A/N: Here's the next chapter!! Sorry it took so long! I'm almost done with chapter 5, so it should be up soon. FIanls are coming up soon, so after those are over i'll have a lot more time to write. Please read & review!!
Matt woke up to the ringing of his cell phone. He looked at his watch. It was 2 am. He grabbed his cell phone and answered, "Dr. Camden speaking," he answered.
"Dr. Camden, the test results for Lucy Kinkirk are here."
"Thank you, I'll be right there."
Matt got up off the cot that he had been sleeping on and stretched. Even though he knew that Lucy and the babies were stable, he had decided to stay at the hospital overnight and sleep on the cot in his office that he used when he was on call. He went out to the front desk where a nurse handed him a folder containing Lucy's test results.
Matt opened up the folder and studied the reports carefully. What he saw concerned him, so he called the obstetrician that was on call tonight, Dr. Fraiser, to look at the reports as well. Dr. Fraiser specialized in high-risk pregnancies.
"What do you think?" Matt asked once Dr. Fraiser had had a chance to look at he reports.
Dr. Fraiser turned to Matt. "I don't like what I see, Matt. I think we need to run some additional tests and try to find out more."
"Do you think I should tell the patient and her husband, or wait until the additional tests come back?"
"They need to be told right away. Tell them that we're going to run additional tests to see if we can't find out more. Don't panic them, just make them aware of the situation and what the treatment would be."
"Nathan," Matt said, addressing Dr. Fraiser, "this patient is my sister."
Dr. Fraiser looked up sharply from the test results he had been studying. "Your sister? Matt, can you handle this case?"
Matt nodded. "I have to. I don't want anyone but me to handle her case. I have to do it."
Dr. Fraiser placed a hand on Matt's shoulder. "Matt, if you need anything, don't hesitate to give me a call. I'm here for you."
Matt managed a small smile. "Thanks, Nathan, I appreciate that. I can handle this for now. Why don't you go back and try to get some sleep before you get woken up for an emergency."
Dr. Fraiser nodded. "Don't hesitate to call," he reminded Matt again, then turned to go back to his office.
Matt sighed. HE had to go let Kevin and Lucy know about the newest developments. He could wait until morning, but he thought it best to let them know as soon as possible.
Matt went down the hall to Lucy's room and knocked on the door, then entered. Kevin had woken up at the sound of the knock and met him at the door. He regarded Matt's rumpled clothes, then said, "You slept in your office, didn't you?"
Matt nodded. "I did. I wanted to see the test results as soon as they cam back, and I wanted to be close by just in case anything happened."
Kevin shook his head. "You know Lucy's going to be mad at you when she finds out."
"I know, but I couldn't help it, I had to stay. How long has Lucy been sleeping?"
Kevin glanced over at the form of his wife lying on the bed. "She fell asleep shortly after everyone left," he replied. He then glanced back over at Matt. "Matt, what's wrong? I can tell that something's wrong."
"The test results are back, Kevin, and they're not good." Matt waited a moment to let that sink in.
"What do you mean, they're not good? What's wrong Matt? Is it something with the babies?"
Matt shook his head. "I don't want to tell you anymore without Lucy. Can you wake her up? This is important."
Kevin walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. "Lucy," he said gently, "you need to wake up. Come on, Luce."
Lucy woke up and rubbed her eyes. "What's up?" she asked groggily.
"Matt needs to talk to us," Kevin replied.
Lucy looked over and saw Matt standing at the end of her bed. "Matt, what's wrong?" she asked, concern attached on her face.
"The test results came back, Lucy," he said, taking a seat in the chair beside her bed. "Lucy, they're not good."
"Is it something with the babies? Please, tell me!" she cried. Kevin wrapped his arm around her and Matt grasped her hand.
"Lucy, from the tests results, it appears that one of the babies may have a problem." Matt hated telling his sister such bad news, but he knew that she needed to know.
Lucy and Kevin stared at him in shock. Kevin was the first to speak. "What kind of a problem? Do you mean down syndrome or something like that?"
