A/N Hello again! This is going to be a super duper short chapter mostly because I want to set it up to a bigger thing. Secondly, there is a question at the end that I would like your input on. You don't have to care at all but it would be nice if I got some kind of opinion. Lastly, (promise) it WILL get less sad/melodramatic/majorly depressing, but like good wine it is better with time. Thanks -V
Previously: DUNANAH
As they all remained huddled on the ground, a doctor came out of the OR wing door. "Paige McCullers? Do I have the family of Paige McCullers?"
"That's us!" Emily tried to get up but her wrist gave out half way through. The doctor grabbed her elbow and helped her up the rest of the way. "Is she ok? Did she make it through the surgery?" He didn't respond to her questions and kept a stoic face. "Ma'am are you related to Ms. McCullers?" Emily shook her head no."Do you know if Ms. McCuller's parents are around or an immediate family member. I know you are worried about your friend but I legally can't tell you anything without their permission." Before Emily or anyone else could answer, Pam grabbed the doctor and turned him around towards her.
"First of all, sir, Paige is her girlfriend not some girl scout buddy. Honestly we are closer to her family than anyone else you are going to get tonight. Secondly, I am on the phone with her parents and until they get her tomorrow I have medical power of attorney over Paige but right now they would really like to know whether or not their daughter is dead. Is that too much to ask?" The doctor and Emily were completely stunned by Pam's aggression. By the time she had finished, Emily realized she hadn't even taken a breath.
"Well Mrs…?" He waited for a response. "Fields, Pam Fields and this is my daughter Emily." Pam moved next to Emily and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Well Mrs. Fields, my name is Dr. Khana and I am the general surgeon working Paige's case. If you come with me I would like to talk to you about her condition." Dr. Khana led them into a separate lounge that appeared to be for breaks. After they all sat down, he pulled out a piece of paper with an outline of a person and their internal anatomy. "What I am about to explain to you may be confusing but to start out I can tell you that the most pressing problems have been dealt with. Now, we are looking at the ramifications of her blood loss and head injuries." They both just nodded and he continued. "Ms. McCullers…" Before he continued Emily cut him off, "Paige, you should just call her Paige." The last part came out in a whisper. "Well, the trajectory of the knife through Paige's abdomen did not strike any major organs. However, it cut through several vessels that we had to seal and contain." He circled a portion of the picture right above the belly button. "This was the most affected area, but as I said it has been completely contained and she will have a scar from where we had to make a larger incision. The more pressing problem now is the damage she suffered to her brain. Did you see her get hit at any point?" Emily thought back to the lighthouse and tried to pin point exactly when and where Paige got hit. "She was kicked in the back of the head once and then on the side near her eye. I think she might have also hit her head when she fell."
"That it what we were afraid of, when she coded blood stopped flowing to her brain. At some point, when your brain is deprived long enough one becomes brain dead." Emily took in a nervous breath and held her mother's hand tighter. "The test we ran on her shows that she has brain function but what we are unsure of is how it may have been affected by the other trauma."
"I don't understand what you're saying."
"In short, Paige might have loss some of her brain functions. Certain regions of the brain control different things. Some parts control motor skills like speech and movement, other parts control how we react to situations, and the most concerning portion of the brain is the hippocampus and the other portions that control memory." Emily's breath caught in her throat. "You mean she could lose her memory?" "My colleague, who is a neurologist, and I agree that if any damage occurred it will be her ability to recall recent events, or short term events. These thoughts and memories have not been compounded in our brains as often and we are more likely to lose them. The good news is that with most trauma like this, the memory loss is only temporary and should return as the brain swelling decreases."
"Emily do you mind leaving the room for a little bit so I can talk to the doctor alone." She was too tired to argue and she the two pieces of information that mattered: Paige was alive and she probably wouldn't remember the last few weeks. Pam waited until Emily was out of ear shot. "Doctor please be honest, are we really out of the woods?" He reached out for her hand and sincerely squeezed it. "I will never tell you that we are a 100% there or even that Paige is responding well. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that I am doing everything in my power to keep her safe. I hope that is good enough for you." She nodded and left the room to update Paige's parents.
Emily had returned to her friends and she told them the good news but left out the part about amnesia. It was a lot for her to even think about losing Paige physically, but now it was nearly impossible to face the fact that Paige might be around but not remember what they had. Emily was taken out of her thoughts by Spencer's hand. "Em when can you see her?"' That was the one question they never asked. Where would she be and could they even get in. Emily made her way over to the nurses table and rang the bell. "Hi can I help you?"
"Yes, I was wondering if you knew if Paige McCullers was out of surgery and what room she would be in?"
"Ma'am I am sorry but I can't give out that information if you are not an immediate family member. I've seen you over there all night and I wish I could tell you something but if you're not family or an employee I can't help you right now." Emily was hoping she could use the same excuse her mom did but she didn't need to because Callie came to her rescue. "Hey Jane, you know that kid I just brought in? McCullers. I was wondering what room she was in so I could check on her because I am a hospital employee." Jane played along. "Yes of course, let me just pull that up for you. Here we go McCullers comma Paige." She turned the computer screen towards Callie but it was just too far away for Emily to see. "Do you mind reading it to me, you know I can't see without my glasses." She turned the screen back. "Of course, room 413 West Wing." Callie started walking towards the west entrance and waved Emily to follow her. "Oh and don't worry about staying too long Callie the nurses made their rounds 10 minutes ago." Emily's ability speak had been lost to her and she simply nodded her appreciation. She held up a finger to Callie telling her one second, and she went back over to her friends.
