Chapter 4
Again the characters belong to CBS I am just having a little fun.
The ambulance arrived and Andy was still unconscious, though his vital signs were stable. Sara followed the paramedics as they wheeled him into the trauma bay. Immediately the trauma team swarmed around him. A nurse gently pulled Sara aside and asked her to follow her into the waiting area and she would explain what was going to happen.
"Is there anyone I can call for you before we start?" The nurse asked.
"Uhhh, no they are on there way, they should be here any moment, Nick and probably Catherine and Linds. Umm Linds was with Andy when this happen, she will need to be checked." Sara felt so cold and felt so alone.
"Let me tell our unit clerk to send them in here when they arrive." The nurse left the room.
"Sara started to cry, how could this happen."
The nurse arrived back into the room with Nick and Catherine. Lindsey was being checked out in the ER by a resident. Though usually they did not see anyone over the age of 18 years old they made an exception for the victims today.
"Sara, hun, I am here, we will get through this, he is gonna be ok." Nick said as he gently caressed her shoulder.
"My name is Meg; I need to get information on Andy." The Nurse said.
"What is his full name?"
"Andrew Nicholas Stiles"
"His date of birth "
"October 1st, 2007"
"Does he have any allergies?"
"No"
"Does he have any previous existing medical conditions or has he ever had surgery?"
"He was 5 weeks early and had to have heart surgery to have his PDA closed when he was 4 days old. He has no other preemie problems and has been very healthy."
"Does he have any developmental delays?"
"No"
"Let me go get this info to the team and I will be right back with an update." the nurse stated.
Now Sara was starting to shiver, she could feel the coldness to her bones. Even when he had heart surgery at four days old she never felt this scared.
"Sara, here take my coat; I think you are in shock. He is beautiful." Nick said as he tried to bring Sara back into reality.
"Sara you can come with me and see Andy, they are going to take him to CT and MRI to scan his brain. They need to see if he has subdural or epidural hematoma, which is …"
"A blood clot on the outside of the brain, I am a CSI and work in forensic crime scenes I have seen it before." Sara said.
"Umm this is Nick he is Andy's dad can he come with me?
"Sure, let me tell you what you are going to see though. Andy is now in a medically induced coma and is on a ventilator, he has three IV's two are capped off and one has LR running into it to ensure hydration and to give any medications we may need. He has a foley catheter to monitor his urine output more carefully. He of course is on a heart monitor. He has a trauma nurse and an ICU nurse that will be with him anywhere he goes until we officially admit him into the PICU. Any questions?"
They both nodded no and grabbed each other hand as they followed Meg to the trauma bay.
Sara had never seen her baby look so frail, even after the heart surgery he recovered quickly and was screaming and crying and moving. The nurses teased her that he was all ready hyper and was not old enough to have that yet. He never stopped moving and looking in the NICU and could charm everyone from day one with his little looks.
Now he was motionless and quiet, even when he slept he usually moved.
"You can go up and touch him and talk to him, we know people in Coma's can hear." Meg offered.
"Andy, Mommy is here and so is …." She looked at Nick and then said it. "Daddy"
"You just hang in there and we will go to the Castle and Circus when you are all better."
Nick was at a loss for words, several hours ago he was dealing with Sara's return, now he was dealing with the fact he was the father on a 4 ½ year old boy that was in critical condition.
"Andy…. Daddy loves you, I know we have not got to do anything together yet, however when you wake up and are all better then I make it all up to you. I promise buddy." Nick was now also holding back tears.
"We need to go now. Let me take you to the private family area we have set aside for you. This is a four digit code you will need to let people into that room just give them the number and they will be brought into the room. I need you to fill out these papers on Andy. I will come let you know when we have more information on him. These scans will take at least an hour to run. Anything I can get for you?" Meg offered again. Meg had done this for years however it still did not get any less emotional.
"No, I will get these filled out; do you want me to bring them back out to you when I am done?" Sara asked.
