Michael POV

I was in the middle of surgery on an elderly patient, Mrs. Douglas, when my pager went off. I looked over at one of my nurses ."Maggie, would you mind telling me what my pager says?" I ask her kindly, as I start to remove Mrs. Douglas's appendix.

"Umm Dr. Clifford, I've called in Dr. Austin to finish the surgery.. he should be here in about 5 minutes." Maggie replied. I looked at Maggie completely dumbfounded. Did she think I was incapable of finishing a simple surgery? Rather than lashing out at her, I swallowed my anger and kindly replied to Maggie. "That is totally unnecessary Maggie, I've got this under control, I swear." Maggie just swallowed and said "Dr. Clifford, I really need you to step away from the operating table and set your scalpel down. I need to tell you something"

I was beginning to become extremely frustrated, but decided that I wouldn't let my frustrations sour my mood. Maggie has always been one of my favorite nurses on my surgical team, so I did as she asked. I stepped away from the operating table, discarding my scalpel into a bowl, so that it could be disinfected and sterilized later.

"Alright, now Maggie tell me what the hell is going on." I demanded, a certain edge to my voice. "Sir, your daughter Olivia is in surgery as we speak, as well as Luke and Ashton". 

In that moment, I was so grateful that Maggie had told me to step away from the table and set the scalpel down. Emotions were running their course through my body.. I zoned out so bad that I jumped when a gloved hand landed on my shoulder. 

"Dr. Clifford I'm so sorry.. you should go to your friends and your daughter. I know they are going to need you" Maggie's kind voice rang through my ears. I opened my mouth to thank her, but nothing came out, so I just nodded my head and ran out of the OR to scrub out and find my baby girl.

Calum POV

After checking on Luke and Ashton, I found that they were going to be alright. Luke had a pretty bad laceration on his head, a couple broken ribs, and a laceration on his spleen, but Thank God it didn't burst. Ashton was a little worse off, as that was the side of the car that got hit. Ashton had a pretty good head laceration, which required quite a few stitches. Of course he like Luke had multiple broken ribs, a busted up arm, which contained a small fracture, and to top it all off, he managed to scrap away with some internal bleeding and a pretty busted up ankle. 

I knew that neither of the boys were going to be too happy about having to take time off of work or the bed rest that was ordered for the next couple of days. But I was happy that they were alive, even if I knew that the next few days were going to be a test of my patience... Before I could relish in my relief for too much longer, Michael came sprinting down the hall with a look of worry on his face, tears streaming down his face.

"C-Calum, please please tell me they are ok..." Michaels voice was laced with fear. I reached a hand out and placed it gently on his shoulder. "Luke and Ashton will be ok. They were prescribed bed rest for the next couple of days. I haven't heard from Jacob on Liv yet.. they have been in there for the last few hours. She was pretty banged up Michael." 

Just like that, I watched Michael hit his most vulnerable point. Liv was his world, and to be told that kind of news, it was just heart breaking. I couldn't think of anything else to do but wrap Michael in a hug.

He cried into my shoulder. I don't know how long we stood there, it could have been hours, minutes or even seconds. I just held Michael until he finally pulled away. 

When we broke apart from our hug, Michael cracked a small smile at me, his way of saying Thank you. "You know she is a fighter Michael, she will be alright, we have to believe that." I say to him. I watch as he wipes his tears and says "You're right Calum, I have to be strong for my baby girl. She wouldn't want me to cry like this."

Before I could even think of a response Jacob came walking up to us, fresh out of the OR.

Liv POV

I felt weightless, as I let my body float on top of the water. "Come on baby girl, its time to come in." I heard my dad's voice call to me. I looked up from my place in the water, my eyes connecting with my dad's. His smile made me smile, its like I could get lost in it. That smile held so much love and adoration for me, it was unbelievable. "I'm coming dad" I said as I began swimming from my spot in the water, heading towards the shore. Towards my dad's awaiting arms. 

I kept my eyes focused on my dad. The shore seemed to be soo far away, but I continued to fight the water, trying to get to my dad faster. Finally after swimming for what felt like hours, I was there on the shore with my dad.

"Well don't just stand there like a bump on a log, come give me a hug princess." 

That was all the invitation I needed, as I ran for my dad. 

Suddenly, reality came crashing down on me... this is just a dream...

I was about ready to freak the heck out when I felt something wet fall onto my arm. 

I focused on that feeling. Suddenly I didn't feel so weightless anymore. I felt pain, and all sorts of other things attached to my body.

What the heck? That's all I could think about as I struggled to breathe. 

I heard beeping, the sound of some sort of alarm going off, as I gagged on whatever was shoved in my throat.

Then its as if a wave of calm washed over me as I felt a hand in mine, and a hand pushing my baby hairs back.

"Princess, I need you to hold on for a second. Open your eyes" the voice coaxed.

I did as the voice requested. I gathered my energy, rallying to open my heavy eye lids.

Blinding white light was all around me, clouding my vision. I blinked a few more times, willing the haziness away.

When the haziness disappeared, I was met with the most striking pair of green-grey eyes. I knew those eyes. As the familiarity of them registered in my brain, I let the biggest smile appear on my face. 

"Don't try to talk yet Princess. We have to extubate you." My dad said.

"Alright Miss Clifford, just lean back and work with us here, its not going to be the most comfortable process, but it wont take long." a sweet voice said. I assumed it was a nurse.

I nodded my head in response, and just like that, the tube was being gently pulled out of my throat, leaving me coughing and sputtering in its wake.

A cup of water was held to my lips. "Just a small sip hon, it will help soothe your throat" the voice said again. 

I took a cautious sip of water, loving the feeling as it coated my throat.

"D-dad" I managed to croak out.

___

Hello my lovely readers, thank you for being so patient with me. I know I haven't been the fastest with updates, and I apologize. 

I was hoping to get more chapters punched out with summer and all that, but I managed to give my self a full summer load. I took a whole 7 credit hours for the summer 2 semester. So, that has taken up a huge chunk of my time, and hasn't allowed me to update much. But tomorrow marks my last day of summer college, which leaves me with a whole two weeks and then some before I get thrown into the deep end for the fall semester.

I'm hoping with my lighter credit hour load that I will be able to update more, not to mention all the holiday breaks I have. 

Anyway, enough about me... How are yall doing? 

Is everyone surviving Quarantine and COVID? 

If you need someone to talk to please let me know, I'm always here for yall.

Let me know what yall thought about this chapter, and what you think will happen next. I love to hear from yall.

Don't forget to vote!

Love yall dearly. Stay safe and well.

Victoria