Lorenzo Jérôme Chevalier (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nothingelsematters) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
dreamlikenewyork2017-04-28 10:29 pm
nothingelsematters) wrote in dreamlikenewyork2017-04-28 10:29 pm
"These battle scars, don’t look like they’re fading."
Who: Lorenzo Chevalier with Lewis Sheldon (about Angela Ashwood)
What: 911
Where: Mount Sinai, NYC
When: Friday morning
You hear about these miracle stories where tiny little kids saved people's lives by knowing to call 911... you just never expected it to be your own child. Lorenzo liked to think he was a good father. He had been trying to hard since his baby girl was born. She was two now, and even if being addicted to drugs meant she had some medical issues, cognitively, she was a smart little cookie. She wasn't a huge talker, but she talked well regardless. She was more of a snuggler and a giggler. Lorenzo had feared that her speech was delayed when she began to talk and didn't seem to have a whole lot to say, but he had been given vast reassurances by Holly's doctors that she was actually quite advanced. Early on, she would easily attempt to repeat what you said to her, and she learned what things were quickly. Some kids just weren't big talkers, and that was okay.
Knowing she was a little sponge and soaked up learning things quickly, Lorenzo and Lewis had really used that. They talked to her like she was a little person, not a baby, and there was really no holds barred in what they attempt to get her interacting with. Of course, as soon as it became evident she was a fast learning, Lorenzo told his cousin - now twin brother - to make sure he shut the fuck up on the cussing around her. It only took Clint coming to visit one day, Holly pointing at him and saying clear as day 'Fuck', that Lorenzo was only a short step from duct-taping Clint's mouth shut around his little niece.
One thing they had started to teach Holly was how to dial 911. You just never fucking knew what was around the corner, and with Lorenzo having battled some tough medical issues, and having nursed Mara through Schizophrenia and drug addictions, they figured it would do no harm at least planting the seed so it was a skill she would have when she was older. They bought her a little toy cell phone and stuck daisy stickers to the 9 and the 1 buttons. It was fucking early days, so what was about to play out would seem completely insane.
Lorenzo had been in hospital for a long time since he had what effectively was a heart attack brought on by shock and stress. The dust had been settling now after the shocking twist of fate learning Clint wasn't his cousin, but his twin brother. Lorenzo's life seemed to just keep wanting to hit him with hard knocks. It wasn't that he had been crushed his mother had been murdered, it was more a straw that broke the camel's back scenario. One human heart and soul could only take so much before it broke. And that was what happened, his heart went into shock and he suffered a condition known as Heartbreak Syndrome. It had kept him in hospital for some time, until Sam, his Cardiologist, was content that he could be home safely, even if it meant he had to keep resting and take it easy. They heart needed to heal and until it did, it would have a weakness in it.
Having a weak heart meant he tired easily, and sometimes felt breathless. Even something as simple as going to the bathroom took it out of him. But with one of the most amazing husbands to ever walk the earth. Lorenzo was finally being discharged. He had a one-way ticket to bed, and Lewis now had the reigns of taking care of him, but he was on the mend, and he really did want to begin to figure life out again, in this whole new normal way. People probably assumed it would be weird for him to go from having Clint as his cousin to his twin, but in a surreal set of emotions running through him, it didn't feel weird. That was difficult to explain, but it didn't change anything. He and Clint had always been close and inseparable. Now it just made sense why. He loved it, and he wanted to make up for lost time.
He was sitting on the side of the hospital bed in his bathrobe, waiting for the nurse to come with all his discharge papers and a wheelchair to get him out to the car. Just the short set of activities of showering, dressing, getting a final examination by Sam, Lorenzo was wiped out. Lewis was was tying his shoes up for him when his cell phone started to ring. He was still crouched on the ground when he took it out of his pocket to see who was calling. "Unknown number," Lewis said. He looked like he was debating whether to just let it go to voicemail, but he answered anyway. Lorenzo knew from the way Lewis' face went from nonplussed to shock. The colour drained from his face.
"Wait, she called 911?" Lewis stood and put his hand to his mouth, looking at Lorenzo as he listened to what the caller was saying. "Fuck. I... Mount Sinai? I'm here with Lorenzo now. We're just waiting on his discharge papers. No. No, fuck. Is she going to be okay? The baby?"
Lorenzo's eyes were wide as he listened to the one side of the conversation he could hear. It was scary enough to hear, but even more terrifying because he knew one thing: Angela had been sitting Holly while Lewis came to pick Lorenzo up from the hospital. "What the fuck, what is it?" he asked, grabbing Lewis' hand.
"I'll come down now. Have you called Clint?" Lewis asked, squeezing Lorenzo's hand. "Fuck... okay. No, don't give her anything to calm her. She won't stop screaming because she's not good with strangers. I'm coming."
