Hugh Lars Quartermaine couldn't watch but also couldn't look away as his cousin's wife applied paddles to Marla's chest and her torso bolted upright then dropped.
"Switch compressors. Resume compressions. I am pushing Epinephrine." Dr. Monica Quartermaine ordered.
Hugh felt one of his other cousins, Celia Quartermaine at his elbow.
"Why don't we go sit down over there and let them work, Hugh," Celia whispered.
As logical as Celia's request was, Hugh Lars couldn't comply. As much as he couldn't bear to look but couldn't look away his feet also would not move.
"Hold compressions. Do we have a pulse?" Monica asked.
"No," Dr. Ryan Grabler said somberly with a mournful shake of his head.
"That is still ventricular fibrillation. Charging. Ok everyone clear I will shock on three. One…two…three," Monica said. She reapplied the paddles to Marla's chest.
Marla's torso again lurched upward and dropped but there was an unmistakable gasp and groan.
"There is a pulse!" Ryan exclaimed.
"And an organized rhythm. Hold compressions. Alan, see if you can get a blood pressure," Monica said.
Hugh Lars released a breath. His wife was alive!
Paramedics seemed to rush into the room at that point and only then was he able to step back to allow them better access to his wife.
XXXXXXXX
In the Port Charles Grille, Sarah Webber took a bite of her Capellini with Scallops. The evening had been almost too perfect. Nikolas had shown up right on time and with flowers. They had driven to dinner in his jaguar, and he had brought her to the best restaurant in town. Despite that, she found herself thinking of Zander, or at least the after-hours party she was missing. Unless of course she didn't need to miss the party. Perhaps she didn't.
Sarah reached out and laid a hand over Nikolas's. "I know you really tried to make tonight special, and I do appreciate that. I'm just sorry I am not better company. I'm afraid I still really am not feeling well," she said. She took effort to make her voice sound weak, and tired. Then she blinked her eyes a few times to evoke the tears on command that always got her out of trouble.
XXXXXXXX
Nikolas Cassadine wished he had been paying more attention to whatever Sarah had been saying before she burst into tears. Instinctively he rose, extracted a handkerchief, and passed it to her as he desperately tried to figure out why she was sobbing.
Sarah accepted the handkerchief and quickly dabbed at her eyes before she doubled over clutching her stomach. "I'm sorry, Nikolas, I'm suddenly in a lot more pain. Perhaps we could skip the movie and you could just take me home," she said.
"I can do that, or should I bring you to the Emergency Department? I could call your grandmother to meet us there." Nikolas offered.
Sarah bit her lip as if she was trying not to cry.
Nikolas wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders. "I am here, Sarah. Let me help," he said.
Sarah bit her lip again. "I think I just want to go home. My Grandmother is working on getting me an appointment with a Gastroenterologist at Cornell," she said.
"Of course, I will take you home," Nikolas agreed.
XXXXXXXX
Jasper Jacks barely cared when Brenda informed him, she needed to go home with AJ Quartermaine to help out with the kids since Monica had gone in the ambulance with Marla and the paramedics, and Alan had needed to return to the hospital as well. He was far too focused on wondering what Paul Williams was going to reveal. He knew Lois was hiding something and tomorrow he would learn the truth. Then he would figure out how to leverage that truth for a relationship.
Unfortunately, as he made his way to the elevator that would bring him to his Penthouse Suite, his confidence ebbed. Past attempts to use truth as a bargaining chip with Lois had not been successful.
September 7, 1996
Jasper Jacks could almost taste victory as he sauntered up to the front door of the Ashton house and depressed the bell. The door was opened almost immediately which briefly made his heart soar until he realized that Lois had only opened it so quickly because she was standing by the door organizing the foyer closet. "Hello, Lois," he began as he felt the wind flowing out of his sails.
"I'm sorry, but this really isn't a good time, Jax," Lois said.
"Looking back on our conversation the other night, I feel unsettled," Jax said. Unsettled wasn't exactly the right word. Defeated was more appropriate but then that would require him to admit to Lois he had been attempting to seduce a married worman. She hadn't been particularly enamored with people who did that in the past.
Lois shrugged her shoulders as she hung two of Ned's winter coats back in the closet. "So, you came to apologize?" she asked.
Apologize? Did she really expect him to apologize? Didn't she know that Jackses never apologized?
