Camo and Navy Blue [Book Two]

Twenty-Three

Olivia's POV

The doctor led Elliot and I to a side hall where there was a bank of chairs. He dragged one out in front of us and sat down in it. I couldn't tell if he looked exhausted because this wasn't his first surgery of the day from the accident, or if my daughter would not make it.

"Maureen was brought in with a broken pelvis and right leg. Our orthopaedic surgeon was able to repair those in surgery. Our general surgeon in charge of her internal bleeding," He spoke, but didn't continue. I watched as he scrubbed a hand down his face before leaning back against the chair.

"She's gone, isn't she?" I asked weakly as Elliot's hand grasped mine.

"Maureen is on life support in the ICU. Her brain swelled while we were operating and there are no registered brainwaves," He replied softly.

I felt like my entire world was falling apart. My little girl... She wouldn't do everything that she had planned. Just yesterday she was worried about her baby brother not knowing who she was since she was going to be living on campus, but now he'd never know her. My sweet little girl would never go to college and become whatever her heart desired, because she was going to be buried before her seventeenth birthday.

"Is there anything you can do?" Elliot struggled to speak as he squeezed my hand tightly. I looked at him through blurry, tear-filled eyes.

"No, there isn't. I tried to remove a section of her skull to help relieve the pressure, but it was too late. I'm incredibly sorry," He frowned. 

The three of us sat together in the hallway as we heard another doctor call Kathleen's name.

"I'll go get Dr. Johnson and have her give you an updated on Kathleen. Maureen will be kept on life support until you two decide you are ready to remove her from it. Then you can have time to say goodbye," He spoke. My husband nodded slowly as Dr. Aaronson stood and walked to get the other doctor.

I turned to my husband and swallowed hard.

"We lost her," I whispered.

"Yeah, we did."

///

Kathleen made it out of surgery, but was still deemed too injured to be placed on the normal pediatric floor, so she was put in the ICU with Maureen. We got to see her within an hour of her being done with surgery, and I caressed her messy blonde bangs as I thought about her and Maureen as little girls. They didn't judge me for the fact I didn't have a family, and they leaned on me heavily after their mother passed. Now I'm their mother, and I'd never hear Maureen call me Momma ever again. She'd never call me on her lunch break to complain about her first few classes, or ask if we could go to the mall and get our nails done.

"I called my mother and Fin. He's going to get in contact with Chief Dodds and inform him of what is happening. Uh, Serena took the twins upstairs to be with Lilly and Jacob, and Dr. Aaronson is talking to their doctors to see if they can be moved up here to say goodbye to Maureen," Elliot breathed, as he stood beside me and gently massaged my shoulder. 

"Kathleen has to be stable enough to move, so maybe Mo will get better," I breathed.

"Liv-"

"I know... I'm in denial that we lost our girl, El. Maureen..." I fought off tears, but failed horribly. As silent sobs left my throat, I buried my face in my hand. 

"She'll be watching over us, Liv. I know she will be... She'll be there when her baby brother is born, and I know our girl will be cheering you on and encouraging you the entire time," Elliot smiled. I nodded weakly as I dropped my hand.

"I missed so much time when I was living with my mother. If I had been at home, I wouldn't be hating myself right now," I whispered. My husband kissed the top of my head before looking up to see Bernie standing there.

"Hey, Ma," Elliot breathed. He hesitantly stepped away from me before pulling his mother into a hug.

"Mo's gone?" She asked weakly.

"She's on life support just down the hall. We can't remove her from life support until Kathleen can say goodbye," I replied, not lifting my eyes from Kathleen's bruised face.

"What happened?" Bernie asked.

"We don't know exactly, but a huge car accident that hurt so many."

///

I held the hands of my sons as we walked down to Maureen's room. Lilly was in a wheelchair after her knee surgery, and Elliot kept an arm around Jacob as we walked down the hall. 

Inside the private room, Maureen laid motionless. Her body was still bruised, and she was being kept alive only by several machines.

"When you are ready, we can turn off the machines and let her pass by herself," Dr. Aaronson spoke, as he stood beside Maureen's bedside. Kathleen swallowed hard as she looked at her big sister.

"Can we have the room?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Of course. I'll be right outside to assist when you are ready," He spoke.

Once he left the room and Bernie joined us, we all gathered around Maureen and looked her over. I ran my fingers through her tangled blonde hair that still had a braid in it that Lilly had done the morning of the accident. 

"Why does she have to go?" Jasper whimpered, as he stood beside me and looked at his big sister.

"God needs her, baby. Her mother misses her really bad, and she needs her there with her," Elliot replied.

"But Momma is here with us," Jasper sniffled.

"Her other mom," Kathleen replied plainly. I looked over at her and saw how numb she looked. 

"C'mon. Let's talk to her and say goodbye," Elliot frowned. 

We each took our time to say goodbye to Maureen. She got lots of hugs and kisses, and we even put her cross necklace back on her. Elliot led us in prayer while we all cried. When the time came to remove life support, Bernie took the kids out into the hall and left Elliot and me alone with our daughter.

"I'm going to miss you so much, Mo," I whimpered, as I caressed her cheek. 

"Kid, we will love you forever. Your baby brother will not go a day without knowing how much you loved him and couldn't wait to meet him..." Elliot trailed off. He leaned down and pressed his lips against Maureen's forehead before stepping back.

I kissed Maureen's cheek before resting my forehead against hers.

"Goodbye, baby. Our precious little angel," I whispered.

The nurse came over and turned off the support machines. Dr. Aaronson talked us through the process as he removed the tube from her throat. Elliot wrapped his arms around me as we watched quietly.

For nearly three more minutes, Maureen's heartbeat as her body shut down slowly. As her heart beat for the last time, Elliot and I were holding her hands and crying over our little girl's lifeless body.