Chapter 37 - Harvey

When my brother called, I dropped everything and fled back to Boston. He told me there was an accident and asked me to give him my girlfriend's number if she was as good of a doctor as I have told him. Little did I know, Haley's already with the best.

It took me three hours to get to the hospital and meet Marcus and Katie at the waiting room. "Any news?" I ask immediately

"Not yet" Marcus sighs

"Where is James?" I ask

"Mom picked him up from school and she's gonna stay with him" he answers.

"Mr. and Mrs. Specter?" I turn as soon as I hear Ana's voice. She is accompanied by another younger doctor. I can see that she is taken back when she sees me but doesn't show it much.

"Let me start by saying that everything went well and Haley is headed to the PICU now" she establishes, keeping her eyes away from me like she doesn't want to hint at anything.

She lets the other doctor continue, "When we opened up Haley's abdomen, all we could see was blood. We clamped every cut and once we had a clear image of the situation, we starting carefully attending and repairing each one of them. The most severe injuries were on her liver and spleen, so she will need to be monitored for some time along with a few medications" he explains

"I will walk you through the medications and aftercare later. For now, you can relax and be assured that your daughter is getting the best care possible" Ana reassures us.

"Thank you, thank you" Katie hugs Ana, clearly more comfortable with her after learning that she is my infamous girlfriend that she's heard about.

"Oh, of course" Ana returns the gesture. "But Haley did the hard part, we just helped her get there" she reassures us as they pull away. "Also, the orthopedic is going to be with you shortly to talk about the fractures in Haley's arm" she adds

"Can we see Haley?" Marcus asks

"Surely, but you'll need to suit up and wear masks to ensure her safety in the fragile state she is in" she answers

"Of course" Katie answers.

A sound goes off that I recognize as her pager. Ana looks down to check the message on it. "Doctor Kumar will take you to her room, I have to be elsewhere" she says.

Marcus and Katie follows him but I stay a few steps back. "Hey, are you ok?" I ask Ana

"Yes, of course. I really have to go, Harvey" she insists me as she looks at her pager again

"Grab these" I hand her the two RedBulls that I brought in

"You're godsent" she grabs them, kisses me quickly and runs off.

•••

I hang out with my brother and sister-in-law in Haley's room until the visiting hours came to an end. I've gone through 6 hours of Marcus and Katie interrogating me and teasing me about finally meeting a girlfriend of mine, and questioning how I scored someone so out of my league. Honestly, I have the same question.

Ana hasn't come around since the conversation in the waiting room. Multiple nurses have walked in and out of the room all day, as well as Doctor Kumar. But no sign of Ana. I'm assuming Doctor Kumar was going to update her if something was wrong, so this is probably good.

However, I would like to see her. I can't even begin to imagine the stress she must have been under today. Is this how it goes all day for her? Today I realize that she isn't only holding a child's life in her hands, but the lives of an entire family. I need to start reminding her how awesome she is more often.

I text her to let me know when she gets off in order to go home with her for the night.

But a few minutes later, I see her coming down the hallway. Her posture and walk are significantly worse than the last time I saw her, and her expression betrays her troubling thoughts.

However, she smiles before entering the room. "Hello..." she whispers, "Can I see you all outside for a moment?" she requests.

We leave Haley and follow her to the hallway. "First, I would like to apologize for not coming by sooner, it's just been a busy day. Despite that, doctor Kumar has been updating me on Haley's condition. The good news is that her numbers look quite well at this hour that I'm confident we can remove the breathing tube and start waking her up in the morning" she says. "The bad news are that I can't allow you to stay passed visiting hours" she informs us

"Isn't there something you can work out?" I suggest

She side-eyes me, "No. Because if I make one exception, I'll have to make another and then another. And I will lose my job" she answers.

"We can't leave her alone at night. What if she wakes up sooner than you expect and she is all alone and scared in that room?" Katie insists

"She won't be alone. I will stay with her all night, making sure she is breathing well on her own" Ana reassures them

"Are you sure you're up for it?" I ask her

"Yes, I've done it a hundred times" she reminds me. "I prefer to do this than losing sleep over the fact that a patient of mine might wake up alone and risk making their condition worse. I will be with her at all times and I will call you if anything changes" she continues.

"We will be here as soon as visitations start tomorrow morning, so we can relieve you" Marcus says

"No problem. Make sure you get some rest" Ana replies.

Marcus and Katie thank her and say goodnight to Haley before leaving. I tell them I'll catch up with them at the parking lot and stay. And as soon as they are out of sight, Ana drops her head and rubs her face for a moment.

"You shouldn't stay if you're too tired" I tell her

"I'll be fine" she takes a breath, "You can stay at my place for the night if you want".

But she is still looking unwell, "Are you upset because Marcus and Katie know about us? I swear I didn't mean to--"

"No, no, I don't really care about that right now"

"Then what is it?" I insist.

She looks up for a moment, and takes a deep breath. "Daphne..." her voice breaks

"No..."

"It happened so fast-- She was doing great yesterday. But she wasn't feeling well during the night, so we ran some tests. We found a new blockage in her intestine, but I decided that she was too unstable for surgery, and since it wasn't a complete blockage I put her on liquids and medications to relieve it. Not even two hours later, she was screaming in pain and unfortunately had to rush her in surgery. I did as fast as I could so we wouldn't have to keep her under for too long, and all seemed well at first. However, an hour ago she went into septic shock because, like I had predicted, she was too weak to handle getting opened up again" tears are freely rolling down her cheeks as she explains everything to me.

"I am so sorry" I pull her in my arms. "I'm sure you did everything you could have done"

"That's why I'm mad. I did everything, but it still wasn't enough to save her!" she cries.

"What happened isn't your fault. You saved her again and again, you literally gave her years while battling with her syndrome"

"We all knew there would be an end, but--"

"You didn't expect it to be today"

"No" she sobs.

"Sh sh... It's ok" I rub her back, "Let's take you home and--"

"No no, I promised your family I'd stay with Haley. She shouldn't wake up alone, and I'll make sure she is not scared and taken care of" she reminds me as she pulls away

"And what about you?" I remind her that she needs to step back sometimes and take care of herself too

"I'll be fine. I've survived worse" she insists, wiping away her tears.

"I can't leave you here in this condition"

"Well, you don't get to make that decision. Because if you don't leave within 30 minutes of the end of visiting hours, security will escort you out" she warns me.

"You stubborn..." I sigh and check my watch. "Ok, here's how it's gonna play out. I'll go out and bring you food. Then I'll leave but we're going to be on a call all night since it sounds like neither of us is going to be sleeping"

"Deal" she nods

"Great" I kiss her head. "Don't be too hard on yourself, sugar. You are amazing, and more than enough. And I love you more than anything" I remind her

"Thank you. I love you too" she smiles slightly.

I kiss her one more time before going. And I hate that I have to leave her here in these conditions. I would much rather stay all night and let her go home. Unfortunately, today is the day I realize that I can't control everything. However, I can help to make it a little easier and that's exactly what I'm gonna do.