Matt slowly shook his head. "No, nothing like that. The baby has a congenital heart defect."
Lucy began to cry. "Are you sure that's what it has?"
"There's no way to know for sure until the babies are born. I've been involved in cases like this before, and sometimes the baby turns out to be perfectly normal." Matt replied, attempting to comfort her.
"How much of a chance is there that you're wrong?" Kevin asked.
"I don't know, Kevin, I really don't. We're going to run a few more tests before we an be absolutely sure. Right now, there's an equal chance of the test results being wrong as there is that the test results are right. We'll know more once we run some more tests."
"What about toxemia or anything like that? Why did Lucy collapse like that. At the beginning of her pregnancy, you mentioned toxemia and other complications. Is everything okay with Lucy?" Kevin wanted to know.
"All of the tests results for Lucy have come back negative. The only thing that was abnormal was her blood sugar level, which was low. There' nothing to be concerned about there, considering that Lucy had been getting sick all morning and afternoon. Her body didn't have enough sugar, that's all. As far as we know, Lucy is fine."
"When will you run these other tests?" Lucy wanted to know.
"In the morning, as soon as possible. Look, I need to let you two know, if these test results come back positive, then the baby almost definitely has it. If that's the case, then the baby will need surgery."
"Would Sarah still be able to be the baby's pediatrician or would we need a specialist?" Kevin wanted to know.
"Sarah would still be able to be the pediatrician, if that's what you want. I'm sure she'd be more than willing. You would also need a specialist, though. I know of a few whose names I can give you.
"How can one of the twins have this problem and not the other one?" Lucy wondered.
Matt sighed. He hated it when he didn't have an answer to his patients questions. "I can't explain that, Lucy. I don't know the answer. It's just something that happens sometimes. I'm sorry. He stood up. "Why don't you get some sleep. If you have any more questions, you can ask me in the morning, okay? Right now, I think you need to get some rest. And that's an order," he sternly.
Lucy nodded. "I will," she replied.
Matt turned to leave the room and was about to go out the door when Lucy spoke up again. "Matt?"
Matt turned back around.
"Thank you. I love you."
Matt smiled at her, walked back over to the bed, and gave her a hug. "I love you too, Lucy. I'm sorry I had to give you bad news like this."
When Matt had shut the door to his sister's room, tears started streaming down his face. He hated the fact that there was nothing he could do. He hated hurting his sister by telling her that information, but he knew that he had to tell her. He hurried down the hall to his office where he sat and cried and did research for several hours. He finally shut down his computer,, grabbed his stuff, and drove home.
When Matt got home, eh was surprised to see the living room light on and Sarah asleep on the couch. She had obviously been trying to wait up for him. He walked over and touched his wife lightly on the shoulder.
Sarah sat up and rubber her eyes, then looked at Matt. She knew the minute she saw his face that something was wrong.
"Matt, what's wrong? Is it Lucy?"
Matt shook his head. "Lucy's fine. It's one of the babies. It has a heart defect, Sarah." Matt couldn't hold back his tears. He had managed to compose himself on the way home, but telling the bad news to Sarah was just too much; he couldn't hold the tears back any longer.
Sarah put her arms around her husband. "Oh, Matt, I'm so sorry. You should have called me." Sarah's own tears began to flow.
Matt and Sarah sat and cried together for awhile. Finally, Matt pulled away. "I need to let everyone else know," he said.
"Can't it wait? You need sleep. Matt," Sarah said, concern evident in her voice.
Matt sighed and looked at the clock. It was almost seven o'clock. It had been nearly five fours since he had gotten the call saying that the test results were in. "No, it can't wait, Sarah. I need to tell everyone. Kevin and Lucy are going to need all the support they can get. It's almost seven, everyone's either up or will be getting up soon. I'll call a family meeting; that will be easiest. I'll see if Mom can have it at the house." Matt stood up and walked over to the phone.
Sarah sighed. She knew that nothing was going to stop Matt now. When he made up his mind to do something, nothing could stop him.
The first person Matt called was Annie. "Mom, this is Matt," he said when she answered the phone.
