The Surgeon. |✔️|

XV.

Beyoncé

"Who?" I stopped in my tracks; maybe when she'd repeat herself would my mind not play tricks on me.

"Jay, .. I swear mom all I know is a name." She mumbled beside me.

"And you never seen this individual a day in your life?"

Please God guide her answer in the different direction.

"No. Just from what Rue tells me, he's a supplier to all of New York. We met him in Brooklyn once but Rue just met him in his car; a black Dodge, if I remember correctly."

Shit.

"Mom promise me you won't say anything to them that I know!" She silently begged while holding on tightly to my arm.

All I could was sigh and shake my head; this was all starting to become too much. And hell, if I opened my mouth to confess, Rue and I would be out of luck. When she noticed that I was gradually shutting down, she simply rested her head against my shoulder while we rode the elevator down to the ground floor in silence. Despite the shocking revelation, I stayed focused on the main issue at hand of making sure Rue was well cause I honestly had no clue on how to move forward from here.

Before we made it to the receptionist desk, Blake was coincidently walking out from the OR suite. We were the first to lock eyes and I could immediately see the uncertainty on her face. If Blake held that expression after a procedure, it was almost always a warning that things didn't go as planned.

"She's, .. critical." Blake managed to uncover to me and Aaliyah. Even though they were covered, my eyes began to swell with tears.

"W-what does that mean?" Aaliyah asked the both of us. Her voice began to crack, so I pulled her closer to ease her mind.

"To simplify what we really mean by saying that is that the patient's condition is not exactly on the right path toward recovery. She's being monitored very closely in the critical care intensive care unit and we have every monitor imaginable to update us on her care." Blake replied.

"Please just tell me if she's going to die! I-I rather know now!" Aaliyah demanded.

Blake and I shared a quick glance before we initiated a long and comforting group hug.

"I need some space.." Aaliyah added after we tore apart. I didn't put up a fight and simply agreed before giving her my card to get some food or frozen yogurt from the  cafeteria.

Blake sighed, "Good thing you're a doctor cause now I can get really real with you." We couldn't help but laugh despite the depressive state around us.

"I want the truth.."

"Beyoncé she's bad. Her left lung is on the verge of collapse, she's only able to maintain an acceptable oxygen saturation via a ventilator, and not to mention now in septic shock with failing organs!"

"Wow.." was all I could muster to say. "This all due to drugs?"

"Fentanyl, you know the one only giving to patients with an end-stage cancer diagnosis or on the verge of death."

I finally put two & two together; "Her father died from cancer.. that must of been where she got the medication from. If I'm not mistaken, Aaliyah did mention she was pretty weary of her behavior because today was the anniversary of his death."

"Oh my goddess." Blake said, her voice laced with sadness. We lowered our heads in silence and I leaned in to hug her tightly. "You know I hate situations like this, B.." She mumbled.