After the appointment, David returned to his house, which had become home base for his friends and family.
"How'd it go?" Casey asked as he walked in.
David laughed.
"You're not gonna believe it"
"What?" Jason asked, standing up.
"Cecelia is deaf. Completely" David said, setting down the carseat gently.
"What?" Zane asked.
David nodded, taking Cecelia out of the carseat and holding her in his arms.
"I... seriously?" Scott asked.
"Seriously"
David laughed a little more, and his friends looked at him warily.
"I have been talking to her and she cannot hear me" He said.
"Are you ok?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, I mean, she's completely healthy. She just can't hear. I have a specialist appointment set up for 2 weeks from now, I mean, don't know if we'll be able to make it but..."
"Maddy will be on the upswing by then" Kristen said.
David smiled.
"I hope so"
David told the Laurents and his mom, who were at the hospital, the news about Cecelia when he arrived.
"She's deaf?" Mr. Laurent asked incredulously.
"Entirely"
Mr. Laurent furrowed his brows.
"Can she get an implant?"
"I have no idea, I have a specialist visit scheduled for her in two weeks"
David wondered how to tell Maddy when she woke up. If. He thought, looking at his now fiancee laying in the bed. The Laurents went back to David's house to rest along with his mom, leaving David to sit with Maddy. He googled deafness on his phone, and ended up reading about the deaf community. He was reading about cochlear implants and why they were generally frowned upon when Casey walked in, putting his hand on David's shoulder.
"How are you?" He asked. "I haven't caught you alone"
David sighed, looking over at Maddy.
"Can we go out in the hall?" He asked.
Casey nodded. The two walked out of the ICU and into the hallway.
"It just feels really wrong talking about her in front of her" David looked down at his feet.
"I get it"
"I'm terrified"
"Understandably" Casey nodded. "You're juggling a really sick fiancee and a really new baby. Just one of those alone is enough to crack anyone"
"I don't know what the fuck i'm gonna do if she dies"
Casey, unlike everyone else, didn't immediately give David a pep-talk about how Maddy was definitely going to be ok.
"Well, life will keep moving and it will suck for a while, but you'll adjust. You'll focus on raising your daughter, probably take a break from youtube, then probably go back to it" He said.
David nodded.
"But... she could make it. She has before" Casey finished.
"I just keep thinking about people who beat cancer then get it again and get taken out the second time"
"Well, that could be true. I'm not a doctor, I don't know"
David ran his hand through his hair.
"You're doing such an amazing job with Cecelia. Especially given the circumstances"
David smiled.
"You think so?"
"Absolutely. There is no doubt that she's your whole world"
"Yeah" He smiled again.
"How are you feeling about her diagnosis?"
"Well... I've been reading up about it"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I don't know what type of deafness she has, but I kind of just figured if we could we'd get her a cochlear implant but now i'm realizing that's seen as really fucked up"
"How so?"
"Deaf people don't think that being deaf is a disability or anything that needs to be fixed, they think it's a blessing"
Casey nodded. "What do you think about that?"
"I kind of think they're right" David said. "She's not broken. She's perfect, she just can't hear. From what i'm reading ASL isn't hard to pick up and there are deaf schools around. Plus, if she gets old enough and wants a cochlear implant and is eligible for one she can get one"
Casey smiled.
"Seems like you're making an informed decision"
"Obviously I have to talk to Maddy..." David trailed off.
"Cross that bridge when you get to it" Casey smiled, patting David on the back.
Casey talked to David for a few hours to keep him occupied. The best thing about Casey to David was that he held nothing back. He would ask the hard questions and give David the hard answers nobody else would give him. After he left, David went to sit next to Maddy. He looked at her, her brown hair pulled back behind her head in a ponytail. She looked like herself, but also very different. David's mind wandered as he looked at her.
He pictured himself in the future, sitting in an office, or maybe cooking dinner. Cecelia would run up to him with a picture, signing to him. Tell me about mom. David would look sadly at the picture and smile at Cecelia, picking her up and sitting her on the counter so she was eye level with David, telling her everything. I met your mom a long time ago. We were friends for a long time before we fell in love. She was so beautiful, and clever and funny. Everybody loved her. We dated for a few years, and then we found out you were coming. Your mom and I were so excited, we couldn't wait to meet you. You were born, and your mom loved you more than anything in the world. She got very sick, but she wanted you to know that she loves you so much.
He unlocked his phone and went into his email app, going into his "starred" folder and clicking on the email Maddy had sent him. It was a blank email with the subject line "Video for Cecelia". He looked over at Maddy laying in the bed and hovered his finger over the attachment, debating whether or not to open it. He stared at the screen for over a minute before locking his phone and putting it face down on the table next to him.
Within the span of a month, David's entire world had changed. It had not only changed, but continued to change. Every single solitary day, the future looked entirely different. The phrase "change is good" is only good until the change is bad.
"Fuck" David whispered aloud, tearing up. He put his head in his hands, and cried alone.
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I drag this part out for a while but hear me out, I really want everyone to realize how strong David is as a character and like learn a little more about him on his own. I also want to establish how great he is with Cecelia :)
I'm also super curious, what do y'all think Maddy looks like? I never gave her a face claim, if u were to give her one who would it be? I'm just super super curious lol
