Chapter Forty Nine:

Panicked, “Matthew, come on sweetie open your eyes! Open your eyes, Matty!”

“Nora what’s going on with him? What happened?”

“I don’t know, Bo. I don’t know. Colin gave him some sort of drug….”

Before Nora could finish her sentence Bo was out in the other room where they had Colin detained….

“Someone get an ambulance or helicopter or something here now. My son needs to get to the hospital. (walking over to Colin; grabbing him by the shirt) What the hell did you give him, you son of a bitch! You better speak up McGiver.”

“It wasn’t meant for Matthew but I had no choice I had to knock him out before he screamed for Nora. I had to…It was never meant for him…It was for her….It was all for her…”

Bo knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere with McGiver. He ran back into the room and helped Nora up off the ground. She had been sitting on the floor next to Matthew…

“Bo, he’s not waking up. Make him wake up, Bo. Make my baby wake up.”

“They’ve called for a helicopter they’re on they’re way.”

“He’s going to die because of me, all because of me.”

Taking her shoulders in his hands, “He’s not going to die, do you hear me. He’s going to be fine.”

“But…”

“No buts, he’s going to be fine and no matter what happens it’s not your fault.”

Nora was about to protest when the medics arrived and a few minutes later they were loaded onto the helicopter. Nora sat beside him; willing him to open his eyes; willing him to live. Bo took Madison and made the long trip to the hospital by car.

The helicopter landed 10 minutes after take off. They immediately took Matthew down to the trauma center. They had wanted to take Nora immediately to radiology but she refused. Bo found her sitting outside the trauma room; tears slowly rolling down her face.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. He walked around and knelt down in front of her. She looked up and saw her pain reflected back in his eyes. He sat beside her on the couch and pulled her close, her head resting on his shoulder, as they waited in silence for the doctor to come out.

The doctor finally approached them a half hour after Bo arrived. Nora grabbed Bo’s hand as she watched the doctor walk towards him. She was trying to read his face; his expressions, but he wasn’t giving anything away. Bo stood up while Nora remained seated; never letting go of his hand.

“Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan?”

“Yes, we’re the Buchanan’s”

Motioning to Bo, “Please have a seat.”

“I’m Dr. Jones, the Chief of emergency medicine here at Toronto General. I’ve assessed your son’s condition and I’m afraid the news isn’t all good.”

Squeezing Nora’s hand as she begins to cry harder, “Wh—what’s wrong with him?”

“Well first off your son was given a very high dosage of what is known as the date rape drug. The amount of drug that was still evident in his system was enough to knock out an adult, which means the amount that was given to him initially was…well let’s just say it could’ve killed him. The good news is it didn’t, he is still alive, for now. The bad news is the drug has done some serious damage to his kidneys and liver. His left kidney has already shut down and the other one is well on its way. His liver has been compromised. Our only course of action is a kidney transplant to replace the useless kidney, dialysis to try and build up the other one, and a partial liver transplant to boost up his liver.”

“My God…Okay…so where do we go from here? We’ll do anything.”

“Well we don’t have the facilities here to do those sorts of operations. We working on getting him stabilized and then we’re going to transfer him to Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. I understand that’s near your home.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Do you have any questions about what I just told you?”

“How long will it take for them to find a donor?”

“Well Matthew’s best bet for a perfect match is a blood relative. Full blood siblings are usually the best candidates, but from the looks of things that’s not a solution. Your daughter is of course too young to donate any organs, unless of course he has any other siblings.”

“He has a half sister who lives in Chicago.”

“She probably won’t be a match but it wouldn’t hurt for her to be tested.”

“Should we be tested? Is it possible that we could be matches?”

“Yes, of course you should be tested as well as any other blood relatives. There is always a chance that someone not related could be a match to. Matthew has been added to the National Registry. We need to make sure we’ve covered all our bases. Time is of the essence here.”

“I’ll make the necessary phone calls.”

Speaking for the first time since the doctor came out, “When can we go see him?”

“In a little while, but first it looks like you need to go get yourself looked at. You have a really nasty cut on your head and you’re going to need to have your leg checked out. Matthew is still out.”

“Shouldn’t he be awake by now?”

“Not necessarily. His body is going through a lot right now. He’ll wake up when he’s ready. Now I’m having someone come over here and take you down to radiology.”

“Thank you, doctor. I’ll make sure she gets taken care of.”

“Very well. I’ll see you back here when you’re done.”

Dr. Jones walked back into Matthew’s room while Bo helped Nora up off the couch. A nurse came and took Madison down to the nursery where she could sleep comfortably. Bo had asked for the Canadian police to keep a watch outside of Matthew’s door and outside the nursery while he attended to Nora. They were more than happy to oblige.

Picking Nora up in his arms, “Come on Red, let’s go get that hard head of yours and your leg looked at.”

She smiled at his attempt to lighten things, “He’s going to be okay, right? Promise me he’s going to be okay.”

“He’s half Hanen, half Buchanan. He’s going to be fine.”

Nora just nodded her head and laid her head on Bo’s shoulder as he carried her to radiology. An hour later they were back outside of Matthew’s room. Nora’s leg placed in a walking cast, the cut on her head stitched up and all of the tests complete. She was going to be fine. No damage done from the bump on her head and her leg should heal in 6-8 weeks. Now their only concern was Matthew.

They were finally allowed to see him. The doctor’s had made arrangements for another bed to be brought into the room so that they could rest and still be in the same room with him. Bo had finally convinced Nora to lie down on the bed with him but she couldn’t sleep. She leaned over and softly kissed Bo on the lips before sliding out of bed, careful not to wake him. She walked over to where his stuff was and found what she was looking for. She quietly walked out of the hospital room after kissing Matthew goodnight.

Twenty minutes later she was standing in front of him; Bo’s gun in her trembling hands…the tears silently rolling down her cheeks….