Pull through

Three hours had passed when the red light above the large grey-white doors finally went off. After having stared at that light so intensely, they immediately noticed it turning off and all three of them jumped up to wait for the doors to open.

The seconds between the extinguishing of the light and the opening of the doors felt like time was standing still and they felt themselves getting restless from the wait. The hours until now had been hard but being this close to the finish line, these final moments of waiting seemed even harder. So, the moment they saw the doors opening and a two people, a young female and an older male, stepped out, wearing surgical scrubs, Noah stepped forward to get answers.

"I'm sorry doctors but could you please tell me how the operation went? Is Steve, Mr. Branson, going to be alright?"

Though both of them seemed exhausted after working intensively for hours on end, when they saw the look of concern in Noah's eyes and the equally concerned looking people behind him, they smiled as they said, "Though we won't know for certain if he will be fine until he wakes up from the narcosis, the surgery went well. We managed to stop all the larger bleedings and we have given him an IV with medication for the smaller ones. Fortunately he got here just in time. Mr. Branson will be taken to a recovery room in a few minutes, then you can go see him."

Though Steve wasn't fully in the clear, hearing this, Noah felt a huge sense of relief and showed it by letting out a deep breath before thanking both doctors for their good news and their hard work in the operating room. After that he went back to where Laila and Maria were waiting anxiously and he relayed the doctors' words.

"The doctors' said the operation went well and that we can go see him in a few minutes. We have to wait until he wakes up to know if he is going to be fine though. But at least we have overcome one hurdle. Steve is strong. I am convinced he'll pull through that part as well after getting through the tough part."

With a trace of tears welling up in her eyes Maria nodded. Taking comfort in Noah's words. She too believed he was strong and that he would not be giving up without a fight. If the multiple internal bleedings couldn't get him down, neither should some anaesthesia and a concussion. Hearing that the operation had gone well made her already feel a lot more relieved than how she had felt coming in the hospital. It had given her some reassurance and added to her level of hope that everything would be okay.

All three of them were just talking over things when Steve was rolled out from the operating room on a bed. He was looking quite pale still from all the blood he had lost and seeing him looking so frail and weak made Noah feel an unexpected stab. He was feeling responsible for Steve getting hurt and ending up in the state he was currently in. It was a type of survivors guilt, even though it wasn't certain whether Steve would have any lasting injuries from today's events. But despite that 'technicality', Steve getting so hurt was enough for Noah to question everything he had done up until that point.

He was wondering if there had been anything he could have handled differently to prevent this from happening. Whether it shouldn't have been him to get hurt, since it was him who had aggravated Harold until he felt it was necessary to get explosives involved. Noah felt that by using Harold's nephew as a distraction tactic, he had brought so many of his loved ones in danger. Not only had his best friend been so hurt that he needed emergency surgery, he had almost hurt his wife and unborn son to get to someone that was so unimportant in hindsight.

Sure, he had initially chosen to go after Harold in order to protect his friends and family but he wondered if he had lost his eyes on that goal along the way. He had taken many risk and looking back, he felt like he had taken things further than might have been necessary. Asking himself now, "Because of what?" All because he had gotten overconfident, because he had been blinded by his goal and gotten too zealous. Getting too immersed in the role he had to fulfil.

He hadn't been able to think about these things until now. Having been too worried about Steve and being too angry at Harold, he didn't have the mental space to question his own actions. There had been no room to reflect and look back on what had gotten them to this point. But with Steve's surgery having finished and gone well, one of his main distractions had been eliminated. Being confronted with Steve's unconscious body, including all the bruises and visible wounds, immediately after letting out a breath of relief, made all those suppressed thoughts boil up to the surface.