She's Coming Home

Support each other

Antonio POV
Ms H- everything ok?
Antonio- not really.
Ms H- is there anything we can do, Shay can stay longer if you want?
Antonio- no, I can't see her tonight anyways. I just need to get Shay home and try to distract her. I'm not sure if Shay will come tomorrow, I'll call in the morning.
Ms H- no problem, you can always bring her in late again as well just let us know.
Antonio- thanks
I get Shay and head back to the car where I start trying to negotiate with her. She agrees to on park so we head there. I call Carina, I've only met her a few times but she's the person I think of who might understand
Phone call
C- hello?
A- hi Carina, it's Antonio, Gabby's brother.
C- Antonio hi, how is everything?
She probably hears the still very upset toddler in the background.
A- um, not good. I'm sorry, I barely know you, I shouldn't have bothered
I start to back out of talking but she cuts me off
C- Antonio it's ok, tell me what's going on. We can support each other like Maya and Gabby are
A- it's Gabby, she's not doing well.
C- we were there earlier, she called Maya but I had to go with her because she was exhausted after a seizure last night and then I had to take Maya back to the hotel because she fell asleep.
A- Gabby had a seizure then her BP was dropping and it turns out her tube got pulled out and she was bleeding a lot. She's still in surgery and Nat said she doesn't know if she'll be ok and Shay is freaking out because she wants to see her.
C- where are you?
A- I'm taking Shay to the park to distract her.
C- text me which park, we'll meet you there.

Carina POV
I got off the phone and got a text of which park they were going to.
Carina- bambina we need to go. Antonio needs us.
Maya- what?
She just woke up a little while ago and is still very tired.
Carina- we need to go meet Antonio and Shay at a park. Antonio needs us.
Maya- Gabby's brother?
Carina- yes bambina. You are still very confused aren't you?
Maya- hmm?
Carina- you're not usually affected for this long after a seizure, you feel ok?
Maya- just tired. Why does Antonio need us? Is Gabby ok?
Finally she's aware of what's going on
Carina- I don't know all the details but Gabby's in surgery, Antonio's scared and Shay's very upset she can't go see her mom.
Maya- let's go
She sits up, loses her balance and tries to make it look like she didn't.
Carina- wait here, I'll get your chair
Maya- I can walk across the room Carina!
Carina- most days yes, right now you almost fell over sitting up and a minute ago you were not understanding me.
I bring the chair over and help her get in and we head down to the car. I help her into the car even though I want her to rest because there's really no good way to lift someone into a car. Then I load her wheelchair and we head out.

We get to the park and I unload the wheelchair and lift Maya out of the car and strap her in.
Maya- Carina I'm fine I don't need the chest harness, I can sit up
I ignore her and put it on anyways, she can sit up but she needs to save her energy and the park will be bumpy.
We head into the park and find Shay and Antonio.
Carina- ciao Antonio
Antonio- hey, thanks for coming. You ok Maya?
Maya- I'm fine, how's Gabby?
Antonio- still in surgery but they stopped the major bleed and are just repairing her stomach but then they need be able to get a new tube in.
Maya- what happened?
Antonio- the tube got pulled out during a seizure and she was bleeding out into her stomach.
Maya- how did it cause so much damage?
Antonio- it was still new and she's had a lot of abdominal trauma in the past. She doesn't like talking about it.
Maya- it's ok, sorry I didn't mean to push. I'll take Shay over to the playground.

