How Deep is Your Love

Chapter Twenty-One: The Unexpected Patient

Aliona groaned as she stepped out of the Chief of Medicine’s office, she knew that she should have expected this after the reveal of her pregnancy to a national hero; but the blonde hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.

The board of directors weren’t happy about the amount of press that the hospital had gotten as of late and they were worried that Aliona’s pregnancy to Iker Casillas would create bad press for the hospital.

So with that in mind, they had asked the blonde to not only cut back on her hours but to stop doing surgery and focus on patients in recovery and paperwork.

“How did it go?” Tina asked making Aliona roll her eyes, her friends had been supportive of her after the news had gotten out that she was expecting Iker’s baby.

“As expected they’re worried about the image of the hospital,” Aliona said making her friend nod her head as the blonde picked up some paperwork that she had to do; even with some of the horrible things that people were saying about her, a lot of her former patients had jumped to her defence and talked about what a great doctor she was.

“I can’t believe that Sara Pastasauce did that to you,” Tina said making Aliona nod her head, she knew what the reporter had been trying to do and she hoped that it wouldn’t work; the blonde loved Iker and she wanted them to last.

“I mean, who does she think she is?” Tina asked angrily making her friend laugh slightly before the beeping of their pagers; the two doctors froze as they looked at them, it had been a long time since they’d had this sort of emergency.

***

Pulling her hair back, Aliona grinned to herself as she waited for the first patients of the car pile-up started to arrive; the blonde was lucky that she was still an active doctor in the hospital so that she could help out.

“Male patient, late fifty’s, has a possible fractured shoulder, possible concussion with major head injury and possible internal bleeding,” the paramedic said to Aliona as he and his partner brought in the first patient; the blonde froze as she stared at the man on the gurney.

Shaking her head, the blonde quickly started to bark orders to the interns that were around her; she had to keep herself focused before she started to panic.

“His name is José Luis Casillas,” the paramedic said making Aliona nod her head, she had known who the man was the moment that she had seen him; there was no denying that it was Iker’s father.

Aliona snapped at a couple of interns that were messing about, they quickly moved to make sure that they did as they were told before Aliona asked one of them to contact Iker and his family for her.

“Prep the operation theatre,” Aliona called as she started to check José over, she knew that she had to do her best to save the Spaniard that meant the world to her boyfriend; she wanted him around to meet the child that she was carrying.

The blonde sighed knowing that she would never forgive herself if something happened to José, she couldn't do that to Iker and she wasn’t going to let anything happen.

***

Rushing into Madrid Mountain Ridge Hospital, Carmen Casillas looked around worried as she tried to figure out where she had to be; she had never expected to get this sort of call and she didn't know what to do.

“Madre,” Iker said as he spotted his mother running around in circles like a headless chicken, she looked at him revealed and hurried towards her eldest son, who was sitting in the waiting room; the small hospital was crowded and it was clear that the place was struggling to cope with the amount of patients from the crash.

“Have you heard anything?” Carmen asked worried as she looked between Iker and his younger brother, Unai, who was sat next to him; she offered her sons a small smile as she sat down nervously.

Iker shook his head, he hadn’t heard anything about his father and he hadn’t seen Aliona to ask her if she had heard anything; he knew that she was working today while the twins were at pre-school.

“Nothing but I’m sure everything is okay,” Iker said reassuring his mother, while Unai muttered something bitter about Aliona under his breath; Iker glared at him but didn't say a word since he didn't want to argue right now.

Carmen nodded her head as she looked between her two sons, she didn't know what had happened before she had gotten to the hospital but it was clear that it had been something to do with the blonde.

“Iker?” said a voice making the Casillas family look up to see Aliona, who had blood covering her hospital scrubs; the blonde offered them a weak smile as she moved towards them.

“Aliona have you heard anything about my padre?” Iker asked, not aware that his girlfriend had been the one treating his father; he looked at her hopefully while Unai glared at her.

Aliona nodded her head before signalling for the family to follow after her, she was quick to lead them into a private room; she was exhausted from the surgery and knew that it was going to be a long day.

Iker closed the door behind his family as he looked at his girlfriend expectantly, the blonde looked tired and it worried him that she had been doing too much while she had been at work.

“Your padre is doing fine… he’s just come out of surgery. He suffered a large head trauma, a broken shoulder, fractured ribs, a punctured left lung and he ruptured his spleen,” Aliona said making the family stare at her, it was clear that she knew a lot more about José than she should.

Carmen put a hand over her mouth as she stared at the blonde shocked that things were that bad for her husband; she couldn't believe that he had been through all of that.

“His heart stopped for several minutes… but we were able to resuscitate him,” Aliona continued gently, she knew that the amount of things she had told them was a shock to the family.

Unai furrowed his brow as he looked at the blonde, he didn't know what it was but she was talking like she had been in the operation theatre with José while he had surgery.

“You were there?” Carmen asked also picking up on the undertone that Aliona had given, Iker looked at his girlfriend as he realised that the blood on her scrubs could be his father’s. The blonde nodded her head as she checked her pager.

“I was the doctor in charge,” Aliona said as she made sure that she wasn’t needed anywhere else in the hospital; Iker stared at his girlfriend, he couldn't believe that his girlfriend had been the one to save his father’s life.

Tears filled Carmen’s eyes as she stared at the woman that had saved her husband, she couldn't believe that she had misjudged the blonde who had done so much for her family.