When Lewis ended the call, Lorenzo could feel his heart pounding and it was triggering the breathlessness again. "What happened? Who was that? Is it Ange? Where's Holly?"
Lewis shoved his phone back in his pocket and kissed the top of Lorenzo's head. "That was Miles. Something's wrong with Ange and the baby. She passed out at home, and Holly called 911. She couldn't tell them an address, obviously, but they tracked the call. Fuck, I could hear her screaming in the background. I have to go down to the ER. They can't get hold of anyone else. You have to stay, baby. You're too sick to come with me. You heard Sam. You have to stay quiet and resting."
Quiet and resting when the daddy in Lorenzo was suddenly in utter panic mode hearing what was happening, and that his baby girl was screaming. He wanted to jump up and run down there himself and tell everyone to get the fuck away from her. He wouldn't get ten fucking paces before he was probably keeling over, though. "What the fuck? What the fuck?!" he cried, voice raising in panic.
"I know, love. I know. It's okay. I'll go down. I know you want to come. I know every instinct in you is telling you to run to her, but you can't. We have to look after you too. Let me just go deal with it all. Will you be okay to wait?" Lewis took Lorenzo's phone from the backpack he had packed it into ready to go home and gave it to him. "I'll call you as soon as I know what's going on."
Lorenzo was shaking all over but he nodded. "I need to call Clint. He needs to be there. That's his son. He's not going to have any fucking clue how much this will hurt." He knew first-hand, because in Mara's final trimester, she had complications. They got her to full term, but the delivery had been horrific. Having been off her meds for the sake of the pregnancy, the stress of the labour triggered a psychotic episode. She thought the medical staff were trying to kill her and steal her baby. They had to sedate her and deliver Holly by C-Section otherwise she would have died before they could have delivered her. Lorenzo would never forget the crippling terror of thinking his baby was going to die before he ever got the chance to hold her.
Lewis nodded and took Lorenzo's face into his hands to kiss him. "I've got this. I'll let you know as soon as they tell me anything. Just stay here. I know you're in good hands."
Watching him run out of the room, Lorenzo's eyes filled with tears and he slammed his fist against the mattress in frustration. Fuck, the first battle for Clint since knowing they were twins, and here Lorenzo was stills tuck in a fucking hospital bed. What the fuck was going to happen in Angela or the baby weren't okay? It was a horrific thing for anyone to try to face, and Lorenzo knew that other than nearly losing Lincoln to attempted murder, this was going to be the hardest thing Clint ever had to face in his life, and Lorenzo was burning to be by his side to hold him up through it.
NARRATIVE, COMPLETE
What: 911
Where: Mount Sinai, NYC
When: Friday morning
You hear about these miracle stories where tiny little kids saved people's lives by knowing to call 911... you just never expected it to be your own child. Lorenzo liked to think he was a good father. He had been trying to hard since his baby girl was born. She was two now, and even if being addicted to drugs meant she had some medical issues, cognitively, she was a smart little cookie. She wasn't a huge talker, but she talked well regardless. She was more of a snuggler and a giggler. Lorenzo had feared that her speech was delayed when she began to talk and didn't seem to have a whole lot to say, but he had been given vast reassurances by Holly's doctors that she was actually quite advanced. Early on, she would easily attempt to repeat what you said to her, and she learned what things were quickly. Some kids just weren't big talkers, and that was okay.
Knowing she was a little sponge and soaked up learning things quickly, Lorenzo and Lewis had really used that. They talked to her like she was a little person, not a baby, and there was really no holds barred in what they attempt to get her interacting with. Of course, as soon as it became evident she was a fast learning, Lorenzo told his cousin - now twin brother - to make sure he shut the fuck up on the cussing around her. It only took Clint coming to visit one day, Holly pointing at him and saying clear as day 'Fuck', that Lorenzo was only a short step from duct-taping Clint's mouth shut around his little niece.
One thing they had started to teach Holly was how to dial 911. You just never fucking knew what was around the corner, and with Lorenzo having battled some tough medical issues, and having nursed Mara through Schizophrenia and drug addictions, they figured it would do no harm at least planting the seed so it was a skill she would have when she was older. They bought her a little toy cell phone and stuck daisy stickers to the 9 and the 1 buttons. It was fucking early days, so what was about to play out would seem completely insane.
Lorenzo had been in hospital for a long time since he had what effectively was a heart attack brought on by shock and stress. The dust had been settling now after the shocking twist of fate learning Clint wasn't his cousin, but his twin brother. Lorenzo's life seemed to just keep wanting to hit him with hard knocks. It wasn't that he had been crushed his mother had been murdered, it was more a straw that broke the camel's back scenario. One human heart and soul could only take so much before it broke. And that was what happened, his heart went into shock and he suffered a condition known as Heartbreak Syndrome. It had kept him in hospital for some time, until Sam, his Cardiologist, was content that he could be home safely, even if it meant he had to keep resting and take it easy. They heart needed to heal and until it did, it would have a weakness in it.
