Hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint and you don't hate me from the last chapter; I'm a little nervous about this one due to the lack of response on last chapter. This takes places from both Santana's and Brittany's point of view. And the flashback in this chapter is in bold. I hope that doesn't confuse anyone! I hope you guys enjoy! =D
Three. Tonight
"If my heart is full of sorrow, I'll call out for you."
- Tonight, Emy Reynolds
Sitting in the waiting room as a doctor felt awkward to say the least. The little time I spent in the waiting rooms back in New York was to deliver good news and all too often the unbearable too. But right now there wasn't any news at all.
Brittany and I have been sitting in the waiting room at Lima Memorial hospital for the past half an hour with any news. I'm sitting with Brittany's arm around my shoulder holding me close as we watch David pace the room and Reyna help my mother fill out patient forms.
I scan the room to search for any sign of doctors who appear to be coming our way. My scan immediately stops at the sight of a doctor standing at a nurses' station just outside the glass wall of the waiting room. I'd recognize the profile anywhere even if I haven't seen it in years. They are approached by a tall, thin blonde man who was the doctor who had been in the ER when my father was brought in. I can feel Brittany begin to rub my shoulder with her thumb to try and calm me down as the two doctors being to walk towards us. This wasn't the time to be getting uptight.
"Mrs. Lopez. I'm Dr. Fields, the neurologist on your husband's case." The doctor who had been in the ER scans our group for a moment before sticking his hand out to shake my mother's. It's clear that he's been a somewhat recent addition to the Lima Memorial staff because if he was here longer than two years he'd know my mother from charity dinners and other hospitals functions. He'd know that my mother hates it when someone calls her Mrs. Lopez; she says it makes her feel like she's my father's mother.
I change my gaze to the face that had cause me and Brittany so much pain back in the halls of McKinley High all those years ago. He looks at me for a moment curiously before a look of realization crosses his face. He still looks the same. Her hair may be slightly lighter and bordering on grey but his features are still the same though his brown eyes seem less spiteful.
"And this is the cardiothoracic surgeon who will be on his case as well, Dr." He continues put I cut him off involuntarily, making him unable to finish his sentence.
"Dr. Abrams. Artie." I nod my head as Artie's wheel chair comes to a stop. I feel Brittany place a hand on my knee as if to calm me down and ensure me that everything's alright. I give him the best smile I can muster trying to hide the awkwardness I know if bound to follow this.
"Long time no see, Lopez." Artie says calmly before giving me a smile that seems completely genuine. It's a hell of a lot more than I expected from him. It surprised me that he was a surgeon, it was extremely rare to find a wheelchair bound surgeon. Clearly he must have been extremely good in order to be accepted into a surgical residency, one could guess that his lack of use from his legs increased his hand's and arm's manual dexterity.
Out of the corner of my eye I see my mother give Brittany a look before opening her mouth to ask about Artie. She quickly shuts it again due to Brittany subtlety shaking her head signalling her to stop. I notice a look of curiosity and raised eyebrows between Reyna and David.
"As I was saying we will be the two main doctors on your husband's case." Dr. Fields begins to continue talking to my mother. "Your husband had an embolic ischemic stroke of a thromoboembolism, which is a blood clot. He is a high risk patient due to his LVAD and the fact he went into A-Fib when he was brought in."
The more I heard from Dr. Fields the less comfortable I get. Every word he says eggs on my fears; confirms the worst.
"I just began administering tPA, which will help break down the clot which will allow blood to flow freely to your husband's brain." Dr. Fields finishes. I can't help but thank God that this guy seems to know what he's doing.
Artie takes Dr. Fields silence as a queue for him to begin. "I will be hooking Mr. Lopez up to non-mobile LVAD in a few moments and removing the one that he currently has until he has regained enough strength to go home. Then another cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Shay, will we replace it with a mobile LVAD so he can go home"
I'm confused by Artie statement. She was supposed to be the cardio surgeon on Dan's case yet another doctor would be replacing his LVAD.
"You won't performing the procedure yourself, Dr. Abrams?" David takes it upon himself ask. This makes me sure that I'm not the only one confused.
"No, sir. Dr. Shay will be the surgeon on Mr. Lopez's case next week because I'm transferring to another hospital out of personal obligation. I assure you, sir, that Dr. Shay is a fine surgeon and will not take the case lightly in any way." He nods slightly as if he's trying to make a guarantee.
