RP LOG with cutandlearn | Bad News
Drew's ass nearly fell out of him when Lisa had come running down the corridor of the Oncology ward again about two hours after their last talk and threw a pile of scrubs at him before dragging him to the elevator. She was breathless, and struggled to get everything out, but Drew managed to make out that Chris had apparently taken a bad turn for the worst in the surgery, and he even caught 'cardiac arrest' somewhere in her tearful rambling. It was easy to forget how connected she was with Serena's boyfriend, and Drew had to remember that she pretty much grew up with Chris, so this couldn't be easy for her either. Drew was actually left feeling quite torn as she dragged him into a large operating department and told him to get changed and how to wash his hands so he could be taken to where Serena was.
He actually balked at first, fearing she was going to shove him into an OR. He really didn't want to be that near any medical procedures, let alone one with her sister's boyfriend with a gaping bloody wound in his gut. There was no way Drew would last more than two minutes before passing out cold on the floor. He definitely didn't get the medical mojo of the family in any way, shape, or form. And he did elaborate this fact to Lisa, in a panicked and almost shrill string of expletives. She thankfully explained that he was only going to an area in the surgical department, but not into an actual OR. Serena was in there, but it was still a sterile area, which was why he needed scrubs and to be scrubbed up. Now he was actually there, standing in the middle of some bare, sterile and clinical area with some uncomfortable looking seats with his arms wrapped tightly around his sister. They had been there for nearly two hours now and still no one had come with any further news until some dude who was apparently part of the transplant team came by to let them know the aorta had been repaired and now they were just trying to stabilise Chris, though with good news that Rick was out and just moved to Recovery.
Drew stepped back a little so he could see Serena's face, rubbing her upper arms to try and soothe her, even just a little. "That's good news, huh? Recovery is good, right?"
Serena just nodded slowly, her voice hoarse from crying. Her eyes were read too, with tears still streaming down her cheeks. She'd never felt so useless, never felt so helpless than the moment she watched Chris crash on the table. Everything in her body had twisted and it was a miracle she hadn't thrown up. It was a miracle she hadn't punched out the nurse or one of the surgeons either for trying to keep her from getting to that table and fixing Chris herself. Now she just realised why she preferred being the surgeon. The waiting part sucked, and it sucked majorly.
She didn't know anything unless she got told, didn't have any idea what was going on other than they were still working on stabilising Chris. She was grateful her brother was here though and she just went back to hugging him after a moment as she buried her face against his shoulder. "One down..."
Drew rubbed Serena's back and stared at the double doors behind her leading into the operating theatres. Somewhere beyond them, Chris was seriously sick and although Drew usually had a way with words, he had no idea what he was supposed to say to his sister to try and make her feel even a little bit better. There was nothing to say on that front. It wouldn't be enough. He couldn't even imagine what it would have been like for her to be in there watching something like her boyfriend hemorrhage and his heart stop beating. Even just seeing those defibrillator things on the TV was intense enough, but to know it was someone you loved was beyond Drew's brain power to consider. "This is going to be a stupid question, sis, but are you okay? I mean, are you better than you were? Do you think he'll be okay? Whatever it was, it was serious, right? I thought the whole thing was supposed to be pretty straightforward..."
"It was... It is... Then they just... I heard them. The surgeons. They said it was all good, all fine. Went perfectly." She shook her head as she rubbed her nose against her brother's sleeve, just like she had when she was younger. Serena was used to sharing her tears and snot with him. It didn't mean he had to like it, but at least her brother did know how to handle it. She gripped the back of his shirt tightly as her knuckles turned white and sniffed loudly. "That's like the world's biggest jinx in any job. As soon as the words leave your mouth it's just asking for trouble. I don't know what happened. He shouldn't have bled that much if they did everything right which means they must have just caught something with the scalpel which caused the bleed... I don't know if I'm okay. I hate not knowing. I hate not being in there. I promised him, Drew. I promised him I'd be there until the end. I told him he'd be okay! He asked me to say it, and I said it. I shouldn't have said it. Why did I have to tell him he'd be okay?"
