31"I'm so exhausted." Allison said, flopping down on the sofa next to Greg. On the comfy chair adjacent to them Amy was curled up, half asleep. Somewhere above them, a baby cried quietly. All three fell silent as they listened, praying the cries would stop on their own. They didn't...instead they grew louder.
"It's Lucy." Amy mumbled.
"It's always Lucy." Allison replied, eyes closed. Greg heaved himself wearily off the sofa,
"I'll get her."
"Don't bring her down." Allison warned, "The book says..."
"I know what the book says but the book never had children." He didn't mean to be snippy with her but he was so tired it just came out wrong. He leaned down and kissed her apologetically on the forehead, but realised that she had fallen asleep and not even heard him. He walked slowly up the stairs; the cries getting louder as he entered the twin's nursery. Lucy was squirming around in her crib, her blankets rumpled and her tiny hands were clenched into fists. Greg laid a hand gently on her chest, a gesture which instantly quietened her down.
"Hey..." he soothed, feeling her furious heartbeat slowing through her yellow sleep-suit. "What's going on?" Neither Greg nor Allison nor Amy talked to the babies as if they were just that, babies. "Hmm? What, is going on, with you?" Lucy's face broke into a little smile as she heard her father's voice. At five weeks old both she and Ben were advanced – though Ben smiled less than his sister. Greg joked that they both took after Amy, something which she adored.
The cribs had been positioned side by side, and Greg moved to check on his son. He was surprised to see Ben's eyes wide open and alert. When the baby saw his father's face looming over the edge of the crib he too broke into a smile.
"Did your sister wake you up?" Greg asked, reaching into the crib and letting Ben wrap his tiny hand around one finger. "I bet she did. She just wanted the attention, didn't she." Ben squeezed Greg's finger, almost as if he understood. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
"I miss them already." Allison moaned, checking her pager. She and Greg were sat in his office on her first day back after Maternity leave. Greg had gone back to work after the first month, and Allison had stayed at home for a further three months. When the twins had been born Allison had seriously doubted whether she could bear to be away from them every day, but since Amy had gone to Harvard a month before, at the beginning of September, she had felt herself going almost crazy without the company of another adult for the better part of the day.
"They're fine in the daycare." Greg told her, sliding the patient's file across the table to her. "Thought you might want to catch up before Foreman and Chase get in."
"Right. Ok." She took the file through to the conference room, making a pot of coffee (and a herbal tea for herself) whilst browsing through it. She jumped as her cell-phone rang. Scrambling around in her purse, which contained a million and one things she knew she would never need, but carried 'just in case', she found the phone and flipped it open.
"Hey." Amy's voice came down the line.
"Hi." Allison let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She waved through the glass wall to Greg, indicating that it was Amy on the phone. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I was calling to check whether you were. First day back to work...how much do you miss them?" Even though she couldn't see her step-daughter's face, she knew that Amy was smiling.
"On a scale of one to ten? Eleven." She answered, swatting away Greg's hands as he tried to grab the phone. "Hold on a sec, your Dad wants to talk to you."
"Hi." Greg said, "Do you have class this morning?...yeah...I heard he's good...I will." He laughed at something Amy was saying. "Yeah I know. I will...I said yes, didn't I?...ok. Talk to you tonight...Love you too. Bye." Greg passed the phone back to Allison, who by now had finished making the pot of coffee and exchanged his red mug for her cell phone.
"Hey it's me." She said, "...what class do you have?...have a good day...ok...bye." Allison flipped the phone shut at the same time as Foreman and Chase entered the conference room, talking about the new nurse in paeds.
"Hey, Cameron!" Foreman said, quickly hugging his newly returned co-worker, and accepting the coffee she offered. She offered Chase his cup, and hugged him with one arm.
"It's good to have you back." He said.
"We missed you." Foreman added. Allison laughed,
"You saw me last week!" In the weeks leading up to her return to work Allison had brought the twins into the hospital every other day and left them for an hour in the daycare – something that a friend had recommended to get them used to the change in environment. She had spent those free hours pottering around the hospital, visiting different nurses and technicians who she hadn't been able to keep up with since the birth of the twins.
"Yeah but now you look like old Cameron." Chase said. Greg cleared his throat.
