Chapter 37

"What happened? Is Sandy going to be okay?" Paul asked anxiously to anyone that came through the doors of the ER that he could grab.

"Paul, come on man; don't be a spaz. It's not doing either of us or Mom any good," Tyler said. "I just asked the lady at the desk. The doctor's supposed to be out soon."

"Fuck, Ty, 'soon' could be three hours from now."

"And you being Spaz Man isn't going to make it go any faster. Are you going to act like this when she has the baby? Damn. And she yells at me for being trippy sometimes."

Paul finally sat down and sighed. "Yeah, maybe you have a point. It would be nice if someone came out and said something, though."

"There you go," Tyler replied, gesturing toward a man in a white coat coming through the doors.

"Christ, finally!"

The doctor had approached both of them, stating that Sandy had been taken to surgery immediately after some tests revealed she had appendicitis.

"Is the baby…." Paul began.

"So far, everything seems fine," the doctor reassured him. "And the appendix will be removed laproscopically since it is an early pregnancy. She will still have to be monitored the rest of the pregnancy to make sure there are no further problems."

Paul gave a huge sigh of relief. Good thing he was going to be home for awhile, he thought. Poor Tyler was going to need all the help he could get.

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When Sandy regained consciousness in the recovery room several hours later, she didn't recognize her surroundings. It wasn't until a nurse had beckoned someone over that Sandy realized she was in the hospital.

"Sandra?" a doctor asked. "Do you know where you are?"

She nodded. "What happened to me?"

"You had to have your appendix removed."

"What about the baby?" she asked.

"Everything looks good so far. Your OB will be discussing some things with you tomorrow. Right now, we need to get you to your room."

"Okay….." she managed to get out before going back to sleep.

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The doctor who had removed Sandy's appendix conferred with Paul, who had managed to charm the staff into giving him information on her.

Hell, he figured she was going to be his wife within days anyway, so what was the problem? Tyler was still under eighteen and her family was thousands of miles away in Philly. When one thought about it, Paul was really their only option at present, and even Spanky agreed that his partner could be both charming and an asshole at the same time when he wanted something.

Paul had Spanky sit with Tyler while he talked with the doctor, who let him know that though Sandy had come through the surgery without any problems, her pregnancy would be monitored more closely should any further problems arise.

"Yeah," Paul nodded. "The ER doctor told me and her son basically the same thing when she was brought in. So what is the risk of…."

"Since she's still in the early stage, the chances of any complications developing are between two and five percent, if at all," the doctor replied. "Had Sandra been further along or the appendix had burst, the risk factor would be higher. But it varies from woman to woman, though she does have a slight advantage from being in otherwise good health."

"Guess it's a good thing she was brought in when she was," Paul said. "I kind of suspected something was wrong this afternoon when she felt warm. I'd planned on taking her to the doctor tomorrow, but I guess there's no need for that now."

The doctor smiled. "We'll keep her in the hospital for a couple of days just to make sure she's all right, but right now things seem to be going well."

Let's hope so, Paul thought. Then again, he could also push the wedding back. Better to have Sandy and the baby in shipshape than a wedding when she wasn't up to par.

He thanked the doctor for the update, then headed out to find Spanky and Tyler to give them the news.

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"How's Mom?" Tyler asked when he spotted Paul headed back his way.

"She's out of recovery," Paul nodded. "They took her to the room. We should be able to go in in a few minutes."

"She all right?" Spanky wondered.

"So far, things are looking good. She's probably going to be a bit zonked for awhile, but that's a given."

"Better than her being really sick from her appendix bursting," Tyler said, relieved.

"You got that right, buddy," Paul agreed.

"Paul? Is her baby really going to be okay?"

"According to the doctor, things look good, Ty. Of course, her baby doctor will be keeping an eye on her for awhile, but so far, all is well."

"Thank God it all turned out okay," Spanky said. "Sandy about scared the fuck out of me when she collapsed at the party."

"That pretty much covers all of us, dude," Paul nodded.

"Hey, they're beckoning at us from the station," Tyler interjected. "I guess this means they got Mom settled in the room."

"Good," Paul replied. "Let's go."

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Sandy dozed for awhile before she woke up again. She wasn't sure what time it was, but she knew it was night because it was dark outside. She then looked at her arm and saw the intravenous line pumping fluids into her system.

What a shitty way to end their engagement party, Sandy thought. Paul must be having a holy fit.

Glancing around the room she saw Tyler seated in one chair dozing lightly, his head plopped on the shoulder on Spanky, who was engrossed in a book.

By her bed, there sat Paul, snoring like a bear. If it hadn't hurt so much, Sandy would have gotten a good laugh.

"Guys," she said softly, her voice hoarse from the tube she previously had had down her throat during surgery.

"Hey, asshole," Spanky said, poking Paul. "Earth to Paul."

Paul stirred upon hearing his name, springing to attention once he'd seen Sandy was awake.

"Welcome back," he said, managing a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm alive, considering I ruined the party."

"Ruined it, my ass. It gave me a good reason to chase out all those baboons anyway. And Spanky's paying for the honor bar, aren't you, dude?" He raised an eyebrow at Spanky.

"Do I have a choice?" Spanky asked.

"Anyway, the hell with that; the important thing is that you came through all right. And the baby's doing good too."

"That's what they told me in the recovery room," Sandy said weakly. "That and they're going to keep me here for a couple of days."

"I know. Look, I can arrange some stuff to push back the---"

"Let's not worry about that now, Paul," she replied. "We waited this long; what is another few days or weeks or whatever?"

Sandy then closed her eyes for a moment; she wasn't sure if it was the combination of the medication and the after effect of the anesthetic from surgery, but she felt drowsy again and was asleep within minutes.

Paul saw this as an opportunity to quietly leave, ushering Spanky and Tyler out of the room and for all of them to head home, knowing Sandy would be all right. They were all wiped out and could use some rest themselves. Besides, Paul had another idea in mind……