Episode 32

Episode 32

Nailah watched as Sierra stirred in the bed, it was getting late, or rather getting early.

“You’re still here?” Donna asked as she came in to check the patient’s vital signs.

“Yea, I need to get home. Justice will be up soon and I still have some studying to do.”

Donna nodded, “Go home. We’ll call you if anything changes.”

Nailah nodded and waved goodbye, “Thanks.”

Donna nodded and turned back to Sierra, checking the vital signs. She was about to leave when she heard the sheets rustle.

“What happened?” Sierra moaned climbing out of the bed.

“I would stay in bed if I were you, most patients feel a bit woozy after having their stomachs pumped.” Donna spit out.

Sierra shirked.

“What were you thinking!” Donna continued, “those pills could have killed you!”

“They were harmless-“

Donna laughed. “Harmless, your heart rhythm was off, you experienced cardiac arrest and we almost lost you twice on the way to the hospital. Harmless!”

Sierra stared at the floor. “Sorry.”

“Sorry…” Donna shook her head, “Sorry doesn’t cut it.”

Nailah rushed into the clinic where Donna met her. She had received the page from the nurses station and told them to send the child to her. Donna took Justice from her mother and commanded a nurse to begin taking vital signs.

“What happened?”

“She had a fever when I got home, so I gave her some toddler medicine, then she starting shaking and turning blue. I -“ Nailah stopped choking back a sob.

Donna nodded, the nurses had filled her in about the child losing consciousness twice. Donna pushed Nailah out the room as she saw the grim looks of the nurses and the entrance of the life support machine.

“How is she?” Nailah asked as Donna entered the waiting area hours later. Her eyes were swollen from crying and her nails were raw from biting them.

Donna tried not to think about the past couple of hours. The toddler had stopped breathing and her heart rate had lowered to dangerous levels. The nurses and team of doctors had to bring her back from the other side numerous times.

“Not as well as she could be.” Donna hedged. “She’s still in critical condition and right now we have her on life support.”

Donna tried to close her ears against the sobs that echoed across the room as Nailah sobbed her sorrows into her hands.

“Can I see her?”

“For a little while,” Donna agreed leading the mother into the brightly colored room littered with machines and the tiny helpless body of her child.

“O, Justice…” Nailah moaned as she leaned over the crib.

“What’s on your mind, Erika? You’ve been…quiet.” Lani asked handing her friend a drink from the fountain.

Erika played with her soda, thinking. “I have a lot on my mind.”

“You want to share?”

“Well…you know Willis?”

“Yes…”

“And Kevin?”

“Yes…what’s wrong? Having second doubts about double lovers?”

Erika laughed, “Hardly! I don’t feel guilty or anything…they both know that we’re not serious…it’s just…”

“What?”

“Well…if they were one man, I’d marry him in a heartbeat.”

“Even after-“

“Yea, even after…you know.”

“Wow…”

“It’s just…Willis showers me with so many gifts and dinners and anything I want that his bank account can buy, it’s mine. But he doesn’t have the time for me-not that I’m complaining, he’s a bore.”

“Ok…”

“Then Kevin showers me with…I guess… love. He always cooks for me, anything he gives me I know that he spent the time looking and finding the perfect thing instead of grabbing the most expensive thing in the store.”

“I’m failing to see the problem if you’re ok dating both. Are you ok dating both?”

“I don’t know… part of me wants more. I don’t know what this feeling is… I… I haven’t felt this way since… well, you know.”

Lani nodded. “Well, I always say, take the chance on love. The payoff is better.”

Erika nodded, rolling the words over in her mind.

Opal flopped onto the bench, today’s practice was brutal, but her body felt good after the summer spent slacking.

Her teammates chatted away until the coach stepped in the locker room, commanding a respectful huss.

“Well done with practice today ladies.” She started, “I know you all are ready to get dressed and head back to the dorms, but with the start of a new season new changes occur.”

The team nodded, anxious to hear the announcement.

“Ok, the team captian this season is Opal.” The coach said without fanfare, but the team politely applauded.

Opal grinned and jumped up. “Thanks and this year, we’re going to nationals and taking that trophy from the smug Laloha University!”

The team cheered and Opal happily tossed her towel over her shoulder as she headed to the showers. She was captain and determined to make her senior year the best one ever!

“I think it looks more like a rabbit jamming on the keyboard,” Kevin said as he laid on his back.

Erika chuckled, “Why can’t you see a simple car instead of rabbits forming a band.”

“That’s just how I am babe.” He said grinning at her.

She smiled and snuggled closer, enjoying a rare moment away from the office, away from the fickle clients and using the sun as a clock instead of her PDA.

“Happy?” Kevin asked

“Very much, this was a great idea, just what I needed.”

“I love you.”

Those words…Erika had hoped that she wouldn’t hear them, but there they were… and they didn’t give her the anticipated sense of dread. That only meant one thing.

“I love you too.”