Disclaimer: I own nothing Twilight related.
In the beginning of this story some people kept asking for Sam and Emily and I didn't actually have a miracle for them yet, but now I do, so this is for you. I hope everyone enjoys.
December 21, 2011
Sam's POV
I pulled over into the parking lot of a twenty-four hour truck stop for a coffee when I started falling asleep at the wheel. Working fifty hours a week and then driving back and forth between La Push and Seattle every weekend was draining me.
I have been putting in over time so that I can afford the drive back and forth to Seattle. With Emily not working at the moment, I need to make all the money I can, so I work all the available overtime that I can get my hands on.
Three months ago our world began to crumble. Our nine year old daughter, Gabriel began getting sick. What the doctor said was a common cold, kept getting worse and worse until she was admitted to Seattle medical Center. Her condition was far worse than a cold and she has been in the hospital for three months.
Emily took a leave from work and has stayed with Gabby in the hospital. I would love nothing more than to stay with Gabby also but we need to pay the bills and the hospital bills are climbing to unthinkable amounts. I drive up every Friday and stay through Sunday night.
I got back on the road with my coffee in hand and made it to the hospital without falling asleep and getting into an accident. I took the elevator up to the children's wing and walked to Gabby's room.
"Daddy!" She yelled as I walked into the room.
"Hi, my angel." I said wrapping her in a huge hug. I loved my little girl to pieces, she is so much like her mother, and I don't know what I would do if she couldn't fight this thing. But, she's strong, she has certainly proved that.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Good." She smiled. "Nurse Mary said I'm doing so good today that she gave me an extra pudding."
"These nurses are going to fatten you up if they keep spoiling you." I laughed.
Since the day Gabriel got here, she has had the entire staff wrapped around her little finger.
"Hey, baby." I said as I kissed Emily hello.
"I've missed you." She said.
"Me too." I said back. "How is she today?"
"She is doing really well." Emily said as she watched Gabby sitting up in her bed drawing a picture. "They let her go outside today."
"That's great." I said excitedly. Gabriel has not been able to go outside or even off the Children's wing because of her compromised immune system. Letting her actually go outside is a huge improvement.
"It was nice outside, dad." Gabby said. "It was cold, but I saw a bunny. Mom said we couldn't catch it."
"She's probably right." I smiled. "Bunnies can't really come in the hospital."
"That's what mom said, but I wanted all the kids to see it. But mom took a picture and I showed everybody."
"I'm sure everyone loved that." I said.
"They did. Especially the real little kids." She said. "I didn't want to show Mark, but mom told me that wasn't nice. And then Mark told me all about his pet rabbit at home."
Mark is a little ten year old boy down the hall that has a crush on Gabby, but Gabby says he's weird. She doesn't really have a reason why she thinks he's weird, she just does. As her father, I agree with her. Any boy that looks at her is weird, and can move along.
"Daddy, will you will be here on Christmas?" She asked with a frown on her face.
"Actually I am off of work for a little bit, so I am here until after Christmas." I answered.
"Yes!" She screamed and threw herself at me choking me with her little arms around my neck.
Gabby released me and ran out of the room yelling, "Mary, my dad is staying with me until Christmas!"
Mary is one of Gabby's favorite nurses. Mary is the main supplier of the extra pudding.
"So, I hear the greatest dad in the world will be here for Christmas." Marry said as she walked into the room.
"I will be here." I said smiling at the fact that Gabby was telling everyone I was the greatest dad.
Mary smiled and said, "She is so excited. She is running room to room right now telling everybody."
Normally the kids have to stay in their own room, but like I said, her finger's have everyone wrapped around them.
"The doctor would like to talk to the both of you." Mary said. "He will be in, in a few a few minutes."
After Mary left the room I turned to Emily and said, "That's usually a bad thing."
"Don't start thinking the worst." Emily said while grabbing my hand and squeezing gently. "She's doing great. Look at her she's full of energy, she's happy, she seems better."
I knew all of that should have made me feel better, but Gabby went through brief periods like this. She would act normal and healthy again and then two days later she would be sick again, worst than the last time. I had to just keep reminding myself that she could get better and stay better.
"Good afternoon." Dr. Banner smiled as he came into the room.
