Why?
After couple of days Aden was in good shape. He was in a good mood again. He laughed a lot which was a good sign. Lexa was happy that her son finally felt better. She didn't talk too much with Clarke. She only gave her informations about Aden's health. They didn't talk like they used to. Lexa didn't ask how the blonde's day was going. Of course Clarke tried to apologize again but Lexa didn't wanted to hear it. Unless the blonde confessed, which she didn't do. It was hard for the both of them.
Lexa was in her office. She had to fill in some papers. It was a tough day. She needed to buy some new equipment and it required paperwork. She hated it but she had to do it. She was half way through it when her phone rang. She quickly looked at the screen. Raven was calling. Lexa sighed. She didn't like when someone was bothering her during work. But Raven was babysitting Aden so she knew she needed to answer it.
“Yes, Raven?”
“Hello to you to Lexa. I hope you have an amazing day today.” Raven was being nice. Too nice. Lexa knew something had happened.
“What did you do?”
“Me? Nothing. I feel offended that you think I did something.”
“You are never nice. So? What happened?”
“You know… Me and Aden were building a tree house in the backyard. We had such a great time until...” Raven hesitated. She knew Lexa would be furious. She was already dead.
“Until what? Raven is Aden okay?” Lexa became more and more concerned. She heard in the background that Raven wasn't home. “Raven where are you? Where is my son?” She started slowly raising her voice.
“You have nothing to worry about. It's nothing too serious. He might have, kind of fallen of the tree and broken his arm.” The last three words were said very quietly.
“He what?!” She was yelling now at her best friend. “Which hospital are you in? I'm on my way.” Lexa grabbed her jacket and stormed off her office. “Lincoln I gotta go. Can you handle everything?”
“Yeah, yeah.” He answered and went back to his duties.
“Lexa you don't have to come here. Everything is under control. I just wanted to give you a heads up before you come home.” Raven sounded nervous.
“Yeah, I see how you have everything under control. I'll be there in ten.” She hung up and drove to the hospital. The minute she crossed the front door she approached the receptionist desk. “Hello, my name is Lexa Woods. I'm looking for my son. Aden Woods?” Lexa was very worried and that could be heard in her voice.
“Give me a second.” The nurse searched Aden's name in the computer and gave her a genuine smile. “He is in room 214. It's on the second floor and forth door to the left of the elevator.”
“Thank you.” She went straight to the elevator and two minutes after she entered Aden's room. She looked murderously at Raven. She shifted her gaze to Aden. “Hey buddy. Are you okay?” She sat next to him.
“Hey mom. Look I have a green cast.” He smiled widely at her. He didn't mind having a broken arm if he could wear an awesome colorful cast. He was four. What could she expect? “You can write on it.”
“Yeah it's pretty awesome. I'll sign it a little later okay?” She reciprocated his smile. But it didn't reduce her worries. He nodded his head at her question. “So who is gonna tell me what happened?”
“Me and Aunt Raven have build a tree house. It is huge and so awesome.” He started to tell Lexa how he helped Raven to hammer nails.
“Raven are you out of your mind? Nails? With a four year old boy?” Now Lexa was furious. Why was Raven so stupid sometimes.
“Hey easy there tiger. He didn't do anything. I'm not that stupid. He only gave me the nails.” Lexa sighed.
“I'm going to talk to the doctor so please behave. Both of you.” She looked at Raven and after that at Aden.
“Yes mom.” They said both in unison.
Lexa exited the room and looked for a doctor. She found the doctor's office and knocked. After she heard permission she entered the office.
“How can I help you?” The doctor said and he pointed to a chair across from him.
“Hi. I'm Lexa Woods. I would like to know more about my son's condition. Aden Woods.” She sat on the chair and looked directly at the male doctor.
“Oh yes. He has a broken arm. It's a simple break so he has to wear a cast for six weeks. But when we performed a routine examination we could hear heart murmurs. It's common but they were loud ones and that's why we were concerned. It could be nothing serious but we want to perform a detailed examination. But before we do it I need to ask you some questions.”
When she heard “but” she froze. She wasn't prepared for that. Even when the doctor said that it could be nothing serious she still had a bad feeling. Everything was not like it was supposed to be. It was a really bad week for all of them. She nodded and waited for his first question.
“Do your son tire out faster than he should? I mean with simple things like running, walking up the stairs, playing?” Lexa needed to think and remember if she had noticed something. She couldn't recall any of this. He was a normal kid. Of course when he was running too much he was tired. But was he tired any more than he should be? She didn't know. That's why she needed Clarke. She was a doctor. She could answer that question. She would know what the doctor had in mind.
“I… I don't know.” She said quietly.
“It's okay. It's difficult to observe. Let me rephrase this. When he is running for less that ten minutes does he seem more tired than he should? When he is walking uphill does he need to take more than a few stops?”
