Prove It - Haley Dunphy

Chapter 39

[Haley]
"Tomorrow, Aurelia's going to be admitted to the hospital for her what's that again? Surgery? No- procedure. "

"Diagnosis wasn't great, but it wasn't the worst case scenario."

"You win some, you lose some. I guess."

——
[Aurelia]
"How am I feeling? Nervous as hell, for sure."

"They said recovery will be less painful, but who knows for sure? What if it's the same as a surgery anyway? Or worse?"

"Whatever, if this procedure works...I'll be free of the tumor soon enough. I just hope it doesn't grow back."

——

"You'll see me once you wake up, okay? I promise." Haley gives Aurelia hand a squeeze as she pulls her in for a kiss on the lips.

"Okay." Aurelia smiles, her eyes welling up with tears. She was feeling a mixture of quite possibly every single emotion right now and not the good ones.

"You got this, kiddo." Phil gives a hug before she leaves in Rita's car.

It wasn't even six in the morning but Haley insisted on waking up early to say goodbye to Aurelia before she went off to the hospital for her procedure. Phil and Claire woke up too. Just, you know. They thought it'd be nice to give her some support.

"Okay, Haley. Back to bed you go." Claire urged. "She'll be just fine."

"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep."

"Honey, she'll be okay. She's in great hands." Phil assured, "But you better get some more rest because you'll be in the hospital to see her later."

"Okay." Haley hugs them both then went back upstairs to her room to get a bit more sleep.

When Haley woke up again, it was nearly ten. She immediately checks her phone and asked her parents if anyone had called to give any updates on Aurelia. They told her no. "Aw." She sulked. "It takes awhile for it to be done, sweetie. I'm sure Rita will let us know as soon as she knows."

Momentarily, all their phones received a text.

"Procedure went well, she's in recovery now and will be brought back to her ward once she wakes up and is more alert." Claire reads off her phone.

"Oh, my God, finally. Thank goodness!" Haley nearly squealed. "Do you think I should go right now?"

"Sure, if you want." Phil shrugged.

——
[Rita]
"Look, I know we all know that her diagnosis wasn't something malignant but she was still in a lot of pain and since this thing has a very high recurrence rate— look, I'm trying my best to look at the bright side here but we're in for a long ride."

"That aside, she's now back in her ward, sleeping. The procedure went well and she's pumped with pain meds at the moment so she should still be quite comfortable for a few hours."

"Oh- there's Haley. I better go."

——
"Hi, niña."

"Hi." Haley smiled a little, "Can I go in?"

"Yeah, of course." Rita says, "Just so you know, she came out of the procedure pretty nauseous and threw up once. They gave her something for it, but I'm not sure if she'll still get sick later."

"Okay. But that's just a side effect of the anaesthesia thing, right?"

"Mhm, yup. It should go away soon." Rita opens the door for Haley to enter.

"Is there a bag or a bucket for her?" Haley asked quietly.

"Both are right there." Rita informed her, "Have you had your lunch?"