Beating Heart •Luke Kuechly•

Chapter 27.

John's POV.

I see my younger brother, Luke, sitting at our parents kitchen bar in the stool.  He looks terrible and like he didn't get a lot of sleep.  I see his head keep on going down like he could fall asleep any minute as it snaps back up again.  Walking up to him, I pat his shoulder and see that he has a steamy cup of hot coffee as he tries to warm up his hands.  

"You look like you had a rough night," I tease him as he scowls at me.  

"Don't even," he snaps. 

I put my hands up in surrender, only just now noticing pieces of papers in front of him that he's been looking at.  

"What are those?" I ask pointing to the papers.  He sighs.  

"I wanted to show Callie," he mumbles rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands.

He slides them over to me and I look over them.  

"I know what your going to say," he tells me.

"Oh really?  And what's that?" I question.

"That I shouldn't put all of my time and energy into a girl that I've been with for five months.  But she's not just some girl.  She's different.  She made me realize that there's more to life than just winning a football game.  And if I lose a game it's not the end of the world.  Callie put things in perspective for me."

"I actually wasn't going to say that," I tell him probably surprising him as much as myself as he looks at me with wide eyes.  "I like her and I can see how good she is for you.  So she's really having to have surgery again?"  

I'm not lying to Luke or telling him what he wants to hear either.  I'm very straight forward and don't hide my feelings.  She's changed my brother, but for the better.  He use to be so wrapped up into football, and he still is, but he realizes that there's more important things in life than just winning a game as well.  He's still my same brother who I like to annoy at times, but changed in some areas.  He's always had a big heart though- that has and always will stay the same with him.  

"Yeah, she needs a pulmonary valve.  As you can probably tell by the papers."  

"A new one?" I ask tilting my head to the side.

"No," he shakes his head, "she's lived without one her whole life.  She got it taken out during her first open heart surgery and has been waiting until her cardiologist gave her the go to have one."

"Damn," I shake my head.  

I can't even begin to fathom what it's been like for Callie and her family.  I've never met them or anything but from what I see from Callie and seeing her grandpa Joe on the television and his interviews, I can see them being a really neat family.  

Just then I see Callie walking out in her pajamas her blonde hair down straight as she yawns covering up her mouth in the process.  She waves at me and I wave back.  Luke smiles at her as he wraps his arm around her bringing her closer to him.  

"What's that?" She asks Luke referring to the papers.  

"It's for you.  I couldn't sleep last night and looked this up," he tells her as he hands the papers over to her.  

She scans the paper and squints her eyes.  Immediately she gets out of Luke's embrace and runs back into her room with the papers.  

What the hell just happened?

Callie's POV.

"Mom, I'm not kidding.  Luke found it," I tell her wanting to give all the credit to Luke.

How could he have found something as big as this?  I wonder if he even realizes how big of a deal this is.  He spent all night looking this up for me.  No one besides, my family, has ever done that for me before.  I hear my mom silently crying on the other line and I know those are happy tears.  

"It really is the doctor that helped you with your first open heart surgery.  I never forgot that name.  Please tell Luke I said thank you," she tells me.  

"I will mom, I love you."

"I love you too," she tells me just as Luke opens up the door to my room with a confused look on his face.  

I end the call to my mom and face him.  

"How did you find him?" I ask.  

"Find who?"

"The doctor and this surgery."

"Wait, do you know him?"

"Yeah, he helped me get better after my first open heart surgery.  My mom says thank you by the way."

"I just kept on hearing your mom's words in my head that she didn't want you to go through another open heart surgery again.  So I looked up pulmonary valve surgeries and this came up."  

I looked at him in awe.  Looking down at my lap was papers about a surgery that was done only in California at Cedars-Sinai Hospital by the doctor who helped me get better after my first open heart.  It was a minimally invasive pulmonary valve surgery.  They wouldn't open me up or anything.  

"Can I ask you something?" I ask him.

"Sure, you can ask me anything." 

He comes and sits down on the bed next to me and I turn to face him.  I wipe my palms on my pants and look at my lap.  I hate confrontation and I don't know if this is the best time to ask but I don't know when is.  

"Why did you and Shannon end things?" I ask.

He lets out a shaky breath before answering me.  

"My football career just got to be too much for her.  I was constantly gone and the time I was here we weren't spending any time together.  It wasn't like that in the beginning, but over the years we saw each other less and less.  We agreed that breaking up was for the best and we have both moved on.  I don't want to make the same mistake twice.  I want to be here for you and not just because of your heart surgery.  I need to be able to make time to see my loved ones and I don't want you to slip through my fingers.  I want this to work out," he tells me as he looks at me with concern.  

"I want us to work out too."

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I'm pretty sure that in the prologue I had Luke not knowing about her surgery, but I decided to change it & make Luke find out about Cedars-Sinai and what they do there.  

How cute is Lallie? :D