Drew sighed and rubbed her back a little more firmly... maybe even almost with an air of desperation to it. "Because you wanted him to be... and you're head over for him. Puke tests and whatever else aside, he still seems invincible to you. I heard how you used to talk about him when you first started your residency there. He was like some sort of genius with a scalpel. That admiration is still in there somewhere, it's just more intense now. He is still going to be okay. He's a strong dude, he'll get there. So, there was a hitch. Isn't that what you trauma surgeons are all about? A hitch in life's plan? Expect the unexpected. It might just take a bit longer for him to get back on his feet now, but they got him back, right? I know you promised him you would be there, but it's better you aren't, sis. He wanted you there when he thought it was all going smoothly. I don't know the guy that well, but I am a guy, and I can bet that he wouldn't want you in there witnessing that when you can't do anything but watch."
Serena pressed her lips together as she listened to her brother, her eyes going unfocused as she tried to just forget the image of Chris flatlining on the operating table, but it was hard. She could still hear the heart rate monitor ringing in her ears. Chris could survive a sinkhole, but he nearly didn't survive this. She could only imagine how Rick would feel once he was awake, and once he knew. "I can't leave him..." Serena murmured, starting to voice her thoughts halfway through formulating them. "If it's going to take him longer to get back on his feet then I need to be there. I'll take care of him. Proctor told Chris he'd give me two weeks leave if I wanted it. I want it. I need it. Even if he recovers he'll need time. His heart stopped. As a trauma surgeon I can deal with it - if I'm the one with the scalpel. It's really not easy being on this side of things. Would he really not want me in there? Why is that such a boy thing?"
"You should take the time, but don't risk your job, S. That is the last thing he would want, and wouldn't be able to live with himself. He knows how hard you have worked to get where you are, because he's been in your shoes. Take the time your boss gave you, but maybe after that, if he's still recuperating, you might need to hand him over to someone else. It won't be easy for you, I know, but you can't watch him twenty-four-seven anyway. As long as he's in hospital, it looks like they have some pretty cool nurses around here to take care of him too. You still need to take care of yourself, too. None of this stopping eating and sleeping shit, alright? I'm serious, S. You gotta listen to me. I'm the big brother, I'm always right." Drew needed to see her face again and he pulled back once more to hold her gaze. He wiped her tears away with his fingers. "He's probably gonna be pretty sick when they let him out of those theatres, but you aren't alone, okay? You need to remember that. I'm here, I've already called mom and dad. Aimee's here, Dave's here, Dave's sister is here. We're all going to do what we can."
Serena's bottom lip stuck out a little bit as she gave a nod and held her brother's gaze. "You called Mom and Dad?" she asked after a beat. "Are they coming down? I didn't even think about Chris meeting them yet. I was so focused on you meeting him. I don't know what I would do without you here right now. You're the only thing keeping me sane and the fact that they're at least still working on Chris. If it was going wrong, we'd know. They wouldn't be in there for as long. I know I'd have to pass him off to someone else, that I need to eat and sleep. And I promise I will. I really will. I always listen to you, you know that."
"I called them before any of this happened. While I was waiting. They weren't going to come then, they figured it would be fine, even if they do really want to meet him. But we tell them this, they'll be on the next plane to Miami. I just know it. This isn't something they're just going to let you go through without them. They might not know him, but they know he's important to you. Mom was grilling me about Chris the other day, and I didn't even have the answers for them. You need to talk to them, sis. Tell them more. They think you're pissed off at them and that's why you've been keeping stuff from them. I tried to explain it was complicated, but you know our folks. They always want to know we're okay and doing the right thing." Drew fought the urge to rub his face tiredly. He couldn't help but think about Lisa... and Dave... and Rick. He knew he could protect his sister the best he could, but there were so many people who were going to hurt from this. "Who's going to tell Rick? You don't need to do that, do you?"
Serena bit her lip as she looked down briefly. "Is it wrong that I kinda do want my Mommy right now? I'll call them once I know what's happened with Chris. I don't want them to think I'm angry with them. That's so far off base. Once they know he's okay, they won't need to fly here, right? I'd fly there but I can't leave Chris. Maybe once he's better we can both go. He can meet them when he's not in a hospital bed. I don't think that's fair." This time it was Serena that rubbed Drew's arm and she gave it a squeeze. "No, no. I think Bella went back in with him so she might be the one to tell him."
"No, it's not wrong... but it does make me wonder where their mommy and daddy are?" Drew asked dipping his head to meet her eyes. Serena hadn't said much about Chris and Rick's folks, but he assumed there were some somewhere. There had been no mention of dead parents, and as hot as they were, Drew couldn't buy they were found in a cabbage patch or delivered by the Virgin Mary. "They're still going to fly in as soon as you tell them he's sick, S. You know they are, and maybe that's not a bad thing. They can help out a little. You're still their daughter, whether they know your boyfriend or not. Jesus Christ, I can't even imagine how he will take the news."
