One Wish Left

CHAPTER 30: NAMESAKE

Laura stared down at her son, his skin pale, his eyes closed, and all the air whooshed from her lungs.

But he was still breathing. He was breathing, and she could hear the monitor registering his heart beat.

He's breathing, Laura, someone whispered in her ear.

Her head whipped around to see who was reading her mind, but no one was there.

A nurse came in and, after briefly explaining what she was about to do (which Laura completely tuned out), she lifted the sheet from Kieran's hospital-robed body and began to insert a catheter.

Where are your clothes? Laura thought wistfully of the outfit her son had so painstakingly picked out for the dance.

"Mrs. Gibson? I'm Dr. Clark," said a tall, black woman, who had suddenly appeared at Laura's side with her hand extended. "Your son came in unconscious due to very low blood pressure. We've already started I.V. fluids to help stabilize that, and we're about to start some units of red blood cells because his counts showed some anemia. Can you tell me if this has ever happened before?"

Laura shook her head. "No. Nothing like this."

"Did anything happen today? Any physical complaints?"

Laura looked back at her son, racking her brain for any clues. "Nothing, except that he was very nervous. He was at a school dance on his first date when he collapsed."

Dr. Clark nodded. "Ok, the next thing we're going to do is get a CT scan of the brain to rule out—"

"Dr. Clark!" the nurse interrupted. "He's got blood in his urine."

Laura whipped her eyes back to the doctor. "What does that mean?"

Dr. Clark hurried over to Kieran's side and pulling up the hospital gown, she searched his abdmomen. Seeing nothing, she turned Kieran onto his side with the nurse's help to look at his back, and there on his left flank, a bright, blue bruise was spreading like wildfire.

"Order an abdominal CT, STAT, and let's get some plasma in him to help slow the bleeding and keep up the BP until we find the cause," Dr. Clark said to the nurse. Turning to Laura, she said gently, "Mrs. Gibson, I'm afraid your son has internal bleeding. We'll get a CT done to find out more, but there's a possibility he will need surgery."

Laura covered her mouth as tears formed in her eyes. "Oh my god. Oh my god, this cannot be happening!"

Dr. Clark pinned Laura with a no-nonsense gaze. "Mrs. Gibson, I know this is a lot to take in, but we are going to take care of your son. Do you hear me?" Laura nodded as a team of nurses rushed into the room and started prepping the hospital bed for transport. "Is there someone here you can wait with?"

Laura looked at her blankly. She couldn't recall at the moment how she'd even gotten to the hospital in the first place.

I'm with you, Laura.

It was that voice again.

She couldn't place it, but she found it incredibly comforting.

"Yes," she replied. "Someone is with me."

"Good. We will get word to you as soon as we find out what's causing the bleeding." Dr. Clark reached up to squeeze Laura's shoulder. "Your son is in good hands, Mrs. Gibson."

Laura bowed her head tearfully and slowly made her way back to the waiting area where she found Sam pacing back and forth.

So that's how she'd gotten there.