Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Chapter 3—The Waiting Is the Hardest Part
With his knee Horatio pushed the worn ottoman up to the old brown armchair until he was sure that it would be a good place for Yelina to put up her feet. He then set a pillow on the chair and patted it. "You should be comfortable right there" he said, satisfied. "You'll be able to sit with your feet up, like the nurse recommended."
Yelina hadn't had anything to eat or drink. She wore no makeup and had taken off her nail polish and jewelry. Ray Jr. was with his grandmother. By the door was the little red bag that she had packed for a night in the hospital.
But now it had all caught up to her. She had been sitting on the edge of the sofa, tired, watching her brother-in-law arrange things so she would be comfortable. Now she sighed, holding her head up and putting her hand on her angry pelvis again. She wasn't sure what bothered her more—the hunger, the thirst, the fear of pain, being out of work, Ray Jr, or the bleeding, but she was clearly at her wit's end. Ten o'clock couldn't come soon enough. Just get this over with so she could live some semblance of a normal life.
Sadly the Lieutenant watched her as she leaned her face on her hand and held her abdomen again. Her eyes were wet again.
"It'll be all right" he encouraged.
"I know" she said into her hand. "I just…. I don't know."
Horatio finally walked over and sat next to her on the sofa. She never looked up. Without a word he put his hand over hers on her painful, bleeding abdomen and guided her hand in circles over her tender, aching womb. "How's that feel?" he nearly whispered.
Surprised by his sudden tenderness, Yelina fought tears. "That…feels…much better." She let him interlace his fingers between hers as he continued to caress her stomach. There were no sounds except her quiet sobbing and the rustling of his guiding her hand over that tender spot.
She couldn't help it anymore. Yelina turned and wrapped her arms around him, letting her sobs out into the open now. For so long she had waited for a moment like this. He shushed her as he caressed her back. "It's okay, Yelina. Let it out. I'm gonna be right there for you when you go in, and when you wake up. Do you believe that?"
"Yes I do" she whispered between her sobs. "I really do."
After holding her for several minutes, he glanced at his watch. "Well, it's nine-thirty. I think we better go get you checked in."
As Yelina lay on the hospital bed in the waiting area, a strange sadness had replaced the fear. She thought about Horatio as he sat in the waiting area, away from her. She glanced down at the IV line that a nurse in green scrubs had stuck into her left hand, her eyes following the line all the way up to the saline bag that hung over her head. Her eyes then fell on the brown walls and the white curtains all around her. Those glaring lights. The smell of chemicals. Strange voices on the other side of the curtain. Naked except for that blue hospital gown and that cotton-thin blanket. That chart sitting on her knees. And those rubber slippers on her feet! She caressed her tender, raging belly again. In an hour that belly was going to be cut up, she thought. She had felt pain in the hospital before. She closed her eyes. Horatio wasn't there, her body was about to be cut up, and her womb would be sucked out with a vacuum cleaner. Tears ran down her face again.
"Buenos dias, Senora Salas!" a cheery voice called as yet another green-scrubbed man came through the white curtain.
"I speak English!" she snarled.
The man blushed at his mistake. "I'm very sorry. Miss Salas. I'm the nurse anesthetist; I'll be in charge of the sedation while Dr. Keener is doing your procedure. Just a few questions." He glanced down and scrawled at the chart. "Shouldn't be much longer. They're getting the OR room ready for you now, so I'm going to give you some 'I don't care' medicine before we take you over to the OR." He glanced at the chart. First, give me your full name."
"Yelina Salas" she said, her voice cracking.
Satisfied, he glanced at the chart again. "And Miss Salas, are you in any pain other than that IV line in your hand?"
She shook her head.
"Are you pregnant?"
"No."
The man sounded like an auctioneer as he quickly rattled off questions about chest pains, lung disease, seizures, diabetes, or anything else she may not have told the doctor, all the while glancing up at her between every question and watching her sad reaction.
"And what did you have for breakfast this morning?"
She smirked. "Absolutely nothing."