Having a weak heart meant he tired easily, and sometimes felt breathless. Even something as simple as going to the bathroom took it out of him. But with one of the most amazing husbands to ever walk the earth. Lorenzo was finally being discharged. He had a one-way ticket to bed, and Lewis now had the reigns of taking care of him, but he was on the mend, and he really did want to begin to figure life out again, in this whole new normal way. People probably assumed it would be weird for him to go from having Clint as his cousin to his twin, but in a surreal set of emotions running through him, it didn't feel weird. That was difficult to explain, but it didn't change anything. He and Clint had always been close and inseparable. Now it just made sense why. He loved it, and he wanted to make up for lost time.
He was sitting on the side of the hospital bed in his bathrobe, waiting for the nurse to come with all his discharge papers and a wheelchair to get him out to the car. Just the short set of activities of showering, dressing, getting a final examination by Sam, Lorenzo was wiped out. Lewis was was tying his shoes up for him when his cell phone started to ring. He was still crouched on the ground when he took it out of his pocket to see who was calling. "Unknown number," Lewis said. He looked like he was debating whether to just let it go to voicemail, but he answered anyway. Lorenzo knew from the way Lewis' face went from nonplussed to shock. The colour drained from his face.
"Wait, she called 911?" Lewis stood and put his hand to his mouth, looking at Lorenzo as he listened to what the caller was saying. "Fuck. I... Mount Sinai? I'm here with Lorenzo now. We're just waiting on his discharge papers. No. No, fuck. Is she going to be okay? The baby?"
Lorenzo's eyes were wide as he listened to the one side of the conversation he could hear. It was scary enough to hear, but even more terrifying because he knew one thing: Angela had been sitting Holly while Lewis came to pick Lorenzo up from the hospital. "What the fuck, what is it?" he asked, grabbing Lewis' hand.
"I'll come down now. Have you called Clint?" Lewis asked, squeezing Lorenzo's hand. "Fuck... okay. No, don't give her anything to calm her. She won't stop screaming because she's not good with strangers. I'm coming."
When Lewis ended the call, Lorenzo could feel his heart pounding and it was triggering the breathlessness again. "What happened? Who was that? Is it Ange? Where's Holly?"
Lewis shoved his phone back in his pocket and kissed the top of Lorenzo's head. "That was Miles. Something's wrong with Ange and the baby. She passed out at home, and Holly called 911. She couldn't tell them an address, obviously, but they tracked the call. Fuck, I could hear her screaming in the background. I have to go down to the ER. They can't get hold of anyone else. You have to stay, baby. You're too sick to come with me. You heard Sam. You have to stay quiet and resting."
Quiet and resting when the daddy in Lorenzo was suddenly in utter panic mode hearing what was happening, and that his baby girl was screaming. He wanted to jump up and run down there himself and tell everyone to get the fuck away from her. He wouldn't get ten fucking paces before he was probably keeling over, though. "What the fuck? What the fuck?!" he cried, voice raising in panic.
"I know, love. I know. It's okay. I'll go down. I know you want to come. I know every instinct in you is telling you to run to her, but you can't. We have to look after you too. Let me just go deal with it all. Will you be okay to wait?" Lewis took Lorenzo's phone from the backpack he had packed it into ready to go home and gave it to him. "I'll call you as soon as I know what's going on."
Lorenzo was shaking all over but he nodded. "I need to call Clint. He needs to be there. That's his son. He's not going to have any fucking clue how much this will hurt." He knew first-hand, because in Mara's final trimester, she had complications. They got her to full term, but the delivery had been horrific. Having been off her meds for the sake of the pregnancy, the stress of the labour triggered a psychotic episode. She thought the medical staff were trying to kill her and steal her baby. They had to sedate her and deliver Holly by C-Section otherwise she would have died before they could have delivered her. Lorenzo would never forget the crippling terror of thinking his baby was going to die before he ever got the chance to hold her.
Lewis nodded and took Lorenzo's face into his hands to kiss him. "I've got this. I'll let you know as soon as they tell me anything. Just stay here. I know you're in good hands."
Watching him run out of the room, Lorenzo's eyes filled with tears and he slammed his fist against the mattress in frustration. Fuck, the first battle for Clint since knowing they were twins, and here Lorenzo was stills tuck in a fucking hospital bed. What the fuck was going to happen in Angela or the baby weren't okay? It was a horrific thing for anyone to try to face, and Lorenzo knew that other than nearly losing Lincoln to attempted murder, this was going to be the hardest thing Clint ever had to face in his life, and Lorenzo was burning to be by his side to hold him up through it.
NARRATIVE, COMPLETE