Lois laughed and then shrugged her shoulders again. "Or not, I suppose! Listen, Jax, like I said this is not a good time," she said. Then she stepped into the walk-in closet and extended her hand to the two-year-old who was playing on the floor.
Dutifully Brooklyn Ashton stood up and followed her mother out of the closet with teddy bear in tow.
"You don't look well, Lois. Is everything alright?" Jax asked.
Lois laughed again but Jax sensed a bitter undercurrent. "Everything is far from alright but, frankly, a lot of that is none of your business."
"But, Lois, I'm your friend. I want to help!" Jax said. He was a bit embarrassed by the desperation in his voice.
"Well, right now, it would be helpful if you left so I could get Brookie down for her morning nap, so she isn't too overtired to eat a decent lunch in two hours. Trust me, hungry and tired two-year-olds are to be avoided at most costs," Lois said as she picked up her daughter and laid her head back against her chest patting it gently as she made her way over to the stairs.
Jax knew that he was meant to be gone before she came back down from the nursery. He resented the way she felt comfortable dismissing him, but he couldn't let her go. Despite his indignation at her audacity, he still found her scintillating and alluring. He couldn't simply file out. He had put too many plans in motion and had too much at stake.
So, when she descended the front staircase, with a baby monitor in one hand, ten minutes later he was still sitting in one of the wing chairs in their foyer.
Lois released a frustrated sigh. "Jax, I'm from Brooklyn and I'm Gloria Cerullo's daughter so I kind of stink at sugar coating so can I just say you need to leave?"
"Lois, sweetie, there is something you should know," Jax began.
Lois raised an eyebrow. "Ok, Jax, you might as well just spit it out so you can leave," she said.
"Perhaps you should sit down, or maybe we could go grab a quick bite while the baby sleeps," Jax said.
Lois exhaled audibly and then shook her head. "Jax are you seriously suggesting we can step out for lunch while my daughter sleeps? Please don't plan on children of your own anytime soon!"
Somehow, although he truly had no interest in children, well, ever; Jax still bristled at her condemnation. He forced himself to swallow that rage and took his own deep breath. "I hope you can trust that I am only telling you this because I respect you enough to believe you deserve to know," he began. His words were at least partially true.
"If this is your lead in to telling me that Ned and Katherine weren't just working on business matters the other night, I already know and it is not something I wish to discuss further, with you," Lois said.
"Who told you?" Jax demanded. Had Katherine come gloating? He was going to kill her because that was definitely not part of the plan!
"I'm not sure that is really any of your business, but in the interest of getting you out of my home, Ned told me." Lois said.
That surprised Jax enough that he blurted out, "He did?"
"He did, and if you have ever been my friend, you will respect that this is an issue for Ned and I to address without an audience."
Jax aspired to be so much more than her friend so he would pretend to play along and bide his time. "Of course, just promise me you will let me know if you need anything," he said.
"Thank you! I appreciate that, and I would appreciate your discretion. Again, this is between Ned and I," Lois said. Then she made her way to her own front door and opened it.
Jax decided that his best course of action was to just honor her request for him to leave. If he played his cards right, there would be plenty of time later to overdo the sympathy act when Lois might receive it better.
Except in the end there hadn't been. Lois had left Port Charles that weekend without saying goodbye. Over a week later he had finally tracked her to Brooklyn where apparently, she had bought a Bensonhurst rowhome. She had been polite but cool and despite his valiant efforts, and the illusion he had given Ned, he had never gotten anywhere. He had to believe it could be different.
XXXXXXXX
In her own bed, Sarah Webber clutched at her stomach and moaned while Nikolas Cassadine stood awkwardly at the foot of her bed. "It's ok, if you want to go. My Grams is here and I'm just going to go to sleep if the pain dies down enough that I can," she said in a voice barely above a whisper.
"I can stay for a bit longer," Nikolas said as the door to her room opened, and Audrey Hardy entered with a hot water bottle.
Sarah clutched her stomach again and grit her teeth as her grandmother laid the hot water bottle on her belly. "Thanks, Gram," she said feebly before she quite intentionally began to hyperventilate.
Somewhat surprisingly, Nikolas came over, knelt down by her bed and gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Oh Sarah, I am sorry you're in so much pain," he said as he patted her head with his free hand.
Sarah was sure that Nikolas intended to be comforting but she kind of just wanted him to leave so she could feign sleep and then slip out to meet up with Ali, Jamal, and Zander at Neptune's Net.
