Code Blue

~ Chapter 53 ~

Welcome back!

Chapter 53
Tuesday November 21st
Harry's POV

"Daddy! I lost!" Stevie exclaimed in distraught.

"It's okay lovebug" I chuckled, pulling her in for a hug. "Sometimes we lose and we feel a bit sad, but it's just a game, right?"

I cleaned up the memory cards that were now in piles in front of us after we finished searching for the pairs. It's the game that her and I always love to play, especially because it's princess related and Stevie loves that. Typically, Stevie beats me without me even trying to let her win. We've played it so often that she's become a bit of a professional, but recently I've noticed that I've been winning more often.

It was clear to me, as much as I didn't want to admit to myself, that her short term memory was being a bit affected. As a doctor, I knew that it was a normal side effect from the chemotherapy she's been receiving. As her father, it was difficult to watch. I sat here knowing why she was losing more often, but I was hesitant to let her know. I didn't want to scare her, even though I always want to be honest with her, I knew this was a part of her illness that I was going to keep to myself.

Despite that, it was incredibility upsetting to see her sad about losing the game. I've always taught her that in life sometimes we lose games and although it's not the favored outcome, it's not the end of the world. Even with that though, it still made me sad to watch as her parent.

It was also hard enough in itself to see my little sunshine's memory on the decline. It feels like no matter how hard I pray and wish for my little girl to get better, she just keeps slowly getting worse.

"Do you have to go to work now?" Stevie asked me, resting her head on my chest. I wished that I could just sit here and cuddle with her all day long, but I had a job to do. I also had a meeting to get to with the Chief in the next 10 minutes, but I didn't know what exactly she wanted from me. I was messaged last night that she wanted to speak with me this morning, and I didn't know what it could be about.

As far as I'm aware, I haven't excessively yelled at anybody recently.

"I do sunshine, but you know I'll be in and out to check on you" I reminded her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "How about a 2 minute neck massage before I go?"

"Yes!" Stevie clapped her hands together, and I scooted her over so that I could not be all sideways and twisted. Stevie settled on watching the TV as I gave her a little massage, helping relax her muscles so she could have an easy day.

Of course, I went over the 2 minute timer that I set for myself because I didn't want to leave her just yet, but when I saw the time quickly dwindling I knew I had to go. I didn't feel like hearing the chief complain that I was late to our meeting.

"Alright baby, I'll see you soon. You know the drill" I squeezed her between my arms, giving her a bunch of kisses all over her face. "I love you more than....ducks love to quack"

"That's silly daddy" Stevie giggled, tapping her cheek to think of what she wanted to say in response. At last, she gasped and told me. "I love you more than...neck massages"

"My sweet girl" I gave her a cheesy grin. It pained me as much as it always did to drag my feet to the door, waving goodbye to her for now. She smiled at me from her hospital bed, looking comfortable in my t-shirt that she insisted on wearing to bed last night, even though it was obviously too big on her.

It almost swallowed her whole, but the pictures I took of her last night posing in it have become some of my favorite. She was quite giggly last night, making funny faces at the camera, and it made me incredibly happy to see the small glimpses of her personality poke through.