In Sickness and In Health

One flight nurse was starting IVs in any place she could; the other was taking vital signs and applying oxygen. Viggo sat at Lynn’s head, stroking her hair, feeling sick. He wouldn’t look at either of the flight nurses, didn’t want to see her future–his future too, he thought–in their eyes, didn’t want to see pity or concern for him. Tears dripped steadily from his chin, some landing on his arm, others landing on the floor where, he was sure, countless others had fallen.

When they landed on the helipad at the hospital, they whisked her gurney to the emergency department, Viggo sprinting to keep up.

When he reached her room a nurse stopped him. ‘I’m sorry sir, you can’t go in there. You’ll find some chairs and coffee in the family waiting area.’

In a quiet, dangerous voice, he replied, ‘Listen you bitch, I am Viggo Mortensen. That is my WIFE, and if you don’t let me in that fucking room this instant, I will use the papparazzi to my fucking advantage and you and your hospital will be on the news in a not-so-flattering light. Move your fucking ass out of my way, before I move you myself.’

Mouth agape, she dropped her arm and moved, for the look in his eyes told her he was far from exaggerating anything he said.

Shaoey looked up when he entered, but said nothing. He found a spot out of the way where he could still see his wife, and he stood there, not moving, until Shaoey called for an operating theatre.

‘I don’t usually allow family in OR, but if you are willing to scrub up, gown, cap, glove, and bootie up, you can come in. I trust you not to get in the way.’

Viggo expressed his gratitude quietly. He was pleased to see that the nurse he threatened had heard Shaoey’s offer; she was looking rather abashed.

He took a moment to find his friends and children; they were going to wait in the OR waiting area. Orlando drew him into a hug, rubbing his friends back as he sobbed into his shoulder.

‘Viggo, if you’re coming you need to come now,’ Shao called to him.

He straightened. ‘Thanks, mate.’

Orlando kissed his forehead. ‘She’ll come through, mate. She’s tough and Shao’s a helluva doctor. She’ll come through, you’ll see.’

In the OR, he stood where Shao had indicated, watching. He looked at all of the tubes, wires, and equipment hiding his lovely wife, and wept.

‘She’s in bad shape Vig, I won’t lie. The next 24 hours are critical. If she makes it through tonight, she will probably recover. But I can’t say how good those odds are.’ With that, she walked away. She went to the women’s changing room donned clean scrubs, sat down, and broke into tears.

‘Shao?’

‘Orlando! You. . . you’re not supposed to be in here, it’s a woman’s room. . . I. . .’ She collapsed into his arms sobbing. ‘I’m so tired, delivered three babies, just operated on a friend who is probably going to die, I feel ill, and I miss you!’

Orlando held his girlfriend tightly, rocking her gently, stroking her back. ‘It’s okay baby girl. Let it all out.’ She clung tightly to him, face buried in his neck. After a few minutes, she stopped crying, but still she clung to him.

Cradling her in his arms, he pressed a kiss to her temple. She looked up. ‘I need to go check on Lynn.’ She saw the objection in his eyes. ‘Not as a doctor, love. As a friend.’ Warily, he nodded. He knew his workhorse girlfriend well, but she seemed sincere this time.

She stepped into the recovery area, mercifully quiet. All the emergencies had been taken care of and, because of the earthquakes, all elective surgeries had been rescheduled. In fact, Lynn was the only patient in recovery at the moment.

She approached the bed, and saw Viggo at his wife’s side, clutching her hand. His head was laying on the mattress beside her, and his eyes were closed. Shao smiled.

The doctor in her couldn’t help noticing Lynn’s vitals, but seeing they were stable, she kept her promise to Orlando, and relaxed. She brushed a strand of hair off Lynn’s forehead, holding her free hand.

Whispering, she urged her friend to come back. ‘C’mon girl. You can’t check out on us now. We need you, especially your babies. And Viggo, god, I don’t know what he would do without you.’

Shao heard Viggo stir, and looked over, seeing his steel grey eyes looking up at her sleepily. ‘She’okay right now,’ Shao whispered reassuringly. ‘I’m gonna go sit with Orlando and the guys for a bit. I’m off duty now, but don’t want to leave her alone,’ Shao took her leave.

