This was the first major surgery I'd scrubbed in on since having Hallow Hex. It was intense and wore me down. Emerson wanted to stay overnight to monitor the patient, meaning I was staying. JC decided to stay on call for the night, which gave me a little sanity back. He's a lot more normal when it comes to having a conversation. Not that we talked much, because by the time we were out of surgery, we were both ready to pass out. I was so fucking tired, I hadn't even remembered to call Chris before I fell asleep in the longue.

          "Oh, Angelooo," Emerson sang as he walked into the room. I groaned, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I'd only gotten about two hours of sleep, and I doubt he got any. How the fuck can he stay so damn happy? He smirked at me, "There's someone here to see you."

          He moved aside from the doorway. My tired mind managed to wake up the second I saw my beloved husband. Well, woke up somewhat. I was still fucking sleepy.

          "Hey," I softly smiled, "I'm sorry I didn't call to tell you I wasn't coming home tonight." My sentence barely escaped my mouth before I yawned.

          "It's alright, Angel. I called Emerson's office, to make sure you were okay. Remington told me him and Sebastian had a long surgery and you'd be staying the night." Chris leaned over and kissed me briefly. "I brought you some leftovers from dinner. Figured it was better than hospital food."

          "What would I do without you?" I beamed. In my tired state, I had almost forgotten why I was staying overnight. Glancing past Chris, I asked Emerson, "Did you call the family yet?"

          "No. On the small chance we are wrong about our John Doe, I wouldn't want to upset anyone. I also figured it'd be best to leave that in your hands." He answered.

          I grumbled, "They always make residence do the shitty work."

          "I heard that." He replied as he walked out the door.

          "You know it's true!" I snapped. Sighing, I rested my head on Chris' shoulder, "I can't keep up like I used to. I'm getting old."

          He chuckled, petting my hair, "You're pretty damn spry for your age, Babe. I mean, you've got more energy than me most the time and you're five centuries older. That reminds me, your birthday is coming up."

          "I don't want anything." I was quick to say.

          "It's your 1000th. Seriously, you don't want to celebrate that?"

          I glanced up at him, "No, not really. It's 1000 years full of mistakes and pain. There's a lot more bad than good in my past and I don't want to celebrate that I'm some relic."

          Chris sighed, "Alright. If you say so. I still get to give you birthday sex at least, right?"

          A laugh escaped my lips, though I wanted to act mad at him for being such a hounddog. I playfully smacked his shoulder, "No sex talk at work."

          "Oh, c'mon, there's no one around!" He responded as he gestured around the room.

          I stood up, taking the bag of food he'd brought me and setting it in the lounge fridge. "You never know who could walk in." My smile and tone dropped, "Or be rushed in."

          "Huh?"

          Sighing deeply, I stood up straight. I knew I had to address it but I surely didn't want to. Chris took Tokyo's death about as hard as his own parents did. I'm not sure if he's as connected to their other children. From what I've seen, he doesn't have nearly as close of a relationship with Felix, but who's to say he didn't with Cecil?

          It's never easy to ask someone to come make sure the body in one of our bed's is their family member. When that family is your family, it's much harder. I played with my hands nervously, forcing myself to ask, "Will you, um, come take a walk with me?"

          Chris stood up from the couch, replying, "Yeah, Sweetheart."

          Of course he'd agree. He'd do anything for me. At this point in our relationship, I shouldn't find it hard to tell him the difficult things. Does it ever get easy though? Maybe a little, but I doubt there'll ever be a day someone can talk about tragedy without it being painful. Some memories, they can become bittersweet or even comforting. Walking in on seeing someone that's like a son to you on life support isn't something you easily forget though. There's no way that can become a good memory.

          "How'd Ghost's appointment with Bret go today? Did he say?" I asked as we began to walk slowly. Being the middle of the night, in a realm full of creatures that could see in the dark anyways, it was pretty dark.

          He scoffed, "He couldn't stop talking about it. He seems really excited to have another kid, which is weird, since he couldn't wait to get rid of the last one. Maybe it's because they're using a donor, so he has hope this one won't be fucked up."

          "Did they say who they're going with for a donor? I know they were going to wait until they got Cecil back to actually conceive the baby but I don't know if they've started to talk about it."

          "I didn't ask. He was too busy telling Ricky about all the plans he had if it was a boy or a girl." Chris smiled as he thought about it. Family means so much to him and it's so adorable. That's quite an attractive quality in a man, if you ask me.

          "Speaking of Cecil," I sighed, "That long surgery I had, it was a trauma that came in earlier today. I think it might've been him, but I need someone to confirm. Since you're here, would you... please look?"

          Chris seemed taken back and I can't really blame him. Like I said before though, he'd do anything for me. It doesn't matter how painful it could be for him. I figured it'd be best not to stress Ghost and Ricky out either if on the off chance it wasn't their lost son.

