Just This Once by Evelyn Jeannie Hall
Twenty-Three
Coming out from under general anesthesia felt different to Zane than waking from a coma. Waking from his coma had been a gradual process, and Zane had no idea how long he’d been out. He’d also had this feeling that people were around, but he couldn’t reach them or communicate in any way. Physically, it’d almost felt like something out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. His body hadn’t felt like his own at all. It’d been like someone had replaced his beefy physique for one far more atrophied and lacking in endurance. It’d been disorienting, not to mention disheartening.
Now, though, he could’ve sworn that he’d nodded off for a minute, only to blink into awareness right after. As he stirred, Nurse Ratched dropped by the foot of his bed. He squinted, adjusting his vision as he took in the room around him. The last thing he recalled were the surgeons putting him under in the OR. This place he didn’t recognize.
“How do you feel, Mr. Morrison?” she asked with all the warmth of an icicle.
He tried to speak, realizing then just how parched his throat felt. The term cottonmouth entered his brain, and he swallowed. “Okay.”
The other nurse he’d seen earlier edged around Nurse Ratched with an enclosed thermal mug boasting a straw. This much kinder nurse held it up to his mouth, helping him take a small sip. It made his sore throat feel so much better. With her so close he could see her nametag. Deandra. And Nurse Ratched was Beverly. It was Beverly who spoke next in a slightly melted tone.
“I’ll go retrieve your attending physician.”
He shut his eyes for a second just to rest them, but he must’ve dozed off because when he opened them, Dr. Rajeesh had somehow replaced the two nurses. What’d they do? Magically swap places? He half expected his physician to say “abracadabra” when he opened his mouth. What he actually said, though was, “Welcome back.”
Damn, loopy much?
“Hey, there, doc.”
“Give me a rundown. Are you in any pain?” He shined a bright penlight into his eyes.
“No.”
“Any strange sensations?”
Zane took inventory, but what he wanted to do most was take a nap. “Just sleepiness.”
“That’s not atypical. Give yourself some time.”
He let his eyelids slip shut again until he remembered something crucial, someone he couldn’t ever forget. Lacey. The thought of her zipped through him like caffeine, making him more alert. He craned his neck and realized he was no longer in the same ICU bed as before. Now he lay in a long rectangular room in the middle of a row of beds, but none of those other beds had patients in them.
“Where’s Lacey? Is she okay?”
“We transferred her from recovery and placed her in a regular room.”
“That’s good, right?”
“Oh, yes. Her surgery didn’t last as long as yours. The donor’s surgeries rarely do.”
“So, she’s all right?”
“She’s well within normal safety tolerances.”
Zane frowned at his physician. “Was that English?”
Dr. Rajeesh raised one corner of his mouth. “I have no reason to believe she won’t recuperate on schedule.” Was he sidestepping the question? Zane couldn’t honestly tell. “Your own operation went like clockwork. No dilemmas whatsoever.”
“That’s good.”
“That’s excellent,” he corrected his patient. “Over the next twenty-four hours you may experience extra sleepiness, numbness around the area of your incision site, and once the anesthesia wears off, some discomfort. Make sure you let your nurses know so we can manage that for you. The anti-rejection medication we’ve started you on may also have some minor side effects, so if you experience symptoms that are unusual for you, tell us ASAP.”
“Will do. When can I see Lacey?”
“Soon. We’re going to monitor you in here for another hour or so, then as long as no problems arise, we’ll move you into your new room.”
“Will I be sharing one with her?”
Dr. Rajeesh shook his head. “As a post-transplant patient, you’ll each have your own private accommodations. I’ll do what I can to see if you can be kept close together. Once you’re situated, I’ll send in your family. They’re anxious to visit you.”
Somewhat mollified, Zane drifted back off to slumberland. What woke him was the nicer nurse. Nurse Deandra. “Any concerns?” she asked, and he met her gaze.
“I’d like to check on my girlfriend.” It felt surprisingly good to refer to Lacey that way. “How is she? Do you know?”
Deandra’s expression didn’t change. “I’ll see if I can get you a status update as soon as we get you squared away.”
On the journey to his regular room, he hunted everywhere for those red curls. He would’ve even settled for Kat’s or Elizabeth’s because surely by now, they could tell him about Lacey. But he didn’t once catch sight of them. It was starting to make him edgy. It felt as if people weren’t willing to give him a straight answer. When his mom and Tasha traipsed into his room a minute later, each of them hugged him from either side of his bed.
“Oh my God, I’m so glad that surgery is over,” enthused Tasha, her touch as cautious as if he were a China doll. “I swear I have gray hairs now because of you.”
Tasha was five and half years his senior, so at thirty-seven, if she had gray hairs, he wasn’t willing to take the blame. “That’s silly, Yogi, you know nothing gets me down for long.”
“Your color’s better already,” his mother observed. “Are you hurting?”
“No. I’m still pretty numb.”
“There he is,” Benjamin called out to him from the threshold. “Space enough for one more?”
“Sure, man,” Zane greeted him. “Get in here.”
His best bud offered him a brief pat on the shoulder, a replacement for the back-slapping man hug he would’ve given him under different circumstances. “How you doing?”
“The more time passes, the more awake I feel.” It was true. He knew he’d have to deal with having been sliced and diced, but he felt positive about his future. Especially since that future would include a certain middle Farrell triplet. And now that he had her brother-in-law’s ear… “How’s Lacey shoring up?”
Benjamin blanched. “She’ll bounce back, I’m sure.”
Zane’s entire body—as much of it as he could control, anyway—tensed. “What do you mean?”