Viggo put his head back down, and closed his eyes again.

In the OR waiting room, Shao joined Viggo’s family and friends, as well as he boyfriend.

‘How is she?’ Asked Billy.

‘Critical but stable,’ she replied automatically. ‘She’s. . . she’s not getting worse, but she isn’t doing very well right now.’

The group chatted for an hour or so, passing time. None of them wanted to be there, but none wanted to leave. Suddenly a shrill tone pierced the quiet of the room.

‘SHIT!!’ screamed Shao. She ran out of the room to Lynn’s room as fast as she could without actually flying.

Viggo was just coming out of the recovery area looking panicked when she arrived. She blew past him and silenced the alarm, studying the numbers on the monitor in front of her. Her heartbeat had become irregular and slow, too slow.

Soon Lynn was joined by another doctor and several nurses. After several minutes that lasted hours, the group collectivly relaxed. Lynn was again stabilised.

Soon Viggo was again alone with his wife. He took her hand in his again, and was about to sit when he realised her eyes were open. ‘Lynn?!’

She smiled. ‘I’m so glad they let me come back. It was wonderful seeing them, but they told me I had to come back to you.’

‘Uh, Lynn? Who are you talking about?’ Viggo was confused and frightened.

‘Mom and Ray. I got to see them and talk to them. They’re happy about the babies, and especially that one was named after each of them. Raymond told me why he killed himself, and that he’s sorry he did it. Then they told me that I had to come back here, to you because you need me more than they do. So I did. I came back in time to see Shao save my life.’

Viggo just stared at his wife dumbfounded.

Shao came in having heard Viggo talking. ‘Hey girl. You gave us a helluva day yesterday. Do it again, I may kill ya myself,’ she said lovingly. She checked Lynn over briefly, made a note on her chart, and turned to leave, when she felt Viggo touch her shoulder.

‘Can I talk to you a sec Shao?’

Once in a private area, Viggo continued. ‘She was talking about seeing her Mum and brother, and seeing you save her life, and near-death experience. . . Is she really okay?’

Shao smiled. ‘She’s fine Vig. She’s actually not the first patient of mine to say things like that. ALL of the ones who have had near-death experiences have mentioned seeing me save their life. My colleagues have had similar experiences; there’ve been too many to chalk it up to fluke.’

Viggo nodded, looking pensive. ‘Okay, works for me. Thanks Shao. You should go rest. Orlando told us the news, congratulations.’

She smiled. ‘Thanks. And rest is next on the agenda.’

She left then, and Viggo wandered back to the recovery room. Nurses were preparing Lynn for transfer to her own room, a private one at Viggo’s insistence.

‘Hey angel,’ he smiled, kissing her. He took her hand, and held it while they wheeled her bed down the hall.

‘Wait here a moment, please,’ he commanded the orderly. He stepped away to let his friends know where they were going. Returning he nodded, ‘okay, let’s go.’

The orderly and a nurse shifted Lynn to the bed in her room and left, taking the now empty recovery room bed with them.

Moments later Billy, Orlando, Henry, and Dominic arrived, with the babies. Lynn’s face lit up at the sight of them. She took two of them and Viggo took the third. She sighed, stroking the infants’ backs, smiling.

‘They’re so perfect. So little.’

Viggo smiled at his wife. ‘So are you angel. So are you.’

Being a maternity suite, the bed was larger–not a typical hospital bed. Viggo climbed onto the bed with her, holding Raymond with one arm, and putting his other around his wife’s shoulders, pulling her close. One at a time, babies and parents fell asleep, and Billy, Dom, and Orlando decided to let the family sleep. Henry sat in a recliner by the window, watching his new siblings, a smile on his face.

‘I’m looking for Lynn. . . I was her brother’s girlfriend. Dr McGovern called me to tell me she was here.’

‘I’m Henry her. . . her step-son. . .’

