Winning the Lottery

Ch. 48 Risky Missions

Jake's POV

On Tuesday morning, I looked at my phone. I had a message from Bridget. My wife.

I smiled and rang my voicemail.

Then, she spoke, "Hey, Jake. It's me. Today was my first day at NIH and it was...intense. There was this crazy trauma. My patient coded four times...but I-I brought him back. You'd have been proud. I thought of the time I restarted your heart, how it felt. I don't think anything scared me worse...until you left Saturday. I already miss you more than I care to admit. You said you had a bad feeling, but I-I have a good feeling."

She had a good feeling. She was never so optimistic...

"Dr. Hamilton, you're needed in the lab."

She was going by my name. Our name.

"I'll be there in a minute... Jake, I have to go, but I love you. I love you so much. I miss you... Talk to you soon."

She hung up.

I sighed and wiped my eyes. When had I started crying?

Hawk came over. "Sgt. Major--Oh! Sir, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Britt called."

She nodded. "She okay?"

I nodded and took a breath. "Why did I have to sign onto this deployment?"

"Any of them would have been difficult after her."

She had a point.

I nodded.

"Sir, we were given the go for tomorrow's mission... We were told to rest until then. If you want to call Bridget, you have time."

I nodded.

She smiled and walked off.

I looked at my phone and dialed her number. It was 3am over there. She wouldn't be awake.

The phone made a noise.

"Jake?"

It felt like I'd been kicked in the chest. Why did I leave her? Why did I think this was a good idea?

"You're awake."

"Night shift. When there's a mass shooting, it's all hands on deck."

"Mass shooting?"

"A school. The news coverage was awful. I couldn't watch it."

"How old were the majority of the wounded?"

"Ten, maybe? I don't know."

"How many casualties?"

"Somewhere around thirty, so many they couldn't just be Pediatric cases. Every department is working on it." She was quiet. "Who shoots up little kids? Who does that?"

"The world is full of sick people." I looked at the wall ahead of me. I hated she was witnessing the worst of the world...on home soil.

"I wish we could help them before they get this bad."

Of course she did. My heart fluttered. My wife had the sweetest heart in the world.

"Me too," I spoke, even though I knew if we did that, I'd be out of a job.

"My kids would've gotten help. They will. I could never be the mother to watch my son shoot up a school of innocent babies."

Kids. She wanted kids. She was telling me this now?!

"You can see yourself having kids?"

She was quiet. "Well, yeah, I-I think about it sometimes... Is that bad?"