"Good answer." He then fastened a needle to a vial and injected it into her IV line. "We like to call this the 'I don't care' medicine. It will take the edge off as we get ready to take you in, and you'll get the rest of it when you get over to the OR."
Within minutes, Yelina felt a floating warmth in her body. The fear, the pain and the tenderness all simply floated away. The fact that Horatio wasn't there, she wasn't working, her hormones were tangled, and she was hungry, thirsty and upset didn't matter anymore. That she was nearly naked and alone under those glaring lights with strangers in scrubs and carrying needles didn't matter anymore. The idea of her insides being cut up and sucked out didn't matter anymore. In the curtained area she slowly lay back, letting her curls rest on the pillow. She now smiled as a horde of nurses and aides stuffed her curls into a cap, pulled the thin blanket to her waist, and wheeled her out into the hallway, past more nurses and aides. She felt as though she were flying as the bed carried her into the elevator, through the doors, and into the brown operating room. She simply looked up at the huge light over her head. It reminded her of the morgue. Plugs and wires being attached to her chest and fingers. Something about a sponge count. It all blurred together.
"Can you hear me Miss Salas?"
Before she opened her eyes, she was aware of a hissing noise. Little by little her senses came back. First her hearing, then her skin. Finally she opened her eyes.
Sitting next to her was a blue-scrubbed nurse who simply glanced at her and then back at some kind of monitor. Back and forth the small, black-haired woman looked at her and then at the monitor again. Something squeezed her arm periodically and let go with another hissing sound.
Yelina didn't feel any pain, as she had feared. But even in her weakness she could feel a strange emptiness where her raging womb had once been. Now, besides all the hissing, she could hear the Beep! Beep! Beep! of the heart monitor behind her head.
"How are you feeling?" the woman asked.
"Tired" she slurred.
"That's just the anesthesia wearing off. What I want you to do, Miss Salas, is take deep breaths. Start breathing the anesthesia out of your lungs." As the woman sat in front of the monitor, she motioned with her arms.
The P.I. just wanted to close her eyes and go back to sleep under all those wires and that nasal canula that hissed in her nose. But she pushed up on her ribcage and breathed out.
Suddenly the woman stiffened up. "Wait a minute! Miss Salas?" She reached over and frantically picked up the phone. "OR Recovery! Code Alpha! Code Alpha!"
Horatio sat expectantly in the quiet, empty hospital room. This was obviously designed for a woman to relax and recover, he thought. The walls were painted a dusty rose with burgundy bordering. A vase of fake flowers decorated the table under the TV set. As he looked out over the Miami skyline, he thought about how Yelina felt in his arms—her beautiful curls, that soft skin, those beautiful brown eyes. How he helped tenderly caress her angry womb, bringing the tough P.I. to tears.
Still, he couldn't help but glance at his watch and look at the doorway. It had been over an hour now. Any minute they were to bring her into the room, and he would hold her hand again, sitting with her as she rested. Dr. Keener said that everything had gone fine. It shouldn't be much longer before they bring her in, he thought. Any minute.
The brown-haired, ponytailed nurse met him at the doorway, carrying a clipboard.
"Mr. Caine?"
Horatio furrowed his eyebrows. "Ma'am? Is Miss Salas coming?"
She paused.
He could sense right away that something wasn't right. "Ma'am?"
"I'm afraid there's been a problem. We've had to take her back to the OR."
"What kind of problem?" he asked forcefully. "Is she gonna be okay?"
"We don't know yet. Her hemoglobin levels and her heart rate are dropping rapidly. The doctor thinks she may be bleeding internally. She'll be transferred to ICU after this so we can keep a closer eye on her. Come with me, please."
Adrenaline shot through him as he quickly followed the nurse. He knew the nurse couldn't give him any more information, but this was Yelina they were talking about. He had only held her close and savored her in his arms that morning. "Is she going to be all right?"
Slowly she turned to him. "You may want to go home and get some rest, Sir. We'll call you."
"Is she going to be all right?" he asked again.
Her green eyes met his. "The doctor's going to do everything he can, Sir. Now please. Go home. We'll call you."