My mother gives me a look as if to ask if it's okay. Brittany answers her by nodding slightly. "Well thank you, Dr. Abrams for taking the time to take my husband's case before you leave. This hospital clearly will be losing a great surgeon, I assure you." My mother smiles at Artie now for the first time.
"Thank you, Mrs. Lopez. No problem at all. I'm about to go check on Dr. Lopez but after that you all may go up and see him. Unfortunately hospital policy only allows three visitors at a time so two of you will have to wait outside. I apologize for the inconvenience."
At Artie's words I know for sure he's changed. The Artie Abrams I knew never had the word apologize or any word to do with being sorry in his vocabulary. And he sure as hell never apologized himself. He may have been a paraplegic but that definitely did no make him what one would consider a nice guy.
"Dr. Abrams and I will be going to check your husband now, ma'am but we will have a nurse come get you when you are able to see him. If you have any questions or concerns please as a nurse on the floor to page either Dr. Abrams or myself and we will respond as soon as we can." Dr. Fields takes the chart I only now notice Artie is holding from him before making his way out of the waiting room, being followed by Artie who surprisingly gives Brittany a quick smile before making his exit. I can't help but feel my stomach churn at the sight of him addressing Brittany. He had long lost that right.
I can see Reyna and David begin to give each other looks again just as they did when I first announced I knew Artie. My mother continues to look to Brittany for some sort of answer.
"So you know Dr. Abrams, huh Tana?" Reyna is the one to finally break the silence.
"Yeah, Abrams, Brittany and I go way back." I reply still leaving questions hanging in the air.
I can't see Brittany's face but I'm assuming her expression is telling Reyna to say nothing more. My assumptions are confirmed by the slight squeeze of Brittany's hand on my knee. I need to clear this up because I can't stand to see Britany acting this way for much longer. She shouldn't be worrying about me right now because of this, not if mu father is in the hospital still fighting for his life.
I lean into Brittany's body more, almost burying myself in her hair. "I'm fine. I promise." I whisper in her ear. I know she'll think I'm lying but right now I'm anything but lying. Seeing Artie after all this time may have shocked me at first but right now in this moment all I'm worried about is my father, my wife, and my children; my family. Not a man I barely know.
Santana and I had decided to let the others see father first. I had decided that this would be a good time to talk away from everyone else. Santana was standing outside her father's room looking in through the glass window that made up a quarter of the wall.
"San?" I take her hand in mine and begin to rub my thumb on the back of her hand. It was one of those things that I did that loved though she'd never admit it.
"What? Sorry, you said something." She turns her head slightly so that she's now looking at me.
"I was going to ask if you were okay." I give her the best smile I can muster at the moment trying to get her to open up to me.
"I'm fine, Brittany" She simply replies before changing her gaze. She looks down at the vending machine that down the hall.
"San, you're not fine." I know that if I don't get this out of her now I won't later.
"That's the thing, I am. I am perfectly fine except for the fact my father is in the hospital and I'm worried about my wife and children. Besides for that I'm fine." She looks back at me again; her eyes straight into mine.
"This nothing to do with the fact that your father's doctor just happens to be my ex who tried to take me away from you?" I press her now because with Santana it's like tug-a-war; you pull, she pulls back. You've got to draw it out of her. I've had this experience more times than I can count.
"What is up with you today?" I ask Santana as I take a seat on the kitchen counter watching her cook.
"Nothing, I'm fine." I can tell I've struck a nerve because she begins chopping peppers with even more force than she had before.
She had been giving me this routine all day. One minute she was acting perfectly fine then once someone mentioned anything that had to deal with the baby, her family, or mine her mood did an almost complete one eighty.
"No, you're not okay. Don't lie to me, I know you better than you think I do." I keep pressing her.
"Brittany, just drop it okay?" She says as she begins to furiously chop onions to go with the peppers.
"No," I hop down off the counter and cross the room so that I'm standing in front of the sink next to her. "No, I will not drop it. I won't drop it because something's bothering you and you shouldn't have to bottle it all up, Santana. It isn't good for you or the baby. You know that."
"Brittany, I don't want to talk about it okay?" She finally looks at me; her russet brown eyes are filled with anger and anxious. I can see it slowly eating away at her.