Serena was tempted to brush off Drew's question but her shoulders dropped and she let out a slow breath. "Divorced. The dad's something that neither brother want around. He's a drunk... He's who Rick could have become. He's never been supportive of Chris, or anything he does. The mom... Not even I know whether or not Chris and Rick actually have a close relationship with her. I know Chris wound up paying off her house debts because she got into trouble. I can't even imagine not being close to our folks."
Drew wet his lips with a frown. "So... neither of them told her? About any of this? Fuck me," he commented bluntly. "She did still give birth to them. I think she has a right to know if she could lose them. That's just... maybe it just slipped their mind? Didn't he go up to his home town? How much would it suck to just not have your mom and dad around?"
Serena gave a nod. "I asked him if he was going to go home. He didn't want to. He didn't want to go home. How much would that suck? I know it's all sunny here in Miami, but Chicago's still home. It's where we grew up. I'm always gonna miss the place. I don't even know if he's got her number somewhere. Maybe I should call her?"
"Do you have his phone?" Drew asked, already making a grab for Serena's bag. He knew she had Chris' cell phone in there. She had all his valuables, he had personally seen her shove them in there... sans that ring he wore, which she had put onto her own thumb with some surgical tape over it. She wanted to wear it into the surgery. He balked a little when the image of the ring jumped into his head. "You two aren't already secretly engaged, are you?" he suddenly asked, ready to tear her a new one if she said yes. "Didn't want to go home? Now I sort of just want to see this shit hole with my own eyes."
Serena's jaw dropped as she stared at her brother trying to work out if she'd heard correctly. "What?! No, no. Of course not. We're not secretly engaged! We've only just agreed to move in. There's been no talk about engagements, I promise!" Serena looked down at the ring on her finger covered in tape and held her hand up. "I just wanted to get him something in a blue box. Like he did for me, but I didn't like the bracelets, and pendants and whatever else. I wanted to get him the ring. I don't know if he just didn't want to go home or if it was because it's a shit hole."
"I had to ask! I don't know! He was attached to that ring and you filched it off him as soon as he was going in! I didn't know. You could have been in amongst all the secrecy and shit, but... if he asked, you would say yes, right? I just get this feeling. If it happens, you are so banned from keeping it a secret or I'll hunt you down and give you biggest wedgie ever. I just... I see how you two look at each other," Drew admitted to her, pulling his lips to the side.
Serena managed to stop staring at Drew but then her eyebrows rose a little in surprise. "What do looks have to do with anything? I mean, I'd say yes but I wouldn't keep it secret. There's no need to keep it secret. I'd do the whole nine yards with Chris. I'd even have his babies if he wanted them. Or I'd get a puppy, or a kitten, or even a pot belly pig if he wanted animals as well. I love him... I just want the chance to get all that and I don't want his goddman heart to just stop on me again because it scared the crap outta me! I was this close to peeing my pants," Serena said as she held her fingers together to show just how close she'd been. "And now I can't stop thinking about it, and I keep hearing him flatlining and I just want him to smile at me again."
"They're not just looks. They're Looks," Drew elaborated pointedly. "It's the whole real deal thing. Aimee... you said she and Dave are onto a good thing. Have you ever just taken notice of how they look at each other. When it's the real deal, the looks change. It's like, when you know they're there... and they're just them... everything else feels awesome. And I am glad you didn't pee your pants, sis, because that would have been uncomfortable. Truthfully, if it was me, I would have done a lot more than pee in my pants. It's gonna stay in your head. You'll keep seeing it, and hearing it. You'll keep going back over it, walking through the surgery in your head to try and figure out how the surgeons fucked up. And you'll find yourself telling yourself that if it was you and the Alpha team doing the surgery, you wouldn't have fucked up. You could be right there, but transplant is these dude's Trauma. It's their speciality. But everyone can fuck up. Chris just well drew the short straw. He's pretty tough though, from what you've told me. Any less of a man might not be bothered to pull through."
Serena gave a small nod. "Yeah, I've noticed. I've just never thought about me and Chris. Just figured we were still just rolling with it. Aimee and Dave had the Looks. We just had... each other. Do you want someone to have Looks with?" she asked him as she came over to her bag and fished out Chris' cell phone for Drew. "I don't even know if me and Alpha team would have done better. I know these guys are the transplant specialists. I just... I can't lose Chris. I just can't. I'm not done having the Looks yet. I haven't even had a chance to move in."
