Chapter Fifty-Five

John sighed, watching as Clarissa packed a small bag with her toothbrush and other things she would need if they had to spend the night at the hospital. He'd already packed a fresh shirt and sweat pants, along with his toothbrush and deodorant. He rubbed the ear of Amelia's teddy bear, smiling at the thought that Amelia had to give it to him for the surgery. "Hey, Mom," he looked up at Clarissa as she tossed a couple things of makeup into her bag, "do you think it'll be a long thing? The recovery I mean."

She folded one of Claire's blankets up, placing it on top of the pillow that she'd snagged from Claire's room. "I think you'll recover just fine." She smiled, kissing his head as she went back to messing with the bear. "You'll be a little sore, but I think you can handle it."

He lifted his gaze to look at her, his eyes having the slight yellow tint that showed his fear. "I don't wanna go under." He stated, his voice sounding more like a little kid's than a seventeen-year-old boy.

She nodded, placing the blanket and pillow in his arms as she grabbed the bags. "We'll all be there as soon as you wake up." She walked down the stairs at the end of the hallway, letting Thomas open the door for them as they walked to the car. "And we're all going to be praying for you." She placed the bags in the trunk, taking the blanket and pillow from John as he ducked into his seat in the back of the BMW.

Thomas started the car, checking in the rear-view mirror at John and Claire as they sat together, noticing that Claire was holding John and humming a little song. "You didn't have any food this morning did you, John?"

He shook his head, listening to his stomach growl. "No."

Thomas nodded, turning out of the driveway and onto the road to the hospital. "That's my boy."

John looked up at the hospital, squeezing Claire's hand as they walked inside. "I don't wanna do this." He mumbled, walking back to the waiting room and sitting in one of the chairs to wait for one of the nurses to come and get him prepped for surgery.

Claire kissed his neck, hoping to relax him. "You'll wake up in no time." She smiled, running her hand over the scruff he was letting grow again. "Besides, you're a descendent of a Greek god. We just have to figure out what one."

"Johnathan?" A young brunette asked, looking up at the family as they all looked at John. "If you would come back please."

John stood, taking a last look at the family before he was taken back. He chuckled when Amelia rushed forward, holding her teddy bear out to him. "Thanks Squirt." He smiled, kneeling down to give her a kiss on the nose. "But I don't think I'm supposed to take him back with me."

The nurse patted John on the back, looking down at Amelia with warm eyes. "He can take it back, we'll just have to move it when he goes to sleep." She held a hand on John's back as they turned to the prep room, feeling how he started to shake slightly with every step. "It'll be fine, we do this procedure all the time." She handed him a paper gown, holding the bear as he slipped into it. "We hardly ever have trouble with it."

John nodded, sitting back on the hospital cot they would take him into the operating room on. "I just don't like being cut on."

She wrapped a plastic bracelet around his wrist that stated his name and patient code on it along with a barcode that held his blood type and anything else that they might need. "I don't think anyone likes to be cut on."

Ryan walked into the room, smiling at John as he pulled up a chair to sit on while putting John's leads and IV in. "Hey Champ." He smiled, sticking a lead onto his chest and another onto his shoulder. "How we feeling today?" He sat back as John glared at him, taking John's wrist in his hand and starting to poke around for a vein. "Alright, dumb question." He lifted the lead to place it in the vessel, his grip tightening on John's arm as he jumped slightly from his nerves being over stressed. "John, I know that didn't hurt enough for you to jump like that." He lifted the side of John's gown, taking a look at the old incision trying to decide the best route to go in with. He didn't want to use the same incision, knowing that the scar tissue would be more painful during the healing process. "Alright, I think that what we're going to do, is we're going to make a new incision right below the old one, that way it won't hurt as bad while it's healing, but we'll be close enough that we can fix those old wounds so that you're not hurting as bad." He discretely picked up the syringe full of anesthesia and slipped it into the IV before pushing the plunger and letting the drugs flow into John's body. He smiled as he watched John's eyes slowly close, happy that the kid wasn't trying to fight the drugs he'd just injected into him. "That's my boy." He looked up at the nurse, motioning for her to take John's arm. "Let's roll him onto his side so I can get to it better."

She nodded, helping him adjust the lanky kid. "Do you want me to put the iodine on him yet?"

Ryan nodded, taking a look at John's vital signs as the beeping of the monitor changed slightly. "Yeah, I wanna get him out as soon as possible." He rubbed a hand through John's hair ruffing it up before he placed the surgical cap on him. "Clarissa's probably worrying herself sick over him."

The nurse nodded, soaking a cotton ball in the iodine and rubbing it over John's entire side, staining the skin a bright orange. "You guys are a tight knit family, aren't you?"

He nodded, scrubbing his hands up and pulling his gloves on as he let his assistants wheel John into the operating room. "All thanks to this kid."