Catherine and Lindsey were both sitting in the waiting room now, when Sara and Nick came back in.
"Sara and Nick are you ok?" Cath asked? Nick explained that Andy was in a medically induced coma and they were taking him CT and MRI. Sara quickly filled out the papers and returned them to Meg.
"I am so sorry" Linds said as she started to cry. "I swear I did not realize he hit his head. I would have got him to the paramedics faster if I thought he had been hurt."
"Linds it is not your fault, it was an accident you saved him by not being at the table when the car did hit. Please do not blame yourself." Sara offered.
"Uhh would you both mind stepping out I would like to talk to Nick alone." Sara asked.
"Sure, can we go get you both anything?" Catherine offered?
Together they both shook there head no.
Catherine and Lindsey left to go wait in the main waiting area.
"Nick, I owe you an apology and an explanation. Let me tell you everything then after I am done you can yell, leave or do what ever you need, but first let me tell you everything." Sara stated firmly.
Nick could see the determination in her eyes. "Ok, I am listening."
"Five years ago when I left I had been called into the office and told that Cecile had found out about our relationship and was out for blood, ours. He decided that any office relationship was not acceptable. I had an offer to do some consulting in San Francisco and as you know that went from consulting to a permanent job. Two weeks after I was there I found out I was eight weeks pregnant. I have had months I miss a period before so I had not thought about it the month before however when I started in with what I thought was nerves or flu I finally gave in and went to the doctor and was informed I was pregnant." Sara looked at Nick he was watching her eyes for any signs of betrayal.
"I was so scared, I did not want you to think I was trying to trap you into anything. I know that is no excuse, however for an unrational pregnant women it was. Well the pregnancy was mainly uneventful, I did think about you all the time, wondering how you would be handing things how it would be for you to touch my expanding belly, how you would look when you felt him move." She had a small grin as she thought about this.
"When I was 32 weeks I started to get bad headaches and my vision got blurry. I was put in the hospital and told I had pregnancy induced hypertension. They gave me steroids and continued to watch me, then one night I awoke with horrible right upper gastric pain and was told I had went into HELLP syndrome and they need to do a cesarean immediately and that the baby would be ok since he was 35 weeks. I was pretty sick however came out of everything fine. Andy had a persistent open PDA, the whole that is open between the right and left atrium of the heart that shunts blood away while in utero, they told me this could have even happen if I went to term. They did the surgery when he was 4 days old. He sailed through with flying colors after 10 days in the NICU he came home. I have picked the phone up a dozen times to call. However I always came up with some reason not to call." Sara thought how she can put 4 years into a few minutes.
"Andy was the perfect baby, no colic, I breastfed him till he was 18 months old. He is so inquisitive. He loves cowboys, especially Woody on Toy story, though Goofy and Aladdin are his favorite characters. I promised him for his 5th birthday we would go to Disneyland." Sara then started to cry, it hit her hard at this point, how many times had she seen people on the slab with subdural hematomas that had killed them.
"Shhh it is ok, you know what we both can take him to Disneyland. I have a lot to catch up on." Nick finally spoke, how could he get mad at her especially when there son was so sick.
"Nick I was gonna introduce you both on this trip, he knew who you are I have never kept you a secret, he knows it was my fault you were not there. I am so sorry." Sara cried more as she leaned up against Nick and he held her tightly.
"You know when I saw him with Linds my first thought was he looked like the picture on your purse, then when I talked to him his little eyes lit up. Then he said my Mommy has a friend Nick are you him? I knew then who he was I could just feel it. However I was not sure what he knew and he asked if I loved his Mommy, before I could answer he saw you and went running and then we both know what happen after that." Nick told her.
"I may not have got to answer him, however I will tell his Mommy the answer, I never have stopped loving you Sara. I will love you for rest of my life, and even in death I will love you." Then Nick gave her a kiss on her cheek.
"Would you please let me into your and Andy's life, if you want to stay in San Francisco I would move there, if not we can go wherever you want. I just do not want to loose either of you." Nick asked
Just then there was a gentle knock on the door a Doctor and Meg the nurse who had been there earlier entered the room.