“He is four year old. Of course he tires out quickly. How is this relevant?” She didn't know why he was asking that. She knew in her guts that it was nothing good.
“Because we suspect a heart defect. When he was little did he have idiopathic apnea?” When she heard the first sentence her whole world collapsed. Did he just say that her son could have a heart disease? No this couldn't be happening. This was not happening. She blinked rapidly a couple of times and cleared her throat.
“Um… Yeah, he had a few times. But Clarke told me that was normal. She examined him and she didn't say anything about heart murmurs.” She was terrified now. She didn't know anything about it. It was Clarke's job.
“Yes. It's very normal and that's why it's hard to diagnose. Everybody has heart murmurs but when a person is healthy it's very quiet. When we hear quiet noises around the heart that means that it is working. That the blood flow is normal. But with your son it's slightly different. The noises are louder than they should.” The doctor saw how Lexa's face expression dropped. “Mrs Woods. I could be wrong. It doesn't mean that something is wrong. That's why I suggested to perform a detailed examination.” He offered her a small smile. He knew that when parents heard about the possibility of their child having a disease it was hard to calm them down.
“Okay. Do it. Can I stay with him? I mean during the examination?” She didn't want to leave her son. She wanted to be with him at all times. Nothing mattered but Aden.
“Of course. I don't see why not.” He smiled at her. “You can go to your son now. That's all I have for you for now.”
“Okay, thank you for the information.” She nodded and then went to her son. She was shaken. She didn't know what to do now. It could be nothing. Lexa don't freak out. She thought. The brunette pulled out her phone and dialed Clarke's number. She needed to hear her voice even if she was angry at her.
“You've reached Dr. Clarke Griffin. I can't tal...” She hung up. Of course Clarke would be busy. She always was busy when she needed her. She tried calling her two more times but it was the same result. Voice mail. She sighed and entered Aden's room. She looked at him and sat beside him.
“Mom? Can we go home now?” He looked at her with plea and snuggled into her.
“Not yet baby. The doctors need to do another examination. But I will be with you all the time, okay monkey?” She kissed his head and looked at Raven. The other brunette could see fear in Lexa's eyes.
“Lex what is it? He only has a broken arm. It'll be fine.” She tried to comfort her friend but she didn't understand why they needed to do another examination.
“He told me that he has heart murmurs, whatever it is, much louder that he should. And he suspects a heart defect. I don't know what to do. And I need Clarke but she isn't picking her fucking phone.” She had never been so scared in her entire life. Actually no. She had been more scared once.
4 years earlier
Lexa was laying with Clarke in their bed. Aden was between them. He looked so peaceful. It was his second day in their house. He had his own bedroom across their own but they wanted to have him over night with them. Lexa smiled at Clarke and leaned to kiss her. It was soft kiss but conveyed everything what Lexa was feeling right now. Love, devotion, happiness, fear. Everything.
“We have a beautiful son. I can't believe we are parents.” She smiled at her son who was asleep.
“Yeah. He is amazing.” Clarke was so happy. She had never seeen herself as a mother but with Lexa she knew she could do it. They could raise him together. They were a family. She looked how Lexa leaned down to kiss her son's forehead.
“Clarke! He's not breathing. Oh my God. He's not breathing!” She yelled. She looked at Clarke terrified. Tears streaked down her cheeks. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't loose him. Not after two days. And then Clarke took him by his feet. And hit his back. Not to strong but hard enough. The small boy started crying and also breathing. Clarke hugged him and held him closed. She started to calm him down. She looked at a shaken Lexa.
“Hey. Babe it's okay. It's normal. Sometimes it's happens. He's okay now.” She grabbed one of Lexa's hand and squeezed. “Lexa. Look at me. Hey, Lex” She squeezed her hand one more time but this time harder. Lexa snapped back and looked at Clarke. “It's okay. He's okay.”
“But he wasn't breathing.” She said quietly.
“I know. But he is now. Please don't cry. It's okay now.” She kissed Lexa on the cheek and looked at their son. “Look he is okay.” Lexa looked at her son. He creased his cheek. Her son was okay. He was breathing again. He was okay.
Yep, that was definitely the most terrifying moment of her entire life. Raven had called Abby and Lexa was so grateful for that. If anybody could convince her not to worry it was Abby. She was a doctor. Lexa trusted her and her opinion.
“Thank you Raven for being here. Thanks for handling this.” Lexa knew she could always count on her best friend.
“Don't mention it. I can stay with you guys.” Lexa shook her head.
“No, go home. I can take it from here. I'll call you later.” She hugged Raven and whispered another thank you. Raven ruffled Aden's hair.
“Take care buddy. I'll see you soon.”
“Bye Auntie Raven.” He smiled at her. Raven hugged Lexa again and exited the room.
After a ten maybe fifteen minutes wait a nurse entered the room with two devices on wheels. The first one was a device to perform a EKG which could give quick results and the other was for an echocardiography which was a sonogram of the heart.
