes up" she said, torn between her two kids. "Alex and I will stay with Sara. Go be with Tegan, she needs you guys. Sara will be fine." said Erin. After seeing the way Erin supported and kept Lindsey calm when Tegan coded Sonia knew Sara would be okay with her there. "Go Sonia, I've got Sara. I'll let you know as soon as she wakes up.
Lindsey walked into Tegan's room briskly. She immediately took Tegan's hand and touched her cheek with her fingers. "Ohh baby... Thank God you're okay Tee. I love you so much my sweet angel... My brave, beautiful angel..." She felt warm tears stinging het face and hastily wiped them away with the back of her hand. "You are strong Tegan, you are brave... You are phenomenal and you're going to be fine my love" she said as Sonia entered the room and put her hand on Lindsey's shoulder. "Lindsey's right Teetee, you are phenomenal. You are going to be back on your feet in no time. I love you my baby girl" she said taking Tegan's hand in hers. Tegan's hand felt warm for the first time. Tegan looked better but Sonia wondered if it was her imagination playing tricks on her. Tegan actually had a little bit color in her cheeks and the blue ring around her mouth was gone. She stared at Tegan's chest slowly but rhythmically moving up and down. She looked up at the monitors. During the last few days she learned a lot about what those readings meant... Sometimes she wished she hadn't. Tegan's BP looked okay from what she could tell. 110/70, her heart rate looked steady at 75 and for the first time since she was admitted her pulse ox was in the 90s, in fact it was 98%. Kate walked into the room rubbing sanitizer into her hands. "Hi guys, patient is looking much better right?" she said. "She sure does!" said Sonia. "Amazing what 2 hours, surgery and ecmo can do! I want to tell you what to expect though. This is the ecmo machine" Kate said pointing at a large machine on the other side of Tegan's bed. Thick tubes ran into it from below the sheets. They were red, obviously filled with blood. The machine made a clicking sound as dark red blood ran into it and bright red blood ran out, back int Tegan's body. Lindsey felt a bit nauseous just looking at it. "The machine has taken over the function of Tegan's lungs. That's why her pulse ox is so good right now, you would have noticed that her coloring has improved a lot and her hands feel warm. Her blood is getting more oxygen and her tissue and organs are getting more oxygen. That is very good! The strain on her heart is less since we removed the fluid buildup and placed a drain and as a result her circulation has improved significantly. It's important to know though that this is the work of the ecmo, her lungs are still very sick but they are getting a well deserved rest and so are her vital organs that were taking some major strain! You'll see that the vent is pumping air into her lungs at a very slow, much, much gentler and lower rate. It's basically just keeping them inflated very gently to prevent them collapsing. If we can get Tegan's lungs stronger in the next few days and we don't have further complications I think she would be okay. As I said earlier, any patient on ecmo is critical and she's still got one hell of a fight ahead of her but she's getting there. Ecmo can be a life saver! I'm happy with her progress." said Kate. "Will you be able to get her off the machine ok?" asked Sonia concerned. "There's no indication that we won't, let's cross that bridge when we get to it! Right now, let's allow her to enjoy a well deserved break!" said Kate smiling a tired smile. "You guys should get some rest!" she said. "So should you!" said Lindsey, "You look exhausted, you must be completely drained!". "I will, I promise! When I do I'll be 30 feet away in the on call room if you, or Tegan needs me okay, and my team will be here to take care of her. I'm right here, I'm not leaving this hospital" said Kate. She turned to Tegan and took her hand in hers "I'm so proud of you buddy... You're my star patient! Such a rockstar! Hang in there Tee, we've got you. You're gonna be okay".
