Chapter 3 #2
Once she was clean, she checked in on the ER.
It was busy, but not chaotic. It seemed that even though there were many injuries, most of them were minor.
People were being quickly treated, then found space where they could rest for the night.
No one on the staff was comfortable with sending anyone out in the storm, even if it was medically safe to do so.
People were sitting and lying all over the waiting area and spilling over into the cafeteria.
The storm raged on outside, but Lillian was hopeful that most of the wave of patients from the wreck had already been seen.
She spotted Stephanie’s family but hesitated before walking over.
It still felt a bit unfair to her to give the family the good news, and besides, there could still be a complication while Jade was closing, so she made a snap decision and opted to wait until Jade came out to inform the family of Stephanie’s status.
She went to her office and checked on the status of the rest of the patients from her computer. Several more surgeries had taken place while she and Jade had been occupied, but they all seemed to have gone well. Stitches, reset bones, and the like, but the patients were doing well in post-op.
She checked in with each of her surgeons on staff; as expected, they were tired but making it.
She jotted down the notes from her perspective for the charting later and checked Stephanie’s status again on the computer.
When she saw that she was being moved to post-op, she headed back downstairs to find Jade and tell the family the good news.
Jade was still in the scrub station washing her hands. Lillian poked her head in as Jade grabbed a towel to dry them and turned to Lillian with a slight smile.
“How did the family take it?” Jade asked, her eyes sparkling.
“I wanted to wait for you,” Lillian said with a smile, but Jade furrowed her brows.
“Wait for me? Why?” she asked, her voice icy.
“I thought you might want to come with me,” Lillian said, suddenly defensive. “And I wanted to wait until the surgery was complete.”
“Come on,” Jade said and stalked out of the room, leaving Lillian to wonder what had just happened.
She fell into step next to Jade as they headed back to the waiting room, but Jade’s lips remained pressed and she didn’t say anything else.
When they spotted Stephanie’s wife and daughter, Jade schooled her expression to the one she generally used with patients and their families.
Lillian tried to make sure her expression matched, but she wasn’t sure if she had accomplished it quite as well.
Jade greeted them quickly, then turned to Lillian to make the announcement.
“Surgery went well, we have the swelling under control and her chest has been repaired,” Lillian said.
Her eyes tightened, usually she would give more detail, but Stephanie’s daughter looked to be no more than around six years old, with dark curly hair and big watery eyes that expressed apprehension though she really didn’t understand why.
“Do you want me to take Jasmine to the cafeteria, so Doctor Holder can fill you in?” Jade said with a large smile directed at the little girl. “Your mom was hurt pretty bad, but we fixed her up. She’s going to need a lot of love and care for a while, but she will be fine.”
“Thank you,” the little girl said and wrapped her arms around Jade.
Lillian could have sworn she saw a tear slip from the corner of Jade’s eye as she hugged her back.
She looked up at Hannah, Stephanie’s wife, and waited for her to nod almost imperceptibly before asking if Jasmine wanted to go find a snack in the cafeteria.
She took the girl’s hand, and they walked off, leaving Lillian standing in front of Hannah.
“How bad is it?” Hannah asked. She still looked worried, like the news hadn’t quite sunk in yet.
“It’s actually a lot better than we anticipated,” Lillian said with a reassuring smile. “We’ve taken the pressure off her brain, and as soon as the swelling goes down, we will replace and repair the extraction area.”
“Is that dangerous?” Hannah asked, her eyes tightening as she fought tears.
“Surgery is always risky, especially around the brain,” Lillian answered, her clinical side taking over. “But it is as close to routine as it comes with this type of thing. I have no doubt she will do just fine.”
“Are there going to be any lasting effects?” Hannah asked, her shoulders were starting to sag as she finally started to relax.
“Jasmine’s adoption was just finalized yesterday, though we’ve had her for almost three years,” Hannah took a deep breath.
“She had gone out to buy a cake for us to celebrate. I didn’t want her to go, but she insisted that Jasmine was worth it. ”
“I’m sure she is,” Lillian said quietly.
