Chapter 133
Tegan and Sara were sitting in a meeting room at their record company. A week of rehearsals with the band had passed and everything was on track for the show in a couple of days. "Mr Kennedy... We're not saying we're not going to make a new album! The thing is, I'm a few weeks away from becoming a first time mother... to twins... Yeah... we're not going to be able to tour for a while but so what? We'll be making our decision after the show. If we do decide to continue we'll have quite a few months of writing and recording in LA before we have to go out and promote. Sara and I feel positive about the future... please just give us a few days without pressure" said Tegan. "Okay girls... but we're not going to tip toe around you. We really want to keep you... the investment we made in you a few years ago, all the faith we had in you then, it's finally paying off and we'd like to keep it that way" said the record exec.
Most of the day was taken up by more admin, a production meeting, a lighting test, set design meeting, merch meeting and more. "Phew... that was a busy day" said Tegan getting into the car. Tegan was slowly regaining her momentum. She felt physically strong and she felt confident for the first time since they've started rehearsals. "I've just realised again how many people depend on us to make a living" said Sara. "Yeah... listen let's not think about that right now... few more days and its show time. We just need to focus... focus, focus" said Tegan.
"Hey my lovely lady" said Tegan and kissed Lindsey hello. "Hey babe. You're home earlier than I expected. Did you survive this crazy day!" said Lindsey with her arms around Tegan's neck. "Ha... I did... Killed it" said Tegan and kissed Lindsey again. "I've missed you" said Lindsey. "I've missed you more" smiled Tegan. "How are my beautiful babies?" smiled Tegan. "They're great, but how do you know they're beautiful?" joked Lindsey. "Of course they are... They're going to be the most beautiful babies in the world, even when they're all wrinkly!" said Tegan. "So is Sara okay with you finally taking a morning off tomorrow for the photo shoot?" asked Lindsey. "Yes, she's fine with it. She's taking the guys out to do some shopping for show outfits" said Tegan. "Decorators phoned and said the house is looking great and that they can't wait for us to see it! Maybe we can stop there tomorrow after the shoot" said Lindsey. "Let's go now... I can't wait to see. They've kept us out of there so long... I really want to seeee" moaned Tegan. "Tomorrow! I promised them I'll give them until tomorrow!" said Lindsey. "Oh alright then" said Tegan annoyed and sat down.
Tegan picked up a pile of mail that Jeremy dropped off earlier. "Who still sends actual mail" joked Tegan. "Plenty of people apparently" said Lindsey. "No... I think ours just heaped up" said Tegan. Tegan sat down on the couch with her feet on the coffee table. She started ripping open the envelopes one by one, discarding most of the contents. "Hey Tee... just wanted to drop off Gerty, Dylan restrung her for you" said Sara putting down Tegan's favourite guitar. "Thanks Sar" said Tegan and open the next letter. She looked at the contents perplexed. She frowned. "What the fuck" she whispered. "What's up?" said Sara sitting down next to her. "Um... medical bills?" said Tegan. "I... I don't understand this" said Tegan looking a bit upset.
"Let me have a look... you shouldn't be getting any medical bills at all. You have 100% medical insurance... cost us a fucking fortune every month to have that" said Sara. "Well I don't know... it says here amount due $609 985?" said Tegan looking as if she was about to start hyperventilating. "No that's probably just what they paid already" said Sara. "No... here's the amount they paid, whoa that's even more... and then... next to this number it says 'amount not covered by insurance'" said Tegan.
"Holy crap... how's that possible" said Lindsey panicked. "Well... Kate said to me once that a stay in ICU costs about $10,000 a day... a fucking day... and that's without CTs and MRIs... and surgery... and fucking ecmo... I think that ecmo is like $20 000 a day just for that... and I was in CCU a long time... Fuck... I was in hospital for more than a hundred days guys" said Tegan. For the first time that week she felt her airways close up. Her heart was racing. "Yeah but not all of them were in CCU... Tegan I'm going to sort this out okay... just relax... come on, deep breaths" said Sara. Tegan took two large puffs from her inhaler. Her hands were shaking. "Fuck... I don't have $610 000" said Tegan with her head in her hands. "Tee... I'm phoning the hospital right now to find out what's going on" said Sara. "Where's Kate? Keep her out of this please" said Tegan. "She's having a late lunch with a friend. She'll only be back later. But perhaps you should consider getting her involved" said Sara. "No way! She'll feel guilty and... I'm sure some of this is her salary" said Tegan. "Tee... Kate's getting paid... quite a bit, whether you pay your bills or the insurance company pays them" said Sara. "Fuck" whispered Tegan with her head in her hands.
"Yes I understand that... no we just want to make sure that there's no admin error with the insurance company... okay... yes we'll phone them thanks" said Sara. "Dammit... took me forever to get through to them and they just sent me right back to the insurance company" said Sara. She dialed the next number and was holding on to speak to an operator. "Tegan it's okay... this must be a misunderstanding. We have 100% cover" said Sara still holding. "Can you imagine if they didn't pay ANYthing?" said Tegan holding her stomach. After a long time holding Sara finally got through to a call centre agent. She explained the situation to her calmly "So... if you could just sort this out for us we'd really appreciate it" said Sara. "No, no hang on... what do you mean there's nothing you can do... M'am... we've got 100% cover... this is impossible... yes I've read the damn policy... No I'm sorry it doesn't say anything about not covering ecmo and certain procedures... I need to speak to your superior please" Sara fought on the phone. She shook her head. "Tee it's fine... I'm going to speak to somebody in charge now... I'll sort this out, you guys go up for dinner" said Sara sitting at the kitchen table with the pile of documents in front of her. "What the fuck... look at the price of a heart monitor every day... I mean Jeez they just plug the thing in... It would be cheaper to have Kate stand there with her ear to my chest the whole day... And wow... oxygen is the price of fucking cocaine" complained Tegan.