"You guys are truly amazing for staying this whole time with me but it is 3 in the morning and nothing is going to come from you sitting in these chairs all night. I am going to go sit with Paige until her parents come but I will call you if anything changes. And Spencer I am so…" Spencer grabbed her hand and the look they shared said everything. They group hugged one last time and Emily began following Callie leaving her mom and friends behind.
Emily was stepping in time with Callie so she didn't get left behind but she tried to stay a little bit behind so she wouldn't have to make eye contact. "I talked to a few people around and they said that as soon as they replaced her blood volume and stitched her up all of Paige's readings were normal. But you have to understand that when a person's body goes through a trauma like this it leaves them looking weak. So I have to ask, will you be able to see her hooked to a bunch of machines and unresponsive?" Callie stopped in her tracts and turned to look Emily in the eye. Emily met her gaze and shook her head yes. Callie pointed to the door to their right and Emily red the door number: 413. She put her hand on the handle and as she twisted it she turned back to Callie. "Thank you so much for everything you did for me tonight. You don't even know me but you saved me from going under."
Emily opened the door all the way and was hit by the immediate smell of bleach. It's what she hated about hospitals. They were always so clean and every room was wiped down so thoroughly between every person. It wasn't about the cleanliness it was the principle that some people spent their last moments sitting in this room but the second they were gone, those moments were washed away leaving only the smell of bleach. Step by step Emily got closer to Paige's bedside. Callie's imagery was not far off. Paige was white washed with multiple colored wires strung along her chest. Her hair was matted and still had bits of dry blood in it. Her face was bruised all along the left eye socket all the way to the base of her ear. Even her hands were cut and bruised from the duct tape. Emily pulled the chair from the corner next to the bed and slid her hand into Paige's. She rubbed light circles with her thumb over the few scratches and thought of what got her here.
In only a few years, all her dreams had completely changed. She lost all hope of a swimming scholarship, her grades plummeted, her first girlfriend died, her best friend died, and her life turned into a puppet show controlled by some psychologically disturbed teenager. Somewhere though among the hospital trips and close encounters she was able to find a connection to normalcy, an escape into a world that could be hers if she just let go. But she couldn't leave her past behind and now she had dragged down the one person who made her feel safe. She fought to keep her eyes open but she knew her body needed time to heal too. As she began drifting away, the phone on the table rang. Assuming it was the doctor, she picked it up. A distorted voice came on the line. "Thank you for doing my dirty work, but next time let the bitch die." She slammed the receiver down and paced back in forth. She was too tired to think or act. She was almost too tired to even breathe. She went back to her chair but before she sat down she brushed a stray piece of hair out of Paige's face. She leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I love you. " She leaned closer and whispered in her ear, "don't forget me." Not long after she sat in the chair she had fallen asleep hunched over the bed.
-5 hours later-
Emily awoke to a nurse checking Paige's vitals. She looked at the clock and it was just a little past 8. She had made it through the night, they both had. The nurse finished her rounds by changing Paige's bandage and she informed Emily that the doctor would be in soon. Emily continued to stroke her hand and doze off but before she had completely closed her eyes she felt a twitch from Paige's hand. Her eyes shot open as she watched Paige slowly regain consciousness. "Oh, Oh my God, Paige." Paige had completely opened her eyes and was scanning the room. The last place her eyes landed were on her entwined hands. She stared at their hands for a few moments and then looked into Emily's eyes. "Emily?" A sudden sense of relief rushed through Emily's body and she could feel a weight lift off her chest. "Paige, I was so worried…" Before she could finish, Paige jerked her hand out of Emily's grasp. "Why am I in the hospital?" Emily understood how frightened Paige must be and tried to be calm. "last night you were attacked and now you are recovering." It was the simplest form of a messy night.
Paige took in her surroundings but couldn't remember entirely what had happened. "I am just so happy you came back to me." Paige still had a confused face on her look. "…to you?" Emily ignored her comment and leaned in to kiss her but Paige pushed her away before she had the chance. She clicked the emergency button and tried to move but even the slightest vertical movement made her head swim. "What are you doing here? Did Allison put you up to this? Did she attack me last night?" As Paige was still rambling off questions, Emily stood there stunned. Paige had been using Ali's name in the present tense. Before Emily could say anything, Dr. Khana rushed in. "is everything alright? Ms. Fields what is going on?" Dr. Khana hadn't realized that Paige was awake but as soon as he did he moved Emily out of the way to check her vitals. "Ms. McCullers I am your surgeon Dr. Khana, do you mind telling me how you are feeling?"
"I feel like I was hit by a train and there are small explosions going on in my head." Dr. Khana chuckled and held a light in front of her eyes. "Ok well I guess she likes you for your sense of humor."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your girlfriend, she probably likes your sense of humor."
"Sir, I don't have a girlfriend, I am completely and 100% heterosexual." Emily's eyes started to well up as her fears came to life. Dr. Khana looked at her and she just shook her head. "Paige can you answer me one more question, what year is it?"
Paige laughed a little bit, "Damn, I wish my classes were this easy, its 2009"
A/N: So question of the day-
I have two ideas that would continue this in an interesting way but I want your opinion
The next chapter is set so much into the future where this issue isn't resolved but there are a lot of flashbacks that will tell the story up to that point and in the end it will all work out.
Continue with this start to finish format and tell the story up to that end point where everything will work out.
Side note- any facts/dates/ or perceptions that might be wrong I mostly edited for the context of this story so it is kind of A/U