Chapter Two-Hundred and Fifty-Three
Ryan held his breath as he opened the wound on John's side, biting the inside of his cheek as he thought about all the wonderful times they'd had since he'd become part of the family. "Scalpel." He held his hand out for the blade, forcing himself to see John as just another patient; a piece of machinery that needed fixing. He watched as his patient began to bleed, ignoring the contrast between the red fluid and his white surgical gloves. "Forceps." He clamped the dead tissues in the instrument, handing the handles to his partner Baxter as he began trimming the infected skin away. "Heartrate?" He asked, letting their assistant soak some of the blood and puss up with a surgical wipe.
"Eighty over sixty." Stated the anesthesiologist, smiling as Ryan relaxed slightly. "Respiration is fine, his temperatures dropped a little, but that's normal."
Ryan's brow furrowed, gently pulling on an odd-looking piece in John's side. "Baxter… what do you think?" He looked up at his partner, running his finger down along the dark red tissue until he was nearly inside of John's abdominal cavity.
Baxter examined the ligament, confused as to what exactly this odd little thing was for. "I've never seen that before…" He tilted his head, trying to see where it went. "It almost looks like it would be another liver… but… that's impossible unless he could have had a twin and absorbed them in the womb…"
Ryan thought for a moment, remembering the other small things about John's internal organs that seemed odd at times. "It's possible…"
Baxter nodded, helping Ryan complete the surgery and inject the required antibiotics directly into the worst of the infected areas to clean them before they sewed him up.
John groaned, rolling his head across the pillow as he started to come too.
Clarissa smiled, brushing his hair back from his forehead happy to see that his fever had already started to go down. "Good morning, Pumpkin."
He cracked his eyes open, smirking at Clarissa as she sat beside him. "Momma…" He breathed, laughing when she kissed his head.
"What's so funny?" She asked, cocking a brow at his odd behavior.
"When me and Claire… get married… we get to make babies with our privates…" He giggled, still high from being knocked out for so long. "And then, they'll make babies too…"
She laughed, happy that he wasn't feeling any pain at the moment. "Johnathan… you are something else." She sighed, biting her lips when she noticed that the catheter bag had gotten fuller in the last couple minutes. "Do you need to potty?" She asked, pretending that she was speaking to a toddler since she knew he wouldn't understand adult speaking right now.
He shook his head, his face paling as he made himself sick. He placed his hands on Clarissa's as she held a blue puke bag under his chin, crying when his side burned with a pain so great it was as if he were being stabbed. "Hurts!" He whimpered, pulling at the oxygen hose around his face with confusion as he thought that might be what was hurting him. "Off…"
Clarissa shook her head, pulling his hands away from his face and gently applying pressure on his side. "No, you need to keep it on. It's the boo-boo on your side that's hurting you." She rubbed her fingers over his collar bones, smiling at the strength that resided under his skin. "It'll feel better soon."
He nodded, looking up as a movie started to play on the crappy TV in his recovery room. "Who you gonna call?" He smiled, laughing hysterically when Clarissa spoke.
"Ghostbusters!" She grinned as John laughed through the movie, relaxing in her chair to the sound of pure happiness filling her heart. "I love that laugh..." She sighed, picking up her crocheting and stating on the tiny booties she'd been planning for Jade and Dominic's little one.