The next morning Catherine and Michael awoke before dawn. Eager to see how her patient was doing, she got up and started getting ready for a day at the hospital. She checked her messages and found only a few updates that Lucas’ vitals were good, but he still remained asleep. Michael told her he needed to quickly go touch base with the tech team, but then he would be joining her at the hospital. With a quick goodbye kiss, they parted ways.
Catherine felt right at home as she walked through the clinic entrance before the rays of the sunrise. She greeted her team members and discussed her patient with each specialist. The morning went by quickly, getting updates and new scans and running tests on Lucas. Everything was coming out normal. His numbers were good and his counts were in range, but he still hadn’t come to. The drugs had worn off, and he was now able to wake up on his own accord, but for some reason, he wasn’t.
Catherine chewed her lip in worry. While it was normal for a patient to remain unconscious, the longer it went on, the possibility of damage increased. If these hours turned to days, the possibility of permanent damage was a real threat. She worried about that, running the operation through her mind, the memory of the screen burned into her brain and eyes. She recalled how the machine had worked out the mass and how they had checked for any lesions or abrasions. Her thoughts raced. The brain would need to readjust after the removal—was there anything that could interfere with that? She felt her heartbeat quicken and her palms begin to sweat. Then she grabbed the charts and once again traced through each one carefully.
In a sigh of frustration, she dropped the papers on the desk in her makeshift office and rested her chin on her hands. She knew she had to wait and give it some time. The other doctors didn’t seem concerned yet. Still, she couldn’t help fretting. Lucas was her patient and her responsibility. She wanted him to wake up, so she could observe him conscious, get a reading on where he was, and gauge the results of the surgery.
With a sudden buzz, her phone went off. She pulled it out of her pocket and was surprised to see it was her friend, Ella. She had been so busy that she hadn’t talked to her best friend in almost two weeks.
She slid the button across the screen and answered the call. “Hey Ella,” she greeted her friend warmly.
“You move to Cuba, disappear to a paradise, and leave me hanging. How the hell are you, woman?”
Catherine let out a long sigh. “It has been a hell of a month. We had to go into an early surgery yesterday, when Lucas started seizing.”
Her friend gasped. “Oh my, is he okay? How did it go?”
“The operation went well; this robotic assist is a complete game changer. But right now I’m worrying about him. He hasn’t woken up yet, and I can’t figure out why.”
“What do you mean?” her friend asked inquisitively.
Ella was a nurse at the hospital where Catherine worked, so she knew she could tell her the results of the tests and get solid feedback. Comforted by that knowledge, she took a deep breath and began going over the readings with her friend.
“It just doesn’t make sense, from everything on paper, he should be awake,” Catherine finished with a sigh of exasperation.
She could see Ella shaking her head as she spoke, “Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, when are you going to learn?”
Catherine straightened up. “Learn what?”
She could see her friend’s sweet smile, as she lightly chided, “That things aren’t always as they appear on paper. You need to let Lucas heal and wake up on his own time, you know that. I know you’re worried, and you know that won’t do any bit of good. You need to relax and let him heal at his own speed. His vitals are good, his scans are clean. Just let it be for a bit. You need to take a walk and go get some fresh air. I know how close you are to this patient and this case, but it doesn’t do any good for you to worry.”
A smile crept on her face, and she nodded. “You’re right, Ella. It’s nice hearing someone else's perspective on it.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, you did good. Just breathe and let it be, okay?”
“Okay, thanks lady.”
“Of course. Now how is that hot boyfriend of yours doing?”
Catherine let out a laugh. “He’s not my boyfriend!” she exclaimed.
“Mhmm, you tell him that? What have you two been up to?”
“Honestly, a lot of work.”
“Oh, what kind of work would that be?” Ella laughed.
Catherine felt her face grow warm; even from another country, her friend could make her blush. “Some of that,” she replied coyly.
“I’m happy for you, if anyone deserves an amazing man, it’s you.”
“Well, I’m not sure if he’s—”
“You two sleeping together every night?”
Catherine hesitated. Before she could reply, Ella answered for her.
“He’s got you wrapped in those big, strong arms every night, trust me woman, he's yours.”
She let out a wholehearted laugh at her friend’s response. “Fine, you win.”
“I think you’re the winner here.”
She thought about Michael for a moment, his big, bright smile and those dark blues eyes flashing in her mind.
“Yeah, you might be right about that one.”
“Well, I’ll let you get back to it. Keep me posted about Lucas, I’m looking forward to meeting him when he wakes up. He needs to make a stop in New York, you let him know for me, okay?”
