Careless Mistake
by Kelli
Part 71
August 2006.......
Justin continued to stroke Britney's hair while he, his mom, mother-in-law and Britney waited for the surgeon to come talk to them in the waiting room. Britney was still sleeping, with her head on his lap. She didn't even wake up when Lynn returned to the room or when Lynne joined them.
"She hasn't been sleeping well has she?" Lynne asked Justin as she stared at her daughter.
"No....we've both been tossing and turning the last few nights," he replied.
The door opened and the surgeon entered the room.
"Brit....wake up, honey," Justin said, gently as he nudged her awake.
"Hmm?" she asked as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.
"The doctor is here," he said.
"Getting some well needed rest, I see," Dr. Wellington said as he smiled at them.
Smiling is good, Justin thought.
"Well, the operation went very well. We drained the fluid and repaired a nerve that was pinched...."
"How is Chase?" Britney asked in a groggy tone since she was still trying to wake up.
"He's doing very well. He's still in recovery. They should be taking him back to his room in an hour or so."
They asked a few more questions and when the doctor left Britney took a deep breath and released it.
"Great news," Lynne said with a clap of her hands. "Thank you Lord," she said looking up.
"It is a blessing," Lynn agreed.
"Now he starts to long process of therapy...." Britney said.
"It will be interesting to see what kind of therapy they do for a four month old," Justin said.
Britney's mind started to race.
A few hours later Britney was staring down at Chase. He was awake, but very groggy, she could tell.
"How long will he have to have a brace on, do you know?" Britney asked the nurse who was checking his IV.
"It actually depends on how well his body has responded to the surgery. He might be able to go without it in a few weeks or it could be a few months."
"But I'll get to hold him with it on, right?" Britney asked as she looked up at the nurse.
The nurse smiled. "Yes, you will. They might let you hold him in a couple of days. That's important for the recovery process."
Britney stuck her finger in Chase's balled up hand. "That's what I want the most right now."
"He sleeping yet?" Justin asked as he came back to the room. He stood on the other side of the crib and stared down at his son.
"Not yet."
Chase's eyes followed Justin's voice.
"The nurse said I might get to hold him in a couple of days," Britney said excitedly.
"That's good news," Justin said.
"He looks good, considering he had surgery today, doesn't he?" Britney asked.
"Yes he does," Justin agreed. "You look tired, I think we should go when he falls asleep," he said, looking up at her.
"I wonder if they'd let me stay the night....."
"Brit...."
"I could just sleep on the chair," she said, looking at the chair over her shoulder.
"Brit....."
"I'm tired of leaving him, Justin," she snapped.
He glanced behind him at the nurse and then stood up straight. He walked around the crib and grabbed Britney's arm, gently pulling her into the hallway.
"Let me go," she said.
"I'm tired of leaving him too but I'm sure he needs his rest just like you do. You need to take care of yourself," he said, glaring at her.
"I'm tired of taking care of myself.....I'm not going to be fine until he's home," she said before going back into the room.
Justin stood there and looked up while he counted to ten. When he returned to the room, Britney was by Chase's side with his hand curled around her finger again. She was leaning over and kissing his cheek.
"I love you, I love you, I love you," she sang softly to him.
He stood behind her and watched her for a few more minutes. He knew if he waited long enough she would realize he was right so he sat down in a chair and did just that.
After another thirty minutes, she bent down and kissed Chase's hand and turned around.
"Let's go," she said before walking into the hallway.
Justin stood up, walked over to Chase's crib, noticed that he was asleep and then leaned down and kissed the baby's forehead.
"Daddy loves you," he whispered before going into the hallway himself.
He caught up with her at the elevator doors.
"It's been a long day," he said once they were in the elevator.
Britney didn't say anything, she just hit the button for the lobby and stared at the closed doors. Justin stared at her back and then shook his head. He wasn't going to plead or argue with her right now, he was too emotionally exhausted.
The elevator stopped at a different floor and a family got on with someone in a wheelchair so Britney had to stand directly in front of Justin so they would all fit. When her back touched his chest she tensed up but then realized how silly she was being so she relaxed and leaned against him. He sensed this so he put his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed it.
A young girl on the elevator with them looked over at Britney.
"How is your son?" she asked softly.
Britney barely heard her but she turned her head and smiled at the girl.
"He's going to be fine, thank you for asking."
The girl smiled back and continued to stare at the door.
While they were walking down the lobby toward the exit Britney said, "Sometimes I forget that this story is probably on every entertainment news show there is. It surprises me when a total stranger knows what's going on."
Justin took her hand because they were almost to the parking lot. "Yeah I let myself forget sometimes too."
Once they were outside the crowd that was behind a barricade that was made all took notice and started taking pictures and yelling questions out at them.
Britney gripped Justin's hand tighter. Security did a good job of keeping them away from the pathway to the parking lot but there were more people out here now than there had been before. Neither said anything, they just quickly walked to their car.
"That scared the hell out of me," Britney said, once they were in the car.
Justin sat there for a second to catch his breath. "Me too. I had no idea there were so many out there."