“I can’t say with one hundred percent certainty that there will be no lasting effects until the swelling goes down and we can wake her up, but I am very optimistic.
” Lillian squeezed Hannah’s shoulder softly.
She could feel the tension finally starting to leave her body.
“She fought hard for you, and your little girl. She is still going to be with you.”
Hannah’s face went pale and her knees buckled.
Lillian helped her back into the seat, waving a nurse over to bring her some water and juice.
Lillian took her notebook from her coat pocket and started fanning Hannah’s face.
The nurse came over and handed Lillian a box of apple juice with a straw and Lillian pressed it into Hannah’s hands.
“Are you alright?” Lillian asked as Hannah took a couple of sips of the juice and winced.
“Yes,” Hannah finally breathed and laid her head against the back of the chair. “I guess I was more tense than I realized.”
“I understand,” Lillian said with another reassuring squeeze to her shoulder.
“I’m glad Jasmine was not in here; it probably would have traumatized her to see me fall apart like that.” Hannah attempted to laugh at herself, but it fell flat.
“I think you have a very strong daughter,” Lillian said with a smile. “I think she is very lucky to have you both.”
“We are lucky to have her,” Hannah said as tears began to slip from her eyes.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Jasmine spoke from just behind Lillian.
“Nothing’s wrong, sweetie,” Hannah said, folding the little girl into her arms. “These are happy tears because Mom is going to be okay.”
“I know,” Jasmine said, eliciting a chuckle from all three women. She hugged Hannah back.
“We will let you know as soon as you can see her,” Jade said, her eyes watery.
“Thank you,” Hannah said as she pulled Jasmine closer to her. “Thank you both, you saved her life. You saved us all. I don’t know how we would have made it without Stephanie.”
“You won’t have to find out,” Jade said, her own tears slipping from her eyes. “Do you need anything?”
Hannah shook her head, burying her face is Jasmine’s dark hair.
“Okay, just let someone know if you do,” Jade said, and Lillian nodded.
Lillian and Jade both turned away from the pair with tears in their own eyes. Lillian’s chest swelled with pride, and she could see a slight smile on Jade’s face as well.
“I’m glad you were here to take the little girl,” Lillian said. “Poor Hannah almost fainted. Their adoption just went through yesterday.”
Jade nodded, but she didn’t speak. Lillian tightened her eyes and looked at her, but she still seemed annoyed.
“What?” Lillian finally asked, turning to look at the Chief of Medicine.
“You should have updated them a long time ago,” Jade said and pressed her lips.
“I told you why I waited,” Lillian snapped.
“You shouldn’t have,” Jade said, turning those intense dark eyes on Lillian.
“I’m going to get some coffee,” Lillian said and turned on her heel.
When Jade had looked at her, Lillian’s heart had started to pound, and she wasn’t entirely sure why that was.
She’d never had a problem with authority figures questioning her decisions, and Jade wasn’t really an authority figure.
Lillian was the Chief of Surgery, so why did she feel like she had been chastised like a child?
Lillian was almost jogging to get away from Jade by the time she made it to the break room.
Her skin was tingling with… something. Rage?
Annoyance? She couldn’t quite put the word to it.
She went over to the coffee machine and started a cup brewing.
She glanced out the window. The rain was lashing against the glass, and she could see the palm trees bending in the heavy winds.
She shook her head. She really needed to focus, it was barely ten o’clock and there were likely several hours left of the storm to endure.
She took her coffee from the machine and added copious amounts of sugar and creamer.
She needed something to take the edge off; she almost wished she could get a nice glass of wine, but she could be called back into surgery any second now.
The room should be reset any time now, so she just had to wait for another page.
She sat down on the couch, opting to give herself a few moments rest before heading back down to the ER to see if anyone needed her.
She desperately needed to calm down anyway.
Lillian just could not reconcile that Jade could so easily get under her skin.
A warmth spread through her stomach as she sipped her coffee and thought about Jade.
She took another deep breath and rolled her shoulders against the back of the couch.
She could drink her coffee before heading back down.
Pressing her lips together, she decided to just put Jade and anything she had to say out of her mind.