Burning Flames ¦ Evan Buckley

Chapter 77 - Emergency Contact

Eddie was pulled out into the hallway once El was definitely asleep. Dr Barr was paged to come over which he did as soon as he got a moment. "You must be Mr Diaz, I'm Dr Barr, head of ENT for all of Los Angeles" He spoke, reaching out his hand.

Eddie nodded and shook his head, "I'm still confused as to what is going on..."

"Why don't we head to my office, we can have a discussion in private" Dr Barr offered.

"Sure" Eddie nodded and followed Dr Barr to his office where he anxiously took a seat.

"So, Miss Rhodes hasn't told you about any of this?" Dr Barr started out by saying.

"No, none of us know. She told us she was going back to Florida for a month or so" Eddie confirmed.

"Right" Dr Barr nodded, taking a breath, "She assured us she had good people she could talk to around her"

"She does" He shook his head, "El doesn't open up very often, she hates the idea of being a burden on anyone or having people too close. She's getting better at it, but for the most part, there's a lot we don't know" Eddie spoke, "I'm here now, so please, tell me what is going on"

"Eleanor had cancer cells located in an enlarged lymph node on the right side of her neck. I removed her entire thyroid, which she asked me to do, and any and all lymph nodes including their chains" Dr Barr spoke, "She has Thyroid Cancer. There is no doubt about it. When I was removing the lump I could just tell...But the good news is, if you're going to get a cancer, this is the best one to get. High survival rate, likely no chemo, and she will go on to live her life as normal"

Eddie took a moment to digest what he was saying. His best friend had cancer and she hadn't told anyone, more specifically Buck. Eddie took a deep breath, attempting to bite his tongue about the comment he made, "So, why I am here?"

"Well, Miss Rhodes is being strongly affected by the medication and anaesthetic. I wanted to relay information to someone who was coherent enough and by the looks of it, she's going to need someone to take care of her for the next few weeks." Dr Barr confirmed, "You were the only person she listed"

"Okay...I'll stay with her until she's released and I'll make sure she gets home safely and I'll see what I can do" Eddie confirmed, "I assume the surgery went well?"

"Yeah, took longer than we first anticipated and I believe she has some minor damage to one of her vocal cords, however that should regain its strength after a while" He nodded, "I will write her prescription up for her and get one of the nurses to bring by the meds" He confirmed.

"Thank you" Eddie nodded and stood to his feet, holding his hand out. Dr Barr shook his hand firmly. Eddie left the room and took a few moments to himself, unsure on how to process everything he had just been told.

-

Eddie did exactly as he said he would. He stayed with El for the rest of the day, having messaged Bobby to say he would need some more time off as Christopher was going through a rough patch. He gathered from the fact that El hadn't told anyone that she would prefer it stayed that way.

Despite that however he did call Carla, knowing she would be able to help and her lips would stay sealed. She brought him over an overnight bag that evening along with something for El to wear just in case. When she arrived at the hospital, her heart sank at the sight of El attached to various machines, her features pale. "So she just...didn't tell anyone?" Carla asked as she sipped the coffee she had brought in for the pair of them.

"Nope, not even Buck" He sighed.

"I...I wonder why" Carla spoke, tilting her head.

At that moment, it all dawned onto Eddie as to why she didn't say anything, "Daniel...it's because of Daniel". Carla gave him a confused look, not remembering. "His brother, the one that died from cancer. It's not been that long in the grand scheme of things and she probably didn't want to remind him of it all"

"That's brave. Taking all of this on herself. She's probably known for a little while now too, even with this being private" Carla spoke.

"Everyones had so much of their own shit going on, she probably didn't feel like she could talk about...explains the money too" Eddie sighed, feeling bad that he had cashed the cheque in, however it meant he could pay off his mortgage.

"Girls a fighter" Carla shook her head, "But my question is, are you going to tell Buck? Because when he sees that Christopher is fine, he's going to start asking questions" Carla proposed the question Eddie hadn't yet thought about.

"For now, we try keep Buck away...from Chris I mean. We can take turns looking after El if you don't mind?" Eddie offered a solution.

"Honey, that's what I'm made for" Carla sassed with a quiet laugh, "Of course I'll help my girl out"

"Thank you Carla...really" Eddie spoke with a corner lipped smile.

"I got you," Carla smiled back.

-

The following day arrived and El woke up to the nurses coming into her room to take blood and check her BP. She groaned and opened her heavy eyes seeing Eddie, tucked up, half asleep in the chair, he too waking up when they came in.

"Hey Eleanor...we've just come to take your BP and bloods. Hopefully you'll be going today" The nurse spoke in a sweet, soft tone.

El gave a gentle nod and slowly tried to sit herself up, finally being able too without agonising pain. She smiled to herself a little as she sat herself up alone, the nurses, even Eddie, smiling too. She handed over her left arm as they wrapped the BP band round it. It began to squeeze her arm tightly, so much it almost caused pain, however soon the pressure released and she could feel her pulse beating around her bicep.

After that was done, her BP being normal, they took bloods which was easy enough as she had good veins. "We're going to send these off to labs, we should have the results soon. Once we do, Dr Barr will be back to see you and hopefully discharge you" The nurse spoke softly, "Do you both want coffee? Maybe some food?"

"Coffee...please," El spoke, her voice already sounding better.

"Same for me please" Eddie confirmed as the nurses left with their request. "How you feeling?"

"Better..." She confirmed, not being able to nod much from fear of bursting open the wound, even though that wouldn't happen, "Why..how are you here?" El questioned.

"They called me. You put me down as the only contact and you weren't in a good way yesterday" Eddie spoke, sitting himself up.

"Does...did you tell anyone else?" El asked, hoping he hadn't.

"Only Carla" Eddie confirmed, "She's going to help you out, Dr Barr said you would need someone with you for at least a week. Her and I are going to make this work for you" He confirmed and stood up, making his way over to the bed.

"I can't ask you-"

"You didn't ask" He shook his head, "El, my sweet querido. Let me help" He spoke, sitting down, taking her hand in his, locking eyes with her.

"I hate you" She smirked a little, showing some more of her usual self.

"I love you too" He chuckled. The nurse arrived with two hot cups of coffee in hand from the fancy coffee machine they had. Eddie thanked her and took the coffees, El instantly trying to grab it.

"Eddie..."

"El..."

"Give. Me. The. Coffee."

He raised a brow at her.

"Please" She forced a smile.

"Here you are la señora" He smirked playfully.