          "Yeah..." He quietly said.

          I stopped in front of one of the ICU rooms. I'm sure by morning we'll be able to move him to a normal recovery room. Vampires heal fast once you get their heart fixed. JC was an amazing cardio surgeon and did wonders in that OR today. The door was open but the curtain was closed. I pulled it back, allowing Chris in the room.

          It's never easy to see that. Chris has had to see a lot of loved ones on their death beds, including me. It doesn't make it any easier. Cecil was covered in stitches from the amount of wounds we had to close. He was on a breathing tube just for a little while. I'm guessing we'll be able to let him breathe on his own in a few hours. 

          "That's him." He murmured, "I, um, I'm gonna go get some fresh air."

          I gently kissed his cheek, "Why don't you go home and rest?" 

          "I guess I should get home, so I can tell Ricky and Ghost." He let his eyes linger on Cecil's comatose body a moment, "They're not going to take it well."

          "I'm sure they had to have expected this. They knew he was in a soul valley." I replied.

          "Yeah, but Ange, that doesn't make it any easier." Chris set his hands on my shoulders and kissed my forehead.  "I love you. Try to get some sleep in the lounge, please." 

          "I will. I love you too. I'll try to see if Sebastian is still around. If he is, I'll try to get him to pull out the vent before Ghost and Ricky get here. It might make it a little less hard for them if he doesn't have a tube down his throat." 

          "Yeah, probably." He kissed me one more time, repeating, "I love you. I love you so much."

          "I love you, too, Baby." I sweetly responded.

          Grief and loss can make people either pull away or pull closer to the ones they love. In Chris' case, he grasped on and dug his claws in. He gets shaken easily these days. After all he's seen, I can't blame him. He's been through a lot of loss, more than I ever have. Anyone who's seen the horrors of war must be able to love to a depth that I couldn't. All the vets I met in the hospital, they had a different kind of appreciation for life.

| | |

          I swear, it's always when we have to do something drastic to a patient that the family shows up. Just as Sebastian was pulling the vent out, I could hear familiar voices down the hall. It was hard to miss the femininity in Ghost's voice, or the rasp in Ricky and Felix's. I quickly closed and locked the door, pulling the curtain shut. This process was rough and I certainly didn't want them exposed to it.

          It woke him up, but I'm sure he'd want to be awake to see his family anyways. Cecil was starting to come back around to being somewhat alive. For awhile there, he was nearly a corpse. He coughed pretty badly getting the vent out. Most patients do. Once we got him settled down, he was able to relax.

          "You shouldn't try to speak." I softly said, "It'll hurt your throat. Okay?"

          He blinked slowly and nodded his head. The poor thing was still so tired. I've been in that position. I know how it goes. All you want to do is sleep. As much as I'm sure his family will want to stay long, I'll have to push them out eventually. 

          "Emerson and I are going to head home." Sebastian spoke as he wiped off his hands, "You should too. It's not healthy for someone of your condition to be working twenty hour shifts."

          "I'll go home with the others in about an hour." I replied, "Go 'head and let them in." 

          He opened the door, gesturing for Ghost to step inside. Ricky stopped Felix at the door to give his dearest husband some room to grieve. I stepped back towards the window to do the same. Ghost was extremely attached to his children. Even if most of them ran off, he still loved them with all his heart. I noticed Ricky rubbing his throat. Right, I forgot he can feel their pain. Having a breathing tube pulled out hurts like Hell.

          Ghost was rather flustered, having his eyes filled with tears. He leaned over the bedside and kissed Cecil's forehead, "By Baby," He murmured, "What have those monsters done to you?"

          He raised his hand up and grasped his tightly. I believe it was his way of telling her it'd be alright. Cecil was a good mix of Ghost and Ricky's features. Felix, for example, mostly looked identical to Ricky. Tokyo was practically Ghost's mini-me. You could tell they had Cecil when they were both healthier because he was built larger than any of his brothers. 

          "They just took the breathing tube out of his throat, so he can't talk right now. By morning, I expect he'll be healthy enough to speak and eat solid foods. You should be able to take him home within about two days, provided things go smoothly." I explained.

          Ghost glanced up at me, "Okay... Thank you, Ange..."

          "Of course." I responded, "Ricky, there's a lounge down the hall, to the left, if you want to get some coffee or hot chocolate for your throat."

          "Thanks." He spoke, raspier than normal. Ricky slipped out of the room and headed down the hall.

          "I'll give you some privacy." I said as I began to walk out of the room.

          Ghost grabbed me by the wrist, causing me to look back at him. "No, stay. You're family." He turned back towards his eldest son and took a seat on the bed. "You've missed a lot while you were gone... Good and bad things. One of the good things being that Chris got married, and this is his husband, Angelo. He saved Felix and Tokyo's lives." Ghost glanced up at me with a soft smile, "I guess you've saved three of my boys's lives, now."