Matters of the Heart

Chapter 29 Part 2

Abbey kept hearing an incessant beeping in the back of her mind. It was becoming annoying.

"Abbey? Abigail?"

She opened her eyes slowly and realized she was in a hospital room in a bed hooked up to machines, an IV in her arm.

"Abbey? Kiddo?"

She turned her head to see her dad, Liam Cooper sitting there by her bedside.

"Daddy?"

"Hey sweetpea, how are you feeling?"

"Tired. What happened?"

"You were waiting for Jesse to get out of surgery and Leah said you got sick. When you came out of the bathroom, you started to pass out. Patrick caught you before you hit the floor, thank God"

"Jesse? His surgery?!"

Abbey shot up in bed.

"Hey hey easy. Let's lay back down"

Abbey tried to take off the blood pressure cuff on her arm and the leads attaching her to the heart monitor.

"No i have to go. Jesse. I have to see him. Where is he? How is he?"

"Abigail relax. Lay back down"

"Dad!"

"Abbey he's still in surgery, from what we've been told he's stable and everything is ok as it can be. It could still be a while yet"

So it was a dream.

"What's wrong with me?"

"We're not sure yet. They've been giving you some fluids, you were pretty dehydrated. And they're running some tests but they think it was exhaustion and dehydration. But we need to know for sure. You know Jesse would be so worried if he knew this happened while he was in surgery."

"That's why he doesn't have to know. Dad you didn't have to come"

"Of course I did. My baby needed me. And hey whats this retirement good for anyway? That was the whole purpose to spend more time with you girls"

She smiled.

"Thanks for coming Daddy"

"You bet kiddo. You seriously feeling ok?"

"Yeah I think so. I had this crazy dream"

"Leah told me about the last one. Kiddo just stay positive. Jesses strong"

"This was nothing like the last one. I was here, a patient like I am now. Obviously I collapsed. But when I woke up, it wasn't you, it was Jesse. And it was 10 years later. He said we had been married 10 years and we had 5 kids. 2 were ours, 1 we adopted, and 2 we were fostering. We had built a house in Logan Square. I guess I was still a Dr but he had finished Chicago PD years ago and he had created his own show about us"

"Well kiddo maybe that was your subconscious telling you that everything is going to be fine. That Jesse is going to be fine. You'll be married for years and have beautiful children together. Maybe just maybe that was Jesse's way of letting you know he's going to pull through this and you two will go on to live the happy life you're destined to have together"

"Dad I'm a Dr. I know how bad that surgery is. We both do."

Liam nodded his head.

"Abigail that was 45 years ago long before you were ever born. That surgery was so different then. And your grandfather was 46 and had already had a stroke. Jesse is different. He's young and other than his recent problems he's pretty healthy. Besides science has come such a long way since then"

"Still DAD the odds of Jesse dying on that table are greater than him not"

"Abbey"

"And even if he makes it through surgery, the percentage of him making it 24 hours post operation is only 25%"

"And you know what. I bet you Jesse Lee Soffer is that 25 percent."

Abbey smiled at her dad.

"You always see the positive side of things"

"I've had to Abigail. Ive seen too much bad shit the last 40 years at some point you just have to believe everything will be ok and I believe he will be. He'll do anything to come back to you"

Abbey solemnly nodded as the door opened. It was Leah.

"Hey you. You decided to come back"

"Hey. How's Jess?"

"Still in surgery. He's stable Abs. His heart is hanging on. What about you? You scared us"

"Yeah sorry I was just nauseous and I got dizzy. Hey can you get them to discharge me? So I can get back to the Cardiac ICU and wait to see Jesse"

"Not so fast. Gosh Drs do make the worst patients."

Abbey rolled her eyes as Leah checked her vitals.

"I'm ok now. I feel better since I've had the fluids."

"Well we're still waiting on the test results from Dr. Clark. I think she's on her way in"

"Good she needs to discharge me so I can get back to waiting on my husband to come out of surgery. "

Leah looked over at her stepfather and they just shook their heads at each other.

Just then as if on cue, Katie Clark, one of the ED attendants waltzed in.

"Well Dr Cooper, I was not expecting you to be my patient today. "

"Yes me either, Katie. And it's Soffer now"

"I did hear that. Congratulations"

"Yeah well my husband is in the OR having an AAA rupture repair as we speak so if you can just discharge me so I can get back to the waiting room that would be great"

"Not so fast, Abbey there's one more test I want to perform"

"What's that? I'm fine. It was just exhaustion and dehydration"

"Well I would agree with you"

"Exactly. I've had some rest. Ive had fluids. I'm ok now"

"Well I'd like to do an ultrasound"

"An ultrasound? For what?"

"Your blood test came back showing extremely high levels of hCG"

"Wait did you say hCG?"

"I did. Congratulations Abbey, you're pregnant. You're about 9 weeks along  according to your levels"