If Only They Knew (Book 1.5) (AU Series) - INTERSEX

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Alexandria

"Help!"

"Help!" Valiana collapsed in my arms after seeing Deleena's body. After screaming for help for what felt like forever, a doctor finally comes over, and I lay her on a gurney.

"What's wrong with her?" a nurse asks.

"You dumb wit, she's having a seizure. She's a heart patient here," Josie says.

I give her a look because the people in trauma don't necessarily know all the admitted patients here. That's not their job.

"What's her name?" They roll her into a room.

"Valiana Reed." The nurse pulls up her information on an iPad.

"She's waiting on a heart, Dr. Royce, but she signed a DNR." We all look at the nurse in shock. Josephine snatches the iPad from her to read it for herself. She looks up at me with horror in her eyes.

I look at my daughter's unconscious body, and feel the rage traveling through my veins. "Run the damn test and figure out what is wrong with her."

"Ma'am, we know what's wrong with her. According to her charts, she's been in organ failure for months. It says here her doctor told her she has less than a year left to live. Her DNR is intact unless a viable heart is available at this specific time. And she's declined any heart that's come to her so far. She signed the document stating that she didn't want treatment."

"She wasn't old enough to sign a DNR on this date," Elli says softly from the corner. Josie continues to read through the chart.

"Alex, it says she was emancipated." I look between my unconscious daughter on the table and back at Brooklyn.

"You allowed her to do this!" I shove her against the wall.

"She doesn't want a heart!"

"I don't give a damn what she wants! She is a child!"

"She is of the age to determine what she wants done to her body."

Elliot pulls me off of Brooklyn. I run my fingers through my hair and take a deep breath. "Fuck the emancipation. Fuck the DNR. Her heart has not stopped yet! The rules do not apply unless her heart has stopped beating! Right? So Run The Damn Test! Keep her heart beating somehow! I don't fucking care what you have to do, but you will not let my fucking daughter die!"

The doctor stares at me before nodding his head in compliance. I slam my hands against the metal cabinet, and my family jumps at the impact. Why would she fucking do this? Why would she sign a DNR? Has she lost her damn mind? She is not dying on my watch.

My eyes water with tears and my wives tries to grab me but I shove them off, walking away from my family. I leave to go to where I saw them take Deleena. She's carrying my grandchild, and I can't let them both die. I walk into the room just as they are pulling the baby out. It's a girl. The baby is premature, but she begins to wail. A smile rises on my face when I hear her cries coming from her strong lungs as they press her face against Deleena's. She kisses her repeatedly before they bring her over to a different area in the room.

Deleena looks up at me. "A...lex." Everyone stops when they hear her voice. They hadn't noticed I came in but let me be as I walked over to her. She isn't looking so good. She is so pale. The pole went straight through her. Thankfully, it missed the baby. I rub her head and notice blood coating my palm from a gash.

"Is Val okay?" Her voice is very raspy and low, but I can hear her.

I shake my head and can't stop myself from crying.

"No, she's not. My baby girl is not okay." She struggles to reach her hand out to me. I grab it and hold it tightly.

"Have... they found her... a heart?" She starts to cough, so I grab a rag wiping away the blood and shake my head no.

"Call radiology."

"I'm here." Another person comes in and fixes a machine over Deleena to get images of the pole going through her.

"Is she going to be okay?" I ask no one in particular. There are so many people in here working on her.

"I'm sorry, but you need to leave. Security!"

"No. No I am not going anywhere." My grip on her hand tightens.

"Hey...hey listen to me," she begins to wheeze. "I will be okay." I can't stop shaking my head. I'm pleading with the universe to wake me up from this horrible dream. I cannot possibly be losing my baby and the mother of my granddaughter all at once. She looks towards the doctor. When she opens her mouth, nothing but air comes out first. She's struggling to breathe because her lungs are filling with her own blood. "What is... my blood type?" They look at her confused at first, but a nurse goes through her charts in search of an answer.

"Blood type O," he says, and the weight of a thousand pounds hits my chest. I look down at Deleena in disbelief, but she gives me a soft smile.

"It's a match.... is... isn't...it?" I close my eyes tightly, and she struggles to wipe my tears away. She takes a deep breath before speaking. "If I do not make it...give it to her..." she says to them and then looks back at me. A tear mixed with blood falls down her cheek and I wipe it away. "Jab uski Dit dhadkega, to use pata chal jaega ki main abhee usake saath hoon. [When her heart beats, she will know that I am still with her]." My eyes shut as I lay my head next to hers. Her breathing becomes more labored. "Tell her I love her...tell her I'm sorry."

"I will... I will." I kiss her hand and she rubs my cheek.

"Please take care of Zoey...tell her mommy lo...." Her eyes start to close, and the machine starts beeping obnoxiously loud. The baby starts crying again, and I try to shake Deleena awake.

"No-no-no. Tell her what?" Security finally gets into the room trying to pull me away from her, but I can't leave without her message. It's the least I can do for her.

"We need to get her to the OR right now. Call neuro stat. Ma'am, I need you to move!"

"You have to leave," another nurse says and the security guard both take hold of my arms.

"No." I kick and fight pushing myself out of their grasp until I feel the weight of Josephine on my back. Her arms are holding mine as I continue to violently sob against her.