Count on Me

Chapter Twenty-Four: Heart Attack

Helping herself to some ice cream from the freezer, Katrina hummed to herself and tried to take her mind off the fact that she was home alone for the night; Mesut was away for a match and she had work early in the morning. 

It was strange to be home alone and Katrina doubted that she would ever get used to being here without Mesut; she loved how things were moving forward for them. 

The two had slowly started to plan out their wedding day and Katrina couldn't deny that she was excited about marrying Mesut next year in the Bahamas. 

Moving to exit the kitchen, Katrina was stopped by the sound of the house phone; she furrowed her brow moving to answer it, she really got calls while Mesut was away at a match. 

"Hello?" Katrina asked answering the phone, she set down her bowl of ice cream and leant against the counter wondering what was going on; she peeked down at Balboa and Capone who were sitting at her feet patiently. 

The three of them had a quiet night ahead of them and Katrina had planned to watch some movies for the night but that all went out of the window at Nick's panicked voice. 

"Nick slowdown... what's going on?" Katrina asked hearing her brother's voice, her stomach dropping as she tried to calm him down enough to repeat what he was saying. 

Nick seemed beside himself and Katrina's mind rapidly switched through what could be going on and why her brother was hysterical right now. 

It took a few moments for Nick to calm down enough to tell her what was going on and Katrina felt sick at the news that she was being given.

***

Stepping into the hospital reception, Katrina didn't care who was staring at her as she tried to spot her family; she was wearing her jersey pyjama set and she didn't care what anyone thought. 

Finally spotting her brother, Katrina didn't waste a moment hurrying over to him and wrapping her arms around him; her heart was pounding in her chest and she felt sick at what was going on. 

"Is he okay?" Katrina asked pulling away from Nick, she couldn't see anyone else from the family yet but she was sure that they would be here soon once they had sorted themselves out. 

Athena and Toula had been notified just as Katrina had but they had young children to deal with and it would be up to their husbands to step up and take over for the night. 

The news that Kostas had been rushed into hospital had rocked their entire family, no one could believe that he had collapsed in the street like that when he had been so well. 

"They won't say," Nick whispered with tears in his eyes, he couldn't believe that this had happened; he wanted to strangle the teenagers that were responsible for what had happened. 

Kostas had been closing the restaurant for the night when he had spotted some boys spray painting the side of his restaurant with horrible words; he had tried to chase them away but had dropped to the floor and collapsed before he could do anything. 

"Ma?" Katrina asked looking around, sure that her mother would already be here and she couldn't see her; she wondered how she was coping with all of this. 

Her mind was still racing from finding out herself and she had just about remembered to grab her keys before rushing out of the house and making sure the dogs stayed inside. 

"She's devastated Kat," Nick whispered wrapping his arms round his little sister, he didn't know what their mother would do if their father died. 

Maria would never recover and Nick wasn't sure that she would be able to handle a future without her soul-mate by her side.

***

Leaning back in her chair, Katrina tried to get comfortable while they waited for news about their father; the four siblings were exhausted and there had been no new news since they had all arrived at the hospital. 

Toula rested her head against Nick's shoulder, she had just come back from phoning Ian to make sure he would be okay taking Paris to school that morning since they were still waiting for news. 

"Kostas Portokalos?" called a doctor making the four jump up, they hurried over to him hoping for good news; none of them were sure what would happen if something happened to their father. 

They all were surprised that the rest of their family had stayed away for so long, they guessed they had all gone to the house to wait for news on how Kostas was. 

"How is he?" Athena asked holding her dressing gown tight around her, she was worried sick and there was no way that her husband would be able to handle all three of their sons. 

She dreaded to think what her home would be like when she returned, she would kill Yianni if she got home and he had made a large mess that he expected her to clean up after the morning that she'd had. 

"Your father suffering a severe heart attack," the doctor explained hoping that they might be able to explain this to their mother, no matter how he had explained this to Maria it just didn't seem to sink in. 

There was a lot of damage to Kostas's heart and the doctor knew that it would be a while before he was recovered enough to go home or do anything really.

"He's too weak for surgery right now but he will make it," the doctor reassured them, it all looked good right now and he had high hopes that Kostas would survive what had happened to him. 

Athena nodded her head, someone was going to have to babysit their mother while their father was in hospital; they couldn't let Maria just waste her life away and she needed something to distract her. 

"When can we see him?" Toula asked softly, she couldn't imagine what was going on in their mother's mind and she hoped that Maria hadn't been causing too much trouble. 

She would want the best for her husband and would insist on staying here in hospital with him; they couldn't allow her to do that when there were people that needed her. 

"We're just getting him set up on his ward," the doctor informed them, it had been a long night and he doubted that the four would stay long and would maybe even convince Maria to head home with them. 

There was little that Maria could do now that Kostas was in hospital, they all just had to wait and see how things went before the scheduled him in for his operation. 

Kostas was too weak to have it now and it needed to be done as soon as possible, he would be better once it was all sorted out but for now waiting was their only option. 

"Thank you," Athena said knowing that the doctor would have other patients that he had to speak with, she turned away from him trying to sort out her thoughts. 

It was going to be a lot of work but they were going to have to work together, they couldn't just leave their mother to deal with this or push everything on to one person. 

"Okay here's the plan," Athena said knowing that they would be okay, she had every hope that their father would make a full recovery. 

Katrina took a deep breath, she couldn't help but wonder what the next few weeks would hold for her family.