‘Hi Henry. I can’t really stay, I just wanted to drop these off.’ She indicated three small stuffed bears. ‘It’s kind of a tradition. . . or it was anyway. . . to give stuffed animals for events. Her mom and Raymond had a ton.’

‘Jen?’ Lynn’s sleepy voice came from the bed.

‘Hey. I wanted to bring these by.’

‘Oh that’s so sweet Jen. Do you have a few minutes?’

Jen smiled. ‘A few, yeah.’

‘This is Patricia Grace, after my mum and his. This is Dominic William Orlando, after our friends that helped with the delivery. And this, this is Raymond Lee.’ She held her brother’s namesake out to Jen.

‘God, Ray would’ve been so proud. . . I wish he was here. I miss him.’

‘Me too hon. Me too.’ Lynn hugged Jen tight, both girls fighting tears. Lynn felt Viggo stir, and looked over. ‘Hey baby. This is Jen, my brother’s girlfriend. Jen this is my husband Viggo.’

Jen smiled at him and looked at Lynn. ‘I still can’t believe you’re married to him. . . Ray would’ve DIED.’ Looking at Viggo she added, ‘Sorry, Ray was nuts about Aragorn.’

Viggo laughed. ‘Nah, it’s okay. Lij still gets called Frodo at least once a week. And Orlando will always be the Elf.’

Jen looked at her watch. ‘I have to get to work. I’ll see you soon though.’ She gave Ray back to Lynn, who looked up.

‘Jen, you’re still part of the family, you know. The family’s just changed. Aunt Sue still asks about you, too. You’ll have to come over sometime, and meet everyone. They’re my new family. And Jen, I really want you to be part of baby Ray’s life. He is going to need to know all about his namesake.’

Jen smiled, fighting tears again. ‘I’d like that. I’ll be in touch, soon.’ With that she left, Henry staring after her.

‘Hey,’ Lynn said, handing Ray to her husband. She stood and softly padded over to the chair where Henry sat. She knelt in front of him taking his hands in hers. ‘Jen is a really awesome girl, Henry. Don’t be embarrassed love. For what it’s worth, I know she's not seeing anyone. I don’t know if she's really moved on since Ray died.

‘But sweetie, you aren't that different from my brother. Get to know her. I think she’ll be around a lot because of the babies now anyhow.’ She dropped her voice, conspiratorially, ‘A hint, honey, she loves DDR too.’ She reached her hand up and brushed Henry’s hair away from his eye.

Henry smiled, ‘thanks Lynn.’ He leant forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Lynn stood, returning to the bed, smiling. ‘I’m going to go to Mom’s for awhile. I wanna show her pictures of the babies,’ Henry added.

‘K, drive safe son,’ Viggo said.

‘I will Dad,’ he replied, giving his father a hug. ‘Bye Lynn, I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Okay sweetie.’

For the first time since the birth of the babies, mom and dad were now alone—well, as alone, that is, as one can be in a hospital—with their babies. Lynn rested her head on her husband’s shoulder and smiled.

‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

‘For what baby?’

‘For your love, for Henry, and Ray, Patricia-Grace, and Dominic.’

‘Oh, angel. I should be thanking you. You’ve given me a second chance to be a good husband and father.’ He dropped a kiss on top of her head, just behind the hairline of her bangs.

‘I suppose we ought to have your publicist announce the births, huh?’

‘Mmmmm; let’s see if we can wait til we’re home. Or, rather at Dom’s place. The city said the earliest our road could be fixed is in about a week.’ Lynn looked thoughtful as his words. ‘What, hon?’

‘Vig, call them and tell them not to rush it because of who you are. There are other people who can't get to their houses, who don’t have friends to stay with. We’re the lucky ones. If Dom gets sick of us, or us of him, we can go to Orlando and Shaoey’s, or Lij’s.’

Viggo smiled at his wife, and—if it was possible—he loved her more right then. ‘That is one reason I love you so much angel. You care about people. I’ll call; I won’t ask them to delay us, but I’ll tell them not to push us ahead of anyone, and just do it when they would otherwise get there.’

Lynn smiled and kissed him; each thanking God for the other.

