Moments 3: Emily's Story

**Chapter 4**

Emily's POV

Later that night, I'm in the shower cleaning the day off of me. It's been a long one. Ryder stayed for an hour or two. He filled Jefferson in on everything that was going on at college. He was telling us about a paper he had to write, and he was nervous about asking his dad. He's thinking of going to school for either law, like his uncle Kai and Grandpa, or he was thinking computer science, and doing something like his dad. He also told us he's going to be prospecting for the club so, a big portion of his tuition is being paid for by the club. He wants to be able to do something important for them since he and his mother have always been taken care of by the club.

Stepping out of the shower, I'm drying myself off when I hear alarms going off. It's not unusual in the ICU, but these sound loud. Like, loud. I hurry to dress and open the bathroom door just in time to see Jefferson being wheeled away with someone doing CPR on his chest. I'm stuck in the doorway of the bathroom and his room. I'm stuck to the floor. A frantic-looking nurse comes in and sees me standing there. I see her in my peripheral vision, still watching here I'd seen him being wheeled out.

"Mrs. Patel?" When I didn't answer, she tried again, gently touching my arm, "Mrs. Patel?" I finally found the strength to look at her. "We need you to come to the surgery waiting area. Has his POA paperwork been put on file?" I nod, following along. She asks me more questions, and the one thing that stands out is the term 'full code'.

"My husband said he wants everything done for him, but if there's a greater than 75% chance, he'll be a vegetable, he doesn't want to be saved. He's always told me, and had it written in his paperwork that if he's got a 75% or greater chance of being a vegetable, he doesn't want to be saved." I told her, not sure if anyone had looked into that part of the paperwork. Jefferson had linked up with a medical lawyer to get the terms and specifics and so he knew what each term meant and what they would or wouldn't do to help. She nodded at me and took off through a set of double doors. I looked around, seeing no one else but me, I moved to a chair and sat down. I saw his name come up on the screen with the list of all the patients and how long they'd been in there. It was just his last name, but I held onto that.

I don't know how long I sat there when the phone at the desk under the screen started to ring. No one seemed to come to answer it, so I walked over and picked it up.

"Hello? This is the surgery waiting room."

"Mom? It's Raven. Your phone kept ringing, so I called the switchboard to connect me to Dad's room. Why are you in the surgery waiting room?" I took a breath, feeling like I was going to fall apart if I answered my daughter's question. "Mom, it's Stormi. We're coming up. What happened?"

"He...I..." I couldn't get the words out.

"We're on the way, Mom!" Raven shouted, sounding further from the phone.

"We'll be there as soon as we can, Mom. My dad's here to watch the kids." I nodded. Even though they couldn't see me. "Stay close to this phone since you don't have yours with you. Okay?" I nodded again, sniffling. I knew I couldn't talk.

"We love you, Mom!" they said together before hanging up. Twenty minutes later, it could have been more, my girls, Hacker, Prez, Kai, and Parker were in the waiting room with me.

"Becca and Bullet came over to watch our kids so we could be here for you," Parker said, knowing I wasn't going to understand the medical side of anything. He'd also become a good friend. Not just mine, but Jefferson loved talking with him and Kai too. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I was in the bathroom in his room, taking a shower. When I was toweling off, I heard alarms, but that's not unusual in the ICU." He nodded, following along, "But they sounded louder, so I hurried. When I opened the door, there was someone on his chest doing CPR as they wheeled him out of the room. I was frozen in shock until I nurse came to get me and brought me here. I haven't heard anything since."