Finding Jaime

Chapter 59

Pete POV
It took a couple of days, but Jaime started waking up and staying awake for longer periods of time. He complained about headaches and the staff kept him comfortable. By Friday, the headaches were lessening and Jaime was able to tolerate extra strength ibuprofen to manage his pain.

"Are you sure that's enough?" I asked him as he tried to eat his lunch. He wasn't enjoying it. I couldn't blame him. It wasn't quite identifiable. He was making faces at the, uh, food.

"The other stuff made me feel like my head was full of cotton or something. Everything felt weird," he said.

"Hi Jaime!" A tiny voice cried out and Marvel came running into Jaime's room. Jaime's face lit up.

"Hey, Mar!" He said as Marvel jumped up on his bed. Bronx and Saint came in followed by Meagan and Ashlee. Oh boy. This could go very badly. The last time Jaime saw Ashlee, she'd pissed him off so much he'd gone running and he'd gotten lost, winding up somewhere in the hills around our area, where he fell into a canyon and was lucky to have survived.

I saw a cloud pass over Jaime's face when Ashlee walked in.

"What is she doing here?" Jaime frowned, glaring at Ashlee.

"Be nice," I said quietly to him.

"Why?" He said. "Why should I be nice?  Was she nice when she judged me before she even took a chance to get to know me?"

He had a fair point.

Ashlee stopped and looked between me, Meagan and Jaime.

"I," she started, looking at me. "I wanted to apologize for starters."

"It's not me you need to apologize to," I said, indicating Jaime.

Ashlee sighed and nodded.

"Jaime, I really am sorry. You're absolutely right. I didn't give you a chance. It's not that I thought you were trouble..."

"Really?" Jaime interrupted.  "Because you seemed pretty sure I was either going to rob them blind or maybe murder them all in their sleep?  I haven't figured out which because I stopped caring."

"Jaime, I wasn't fair to you. And I accept that. Bronx can't stop talking about you. Saint thinks you're awesome. They were both really mad at me for what happened in the spring. I think they're still a little mad. I promised them I would get to know you for real. If you'll let me."

"So what? It took me having brain surgery f-for y-you t-to t-t-try..."

"Jaime," I said. "Calm down." 

Jaime put his hand to his head.

"D-D-Daaaaaa..." he moaned, then fell back and started seizing.

"Shit!" I pressed the call button frantically while shouting at Ashlee and Meagan to get the kids out of Jaime's room and lowering the head of his bed. Meagan grabbed Marvel off Jaime's bed and ran out of the room Marvel had started crying and calling Jaime's name. 

Nurses came running in, called by the call button and Meagan shouting that Jaime was having a seizure.

The nurses checked monitors and made notes. Nora was timing, though I'd also started a timer on my phone, which she compared to her timer.

The seizure seemed to go on forever. The longer it went, the more I worried what it could mean.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Jaime's body stopped moving. He lay still, his eyes closed. I couldn't tell if he was breathing.

"Two minutes, 27 seconds," Nora said, looking at my phone timer and noting it down. The other nurse started doing some checks on Jaime.

"Is, is he going to be okay?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"We'll see if the doctor wants to do any imaging but for now he's just asleep. He's okay. He's going to be alright, Pete," Nora said.

I nodded and looked over at my son, his mouth slack, his head back at an unnatural angle, eyes closed. Nora and the other nurse helped move Jaime's head gently into a more natural looking position.

Nora gave me a reassuring smile and left the room with the second nurse.

Meagan came back in.

"Should we leave?" She asked.

I shrugged. I wiped away tears I hadn't realized had shed.

"He's asleep right now. I obviously don't know how long he's going to sleep for. I leave that decision to you."

"We'll come back later. I'm going to bring the kids in just so they know Jaime's going to be okay, and we'll go get a snack somewhere. We'll come back in a couple of hours, okay?"

I nodded. I didn't have the capacity right now to think beyond the boy in the bed.

"Daddy?" Marvel's little voice penetrated my thoughts. "Jaime okay?"

I picked my daughter up and took her over to Jaime's bedside so she could see her brother.

"Jaime's going to be okay. He's just sleeping now, see?"

Marvel nodded looking at her big brother. I didn't want to think of the possibility, but if we lost Jaime...

I didn't want to think about it. We wouldn't lose him.  We couldn't. I couldn't. It was way too soon. We'd been warned he could still have seizures for a little while after the surgery. But that didn't make them any easier to witness.

I sat down beside Jaime and took his hand. I stared at my son, his pale face covered in a slight sheen of sweat. I got up and got a wet cloth and wiped his face. It made me feel better, having something to do. He frowned a little and then sighed while I wiped down his face.

I just sat there, staring at my son as he slept off another seizure. My biggest worry was what the seizure might mean and whether it could cause any issues in the surgical areas. I guess that's why the doctor could decide to do imaging.

After a couple of hours, Meagan and Ashlee came back with the kids. Jaime was still asleep, but I had a feeling he'd wake up soon, because he'd been moving around more.

"Anything from the nurse or doctor?" Meagan asked, sitting down beside me.

"Nothing yet. The doctor is coming in about half an hour," I said.

"Dad?" I heard Jaime groan.

"Yeah, Jaime?" I asked, standing up and moving closer. His eyes were still closed, but he was awake and talking.

"Can you get the nurse?" He asked.

"Sure. You okay? What do you need?"

"My head hurts. I need something for it."

"Okay," I said. Ashlee indicated she'd go out and get someone. "How do you feel, besides the headache?"

"Like someone took a blender to my brain," he said. I smirked. Interesting imagery.

The nurse came in and helped Jaime sit up and take a couple painkillers. He lay back and put his arm over his eyes.

"This sucks," he said. I couldn't agree more.