To Everything, There Is A Season

Chapter 69

"Henry?" Meryl stood up quickly with Don right by her side. "How is he? How did the surgery go?"

Dr. Abbott reached out to take Meryl's hands in his. "He did amazing. You certainly have a strong little boy."

"Yes, we do." Don held Meryl as close to his side as possible as he felt like he could finally breathe since he heard Meryl screaming his name in the loft earlier that morning. "Tell us how he did."

Dr. Abbott motioned for them to sit down as he pulled a chair up to join them. "He did great. He didn't wake up before we put him under and he stayed asleep the whole time. Things couldn't have gone smoother."

"Thank God." Meryl said crying tears of relief. "Is he awake yet? I really don't want him to wake up without Don or me there with him."

Don knew part of her fear was how jumpy Henry could still be at times after being abducted by Mann. "Partly because of Mann. We try to never have him wake up in a new place than where he went to sleep at especially if we can't be there with him."

"You will be." Dr. Abbott assured his patients and his friends. "He'll be asleep for a while, but you will be there when he wakes up."

Meryl breathed a sigh of relief that her baby wouldn't be alone when he woke up from surgery; she imagined he would be confused enough as it was. "So, what are we looking at for his recovery? I'm not shooting anything until the new year. And Don and Henry were supposed to go to Europe with me to shoot those scenes."

"He will be good as new by then." Dr. Abbott said putting a hand on Meryl's shoulder. "As I said, he will be in the hospital for several days, especially because of his age. I want to watch him closely. Then he can go home, but you will need to try to keep him down for a bit. That will be hard once he starts to feel better."

Don laced his fingers through Meryl's. "I'll be right there with her, we'll tag team him."

"We're pretty good at that." Meryl winked at her husband. "I assume he'll have a scar. What about eating? When he wakes up can he eat tonight?"

Dr. Abbott nodded, he knew the Gummers well enough to know there would be all kinds of questions, but he didn't mind. He was just so grateful that everything turned out as well as it did. He knew they didn't have a choice on whether or not to do surgery on the little boy, but he was expecting some bumps in the road, he couldn't believe how well everything went. "He can, but I want to start him on pudding and jello. No harsh juices. I know he is only two but I think some Sprite would be good on his stomach. We have all that here and so the nurses can get him whatever he needs."

"Thank you, Hal." Don shook the doctor's hand. "For everything. We both felt so much better knowing that even though we couldn't be in there with him, that he was in great hands with you right there."

Dr. Abbott smiled at them. "He is an amazing little boy."

"We sure lucked out." Meryl breathed. "We can go see him now?"

Dr. Abbott shook his head as he looked at his watch. "Not yet, let me go check on things and I'll be right back."

"Oh, I do have one more question." Meryl laughed at herself. "Visitors? If the answer is no, then that is completely fine. I know my parents will want to know, when I called them earlier I said I didn't know about that. Also, Don's chosen parents are in town."

Don rubbed Meryl's back, not wanting it all to be on her shoulders, and he wanted her to feel that he was right there with her. "If visitors aren't good for him, then that is fine. I can be the bad guy."

"I can be the bad guy, I don't care." Meryl said honestly. "All Don and I want is whatever is best for our boy."

Dr. Abbott had absolutely no doubt about that. "Because of the trauma his body has been through, even though he is absolutely fine right now, no visitors. You two staying with him, absolutely. His immune system is down, and being that he is so young, I would like to keep him as isolated as possible."