"This is Dr Sims he is the pediatric trauma neurologist, Dr. Sims this is Mr Stokes and Ms. Sidle. Andy's parents." Meg made the introductions.
"We just got the results back of the CT and we will not need to do the MRI, Andy has a epidural hematoma and we are prepping him for surgery to release the pressure now. I need your consent for the surgery. I will be leaving a shunt with a pressure gauge to measure the pressure in his brain. The next 48 hours are going to be the toughest. However he has a 70 chance of coming out of this with minimal problems. He may have some memory loss and coordination issues, maybe some problems with speech. Then as with any procedure there is a small chance of severe bleeding and death. However without the surgery he will die." Dr Sims explained
"Where do I sign the consent?" Sara demanded.
"Here, I will take good care of your son, I promise." Dr. Sims said as he walked out of the room.
"Nick, I am so scared."
"So am I"
Over the next several hours the team arrived to check on Nick and Sara and learn how Andy was doing.
Finally after four long hours Dr. Sims came into the waiting area.
"I just want to let you know the surgery is over, the hematoma is drained and the pressure is normal in his brain. He is still in a drug induced coma; he will be in one for at least 48 hours. I recommend you go visit your son then go home and get some sleep. Once he wakes up I think you two are gonna be very busy trying to keep him in bed." Dr Sims grinned.
Both Nick and Sara went into the PICU and could see there son as he lay among the tubes and machines, he looked so small.
"Hey Andy, Mommy is here, I am going to go sleep for awhile, so you be good and get some sleep also. I will be back." Sara told him as she touched his warm hand.
"Hey little buddy, it's Nick…umm dad… I will take Mommy home and take care of her for you then after you wake up we will be here. I love you." He gave Andy a kiss on the check, then grabbed Sara's hand and pulled her toward the door.
"I hate to leave him." Sara said.
"Come on we are both tired, let's go to my place I have a guest room you can have. I will make you some dinner and then you can get some rest." Nick offered "Greg brought my Denali over it is in the parking garage. Catherine said she put your luggage in it also."
"Guess I do not get much of a choice." Sara said.
The ride to Nick's place was very silent. Sara suddenly realized that he was going past his old townhouse and was heading into a housing subdivision.
"You have a house?" Sara asked.
"Hush yeah, I bought it a year ago, decided I was tired of loosing all that money in rent, better invest it in something I could make money on instead."
Then Nick pulled up in front of the ranch style house with a rocked in front yard.
"The back has grass, and is large enough that Andy could have a swing set." Nick said as he started to think about having Andy and Sara at his house.
Sara realized how much she had missed Nick and his enthusiasm. Though she had a reminder daily what it was like, it was not the same.
Sara got out of the Denali and Nick grabbed her bags. Both remained very quiet, the quiet was almost deafening.
Nick opened the front door of his house. Inside looked much the same as it had looked over 5 years ago. The living room had his stereo and speakers and television. The colors were light and airy making the room seem large and more open than it was. Then she saw it, sitting on the fireplace was a picture of Nick and Sara that was taken of them about a week before she left. When Sara saw the picture she walked over to it, and started to cry.
"Nick, I am soo sorry….I never meant to hurt you, and now Andy and you and…."
The tears were now streaming and she was having difficulty talking as she thought how she could have lost Andy today and Nick would have never got to know his son and it was her fault.
Nick came up, and gave her a gentle hug and embraced her; just holding her was erotic and caused him to begin thinking about feelings that had never left. Yes, she may have never told him about there son, she may have lied, she may have broken his heart, however he could forgive her all that. How he was not sure, he just knew in his heart he forgave her. Nick then lifted her chin up and passionately they joined lips and kissed. He was relieved when she returned the kiss. Then all the years of loneliness for Nick and Sara unleashed into a broiled impassionate session as Nick gently picked Sara up and carried her to their bedroom.
To be continued please R&R