How Did We Get Here? ✔️

29. The past

29. The past

For months, Noah fought at the hospital against cancer. Sky and Callen had done everything imaginable to try and make this experience as less awful as possible. They had decorated his hospital room with his favorite cartoon posters, brought all of his stuffed animals and hung all of his drawings around his bed.

Their whole family had come often to visit Noah and try to spend some time with him to avoid him getting too bored on top of all the medical exams and care he had to be the subject of.

Singers and comedians would often come by the hospital as well to try to make sick children laugh and entertain them for an afternoon. Sky and Callen had installed made-up beds in Noah's room so that they could be near him all the time and neither of them knew what sleeping an entire night meant anymore.

Noah would often wake up crying in the middle of night and Sky or Callen had to do their best to reassure him even if they didn't even know how to reassure themselves. The little boy wasn't really aware of what was happening to him and he was too young to know about death or understand medical conditions. He knew he wasn't like all the other boys though, since he didn't go to the park anymore and wasn't allowed to go to kindergarten either.

The doctors tried different treatments. They had found cancerous cells in three out of four parts of Noah's liver and had ordered surgery just a few days after Noah had been admitted to the hospital. The process was scarier than anything Sky or Callen had had to go through but they tried everything they could to stay positive and supportive. They had to keep hope alive. Where there was hope, there was life.

They then tried chemotherapy but after a few weeks, realized it wasn't working on Noah so they opted for a clinical trial instead. Noah had been put high up on the list to receive a liver transplant since neither of his parents were a match and that kept hope by their side.

On the night of November 12th, the doctors announced they had found a donor for Noah. He didn't want to get their hopes up, he said, but he assured it was the best chance Noah had. So he took the little boy for another surgery.

Sky and Callen waited for hours. They hadn't slept for... well, months, and were only running on caffeine at this point. They kept strong though because that was the only thing they could do.

At five in the morning, the doctor came back. They had successfully done the transplant but the next following hours would be critical to determine if Noah's body had rejected it or not.

Sky and Callen hurried to their little boy's side and prayed all night, pleaded and hoped that Noah would be okay.

They ended up passing out on Noah's side, both absolutely exhausted and only woke up to the sounds of the machines beeping furiously. An unsettling feeling took its place back to Sky's stomach and she panicked. Callen ran out to call the doctor but he was already heading their way.

Noah was whimpering, getting agitated as the machines he was hooked to beeped even louder, resonating in Sky's ears.

"Ssh, baby it's okay." She whispered, trying to calm him down. "Mommy's here. You're going to be okay."

Some nurses took her arms and kept her outside the room so that the doctor could do its job. Noah's skin had turned yellow-ish and she saw him vomit. The doctor was rushing, doing things she couldn't see, or understand. Callen wrapped his arms around her and she buried her head in his shoulder, crying silently and repeating the same mantra in her head for whoever would listen.

Please let him be okay.

Please let him be okay.

Please.

A few minutes, or maybe it was hours, the doctor stepped out of the room and took a deep breath before walking towards Sky and Callen.

"Is he okay?" They both asked at the same time.

"I'm so sorry Mr and Mrs Sherwood, we tried everything we could but the liver transplant failed. Noah's body is rejecting the organ fast. I'm so sorry but you should go and say goodbye."

"Wh-what?"

Sky fell to the ground on her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Doctor, please, there must be something you can do." Callen bargained, tears already running down his cheeks as he crouched down to help Sky up. "He's just three! He's just three for god's sake!"

"I'm so sorry, we did everything we could but there's nothing left to do at this point. You and your wife have to go say goodbye."

"No! No!" Sky screamed. "No please! Please!"

"Sky, we have to go say goodbye," Callen realized. "It will be too late if we don't go now. Noah needs us."

What was left of Sky's determination took over in her brain and she got up with Callen's help. He was right. Noah needed them. She had to put him first right now, her emotions would come later.

Callen and Sky both hurried to Noah's room and sat beside him on his bed.

"Mommy I'm tired." Noah whispered.

When she took his hand in hers, she felt he was burning hot. Sky wiped her tear and focused on appearing strong for her son.

"I want to play." Noah said weakly.

"Tomorrow morning buddy, we'll go play outside," Callen promised.

But he knew there would be no tomorrow.

"We'll play with your ball and even invite Sasha and Abby." Callen continued.

Sasha was Kiera's son, he was a little older than Noah but they used to see each other often, as well as with Abby, Blake's daughter.

"Can we get ice-cream?" Noah whispered, closing his eyes.

"Yes, we'll get your favorite ice-cream." He assured.

"It's okay Noah you can go to sleep now." Sky murmured, seeing that he was fighting his fatigue to keep talking about the morning with his dad.

"I'm tired mommy." He repeated.

"You can go to sleep now baby. Do you want mommy and daddy to sing you a song?"

"The Tarzan song." He asked.

It took all the effort in the world for Sky and Callen to stop their tears from falling as they focused on singing the lullaby they had been singing to Noah ever since he was a baby. They sang it to him to get him to fall asleep when he was a baby, then later when he had nightmares and was afraid to close his eyes again. They sang it when he was sick.

But it had never been as difficult as today. Sky felt Noah's hand go limp in hers but she ignored it and kept singing.

"Cause you'll be in my heart. Yes you'll be in my heart."

The machine started to make a flat beep sound but a nurse rushed over to turn it off while Sky and Callen continued singing, never letting go of their son's hand.

"Just look over your shoulder, I'll be there always." They finished.

For a moment, neither one of them spoke. They didn't dare move or even breathe too loud. And then the machine flat-lined again and Sky burst into tears, screaming and holding Noah's little body in her arms. Callen, crying as well, had walked around the bed and he wrapped her in his arms as she kicked and screamed.

Their little boy was gone.