Midnight Whispers
QAF Brian and Justin Fanfiction

 

9 am at the Renal Clinic

 

Julian´s POV

 

Though traffic was heavy at this hour, we managed to arrive on time at the Renal Clinic. The car service had let us out at the main entrance of the hospital. We entered through a revolving glass door into a large lobby. The large space, which served as the main information area for the clinic, was bustling as a steady stream of patients and visitors stopped at the front desk to ask about testing, directions, or treatment. 

 

Large waiting areas surrounding the front desk provided patients and their family with enough space to sit and wait for their appointments or their turn to sign in for hospital treatment. A round reception desk in the middle of the registration area was easily accessible for directions to certain parts of the hospital. Future patients and their family or next of kin were provided with the necessary paperwork to fill out before lining up at the respective registration cubicles, and visitors were told where their loved ones were situated in the hospital. I could see a friendly professionalism among the staff and instantly felt a bit more secure. How you are greeted upon arriving at a considerably unwelcoming place like a hospital can make a big difference for healing and the way you see your stay at such a place.

 

As Maddie already knew where the doctor´s office was located, we didn´t bother to wait at the reception desk to be directed there. Maddie went straight ahead to one of the banks of elevators down the hall from the front entrance and impatiently pushed the call button.

 

“I wonder why all the people always have to push the elevator´s button so furiously, thinking it will arrive sooner when they do it,” I said to her with a wide grin. The only answer I got was a smack on my forearm and a furious glance from Myles’ sister. Myles, who had taken my hand while walking through the hospital´s hall, squeezed it reassuringly and grinned at me supportively.

 

“You obviously still don´t know my sister very well,” he said. Luckily for Maddie she was saved by the opening elevator doors and we entered the car to rush up to the 7th floor, where Dr. Hargreaves’ office was situated.  The ride was silent as we were all lost in thought over the upcoming meeting, wondering what to expect and fearing what might be lying ahead. After a short time we heard the “ding” announcing the arrival at the desired floor and left the elevator.

 

The whole floor was decorated in warm, welcoming colors and a lot of potted plants to give the normally austere place a homey atmosphere.  Another reception desk was placed in front of the elevator´s door where two young ladies were busy attending the phone, receiving clients and storing files.  One of the women, whose name was Mary-Ellen according to the name-tag attached to her scrubs uniform, welcomed us and greeted Maddie with a recognizing smile.

 

“Good morning, Ms. MacAllister.  Please proceed to Dr. Hargreaves’ office; he is already waiting for you,” she advised us, indicating the correct way with her outstretched hand. I could see her looking at Myles and me with a flirty smile, which faded a bit when she looked down and recognized that we were holding hands which obviously showed her which team we were playing for. But she managed to maintain her professionalism and kept her smile firmly in place, greeting us with another nod of her head.

 

Myles and I followed Maddie down the hall to the doctor´s office. I noticed Myles’ hand getting cold and sweaty as his grip tightened in mine. I turned around and stood before him, taking his chin and lifting it a little bit with my other hand so that we could look in each other’s eyes.

“Myles, don´t be afraid,” I told him with an assuring glance on my face. “I will be with you all the way through, and you know me, I am a hell of a lawyer when it comes to injustice. We don´t even know if you´re a match!” I pulled him close to me in a reassuring hug and noticed him nodding with his face in the crook of my neck. I glanced over at Maddie who was somewhat impatiently waiting at the door to the doctor´s office. I mouthed her silently “One moment more…” and waited till I could feel that Myles had composed himself again and was able to face the doctor and especially his father who we knew was also waiting behind the door.

 

 

Dr. Hargreaves’ POV

 

Myles Sr. had entered my office together with his wife a little while ago. I had asked them if they wanted some coffee or refreshment but they had politely declined. I offered them a seat on the comfortable leather couch which was part of my spacious office. Over the years I had noticed that typically when I was dealing with especially complicated issues like Myles’ disease and personal circumstances, the whole situation was easier to talk about if patients and their family were received in a more comfortable sitting area such as a couch, coffee and tables instead of distancing myself behind my foreboding desk. Myles and I were going over his latest test results again when I noticed the intercom to my secretary´s office buzzing.

 

“Doctor Hargreaves, Mr. MacAllister´s family has arrived.”

 

I went over to open the door myself to receive them personally, eager to meet Myles’ son after such a long time treating his father.

 

The first to enter was Myles’ daughter Maddie. I had come to like her sense of humor and respected how she had tried to lift her father’s spirits after he had finally come out to her and her mother about his disease and prognosis. By virtue of the times we had spent here together in my office going over all the results and possible effects on their family life, I could see that she was in fact a strong person to lean on, someone that Myles and the rest of the family needed for now. She had become well-informed about everything relating to her father´s problems and didn´t hesitate to ask questions in case she didn´t understand what I was talking about or when she noticed that her father couldn´t really follow what I was trying to explain. So I was happy to have her here, supporting her family, even if she couldn´t be involved directly by being the donor, and I welcomed her with a friendly handshake.

 

Behind her, two strikingly beautiful young men entered my office holding each other’s hand. First I was a bit confused about whom the son was, but when I looked in their faces I could see a resemblance to his father on Myles Jr.’s face.

 

I stretched out my hand to welcome both to the reunion in my office.

 

“You must be Myles?” I greeted Myles Sr.’s son. He hesitated a bit before he let go of his partner´s hand, but then stretched his own hand out to give me a firm handshake. I noticed his hand was somewhat sweaty, but as I was used to nervous patients and their next of kin, I didn´t let him see what I had noticed. “I am Dr. Hargreaves, your father´s long time physician. It is nice to finally meet you!” I told him, smiling reassuringly and looking into his eyes. Seldom had I seen such mesmerizing blue eyes on someone!

 

Then I turned my gaze to his partner, to also welcome him “on board” so to speak. It´s not that I was in any way homophobic, on the contrary. But this was the first time I had really faced a gay couple and with that also the devastating fact of how their relationship might possibly affect the actions in case Myles Jr. would be a match to donate a kidney and help his father survive his lethal disease.

 

“Julian Parish,” he told me with a smooth baritone voice, also stretching out his hand to greet me. I motioned with my arm over to the coffee table and the adjusting couch and chairs, and then I signaled Marsha to hold all my calls while I met with my patient and his family.

 

When I turned back to the group I could observe the family’s interaction. Maddie gave her parents a hug and sat beside her mother on the smaller sofa, proportioned for the glass-covered coffee table in the center of the sitting area.  Myles Jr. gave his mother a brief hug and shook his father´s hand shortly but firmly. Myles’ partner was welcomed with a warm smile by his mother, obviously she knew him more intimately then her husband.  Myles Sr. just gave him a short glance over and then the three sat down on the bigger couch, Myles Jr. in the middle between his father and his partner.

 

Inwardly sighing I made a detour to my desk to retrieve the complete file about Myles Sr. and went over to join the family to start discussing with them the options on how to proceed.   

 

 

 

 

You must login (register) to review.