XXI

WILL

Will sat down in their office and turned on the desktop computer. When the computer had finished loading, he inserted the flash drive. The only content of that flash drive was an mp4 video. He opened it. There, his mother Naomi appeared on the screen. She was sitting on the foot of her bed. She's wearing another cardigan over a simple gray dress. Since Naomi's chest is a little bit exposed on that dress, Will could see her shoulder blades almost jutting out, her neck thinner and face sunken. She also wore a little makeup and a glossy lipstick. Yet the makeup couldn't hide the weariness and exhaustion in her eyes. A smile plastered on her face.

"Hello, son." Naomi began then she coughed.

"Sorry, about that." Naomi grimaced. "Anyway, if you are watching this it means that I failed to tell you about my current condition. Well, it's either I still couldn't tell you or something went wrong with me that I didn't have a chance to tell you anymore. I've always known that I have a weak heart even before I was diagnosed with cancer. I was considering it a miracle that I made it alive when I gave birth to you. You know what, the funny thing is, you were just here the other day, but I couldn't tell you about it. Maybe because we were all engrossed in the fact that you brought a handsome friend in our house that we were all having a good time that day, and I just didn't want to break that moment like it was just any other normal day of our lives. Can you believe that day I feel a whole lot better as if I don't have an illness at all? Maybe it's because every time I see you I always feel better." Naomi coughed again, this time covering her mouth with a tissue she pulled out from the tissue box next to her. She immediately disposed that tissue into the something at her foot probably the trash bin since it wasn't on the camera range anymore.

Naomi cleared her throat. "You must be asking why I didn't tell you sooner, not even a phone call or text to tell you that your mom is sick. Well, to be honest, I was still in denial of the fact that I have cancer. I know, call it stupidity, that I have a son who's a doctor and I can't seek for his help, but knowing you, you will probably abandon your job there and go here immediately. You'll refuse to leave me alone. I know how much you love your job there and I don't want you to leave your life there in Manhattan because of me. Much less to be a bigger burden to you, I know being a doctor is hard. You are always exhausted and I don't want to be added to the things that will worry you. Eventually, you'll burn yourself out. How could I do that to you?"

"As a mother, no matter what the circumstances are, I will always put you first because I love you son. You are my greatest treasure, Will. And please, don't blame yourself that you didn't do enough for me. You have done more than enough for me, so so much that I couldn't ask for more. I am so proud of where you are right now and the person you came to be. I know you are always going to do your best as a doctor and I believe in you, I always believe in you no matter what happens. I love you." There were tears in Naomi's eyes. She wiped it away with her hand before she reached for the camera. The screen blacked out.

Will stared at the screen, tears that streamed down his face. He sniffed and wiped the tears with the back of his hand. He exhaled.

"You should rest," Lou said to Will. The blond doctor reached the ER nurse's station after tending a patient. It was a busy night in the ER as usual. The beds were all occupied by the patients and Will had gone to most of them.

"Your shift is going to be over anyway, just visit your mom instead," Lou added.

Will sighed, exhausted. "I wasn't planning on going home so I can stay with mom. I'm going to do rounds on my patients first and I am going to take a nap at the on-call room."

"No need," Kayla interrupted. She joined them in the ER station. "I've already checked your patients. All vitals stable. As for Austin, I increased the dosage of painkillers on him and he's stable too. He was awake for a little bit earlier."

Will nodded and smiled gratefully at her friends. "Thank you."

"Sure," Kayla said, "but the dinner next time is on you."

Will laughed. "All right."

"Let's go. I am going to take a nap too." Kayla dragged Will out the ER.

"So, have you decided yet, if you are going to do the surgery with Naomi?" Kayla asked as they walked along the hallway.

Will took a deep breath. "Not yet. Dr. Carter seemed to agree on surgery. The tumor is reaching the heart and we need to get it out before it reached the left heart chamber."

"If just in case you are going to push through the surgery, I know, you can do it, Will. I'm saying this not just because I am your friend but you are one of the youngest and best surgeons I've ever met." Kayla patted his shoulder.

Will woke up to the sound of his alarm on his phone. He groaned. It felt like he had just closed his eyes for a second and now, he was waking up again. He blindly reached for his phone beside his pillow and turned off the alarm. He sat up from his bed and stretched. He grimaced at the sudden sunlight coming from the window. He noticed two big paper bags sitting on the table just by the window. Will frowned. The paper bags weren't there before he had gone to bed. Curious that he was, he walked towards the table and peered cautiously on the opening of the paper bag as if a bomb might explode on his face if he suddenly touched the bags.

The first thing he noticed in the first paper bag was two white legal envelopes with something written on it.

For Will.

He picked up the envelopes. The words were elegantly written in calligraphic script. One envelope was sealed and the other one was not. Will settled first to the unsealed envelope. He spread open the paper and read.

You workaholic Duffus, I brought you some change of clothes when I learned that you weren't going home. There's also food there, so eat a lot. As for the second letter, you can read it in your spare time, not rushing you. I love you.

-Your Death Angel

Heat rushed to his face seeing the letter that Nico had written. The death angel has never been so vocal about his feelings, so it was a little bit surprised seeing the words I Love You written there. Well, the doctor assumed that Nico was just shy about it and he would overcome it sometime soon. Will checked the paper bags and sure enough, there were clothes and food that could feed a battalion. Will gaped. Nico wasn't kidding about eating a lot.

"Oh, you're awake." Kayla groaned.

Will hadn't noticed that Kayla was still there lying on the second deck of the bed. She stretched her arms. She turned to her side and squinted her eyes on Will. Her one arm dangled over the bed.

"Nico brought them," Kayla said groggily.

"When did he come?" Will asked.

"He came earlier this morning to bring those. Damn. I'll fight tooth and nail to have a guy like that. What a sweetheart." Kayla grumbled.

Will couldn't help but smile. "The food is too many. Let's eat breakfast. Get up there and call Lou and Cecil so we can eat all of these together."

Soon, Lou and Cecil came, famished from the earlier shift and delighted to see an abundance of free food on the table. They moved the table so the four of them could sit around the table. They were eating and laughing on something Cecil had said when Will's phone vibrated.

He answered. "Dr. Solace."

Will dropped the fork he was holding. He abruptly stood up almost rattling the table. He immediately grabbed his lab coat hanging on the rack. He ignored the calls of his friends as he went out of the room.

He ran along the hallway nearing to his mother's room, his heart pounding on his rib cage.

Code Blue. Room 1411. The speaker echoed in the hallway.

Will almost stumbled on the door when he had reached Naomi's room. The long beeping sound of the heart monitor indicating an unresponsive heartbeat was reverberating in the room. Two nurses gathered on the side of Naomi's bed and Apollo was there too.

"Administer an F1 ampule and get a defibrillator NOW!" Will shouted as he started to do a CPR on his mother.

A nurse handed him the paddles of the defibrillator and Will started to do the shock. Naomi's chest only rose in response.

No, mom. You can't do this to me; I still want to talk to you.

"One more time," Will ordered.

Will pressed the paddles on Naomi's chest again. Still no response.

"Again." He said.

You cannot leave me like this. MOM!

Naomi's chest jerked up.

While the defibrillator was charging, Will did the manual CPR on the chest. The nurse handed him back the paddles.

"Set to 200J," Will said.

PLEASE, MOM!

The paddles made contact on Naomi's chest. The lines on the heart monitor started to rise and down again indicating a heartbeat.

Will was heaving as the nurse reached for the paddles in Will's hands. His hands were shaking.

Will was running out of time. He needed to make a decision now.