We greeted Dr. Banner and then braced ourselves for what he had to say.
The doctor sat on the end of Gabby's bed and looked down at the chart he had in his hand. "I was waiting until both of you were here to have this conversation."
At that, my throat seized up, horrible scenarios running through my mind.
"We have been running the same tests on Gabriel over and over again over the past week, and she has finally beaten her illness." The doctor said.
"She's better?" I asked quietly while Emily cried into my chest.
"She's better." He said. "Her blood count is normal, her temperature is down, and her heart rate is back to a normal rhythm. Her oxygen level, everything, normal. Letting her go outside was a bit of a test and she did great."
"She's better." I sighed closing my eyes thanking God for this.
"That's not all, she's also going home." He smiled. "We are going to keep her tonight and then in the morning she is free to go home."
"Oh, thank you." Emily cried. "Thank you, thank you."
The doctor laughed and said, "We are thankful she is better, but we are all sad that she is leaving. I know all the nurses are going to miss her around here."
That night as Emily and I lay on the small cot that was brought in for us I smiled that we would never have to sleep on this cot again, or drive that horrible drive from La Push, or eat anymore hospital food, and we would finally be taking our angel home.
"Can I take my Christmas Tree?" Gabby asked as Emily was packing up all of her things to leave.
In the beginning of December Gabby tried talking the nurses into putting a Christmas tree in her room. Gabby couldn't have a tree in her room but what the nurses did was even better. The day after Gabby asked for the tree the nurses brought in a huge paper Christmas tree that they had made and taped it to the wall. Emily, Gabby and I all drew lights, and ornaments on the tree. Other kids from the ward came in to help draw decorations, and even the kids who couldn't leave their rooms made decorations and the nurses glued them to the tree.
"You sure can." Mary said. "You need to take it home and hang it up so that you never forget us."
Gabby laughed and said, "I will think of you every time I eat pudding."
"Alright, who's ready to go home?" Dr. Banner asked as he walked in the room.
"I am!" Gabby cheered.
"All you have to do is sign the discharge papers." He said turning to Emily and I. "Keep giving her, her medication, and follow up with the specialist I referred you too. And try to keep her out of large groups of people for now while her immune system builds back up. That also means still no school for awhile."
Gabby made us all laugh when she mumbled, "That's the only good part of being sick."
Dr. Banner handed me a folder and said, "There is her prescriptions, and information on the specialist she will be seeing and your hospital bill."
"Don't you usually mail the hospital bill?" I asked. We have insurance, but like most Americans, our insurance wasn't the greatest and most of Gabby's hospital stay was not covered.
"Yes, that is procedure, but you should probably take a look." He said.
I inhaled deeply and opened the folder while Emily sat next to me looking along with me.
The bill was insane; the pages seemed to go on forever, with everything that was charged, everything from her room cost, to all her tests, medications, procedures, even four dollars for a Band-Aid. I swallowed thickly when I finally got to the last page and scrolled down; amount due: $0.
"What is this?" I asked. "The insurance said they were only covering a quarter of the cost."
Dr. Banner pulled a red bow out of his pocket and slapped it on top of the bill and said, "It has already been taken care of. You guys have a great Christmas." He turned to Gabby and said, "You too Gabriel, we are going to miss you."
"I'm going to miss you too." She smiled.
After the doctor walked out of the room Gabriel looked at us and took in the silent sobs of her mother and the stray tears I had running down my face and said, "What's wrong? And I still sick?"
"No." Emily said pulling Gabby into her arms. "You are not sick. And I am so happy about that."
I put arms around my two girls and send up a silent thank you to God, the doctors, and Santa, all for the miracles they had just given us.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm sure you noticed that I never specified what Gabriel's illness was. There are a couple reasons for this. 1, I couldn't think of an illness that I actually knew anything about and 2, I didn't want to give a child an illness on Christmas, and I already killed someone in this story. (We still miss you Alec. Lol.) So, I am going to leave her illness to your imagination. Also, I'm not a doctor and didn't have time to do research and I didn't want to get anything wrong.
I have to give credit where credit is due and the idea for this chapter came from kimi14701, so a big thanks to her!
Leave a review and I will see you tomorrow!