A New Life

29

(Hector's POV)

I have not left the hospital in almost two days solid trying to work out how to remove Isaac's tumour. Santana has been distracted to say the least, I think her and Brittany have got some issues that they are trying to iron out which I get, but it is distracting Santana from the job in hand and poor Isaac just wants this monstrosity out of his body. 

The whole Jax debacle before she moved to London did something to Santana, her confidence took an almighty hit. Santana would normally be revelling at the chance of this sort of surgery, but she seems hesitant, reluctant even. Don't get me wrong, in all the time I have been practicing medicine I have never seen anything like it, but this is why we do what we do, to break new grounds every day, making the impossible, possible. I just need Santana to get into that mindset too. We are going out for dinner tonight, I plan on getting to the bottom of all of this, we can't leave Miami with that tumour still in Isaac's body.

But first; let me tell you a little bit about my daughter. She is mine and Maribel's only child, we loved her immensely from the moment Maribel was pregnant with her. I am a very career focused guy, so yes I was concerned how this would affect my job, I was always on the road at medical conferences, or working abroad on research. I didn't want this child to grow up without a father, I didn't want my wife feeling like she was a single mother. For nine months I did nothing but worry, working myself into the ground, working 17/18hr days 7 days a week to try and cram in and box off as much work as possible before she came into this world. 

Maribel and I were out to lunch one afternoon, it was about a week before her due date. We were sat in Red Lobster and Maribel started having stomach cramps, but we put it down to the breakfast burrito she had earlier that day. Well within an hour we were both eating our words as Maribel's waters broke. She was mortified that a restaurant full of people witnessed this, she was even more mortified because she wasn't 'hospital ready'. Maribel insisted on being in glam mode for the birth of our daughter, something I never understood. But then again this is Maribel...anyway, we rushed to the hospital and within a couple of hours our baby girl was in our arms, looking absolutely perfect. She gave Maribel hell during the labour, did not make things easy. Certainly a trait Santana has carried through her life, she never made anything easy. 

From a very young age Santana showed signs of determination, we knew that we had a little fiery Latina on hour hands. I stopped counting how many times we were called in to discuss Santana's behaviour. She wasn't naughty or anything like that, just very determined and if she believed she was right on something, there was no telling her otherwise. When she was in third grade, Maribel was called in to talk to her teacher because Santana had openly corrected her over a mistake she made when teaching the class. Turns out, in that situation Santana was actually right, I think her teacher was just embarassed. 20 plus years of stories short, she is strong minded, so it takes a lot to deter her. I know my daughter better than she thinks, I will convince her to do this surgery...

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"You look lovely Mija." I get up from my seat to greet my daughter. "You too Papi." we exchange light kisses on the cheeks and I pull out the chair for my daughter to sit. "I hope you don't mind, but I ordered us wine for the table." I take the bottle of red and pour my daughter a large glass. "This is a nice place." Santana says taking in her surroundings. "It serves the best Japanese food in Miami. Only the best for you." I say giving my daughter a warm smile. "So, how's things with Brittany?" I ask, easing into conversation. "It's...complicated. I don't really want to talk about it." she dismisses my question. "Might be good to talk. Yanno, offload, vent, free your mind." I suggest. "No, don't. We aren't doing this." Santana says giving me a warning look. "Do what? I am not doing anything?" I say defending myself. "You think whatever shit I have got going on with Brittany is distracting me and stopping me from doing Isaac's surgery." I have been caught red handed.