Make Time For Me

“Of course you did, by coming to my rescue, not hers, and she doesn’t know that. Come on, we’ll have a bite together for lunch.”

She shouldn’t have said it, but there it was, and there was no taking it back.

“I mean in the hospital cafeteria,” she added quickly, and she set off before he could stop her. When she got there, she was glad to see Paul already sitting at a table. She waved, grabbed a tray and a sandwich and water, and joined him.

“You abandoned us early, Olivia.”

Paul looked so mournful that Olivia pouted.

“I know. I’m sorry. I had to take Angela home.”

“But you didn’t come back. I hoped you’d come back. Didn’t you like the food?”

“Of course I liked the food!”

“But you didn’t come back. You must come for dinner, to my place. I’ll make you what you like.”

“Paul, of course I liked everything, it was amazing, and I was sorry not to be able to hang out longer, but… Wait, I thought you were off today.”

“I was paged. But it’s strange, when I got here, Dr. Benedict said he hadn’t paged me. Weird, huh? But since I was here anyway, he decided to put me to work.”

Paul looked so mournful that Olivia nodded.

“Sure, I’ll come for dinner. I’ll even help you with prep. I’ll do the chopping for you. And the peeling and the slicing.”

“You will?”

Paul brightened up so much that Olivia had to laugh again.

“That’s not fair, I’ve been trying to…”

Olivia was saved by her pager.

“I have to go. That’s Liza.”

She ran, to find Liza sitting in a wheelchair, wheezing, her eyes wide and terrified.

“I can feel it again. I can feel it again, oh my God, Dr. Leggett, I can feel it!”

“Breathe, Liza. Breathe, Dr. Heart is coming, and for now I need you to try and breathe.”

She snapped orders, getting Liza hooked up, checking her vitals.

“How far apart have the contractions been? Where’s Bud?”

“He went to look for Dr. Heart. He timed them. Ten minutes. I thought… I’m only twenty-four weeks now. I can’t. I can’t.”

“Look at me, Liza. We’re going to try our best to stop this, okay? Blood pressure elevated, temperature normal, we can work with that, Liza. Now look at me. We’re going to try our best to stop this, and you have to stop panicking to help us.”

“I can’t, I can’t,” sobbed the woman, and Olivia was relieved to see Dr. Heart.

Dr. Heart snapped out orders, and Olivia anticipated them, already working, trying her best to soothe Liza.

“Breathe, Liza. Listen to me now, if your baby is born today, we will do everything we can to save her. But we’re going to do everything we can to make sure she’s not.”

“Sedative,” snapped Dr. Heart, but Olivia was already on it.

“Increase dose of nifedipine. Get her in a room, we need to monitor her. Liza, listen to Dr. Leggett. We’re working for you and your baby here.”

“Bud, I need Bud,” she sobbed.

Bud turned up right on cue. Olivia let Bud take over soothing his wife as she worked. She jogged beside Liza’s bed as they moved her to the room, Liza beginning to calm down, thanks to the sedative.

“Time?” snapped Dr. Heart.

“Twelve minutes since the last one, Dr. Heart.”

“We need her in for an ultrasound.”

“The baby – Rose, we named her Rose. Is she okay? Is she…”

Bud couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Let us do our jobs, Bud. We’re checking. We’re doing everything we can.”

He nodded, a big man, terrified, helpless. Olivia had to block him out, block out his fear, and get Liza in for her scan. Her heart beat so hard when they put the gel on the wand and moved it on Liza’s big belly. Olivia closed her eyes and whispered a prayer to anybody who might be listening.

A heartbeat.

“Rose,” whispered Liza.

“That’s Rose. I don’t see anything wrong here, Liza, not with Rose. She’s just a little too eager to get out here and be with her mom and dad. We’ve just got to keep her in there. Have you felt anything since then?”

“No. No, nothing,” confirmed Liza, and Olivia sighed in relief.

“There, I think we’re good, and we’re going to change your prescription a bit, and keep you overnight here. There are schools of thought about bed rest. There are studies that indicate that it makes no difference. But I think more rest will be good for you, anyway. Your water didn’t break again, so that’s good, but you need to rest far more, Liza. That gives you an extra chance. That gives Rose an extra chance. That’s worth it, isn’t it?”

“You’re quitting your job, Liza. I’m not having a discussion about it. It’s done. No more. You’re going to quit. If Theresa won’t listen to you and give you time off, you’re going to quit.”

“I’m not arguing this time, Bud. I’m not, I swear.”

“She’s exhausted, Bud. You need to let her sleep now. We’ll both be close by, all right, Liza? Get some rest.”

Once outside, Dr. Heart and Olivia went to the clinic again, sandwich forgotten.

“You seem worried,” noted Dr. Heart.

“The ultrasound – it was okay, but…”

“Something didn’t feel right?”

“I’m sure it’s just something in my head. I checked, there was nothing out of the ordinary.”

Dr. Heart nodded.

“Still, we’ll have Liza come in and do more frequent scans. And we’ll get somebody to check on her. I am worried about the blood pressure.”

“She’s twenty-four weeks.”

“We can’t rule out pre-eclampsia. It’s not high enough for that, but we have to… Poor Liza. They’ve been trying for so long, and it’s turning out to be such a difficult pregnancy for her.”

Olivia couldn’t get Liza out of her mind for the rest of the day. The worry in her eyes and in Bud’s had touched her heart. She worked hard, she paid attention, but half her mind was on Liza. She went in and checked on her, multiple times, but she was resting. She’d be kept overnight for observation, but she would be fine and sent home the next day, with more progesterone and a higher dose of steroids and more nifedipine. And they would be preparing for a preemie, keeping neonatal updated, and they would be preparing for the worst while they tried their best to keep Liza from thinking of the worst.

It was her job. This is what she did. This is what she wanted to do. This is what she had chosen to do instead of becoming a ballerina and dancing to Swan Lake.

She would do it, to the very best of her ability. And it would have to be enough.

It would be enough.

Olivia stopped second-guessing herself and got back to work, because there was work to be done. There were people to help. She would help them.

Jason watched as Olivia laughed, helping Paul with dinner prep. She had come to dinner, as promised, and Jason had come, taking advantage of the open invitation Paul had offered all of them.