Chance Meeting

Thirteen

Okay, so anybody who skipped the last chapter may wanna skip this one, too. It's not quite as graphic, but still contains a few descriptions that may be a bit much for some folks' stomachsta handle.

~Banshee

In the surgical waiting area of Saint Thomas West Hospital, Aerin'd long since broken down and sobbed into Rikki's chest like a baby once she no longer needed to keep it together. She'd kept her shit together so well for so long that even Zak was amazed by the Strength she possessed, and he thought it was no Wonder his dad had fallen in Love with her. He'd never seen someone essentially have a total Emotional disconnect like she'd done, then just break down like a crumbling foundation letting a house collapse.

        Almost as soon as they'd managed to get him into the ER, Bobby'd been taken into a trauma bay when the charge nurse saw how red his face was. Seeing the veins in his throat standing out so prominently told her that his blood pressure was well beyond the Beginning of hypertensive levels. Despite other patients in that waiting area, this man needed to be seen yesterday, as far as she was concerned.

        He'd gotten a definitive diagnosis of a rectal prolapse, which was when the rectum essentially came loose from the interior of the body and basically fell outta the victim's ass. It was more common in women who were already in their sixties, most men that it happened to being forty or younger, but it could still happen to anybody at just about any Time. The most common cause of it was simply straining too hard to go to the bathroom, usually when one suffered chronic constipation.

        What surprised all three of them was when the surgeon brought down for a second opinion told them that this could be recurrent. Bobby'd likely been suffering from this for quite a while, but had been able to push his prolapsed rectum back in on his own. Over Time, not seeking treatment–whether he knew what was wrong or not–woulda made it easier for something as stupid-simple as a cough or sneeze to make it happen. At this point, his anal sphincter'd stretched enough to allow his entire rectum to drop out, which was why he'd been in so much pain. He'd no doubt needed surgery, 'cuz not only was there no pushing that much tissue back in, but it needed to be reattached to his abdominal cavity.

        "I've never seen anybody keep their shit together, then break down quite like Aerin did," Zak was saying. He was simply too worried about his dad to sleep, not to mention trying to pass on any updates the surgical team came out to give them.

        "Neither've I, kiddo," the drummer agreed. He'd stretched out on one of the couches, the young woman settled on her side between his legs so she could stretch out across his chest.

        "I gotta give her kudos, though," he told him. "Dad prolly wouldn't already be in the OR, if she hadn't kept it together like she did."

        "No shit–literally, in his case," Rikki chuckled. "Whyddaya think I took a page from her play book?"

        "Wait, really?" the younger Dall asked, his eyes widening.

        "Seriously, Zak," he answered, nodding. "I saw how Calm she was being, which was more efficient than doing otherwise and keeping everybody else from freakin' out as bad on top of it."

        "Yeah, I guess that's a pretty good reason to steal a page outta Aerin's play book," Zak agreed with a chuckle of his own. "We'd have all prolly been useless, if we hadn't."

        "And useless isn't what your dad needed," the drummer told him. "He needed us to keep it together and get him help since he obviously couldn't on his own."