XXXXXXXX
At Port Charles General Hospital, Dr. Alan Quartermaine exited the main East Wing Stairwell and made his way across the atrium lobby between the East and West Wings. He diverted down a back corridor and swiped his badge to enter the Emergency Department. Fortunately, after his endoscopy, Rachel Berlin seemed to be once again, at least physically tolerating enteral feeds through her G-J tube. So instead of another awkward conversation with her parents he was about to go check on his cousin's wife.
When he entered the physician workroom in the ED, he saw his wife opening an image in the PACs system. He quickly spotted the central line tip in the distal SVC and then, sadly, the ET tube in good position above the carina. "I guess you had to intubate?" he asked.
Monica closed the file and then turned to face him. "I did. I think she went into flash pulmonary edema as a consequence of the cardiac arrest. When I was intubating, I was suctioning a lot of frothy secretions from the vocal cords. Oxygenation was marginal at best on 100%. Normally I would give some Lasix, but she has a potassium of 1.4 and a magnesium of 0.6 so I'm going to see if we can use the PEEP on the ventilator to at least shift some of that fluid out of her lungs until I can get her electrolytes replaced. Let me let the nurses know that my central line is in good position so they can switch the potassium over to the central line so they can run it faster," she said as she started out of the workroom and turned to head down the long hallway their resuscitation suites opened off of.
Alan followed his wife. "Do you think the electrolyte issues caused the arrhythmias which led to cardiac arrest?"
"I think so. The EKG doesn't show ischemia. D-dimer was negative. I even did a really quick bedside echocardiogram which shows normal left ventricular systolic function, and absence of pericardial effusion or wall motion abnormalities. Ideally, we could fix the electrolytes, then diurese any residual fluid and get her off the ventilator in twenty-four to forty-eight hours," Monica said.
"But?" Alan asked. He was pretty sure there was a but.
"Real life is often much messier. Our real life is almost always much messier," Monica said then she turned to Mary Scanlon. "My ET tube and central line are both in good position so switch the KCl over to the central line and increase the infusion rate to 20mEq per hour. Did CCCU find us a bed?"
"Not yet, I'm waiting to hear back from the nursing supervisor," Mary said as she fiddled with the IV pump.
"Ok, I'm going to go talk to her husband and then I will put admitting orders in. I'll touch base with tonight's house staff call team after I do that. Technically Dr. Devlin is on call tonight but I'm going to tell them they can just call me, and you should too if you have any problems before she goes upstairs," Monica said.
"Thank you, Dr. Quartermaine," Mary said.
XXXXXXXX
Dr. Evelyn Lambert added whipped cream to both mugs of hot chocolate, put the can back in the small fridge in the kitchenette of their basement apartment, and then grabbed both mugs from the counter.
"Thank you," her roommate, Dr. Julie Devlin said when she extended her a mug before she sat down on the couch.
"That might be a bit magnanimous. It's instant hot cocoa with whipped cream from a can," Eve said. Although she might not readily admit it to Scott, she was sure what she was serving Julie was swill in comparison to the hot chocolate they had gotten from Kelly's Diner. That seemed like so long ago, but it had only been two weeks to the day.
Julie laughed and then took a sip from her mug. "I would say it's the thought that counts but actually, this is really good," she said.
Eve took a sip of her own mug. Julie had a point; it actually wasn't bad. "It's Swiss Miss and I'm pretty sure you bought it originally," she said.
Julie took another sip from her mug and smiled. "Yes, Swiss Miss, was what my aunt always made us after sledding or skating. My mother used to make fun of her for her bargain basement hot cocoa. But it was the thought that counted, and it is actually good," she said.
Eve decided it was not the time to point out that hot cocoa at all would have been considered a luxury in her family. "Do you mean Sebastian's mom?" she asked instead.
"Yes, my Aunt Anne, she is an epidemiologist. I went to boarding school at Emma Willard Academy which was near where they lived so I spent a lot of time with them during vacations, holidays, and even long weekends," Julie said.
"That must have been fun," Eve said. But what she really heard was that Julie had chosen not to go home. Not that she exactly blamed her…
"It was," Julie said wistfully.
In that moment, Eve truly felt for her roommate. It was easy to only see that, at least financially, Julie's life had been a breeze. But perhaps, in some ways, Julie's childhood had been even more of a nightmare than hers had. That was truly a scary thought!
