Love at First Cut; A Will Halstead Fanfic

Lemons and Lemonade

Yn's POV

"Nice wheels," I comment as Connor climbed out of his new car and handed the keys to the valet. The car was very nice, but I also knew that it was very expensive. "Not cheap. What are we talking? 125?" 

"In the neighborhood," Connor replied with a smile. 

"Not one I've ever lived in. You sir, are one lucky man," I tell him as we entered the hospital together.

"How's June?" Connor asked.

"Good. We've started giving her a bit of solid food here and there. Right now, peaches are her favorite flavor of baby food. But she hates peas. She always spit them up on me. We've stopped buying that flavor, and anyways, I was tired of changing shirts before work, so it all worked out," I explain.

"So motherhood is treating you well?" Connor questioned.

"I'd say so. I should get down to the ED. We'll talk later," I say to him as we went our separate ways. I then met up with Will in the ED, who pulled me against his chest and rubbed his hands up and down my arms.

"Jeez. You're freezing," Will exclaimed. "Why the hell were you outside?"

"You know I like drinking my morning coffee out there," I state. "We have a patient?"

"Yeah. Come on," Will said and led me into our patient's room. Well, led isn't the right word. He practically dragged me in there. "Morning, Asterid. I'm Dr. Halstead. This is Dr. Ln." 

"You two together?" Asterid asked.

"Yeah, even though sometimes he bothers the hell out of me," I remark, earning me a playful shove from Will.

"It looks like you're hurting, too. What happened?" Asterid questioned and gestured to Will's eye, where a small bruise had formed. 

"Our daughter has recently started eating solid food, and she threw a spoon at me," Will answered. "So what happened?" 

"I was running up the stairs to the platform to catch the train. By the time I got to the last step, I was so exhausted, and I tripped and landed on my arm," Asterid responded. "Is it broken?" 

"Well," I say as I felt her arm. "It could be. We'll get some X-rays. Lean forward for me." Asterid leaned forward, and as she did, she winced. "You okay?"

"I tweaked my back a few months ago. Free clinic gave me some anti-inflammatories. Said they'd help. They haven't," Asterid muttered.

"Where does your back hurt?" Will asked. 

"Uh, it's a sharp pain down here," Asterid spoke and touched the bottom of her back. "And more throbbing up here. The fall made it worse, didn't it?" 

"Well, we can't say without a CT, but there's no bruising or swelling, so that's a good sign. Hang tight. The techs will be by soon to take you up to Radiology," Will told her. When Will and I got back to the nurses' station, I ran my thumb over the bruise on Will's face, and he winced a bit.

"Man, June really got you good. You should ice that," I suggest.

"I will later. For now, lets just focus on our patient," Will insisted.

.......................................

"Radiologist's report. Asterid's arm X-ray and CT scans," Maggie spoke and handed Will a tablet. 

"Well, there's no fractures. Just soft tissue swelling. We can wrap her elbow up and put it in a sling," I state. 

"Whoa," Will said as Asterid's CT popped up. "Yn, look." 

"What is it?" Maggie asked. 

"Her CT. We need Connor and Dr. Neal from Urology," I order. Once we consulted with Connor, we brought him to talk to Asterid.

"It's cancer?" Asterid questioned. 

"Yeah, it's likely renal cell carcinoma. The tumor extends from inside your left kidney, into the inferior vena cava, and up into the right atrium of your heart," Connor explained. 

"You never had a sprained back. The pain is from ureteral compression. You were exhausted running up the stairs because the tumor was blocking blood from returning to your heart," Will told her. 

"Am I going to die?" Asterid asked. 

"No. The cancer is treatable. The tumor is operable. Now, to get all of it, I'm going to have to involve other surgeons, and unfortunately, we will have to remove your left kidney. But you can live just fine with one. I know it's a lot to take all at once," Connor said. 

"You don't get it. I do open mic night. Those gigs don't come with health care plans. And the three jobs that I do have barely cover the rent. So I can't pay for this," Asterid stated. 

"You don't have to. The tumor invading your heart is life-threatening, and that means that Medicaid will cover the surgery and the resulting recovery. It's not going to cost you anything," I inform her. Asterid's surgery went well, and as soon as she was awake, Connor, Will and I went to see how she was doing.

"Hey, there. How you feeling?" Connor quizzed. 

"All things considered, fantastic. I mean, I'm down a kidney, but at least it didn't cost me an arm and a leg," Asterid answered.

"So, I'm going to be back to check on you in a couple of hours, but before we head out, any questions?" Connor asked. 

"Just one. My right leg is achy. Around the shin. Never felt it before. Maybe a side effect from the anesthesia?" Asterid suggested. 

"Could be. Let me speak with the anesthesiologist and see what he thinks. Right now, you just get some rest," Connor told her as the three of us exited the room. 

"Leg pain? That's not from the anesthesia," Will pointed out. 

"No, but let's not say it out loud without an X-ray," Connor replied. We got an x-ray, and it turns out, Asterid had cancer in her tibia. Bone cancer. We ordered her some medicine to help with that and wanted to get her to the oncology wing. Just as we had put the order through, Ms. Goodwin pulled us aside.

"I'm canceling Asterid's move to Oncology. Instead, I'm going to find a bed for her in a safety net hospital," Ms. Goodwin shared. 

"Med is a premiere cancer center. You're going to transfer her?" Will asked. 

"I don't have a choice. She doesn't have insurance, and I know the hospital won't cover the bill her treatments are going to generate," Ms. Goodwin replied. 

"She has emergency coverage from Medicaid," I note. 

"Right, but that only pays for procedures related to removal of the tumor. The bone cancer is new, and not immediately life-threatening," Ms. Goodwin explained. 

"We can't throw Asterid out. A free clinic misdiagnosed her renal cell carcinoma as a back sprain. If we put her in the system, she might fall through the cracks again," Will spoke. 

"You have pulled strings before, you made the numbers work, just do it again," Connor demanded. 

"Do you know what kind of numbers we're talking about here? $100,000? $200,000? What kind of dream world are you living in? Do you want me to inform the patient?" Ms. Goodwin questioned. 

"No, we'll do it," Connor said. Later that day, Connor stopped Asterid from being transferred to another hospital, and he said he would deal with it. Now, it was time for me to get home. I just wanted to see my baby girl again.

"I just want to get home, spend some time with June, and the take a nap," I confess to Will as we walked out to our car.

"Me too. But if she gives me another black eye, you are feeding her for the rest of her life," Will joked and wrapped his arm around me.

I laughed. "Lets get home."