She snickered at her friend’s request, knowing exactly what her motive was. “You got it, take care.”
“Bye girl!”
She hung up and returned her phone to her lab coat pocket, then stood up and stretched. She would give Lucas a quick visit, then head for a walk around the clinic and out to the courtyard for some sun and fresh air. Her friend had been right—she needed to let Lucas heal at his own rate and not waste energy worrying. Whatever was going to happen would happen.
She walked into Lucas’ room, and although she knew he was still hooked up to an array of cords, wires, and tubes, the site was still startling. His frail frame rose and fell with the whoosh of the machine, his skin was pale, and thin blue veins traced his body. He was shaved bald, the angry, red incision stitched tight and puckering out in defiance of the rest of his scalp. She felt her heart grow heavy again. It was never easy seeing people in such a state; the weakness that came about with illness was heartbreaking.
She watched Lucas for a few minutes, still rolling everything around in her head. Ella’s words rang clear, but as she stared at him now, listless and not responding, she felt the anxiety twist in her gut. Had she done everything she could have? Was anything else lurking she may have missed?
She sighed, knowing Ella was right. Fresh air and sunshine would help her think more clearly. She turned to leave the room and walked straight into Michael’s chest, letting out a startled cry.
“Sorry!” he exclaimed, startled by the quick turn she had made directly into his chest.
He held her shoulders and gazed down at her worried face. “What is it?” he asked with concern.
She took a deep breath. “It’s nothing, just me worrying.”
He stepped back and then moved next to Lucas. He watched his brother for a few moments, a tangible sadness in the air. Then he looked back at Catherine and gave a nod for her to join him as he stood next to her patient. She strode over and stood by him. They looked to the shallow rise and fall of Lucas’ chest, and she felt Michael take her hand in his.
“What are you worrying about?” he asked softly as his eyes shifted over to meet hers.
She ran a nervous hand through her hair then returned her gaze to Lucas. “The tests and scans are normal, his vitals are good and stable. But he’s not awake, and I just so badly want him to open up those eyes and talk to us.”
Michael nodded and a half smile creased his lips. “Me too, I miss his laugh. I miss his ability to light up a whole room. I miss our drunken, late night conversations, me giving him shit for being shorter than me and him telling me he made up for it in other ways.”
Catherine let out a laugh at that, and Michael smirked back at her.
“I know Lucas. If anyone is going to pull through this, it’s going to be him. But he’ll make sure it’s on his own time, that’s for damn sure.” He shook his head with a grin.
“One time he showed up to a cousin’s wedding as the bride and father were walking down the aisle. Trailed behind them like nothing happened.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, and she let out a giggle, “Really?!”
“Oh yeah, guy has no idea how time works. He’s great on projects, there have been days I’ve caught him working for over thirty hours. Of course, there have been other days where I have found him sleeping for that long.”
She gave him a warm look, “That’s reassuring to know.”
“Another time, when we were teenagers, he was playing road hockey and took a blow right to the head. He should have been knocked out, but not Lucas. Guy acted like nothing happened and kept right on playing. I’m sure he had a concussion, but he never acted the least bit phased.”
Catherine shook her head “Hard heads must run in the family,” she deadpanned and tried to hold back her laugh.
Michael gave her a playful shove. “You better believe it.” He paused and let his gaze fall back on his sleeping brother. “I know it’s an anxious time, I’m feeling it as well. But I also have this feeling, and usually my feelings are pretty on point, that he’s going to pull through this.”
“Yeah? Well, that’s good to hear as well.” She gave his hand a squeeze, and he returned the gesture.
“I once had this really good feeling about a woman. She was gorgeous, funny, and braver than anyone I had ever met. My feeling was she could pull off anything, and I was right.” He looked to her, and she felt her heart flutter.
“Yeah? She sounds like quite the impressive lady.” She gave him a coy expression, her brow raised in sarcasm.
“Oh, she is. The best, actually.”
He nudged her with his elbow, and she looked up at him. His eyes seemed to swallow her whole as he slowly leaned in for a kiss. When their lips met, she felt a spark of electricity. He reached behind her and pulled her close, his mere touch bringing her comfort and washing away the worries. Her hands reached up and caressed his face as she kissed him harder, needing him and feeling desire burn deep within her. She knew damn well there couldn't have been a more inappropriate time or place, but she couldn’t help herself when it came to this man.
A sudden gasp startled both of them, and they looked over to see Lucas stirring on the bed. The tube that went down his throat had startled him as he woke, his body convulsed with an instinctive cough, and a few nurses rushed in to begin pulling the material out of his throat.
