"Mom," Chantelle ran to Sabrina's mom with open arms and squeezed her in a tight hug immediately.
Amir walked over right behind her, hugging Sabrina's father. He was so lost in his thoughts, that he hadn't spoken much since his conversation with Kirk in the car.
"Any update," Chantelle asked.
"Nothing new. She's in a coma while they monitor her." Adrianne explained, wiping her eyes.
"Austin has Niko, they're staying at Amir's house," Chantelle told the woman. She frowned deeper, thinking how it would affect her grandson if her daughter didn't make it.
"Mr and Mrs Lewis," a man called as they were standing around talking.
The group turned their attention to the man who looked to be in his fifties. He took his glasses off and cleaned them on the hem of his scrubs before speaking. "I'm Dr. Brooks. I was on your daughter's surgery team." He introduced himself. "Can I speak with you privately?"
"We can speak here. This is her husband and sister."
"Alright. Your daughter suffered from what is called a subdural hematoma, which is a buildup of blood on the surface of the brain. The sudden impact to her head caused some blood vessels to rupture or tear.
The way that we treated that was by drilling a small hole in the skull to allow the blood to drain relieving the pressure and build up. We're gonna keep her here and monitor her over the next few days and make sure the blood was properly drained and there is no clotting so we don't have to perform a craniotomy."
"Thank you." Sabrina's mother thanked the man. "Are we able to see her?"
"For now they're allowing two visitors at a time for the duration of 10 minutes until we take her out of the coma." He informed the family. "Be aware, when we do these procedures, we have to shave the hair on part of the head to cut open the scalp so don't be alarmed by her appearance."
They nodded, in understanding, "Thank you again."
Amir sat quietly in the waiting room chair. He felt paralyzed. He could hear all the voices speaking around him, but it only sounded like noise.
"Amir," Chantelle repeated, finally grabbing his attention. He looked up at her solemnly. "We can go see her now."
He stood up, lazily and they walked to her room in silence. As they walked inside a nurse had just finished checking Sabrina's vital signs. She looked extremely uncomfortable with all the wires and tubes around her body and the ventilator mouthpiece on her face. Her head was wrapped. The nurse forced a smile at them as she left the room.
Chantelle walked over first and placed her hand on top of her friend's, "You gon get through this Brina cuz that's what bad bitches do, okay." She whispered in tears. "I love you so much."
"You think she can hear us?" Amir asked, getting closer.
"Of course. My girl is nosey." Chantelle chuckled stepping out of his way. "Your husband here, girl."
Amir held Sabrina's hand and looked at all the medical tags around her wrist. He shook his head, "When you wake up, I'm not lettin' you out my sight." His low voice started to crack, "I can't let you go nowhere no more." He laid a hand on her stomach, "Why couldn't you just come home to me?"
"They didn't say anything about..."
"I don't know if they knew. I didn't want to mention it in front of her folks. Not like this." Amir told her. The situation was bad enough as it was.
Chantelle watched Amir as he stared at Sabrina sadly. He looked so broken. She'd never seen him look like this. He was always smiling and loving on Sabrina when she saw them together, so this was so different. "We'll be back later, bookie." She leaned over and kissed her friend's cheek.
"I love you. I'm not leavin'. I'll be right here when you wake up." Amir confirmed kissing Sabrina's forehead.
When they came back into the visiting area, Meeka and Bobby were there talking with Sabrina's family. Meeka approached Amir first.
"Hi Amir, I'm Tameeka. I rode in the ambulance with Sabrina. Can I talk to you for a second?"
Once they were away from the group, she spoke again, "They told me that because she's not very far along, the chances of the baby surviving are small. They'd have to check her HCG levels for a few days because, in pregnancy, they double every other day or so, so if the numbers start dropping then they'll know."
He closed his eyes tight and drew a deep breath, collecting himself, "Did you tell her parents?" He asked.
"No, but you should. And make sure the doctors are monitoring that number. They acted like they didn't care. You have to advocate for her until she can."
"Thank you, for being with her."
"I wish I could tell you congratulations under better circumstances. She couldn't stop cheesing telling me how happy she was."
Amir dropped his head and sighed. "There's videos circulating already."
"I know." Her voice cracked. "Sabrina didn't deserve that, and Nick can go to hell." She said before walking away.
Amir went back to her parents and told them the unfortunate news. Sabrina's mother cried as she hugged him because she said she had a feeling Sabrina was pregnant but didn't want to mention it to Sabrina just in case she was wrong.
Mama's never wrong y'all.
Sabrina's father also embraced Amir as if he were his own son. He had a lot of respect for the young man because he tried to keep things traditional when he could.
David still appreciated how Amir came to him and asked for his daughter's hand in marriage.
He told the young man, simply, 'Whether you do it big or do it small, just keep God first, and keep everyone else out y'all business. Don't let anybody impose their opinions on your union.' So when they got engaged and then married a few weeks later, David supported them all the way.
Sabrina's parents eventually left the hospital to their hotel along with Chantelle. Amir didn't move from his spot in the waiting area.
A little before 8 p.m., the doctor came back to talk to the family.
He approached Amir, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name earlier. Since your wife isn't from here, we don't have her medical records all we had was her parents' information from the family members that came in with her."
"Amir Walker." He told the doctor.
"Mr. Walker, your wife's condition is looking good. We're going to wake her up in the morning and remove the ventilator. It's going to take some time for recovery, which is the hardest part once the bleeding is under control." He explained.
"And the baby?"
"We can take a blood sample tonight and another in the morning and compare her HCG levels. Your wife will need a blood transfusion for the amount of blood she lost from her injuries sustained and surgery. We can delay the transfusion to make sure we have accurate hormone levels, or we can continue normal treatment, and follow up with an ultrasound next week. Our number one priority is to make sure your wife is okay. The pregnancy may not be viable after so much trauma to the body."
"What does that mean?"
"What I mean is, we may be delaying your wife's recovery, to save a pregnancy that she may miscarry later."
Amir thought about what he was saying.
"Take some time and think about it Mr Walker. I'll come back and check on her in the morning. If you'd like you can stay in her room with her since you're her spouse. Let the rest of the family know normal visiting hours start back at 9 a.m." The doctor said before he walked away.
Amir went downstairs to the parking lot to get his backpack out of the rental car to stay the night at the hospital. While he was in the car, he got a call from Kirk.
"Sup foe," Amir answered.
"What's good fam?"
"Doctors said she's looking good. They're gonna wake her in the morning and then we'll look to recovery."
"I'm praying for her, brudda."
"Preciate you, for real."
"Team made a statement. They released him this afternoon. No one knows where he is, but he might still be in NoLa. Keep your eyes open. I'm sure he knows what hospital she's in."
"Good lookin' out."