Posted by Civilian Sair Songz (Counselor) in Kobliad- The Point of No Return

(snip)

“You heard her, she’s ready,” Sair said firmly. “It’s the least we can do.” Moving away, Sair felt numb.

“But she’s only forty-two!” Denkalo cried.

“You don’t think I don’t know that?” Sair said, turning back to face the resident. “We can’t do anything for her. It’s her time.” Sair turned and continued on down the hallway.

“But she’s only forty-two,” Denkalo whispered to herself.

“Sair, come out! You can’t stay in there all day. You have patients,” he said with frustration.

“Why don’t you go deal with yours, Dr. Rosaldro, and I’ll handle this,” Dr. Tekelonn said to the intern.

Vir glared slightly. “What is this, some sort of attending solidarity? You don’t even like Sair.”

“Go!” Mar ordered, pointing out of the room.

The surgical intern just huffed and left, hoping Sair understood that he had no choice.

Alone in the room, Mar knocked on the washroom door gently. “Come on Super-C, he’s gone. Let me in.” She heard the sound of the lock being unlatched and the door opened slightly. Pushing it open fully, she found the rather pitiful sight of Sair sitting on the floor with her knees against her chest and her head buried in her arms on her knees. Sitting down next to her, the other Emergency Medicine Attending sighed. “Want to explain what the scene with the kid was about?”

“He’s not a kid,” Sair grumbled, lifting her head. Tears streaked her face and she looked like she’d been crying for a long while.

“Okay. He is an intern though, and if you guys were going to keep things a secret, having a full blown argument in the middle of everything probably wasn’t the best way to go about it.” Sair didn’t reply. “Come on Super-C, talk to me. We have an ER full of people and I’m not sure leaving the residents to handle the new interns is the best idea today.”

“Stop calling me that!” Sair said with frustration.

Mar blinked. “Super-C? Oh come on, it’s like a badge of honour the rest of us get to hate you for. Don’t take away our fun.”

“Just because I have the most ideal metabolism doesn’t make my life any easier.”

“That’s”-Mar sighed-“we don’t mean it like that. But you’re a Super-Celler, Sair and that makes you special. Just like the fact that you have both your parents and probably a better life expectancy than anyone. Hell, you are like made for babies too. With only thirty-two days between injections, don’t you have like a 75 percent chance of carrying to term?”

At that Sair broke down into sobs. “Whoa, I didn’t mean… Sair what is going on?”

“I’m pregnant,” she whispered.

As that little bomb registered in Tekelonn’s mind, her surprise was evident. “Oh! Wow! Congratulations, Sair! That’s wonderful!” But that just made Sair cry harder. “Or… not?” For several long moments, Mar watched the other woman and suddenly connected the dots. “How far along are you?”

“Far enough,” Sair said bitterly. “There’s no heartbeat.”

“But you can’t be more than couple months. Even a few days can make an incredible difference.”

“It’s already started, Mar,” Songz said tiredly.

Silence filled the room for a bit before Mar finally spoke again. “Have you taken anything for the pain?”

Sair nodded slowly. “I have a few doses from Dr. Vrestrina. She gave me the good stuff.”

“Go home Sair. Rest. I’ll cover things here.”

She wanted to protest, but Sair felt numb and unfocused so she just nodded. “Tell the Chief…”-she sighed-“I’ll be in tomorrow. You can tell him, too. Might as well not have to make up a story and try to keep to it.”

“Does Vir know?” Sair shook her head. “Sair! He deserves to know.”

“I know! I just.... I can’t deal with him right now.”

Mar was going to lecture her more but she saw how tired Songz looked and simply wrapped an arm around her. “Go home. Take care of yourself.

A couple hours later, the chime at her apartment door forced Sair off the sofa reluctantly. Opening the door, Vir was standing there looking worried. “You should have told me,” he said softly.

Sair wanted to be angry at Mar, but instead she found herself crying again. Vir stepped in, gently picked her up and carried her to her bed. Tucking her in, he simply lay down beside her and stroked her short blond hair determined to see her through this. They weren’t a couple and none of this had been planned or expected, but it didn’t mean he didn’t care about being responsible.

Later, they would talk about the possibilities of what might have been and Sair would end their casual relationship not willing to take the risk again. Three months later, Vir completed his internship and took a job at a hospital in a different province.

To be continued…

~Dr. Sair Songz, CMO