Medically Speaking

A Report #1

The conference room was humming as the members of the Blackbourne-Toma team found their way to their seats. Even those who hadn't been at the hospital the night before looked a little worse for wear. At the old house after Axel had called him, Owen had made his way to his office, dozing off and on in his chair with his phone directly in front of him on his desk waiting for word. Kota, Victor, and Nathan had slowly found their way down to the office, as well. Sleeping on the couch and the overstuffed chair in the corner as they waited for news.

Everyone else who wasn't at the hospital found their way to the second floor game room at the main house, spread out over the couches with their phones on their chests as they waited to hear how surgery was going. Where the old house had been silent, save for the ticking on the old grandfather clock in the hallway, at some point Silas had turned on the news, a low background noise as the brothers murmured to each other through the long hours of the night between bursts of fitful sleep.

As those who had gone home had trickled into the conference room, they had noted how tired Axel, Raven, and Gabe were, but it was nothing compared to Corey's pure exhaustion and the haggard expression on Sean's face, the last two to leave Brandon's side. Raven was already steering his love towards the food as Owen stood up and made his way to Sean.

Steel eyes made abrupt assessments as he flicked over the doctor's face. Sean chuckled lightly. "I've already been metaphorically spanked and I feel like I should be grateful that I'm being allowed to eat instead of being sent to bed without supper."

Owen's lip twitched. "She is rather straightforward, isn't she?"

Corey's face went a deep shade of red as Sean laughed and Raven smirked, the heat in his eyes enough to melt metal. "Yes," Sean agreed as he moved towards the coffee--blessed, blessed, coffee. "Straightforward is one word to describe Miss Joey Thompson."

"Phil warned us that her capacity for putting up with our shit would be limited," Axel reminded them as he sipped at his second cup of coffee, his mind straying to the way she had looked next to him in that dress of hers and the way she had stayed all night, a constant comforting presence in the face of their brother's emergency.

"Pity about the girlfriend," Luke said, his mind also on Joey in that dress, although he had seen the true back of it without her jacket. She was gorgeous, no one here was going to deny that. And that sparkle in her eyes, the way she handled them without even a blink--she was perfect in every way.

Sean sat down with a yawn, his coffee cup in front of him. A second later, Owen was putting a plate with a bagel covered in cream cheese in front of him with a reprimanding look that Sean smiled sheepishly at before telling Luke, "I don't think the girlfriend, or whatever she is, is going to be an issue for much longer."

Knowing that if he didn't take control of the reins the conversation was going to veer off and he was never going to have their attention again, Owen said, "Let's give everyone a chance to finish their breakfast and then we will begin our meeting."

The table lapsed into near silence as the men finished off their bagels and got their beverages of choice ready for the meeting. When the last napkin was tossed in the trash, Marc and Kota shared a look before Marc stood up. "Aside from the glaringly obvious, since we're meeting in the hospital right now, is there anything new going on in your lives? Everyone's families doing alright?"

All around the table heads were shaking. Nothing much had changed since their last meeting in that regard. Marc went on, "Alright, is there anything that any of you wants added to the grocery lists? We're assigning people to go shopping today, so any last-minute additions need to go on the list now."