Meanwhile, Orlando, Billy, and Dom had gone to Orlando and Shaoey’s place, where they found a dirty, bruised Monica huddled on the steps.

‘Moni!’ Orlando cried out, running to her. ‘Do you need to go to the hospital?’

Monica shook her head no, ‘No, no I'm fine. Little banged up, filthy as hell, but I'm okay. I was on my way here when I saw a family trying to dig a car out from under some rubble. There was a woman in it. That’s where all the scrapes and bruises, and about 90% of the dirt came from.’

‘What about the woman, was she. . .OW!’ Dom exclaimed as Orlando and Billy both elbowed him.

Monica shook her head. ‘She didn’t make it. The front of the car was pancaked, we almost had to amputate her foot to get her out. I gave her CPR, but. . .’ her voice trailed off.

‘I wonder how strong it was,’ Billy commented, desperate to change the topic. Monica noticed his discomfort and took his hand, squeezing it.

‘At least a 6, love,’ she replied quietly. ‘Probably worse. There was a lot of destruction despite earthquake codes for newer buildings and retrofitting for older ones. Someone said part of the 405 collapsed. . . Orlando can we go in, I know I can’t shower, but I’d kill to be able to wash up, and I have to clean my cuts. I have one on my leg I might have to close.’

The group went inside, Orlando going straight to the phone to call Shaoey and let her know Monica was all right. Dom laid down on one of Orlando’s two couches and draped his arm over his eyes. He’d had a lifetime’s worth of excitement in less than 36 hours.

Billy followed Monica. ‘Do ye need any help, then?’ he asked softly.

‘Are you squeamish?’

‘Lass I just watched the birth of three wee ones, can't be too squeamish after that.’

Monica grinned. ‘No you can't. Whose babies?’

‘A friend of ours, Lynn. She had triples.’

‘Oh! Is that the girl Viggo Mortensen proposed to at the Oscars?’ When Billy smiled and nodded, Monica sighed. ‘Lucky girl.’ She looked at Billy. ‘Sorry, I’m a fan, and besides being a Lord of the Rings fan, it was incredibly romantic.’

Billy smiled too, put at ease by Monica’s ability to be herself despite knowing who he was. ‘So, DO you need any help, love?’

‘Oh! I think there’s a scrape on my back, I was hit by something. . . I think it was part of a building. . .’

Gently, Billy lifted up her shirt. There was indeed a scrape, surrounded by a huge purple bruise. ‘Aye, you have some damage back here.’ He took a washcloth dampened with warm water and gently swabbed at the area, apologising when he her heard hiss of pain. After a few minutes, the wound was clean and he gently patted the area dry and bandaged it.

Not wanting to leave her, he knelt down in front of her and, after rinsing the cloth clean, tenderly cleaned the scrpes on her legs, knees, palms, arms and shoulder. Once again rinsing the cloth, he cleaned her face, relishing the contact with her, so drawn was he to her.

Monica noticed the caring concern in his green eyes as he tended her injuries, the ones she easily could have treated herself. He seemed to want to take care of her, though, so she let him. Something about him, it might have been his eyes, was more potent than any drug she’d ever had, she barely noticed any of the pain from her injuries.

When he finished, he hung the cloth to dry, and stood, offering her his hand to help her stand. She was tall he noticed, a good five or six inches taller than he. And she moved with a fluid grace, even though her legs and knees must’ve pained her.

Once back in the living room, Monica sat down on the other couch, tucking her lithe legs up under her. Billy sat at the other end of the same couch. Orlando chose his girlfriend’s favourite overstuffed chair, and Dom was still sprawled out on the othet couch, sound asleep. Within minutes Orlando was also sleeping, and Monica and Billy looked at each other.

Billy noticed Monica looked tired, and offered to move so she could lie down; she refused saying she had a bedroom there she could go to. Billy offered the compromise that won out, both of them stretching out on the large sofa, the two of them tucked together; it seemed that no one wanted to be alone after the events of the day. Billy laid his arm around Monica, holding her securely against him, his hand cradling hers. Within moments they too were asleep.