The color drained from Angel’s face, and he felt a slight wave of nausea.
“Let’s have a seat where we can speak in private,” the surgeon extended his arm toward a pair of doors that was at the end of the short hallway. Angel eyed the ominous path that led to a small room. There was a black and white sign that hung on the door. It read “Private.” He imagined countless families being led to that same room and hearing the news about their loved ones who didn’t survive surgery. It was probably filled with ghosts of those who didn’t make it, haunted by lost souls who never had the chance to say a final goodbye.
“Tell us right here,” Angel said, with impatience clear in his voice.
“It’s a little complicated,” the surgeon began, “but I’ll try my best without my visual aids.”
Complicated. There was a complication, but both Angel and Jessi already knew that. Angel glanced at Jessi, and she looked back at him with large, round eyes. They grew shiny as tears filled them just enough to give them a watery sheen.
“Surgery was proceeding as scheduled without remark.” The surgeon made some kind of eerie clamping motion with his hands. “However, the moment we isolated the aneurysm, it burst.
Jessi’s hands flew to her mouth, but Angel was frozen with terror. He was paralyzed with shock. His heart pounded in his ears and drowned out the noise around him. The general chatter in the waiting room was vaguely distant. The doctor’s mouth moved and his hands continued their mechanical twists and turns, but there was no voice. Angel refused to hear the words that Tommy was dead, and his mind silenced all sound to protect his heart.
Jessi’s hands were still clamped over her mouth, but the tears never fell from her eyes. She nodded her head, slowly, and listened intently to the doctor. Why was the surgeon still speaking? Why wasn’t Jessi crying? Angel turned back to the doctor. He was explaining something, apparently in elaborate detail. Angel shook his head to clear the fog that silenced the doctor’s words.
“ . . . stabilize the bleeding. He’ll be in the neuroscience intensive care unit for the next 24 to 48 hours for observation.”
“What?” Angel leaned closer, his heart now raced out of control in his chest. “Tommy’s in ICU?”
“Just as a precaution. We anticipate a full recovery. He’s a young man, and he’s strong.” The doctor gave them both a curt nod. “If you’ll excuse me . . .” and he walked away.
Jessi let out a mixture of sobs and laughter and flung herself into Angel’s arms. “Let’s go see him!”
“Is he awake?” Angel was still comprehending that Tommy made it through surgery. He had steeled himself for bad news to the point where he was rendered numb. He should have been broken and then elated at the vast differences in what he had expected the doctor to relay about Tommy’s condition, but he was in shock. His mind still wasn’t fully in the present.
“I don’t know.” Jessi pulled him toward the doors that led to the ICU. “But I don’t care. I need to see him. I just need to hold him. We need to be with him.”
It finally hit Angel. He was going to see Tommy. Alive. Well. Free from the dangerous lesion in his head that threatened his life. A quivering smile spread across his lips as he hurried down the hall with Jessi. Pregnancy didn’t slow her down one bit, and Angel quickened his pace to keep up with her.
Just as Jessi placed the palm of her hand on the swinging door to the neuroscience intensive care unit, a nurse intercepted them. She looked directly at Angel. “I’m sorry. Only immediate family is allowed beyond this point.”
It was the same nurse who tended to Tommy this morning. “I am immediate family.”
“I understand you have a special relationship, but if you’re not legally married, there’s—.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” He couldn’t believe this was happening, again! “I spent the night in his room. You saw me!”
“Yes. I know. But this is the NSICU. We have very strict rules, and we need to adhere to them. I’m sorry.”
Sorry. The man he loved – his husband – was lying on a stretcher, recovering from brain surgery – fucking brain surgery! – and she was fucking sorry. Heat and anger burned deep in Angel’s gut. His initial reaction was to plow through the doors and past the nurse, but he knew she would probably call security. Jessi was arguing with the nurse, and she wasn’t doing anything except getting herself upset.
Angel narrowed his eyes and swallowed his anger. He stared at the nurse and spoke slowly and deliberately. “I’m his brother. Is that immediate family enough for you?”