“You’re doing good, Lucas. Give us a minute to take these out and you’ll be able to breathe normally, just relax right now,” one of the nurses spoke to him in a soothing tone. Michael and Catherine watched with smiles as his eyes fluttered open and he began to look around.
The team bustled to clear away the tube, and as soon as it was out, he sucked in a deep breath and let out a cough. It took him a few moments to catch his breath, but then he looked over to Michael and Catherine with a small smile across his dry lips.
“I made it,” he rasped, his heavy eyes looking from his brother to the doctor.
“You did it,” Michael said with a bright smile, as he laid a hand on his Lucas’ shoulder.
“How’d it go, doc?” he turned to Catherine as she beamed at him.
“You did great. Made history, actually.” She gave a small laugh of relief as she looked at her patient, his open eyes and small smile all the reassurance she needed right now.
He shook his head and let out a hoarse chuckle. “That’s pretty cool, but next time I’d like it to be for something less scary than having a tumor pulled out of my head,” he joked as he lifted his hand and pointed to the incision.
“I hope so too,” Michael replied.
“Alright, Lucas, we need to go through an assessment and see how everything is working. Do you feel up for that now, or would you like to rest more?” Catherine stepped up to him and took his hand; it was cool but gave a weak squeeze in response to her touch.
He nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Over the next half hour, they went through simple, coordinated motions, speech patterns, and memory recall. She asked him about different points on his body and how they felt, if he had any severe pain, blurred vision, or nausea. Lucas seemed to be pulling through completely. His responses were a bit sluggish, but in the normal range for someone who was waking up from such a procedure. As he stayed awake longer, he seemed to gain more energy, his boisterous personality fighting through the fatigue though Catherine could tell he was pushing himself.
“Take it easy, Lucas. You’ll have plenty of time to catch up on things and get back to trouble,” she said with a smirk.
He grunted, “Easy for you to say, all I want right now is a big, juicy burger.”
“I’ll bring you one as soon as I can, brother. Right now just try to focus on the little things,” Michael encouraged, and Lucas took a deep breath, releasing it slowly.
“So what do you think, doc?” Catherine looked at him and the results of the simple task tests, then gave him a smile.
“You’re looking good, right on track for a full recovery.”
He nodded with a smirk. “Great, so when can I head home?” he joked.
The team laughed in relief, glad to see their patient was awake and seemed to be his old self. The recovery journey would be long, some rehabilitation required, but Catherine felt the excitement as she realized he had the potential to return to a near one hundred percent.
“We’ve got a couple weeks until that point, but I think you’ll be able to dig into that burger tomorrow for lunch. Let’s keep it light today, don’t want to upset your stomach too much.” She wagged a finger at him as he gave a look of faux disappointment.
“Fine, but you better bring me a double cheeseburger, Michael. And no onions.”
“No onions, double cheeseburger. You got it, man.” He gave him a thumbs up and a wink.
“And no more you two making out in front of me,” he jabbed as he sent the two of them a coy look.
Michael and Catherine looked at one another in surprise. Hadn’t he been asleep when they had kissed?
“You thought I was sleeping, but I could hear all of your cheesy, chick-flick exchange and kissing.” His smile grew as he watched their surprised looks turn to him.
Michael smirked. “Fair enough. You get some rest, brother. I’ll be back a bit later after you have some more time with the doctors.”
He leaned in, clasped his brother in a bear hug, then reached up and pressed Lucas’ bald head against his own while they shared a moment of silence. It was a blood tie, and Catherine could see their appreciation and love as they pulled away and nodded to one another. The sight made her smile and warmed her heart. They had done it—they had pulled it off.
Michael turned to head out the door and gave her a nod. “You sticking around here?”
She looked to the team as they continued to work. Her presence didn’t seem dire at the moment, and she was feeling hungry.
“I was thinking about lunch, you?” she asked him with a perked brow.
A grin spread over his face. “I was thinking I could join you for lunch,” he replied.
She let out an exaggerated sigh and shook her head. “I suppose you can join me.”
“Oh, you suppose?” he asked as he tilted his head at her, biting his lip and letting his eyes trail down her body.
“Hey! What did I just tell you two? Take it outside!” Lucas shooed them away and rolled his eyes at their antics.
“We’re going, bye, Lucas.” Michael closed the door as the two of them stepped out.
“Now, where were we?” he turned back to Catherine, his hands reaching down to swoop her up into a deep kiss.
She pressed her tongue against his and tasted him, barely able to restrain herself from ripping his clothes off. She could have stayed there forever, but he slowly released his grip and looked to her, eyes beaming with joy.
“You did it, Catherine. You saved my brother.”