Annie immediately sensed something was wrong. "Matt, what's wrong? Is it Lucy?" she asked.
"No, Mom, Lucy's fine, I promise. I got the test results back, and they showed that one of the babies could have a problem."
Annie gasped. "What kind of problem?" she asked fearfully.
"A heart defect, Mom," Matt replied. "Look, I need to call the others still, but it would be easier to tell them all at once. Can I have everyone meet at your house?"
"Sure. Do you want me to call anyone?" Annie asked.
Matt thought for a moment. "Why don't you call Chandler, Ben, and Simon. I'll call everyone else."
Matt quickly hung up with Annie, then dialed Mary's number. "Carlos, it's Matt," he said when he got an answer.
"Can you and Mary go over to Mom's? I need to tell you all something."
When he got off the phone with Mary, he called Ruthie. "Ruthie, it's Matt. I need you and Peter to go over to Mom's house. There's a problem with one of Lucy's babies. I'll tell you more when everyone gets there."
By the time Matt had finished up on the phone, Sarah had Liam and Keller ready to go. "Are you ready?" she asked.
Matt nodded. "Yes, everyone's on their way. They'll be there shortly."
By the time Matt and Sarah got to Annie's, Ben, Peter and Ruthie, Simon and Rose, and Chandler and Roxanne were already there, waiting impatiently to hear the news.
"Matt, what is it? Is it Lucy?" Ben asked, concerned.
Matt shook his head. "No, Lucy's fine. It has to do with one of the babies. Once everyone gets here, I'll tell you."
Before long, Carlos and Mary arrived with their three kids in tow. Savannah and Erin had spent the night at Annie's house, so she sent them, along with all of the other kids, to Simon's old room, which had been turned into a playroom, to play. This allowed the adults to talk more freely.
Once all the kids were upstairs, twelve pairs of anxious eyes turned to look at Matt and Sarah. The most discerning ones, such as Ruthie, Mary, and Annie, could see that Matt had been crying.
Matt took a deep breath, let it out, then began telling his family the news. "I got the test results back early this morning. They showed that Lucy is doing just fine. As a matter of fact, she's going to be able to come off of bed rest. However, the test results did show a problem with one of the babies. It has a heart defect."
"What kind of a heart defect?" Ruthie asked. "Can it be fixed?"
"We're not exactly sure all what's wrong yet; what we do know is that the baby has a hole in its heart. It's quite possible that there's more wrong than that, but we don't know for sure yet." Matt paused to look at his watch. "In a couple of hours, Lucy has an ultrasound scheduled. Hopefully this will be able to tell us more."
"Can it be fixed?" Mary asked, repeating Ruthie's question.
"The hole in the heart will more than likely be able to be completely fixed when the baby is a few months old. However, if we find any other defects, that will complicate things."
"Will you have to take the babies early?" Annie wanted to know.
Matt shook his head. "No, unless another complication arises, Lucy should be able to carry the baby full term."
"So she'll have a normal pregnancy?" Simon asked.
"Yes, as of right now, she will be able to have a normal pregnancy. The only difference is that she will have to have a cesarean section. The baby's heart to weak to hold up during labor. " Matt glanced at his watch. "Do you have any other questions? I really need to get to the hospital."
Everyone shook their heads, so Matt and Sarah rounded up their two children and left.
After they had gone, everyone sat in silence for awhile, thinking about everything Matt dad told them.
Ben was the first person to break the silence. "Well, I'm glad that it's nothing too serious. I mean, I know it's serious, but it can be fixed by surgery. It's not like the baby has a defect or disease or something."
Annie agreed. "You're right. We should be happy that it's nothing major. Once the baby has the surgery, it will be just like any other child, running around and playing, doing whatever it wants."
"When will we find out the babies' sexes?" Sam wondered. "It doesn't seem right to keep calling a baby "it."
"They'll find out today. Matt's doing another ultrasound, so Kevin and Lucy will know after that what they're having," Ruthie replied. She and Matt had had a short talk while waiting for everyone else to get there.