Chapter 54

The next day Jake was back at the hospital with a bounce in his step.  He could start his clinical trials.  He was that much closer.

That morning, he had to do an orientation for the neurosurgeons that would be performing the procedures explaining  that he’d discovered and what he needed them to do.  There wasn’t a man or woman in that room that wasn’t excited about what they were doing, and what it would mean to the medical field if they were successful… and if they failed.

Throughout the neurology department that day the neurologists were all in shift determining which of their TBI patients were eligible for the experimental surgery based on a criteria that Jake had written up.  Everyone of his neurologists being on shift that day was unnecessary, he knew, but he wanted to begin the procedures as soon as he could.

He even evaluated his own TBI patients.  The Army Corporal known to him as Yvette Jennings would be receiving the surgery.  His Marine Corps. Private, Marcus Douglas, would be part of the control group.  If the treatment works, you’re next on the list, I promise you this, Private, he thought as he made note on the chart of the group he’d be in.

The rest of Jake’s day was spent either doing his rounds or in his office with several stacks of patient files.  He would go over the contents and decide who would go into what group.  He could have done the trials double blind, but there were certain patients who needed the procedure.  As he looked at the daunting stacks of files, he knew it would take a couple of days to sort through them all.

He’d made the call that he would be taking over each of the cases that made it into the trial so that he could personally monitor the changes.  He didn’t want one of his doctors to document something that wasn’t there or to miss something that was.  It was just easier on him that way.

He started to feel a throbbing right behind his eyes and he knew it was time to walk away.  He checked his watch.  Almost time to go home.  He needed to go dismiss the doctors that didn’t need to be there,  He walked out of his new office on the Neurology floor and went to the nurses’ station.  “Attention please”, he called.  Once he had everyone’s attention, he spoke.  “To those of you that aren’t on shift that made time to be here, thank you and I’ll see you when I see you.  To those of you who were on the day shift, go on home and thank you.  To those of you that are supposed to be on the night shift, I’m sorry to make you work a double, but look at the bright side- you’re all getting paid for being here today. Thank you for being here when you could have been sleeping or spending time with your families.  I thank you all for making this run as smoothly as possible.  I’ll see some of you tomorrow.  If you don’t need to be here any longer, get outta here”, he said with a wave and  turned toward the doctor’s lounge to repeat what he’s just said.

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He stood in his office and debated on whether or not to take his work home with him.  As he wrestled with the dilemma his cell buzzed in his pocket.  “Hello?” he asked, not checking to see who was calling him.

“You bring any of your work home with you, and you won’t get laid tonight, Jacob Micah”, the voice of his wife said over the phone.

“How did you know that’s what I was thinking?” he asked.

“Because I know you,  Bring so much as one file home with you and I’ll kick your ass.”

He laughed.  “You and what army?” he teased.

“Your five sisters”, she said plainly.

“Ok, shit, break out the big guns why don’t you?” he laughed again.

“You’d better believe it.”

“Ok, I’ll leave my patient files here, baby.”

“Good, because when you get home, you need to play ‘Daddy’ and not ‘Doctor’.”

“You got it, love.  Do I get to play ‘Lover’ tonight too?”

“I hope so.  I need my husband in more ways that you can imagine.”

“Once Miri’s asleep, I’m all yours, gorgeous.”

“Good.  Now, bring your ass home and help me out around here.  You’re parents are at your Mom’s PT appointment for her back and your siblings bailed on me, except Maddie and the younger kids who are in school.  And she can only do so much in between appointments.”

“I’ll be home in about an hour.  I’ll be sure to give Malachai and Jordan a big piece of my mind when they show their faces at the house again.”

“Don’t worry about it now.  Just come home to me and our daughter.”

He smiled.  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too, baby.  Bye.” And they hung up.

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The moment he walked in the door, he picked up his little angel.  “Hi there, baby girl!” he said with a smile.  She had been sitting in the floor playing with blocks and several noisy toys that he grandparents had bought her.  Now, she was in Daddy’s arms getting hugs and kisses from him.

“Why did you bother that baby, Jake?” Maddie asked when she walked into the room from the kitchen.  She had a jar of baby food in hand.

“I just got home and I wanted to love on my baby.  You have a problem with that, little sister?”

She laughed.  “Nope, but seeing as you’re home now, you can feed her dinner.”  She held the jar and spoon out to her brother.

Jake laughed and took the items being handed to him.  He pulled the a seat over and put his little girl in it and locked her down.  After popping the top on the jar, he watched his daughter’s eyes light up.  He laughed.   “Do you want some pears, baby girl?” he asked as he dipped the spoon into the jar.

He fed her the fruit in the jar and couldn’t help but smile.  He forgot about everything that he was doing at work and focused on the little green eyed angel sitting in front of him.  She was the only thing in the world that mattered to him in that moment.  When his wife joined them, the world expended to include her as well.  The only two beings that meant anything to him were his wife and daughter.  Everyone else would have to wait for him to give a damn.

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Jake looked up in time to see his brother and his family, as well as his sister and her girlfriend come into the house.  “Well, thanks for sticking around to help Lilah out, you guys”, he said.

“Don’t start, Jake”, Mandy said.

“And why not?  I thought we were ALL going to stick around until Mom was back up to 100%.  Instead, you guys bail the day after she gets home?”

“We had to take the kids to the doctor, Jacob”, Malachai said.

“Then let someone know that, Malachai, instead of leaving Delilah in the house with ONLY Maddie home and she’s busy with a client.  I walked in the house and Miri was sitting in the floor unsupervised.”  He looked at his twin sister.  “What’s your excuse, Jordan?”

“I had to go to the house and get some clean clothes”,

“There’s a washer and dryer here.  Why couldn’t you just wash out what you had?  Or, like to told our brother and sister in law, tell someone that you were leaving so that someone was in here with Miri until Maddie was free to watch?”

“I don’t know where you think you get off chewing my ass, Jake, but you need to take a fucking chill pill.”

“I need to do no such thing.  Think if Miri were YOUR daughter, Jordan.  Would you want your seven month old child alone in this living room.  There are a LOT of things in here she can get hurt on and if this baby would have gotten hurt heads were going to ROLL when you all got back.”

“Maybe we all need to just go to our own places for a few days”, Mandy said calmly.  “I’m sure that the fighting will stress Mom out and that’s not what she needs right now.”

“Why don’t we wait on Mom and Dad to get home before we make any decisions like that”, Delilah said when she walked into the room.  She sat next to her husband and rubbed his shoulders.  “Calm down, baby.  I was going to talk to Mom and Dad about what those two did when they got home anyway.”  She kissed him on the neck.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, taking in only the sensation of her hands on his shoulders as she rubbed, and nodded.  “Lilah’s right.  I might have jumped the gun, and I apologize if I did.  I’m sure you all understand why I’m so protective of Miri.”

“Because she was so early, yes, Jake, we know”, Jordan said with a roll of her eyes.

“You know, Jordan, I know you just rolled your eyes, I could hear it in your voice.  You’re lucky that my wife’s keeping my calm and that our father would kick my ass if I were to raise a hand to you, or I’d kick your ass right now.  But, I think I’ll just wait until Mom and Dad get home so that THEY can chew both you and Malachai’s asses for leaving my daughter in this living room unsupervised.”