Erin sat next to Sara's bed. Alex had his arms around her. For the first in this hospital she felt comforted. "It's okay baby, Tegan's okay" whispered Alex into her ear and gently kissed the side of her head. "I just hope she stays that way..." said Erin softly and closed her eyes. "She will, she's a fighter Erin" said Alex rubbing her arms. "I'm so sorry I wasn't with you earlier... You needed me... I'm... so sorry..." said Alex, emotion building in his voice. Erin turned around and faced him, she looked into his dark blue eyes that slowly started to fill with tears. "You're always with me Alex... Hey, hey... Shhh... It's okay, I'm fine. And Tee's going to be all right." she said gently. "I love you, and I'm so fucking proud of you Erin... And I promise I'm not leaving your side again." He looked at Sara. She was sleeping but she didn't look peaceful. It killed him knowing what they went through the last couple of days... and it killed him that he wasn't there with them.
Sara slowly started coming out of the darkness, becoming aware of her surroundings. She felt the soft pillow under her cheek, her throat felt dry and sore and her eyes stung. What was that smell? That stinging familiar smell... A hospital? Tegan! her eyes snapped open and she sat up quickly, gasping. "Tegan!" she exclaimed breathing fast. "Sara, it's okay! Tegan's okay, just relax" said Erin calmly with her hands on Sara's shoulders. "she's okay Sara!" she reiterated. Sara felt herself starting to hyperventilate. Erin sat down next to Sara and wrapped her arms around her. "Slow, deep breaths Sara, slow breaths!" Erin said rubbing Sara's back. "Tegan's okay, just relax. Come on Sara try and relax for me" she said calmly. "I need to see her, I need to see Tegan" said Sara still hyperventilating. "Sara, calm down or they're going to sedate you again, calm down and you can see her... Slow, deep breaths Sara" said Erin still hugging Sara. Arizona entered the room holding a syringe. She put it down on the nightstand and took Sara's hand. Sara desperately tried to calm herself down to avoid that shot. "Sara, just relax, Tegan is okay, in fact she's doing so much better. You can see her but I need to know you're calm first okay?" said Arizona. Erin laid her back gently on the pillows. "Is she really okay?" asked Sara seemingly calming down. "Yes Sara, she's okay" said Arizona softly. "You're lying to me, you're lying... Tegan! Is she dead? Tell me!" yelled Sara. Erin took Sara's face forcefully in her hands and stopped her head from moving side to side. "Look at me Sara, look at me!" she said loudly. "I won't lie to you Sara, she's okay" Sara looked at her suspiciously still breathing heavily. "Would I be this calm if she wasn't?" she asked looking into Sara's brown eyes. Sara felt herself relax. Arizona handed her a brown paper bag. "Breathe into this" Sara took the bag and breathed into it. She felt her breathing slowly normalize. "Okay, I'm calm, I'm calm. I'm going to see Tegan" she said sitting up. Arizona pushed her back. Sara felt her anger rapidly building inside her. "Let me go!" she said forcefully. "I will in a minute but I need to check you out first. You had some pretty hectic sedatives Sara. Just let me make sure you're okay to get up. You can see Tegan soon, I promise. Trust me Sara" Sara relaxed a bit, she did trust Arizona. Her head was pounding. Arizona offered her a drink of water which she eagerly grabbed and took a large gulp of it. Arizona took a penlight out of her pocket and shone it into each of Sara's eyes causing her head to hurt even more. Erin held her hand. "Follow the light please... Now follow my finger" said Arizona moving her finger up and down, side to side. "Touch your nose with your forefinger please" Sara did as commanded. "Okay, you seem fine. I'm just going to take your blood pressure and if that checks out you're good to go. Arizona wrapped the BP cuff around her arm and put her stethoscope in her ears and the end on the inside of Sara's arm. "Just relax Sara! Your pulse is very fast, nice deep breaths okay" she said gently. Sara took a deep breath and felt her diaphragm and throat muscles shudder in revolt. She felt the cuff tighten around her arm and closed her eyes tightly. "Hmmm, BP is a bit low but that's understandable. You can go Sara but take it easy please. Let one of the medical staff know if you start feeling faint. I suspect you've got a killer headache right now but that should improve soon. Take these two aspirins in the meantime. And try not to get yourself worked up okay"