Older || Sequel To SOS

Thirty-Three

"I don't know how you take your coffee, so I brought a few creams and some sugar." Luke looks up as someone sits down beside him, smiling weakly as he sees Stella holding out a coffee cup and a few small packages of creamer.

"Isn't patient information confidential?" He chuckles softly, taking the cup and his preferred sweeteners from her hand.

"I have security clearance, working in the emergency department and all." She shrugs, "I kind of panicked when I saw her name though, so I may have stretched that clearance to see what was going on."

"Anything you know yet that I don't? They haven't been very forthcoming with information so far."

"She's almost out of surgery. From what I could see in her charts they chalked it up the a placental abruption. You're lucky they had my second bag of blood restock still in the bank here and that baby girl wasn't in worse shape from the get go. I don't have much on baby though, since she was admitted directly to NICU instead of through emergency."

"What is a placental abruption?" Luke frowns, hating the sound of it.

"Basically it means some or all of her placenta disattached from her uterine wall. The complications range from bed rest and major monitoring to death. Elodie landed somewhere in the middle. She and baby could have been gone, that's why they did the c-section in the ambulance. My assumption is Elodie's case was closer to the full detachment and death option than the other end. But she should be okay, don't get freaked out."

"No, I appreciate the honesty. I want to know how bad it could be. But I'm also glad you seem to think she's going to be okay."

"Of course, it's just one of those things that can happen. It happened early for her too. She was only thirty-three week or something close to that right?"

"Thirty-two and four days." Luke nods.

"It's usually the last month of the pregnancy that things like this happen, but your baby should be fine too, once they clear the gunk from her lungs. She's probably going to need oxygen for a bit and there may be issues with her learning how to eat and such, but that's usually most of it when they're born this early. She'll be extra small but that's not something to worry about too much as long as she's eating enough and growing. They'll both be here for a few days at least though."

"I figured as much." Luke half chuckles.

"You were smart to call the paramentics, Luke. Both Elodie and the baby could have died if you hadn't."

"I did what needed done." He shugs slightly, glancing up as he hears the door across the space open.

"Which is exactly what you should do in these situations. I'm just trying to say good job. I can't have her die before I get to introduce her to her dad after all." She smiles knowingly.

"When she's ready, she did get those results before everything hit the fan."

"I saw them on my break earlier. We definitely won't push, but we'll keep praying for their recoveries. Elodie, you, and that cute baby are all our family now, even if no one else has met you guys yet."

"Thanks." Luke runs his fingers through his hair as he looks up the the woman who'd just walked up to them.

"Luke Hemmings?"

"That's me." He nods, his heart jumping into his throat.

"If you're ready I'd love to escort you to your daughter. We can get word to you there about your fiancée."

"I'm ready." Luke nods, pushing out of his chair and grabbing his coffee and phone, stuffing the latter into his pocket.

"Luke, when she's recovered and ready, let me know. You guys worry about recovery and healing." Stella stops him, "And congratulations on becoming a dad, and the same to Elodie, except becoming a mom."