Doubling Down – Chapter Three – Emersli1

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8 Minutes

Christopher’s nurse called at 12:17.

Not that Buck was watching the clock, or anything.

“He came through it like a champ.  Dr. Richards is closing now, so Christopher will be in recovery in about thirty minutes.  He’s a little guy, so it might take him up to an hour to really wake up.  Someone will come and get you.  For space reasons, and ease of access, the recovery room only allows one parent back at a time, but he should be in a room of his own in about two hours.”

Buck and Eddie shared a relieved look as Eddie hung up the phone they’d had sandwiched between them.  

Eddie passed the good news along to Abuela and Pepa while Buck sent off a text to Bobby and called Maddie’s nurse.  Maddie had known this surgery was scheduled when she went in, and specifically instructed him to call the unit to let her know once it was over.  A round of texts to the guys back in Yreka and one to Tony DiNozzo (who Chris seemed intent on adopting as an additional uncle) finished off his responsibilities, and Buck settled back in his chair to continue waiting.

It took Eddie a little longer to finish texting everyone he needed to.  He’d never really mastered the skill of the group text.  Or God forbid … Twittering.  But eventually he’d sent messages off to everyone he needed to, deflected his mother’s ‘offer’ to come take care of Chris during his recovery, and was feeling generally positive about life.  Now if that nurse would just come take him to his baby … he’d be a thoroughly happy man.

“Hey Buck, d’you mind if I take the first turn in recovery?  I promise I’ll swap in ten minutes, I just …”  Eddie trailed off, feeling selfish for even asking.

“What?  Did you think I was gonna make you play me in Rock, Paper, Scissors for it?  Of course you’ll take the first turn.  Chris is your son, and he’ll need to see you.  Even if he’s woozy and doesn’t really remember it.”  Buck was firm.  Of course Eddie would be the one to go back.  He could wait until Chris was in a room.  Though his heart gave a funny little bump at the thought.

Eddie gave his partner a hairy eyeball.  “He’s your son too, Evan.  And he’ll need to see you, but he’s familiar with taking turns.”  Seeing the nurse headed his way, Eddie stood up to meet her, then looked back at his partner.  “Ten minutes, Evan.  Then I’ll be back and it’ll be your turn.”

The nurse nodded in understanding.  “It’s always rough being the one to wait, but we really can’t dodge too many bodies in there if an emergency were to occur.”

Following the nurse, Eddie made his way through the warren of hallways, making sure he knew his way back to the waiting room.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Huh?  I mean, excuse me?”  He looked at the nurse questioningly.

“Sometimes it takes a while for a stepparent to realize everybody really does consider them a parent, too.  He’ll get there.  My second husband was parenting my daughter even before we officially married, but it wasn’t until she asked him to give her away at her wedding that he really, truly believed she saw him as a father.  He’d been there, day and night, for almost ten years, and she still took him by surprise by choosing him instead of the guy who left a deposit and then never made a return … if you get me.”  The nurse gestured to one of the cubicles.  “Your son’s right in here, and he’s quite the singer.  We’ve all enjoyed him.”

Listening, Eddie heard a rather garbled rendition of “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” coming from the little recovery area.  He grinned at the nurse and shrugged.  “His Papa adores musicals, and he adores his papa.  Wait ten minutes, and you’ll be hearing them duet.”

She laughed.  “Well, I’ll look forward to that then.  You can go on in.”

Eddie didn’t waste any more time, hurrying into the cubicle 

By the time Eddie got back to the waiting room, Buck had already received a gentle lecture from Abuela and a firm pep talk from Pepa.

He knew Chris was his son, and that Eddie and his family supported that.  Whoops.  THEIR family supported that.  It was just …

Being unwelcome in his own family all his life made him really insecure about his place.  It was awful that he still gave his incubator (as he’d come to think of Margaret Buckley) and sperm donor so much space in his head, but he was working on it with Dr. Wong.

Following Eddie’s directions, he found his way into the larger pediatric recovery area.  He was about to ask a nurse which cubicle, when a small, slightly off-key voice warbling about ten fat cows coming out of the Nile caught his attention.