“Doctor Kane will come in a little while. He will do an echocardiography and I will do the EKG.” The nurse smiled a little. She moved the device closer and looked at Aden.
“Mom I'm scared.” He looked at his mother with watery eyes.
“It's okay baby. I will be here the entire time. I'm not going to leave you okay?” She kissed his forehead and winked at him to calm him down a little.
“Hey buddy. It's going to be painless. You don't need to be scared. We have a couple colorful electrodes. I'm gonna attach them to your chest okay?” She gave him one of them so he could see that it was nothing to worry about. He watched it precisely and nodded his head. “Do you know colors?”
“Yeah, me and my mommy do a lot of pictures.” He smiled widely completely forgetting about his fear.
“Really? That's awesome. So can you teach me what those colors are?” Lexa was grateful that the nurse was so nice to him and tried to keep his mind occupied.
“You don't know them?” He said with wide eyes.
“Not really, but it will be our secret okay?” She looked at him and winked. He nodded and smiled at her and when she started to attach every electrodes to his body he named the color of each of them. After a few minutes the EKG was over and the record of the device was printed. She pulled off every electrodes and smiled at the little boy. “It wasn't that bad huh?” He shook his head and reciprocated her smile. The doctor entered the room and looked at the printed record of the EKG and hummed.
“There are little differences but nothing beyond the norm.” He smiled at Aden and sat on the chair next to him. “Hey champ. How are you feeling? Does your arm hurt?” The blonde boy shook his head. “That's good. I'll take a look at you now okay?”
“Do you have to?” He saw the huge device and took his mother's hand. Lexa smiled at him and squeezed his hand gently to gave him some courage.
“I think I do, but hey you can check if it hurts okay?” Doctor gave him the knob. “Try to run over your stomach.” When Aden did as he had been told he looked back at the doctor. “Does it hurt?”
“No.”
“So can I do it?”
“Yeah.” Little boy gave the knob to the doctor and took again his mother's hand.
“I'll put some gel on this so I can see your heart okay? It will be a bit cold.” The doctor started his examination. He looked at his heart from every angle. “You hear that?” He asked and the room filled with sound of a pumping heart. Aden nodded. “It's your heart beating. Pretty fast don't you think?”
“It's my heart? I don't see it.” The little boy was curious.
“Here.” Doctor pointer at shadow on a screen. “Do you see it now?”
“Yeah. But it looks strange. It's not what I draw with my mommy.” He didn't understand why it looked different. The doctor only laughed. He gave Lexa some paper to wipe the gel from Aden's chest.
“So everything looks normal. The blood flow is okay. The size of the heart is also normal. It's safe to say I was wrong. Everything is good. And you have a very healthy boy.” When Lexa heard it she breathed a sigh of relief. She had been so scared but she was happy that everything was good.
“Thank you.” She smiled at the doctor and looked at her son. “You were very brave.”
“And for the brave patients we have an award.” He took a lollipop from his pocket and gave it to Aden.
“Can you open it?” He looked at Lexa. She nodded and opened it for him.
“Okay Aden. It is time to go home.” He climbed down the bed. “Thank you again.” She smiled at the doctor and she and Aden left the room. In the hallway they bumped into Abby. Lexa told her that everything was fine.
“Thank God. I was so worried.” Abby hugged her grandson and smiled at him. She moved her gaze on to Lexa. “You look exhausted. I could come with you and make you dinner. I can take care of Aden while you rest okay?”
“Thanks Abby.” She was glad that Abby was here. The emotions after today's events slowly started to drop. She felt how exhaustion took control of her body. Aden and Abby started to go in the car and Lexa was walking behind him. When she was crossing the hospital entrance she bumped into someone. She looked up.
“I'm sorry. Are you… Wells?” She was surprised. He was supposed to be with Clarke in Africa.
“Hey Lexa.” He hugged her.
“When did you come back?”
“Two weeks ago. We all did.”
“All? You mean Clarke came back too? She didn't extend her tour?” She didn't know if she wanted to hear the answer. She knew what he was going to say and her heart was beating so fast that she was afraid that it might fell out of her chest.
“No. Clarke is in the country.” Her heart dropped. She froze. That was what she feared the most. This was a really bad day. She felt tears coming to her eyes and threatening to fall. “You didn't know?”
“No… I'm sorry Wells but I have to go.” She couldn't be here. She walked fast to her car where Abby and Aden were standing. When she approached them she opened the car and Aden got in.
“Lexa. Are you okay?” She had hoped that Abby didn't see anything but she was wrong. Abby saw how her facial expression had changed. And not in a good way.
“Yeah. I just wanna lie down.” Abby nodded. They both got into the car and drove home. When Lexa entered her bedroom she lied down on the bed and buried her head in the pillows. She started crying and her whole body was shaking. She didn't understand why Clarke was lying. Her heart had broken into thousands of pieces when she had heard those five words.
Clarke was in the country.