This I Promise You
By Heather

Please let her be ok. I thought to myself as medical personal rushed around to help a small girl. I turned to my husband of three years and cried into his shoulder. He held me close and comforted me, even though it wasn’t doing much. "Shh, it’s ok. She’ll be fine. The LA medical staff are some of the finest in this state, she’s…" I looked up with tears of half hysteria and half sorrow. "I know, Greg. But why aren’t they telling us anything?!" Wiping a stream of teardrops from my cheek and gazed across the ER. "I don’t know, Heather. I just don’t know. But it will turn out all right. That I know for a fact" I smiled for the first time in what seemed an eternity. Greg pulled me to his chest and stroked my hair.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When the visions around you
Bring tears to your eyes
And all that surround you
Are secrets and lies
I'll be your strength
I'll give you hope
Keeping your faith when it's gone
The one you should call
Was standing here all along

And I will take you in my arms
And hold you right where you belong
'Til the day my life is through
This I promise you
This I promise you
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Another hour passed before a doctor came to talk with us. "Mr. And Mrs. Proops?" Greg and I nodded. "Well, I have good news and I have bad news" Seeing the color drain from my face, he continued. "The good news is, we have found out what is wrong with your daughter" Greg squeezed me hand reassuringly. "The bad news…. It is very serious and we don’t know if we’ll be able to treat it" Unable to cry anymore, I looked to Greg as the doctor walked away. He was trying so hard to keep tears of his own back, but failed horribly. I wiped away a tear from Greg’s cheek.

"Everything’s going to be fine" I told him, in the same voice he used before. "Greg, I won’t let it happen again. I promise" Greg stared into space. "Naomi….." I grabbed his hand and looked into his eyes.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I've loved you forever
In lifetimes before
And I promise you never
Will you hurt anymore

I give you my word
I give you my heart
This is a battle we've won
And with this vow
Forever has now begun
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"You’re right. She’ll be fine, and so will everything else" We embraced as yet another doctor approached. "Excuse me, we have decided to take her into surgery in ten minutes. It may be the only way" I gulped. "May we see her, now?" The doctor smiled and showed us where she was being kept. I gasped and rushed to the side of the pale figure that occupied the bed. I grabbed her hand and sat down. Greg sat down next to me, his eyes filled with worry. She looked over to me with feverish eyes. "Hi, baby. How ya feeling?" I placed a hand to her forehead. She yawned. "Hi mommy" She said weakly. "I’m tired…." I watched as she shifted uncomfortably in the small bed. "Well, you just take it easy, ok? You’ll feel a lot better soon" Greg added with a slight crack in his voice. I left my daughter’s side and got a washcloth. I soaked it with cold water and squeezed the excess liquid from it. I placed it on her forehead then hugged her gently. She sighed happily and drifted off to sleep.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Just close your eyes
Each lovin' day
And know this feeling won't go away
'Til the day my life is through
This I promise you
This I promise you
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It had been two hours since she went into surgery. Greg and I waited in the surgery waiting room. Other distressed people were there too. The worry was so thick you could cut it with a knife, melt it on toast, add tea, and have a yummy English lunch. I said this to Greg, who smiled for a second, but tensed again as a nurse walked into the room. The news wasn’t for us. He leaned against the wall and searched his pockets. "Greg" I whispered. "You can’t smoke in here!" He turned his head and looked at me. "I wasn’t looking for a cigarette!" Greg showed the cell phone in his hand. I apologized and sat back down. He started to play the games that were on the phone. "Snake. I still can’t beat 97!" I smirked. "I told you that I was good" Another nurse entered the waiting room. Her question cut off Greg’s remark. "Anna Proops" I stood up. "That’s us" The nurse pulled Greg and I into the hall. "Anna’s lost a lot of blood in the past few minutes. We need a donor" She looked at the two of us. "Don’t you have any on reserve?" He inquired, trying to keep me from totally freaking out. "If we had any, I wouldn’t be asking for a donor, now would I?" She then asked us for our blood types. Greg was A negative, no help there. Anna and I were O positive, a perfect match. She ushered me into a room, with Greg in tow. I hate needles. I hate needles. Was all I could think about when I sat down. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head when I saw the size of the needle she was going to use. The nurse did all the necessary preparations. Greg took my hand reassuringly. My heart raced as she neared closer. "How much blood do you need, exactly?" He asked. "A pint or two" I took my eyes of the needle and looked to Greg. "Isn’t that a little much from one person?"

"No" I almost fainted right there. I held back my massive scream as the nurse thrust the needle into my arm a little to hard, a little too fast, and a little too deep. Greg writhed with pain as well, seeing as how his fingers were turning purple. "Could you not squeeze so hard" He asked in-between gasps in between. I loosened my grip on his hand. My arm was numb anyway. Within a few minutes she had gotten everything she needed. "Thank you" Greg helped me up. "Are you ok?" He asked me as we walked back to the surgery waiting room. "I’m fine… just a bit dizzy" I looked at him and smiled. "I’ve heard that before. You say that you’re fine…" Greg caught me before I hit the floor. "… and then you faint"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Over and over I fall
When I hear you call
Without you in my life, baby
I just wouldn't be living at all

