Girl Meets Second Chances

sixteen

"Maya, sweetie? Can you hear me?"

A voice breaks through the fogginess clouding her head as she struggles to open her eyes against the weight of her eyelids. She hears her name again and the sound pulls her even further into consciousness and eventually it's her mom's exhausted face that comes into focus. Her usually bright eyes are red-rimmed and teary and despite the relief in her smile, her brow creases with worry.

Seeing her mom like this unsettles her in a way she can't quite explain but as she tries to pull herself up, the severe ache radiating through her left hipbone stops her, causing her to wince.

"Oh, baby girl, don't try and move," her mom says gently, running a hand over her head. "Everything's okay. You're okay."

She's too weak to resist so she lays back as her mom suggests but she knows everything's not okay. Something's wrong. And it's not just the intense throbbing in her hip or the way the room seems to be spinning around her. She gets an overwhelming feeling that something bad has happened and her mind automatically gravitates to Sophie. Her fears only worsen when Shawn enters the room with her dad trailing not far behind.

"What's going on?" she blurts out, her voice no more than a raspy whisper. She's not sure if anyone heard her but then Shawn's eyes connect with hers.

"Kiddo," he breathes out, coming over to her and sinking down beside her bed. "You're awake."

"What's going on?" She croaks out, attempting her question again. "Why does everyone look so stressed?"

Her mom and Shawn share a look and her dad averts his eyes, staring down at the ground instead of her.

"Everything's fine," Shawn assures her. "You just gave us a little scare."

"What happened?"

"You had some kind of allergic reaction during the procedure and went into anaphylactic shock," he says gently. "But Doctor Hines was good and caught it early. It just took you a little while to wake up."

She looks from Shawn to her mom.

"How long's a little while?"

Her mom leans over her, her eyes welling with fresh tears.

"A day," she says, her voice cracking slightly. "But you're okay now."

Maya closes her eyes, taking a moment to let her mom's words sink in. A whole day. How could she lose an entire day of her life and not even know it? She takes in a breath to compose herself and when she opens her eyes again her dad is standing on the other side of her bed.

"Maya, I'm so sorry...If I had known that something like this would happen, I never would've..."

He meets her eyes briefly, his expression somber and guilt-ridden but she shakes her head before cutting him off.

"This isn't your fault so don't beat yourself up about it," she says. "I wanted to do this for Sophie. I'm just glad that I could."

As surreal as trying to comfort the man who's spent most of her life MIA is, to her surprise it comes easily. She can't help but wonder how different their relationship would be if he had decided to stick around.

"Thank you," he chokes out, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. "For giving Sophie a second chance and for giving me one too."

She acknowledges his words with a nod and a moment of understanding passes between them. She never imagined that such a grim situation would be the thing to bring her and her dad a little closer but life has a funny way of working out.