“Intuition my ass; you forget who you’re talking to,” Elizabeth said. Jade smiled, feeling like a chastised child, as she always did around her mentor. “I trained you,Doctor Lin.”
“Whatever you want to call it, Lillian’s hands were what saved your life, knowing the problem is barely half the battle. You needed a stellar surgeon, and she just happens to be one.” Jade beamed at the statement, allowing a brief glimpse of emotion to cross her face. Despite the sting of rejection, Lillian was still the best neurosurgeon Jade had ever met.
“Looks like you think of her as more than just astellar surgeon,” Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at Jade.
Jade opened her mouth to argue but thought better of it. She wasn’t sure if it was nostalgia that loosened her tongue, or just the overwhelming weight of the last few days, but Jade found herself confessing all to her former mentor. Elizabeth had helped her so much along her career, and she was the reason she was in the position she was in, and they had spent many late nights here in the hospital talking about anything and everything, so it was easy to spill the details, most of them anyway.
“I think you just need to be patient,” Elizabeth said with a lift of her eyebrow. “People like Lillian need time to process big emotions. Remember, I know Lillian well.”
“You sound like you’re talking about a toddler,” Jade teased.
“Don’t think adults are that far different, Jade,” the woman said with a laugh. “Especially when it comes to regulating emotions. Adults are better at logic and reasoning, but we are allrelegated to sniveling babies when we can’t identify or put a label on our emotions.”
“I’ve never seen you acting like a sniveling baby,” Jade teased.
“That’s because I do my sniveling with the doors closed, much like Lillian.” Elizabeth lifted an eyebrow and took another bite of her Jello. “The woman has some thick walls, but no amount of battering will bring them down.”
“Either way, I’m not going to try and beg her to like me back,” Jade said. She knew she sounded ridiculous, but just being able to say all of it aloud had helped more than she thought it would.
“And you shouldn’t. You know as well as I do that will only push her away,” Elizabeth said. “She will realize soon enough, mark my words.”
“Thanks for listening,” Jade said, checking her chart once again. Elizabeth knew both Lillian and Jade well, but Jade wasn’t going to put her faith in Lillian coming around eventually. She knew she wouldn’t be able to handle any more rejection. It hurt badly enough as it was.
“Get out of here, Jade,” Elizabeth chastised. “Go home and get some rest, you need it.”
“You’re not the chief anymore, remember?” Jade teased.
“I’ll always be the chief where you’re concerned,” the woman said, touching the bandage around her head gingerly.
“I’ll see you,” Jade said and rolled her eyes. “Don’t scare me like that again.”
“I’ll do my best,” Elizabeth chuckled and waved to shoo her out the door.
Once she stepped into the hallway, she recognized little Jasmine walking toward her hand-in-hand with a woman who was clearly Stephanie’s sister. Their family resemblance was almost uncanny. Jasmine waved at her, and the woman stopped to let the child speak.
“Hello, Jasmine,” Jade said and put her hands on her knees to come closer to the girl’s level.
“Hello,” she answered with a slight smile. Jade’s heart broke as she could see the fear still lingering there.
“I was just going to check in on your moms, do you want to come with me?” Jade asked.
The little girl looked up at the woman with expectation.
“I’m Stella,” the woman said and put out her hand. “Stephanie’s sister, they called and said she was awake.” Jade’s eyes widened slightly—that was really good news.
“Nice to meet you, Stella, let’s go see her,” Jade said with a smile. She looked down at Jasmine and she could see the worry easing from her ever so slightly. Her chest swelled with hope. They walked down the short hallway until they reached Stephanie’s room. She was still bandaged all over, and her face was bruised, but she was awake. Jasmine hesitated, but Stephanie smiled and waved at the little girl.
“How are you feeling?” Jade asked, stepping up next to the bed. Her chest tightened as the child was nervous to walk into the room with all the intimidating machines. Jade had seen it a hundred times before, but the pain on the mothers’ faces was always gut-wrenching.
“A lot better than I was,” Stephanie said with a slight grimace. “Do you have any updates on Hannah?” Her eyes creased with worry. She glanced at Jasmine again, as the child slowly took a step forward.
“I was going to check on her next. If you want, I can go see to her and come back?” Jade said looking back and forth between Stephanie and Jasmine.
“That would be wonderful,” Stephanie said and turned her attention back to little Jasmine. She and her sister Stella both spoke to quell the little girl’s fear as Jade left the room. Stella grabbed a chair near Stephanie’s bed and placed Jasmine in herlap, and the fear on the girl’s face lessened slightly. She wanted to try and reassure her and her mother, but patience was the only thing that would work for small children in situations like this, no matter how much it hurt. Jasmine would slowly become more comfortable as her mother progressed, and after some time she would feel as comfortable as she always had.
A few doors down, Hannah was still motionless in her bed. Jade picked up her chart; it was unsettling that she had not woke up from her surgery yet, but her vitals were strong, and there was time yet. She placed the clipboard back at the edge of the bed and started to walk out of the room when she heard a soft croak behind her. She turned to see Hannah’s eyes barely opened and focused on her.
She smiled and walked to the edge of the bed. “Welcome back,” she said softly. “You’ve been through a lot.”
