If I can't have you

Chapter 10

Amelia could heat the scream of pure anguish echoing down the halls. She could hear the heartbreak in that mothers voice and she felt her heart break. She knew that there was nothing that the doctors could do to make her son better. The people who were supposed to be helping, the people who were supposed to be curing the incurable had no answers, no way of keeping her son from having a lifetime of pain and fear and waiting. Waiting for that next seizure, waiting for the next potentially life-changing and life threatening, uncontrollable shaking of his body. Seeing the pain and anguish in his loved ones faces every time he came out of one. She couldn't help it but she felt a tear slip out of the corner of her eye for the family that she could not save.

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Levi found the beeping of those machines to be comforting. He never thought he would understand why families spend so much time looking at these machines, trying to decipher things that they could not understand. He understood now. That beeping told him that Nico was still with him, that Nico was still fighting even after brain surgery that had meant that the carefully styled hair that Nico had loved so much had to be shaved off. He allowed a small smile to cross his face at the thought of Nico waking up to his sudden lack of hair. He didn't allow himself to be happy for long, feeling guilty at the feeling. He shouldn't be happy that his boyfriend had to undergo brain surgery, that he would probably have seizures as a result of the stupid car accident for the rest of his life.

His smile faded even further when he heard a pair of heels clicking into the room. He knew who it was without even turning to look at the person. His suspicions were confirmed when a handbag was flung into the chair opposite him and Nico's sister flung herself into the next chair over. She barely even looked at him, instead choosing to focus on chewing her gum, the pop echoing in the otherwise empty room. Her gaze flickered around the room, finally settling on the machines beeping around her brothers head. The confusion was clear in her eyes, clearly not understanding anything of what the machines were telling her. This confirmed Levi's suspicions that she was as really as toxic as she seemed. It was clear that she didn't understand what was happening with regards to her brother, unlike the rest of her family, who at every opportunity, were asking Levi to explain charts or machines or every little beep and flutter that occurred.

After a few minutes of chilling silence, Levi decided that he couldn't bear to hear this silence for much longer and decided to get out of there for fear that any more time spent in the presence of this ice witch would turn him into some sort of ice sculpture shaped to her pleasure. He glanced behind him as he left, feeling guilty for levering his boyfriend with her and the image that was burned into his brain was one of her leaning back in her chair and giggling as she tapped away on her phone, presumably to another of her air headed friends who also didn't give a damn that Nico was in here. Levi swallowed the urge to march back into the room and give her something to laugh about but instead, decided to take the high road and turned on his heel and marched away, determined to find a way to get Min-jee out of his life for good.

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Taryn Helm stared down at the clipboard in her hands, not really seeing it, certainly not taking it in. She could hear a faint voice, seeming calling to her. Everything suddenly came into clearer focus when she received a sharp poke in the back. She blinked several times before taking in her surroundings. Dr Shepherd was glaring at her while what appeared to be three family members were sitting next to her, all looking at her with unimpressed looks on their face. Dr Shepherd cleared her throat before saying "Dr Helm, you know what to do?" Taryn nodded rapidly as she responded to Dr Shepherds question. Amelia nodded at her to begin and so she began.

"Nico Kim. 27 years old. 2 day's post op from an exploratory surgery to find the cause of seizures that resulted from head trauma in a 20 car pile up just over a month ago. The results of that surgery were inconclusive so we will be performing a CT scan today as well as an MRI to see if there had been any possible change."

"That's all Dr Helm," Amelia said as she moved to stand in front of the family. "Now, I know that the last few days have been particularly distressing for you so Dr Helm and I would like to take this opportunity to answer any questions you have regarding Nico's conditions and the treatments that can be offered." As Taryn turned to place her clipboard down on the table near Nico's feet, she saw movement outside the window of the ICU room. She saw a flash of blue scrubs and thought she heard a chocked back sob as her best friend turned on his heels and ran, without anyone to run to and without anyone to give comfort and chase after him.