"And that's enough of the welcome backs, in case you had all forgotten we have a patient. 13 year old diabetic with pain behind the eyes..." He handed out patient files to Chase and Foreman, and as they studied the notes Greg caught his wife's eye. He winked.
"Patient presented in the clinic with double vision, drooping eyelids and unco-ordinated walking. Reflex is decreased and blood pressure is low. She was admitted yesterday following a hallucination, of which she now has no memory." Chase rattled off the symptoms from the file in front of him, then glanced around at the rest of the team.
"MRI results?" Allison asked, examining her copy of the file.
"Showed slight variation in the brain tissue but nothing significant." Foreman replied. Greg tapped his foot impatiently, and was about to say something when a familiar voice asked;
"Any evidence of a thiamine deficiency? It sounds like Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome." All four doctors turned to see Amy standing leaning against the doorframe. She was dressed casually, in a blue top under a black leather jacket, and a black knee length skirt matched with black high heeled shoes. Her hair, which had been waist-length when Allison and Greg had left her at Harvard, was now cut short – to her shoulders and it suited her perfectly. She smiled at them all, staring at her and walked casually across the room to hug her father.
"I didn't think you were coming home next weekend?" Greg said, holding her tightly.
"Yeah, but your anniversary is this weekend" Amy answered. "I thought I could take the twins and you two could go and celebrate somewhere." She turned to hug Allison, then Chase and lastly Foreman.
"How's school?" Chase asked as they all sat around the conference table.
"I love it!" Amy replied, studying the open patient file. "My professor's sick though, that's why I managed to come home a week early. You know, I think I'm right about this patient."
"Probably. Foreman, go run the tests. Chase, take Cameron's clinic hours for today. We're cutting out early."
"You've gotten so big! Yes, you have. " Amy exclaimed, holding Lucy tightly. The delighted little girl squealed and kicked her legs at her big sister. At nearly six months old both the twins had cut their first teeth, Lucy screaming blue murder most nights while Ben was a lot quieter. Amy passed Lucy to Allison, and picked Ben up from the play mat on the floor.
"And you Mister. How cute are you?" She sat the little boy on her lap and gently bounced her knees. A smile spread over his face as he jiggled up and down. A loud crash from the kitchen, followed by an even louder "Dammit" broke the easy atmosphere. Lucy jumped in shock and started crying, holding tightly to Allison's sweater as both women got to their feet.
Greg was standing in the middle of the kitchen, surrounded by broken china.
"Are you ok?" Allison called over the noise of Lucy's crying.
"Dishes were wet; hand slipped. Don't come in, I'll clear it up." Allison rocked Lucy up and down. Lucy, comforted, quietened down and contented herself with playing with a strand of Allison's hair.
"Take the kids back through, I'll be there in a minute." Nodding at her husband, Allison took Lucy through to the lounge, setting her down on the Winnie the Pooh play mat. Since having the twins, their usually stylishly tidy living room had become an extension of the nursery, with toys and infant-sized clothes everywhere. Even the cat wouldn't go in there anymore; she spent most of her time lounging on or under Amy's bed upstairs. Amy followed with Ben, and sat down with the little boy on her lap.
"Allison?" she said, eyes on the little boys face.
"Yeah?"
"Clap your hands." Allison looked confused at the instruction.
"Why?"
"Just, clap your hands. Loudly." Allison complied, clapping her hands together as loudly as she could. The noise made Lucy jump but Ben, from his position facing towards Amy, didn't react. Amy clapped her own hands in front of Ben, this time he jumped a little.
"Did you see that? Clap your hands again." Allison clapped her hands, drawing a reaction from Lucy but once again not from Ben.
"Oh my God." Allison said, standing and plucking Ben off of his big sister's lap. She held him against her. "Make a noise. Call him or something." Amy called out 'Ben! Ben! Ben sweetie, look at Amy." But the little boy didn't react; he simply continued playing with Allison's necklace.
"What's with all the clapping?" Greg said, coming into the living room. Allison spun around, Ben giggling quietly at the sudden movement.
"He doesn't hear." She said, tears forming in her eyes.
"What?" he asked, taking his son from her.
"He doesn't react to noises. Watch." Allison stood behind Ben, and called his name. The little boy didn't make any reaction. Tears spilled down her cheeks.