“Well,” his best friend scrubbed the back of his neck. “She had an adverse reaction to the anesthetic.”
Horror smashed into Zane like a wrecking ball as one worst-case scenario after another blared through his head. He knew he shouldn’t have let her do this. “Nobody told me.” He shot recriminating looks at his mother and sister, each of whom were peering studiously elsewhere. “What happened to her?”
“Whoa, man. Calm down. She just had some chills and a grumpy stomach. The worst thing she experienced was a couple bouts of vomiting.”
“Jesus Christ!” Zane exclaimed, and his mom bopped him none too gingerly on the hand that didn’t have the IV. He didn’t feel like being punished for blasphemy, so he didn’t bother to apologize. “I can’t believe you two kept that from me.”
“Don’t make a fuss. You don’t need to upset yourself right now,” his mother said, giving him the same sorry-not-sorry tone he’d offered her.
“Yeah, she’s resting now,” Benjamin went on. “The nurses even examined her incisions to make sure she didn’t pull out any of her stitches. She didn’t. Doc Rajeesh said that sort of side effect is common.”
“I want to see her.” Zane wouldn’t be able to relax until he did.
“Your doctor said you’d need to stay in bed for at least the next day,” his mom told him, and if the hair on his head had been long enough, he would’ve felt tempted to yank it out. How could he wait that long?
His best bro must’ve noticed Zane’s increasing state of agitation because he stuck a finger in the air. “Hold on.” Benjamin retrieved his phone and hit a key or two. Raising the screen as if taking a selfie, he waited. “Mi alma, our colleague here has a major hankering to say hi to his lady love. She awake?”
There were noises in the background, including a hastily muttered, “Can you blank out the video on my end? I bet I look like last week’s roadkill.” Zane repressed a snort, which hurt. His own anesthetic must be wearing off. He must’ve winced, too, because his mom patted his upper arm. Whispers and rumblings from three unique yet similar voices ensued from his buddy’s cell, including a soft, “No, he wants to see you, silly,” followed by some shuffling sounds. Then, Kat’s distinct tone issued from the speaker.
“Here she is…”
Benjamin’s face lifted, then he burst over to hand his cell to Zane.
There she was. Those ocean blue eyes somewhat bloodshot, her rosebud lips puffier than usual, and her complexion discernibly pale. But he could see for himself than she’d come through the surgery okay.
“Hey, baby,” he used the endearment not giving a good goddamn that they had an audience. “You beat me in the race of coming to first.”
“Only because your procedure took longer than mine.”
“Yeah, just call me a trill from Star Trek.”
Lacey dropped her jaw and affected mortal offense. “My kidney is cute like a jellybean, not repulsive like some ugly slug in your belly.”
“A symbiote is not a slug. It’s a dual consciousness.”
“It horrifies me that I understood all that. My God, we’re geeky.” She snickered, then scrunched her features into a grimace. “Ooh, don’t make me laugh.”
“I know, right? It’s like having some weird torture device inside. I don’t feel much unless I do that.”
“You know what,” Benjamin piped up out of the blue. “I think I’ll go get something from the vending machines.” He paused significantly, and Zane’s mom and sister took the hint.
“Yeah, it’ll be nice to stretch our legs,” Tasha added.
Even Kat on the other end decided to clear out with Elizabeth based on her disembodied voice announcing, “Yeah, let’s go join them.”
“I’m all alone now,” he provided. “You?”
“Yep. Guess they wanted to give us some privacy. Not that we can do much with it.”
He smiled at her. “True. Heard you experienced some side effects from going under.”
“Dammit. Who spilled their guts?”
“No comment…And did you have to say, ‘spilled their guts’ right now?”
She ignored his guts being spilled reference. In retrospect, maybe that was for the best. “It was Benji, wasn’t it? Remind me to give him a purple nurple when I’m better.”
No wonder Benjamin considered Lacey and Elizabeth to be his sisters. They acted like just like them. “Ow. Tasha used to give me those. Seriously, though. How are you?”
“I’m feeling better. I’ve officially kept a cup of water down for a half hour now.”
“I’m sor—”
“No,” she interrupted. “The doctors said it would pass, and it did. It’s a small price to pay to keep you around for a few more decades. And you’re not allowed to feel bad about it. In fact, you’re not allowed to feel bad about any of this. I consider this such a lucky break. How often does a woman get to do something like this to save the man she loves? Not often, I bet.”
The way she said this, so nonchalantly, reinforced her feelings for him. Would Aliyah have gone to such lengths? He sincerely doubted it. He’d been the one to give and give in that relationship while his ex-wife had kept taking and taking. Even if she hadn’t gotten pregnant and left him for that Ethan dude, their marriage probably would’ve imploded at some point. That, or he would’ve felt desperately lonely inside his own relationship.
Maybe everything had turned out the way it was supposed to.
“How can I ever make this up to you?” he asked Lacey.
“Oh,” her expression became devious. “I’m sure I’ll come up with a thousand or so ways.”
“Truly, though. You went above and beyond.” He remembered the grand gesture he’d been putting together for her and figured he could repurpose it. Still, it didn’t amount to much compared to her saving his life. “Don’t know how I can top this.”
“Eh, what can I say? I maybe kinda sorta like you a little bit.”
He smirked at her. “Just a little bit?”
“Okay, maybe more than a little.”
“And kinda sorta like?” he prodded, enjoying her whimsy. He enjoyed everything about her.
“Well, more like totally and completely love.”
“I totally and completely love you, too. Wish we could be together over more than Facetime.”
“That’s the thing, big guy. After this, we’ll get to be together from now on if you want.”
“Oh, I definitely want.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
She beamed at him. “Good.”