Our Little Hero

𝐟𝗼𝐮𝐫 | "𝐝𝗼𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝗺 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝗺𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞!"

Jay and Callie were woken up rather early the following morning. One of the nurses on the team came into the room to check Callie's vitals. Jay sat on the bed with Callie, the four year old perched on his lap, laying her head back on his chest. "Daddy, what's happening?" Callie asked her father. "Well, the doctors and nurses are gonna do something for you, to help you get better" he told the girl. Callie gave him a swift nod of her head, as the little girl hummed a song, to pass the time. Jay simply soaked in the time with his oldest daughter, before she was to be whisked away into the hands of complete strangers, and put to sleep for her port placement procedure. In total honesty, Jay was nervous. This procedure wasn't too intense, and not very invasive either. But, Callie had never had surgery before, or even been put under anesthesia. 

Soon enough, Callie and Jay were greeted by a couple of nurses, who had arrived to take Callie back for her surgery. The nurses explained that Jay would go to the surgery waiting away down the hall, where Hailey could meet him as well, and the doctor would come out to speak with them as soon as the procedure had finished, and after Callie would be taken to recovery. The operating room wasn't located too far from Callie's hospital room, which meant that Jay wouldn't be able to walk with them. Normally they'd wheel the patients to the operating room, but for Callie, they had chosen to carry her, to try to minimize the fear the girl would experience. Of course, that just didn't work.

Jay picked Callie up from the bed, as he gave her a hug and a kiss. He then passed his four year old off to one of the nurses, and that's when the emotions ran free. As the nurses took Callie away from her father, the four year old began to cry, and turn her head back to look at Jay, as they traveled. "Daddy, no!" Were the cries from the child, "Don't let them take me daddy, please!" Callie cried out. "I want you daddy! Help me!" She whined, as the tears rolled down her small face. By the time they had rounded the corner and were out of sight, he could still hear his daughter crying for him, but it was quieter now. Did she think he would never come back for her? Did Callie think he did that on purpose? Surely not, but every parent thinks of the worst sometimes. Of course, seeing his young child be taken away and hearing the heart wrenching cries for salvation, tugged at his heartstrings, as a couple tears rolled down his face.

Jay had called Hailey after the ordeal, since she hadn't made her way over to the hospital yet, she couldn't bear to watch the struggle from her daughter, and she knew Callie would be just fine. "She cried for me, to save her. And I couldn't. I had to let them take her" he said, over the phone, as he walked downstairs to the gift shop, to find his daughter something, for when she wakes up. "She was just scared and nervous, she's going to be just fine" Hailey told him, as he agreed with her.

Only a few minutes later, Hailey arrived to the hospital. She had managed to start pumping over the previous night and the early hours of the current morning, which allowed her to have plenty of milk for Cosette, and she brought her pump parts to the hospital for the day. The plan would stay the same though, she'd still go home at night, to give Cosy the knowledge her parent was with her. Cosette was staying with Kim and Makayla, while Hailey was with Jay and Callie. Hailey made her way up to the floor, and to the surgery waiting room, where she found Jay sitting in a chair near the door. "Anything yet?" She asked Jay once she reached him. Her husband shook his head firmly. "Nothing. If everything's going how it should, they should be out in a few minutes." He added.

And Jay was correct. Maybe ten minutes later, the surgeon emerged into the waiting room. "Mr. and Mrs. Halstead" the surgeon called out, as the two of them stood up, and walked to him. "Caroline did wonderfully. We got the port placed correctly, and she did absolutely phenomenal. She's in the recovery room now, and should be to her room shortly. She may be a bit irritable, sore, or cranky when she weans off the remainder of the anesthesia, but that's nothing for you to be worried about, it's perfectly normal." He told Hailey and Jay, as they thanked him, and headed to Callie's hospital room to wait on their daughter to be brought back and settled in.

A short while later, Callie was brought back to her room, where she was transferred back into the original bed. She woke up periodically to have a sip of juice, before dozing back off. That was completely normal for a child weaning off of anesthesia. Hailey and Jay sat right by their little girl's bedside, as they waited for her to come too for good. And soon enough, she was awake fully.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Callie said, happy to see both of her parents there when she had awoken. It wasn't long before Callie noticed the tubes coming from her chest, and the discomfort and slight pain where her port had been placed. Callie looked down, to see it all, as she looked back to her parents, scared. "Daddy! What's this? They sliced my chest! It hurts! Take it out, please! Please daddy!" Callie cried, as she started to pull at the tubes coming from her chest. The little girl was confused, and extremely scared. Jay immediately went to his daughter, who had been reaching for him to sit with her, and to hold her. "I'm sorry, baby. We can't take them out. Those tubes are going to help you get better, okay?" He informed his daughter. "But it hurts daddy. I don't want them!" She whined, as he gently hugged her. Hailey had walked over to them as well, as she rubbed Callie's hand.

After they had calmed Callie down, the oncologist came in to the room to talk with the parents. "Since her port placement went well, we're going to give it a day or so to heal and stop causing pain for her, and then we'll be able to start chemo, as long as no problems arise. The sooner we can start the chemo, the better for her." He informed them. "But we have to stay until then?" Hailey asked. The oncologist nodded, "I want to watch her, and make sure nothing else happens, and make sure that the port is easily accessible and working properly, and then after chemo begins, we can discuss a plan for discharge". And then, he was gone. Leaving Hailey and Jay with their four year old, to sit and wait for chemo to begin. And they hoped it would begin as soon as possible. They wanted to do whatever they needed to, in order to save their daughter.

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AN: And that's the end of chapter four! Thank you guys for reading, I know this story's a little more difficult to read! Please feel free to leave any thoughts, questions, comments, anything is welcome and appreciated too! Thank you for reading and voting!