Love at First Cut; A Will Halstead Fanfic

Bound

Yn's POV

"Good morning, Nat. How are you feeling" Will asked her as she walked into the ED. "Wonderful, you know, considering the fact that I can't sleep longer than 15 minutes, and when I do actually get comfortable, I have to pee" Natalie. "Did you try that pillow I gave you" Maggie asked her. "Yes. I added to the 20 other pillows that aren't helping me sleep, but thank you" Natalie said. "Oh. Sarah's got a kid with a fractured clav in Treatment 1 for you" Maggie added. "Okay. I'll just hit the bathroom and then waddle my way over there. Talk to you later" she said.

Not even hours later, Natalie's water broke, so as soon as I had some time off, I went to see her. "Hey, Nat" I say and poke my head into her room. "Where's Helen?" "She went to get some food from the cafeteria. Come in. Sit down" she said and gestured to the chair next to her bed. I took her advice and sat down before giving her hand a small squeeze. "I'm happy for you, Nat. You deserve this baby more than anyone else" I say. "Thanks, Yn" she said. "No problem" I say.

"Are you and Will thinking about having kids" Natalie asked. "Nat, we've only been dating for a year" I say. "I know, but you two are like the perfect couple. Technically, you're high school sweethearts" Natalie said. "Technically we're not because we broke up senior year before we went away to college" I say. "Okay, well, have you at least talked about wanting kids" Natalie asked. "No. Not yet" I say. "He'd be a great father, you know" Natalie said. "Believe me, I know. Will is amazing, and he's the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with, but right now, with both of us working long shifts, I don't think we have the time to take our relationship a step further" I say.

Just then, the door to Natalie's room opened, and her mother-in-law walked in. "Oh, hello" she said to me. "Helen, this is my friend Yn. Yn, this is my mother-in-law Helen" Natalie said. "It's nice to meet you" I say. "Same goes for you. Hey, are you the one who's dating the cute redhead Natalie was walking around with earlier" Helen asked me. "Yep. He's my boyfriend" I say. "You two would have beautiful children" Helen said, causing me to smile. "Thanks, but we're not ready for that yet. I uh, I actually have to go because I promised I would take over Natalie's cases. It was nice meeting you Helen, and Nat, I'll try to stop by later" I say before leaving the room.

Sarah was working with Natalie before her water broke, so I went to find her. When I did, I brought her into the lounge and we both took a seat. "So, I understand that you need telling a family some bad news" I say. "Yeah. Natalie said you could help" Sarah said. "In my experience, it's best to be direct and get straight to the point. When people get bad news like this, they tend to get overwhelmed. They might ask you to clarify things or repeat them. They might seem like they have a million questions. They might want to be left alone to begin to process the grief. The most important thing is that they need to know that somebody's there who understands what they're going through. So really it's your compassion that they need to feel" I say. 

"Compassion. Got it" Sarah said. "And after you tell the parents, they might want you there when they tell the child. They might not. That's up to them" I say. "Wait. Tell the child" Sarah asked. "Oh, yeah. The child actually needs to know. Look, Sarah, it's the hardest thing that you'll have to do as a doctor, and it doesn't get any easier. At least, it hasn't for me, but we are the ones who have been chosen to do this, and I think that there's a certain nobility in that. Do you want me to come along" I ask. "That would be great. Thank you" Sarah said.

.............................................

"Given his current symptoms, Parker has anywhere from five to seven years before the progressively degenerative nature of the disease confines him to a bed and eventually leaves him in a vegetative state" Sarah said. "I mean, there must be some kind of treatment" Mrs. Kindler said. "At the moment, no" Sarah said. "You mean there's no cure? There's nothing we can do" Mr. Kindler asked. "That is correct. Krabbe is an extremely rare disease. We can treat his symptoms, but eventually Parker will need to be ventilated to continue living. There is something else. Since the disease is hereditary, we need to determine if Seth carries it as well. Do you know if he's been tested" Sarah asked. 

"Seth? I don't remember" Mrs. Kindler said. "That's okay. I can find out. Do I have permission to check his natal records" Sarah asked. "Of course" Mrs. Kindler said. "What happens if Seth tests positive" Mr. Kindler asked. "Since he has not yet presented symptoms, the hope is we can treat him with stem cells and stop him from developing the disease" Sarah said. "The hope" Mrs. Kindler asked. "Why don't we check the records first and go from there" I ask, causing Mrs. and Mr. Kindler to nod. "Again, I'm so sorry. Excuse me" Sarah said.

That same day, Natalie had her baby, and she decided to name him Owen. A little while after the delivery, Will and I decided to stop by. "Oh my gosh! He's so cute" I say. "Do you want to hold him" Natalie asked me. "I don't think I should" I say. "Nonsense. Here" Natalie said and placed him in my arms. Almost immediately, holding Owen felt natural. "You're going to be a great mother one day" Will whispered and kissed my cheek. At that moment, I knew that I wanted to have kids with Will. The problem was, if that's what I wanted, we had a lot to talk about.