Purple Heart | Demi Lovato

20

Demi

When the doctors came back with Wilmer after his tests, he was still asleep, but he'd be waking up any minute so they could discuss his scans. I put my hand on his cheek that had grown a layer of stubble, then ran my fingers through his thick cropped black hair. He used to have it longer, but once he joined the marines this became the normal. Now, it was slowly growing back to how it had once been when I fell in love with him.

Wilmer's face twitched and I yanked my hand away- I didn't want him to catch me and get mad for touching him again. After a moment, he blinked his eyes open and stared up at me. I forced the hope down when his face didn't instantly contort into that angry expression I hated, but once he blinked a few times, it set in.

"You're still here?"

"Of course I am," I murmured. "I told you, I'm not leaving."

Wilmer closed his eyes and grimaced, then clenched his hands into fists. "Can you get someone? My head hurts."

"Of course." I hit the nurse's button and she instantly walked in. 

"Hi Sergeant Valderrama, how are you feeling?"

"My head hurts."

"We've given you something for the pain in your IV so it should go away in a few minutes. The doctors completed your tests and are looking at the scans now. They'll come back to give an update in a few moments." Once Wilmer nodded she turned to look at me. "Mrs. Valderrama, if you could come with me for a moment?"

I glanced at Wilmer, then nodded and followed her out into the hallway where four pother doctors in white coats waited with Matthew.

"What's going on?" I whispered, feeling a cold weight settle in my stomach.

"Wilmer's scans show that there's more to this than a psychotic episode that was triggered by his Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome... it looks like he must've fallen and hit his head because there's a bleed in his frontal cortex. It explains the mood swings and the opposite reactions he's been having."

"A brain bleed," I echoed numbly. "How do we fix it?"

The doctors exchanged glances before one spoke up. "That's the thing... the bleed is in an area that is very difficult to get to. Because he is medically unfit to make the decision himself, we need your permission to operate, and if so we'd need to do it immediately for the best chance of recovery."

I closed my eyes for a moment, and felt unsteady on my feet. "How difficult?"

"There's a twenty percent chance."

"That he dies?"

One of the doctors slowly shook his head. "A twenty percent survival rate."

This time, my knees buckled and I had to sit down hard in the chair behind me. "What if you don't do it?"

"Then it's only a matter of time. His symptoms will worsen and eventually..." The doctor trailed off at my expression when I lifted my head.

"Do the surgery."

"Yes ma'am. We'll need your signature." I signed the forms, then took a deep breath. "I think I should tell him, before you do."

"As you wish."

I walked away from them and stopped right before the doorway into Wilmer's room. I felt a twinge in my stomach and I slowly exhaled and pressed my palm to my belly. "Not yet, please not yet. Your daddy has to be here."

I walked in, and when Wilmer's dark eyes focused on me he was instantly suspicious. "What's happening?"

I took a deep breath and sat down in the chair next to him. "They found out what was wrong with you. You must've fallen in the woods at some point and hit your head, your brain is bleeding. That's why you're feeling like this, why you can't remember anything. They need to operate on you."