When Rochelle walked into the waiting room, she was clutching a plastic bag filled with AJ's things. Her hair was a mess, tears rolling down her cheeks. She stood in the door and looked around at the clusters of couples. Howie and Leigh, Brian and Leighanne, Kevin and Kris. Lauren looked up. Her eyes met Rochelle's briefly before she looked away.
"How's Nick?" Rochelle only just got the words out. Her voice broke halfway through the words, which were barely even a gasp.
Kevin jumped up and walked quickly across the room and wrapped his arms around Rochelle. "Shh, shh," he whispered, and gently guided Rochelle to a seat between himself and Lauren. He put a hand gently on Rochelle's back and rubbed along her spine ently with the heel of his hand, "It's okay," he said quietly.
Rochelle shook her head, "It's not."
Lauren turned to Rochelle and hugged her arm. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
Rochelle moved the bag and a corner of AJ's favorite sweatshirt peeked out. She pressed her face into the folds of the cloth and breathed deeply. It seemed like years and years ago that she'd thought of buying air fresheners to drown out that smell in the car.
"Nick is going to be okay," Kevin said quietly.
Rochelle felt a shiver slide through her. Some horrible, vengeful, deep-down part of her wanted to scream. A part of her wanted to not care about Nick. A part of her whispered that if it wasn't for Nick that AJ would still be alive.
Lauren pressed her cheek again Rochelle's shoulder.
The door opened and Dr. Carroll stepped into the room. She looked around, meeting each of their eyes, then she said slowly - delicately - "I'm about to go in to oversee the harvest surgery." She bit her lip as Rochelle pressed the sweatshirt more closely to her face. "Once Dr. Kent has removed the other organs, he will proceed to remove the heart, and I will transport to OR 2, where I'll be performing the transplant." Dr. Carroll paused.
Kevin squeezed Rochelle closer.
Dr. Carroll took a deep breath. "I'll come out to update you when I can." She backed away, toward the door. "I'm sorry," she stammered.
When the door had closed, Rochelle shot out of her seat. "I can't do this, I'm sorry," her voice broke. "You know I want Nick to be okay but right now I just can't be here, waiting for them to dismantle my husband to put him back together."
Lauren squeaked back a sob and covered her eyes.
Kevin stood, too. "You shouldn't be alone..." he said thickly.
Rochelle shook her head, "I'm fine. I'll be fine."
"We can go with her," Howie suggested, glancing at Leigh, who nodded. Howie swallowed, "It's hard for me to be here, too, right now."
Kevin nodded.
Howie and Leigh walked with Rochelle out of the waiting room and a heavy silence fell over them. Kevin dropped back into his seat. Lauren's voice shook. "I prayed for --" she broke, unable to finish the sentence.
"You didn't pray for it to be AJ," Leighanne said.
"But I prayed," Lauren said.
"You prayed for God to save Nick," Leighanne pointed out, "Not for him to take someone's life."
Brian was staring down at his feet, his hands pressed tightly together as he cracked his knuckles.
Dr. Carroll watched as Dr. Kent leaned over AJ. She watched the pieces go their separate ways, watched as the organs slipped into coolers and were carried away by various physicians to go fix their patients ailments. She watched as bit by bit the world of one was taken apart to become the glue that would hold other worlds together.
"I hate these surgeries," Dr. Kent muttered as he cut the connections and removed the heart gently, carefully. He slipped it into the ice, and looked up at Dr. Carroll through the headset he wore. "Let me know how the transplant goes," he added.
Dr. Carroll nodded and carried the bowl of ice and heart away from the table.
Kevin and Lauren were all that remained by the time Dr. Carroll came out of the OR to update them. It was early morning and Kris had gone home so Mason didn't panic when his parents weren't there and Leighanne had decided that Brian needed to eat. She'd sworn she'd return with cereal bars for Lauren and Kevin. They'd been silent for the last half an hour, the TV talking aimlessly in the corner, an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond and the tiny studio audience laughter far off and out of place in the room.
Both of their faces turned to look at Dr. Carroll. She drew a deep breath. "The transplant is complete... The first 48-hours are really touch and go, but so far it seems that the operation was a success."
Kevin nodded. "Can we see him?"
Dr. Carroll hesitated. "These ...circumstances..." she began slowly.
"We won't tell him," Lauren interrupted. "Not yet."
Dr. Carroll nodded. "It's important that Nick have no reason to reject this heart," she explained, "The slightest psychological choice to reject it could lead to a physical rejection of the organ." She gave them both meaningful looks.
"I understand," Lauren agreed.
Dr. Carroll stepped back, waving them through the door of the waiting area and down the hall to the post-op room that Nick was laying in.