Drew started to scroll through the numbers in Chris' phone, looking for anything that might be mom related. "You might need to speed up that process. Once he gets discharged, he'll probably need and want you around when you aren't at work. Something like this, he won't be back on his feet in the projected couple of weeks. He'll need more time to recover. Hopefully he doesn't have any long-term problems, but you never know with all the body's internal shit, right? Just don't give up on him yet, S. He'll pull through if he knows you're waiting for him. Here. Not-so-cryptically listed under 'Mom'. No dad, though. It's only a landline, no cell. I wonder if she's hot. Dunno about the looks thing. I guess if I find anyone, I'll figure it out." He handed Serena the phone back to see if she would have the guts to call Mrs Deleo... if she was even still a Deleo.
"Please don't talk about Chris' mom like you want to do her. It's disturbing," she murmured as she scrunched up her nose. "I don't want to think about my brother and his mother. Ew... Do you think you can help me move into his place before he comes home? That way I can be all ready. And I want you to stay at my apartment, okay? I won't get rid of it. If you wanted to stick in Miami for a bit, I can always sign it over. You know, if you wanted it." She gave her brother a hopeful look. The idea of her brother staying around for a while made her happy. She looked down at the phone in her hand and sucked in a breath. She wasn't even sure what she would say, but she had to try. She hit the call button and held the phone to her ear.
"Hey, look at her offspring! I was just making an observation. She has to be hot, or at least semi-hot. Unless they look like their dad. But if he's a tosser, who would want them to? Maybe she looks like Charlize Theron?" Drew was an artistic sort, he never could help his imagination running away from him. He might come across a bit eccentric sometimes, but there were worse things in the world to be than that. "Who do you think they look like? I mean, you look like mom, and I look like dad with mom's colouring. Man, if you two ever have kids, you are going to need to keep them on leashes," he observed as he watched her waiting for an answer on the phone.
Serena tilted her head. "Okay, that would be hot... I don't know. I kinda think maybe Rick might look a little like their dad. He is more chiselled than Chris. He's got more angles to him. And the whole..." She pointed at her chin as she wiggled her finger and shrugged. She couldn't really put it into words. "You really think our kids would be--Oh, um, hello, Mrs Deleo? Ah... you don't know me but my name is Serena Warren. I'm a friend of your son's. Ah, Chris. He, um... And Rick... Um, I don't really know how to even start..."
Drew blinked, not really following what Serena was trying to explain. "They still look like brothers, though. Rick is just fucking huge," he stated with his own blunt description of the older brother. He watched Serena struggle for a moment. She was going to start crying. Drew could hear that edge in her voice. He had heard his baby sister cry enough over the years to know the signs. He always hated it too... he felt so helpless. He grabbed the phone off her and put it to his ear. "Mrs Deleo? Hey, I'm Drew. I'm potentially Chris' brother-in-law-to-be. I know this is weird, but you just need to hear me out for a minute. You need to come to Miami, yeah? Your boys, they're in hospital. You need-- she hung up!" he said in shock, blinking at the phone in surprise.
Serena was already crying now that she no longer had the phone to her ear and she reached out to grab her brother's hand before she frowned. "She what?"
"She just hung up!" Drew cried indignantly. "She was asking who I was, so I told her, but then she went quiet and after that, she just... hung the eff up. Oh shit. Maybe things are worse in their family than they've been letting on?"
Serena shifted her weight as she resisted the urge to take her hair out of its ponytail and cleared her throat as her blue eyes stayed fixed on her brother. "Maybe it was to do with the fact that you introduced yourself as Chris' potential brother-in-law-to-be? It might have spooked her to get news of that, plus the fact that both boys are in hospital. If things are so strained between them it might have been a lot to take in."
Drew pulled a face at his sister. "What was I supposed to say? I had to get her attention! Come on, what sort of mother is she that gets spooked over the news her kid has a girlfriend? If she's that fucked in the head, something is wrong and she shouldn't be here anyway. Hello! It is a lot to take in. She may as well get the whole story at once," he reasoned.
Serena wrapped her arms around her slender waist as she dropped her gaze to the phone still in Drew's hand. "Maybe she's literally dropped everything just to come as soon as possible?"
"Or we just fucked up royally..." Drew added quietly, looking at the phone in his hand.
"Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap. Maybe it's just as well Chris isn't conscious for this." Serena turned around to start pacing, her fingers pressed against her lips as she tried to ignore the way her stomach had tightened even more at the idea that they'd managed to fuck up even more by trying to just let Mrs Deleo know what was going on. All she wanted was for Chris to have his family. She wasn't trying to push them away even more.
Word Count | 4,184
He actually balked at first, fearing she was going to shove him into an OR. He really didn't want to be that near any medical procedures, let alone one with her sister's boyfriend with a gaping bloody wound in his gut. There was no way Drew would last more than two minutes before passing out cold on the floor. He definitely didn't get the medical mojo of the family in any way, shape, or form. And he did elaborate this fact to Lisa, in a panicked and almost shrill string of expletives. She thankfully explained that he was only going to an area in the surgical department, but not into an actual OR. Serena was in there, but it was still a sterile area, which was why he needed scrubs and to be scrubbed up. Now he was actually there, standing in the middle of some bare, sterile and clinical area with some uncomfortable looking seats with his arms wrapped tightly around his sister. They had been there for nearly two hours now and still no one had come with any further news until some dude who was apparently part of the transplant team came by to let them know the aorta had been repaired and now they were just trying to stabilise Chris, though with good news that Rick was out and just moved to Recovery.
Drew stepped back a little so he could see Serena's face, rubbing her upper arms to try and soothe her, even just a little. "That's good news, huh? Recovery is good, right?"
Serena just nodded slowly, her voice hoarse from crying. Her eyes were read too, with tears still streaming down her cheeks. She'd never felt so useless, never felt so helpless than the moment she watched Chris crash on the table. Everything in her body had twisted and it was a miracle she hadn't thrown up. It was a miracle she hadn't punched out the nurse or one of the surgeons either for trying to keep her from getting to that table and fixing Chris herself. Now she just realised why she preferred being the surgeon. The waiting part sucked, and it sucked majorly.
She didn't know anything unless she got told, didn't have any idea what was going on other than they were still working on stabilising Chris. She was grateful her brother was here though and she just went back to hugging him after a moment as she buried her face against his shoulder. "One down..."
Drew rubbed Serena's back and stared at the double doors behind her leading into the operating theatres. Somewhere beyond them, Chris was seriously sick and although Drew usually had a way with words, he had no idea what he was supposed to say to his sister to try and make her feel even a little bit better. There was nothing to say on that front. It wouldn't be enough. He couldn't even imagine what it would have been like for her to be in there watching something like her boyfriend hemorrhage and his heart stop beating. Even just seeing those defibrillator things on the TV was intense enough, but to know it was someone you loved was beyond Drew's brain power to consider. "This is going to be a stupid question, sis, but are you okay? I mean, are you better than you were? Do you think he'll be okay? Whatever it was, it was serious, right? I thought the whole thing was supposed to be pretty straightforward..."
"It was... It is... Then they just... I heard them. The surgeons. They said it was all good, all fine. Went perfectly." She shook her head as she rubbed her nose against her brother's sleeve, just like she had when she was younger. Serena was used to sharing her tears and snot with him. It didn't mean he had to like it, but at least her brother did know how to handle it. She gripped the back of his shirt tightly as her knuckles turned white and sniffed loudly. "That's like the world's biggest jinx in any job. As soon as the words leave your mouth it's just asking for trouble. I don't know what happened. He shouldn't have bled that much if they did everything right which means they must have just caught something with the scalpel which caused the bleed... I don't know if I'm okay. I hate not knowing. I hate not being in there. I promised him, Drew. I promised him I'd be there until the end. I told him he'd be okay! He asked me to say it, and I said it. I shouldn't have said it. Why did I have to tell him he'd be okay?"
Drew sighed and rubbed her back a little more firmly... maybe even almost with an air of desperation to it. "Because you wanted him to be... and you're head over for him. Puke tests and whatever else aside, he still seems invincible to you. I heard how you used to talk about him when you first started your residency there. He was like some sort of genius with a scalpel. That admiration is still in there somewhere, it's just more intense now. He is still going to be okay. He's a strong dude, he'll get there. So, there was a hitch. Isn't that what you trauma surgeons are all about? A hitch in life's plan? Expect the unexpected. It might just take a bit longer for him to get back on his feet now, but they got him back, right? I know you promised him you would be there, but it's better you aren't, sis. He wanted you there when he thought it was all going smoothly. I don't know the guy that well, but I am a guy, and I can bet that he wouldn't want you in there witnessing that when you can't do anything but watch."
