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Part 19

Over the next three days, the entire staff were walking on eggshells, although they were careful not to show this to either of the child's parents. Kim was now stable enough to go through surgery to insert drains that would remove the blood clots on her brain. Afterwards, it was more common during this time for the patient to show signs of other complications, many of which could pose a serious risk to the patient. These included epilepsy, several types of stroke, infections, pulmonary and heart dysfunction, excessive blood clotting and cranial nerve injuries.

CT scans and an MRI thankfully concluded that such complications would be unlikely. However, Kim stubbornly remained deep within the coma.

On the fifth day after Kim and Yan's admission, Colonel and Mrs. Patterson showed up at the door to the PICU, to see how Kim was doing. Harm and Mac had just received confirmation that they both had extended compassionate leave, so they had settled into some comfortable chairs that had been brought to them by the nurses, that morning.

"Yan's doctor has ruled out him moving from his bed," Colonel Patterson explained, as they took seats, as well, "but he was very eager to accompany us, to see Kim."

"That was very thoughtful of him," Mac smiled, suggesting, "While Harm tells you about how Kim is doing, perhaps I could go and keep him company?"

Both Patterson adults thought that this was a good idea, so Mac went looking for the private rooms, on the other side of the pediatrics floor.

Yan was sitting silently on his bed, staring unseeingly at the window, so Mac gave a soft knock on the open door before she went in.

"Hello, Yan," she greeted the boy who watched her enter silently, "It's good to see that you're doing so well. How have you been feeling, sweetie?"

"I'm okay…my head still hurts, a little," Yan replied, quickly diverting, "How is Kim?"

"She was pretty badly hurt, Yan. She's in a coma, just now," Mac explained, as gently as she knew how to.

Yan's head dropped and Mac could see tears well and fall from his puffy eyes.

"It's all my fault," his voice was husky with self-recrimination and Mac could tell that he was exerting effort not to break into sobs.

"No, Yan, no," Mac went over and sat on the edge of his bed, reaching to put an arm around the boy, "It was an accident that nobody could have foreseen. Nobody is to blame. Accidents happen, sometimes."

"We shouldn't have been there, but I never said anything when Kim didn't want to go back to school."

"Kim was upset, that day. She'd had an argument with her Dad, but nobody could have known what would happen…"

"I said I wouldn't let her go…I was hanging over the cliff, after all of that earth collapsed underneath her, and I didn't let her go, but I couldn't hold on, I got pulled over the edge…We started to scream, but before I knew it, we'd hit the ground and she wasn't screaming anymore. I started to cry because I realized…I had landed on her…I hurt her!"

"Oh, Yan," Mac gently cuddled him to her, "That wasn't your fault…That was completely beyond your control, honey. You couldn't have done anything…It's not your fault."

She held him as he cried himself to sleep, but it was only after this that she noticed the adults standing outside the room.

"He asked about Kim and I didn't know what to tell him…"

"He has been asking questions since he woke up," Doug revealed, "We haven't lied to him. We never tell him anything but the complete truth, because he would invent terrible scenarios in his head, if we didn't."

"Thank you for comforting my son, Major," Mrs Patterson hugged Mac, appreciatively, then crossed to where her son was now sleeping, taking up the vacated perch at his bedside.

"Thank you, Colonel," Colonel Patterson shook her hand.

After that, Mac went back to Kim's room in the pediatric ICU, where she found that Harm had, for the first time since she had returned to the family home to retrieve clothes and toiletries, unpacked Kim's small, bright pink, fuzzy backpack. He was now reading to her from her favourite book of Balinese tales. Mac took a seat again and watched Harm at his paternal best.

While he read to his child, Harm was remembering precious moments he'd had with her, over the years. Her first day of school, her first dance performance, each and every one of her birthdays…Despite having to travel a lot, during his time here, he'd managed to spend each and every birthday with her. How he wished he'd have her back with them, before she reached the next one. With Mac with them and the three of them getting on so well, it could have been such a wonderful day…Harm just hoped that it still might be.

A short while later, Mac stepped out to go and get them both some coffee, because both she and Harm were feeling so sleepy. When she returned, he was already fast asleep, head on the bed beside Kim, the book lying open beside him. Mac put the coffee down and took a seat on the other side of the bed. She picked the book up off the bed, intending to start again where Harm had left off, but stopped in her tracks when something fell out of it and onto the floor. Picking it up, Mac found what she thought was a piece of paper was actually a small photograph of a woman dressed in Navy uniform.

No wonder Kim had reacted as she did, Mac realised, taking in the photograph of the woman who could be her double. Even from just this photograph, it was plain to see that the two of them could be long-lost twins. If they had not had different birth-years, Mac might just think that they were twins, separated at birth. But when she looked closer, she saw what Harm had told her. There was something about this woman's eyes; they seemed empty and, just like Harm had described, almost cold. Mac had no idea when in her relationship with Harm this had been taken, but she could tell that the woman in the photo was not a happy person. She'd had a loving husband and a beautiful baby girl who both doted and relied upon her. It was more than her own Mother had had, but for some reason, she hadn't been happy with this. She had sought a relationship with her husband's CO, left her husband and child behind, without so much as letting them know…Mac would never understand it, anymore than she would ever understand how her Mother could abandon her. Twice, since she had not heard from her Mother since they'd swapped addresses and parted ways after her Father's funeral. She really doubted she ever would, since it appeared that her Mother had moved and now she herself had moved halfway across the world. But that was all done, now. Nothing would change that and if Mac was really honest with herself, it was their loss. Mac knew she had good reason to be proud. She had a great career and now she'd found happiness with a wonderful man…who had a wonderful daughter. Things might be uncertain just now, but there was just no way that things might not work out…Kim just had to be okay.

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