It was Saturday and RJ was in his home office looking at the MRI scans of Sebastian once more. He had the scans saved on his laptop, courtesy of Sam. As RJ carefully studied the data about his son's condition, he couldn't help but heave a sigh, feeling helpless. He wanted to do something for his son, but his hands were tied.
He wanted to be Baste's attending physician from the beginning. If only he could - but of course, there were protocols in place that he, as a doctor, needed to follow. He couldn't exactly treat a relative let alone his own immediate family since it might affect the way he treats them due to personal concerns. But he could still check on his records and be a consultant, so to speak, for his son - just as long as he wasn't the main attending physician.
Sam had also given him Patricia's contact details in LA. He hadn't gotten around to calling her yet but he did email her asking if she could look at the MRI scans of Baste and see what her take on it was. Right now, he was just waiting for her reply.
A timid knock on his office door suddenly sounded. Without looking up from his laptop, he muttered, "Come in."
He then saw Maine peeking in, then opening the door slowly to walk inside his office. She smiled at him and went around his table to hug him and give him a quick kiss on his cheek. RJ then pulled her in towards him and had her sit on his lap, one arm going around her waist, while his other continued on browsing through his laptop.
"Kanina ka pa nandito, ah," she commented, raking a hand through his hair. "Nag-naptime na si Baste. Napagod kakalaro ng piko. Tinuruan ni Yaya Pearl."
RJ simply grunted in response and continued on studying each slide that was Baste's MRI scans.
"Ano ba kasi yan?" Maine asked. "Yan ba yung mga MRI ni Baste?"
RJ nodded and closed his laptop, reclining on his office chair, taking Maine with him. He hugged her more to him and nuzzled his face on her chest when she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Bakasyon ka dapat diba?" Maine teasingly told him. "Pero nandito ka naman – nagtatrabaho. Di ka namin makasama ni Baste simula kanina."
"I'm sorry, love," came RJ's muffled reply. He looked up towards her and smiled. "I thought ayos lang na maiwan ko muna kayo sandali ni Baste since napansin ko kanina na busy na kayo sa labas kasama si Yaya Pearl."
He sighed, closing his eyes when he felt her hands ran through his hair once more, this time massaging his scalp. "Gusto ko lang kasing mapagaralan talaga yung slides ni Baste. Tsaka I sent it to Patty for a second opinion," he continued.
"Patty?"
"Patricia, love. Yung dating niligawan ni Sam na hindi naman natuloy since Patty went abroad to John Hopkins for med school. She's a Pedia Neurologist too but in Cedar Sinai sa LA," RJ explained. "I wanted to get her input since she might know more dahil iba ang technology dun kaysa dito. Ayokong isipin na kung ano lang yung nakita ko last Monday eh yun na yun. I want to know more so I could do more. For Baste. For our son."
Maine smiled at his statement making him smile back at her. He swiftly leaned forward to plant a quick kiss on her lips. "I love you," he whispered, when they pulled apart.
"And I love you," she replied. "Thank you for being an awesome dad and husband."
"Para sa inyo, kahit ano pa yan – gagawin ko basta makakaya ko," RJ told her, reaching out to cradle and caress her face in his hand. "I wanted to call Patty pero I think gabi na dun ngayon, ano? So baka either tulog or nasa hospital siya. Hindi ko kasi alam ang schedule niya eh. I'm actually waiting for a reply from her. I emailed her for now kasi," he continued, opening his laptop once more and showing Maine his emails to Patty.
"Ah..."
"Teka nga muna," RJ stopped what he was doing and turned to Maine. "What brings you here aside from telling me that Baste is already slee – " he wasn't able to continue when a thought suddenly brewed in his head making him smirk at Maine. "Hmmm... Love? Did you want something? You know, from me?" he continued softly, his voice going an octave lower.
Maine chuckled and pinched his cheeks. "Naku, ikaw talaga! Alam ko na yang iniisip mo, at hindi yun ang pinunta ko dito!"
RJ pouted. "Oh. Well, worth a try. Ano bang pinunta mo dito?"
Maine suddenly turned serious, bringing her hands that was on RJ's face to her lap. "I wanted to talk to you about something na na-notice ko kay Baste the other day." She started to wring her hands in front of her, a sign of slight stress. "I should have told you sooner pero it slipped my mind."
"What is it?"
"I don't know if it's a cause for alarm pero kasi nung ginising ko siya the day after we got discharged from the hospital – parang hindi niya agad ako nakilala," she started to explain, looking past him. "Remember that day you cooked breakfast for us? Yung morning na yun. When I woke him up, he looked at me like he didn't know me to the point na I saw fear in his eyes. I'm not sure if he went back to sleep but he closed his eyes again tapos I had to shake him awake ulit and this time, when he opened his eyes – he called me mama na."
RJ was quiet the whole time Maine was speaking, contemplating on what she was telling him.
"The thing that had me thinking a bit was the part where he looked at me like he was afraid," she shuddered as she was remembering. "Hindi ko gusto yun. Was that normal? Since he just came from an induced coma and all?"
"I have to call Sam."
"RJ?"
He looked at Maine, his countenance serious. "Yes, it's a cause for alarm. Slight though it may be. It might be an indication of memory lapses. I would ask Sam to do another set of MRI scans just to see how his brain activity looks like."
Maine stood up from RJ's lap as he took out his mobile phone to make a quick phone call to Sam. Just as he was dialing Sam's number, Yaya Pearl barged into his office without any knocking and quite out of breath, like she was running to get there.
"Yaya Pearl?" Maine questioned.
"Si Baste, kakagising lang. Umiiyak."
Maine frowned, so did RJ, his hand still poised to dial Sam's number. "Baka naman nanaginip lang ng masama?" Maine said even as she was already walking towards the door to go to their son.
What Yaya Pearl said next had RJ standing up and running together with Maine towards Baste's room.
"Hindi raw siya makakita ng mabuti. Malabo daw lahat. Tapos nahihirapan pa siyang magsalita, parang nauutal-utal. Hindi naman siya ganyan dati."
