Siren In The Sky // Bradley Bradshaw

Chapter 18

Bradley's POV

All of us stand and crowd around the doctor. "I need to speak to family only," she says in a hushed tone. People begrudgingly make their way back to their seats but I remain firmly planted next to Maverick. The doctor looks at me expectantly but I'm not budging. "He's her husband," Maverick says from beside me. I give him a surprised but grateful look. She eyes him suspiciously for a moment but lets it slide. 

"I'm Selene's doctor, Dr. Stevenson." Nice to meet you but get to the point. "Selene is stable. She just left surgery and is being transported to the ICU-" "Thank god! When can we go see her?" Maverick interrupts. Relief floods my body, she's okay. The doctor looks like she has much more to say, though, and my anxiety returns. "She's okay, right?" I ask. "She's going to live," Dr. Stevenson reassures. "But, she is going to be kept in a medically induced coma for a few days to give her body time to heal. We'd like to keep her here for at least a week, maybe two. Selene lost a lot of blood, and a minute later we wouldn't have been able to save her." I swallow the lump in my throat. I don't want to imagine that outcome. 

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to save her leg." Wait, what? "What do you mean 'save her leg'?" Maverick interrogates. "The wound on its own was very severe, not to mention the exposure it endured for an extended period of time. However, the tipping point was it being submerged in open water." She continues, "In open water, there is a bacteria called Vibrio Vulnificus. Because of the gash in her leg, it entered her bloodstream. This caused an infection. We caught it early enough that it only affected her left leg. However, it was too out of control to stop. We had to amputate her leg in order to keep the infection from spreading to other parts of her body."

"She lost her leg?" I question, disbelief in my voice. "Yes, she did." I'm not quite sure how to react. "How do we go about this? What's the next step?" Maverick worriedly asks. "I won't lie, recovery will be difficult. After the stitches heal she'll need to go to physical therapy. Selene's life will be hard during the next year. She'll need to relearn how to walk and function independently. I suggest she goes to therapy as well to deal with this mentally. She's suffered severe trauma and the road to recovery is a long and often frustrating one," Dr. Stevenson explains. 

"She won't be able to fly anymore, will she?" The doctor sympathetically looks at me. "I'm afraid not." Maverick and I are stunned into silence. My poor girl. This is going to break her heart. The doctor smiles and tries to be optimistic. "The good news is that she is going to live a long, healthy life. It'll just be an adjustment."

The next few days seem to drag on endlessly. I only go home to shower and change clothes before returning. Maverick, Hangman, Striker, and I rotate on who stays with her. Today is day 5. They stopped the propofol, so we've just been waiting for her to wake up. Right now I'm sitting in the chair next to her bed while Mav goes to get us coffee. They really need to invest in better chairs, my back and neck are sore from sleeping in them. 

Selene's POV

I weakly crack my eyes open, they feel as if they've been glued shut. The first thing I notice is the white ceiling. Looking around I register that I'm in the hospital. Bradley sits in the chair next to me, seemingly lost in thought as he stares at the wall. 

"Hey," I croak out Bradley's head snaps to me and a big, goofy grin lights up his face. "You're awake!" He rushes closer and plants a long kiss on my lips. Pulling apart he rests his forehead against mine. "I didn't think I was ever going to do that again." I lean up and kiss his forehead, lingering, before pulling back. "What happened?" I try to sit up but he stops me. "Let me call the nurse first, okay? And then I'll explain everything." 

Bradley clicks the button and two people come in. The nurse raises the bed so I'm sitting up and begins checking my vitals as an older lady begins talking to me. "Glad to see you're awake, Selene. My name is Dr. Stevenson. How are you feeling?" I give her a weak smile. "Like I got hit by a bus" She lightly laughs. "Yes, well that is to be expected. Do you remember anything?" I begin to recall bits and pieces. The debris in my leg, taking it out, Bradley and I had to eject. A sharp pain interrupts my thoughts and I grab my head with a soft groan. 

"It's alright if it doesn't all come back now. Bits and pieces will probably filter in over the next couple of days." I only nod. I look down at my left leg out of reflex. Instead, there is an empty space under the blanket. Lifting the cloth I see bandages wrapped around the upper part of my thigh before it stops. My throat clogs and a few tears spring to my eyes. Bradley grabs my hand that's clutched around the sheet and lowers it back down. My eyes meet the sympathetic look on his face and I know that this isn't a dream.

"Where's my leg?" My voice is hoarse and pleading. Pleading for me just to be delirious and still high off the drugs. The doctor begins to explain the infection and how they had to amputate it. All I can do is stare at my right leg stretched out in front of me, and the empty space next to it. Nausea builds in the pit of my stomach and the world sways. "I think I'm going to be sick." A pan is quickly shoved in my arms just in time for me to throw up. Not much comes up due to the fact I haven't eaten in days, leaving me sweaty and disoriented. 

Once I'm certain I won't be sick again, I hand the pan back to the nurse and lay back. Staring at the ceiling the voices around me are muffled. I feel nothing. Maybe I'm in shock or something, I don't know. Dr. Stevenson eventually leaves and my dad walks in. "Hey, honey! How are you?" He hands a cup of coffee to Bradley before sitting on the other side of me. I let out a long sigh. "Hungry."

>>A/N: I was going to end this story after the mission, but I feel like it has a lot more in it to just end here. So, there will be part 3! Stay tuned<<