Page 4 of Consequences
I grind my teeth as I juggle the three coffees. Thank fuck this place has an actual coffee shop. If they’d only get rid of fucking uncomfortable waiting chairs and replace them with something else. Maybe after Dr. Ranlen is stuck in this waiting room with us, she’ll make that a priority.
After handing out the coffee, I sit down and stare at the clock. None of us speak, words beyond us. At some point, Dr. Ranlen’s phone goes off, and she snarls at whatever she reads, before jumping up, claiming it’s her turn to get the coffee. I lean over toward Keegan, asking, “What’s that about?”
“Let’s just say, one of us may want to have a discussion with Doc. I’d prefer not to piss off the Amatos by taking out one of their top tier men, and Sarah is…pissed. Granted, I think she has a right, but uh, we should keep them separated for a while.”
“Great. Like we need yet another complication.” Sarcasm drips from every word I say.
Keegan shrugs one shoulder. “Doctors have egos. Hers got stomped on. It’ll blow over. It doesn’t help that they’re both fucking brats. Il Padrone will get her in line at some point. He always does. And hopefully, someone will do that with Doc as well.”
With that, we lapse into silence again, aside from murmuring our thanks to Dr. Ranlen when she brings back the coffee. I study our private waiting room. It’s so…sterile. Fuck, they’ve got the most uninspired color choices, fake plants, and stupidwatercolors on the wall. If they were going for soothing, they missed the mark—by a lot.
Huffing, I look down at my phone, unsurprised at the requests for updates. I pull at my hair, not knowing what the fuck to say. When Keegan takes the phone from me, I melt into the chair, because damn, I’m tired from this shit. We barely had any time to clean up before we headed this way. I’m beginning to crash from the adrenaline, and my savior coffee is starting to fail me.
We fall into a pattern. Silence. Pacing. Coffee. That’s all we know. Hours pass, but in this small room, time seems to be lost. It’s an eternity. It’s nothing. Coffee. Pace. Silence. Again and again.
Eventually the waiting breaks, and I inhale sharply as a surgeon steps into the room. There’s relief on his face at finding Dr. Ranlen, while casting nervous glances at Keegan and me. His steps falter, before he continues into the room, and I sit on the edge of the seat, my arms against my knees as I wait for him to start speaking.
He massages his lower back as he addresses us—well, really it's just Dr. Ranlen. “He’s alive. You’re lucky—and he got a miracle. You know there’s less than a two percent chance of survival with the condition he was in. I’m surprised you were even able to get him to the hospital. Without your work, there wouldn’t have been any chance.”
Dr. Ranlen lets out a sigh of relief as she inclines her head toward the surgeon. “Thank you. I knew you and the team would pull through. Can you break it down for us, Dr. Moore?”
He sits heavily in a chair, pulling it up to face us. Running a hand over his face, he lets the exhaustion show, as if he’s unable to push it away. “Let’s see… As the trauma surgeon, I worked on the GSW to his chest as quickly as possible, trying to staunch the bleeding and keep his heart beating.
“You called in the perfect cardiothoracic surgeon. Dr. Singh did not give up, even if I didn’t understand half of what she was muttering; it was so fast. I’m fairly certain she called on divine intervention, and your guy got it.
“He’s going to have a long road to recover, though. Don’t expect him to jump up from the bed anytime soon. He’ll need physical therapy—a lot of it.
“We’re also watching him for any signs of neurological disorder, especially after flatlining. There does seem to be some swelling in his brain. Dr. Demir doesn’t think we need to operate, at least not yet. We have him in a medically-induced coma. He’s in the ICU for now, but we’ve gone ahead and reserved him a private room. We thought it better than to have…”
I almost snort, knowing he wants to say, “To keep us thugs out of the main areas”, but he bites his tongue at Dr. Ranlen’s sharp glare.
Fucking two percent chance. I’m glad she didn’t tell us, but damn. Fucker got lucky. Too bad the alphabet boy didn’t live. He deserved payback for this shit.
“Alright. Thank you so much for this. We’ll be having someone stay with him. Precautionary, you understand. We’ll transfer him to private accommodations as soon as possible.”
“Be careful. I don’t want to risk moving him. We have him stabilized, but you know how this shit goes. And the other thing…” Dr. Moore hesitates as he cuts a glance toward us.
Dr. Ranlen cuts in immediately. “You can’t report this.”
“You know, legally, we have to do it. Not to mention, there are so many people who already know…”
“No. I’m the administrator, and I’ll take full blame if needed. This won’t be going through insurance, and all of you have earned a significant bonus for doing this.”
“Fuck. You know…I didn’t get into this profession to do anything except to help people.” Dr. Moore rubs his temples, and I almost feel guilty for putting him in this position.
“Well, that and because you’re a God in surgery.”
He rolls his eyes and gives a weak smile. “I know you’re manipulating me, Dr. Ranlen. You’re not that good at it.” I curl my fingers into fists, worried I’ll have to step in with this, but Keegan touches my leg lightly, forcing me to stand down. “But, fine. You knew who to call for a reason. Get him out of the hospital as soon as he’s a bit more stable, and we’ll pretend this never happened. We kept the supporting team small for a reason. I didn’t list GSW on his inpatient records, so be careful what you say in the ICU.”
“Thank you,” Dr. Ranlen breathes out, offering her hand. For a moment, I don’t think Dr. Moore will do anything, but he finally reaches out and shakes it, muttering under his breath.
“Alright, you know the procedure. Better than I do at this point. I’m going to go wrap everything up, and tell the team we’re done for the night. You owe us dinner and a week’s vacation.”
“Got it.” She waves him off, her shoulders tight as he studies her.
Whirling around, he marches out of the room, and I turn toward Dr. Ranlen, waiting for the next move.
Frowning, she stares at us. “You have two choices. You can either go home now and get some rest, or when he’s moved to the ICU, you can stop in and see him. Either way, I know you’ll want to get guards here. He won’t be coming out of the coma until they’re satisfied he’s on the road to recovery. Right now, he needs rest. I’ll talk with…Doc…about transferring, and the best time to do it. For now, we have all the information possible.”