"I don't feel safe leaving Chase there," she said looking at him.
Justin nodded and picked up his phone. He dialed Johnny, his manager.
He explained the situation to Johnny and Johnny said he'd get right on top of adding more security and very limited access to Chase's room.
"There," Justin said as he looked over at Britney, who was staring out the window.
"You know Johnny will get it taken care of right away," he said.
"I know he will. I just worry," she said.
~*~
The next day Justin and Britney were back at the hospital bright and early.
"How did he do last night?" Britney asked the nurse once they were in the room.
"He did fine but I'm sure he was still feeling the affects of the anesthesia," she replied.
"I noticed you beefed up security," the nurse said.
"There were more reporters outside than we realized yesterday," Justin answered.
"He looks good," Britney said, looking up at Justin.
Justin nodded.
"You're just in time, the doctor just called and said he was going to be down to check on him. He's probably going to check for signs of feeling in Chase's feet today," the nurse said happily.
Britney's eyes widened. "Already?" She gave a worried look to Justin.
"I'm sure it's fine, Brit."
She was just worried what it meant if Chase still couldn't feel anything in his legs.
Within a half hour Dr. Wellington showed up.
"Good morning," he said as he walked over to the crib.
"Hi doctor," Justin replied.
"Good morning," Britney said.
She walked around the crib and stood next to Justin, who put his arm around her. They were standing a little bit back so they were out of the way.
The doctor and nurse carefully turned Chase over so that the nurse could undress the bandages covering the staples.
"He's such a good baby," the nurse said over her shoulder.
Britney nodded. "Yeah he slept through the night almost right away."
Britney wanted to watch, out of curiosity but she knew if she saw the staples at this point, it would only upset her, so she stood behind Justin a little, who could see what was going on. He would cock his head to the side a little to get a better view if the doctor's head or arm would get in the way.
"It looks good, no infection," the doctor said.
The nurse dressed the staples again while the doctor made some notes on the clipboard. Once she was done, they turned the baby back over again, this time he did fuss a little.
Britney gripped onto Justin's arm but he just kept watching.
"There we go....now we got a little reaction out of you, didn't we?" Dr. Wellington asked Chase as he started to listen to his heartbeat.
After checking a few more things, Chase finally calmed down and the doctor pulled something out of his pocket. He pulled a cap off to reveal something that looked like something a dentist would use to clean teeth with.
"Here's the true test," Dr. Wellington said as he started to gently poke the bottom of Chase's foot with this object.
Britney still held on to Justin's arm but moved forward a little so she could watch.
Dr. Wellington tapped the object onto Chase's big toe, but Chase didn't respond so the doctor kept moving the instrument around the bottom of his foot. Finally when he reached a spot in the middle of his foot, Chase's leg jerked a little, which made Britney jump slightly. Justin was now directly behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.
The doctor repeated this on the other leg and the other leg did the same thing.
"Is that a good sign?" Britney asked.
"Yes, it is," he said.
He jotted down a few notes and then took a small rubber hammer-like object and tapped at Chase's knees. His leg jerked again so the doctor did the same to his other one. He jotted down a few more notes and then looked at the worried parents.
"I'm happy with where he's at right now. His legs are starting to get feeling again which is the first step. Once he has more feeling then we'll start the therapy and get him back on track with his age group."
"He was ahead of his age group," Britney said sadly.
"It sounded like it. But he'll get there again one day. You just have to be patient, it's not going to happen overnight."
"Any ideas on when I can hold him?" Britney asked, almost shyly.
"I'll come check on him late tomorrow and we'll see how much feeling he has back. The brace I'll be getting him will fit him from right above his waist on down. I don't want any sudden movements with his hips, legs or feet right now so that will need to be stabilized by the brace, but he'll have more mobility with his upper body."
"So he won't be harnessed down anymore?" Justin asked.
"Right," he nodded. "You understand that that was for his protection?"
"Of course we do, doctor," Britney said, looking over at her son. "It's just hard to see and when he starts to cry I just want to pick him up and hold him more than anything," she said with tears in her eyes.
"I know you do, it's only natural. Let's hope for the day after tomorrow for you to be able to do just that. I'll have the brace ordered and as soon as that comes in, you should be able to hold him for limited amounts of time."
Britney couldn't help but smile and bounced a little on her toes.
"Thank you," she said.
He wrote a few more things down and handed the clipboard back to the nurse and stood up.
"I see you had to get more security, was there a problem?" he asked before he left the room.
"Just more reporters than we were expecting outside yesterday," Justin said.
The doctor nodded. "My office has been called for a statement on his condition. If you'd like me to give one, I can, just let me know."
"We will, thank you," Justin said before he left the room.
"I might get to hold him in a couple of days," Britney said as she turned around to look at Justin.
"Hey, me too," he teased.
She went back over to the crib and looked down at him. "You're doing so much better, baby. That's good news," she smiled down at him.
"Yes it is," Justin said as he stood behind her and kissed the back of her head before peering over the side of the crib at the baby.