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I shake my head and put my phone away before going into my patient's room to love on her baby. I'm in the maternity ward today to check on the new mothers and newborns after they're born, and I absolutely love it. It helps keep me busy and distracted from my life troubles. Between Noah and my parents, I'm the one fricking drowning.
I smile at the new mother, who also happens to be a friend and colleague.
"Morning, Claire Bear, how are you feeling?"
She gives me a grim smile and jokes, "like I pushed out a watermelon," and I laugh before checking over her little boy. I weighed him, making sure the nurses logged it right; they didn't, so I changed it before wrapping him back up and placing him in his cot. I go over to Claire and ask her to lift her legs up on the stirrups for me before checking her out. Other than Mel, Claire was one of the nicest women to greet me when I started working here.
I go to check her incisions; she needed twelve stitches due to severe tearing, but I frown, noticing how swollen she is, and I look up; she's sweating.
Shit.
"Claire, are you sore in and around your vagina?"
She nods, struggling to breathe.
She's hemorrhaging, fuck.
I run to the door and get Sarah's attention, knowing no one will answer the emergency bell quickly enough. "Sarah." She looks at me with a frown, "Claire's hemorrhaging." Her eyes widen before she starts barking orders, and hopefully, we've caught it in the nick of time when oxytocin will do its job. I quickly check her blood oxygen, and my heart stops; it's dropped big time while her struggles for breath intensify, and I know we haven't caught it in time.
An hour later, I'm sitting in the waiting room talking to a grieving husband and newly father.
"I'm so sorry, Dax; we just didn't catch it in time."
He sobs, and I have to try my hardest to keep my tears at bay.
Sarah said a nurse had missed the signs when she did her rounds forty-five minutes before I went in to see her. It's only because I became so close with Claire that I went into her room to begin with before my shift started. We lost her; we didn't catch thesigns quickly enough. I didn't catch the signs quickly enough when I walked into her room.
I squeeze her husband's shoulder while he clutches their baby in his arms, his mother coming over to help him. She gives me a sad smile as her tears fall before I leave them to grieve.
I can feel my tears stinging my eyes, so I know I need to get to the break room fast.
When I got close to the break room, my tears started to fall, but I stopped in my tracks. Noah is standing near the nurse's desk in his usual black jeans and a black t-shirt with his cut and biker boots on, looking extremely uncomfortable as a very married Sarah tries to feel his arms, flirting with him. I don't think I've ever seen a biker look so scared; he's petrified, and if I weren't ready to fall apart, I would have laughed. The man needs saving.
I clear my throat and wipe my tears before I rasp.
"Noah?"
His head turns towards me, making Sarah glare at me, which is ridiculous considering she's married and all.
He furrows his brows, most likely noticing my red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.
How Sarah is standing there flirting with someone when we've literally just lost a patient is beyond me. Don't get me wrong, they say don't get too attached to your patients, and I stick with that philosophy, but Claire wasn't just a patient; she worked at the cafeteria here, and she became a friend.
Norah shakes off Sarah, scowling at her before walking towards me. "Wildcat, what's happened?"
I sniffle at the nickname, my tears starting to fall again, and he quickly takes me into his arms, the same arms I wished to have wrapped around me all these years. I know I shouldn't melt into his embrace, but I can't help it. I clutch his black T-shirt.Losing Claire has dimmed a little of my light, and this man, this amazing man who has owned my heart for five years and who gave me a daughter, is the only thing to brighten it again.
I hear Sarah snarl in the background as more tears fall: "Well, isn't that professionalism at its finest?"
Noah growls and holds me tighter to him, but I ignore her as Dr. Thomas speaks, "Slicer brother, why don't you take your girl into the break room over there? She's just lost a patient who was also an employee and a friend." I feel Noah nod before he bends slightly and lifts me up so my feet dangle while he walks towards where his brother and my supervisor pointed him to, all while Sarah complains, "His girl, are you serious?"
As soon as the door is shut and her voice is muffled, I let out a sob, causing Noah to shift, so his arm goes under my legs and he carries me bridal style towards the chairs. I grip his top shamefully and sob for the loss of an amazing woman while he sits down with me in his lap, my head in the crook of his neck.
He tightens his arms around me.
"I've got you, Wildcat; I've got you."
It only makes my sobs come out harder.
