SUNSHINE

forty-four

Patrick had not sat down since they had arrived. He paced the hallway outside of where they had taken his daughter, and since he was family, he had no privileges in this hospital. Alessio had tried to get him to eat something, for they had been waiting now for hours without any updates, and they were both worried. Patrick had continuously mentioned that they should have updated them by now and they had been waiting too long.

"Sir, I'm sure she's going to be fine. Your daughter, she's too stubborn. She's a fighter." Alessio told him, and Patrick turned to him.

"They had to put the paddles to her chest when we got her in here." He said very softly. That was the moment that his knees buckled underneath him and he started crying. Alessio dropped right beside him. "I can't lose her too, I just can't." He choked out.

At that moment they were both silent, Alessio consoling Patrick as they continued to wait in the empty waiting room. It was true - when they arrived, her heart had stopped beating and they had to defibrillate her. She had gone back into sinus rhythm, but they knew her heart would have slowed, so they had no clue how long her brain had been slowly depriving of oxygen. Another half hour went by before the doctor that had taken over care of Casey came out of the secure access area.

"I'm going to apologize now for not coming and keeping tabs with you, Dr. Radcliffe." The young attending said to both of them.

"How is she?" Was the first thing out of both of their mouths.

"We were able to slowly rewarm her blood and her airway. She's getting back up to normal temperature, but we did lose her again while we were working to warm her back up. She is still under sedation and out of it, so we will have to wait and see." He explained to the both of them, and Patrick nodded.

"Can we see her?" Alessio asked.

"I'm sorry, but only immediate family right now." The doctor told them, and just as he was about to just nod and sit down, Patrick put his hand on his shoulder.

"He is family." He said, and the doctor nodded.

"Follow me then. I will warn you there are quite a few tubes going in and out of her body, but it all to get her better. She doesn't feel any of it, we won't wake her back up until she is completely warmed so she does not have to feel the pain of the tubes." He explained to them as they walked down the secure hallway. They were all silent, the sound of their feet hitting the tiles echoing off the empty walls. They eventually came to a room that was brightly lit and full of various machines. There was a large red monitor that looked like an alarm clock that read her temperature, and she was still below normal temperature, but it was better than when they came in three hours ago. The attending had brought another chair in so they could both sit and be with her.

"Let me know if you need anything." He said before he left the room, sliding the door closed and leaving the two of them with Casey. The only sound that echoed in the room was the soft, slow beeping of the heart rate monitor. There were a couple of chairs that had been put in the room, and both of them took a seat. Alessio grabbed her hand, and it was cold. She looked lifeless laying in the hospital bed, the machines working to bring her back to life.

"Thank you for everything you've done tonight, Alessio." He heard Patrick say from beside him, and he looked over to him with a soft smile.

"I'd do anything for you and your daughter, sir." He responded. There were a few moments of silence again, the soft beeping filling the void.

"Do you love her?" He asked him blatantly, catching Alessio a little off guard. He sat there and smiled.

"More than anything in the world, sir. I don't think I'd be alive right now without her if I am being honest. She's my ray of sunshine." He said with a soft voice, looking back to Casey as he said the last sentence.