i went in the next morning with luke to apologize to the shitty doctor.
we were about to walk in when the chief of the hospital opened the door.
"oh perfect, i was just about to find you dr. hemmings. come on in." he spoke firmly.
suddenly i felt nervous, was luke going to get sued or something?
i sat down next to luke and across from the two doctors.
"dr. baldwin wants to apologize for how he acted yesterday. he was not professional at all and quite frankly, we don't tolerate this type of behavior." the chief spoke with a slight glare in the jerk, dr. baldwin's direction.
"yes, i'm sorry. i shouldn't have acted that way towards your mother or spoke that way to you." he spoke extremely insincere.
"i'm sorry for punching you. that was wrong on my part." i muttered softly.
"all if forgiven don't worry about it love." the chief spoke with a tiny smile.
"i'm going to still pre- "you will not or you won't have a job tomorrow." the chief spoke sternly.
dr. baldwin sighed in defeat before nodding softly.
i stood up and left the room with luke not too far behind.
"hey, you raised a good kid luke. i would have done the same as you did, but twice as hard. the guys a jerk. i don't know how he's still here." the chief sighed before waving goodbye and walking away.
"too bad you didn't actually raise me huh?" i sighed as i walked back towards mom's room.
i opened the door and saw no one there.
"what the? where's mom?" i asked as i looked over at luke.
"scans. i asked my intern to go take her. you can wait up here, i'll go check." luke smiled softly before walking off.
i sat down on the couch in the room and waited on my phone.
after a couple minutes, the door opened and mom came in with tears in her eyes and luke looking extremely sympathetic.
"what's wrong?" i asked slowly.
"n-nothing b- "no don't do that shit, don't leave me out. what's wrong?" i asked again.
"luke give us a minute." mom whispered.
"are you sure? i could have ash- "i'm sure." mom smiled softly before he nodded and left the room.
i moved closer to her bed and looked up at her. i've never seen her so unsure before. even when luke left, she didn't seem this unsure.
"mom? what is it?" i asked softly.
"i know you know we came here because i have heart failure, and that's true. the doctors in australia said i had at least another two years left, which would give me all the time in the world to try and land high on the transplant list. the scans today didn't reflect that. at the rate that my heart is deteriorating, i have maybe 6 months." mom spoke slowly.
"w-what? how is that even possible? i can't lose you yet! that's not fair!" i spoke as i stood up.
i started to pace around the room in front of her.
"baby please calm down and sit down. it's going to be okay. you're going to be okay." mom spoke as she tried to motion for me to calm down.
"i-i you expect me to calm down after what you just told me! i-i can't. i-i" i stuttered as i struggled to breath.
"fuck." i heard mom whisper as she went to stand up, but immediately fell back down.
i rushed into the bathroom to try and control the terrible panic that had come over me.
i heard mom shift and a familiar voice enter the room.
"i-i can't help her. i told her she's freaking out." mom spoke quickly.
"hey indigo, it's ashton. can you open the door so we can talk?" he asked softly.
"i-i can't b-breath." i pushed out as i sat in the corner of the restroom.
"let me in." ashton instructed softly.
"n-no, this is embarrassing. give me a few." i sobbed between heavy breathes.
"get me the key." ashton spoke softly.
a few moments later the door was slowly being opened.
"oh pretty girl." ashton whispered sympathetically.
"i-i want my mom." i sobbed hysterically.
"baby, i'm here." mom spoke loudly as i shakily stood up.
ashton went to help me, but i immediately jumped back.
"you can't touch me. i-i will never stop crying and panicking if you do." i stuttered.
i shakily walked over to mom and fell into her arms.
i wasn't going to live in a world without her.
barbra's pov
she couldn't let me go. i couldn't leave her.
after a few minutes of me hugging her, she fell asleep and luke gently put her on the couch.
"this is bad." i muttered.
"why? she clearly loves you a lot barbra. when is love ever bad?" ashton asked.
"she's going to die when i die. she has no one. she doesn't trust anyone other than me and that's my fault for isolating her, but i need someone to be there for her." i spoke firmly.
"we're trying, but she's really stubborn." luke pointed out.
"i know, she's my daughter." i laughed quietly.
"your personality and my beautiful eyes."