"Hey guys" said Kate and casually strode into the room with her hands in her pockets. Everyone looked up at her without a word. "Kate... hi" said Tegan finally. "What's up" said Kate. "Nothing... just a bid of business admin" smiled Sara. "Hi, yes I'm still holding... No, no... please don't hang up on me... No I need to speak to the manager" said Sara getting up. Sara walked out to the patio to speak to the insurance company in private. Tegan made small talk with Kate so she didn't hear Sara's conversation. "How can you not cover that... NO! That's not acceptable. It's not in the fine print... This isn't the end of this" screamed Sara. "What's going on?" asked Kate with a frown. "Nothing Kate" said Tegan. "In writing? Okay but I can't see why... she's covered for this... no I'm not done... no don't hang up" yelled Sara. She looked at the phone in her hand. "Hello? Hello? Fuck!" she screamed.
Kate walked over to Tegan. "What's this?" she said picking up a bill. "Private" said Tegan ripping the bill from her hand. "Like hell it's private, give that here" said Kate looking livid. "What the fuck is this?" she said looking at the bill, blood seemed to drain from her face. Tegan shrugged "That's what we're trying to find out" she sighed. "But... I thought you had full medical cover. That's why we admitted you to a private hospital without a second thought" said Kate. "Well that's what we thought... Sara's been on the phone for hours trying to sort this out" said Tegan. "I'm sorry about this Tegan... this is bullshit... Let me speak to the accounts guys" said Kate and dialed a number. "Fuck Sara... we're going to have to sell a shitload of extra albums to cover this" said Tegan. "Hey, hey... we'll stay afloat don't you worry" said Sara. "What do you mean we, these are my bills... I'll pay them" said Tegan. "Don't be ridiculous... we'll pay them out of the band's account" said Sara. "No we won't! Fuck... if we knew the price of ecmo I would have gone without it" said Tegan. "No... you would have died without it Tegan... Anyway... even if your insurance really didn't cover it we would have found a way to pay for it... it's only money... this was your life at stake" said Kate. After another round of phone calls by both Sara and Kate nothing was resolved. The insurance company flat out refused to pay some of the bills pointing out things they don't cover. Those things happened to be all the really expensive things. "Business hours are over... so... we'll have to try again tomorrow" said Sara shaking her head. "I can't let this bother me right now... let's go have dinner... I'll sort this out after the show" said Tegan and started walking up towards the house shaking her head.
Kate and Sara tried their best to lift the mood at the dinner table. "Karev finally moved out today can you believe it... so, looks as if Sara and I will be moving back to my place tomorrow" said Kate. "Thank you so much for putting up with us guys... I can't thank you enough" said Sara. "We loved every minute of having you here Sara. So much I may just organise a weekly sleepover" joked Erin. Tegan didn't join the conversation but looked worried and was staring at her food scratching around her plate. "Tegan?" said Erin. "That's my name" said Tegan leaning back and looked at Erin pushing her plate away. "What's going on... you okay?" asked Erin. "Sure" smiled Tegan. Erin didn't believe one word. She knew Tegan too well.
"Excuse me guys... I'm just a bit tired and I have some things to take care of" said Tegan looking upset. "Wait up Tee" said Lindsey and left with Tegan. "What's up with her Sara?" asked Erin. "Nothing Erin... don't worry about it" said Sara. "Sara... what's going on with her? Tell me now!" demanded Erin. "She... well she just got this massive stack of medical bills" said Sara. "Why? She has medical insurance doesn't she" asked Erin. "Of course she does... listen I don't know... we've been on the phone for hours trying to sort this out and this company just flat out refuses to pay" said Sara. "Is this it?" said Erin and picked up an envelope lying on the side table. "Yeah... Erin don't worry about it we'll sort it out tomorrow" said Sara. "I feel like shit... this is my employer sending these bills" said Kate. "Kate I'm sure Tegan's not upset about the cost of the hospitalisation... that's what these things cost. And her life is worth every cent. She's upset about the insurance company screwing her over" said Sara. "Erin? Where are you going?" asked Alex. Erin didn't answer but disappeared into her study.
"Baby don't worry... we have enough money to cover it with the sale of my house... It's fine" said Lindsey. "No Linds it's not... because that money is supposed to be our nest egg... the college fund... Dammit we've been dutifully paying our premiums every month and we haven't had more than a sprained ankle and now... now this... Jeez this isn't even close to everything yet... I don't think this even includes the surgery and the ICU stay from last month" said Tegan becoming upset again.
"Hello may I speak to the Chairman of your company. I believe it's Mr Wrigley?... Sure, it's Erin Morgan speaking... Yeah... no really... sir I really am in a bit of a rush if you could put me through... Well no I don't have proof it's me... what do you want me to do post a selfie of me on the phone with you?" said Erin annoyed into the phone. "Just put me through please... I'm not going to speak to your VP of customer service, I want to speak to the Chairman... I understand that not every customer can speak to the Chairman but let's be honest... you're going to be in a big load of shit if you don't put me through and it IS me won't you... oh for god's sake – check Twitter I just posted a photo" said Erin. It was quiet on the other side of the phone. Sara walked into the room. "Erin please don't worry about this we'll sort this out" said Sara. Erin held her hand out and indicated for Sara to give her a minute. She got up and shooed Sara out.
A/N: Oh dear, what will Tegan do with all those medical bills?
Reviews seems to be dropping slightly? Pleaaase send me feedback (and then I may just post another chapter tonight)