XXXXXXXX
Audrey Hardy pulled her granddaughter's door closed gently. She hated to see the poor child in such pain. It was really past time that Port Charles General Hospital had a competent pediatric surgeon, and she had a mind to give Dr. Alan Quartermaine a piece of her mind! It might be after nine o'clock but if poor Sarah was in too much pain to sleep why should he be able to rest comfortably?
XXXXXXXX
Keesha Ward descended the kitchen stairs in the Quartermaine mansion to find AJ speaking on the kitchen phone extension.
"Of course, Mrs. Hardy, I will certainly give him the message. He is definitely at the hospital so I suppose you could also have him paged through the operator there. Regardless, I truly do hope Sarah feels better soon," AJ Quartermaine said through gritted teeth.
Keesha watched as AJ's jaw tensed further as he listened to whatever Audrey Hardy was rambling about. Although AJ was uber respectful, she sensed the other end of the conversation was anything but pleasant.
"Alright, Mrs. Hardy, try to have a blessed night and like I said I will ensure that my father receives your message. Goodbye," AJ said and then immediately hung up the phone. He released a deep breath and shook his head.
"That looked painful," Keesha said.
"It was painful!" AJ said.
"It's almost ten, I'm surprised Audrey is still up," Keesha said.
"Apparently Sarah is in too much pain to sleep so she felt it was only fair that everyone else be awake as well. Unfortunately, not only is dad awake he is at the hospital so her attempted microaggression just backfired," AJ said.
"Backfired, or merely missed it's target?" Keesha asked.
AJ laughed. "Good point. Steve was such a great man and he clearly loved her so I think everyone just accepted that they would deal with her out of love and respect for Dr. Hardy. I also think he kept her in check a bit more," he said.
"Dr. Hardy was great, and you're right, Audrey can be hard to take at times. Was she expecting your father to go over and see Sarah at her house or something inappropriate?"
"No, I think she just wanted to tell him that he was an idiot for not figuring out why Sarah was in such pain, or something like that. It didn't seem like she actually had any intention of seeking further medical attention for Sarah," AJ said.
"That doesn't sound wise. Anyway, Brenda checked, and Kirk, Serena, and Katelyn are all still asleep. Brenda and I still have some final shower preparations to work on downstairs, so we'll be here if you want to go back to the fraternity or something," Keesha said.
"I was actually going to spend the night in my old room. Were you going to spend the night with Brenda anyway or would it be helpful if I drove you home later?"
"I guess it kind of depends on when we finish the shower favors. I brought stuff to spend the night. Since we went to Grace Episcopal last weekend, I presumed you wanted us to attend church with your family tomorrow," Keesha said.
"Grandmother would be thrilled if we did. I'm really glad you and Brenda are doing this shower. I think it is important that Carly knows how much this whole family supports her and will support their son no matter what," AJ said.
"Brenda thinks Lois just needs more time," Keesha said.
"Grandmother thinks that as well, but she and Grandfather aren't getting any younger. I would think Lois in particular would definitely understand we all live on borrowed time."
"Maybe multiple losses don't make it any easier to grieve. Maybe they make it harder."
"Maybe what I said was insensitive."
"I know your family loves Brooklyn, AJ. I wish things were different."
"Our family loved Lois, even if she could never see that," AJ said.
An uneasy silence enveloped the kitchen. AJ took a deep breath. "I understand that we have our idiosyncrasies, and, well, we do seem to live our lives with some modicum of chaos," he began.
Keesha smiled. "Isn't the natural order of the universe towards destruction? By that logic living with a modicum of chaos might fit your grandfather's criteria of living with a modicum of order and decorum," she suggested.
"Good point! I hope you know how much I love you," AJ said as he took her into his arms.
"I'm kind of getting the idea," Keesha murmured.
XXXXXXXX
Zander Smith pulled up to the curb a few a hundred yards up Sycamore Street from the corner of Maple and Sycamore to wait for Sarah. He had been a little surprised when she had called him and practically demanded he meet her since he thought the night had been reserved for the Cassadine Prince. Apparently, his royal highness had started to bore her. He was hardly surprised.
"Thanks!" Sarah said slightly breathlessly when she opened the door to his car and dropped into his passenger seat.
"Of course! So where to?" Zander asked.
"I thought we were going to meet Ali and Jamal at Neptune's Net?" Sarah said.
Zander shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, if that is what you want," he said.
"It is," Sarah said.
Sarah gave him one of those coy but sweet smiles that won him over every time. It worked, as usual.