Maya POV
I head over to the playground with Shay so Carina and Antonio can talk. Shay wants me to play in the sand with her so I get on the ground which is easier anyways because wheels and sand don't go well. She's finally staring to be distracted from the fact that she can't see her mom. Between Shay signing, my wheelchair and my awkward attempts at crawling on the sand we're getting a lot of stares but I'm trying to ignore it and focus on the fact that Shay's happy.
Shay(signs)- slide
I know a few signs from Jack and Marcus and I've been FaceTiming Jack to learn more so I usually understand her.
Maya- ok
She runs over and starts climbing up while I start scooting over there on the ground. I need help to stand up and also to balance walking on sand because it's so uneven and moves around.
Carina- why are you sitting in the sand
Maya- hi good timing, help me up?
Carina- you are so covered in sand
She pulls me up and holds onto me while I walk over to join Shay on the climbers. I start climbing up the steps to follow Shay as Antonio gets off the phone and walks over to us
Carina- well your energy is back
Maya- yep, I told you I was ok, just tired. I'm fine now.
Antonio gets over to us
Maya- update?
Antonio- ya she's out of surgery and back in her room. They want to keep her sedated for at least 24 hours, she can maybe have visitors tomorrow, depends how the night goes.
Maya- ok

Next morning- Antonio POV
I get a text from Nat- "still really busy in her room, no visitors today. Waking her up tomorrow morning, she can have visitors once she's awake"

Next morning
Another text from Nat- "taking her off sedation, she's doing well so far but we still need to monitor for seizures, she'll be ready for a visit in an hour or 2"
I decide to take Shay to daycare and pick her up early if Gabby's doing ok. I drop her off and go into work. An hour later Nat texts saying I can see her.
Antonio- sarge can I head out for a bit? Gabby's awake and can have visitors again.
Voight- take the day, just keep your phone on you in case we get a big case.
Antonio- thanks sarge
Voight- and let us know how she's doing ok?
Antonio- got it
I find Nat waiting for me in the hall.
Nat- you can go see her but don't be concerned if she's not responding, she's on a lot of pain meds and also don't excite her. If she starts moving too much we'll have to sedate her again so she doesn't rip her stitches.
Antonio- ok, I'll keep her calm.
I go into her room, she's partially awake

Antonio- hey sis, how you feeling
It takes a while for her to answer.
Gabby- weird
Antonio- Nat said you're on some strong pain killers so I think by weird you mean high!
She doesn't respond to that.
Antonio- you in any pain?
Gabby- no.
And she fell back asleep. I texted Voight so he could update the team.
A- she's doing alright. Definitely high on pain meds but it's good cause she isn't in any pain.
V- glad she's doing good, I'll update the team.
I also updated Erin, 51 and Maya and Carina.

A few hours later she woke up again.
Gabby- hi
Antonio- hey, you're awake, how are you feeling.
Gabby- sore
Antonio- meds must be wearing off, I'll tell Nat your up.
I go find her and she comes back to check on her.
Nat- hey how are you feeling.
Gabby- sore tired
Nat- ya, we decreased your pain meds a bit.
Gabby- have happened
Nat- your tube was pulled out during a seizure, you had emergency surgery and then we kept you sedated for a day and a half so you could start healing.
Gabby- that why tired
Nat- ya, you'll be tired for a while you lost a lot of blood. I'm going to check your incision ok?
Gabby- ok

Nat pulled up the gown to show Gabby's stomach which had a big bandage on either side of her new tube which was draining. She removed the bandages to check on the incision and started touching around it to make sure everything was fine. Gabby tensed when Nat touched her.
Gabby- hurt
Nat- I know I'm sorry but I need to check it.
She finished examining her and started putting new bandages on.
Nat- it looks good. We just need to be careful that you're not moving around to much because that could open up the incision. And I know you can't control it, that's our job as your doctors to figure out how to stop that from happening. You'll still have PT doing some stretches and you'll keep wearing the braces so that you make progress from the Botox but you're staying in bed for a while. I'll check on you later, let someone know if you need anything.
Gabby- ok

Gabby POV
I fall back asleep and when I wake up again Maya's there.
Maya- hi
Gabby- hi
Maya- how are you doing?
Gabby- sore
Maya- ya. But bright side, we match even more now
Gabby- what?
Maya- you got a mic-key button
Gabby- oh cool
Maya- we have to head back to Seattle today.
Gabby- I'll miss you
Maya- I'll miss you to but Carina has work and I have therapy and appointments to hopefully get back to work one day. We'll still call and FaceTime and we'll visit again, or maybe you can come see us in Seattle.
Gabby- definitely one day.