Page 74 of Steeling Her
“Second floor, room 256.” We both nod and power walk to the elevators. One is immediately ready with people getting on. Danielle presses the button and we wait in silence. I’m getting impatient. As soon as the doors part, we run down the hall and toward her room. As soon as we get close to it, nurses and doctors are flying in and out of her room, with beeps coming out of the doorway.
“Are you with Miss Steel?” We nod at the nurse holding the clipboard. “You need to wait out here,” she orders us and then walks back in.
Once another nurse comes out, I stop her and ask, “How is she? Is she alright?” I ramble off quickly to get something. The sympathy in her eyes tells me it’s not something I’m going to want to see or hear.
“Not great, I’m afraid. Hang in there.” she runs back to the nurses’ station to pick up something and walks back inside, shutting the door. I see drips going in, one after the other, and I start to panic. I feel my breathing get uncontrollable at the thought of something bad happening to her. She can’t leave me, she just can’t. She’s too young for this to be happening. She’s got a lot more to give in her life, I know it.
We stay in the waiting area near her door. I’m pacing the floor, back and forth, back and forth. That’s when I see Haley and TJ run towards us. Once Haley reaches me, she engulfs me in a hug and immediately breaks down. “She’s going to be alright, isn’t she Nick?” she asks me, and I bite my lip, unsure of what’s going to happen. I’m on edge, and I need to know what’s going on with her. I pull away from her and walk to the nearest doctor but get told to talk to a nurse about her.
“Please, I need someone to tell me what’s going on with Carter Steel. Her mom asked me to keep her updated as she gets here.” The brown haired nurse looks taken back by my scorned tone. I’m upset, I need something from them; anything.
“Are you family?” she asks me and I stupidly said no. “Then I can’t divulge that kind of information. It’s confidential. I’m sorry.”
“FUCK THIS!” I yell out loudly. I’m about to punch something if I don’t get anything.
“I’m sorry, sir, but if you don’t calm down I’m going to have to call security.” I glare at her and take a seat next to Haley, who is shaken right now. I can’t comfort anyone, I’ve got too much going on in my head. I’m swimming in my thoughts, borderline drowning. Nurse after nurse, I see them going to her room less frequently. I then notice her being wheeled out in a gurney.
“Excuse me, where is she going?” I ask the nurse, who spins around. Her hair is tied back in a messy bun and she has heavy bags under her eyes.
“She’s being moved to a private room. Her parents called and asked us to move her to a specialized room. She’ll be in room 708.” I thank her and watch Carter being wheeled away from me. She looks better, but looks can be deceiving. She has a lot of drips surrounding her, but not all are connected to her. The beeping heart monitor lets me to know that’s she’s alive. The thought of losing her has my heart sinking.
“Oh my God!” Haley gasps beside me. It looks bad. Carter has tubes connected to her arm and a breathing mask to help her.
We all trek up to the seventh floor and see that it’s fancy and plush, with leather sofas instead of the wooden chairs down on the second floor. One doctor goes into her room, and we all stand outside the door, watching him to see if we can make any sense of what’s going on.
This floor is less hectic and more relaxed. It’s sort of psychologically calming me down. I’m not as worried as I was downstairs. Hours later, the doctor and nurse finally come out to greet us. He smiles at us and keeps walking, but I have enough balls to stop him and ask for any information.
“Is she alright?” I beg him for something, anything to ease my mind.
“I’m sorry, it’s confidential.” He writes something down on a clipboard.
“Please, I need to know if she’s alright. I can’t tell her parents nothing. They need to know—” He folds a piece of paper over and then hands it to me. I smile at his subtlety and read the note.
She has a virus and her body has collapsed. She’s currently taking antiviral medication and fluids through the drips at the moment.
I ask Danielle for her phone back and immediately start to type it out to her mom to ease her own mind after saving Carter’s mom’s number in mine.
“What does it say?” Danielle asks me, clasping her hands in front of her, almost praying that it’s good news. I’m not sure if what I’ve been given is good or bad.
“He says that she has a virus that made her body give in and stop working, so they put her on antiviral meds to see if it will help.” I hug her because she saw all of this and rub her back to try to soothe her overactive mind. She was so scared when she was just lying there. I was terrified when she wouldn’t wake up, but she was about to collapse herself.
“She’ll be alright though, right?” Haley asks me through TJ’s arms that’s surrounding her. I can see my sister visibly shaking. I shrug since I don’t know how to answer her, but I feel my mind starting to wander and think of the worst. I don’t know what I would do if they told me she wouldn’t be alright. Maybe I caused her body to overheat?
“Nick, man, what happened?” I notice that TJ and I are alone now. I sigh and replay the moments in my head.
“I-I . . . She . . .” I run my hands through my hair haphazardly. “I fell asleep with her to warm her up and Danielle came in to wake us up because she made her soup. The next thing I know, she’s not waking up and I’m calling Cas for help. Then I called an ambulance and now I’m here . . . hoping she’s alright. TJ, what if she’s not alright?” I look to my best friend for help that I know he can’t give me. I want answers, and he can’t give me that either.
“She’ll be alright, Nick, the doctors are taking care of her. She’s a Steel, for crying out loud, they’ll be bending over backwards for her father. Just be there for her when she wakes up, alright?” I nod, knowing he’s right. I’m sure her dad has called in a few favors for the sake of her health. He’ll do anything for her. I know I’d do that if I was in his position.
All of us are sitting in the waiting area hours later, waiting patiently for any word from the doctors or nurses. I hear a woman crying as she runs towards the nurses’ station. A familiar cry too.
“Where is she? Where is my baby?” Then three sets of hard footsteps follow behind her. “Carter Steel! NOW!” she booms, panicking at the young girl, and I make my way over to Austin Steel because he’s the nearest to me. I put my hand on his shoulder and his head whips around. Once he recognizes me, I point to her room immediately.
“That’s her room there.” The family turns around to face me and follows my finger. Her mom takes me by surprise when she decides to wrap me up in a hug. I stumble back a little before getting a stable footing. I tap her shoulders, unsure of how to approach this. The three men walk over to the door while Carter’s mom has streams of tears down her cheeks.
“Thank you so much, Nick! Thank you for looking after her. It means the world to me!” Her shaky smile makes me want to return it while she’s cupping her hands around my face.
“I’ll always look after her, Mrs. Steel. Always,” I assure her, and she has a glint in her eye that reminds me of Carter. They look so alike, and the more I look at her, the more I see similarities. She leaves us out here. TJ walks over to me and wraps an arm around my neck.