Serena pressed her lips together as she listened to her brother, her eyes going unfocused as she tried to just forget the image of Chris flatlining on the operating table, but it was hard. She could still hear the heart rate monitor ringing in her ears. Chris could survive a sinkhole, but he nearly didn't survive this. She could only imagine how Rick would feel once he was awake, and once he knew. "I can't leave him..." Serena murmured, starting to voice her thoughts halfway through formulating them. "If it's going to take him longer to get back on his feet then I need to be there. I'll take care of him. Proctor told Chris he'd give me two weeks leave if I wanted it. I want it. I need it. Even if he recovers he'll need time. His heart stopped. As a trauma surgeon I can deal with it - if I'm the one with the scalpel. It's really not easy being on this side of things. Would he really not want me in there? Why is that such a boy thing?"
"You should take the time, but don't risk your job, S. That is the last thing he would want, and wouldn't be able to live with himself. He knows how hard you have worked to get where you are, because he's been in your shoes. Take the time your boss gave you, but maybe after that, if he's still recuperating, you might need to hand him over to someone else. It won't be easy for you, I know, but you can't watch him twenty-four-seven anyway. As long as he's in hospital, it looks like they have some pretty cool nurses around here to take care of him too. You still need to take care of yourself, too. None of this stopping eating and sleeping shit, alright? I'm serious, S. You gotta listen to me. I'm the big brother, I'm always right." Drew needed to see her face again and he pulled back once more to hold her gaze. He wiped her tears away with his fingers. "He's probably gonna be pretty sick when they let him out of those theatres, but you aren't alone, okay? You need to remember that. I'm here, I've already called mom and dad. Aimee's here, Dave's here, Dave's sister is here. We're all going to do what we can."
Serena's bottom lip stuck out a little bit as she gave a nod and held her brother's gaze. "You called Mom and Dad?" she asked after a beat. "Are they coming down? I didn't even think about Chris meeting them yet. I was so focused on you meeting him. I don't know what I would do without you here right now. You're the only thing keeping me sane and the fact that they're at least still working on Chris. If it was going wrong, we'd know. They wouldn't be in there for as long. I know I'd have to pass him off to someone else, that I need to eat and sleep. And I promise I will. I really will. I always listen to you, you know that."
"I called them before any of this happened. While I was waiting. They weren't going to come then, they figured it would be fine, even if they do really want to meet him. But we tell them this, they'll be on the next plane to Miami. I just know it. This isn't something they're just going to let you go through without them. They might not know him, but they know he's important to you. Mom was grilling me about Chris the other day, and I didn't even have the answers for them. You need to talk to them, sis. Tell them more. They think you're pissed off at them and that's why you've been keeping stuff from them. I tried to explain it was complicated, but you know our folks. They always want to know we're okay and doing the right thing." Drew fought the urge to rub his face tiredly. He couldn't help but think about Lisa... and Dave... and Rick. He knew he could protect his sister the best he could, but there were so many people who were going to hurt from this. "Who's going to tell Rick? You don't need to do that, do you?"
Serena bit her lip as she looked down briefly. "Is it wrong that I kinda do want my Mommy right now? I'll call them once I know what's happened with Chris. I don't want them to think I'm angry with them. That's so far off base. Once they know he's okay, they won't need to fly here, right? I'd fly there but I can't leave Chris. Maybe once he's better we can both go. He can meet them when he's not in a hospital bed. I don't think that's fair." This time it was Serena that rubbed Drew's arm and she gave it a squeeze. "No, no. I think Bella went back in with him so she might be the one to tell him."
"No, it's not wrong... but it does make me wonder where their mommy and daddy are?" Drew asked dipping his head to meet her eyes. Serena hadn't said much about Chris and Rick's folks, but he assumed there were some somewhere. There had been no mention of dead parents, and as hot as they were, Drew couldn't buy they were found in a cabbage patch or delivered by the Virgin Mary. "They're still going to fly in as soon as you tell them he's sick, S. You know they are, and maybe that's not a bad thing. They can help out a little. You're still their daughter, whether they know your boyfriend or not. Jesus Christ, I can't even imagine how he will take the news."
