Post by StoryGirl83 on Jun 25, 2009 18:41:49 GMT -5
Chapter Twelve – The Doctor
Upon reaching the hospital they were glad to learn that Wyatt was deemed no longer critical and had been moved to a private room. Much as Piper wanted to see her son she had someone else to see first.
She was walking down the hall when the sound of her name stopped her. She turned toward the voice and smiled. “Ava.”
Dr. Ava Nicolae smiled at her. “Looking for your son?”
“Yes,” Piper agreed, “but looking for you first. I wanted to thank you and ask if anything happened while we were gone?”
Ava nodded. “Yes, but I took care of it.”
“Thank goodness. What happened?”
Ava slipped a pair of glasses out of her pocket for inspection. “Tiny invisible creatures with knives attacked him. Thanks to this gift from Phoebe I could see them and take care of them. How is Phoebe anyway? I haven’t heard from her in a while.”
“She and Coop are on vacation.” Piper hesitated and then added, “We haven’t heard from them since they left and their girls can’t find them, so I’m getting more and more worried. They are supposed to return in less than a week. If they are even a day late, after not contacting us for a month I am going to panic. With everything that’s been going on it will be warranted.”
“From what little you mentioned over the phone and from what my daughter has told me over the last couple of months, I can believe it,” Ava agreed. She frowned as she looked at Piper. “Piper?”
Piper stared ahead in shock at the doctor walked toward them next to her younger son.
Chris and the doctor stopped as they reached them. “Mom, this is Dr. Darrin. He’s Wyatt’s attending physician.”
Piper stared at the man, not hearing a word Chris said. In a whispered voice she questioned, “Dr. Williamson?”
Dr. Darrin looked at her in surprise. “No, Ma’am. As you son said, I’m Dr. Darrin.”
Had he left it there she would have been forced to accept it, but he didn’t. The next words shook her. “Did you know my uncle, Mrs. Halliwell?”
“Your uncle?” Piper stuttered in question.
“Yes, my uncle, Curtis Williamson,” Dr. Darrin replied. “He was a doctor here before I was born. I was named for him.” He smiled a bit. “According to my dad, one of the last things he did before his death was save both him and my mom. It’s always nice to meet people who knew him since I didn’t. I’m told that not only did I bear his name, but I look like him, too.”
“Named for him?” was all Piper could say.
He laughed. “Yes, I actually am Dr. Curtis Williamson. It’s just I’m Curtis Williamson Darrin. So did you know him?”
“He was my doctor once,” Piper admitted, “but no, I didn’t really know him.” I killed him. And right about now meeting his nephew who looked so much like him and just like him seemed only to want to help people was the worst possible punishment she could ever get. It was her fault he didn’t know his uncle, because she couldn’t save him.
He looked a little disappointed, but nodded. “You’ll want to see your son I’m sure. I believe your husband is already there, so you’ll have to wait until he gets out. I can take you to the room,” he told her as he led the way down the hallway. “I think he’d going to survive just fine, but it will take a while and I’m worried about one of his injuries. It shouldn’t prevent him from living, but whatever was used on him nicked his spinal cord. Hopefully it shouldn’t give him too much difficulty, but when dealing with the nervous system it’s hard to know, especially as he hasn’t woken yet.”
“What are you saying Dr. Darrin?” Chris asked as they came to a stop outside a room with a glass window.
Dr. Darrin sighed. “We know he has no feeling in some spots, most of his lower body. That may be permanent or temporary. We don’t know. And since he hasn’t woken up, we don’t know if he can move his legs at all. There is a very real possibility he may be unable to walk.”
Piper stared at him in horror. “No. No, that won’t happen.”
“That is the worst case scenario at this point, Mrs. Halliwell,” Dr. Darrin insured her. “He probably will not make a full recovery, but I believe he will be able to walk without much trouble. We’ll know more when he wakes up. If all goes well tonight, he’ll be moved to a regular room tomorrow.”
Chris looked into the room through the glass window. Wyatt lay unmoving on the bed with Leo at his side. It all seemed so unreal.
“The biggest thing that worries me,” Dr. Darrin told them, “is the fact that he hasn’t regained consciousness. “That’s the main reason we are keeping him here for the night, that and the spinal injury.”
Inside the room Leo looked up and spotted them. He stood and exited the room. “Are you my son’s doctor?”
Dr. Darrin nodded.
Piper looked at Chris. “You go in. Your father and I are going to talk to Dr. Darrin.”
Chris didn’t question it. When he reached his brother side he looked down. He’d never seen his brother look so helpless.
“I’m sorry, Wy,” he whispered. “I know it’s illogical, but I feel I should have been there. I should have helped you. And now I’m helpless to help you. Why not me? You could have done something.”
He stood there for a long time while in silence. After several minutes he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and sighed at the sight of his mom. He nodded and left the room. With one last look at his brother through the glass window he leaned against the wall and allowed silent sobs to overtake him.