"Okay, Santana. I'll let it go." I place my hand on her arm for a moment before turning around to get the wine.
As I pull the bottle out of cooler I hear her slam the knife down on the counter top. "Damn it, Brittany." She picks up the dish cloth and wipes her hands before turning around leaning back against the counter. I put the bottle of red wine on the counter and look her in the eye.
Her eyes are now brimmed with tears. I can't tell if it's because of the onions or because of what's bothering her.
"Just let it out."
"Our first son's name isn't going to be named Tommy." Her voice is calmer than I expected but her admission catches me vastly off guard. She begins to shake her head before putting it in her hands.
I automatically place my hand on my hip before I verbally react. "Why wouldn't our son be named Tommy? We've been talking about baby names ever since we found out we were having a boy. We agreed that we'd name him Thomas after my brother. We named Lily after my mom so and we said we'd name him after my brother." My voice is laced with anger and confusion. It was a little known fact but I had a little brother who was born a year after me, he was born premature and only stayed alive long enough to be baptized and for my parents to hold him. It was the reason why my parents waited so long to have Ashley. I never met my brother but that didn't mean I loved him with all my heart. "We agreed,"
"No, we didn't. You and your mother agreed. That probably just made me sound like an insensitive idiot but you know me, the mouth moves before the brain explains. I didn't explain it to you." She now takes the time to look up at me. Her bold brown eyes meet my sky blue irises, they may be opposite of each other but are ever so complementary.
"Explain it too me, then." I'm highly curious at her reasoning behind her words.
"Our first son isn't going to be named Tommy, it's a family thing, I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier but you were so happy when you found out we were having a boy because you'd get to name him after your brother. But after hearing about it for the past two weeks I can't hold it in any longer. There's a, I guess you could call it a rule, in my family. The rule is that you can't name a child who doesn't plan on being your last child after someone who had passed away. It's a superstition, not rule really, but we all follow it by any means."
"But why?" I can't help but raise my eyebrow slightly. I've never known Santana to be the superstitious type but this definitely has struck a nerve.
"It's bad luck. Every one in my family who has ever done it has either lost a child or was unable to have anymore children after the child in question was born." She runs her fingers through her hair before tucking a few strands behind her ears. "And I don't want that to happen to us." Santana looks me in the eye again now. She looks like a teenage girl who's just had her best friend tell her that she's being cheated on.
I walk on to over to her wrapping my arms around neck, pulling her close before slowly rubbing my thumb on the base her neck. "And it won't." I smile. "Thank you for telling me."
I place my lips softly on hers. Her lips on mine are causing a frenzy to begin and adrenaline to rush through my veins. I try and show her how much I love her, how much I care about what she's thinking by keeping the kiss as chaste as possible without letting the passion behind it becoming obsolete. I can tell that she understands by the feeling of her hands on my hips for a moment before wrapping her arms completely around my waist.
As I pull away a smiles forms on Santana's face as she sniffles. "You understand right?" I nod slightly because I do understand, I do. "I promise, our last child we'll name after you brother, I promise." I expect her to go off in classic Santana fashion and begin rambling. But I'm pleasantly surprised at the sensation of her lips on mine once more even if it's only for a few moments.
"I love you." I smile widely showing off my slight dimples fully knowing that it's bound to make her smile again.
"I love you too, Britt-Britt. So are we okay now?" She asks somewhat sheepishly.
"We're more than okay." I can't help but giggle slightly because right now I know that she'll keep her promise, no matter how long it takes, because she's my Santana and she'll do whatever it takes to make me happy. And I love her for it.
"No, Artie Abrams has nothing to do with this. I promise you. All I'm concerned about now is my father, you, the kids, and our family, your family. If I need you I promise you I'll let you know. Artie," Santana replies but she is cut of mid sentence.
"Sorry, were you trying to get my attention?" Artie rolls over to Santana and me from the nurses' station from across the hall. I hadn't noticed him at the nurses' station until now.
Santana thinks fast on her feet and begins to start up a conversation with Artie, but not before signalling she's is in fact okay be squeezing my hand. "Yes, I know it's not your specialty but I was wondering if you knew how the tPA was going?"
As if on cue loud beeping begins sound from my father's room. The look of shock on my mother's face is more than enough for me to know that something definitely is not right, definitely not right in the slightest.