Serena was tempted to brush off Drew's question but her shoulders dropped and she let out a slow breath. "Divorced. The dad's something that neither brother want around. He's a drunk... He's who Rick could have become. He's never been supportive of Chris, or anything he does. The mom... Not even I know whether or not Chris and Rick actually have a close relationship with her. I know Chris wound up paying off her house debts because she got into trouble. I can't even imagine not being close to our folks."
Drew wet his lips with a frown. "So... neither of them told her? About any of this? Fuck me," he commented bluntly. "She did still give birth to them. I think she has a right to know if she could lose them. That's just... maybe it just slipped their mind? Didn't he go up to his home town? How much would it suck to just not have your mom and dad around?"
Serena gave a nod. "I asked him if he was going to go home. He didn't want to. He didn't want to go home. How much would that suck? I know it's all sunny here in Miami, but Chicago's still home. It's where we grew up. I'm always gonna miss the place. I don't even know if he's got her number somewhere. Maybe I should call her?"
"Do you have his phone?" Drew asked, already making a grab for Serena's bag. He knew she had Chris' cell phone in there. She had all his valuables, he had personally seen her shove them in there... sans that ring he wore, which she had put onto her own thumb with some surgical tape over it. She wanted to wear it into the surgery. He balked a little when the image of the ring jumped into his head. "You two aren't already secretly engaged, are you?" he suddenly asked, ready to tear her a new one if she said yes. "Didn't want to go home? Now I sort of just want to see this shit hole with my own eyes."
Serena's jaw dropped as she stared at her brother trying to work out if she'd heard correctly. "What?! No, no. Of course not. We're not secretly engaged! We've only just agreed to move in. There's been no talk about engagements, I promise!" Serena looked down at the ring on her finger covered in tape and held her hand up. "I just wanted to get him something in a blue box. Like he did for me, but I didn't like the bracelets, and pendants and whatever else. I wanted to get him the ring. I don't know if he just didn't want to go home or if it was because it's a shit hole."
"I had to ask! I don't know! He was attached to that ring and you filched it off him as soon as he was going in! I didn't know. You could have been in amongst all the secrecy and shit, but... if he asked, you would say yes, right? I just get this feeling. If it happens, you are so banned from keeping it a secret or I'll hunt you down and give you biggest wedgie ever. I just... I see how you two look at each other," Drew admitted to her, pulling his lips to the side.
Serena managed to stop staring at Drew but then her eyebrows rose a little in surprise. "What do looks have to do with anything? I mean, I'd say yes but I wouldn't keep it secret. There's no need to keep it secret. I'd do the whole nine yards with Chris. I'd even have his babies if he wanted them. Or I'd get a puppy, or a kitten, or even a pot belly pig if he wanted animals as well. I love him... I just want the chance to get all that and I don't want his goddman heart to just stop on me again because it scared the crap outta me! I was this close to peeing my pants," Serena said as she held her fingers together to show just how close she'd been. "And now I can't stop thinking about it, and I keep hearing him flatlining and I just want him to smile at me again."
"They're not just looks. They're Looks," Drew elaborated pointedly. "It's the whole real deal thing. Aimee... you said she and Dave are onto a good thing. Have you ever just taken notice of how they look at each other. When it's the real deal, the looks change. It's like, when you know they're there... and they're just them... everything else feels awesome. And I am glad you didn't pee your pants, sis, because that would have been uncomfortable. Truthfully, if it was me, I would have done a lot more than pee in my pants. It's gonna stay in your head. You'll keep seeing it, and hearing it. You'll keep going back over it, walking through the surgery in your head to try and figure out how the surgeons fucked up. And you'll find yourself telling yourself that if it was you and the Alpha team doing the surgery, you wouldn't have fucked up. You could be right there, but transplant is these dude's Trauma. It's their speciality. But everyone can fuck up. Chris just well drew the short straw. He's pretty tough though, from what you've told me. Any less of a man might not be bothered to pull through."
Serena gave a small nod. "Yeah, I've noticed. I've just never thought about me and Chris. Just figured we were still just rolling with it. Aimee and Dave had the Looks. We just had... each other. Do you want someone to have Looks with?" she asked him as she came over to her bag and fished out Chris' cell phone for Drew. "I don't even know if me and Alpha team would have done better. I know these guys are the transplant specialists. I just... I can't lose Chris. I just can't. I'm not done having the Looks yet. I haven't even had a chance to move in."
