Tough Love

Chapter Sixty-Six

Chapter Sixty-Six

Eli

It's almost midnight when my dad appears in front of Ash, the Cap and I. This time he's with another doctor who is dressed in scrubs. I'm guessing this is one of the doctors who performed Dani's surgery. I try to read their expressions, but they are keeping very straight faced, so I don't know what the news is going to be. I try to brace myself for the worst as my pops opens his mouth.

“Eli? This is Dr. Stone. He was in surgery with Dani.”

“Hi Lieutenant Ramirez. Would you like to step into the waiting room with us?”

I can't wait for the bad news. I need to know it now.

I manage to scrape out, “Is Dani ok?”

Dr. Stone is very grim faced as he says, “Ok is a very loose term, Lieutenant. I would like to discuss this further in private, but I assure you, Miss Romanov is out of surgery and in intensive care.”

I feel the breath leave me in a whoosh. She's still alive. That's a good thing. She managed to make it through the surgery. I always knew my Dani was a fighter. I step into the waiting room and my dad and Dr. Stone follow me.

“Just tell me straight, Doctor.”

“Take a seat, son. You look like you need to rest.”

“I'll rest when I know what's happening. Just tell me, what's the prognosis?”

“Ok. As it stands, she made it through surgery, but she is in a very critical condition. We lost her 4 times during surgery, but we managed to get her stable and comfortable enough to finish the procedure. She has a severe head trauma, a number of fractures and various contusions and lacerations. She had two gun shot wounds to the abdomen, which caused a great deal of blood loss. We managed to stem the internal bleeding and repair the damage but we are not sure if that will be enough to keep her out of the woods. Her heart is very weak as it stands now, so the next 48-72 hours are extremely critical. She has been processed by a member of CSU, so we have tried to clean her up as best as we can.”

Dr. Stone looks at my dad and says, “Don, I'd like to have a quick word with the Lieutenant alone, if you don't mind. I will be quick, I promise.”

My dad nods and steps out of the room. What can the doctor possibly have to say to me that my dad can't hear? I don't have to wait very long to find out, because Dr. Stone gets straight to it.

“I have to warn you that there are signs of rape...”

I want to punch something. It wasn't enough that they had to nearly kill her, but they had to do that as well?! I turn away from Dr. Stone as I try to control my anger. I crouch down and rest my hands on my knees as I try to control my emotions, but I can't stop a sob from escaping. I just about hear Dr. Stone say, “I am so sorry, Lieutenant. I thought you should hear it from me, rather than one of your colleagues.”

I check myself and manage to whisper, “Was she conscious when that happened?”

“Probably. We can't be completely sure, but there are things we look for in these kinds of cases. We see certain signs in conscious victims that are not present in unconscious victims. I'm sure you don't want to know the details, so I'll spare you those.”

“No. Thank you. What am I to expect now?”

“She'll be in a coma for a while. We'll keep her in a medically induced coma so we can keep her comfortable and allow her body time to heal. If she makes it through the next 72 hours, then she's got a good chance of recovery. However, there is also a chance she will be brain damaged. Again, I can't say for certain, but with the severe head trauma and the fact that she flat-lined so many times, we can't be sure if her brain was starved of oxygen for too long. I will assure you that we tried our utmost to give her the best chance at a full recovery. At the moment, it's just a waiting game. I want to tell you to keep up hope, but I am required to tell you that you should prepare to say your goodbyes. There are studies to suggest that coma patients can still hear their surroundings, so talking to her won't hurt. I am very sorry, Lieutenant. No one deserves this kind of treatment.”