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"I’uys are my family" He swipes away another tear "I’ e a hand on Stuart’s shoulder "I’ to take Jake to see Tru now I said you’d stay with the little guy" He tilts his head toward the door behind me
"I don’t want hiain
"Of course" Stuart nods "There’s nowhere else I’d want to be right now"
Leaving Stuart, Josh takes the lead and I follow hi, I turn back "Stuart?"
He stops with the door partway open "Yeah?"
I step forward "Hold his hand He likes to wrap his hand around your finger"
He offers a light smile "Okay, I’ll make sure to do that"
"And Stuart" I catch his attention again "You have to clean your hands with that sanitizer stuff before you touch hierms away"
"Sanitizer Got it" He nods "I’ll take good care of him, Jake"
"I know you will"
I follow Josh down the hall toward the bank of elevators My heart labours heavy inTru
All I’ve wanted for the last few hours is to see her, and now I’ terrified
We step inside the elevator Josh presses the button to take us down a few floors
The doors slide closed
"Jake, I want you to be prepared for seeing Tru She’s not going to be--"
"Don’t say it I know But…just don’t say it" I crossat the ache in ht ahead
The elevator glides to a halt, the doors slide open, and I follow Josh out
With every step closer to Tru, theto see
We take a right at the end of the hall, into another e on so the clipboard down, he stands at our approach and pushes his glasses up his nose
He’s a bookish-looking doctor wearing blue cotton pants and a V-neck top At least he’s not wearing a white coat
He’s wearing scrubs
Are they what he hile operating on Tru?
I start to feel sick as unwanted ih my mind
"Josh" He nods
"Lucas, this is Jake Wethers, Trudy’s fiancé Jake, this is Dr Lucas Kish"
"Nice to meet you, Jake"
I nod a response
It’s not exactly like I want to shake his fucking hand and say It’s nice tonot
I don’t want to meet him I don’t want Tru to be here
"Okay, so…" He pushes his hands into his trouser pockets "As Dr Kimble explained to you before, Trudy suffered a severe head injury as a result of the i ht frontal lobe, e call the e a severe contusion to the skull There was internal bleeding and swelling to the brain We ste and eased the pressure there Trudy also suffered other injuries froht arm broken, and her hand crushed…"
Fractured Broken Crushed
"…but it’s the head injury that obviously causes the most concern"
I try to steerto the door toa deep breath, I force out the words I fear the answer to h this?"
Dr Kish reether, and takes a deep breath I see his eyes sweep the floor before co back to me
Nerves crawl around my body
"The next twenty-four hours are critical Her vitals are stable but low She’s in a co on her own With your consent, I plan on reht hours to see if Trudy responds to breathing alone If she does, we’re looking on the side of positive"
I s hard "And…if she doesn’t?"
He looks e e come to it These next few days are critical for Trudy’s recovery, but I pro in our power to see her through to the other side of this and get her back home with you and your son"
I push at the ache in my chest with e to her brain?" My lasses and rubs his eyes "Possibly, yes We won’t know that until she wakes The good thing is, the left side of her brain is fine If it had been the left, her speech, as, could have been affected So we have that to be thankful for"
I tense, fist clenching at ht now" My tone is cold, biting
I see the concern flash over his face "Of course not, I didn’t oes toby it He’s just trying to give you the positive side of the bad He is one of the best neurosurgeons the US has to offer You can trust hih this"