Drew started to scroll through the numbers in Chris' phone, looking for anything that might be mom related. "You might need to speed up that process. Once he gets discharged, he'll probably need and want you around when you aren't at work. Something like this, he won't be back on his feet in the projected couple of weeks. He'll need more time to recover. Hopefully he doesn't have any long-term problems, but you never know with all the body's internal shit, right? Just don't give up on him yet, S. He'll pull through if he knows you're waiting for him. Here. Not-so-cryptically listed under 'Mom'. No dad, though. It's only a landline, no cell. I wonder if she's hot. Dunno about the looks thing. I guess if I find anyone, I'll figure it out." He handed Serena the phone back to see if she would have the guts to call Mrs Deleo... if she was even still a Deleo.
"Please don't talk about Chris' mom like you want to do her. It's disturbing," she murmured as she scrunched up her nose. "I don't want to think about my brother and his mother. Ew... Do you think you can help me move into his place before he comes home? That way I can be all ready. And I want you to stay at my apartment, okay? I won't get rid of it. If you wanted to stick in Miami for a bit, I can always sign it over. You know, if you wanted it." She gave her brother a hopeful look. The idea of her brother staying around for a while made her happy. She looked down at the phone in her hand and sucked in a breath. She wasn't even sure what she would say, but she had to try. She hit the call button and held the phone to her ear.
"Hey, look at her offspring! I was just making an observation. She has to be hot, or at least semi-hot. Unless they look like their dad. But if he's a tosser, who would want them to? Maybe she looks like Charlize Theron?" Drew was an artistic sort, he never could help his imagination running away from him. He might come across a bit eccentric sometimes, but there were worse things in the world to be than that. "Who do you think they look like? I mean, you look like mom, and I look like dad with mom's colouring. Man, if you two ever have kids, you are going to need to keep them on leashes," he observed as he watched her waiting for an answer on the phone.
Serena tilted her head. "Okay, that would be hot... I don't know. I kinda think maybe Rick might look a little like their dad. He is more chiselled than Chris. He's got more angles to him. And the whole..." She pointed at her chin as she wiggled her finger and shrugged. She couldn't really put it into words. "You really think our kids would be--Oh, um, hello, Mrs Deleo? Ah... you don't know me but my name is Serena Warren. I'm a friend of your son's. Ah, Chris. He, um... And Rick... Um, I don't really know how to even start..."
Drew blinked, not really following what Serena was trying to explain. "They still look like brothers, though. Rick is just fucking huge," he stated with his own blunt description of the older brother. He watched Serena struggle for a moment. She was going to start crying. Drew could hear that edge in her voice. He had heard his baby sister cry enough over the years to know the signs. He always hated it too... he felt so helpless. He grabbed the phone off her and put it to his ear. "Mrs Deleo? Hey, I'm Drew. I'm potentially Chris' brother-in-law-to-be. I know this is weird, but you just need to hear me out for a minute. You need to come to Miami, yeah? Your boys, they're in hospital. You need-- she hung up!" he said in shock, blinking at the phone in surprise.
Serena was already crying now that she no longer had the phone to her ear and she reached out to grab her brother's hand before she frowned. "She what?"
"She just hung up!" Drew cried indignantly. "She was asking who I was, so I told her, but then she went quiet and after that, she just... hung the eff up. Oh shit. Maybe things are worse in their family than they've been letting on?"
Serena shifted her weight as she resisted the urge to take her hair out of its ponytail and cleared her throat as her blue eyes stayed fixed on her brother. "Maybe it was to do with the fact that you introduced yourself as Chris' potential brother-in-law-to-be? It might have spooked her to get news of that, plus the fact that both boys are in hospital. If things are so strained between them it might have been a lot to take in."
Drew pulled a face at his sister. "What was I supposed to say? I had to get her attention! Come on, what sort of mother is she that gets spooked over the news her kid has a girlfriend? If she's that fucked in the head, something is wrong and she shouldn't be here anyway. Hello! It is a lot to take in. She may as well get the whole story at once," he reasoned.
Serena wrapped her arms around her slender waist as she dropped her gaze to the phone still in Drew's hand. "Maybe she's literally dropped everything just to come as soon as possible?"
"Or we just fucked up royally..." Drew added quietly, looking at the phone in his hand.
"Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap. Maybe it's just as well Chris isn't conscious for this." Serena turned around to start pacing, her fingers pressed against her lips as she tried to ignore the way her stomach had tightened even more at the idea that they'd managed to fuck up even more by trying to just let Mrs Deleo know what was going on. All she wanted was for Chris to have his family. She wasn't trying to push them away even more.
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