A Fight to Remember

To Uncharted Waters Pt. 2

Present: Bailey.

I arrived at the trailer but it was empty. Mom and dad were probably on a walk or something. I sighed and sat on the small deck, running a hand though my hair. Maybe I should just go. I could tell them later, after...

No. I'll tell them now. No anesthesia. It would be less to worry about later. I gathered the pale blue fabric in my hands and scrunched it when I saw them coming down the path. Dad's arm looped through Mom's on her weak side while she walked with her cane. They laughed at something together, and dad planted a kiss on Mom's cheek. She blushed, and her giggle echoed in the cool air.

She was so happy. They were happy. Really happy. It threatened to infect me too, despite the news I bore. "Bailey, hey," Dad greeted upon seeing me.

"Hi," I said softly.

"Everything okay?"

He wouldn't have asked, if it wasn't for the expectation of privacy only a few hours before their wedding. They weren't expecting me here now. I toiled the fabric in my hands. "I um... need to tell you something. Both of you." My parents exchanged concerned glances before sitting down at the picnic bench.

"What is it?" Dad asked.

Mom's gaze was soft but reassuring. I sat down beside her, and she rubbed my knee. I exhaled. I recalled Dr. Bailey's disappointed frown, Dr. Avery's tired expression. Dr. Peters' white knuckles pressed on the confrence table. It hadn't been easy. There'd obviously been a lot of debate. "The hospital board decided...they felt I made a gross error in judgement by not notifying the FDA of the trial. They let me go." I said with a whoosh of air. "I've also been... removed from the matching program. No hospital will take me without a lot of special consideration."

"What does that mean?" Dad asked.

"I don't know..." I said slowly. "Jackson said... basically, if I wanted to practice medicine, I would have to start my internship over. Do all my tests over again. There's a big black mark on my record that I'll have to work hard to rectify."

Mom swallowed, a little choked up at hearing all this. She didn't say anything, only leaned against my shoulder.

Dad sighed, he scrubbed his face with his palms before looking up at me. "Well I guess that's that."

"You're not mad?"

"No," he blinked, "I'm not mad." He squeezed mom's hand, "I mean, I wish you'd followed the rules, but you saved her life. You brought her back to us. I can't be mad at you for that. Despite what happened, and my feelings about it, I am proud of you. I am proud of the man you are becoming." He broke away from Mom and came around. He pulled me off the bench and gave me a hug.

I nodded into his shoulder, not quite sure what to do in the face of those words. I'd been halfway expecting yelling, or a disappointed glower... but he just looked sad for me. After a moment he pulled away. "Well, I owe your mother pancakes, want some?"

"That's okay, I just wanna talk to mom for a minute."

"Sure," he mussed up my hair and headed inside the trailer.

I sat back down on the bench beside my mother. "Hey," I said.

"Hey," she scooched closer, and rubbed my back. I held her right hand, uncurling her fingers to stretch the tight muscles. "Watch," she said. She held her right elbow with her left hand, propping her arm up. One finger at a time moved to touch her thumb except her pinky. "Still working on that one," she smiled.

"That's amazing," I said. This was the work of the stem cells creating new pathways in her brain, healing itself. It still took extensive therapy... but it was working.