And I will take you in my arms
And hold you right where you belong
'Til the day my life is through
This I promise you, baby
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Why won’t you tell us exactly what happened?" Greg asked a passing nurse. "If you must know" He shot her a frosty glare. "Anna’s appendix burst. Thus the stomach pains and high fevers. We just found that out not four hours ago. We had to rush her into surgery for an emergency appendectomy. It was very serious. Now if you will excuse me, I have to be somewhere" She left in a hurry. "Next time I’m going to a friendlier hospital" I groaned and sat up. "They have got to get more comfortable chairs here" Greg turned and sat next to me. He told me what the nurse had just said to him. "You’re right. But there isn’t another good hospital in a five mile radius"

"So be it" I nodded and rested my head on his shoulder. Anna had come out of surgery about ten minutes ago. Administration was working on another room for her. "Greg… do you think that she’ll get better soon? I mean I don’t want to keep her around these nurses any longer" He put his hand on my shoulder and we walked into Anna’s room. "I know what you mean, but I hope for the best" We looked at Anna. She was still a little pale and sleeping soundly. But something just didn’t seem right. I didn’t bother to tell Greg, which was probably the biggest mistake of my life. We sat in chairs that were on both sides of the bed. Greg was sitting in the one on the left, flipping through the TV channels. I was in the right, closest to the door, trying not to fall asleep. He broke the eerie silence with a chuckle. "What’s so funny?" Greg turned the TV towards me. An old episode of Whose Line. "Cute. Very cute"

He looked towards me sympathetically. "Honey, you look exhausted. Maybe you should go home and…"
"No" I said loud enough to get my point across, but soft enough as not to wake Anna. "I’m going to stay here" Knowing he couldn’t change my mind, he held up his hands in defeat. "I’m sorry, Greg. I am tired. I’m going to go get some coffee. You want anything?" Greg shook his head. I got up and went to find a vending machine. Caffeine and sugar is all I need. I shouldn’t have snapped. Damn, it’s getting to me. I got the necessary energy boosters and started walking back to the room. I saw a couple of nurses and doctors crowded in the room. I also heard an extended beeping sound that seemed it would go on forever. Racking my brain, I tried to remember what it meant. "Oh dear God" I dropped what was in my hands and ran into the room. "What’s going on!?" I tried to ask over the bustle of medical people. Greg pushed through the crowd and pulled me back into the hall. I looked at him confused. "What going on?!" Before he answered, Greg drew me into a tight hug. When he stepped back I saw a look that no one should ever have to see. "No…." My voice trailed off. He simply nodded then looked at the floor. "It couldn’t… I refuse to believe it!" I walked into the room, admits Greg’s attempts to stop me. All of the doctors and nurses had left. All that remained was a motionless, white figure on the bed. I took her hand and held back tears, ignoring what I knew was true.

"Come on, baby. Just open your eyes" I felt for a pulse. Nothing. "Please…." Greg placed his hands on my shoulders and lead me out of the room. "Greg… it can’t be true! We said…"

"I know what we said" He cried, holding back a sob. I shook my head in disbelief. "Heather. You have to accept it. She’s gone… there’s nothing we can do"

"No! It can’t be…. I said it wouldn’t happen again…. I promised myself. I…." I started sobbing and sank to the floor. Greg gently lifted me to my feet and sat me on a bench near Anna’s room. We sat in silence for a few minutes, myself trying to grasp the fact that Anna was no longer living. I rested my head on Greg’s shoulder and sighed heavily. Then, a small girl about the same age as Anna, about four, looked at me with her head cocked and a fistful of flowers. "Hiya!" She greeted. "My mom just had a baby and I brought these for him" She said nodding towards the flowers in her hand. "Here. Congratulations" She handed me a flower. I smiled as she skipped away. Smelling the flower, I let it brush against my lips. I took a deep breath and walked back into Anna’s room.

Whispering a final goodbye I placed the flower in Anna’s hand and closed her fist around it. I wiped away a tear and turned around to walk out. Just then I heard a sound coming from Anna. Impossible. I spun around. "Mommy….?" I was on the brink of crying, and did just that. "Greg! Greg, get in here quick!" He came running in, alarm apparent in his eyes. "What… oh my God" Tear’s flowed down his face. I scooped Anna up in m arms, careful not to crunch her stomach. Greg embraced the both of us. "Mommy…. Why are you crying?" I looked at her and smiled. "I’ll explain when you’re older" I looked to Greg who grinned and hugged us even tighter. I laid Anna back on the bed. Leaving Greg with Anna, I walked into the hall. I saw a tall man walk out of a different room, and he looked exhausted. "Ryan?" The man looked at me. "Heather?" We embraced. "What are you doing here?" Ryan inquired, smiling. "It’s a long story. To make it shorter, Anna had to have surgery, and everything went along greatly"

"Well…" I smirked. "Let me guess…. Pat had a baby?" Ryan looked at me, bewildered. "How’d you know?"

"Let’s just say an angel told me" He went into the room and came out carrying an infant. With a gleam of paternal pride in his eyes, he told me the baby’s name. Sam. Sam Stiles. I said congrats and went back to Greg and Anna. I told Greg what had happened and sat next to him. He took me into his arms and we gently rocked. "I told you it would turn out ok" I smiled "And Greg, you were right. Oh so right"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Just close you eyes
Each lovin' day
And know this feeling won't go away
Every word I say is true
This I promise you
I promise you
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*