Chapter 2 - The Diagnosis
At Swedish Medical Center, the white noise of heart monitors and hushed emergency room chatter filled the hallway outside Trauma Bay 3. Griffin stood rigid against the wall, refusing to sit down. On a vinyl couch near the nurse's station, Hazel and Iris sat huddled together, holding small cups of warm hot chocolate that a nurse had brought them.
Dr. Aris Thorne, the chief of neurosurgery, stepped out through the double doors, pulling off his surgical cap. His expression was grave.
"Mr. Drake," Dr. Thorne said, recognizing the city's most prominent figure instantly. "Are you family?"
Griffin didn't hesitate. "I'm her partner. And the father of her children. Tell me what happened."
"Sloan suffered a rupture of a cerebral arteriovenous malformation—an AVM," Dr. Thorne explained quietly. "It's a congenital tangle of blood vessels in her brain that was a ticking time bomb. The collapse was caused by an acute bleed. We've stabilized her intracranial pressure, but we need to perform emergency surgery immediately to clip the vessel and prevent a fatal second hemorrhage."
The words felt like a physical blow to Griffin's chest. "What are her chances?"
"In her condition, without surgery, less than ten percent," Thorne said honestly. "With the procedure, she has a fighting chance, but the next twenty-four hours will determine everything."
Griffin turned to look at the two girls watching him from across the corridor with wide, terrified eyes. The realization hit him with terrifying clarity: if Sloan died on that operating table tonight, these two girls would be left completely alone in the world, unaware that the stranger standing in the hall was the father who had been robbed of their entire lives.
Griffin walked over to the girls, sinking down onto the low coffee table in front of them so he was at eye level.
"Is Mommy going to die?" Iris whispered, a teardrop tracking through the dried salt on her cheek.
Griffin reached out, hesitating for a fraction of a second before gently cupping her small face in his palm. "No. I won't let her. I'm bringing in the best surgeons in the world, and I am not leaving this building until she wakes up. Neither are you."
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Hazel looked at him intently, her gray eyes piercing right through his composure. "You didn't answer my question on the phone."
Griffin felt a tear spill down his own face, unbidden and unchecked. "I didn't know about you," he whispered, his voice trembling. "If I had known, I would have searched every inch of this earth until I found you both. But I am your father. And I'm never leaving again."