With a big grin, Buck entered the cubicle prepared to do his best Elvis impression.

Neither man was really prepared for how small Chris looked in the hospital bed.

Chris had been moved to a room, where he would stay for about three days.  He had surgical bracing on both legs and would be on IV pain meds for another ten hours.  Tomorrow morning they would switch him over to oral meds, and then tomorrow afternoon they would get him up for short periods of time.

A nurse was giving them a training discussion on how best to help him during the next six to eight weeks, and it was hitting both of them hard.  On the one hand, Chris’s last surgery had included femoral osteotomies along with correction for hip dysplasia … which had a much, much longer recovery time.  So six to eight weeks was nothing compared to that, but …

Eddie hadn’t fully realized that Chris would probably have to start school in a wheelchair for safety.  He was going to hate that.  Buck listened to the nurse as though he expected to be quizzed later.  Mateo had warned him about some of this, and had sent a gift for Chris that might help soothe the sting of the wheelchair, but nothing could have prepared Evan for how much he would hurt thinking of Chris and Eddie managing without him.

Both men sat beside the bed, with their own worries scurrying around in their brains.  Then to their surprise the room began to fill with the semi-dulcet tones of their eight-year-old.  “Oceans rise, empires fall.  We have seen each other through it all.  And when push, comes to shove I will send a fully armed battalion to remind you of my love.”

His little face as he tried to look fierce while singing out the “dah-dah-dah-daht-dah’s” was adorable, though Eddie did have one question.  Looking around at Buck, Abuela, and Pepa he had to ask, “All right.  Which one of you let him watch Hamilton?”

On Buck’s last full day off they brought Chris home.

Once the high-level pain meds wore off there was a lot less singing, but their kid had astounded both of them with his upbeat attitude.  When the pain got bad (usually right before his next dose of meds) he would remind the adults that, “This is nothing.  My last surgery I woke up and couldn’t move anything.  At all.  For weeks.  THAT was bad.”

Chris had gotten up and stood the day after surgery without complaint.  Two days later he was able to walk between the bed and the recliner in the hospital room.  He followed the nurse’s instructions to the letter, and sometimes even had to be gently scolded for pushing too hard … trying to do too much too soon.

Eddie had shot Buck meaningful looks every time that happened.  “He gets that from his Papa.” he had told the nurse evaluating Chris for his discharge, who had commented on watching out for that tendency to try to rush his recovery.  Buck couldn’t say much, but it did cause him to realize how much what he did and said could affect Christopher.

Buck had never been in a relationship with a child involved, so he hadn’t really realized how much kids picked up from the adults around them.  He made a mental note to talk to Abuela about that soon.  Or maybe Paco.

But for right now … Eddie pulled the truck into the driveway.  Buck hopped down and scooted down the sidewalk to open the door.  Pepa beat him to it, having been watching through the window.  “How did the trip home go?”  Pepa asked him softly, watching as Eddie carefully lifted his son down.

“Eh.  The car sickness put a damper on things.  I think he’ll be glad to get in and rest.”  Buck kept his voice low, but Luis heard him and scuttled quickly into the kitchen to grab a big mixing bowl, putting it on the coffee table in easy reach of the couch.

Chris grinned to see his cousin, and the spot on the couch his family had made for him.  He remembered the last time he had surgery … when he finally got home, he didn’t get to leave his room for months.  At least Daddy and Papa weren’t going to shut him away from the family ‘for his own good.’

Eddie sat Christopher down gently on the sofa in the spot with pillows and cheerful blankets carefully arranged for him.  Three of his favorite books were on the coffee table along with his colored pencils and drawing paper.  A lap desk sat on the sofa, ready for whatever he might want to do, with a book of puzzles already laid out.

Abuela had something delicious cooking and Luis was offering him a choice of streaming options while defending himself against a corruption of minors charge.  “Hey, Hamilton is quality entertainment.  It’s history.  I covered his eyes during the duels.”

Chris sighed happily and relaxed into the cushions.  He was home, with his crazy family who loved him ‘to infinity and beyond’.

If only his papa didn’t have to leave.