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countessofravenclaw · 4 months

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A homeland this north, country dear fathers! Part cuatro

Winter is the time for holidays, celebrations, and fun. Nina, Gastón, Luna and Matteo receive a wedding invitation to France for the New Years and decide, since they're already going to Europe, why not take everything out of it and take a well-deserved skiing vacation? Simon and Ambar join them and all is set for a relaxing holiday at Finland's northern region called Lapland. A place for speed, reindeer, fun, and dangerous situations... Just kidding, what could possibly go wrong at the winter wonderland? (There is a Finnish Christmas song linked on the title)

Pakkasyö on, ja leiskuen pohja loimuja viskoo

This chapter will include lot of medical nonsense that I mostly made up. Accuracy comes second to the story, the story is the priority, so bare with me okay

“What’s going on here?” Ambar and Simon had just finished descending a slope when they heard sirens.

“Hopefully no one has gotten hurt,” Simon remarked as they took their skis off. “Hey, can we take break? I really need a donut.”

“I could never deny you that,” Ambar laughed, “Hopefully they aren’t out.”

They grabbed their skis and started walking toward the central hub of the slopes where the cafe was located. As they were walking, the noise of the sirens started deluding. Whatever that had been, it was moving away from them.

“I think I can totally fit three of those in my mouth.”

“Don’t you even dare to try it,” Ambar gave Simon her sternest look, “I am not gonna perform a Heimlich on you when you choke, mostly because I don’t know how. Should we go on a first aid course?”

“When will we find the time to do that—?”

They had reached the center and to their surprise, they saw Luna standing in front of it, looking frantically around.

“Hey! Luna!” Simon called to get her attention.

“Oh my god! Simon and Ambar!” Almost like lightning Luna had appeared in front of them. “Thank goodness you’re here. I didn’t know if I should call you and I wasn’t sure if you’d hear…”

“Luna, what are you talking about?” Ambar furrowed her brow. Luna was speaking faster than normal and looking extremely frantic. “Where are Matteo and Gastón?”

“Did you hear the sirens?” Simon asked, “Did you see what that was about?”

“He fell and we didn’t know what to do, until some other people came behind us who knew where to call,” Luna launched into another fast-paced spiel. She was almost looking scared, “He wasn’t moving…”

“Wait, Luna, hold on…” Ambar wasn’t understanding anything, “Who wasn’t moving? Slow down.”

“Okay,” Luna took a shaky breath, “We decided to try this black slope, and there was some ice and he fell onto the trench and hit a tree.”

“Wait, so, someone got hurt?” Simon didn’t seem to be able to keep up either. “The sirens were for you?”

Luna nodded.

“And since you’re here… it means that…” Ambar started grasping the full picture.

“It was Gastón,” Luna continued, “He, he wasn’t moving… It looked like he was dead.”

“Oh my god!” Simon exclaimed.

“So, you got help?” Ambar tried to stay calm. Staying collected under pressure was part of her job and this was not the time to freak out. “And I suppose Matteo went with him, did they say where?”

“I think it was to the Lapland Hospital,” Luna responded. “I’m not sure.”

“Text Matteo, right now.” Ambar tried to think. “Does Nina know?”

“NO!” Luna looked horrified for a moment. “I didn’t even think about that. I’ll have to tell her…” She scrambled to get her phone out.

“Luna waits,” Ambar grabbed her hand, “If she doesn’t already know, she needs to know asap. Her husband is on his way to the hospital with presumed head trauma and who knows what else. She is his next of kin and is the only one with some say. Who knows what kind of brain surgery he will need… However, this can’t be told over the phone.”

“Oh.” Luna stared at her.

“Here’s what we’ll do,” Ambar took a deep breath, “Find out the hospital from Matteo, then Simon will drive you there. I’m gonna take the other car and get Nina.”

“It should be me,” Luna tried to protest, “I’m her best friend.”

“I know that,” Ambar continued, “but time is of the essence right now. We all know how she’s gonna react, it does not matter how it’s told to her. We don’t know how much time we have here. This needs to be a surgical strike. I’m sorry Luna, but you’re terrible at tough love. Go to the hospital, this surely is hard for Matteo as well, he needs you. I’ll go get Nina. Now lets move!”

***

“Miespuolinen, 27-vuotias. Laskettelurinteessä laskenut puuta päin. Mahdollista pää- ja selkäydin traumaa. Murtunieta kylkiluita. Taju mennyt monta kertaa matkan aikana. Tajuton tälläkin hetkellä.”

Matteo watched in horror as the paramedics wheeled Gastón in. This was not happening. Everyone was speaking a language he didn’t understand… and his best friend was lying there unconscious…

“Hei! You can’t go in there.” A male nurse got Matteo’s attention.

“I’m sorry,” Matteo tried to straighten his thoughts out enough to get some English out, “Is… is he going to make it?”

“He is in good hands,” the nurse assured him while pulling a tablet out, “Can you tell me his full name?”

“Gastón Perida.”

“You tourists? From where?”

“Buenos Aires.”

“Okay, so Argentinians,” The nurse put something down on the tablet before turning toward the treatment room, “Hei! Potilas on argentiinalainen. Pistän tulkille kutsun tulemaan.” Then he turned back toward Matteo, “You speak pretty solid English, how’s his?”

“Uh… better than mine,” Matteo noticed that he had been gripping his hands together so tightly that they were almost white. Miracle he hadn’t bent his wedding ring in the process, “He lived in England for six years.”

“Well, thats good to know,” The nurse nodded, “We still have paged a translator, because we can’t rely on patient’s language skills, especially with head trauma.”

“You mean,” Matteo tried to find words, “he might be in such bad shape that he can’t talk?”

“Not exactly, but you never know with these kinds of cases before throughout examination. Trauma to the head is serious, especially with possible added spinal trauma.” The nurse tapped on the tablet again, “Social security number?”

“I, I… I don’t know his,” Matteo mumbled. He had the key to Gastón and Nina’s house, had known his phone password almost as long as they had known each other… but social security? That wasn’t something you shared a lot… They hadn’t thought they would ever need to know.

“You’re not family?”

“He’s my best friend,” Matteo responded, “SO… no, not family, technically.” Technically, technically… Gastón and his parents were his family, as much as Dad and Sofia were… sometimes even more. “But… but, he should have his driver’s license somewhere on him.”

“Sotusta ei tietoa, mutta ajokortti on kuulemma jossain taskussa! Tarkistakaa!” The nurse yelled to the treatment room.

“Kysy omaisista!”

“Since you’re traveling here from afar this might be hard, but is there any family we can reach to be here—?”

“Hei Antti! Sormus. Naimissa!” Someone from the back yelled and the nurse turned back to Matteo. “He’s married. You know the wife? How can we contact her?”

“Oh, she’s here,” Matteo felt absolutely terrible at that moment. Nina. He hadn’t even thought about her… She didn’t even know! “I mean with us. Not at the slopes, though.”

Matteo scrambled to get his phone from his pocket. He was just about to call Nina when he noticed a couple of messages from Luna.

Luna: We’re on our way with Simon! Luna: Oh, Ambar went to get Nina. How is it? Matteo: I don’t know

“She’s on her way here,” Matteo responded to the nurse, “I don’t know how long it’ll be.”

“Okay,” The nurse sighed, “Is there anything you can tell us. Any previous medical history, previous injuries, alergies?”

“No, nothing,” Matteo shook his head, “Outside of like sprained wrist and ankle when we were 14, but that surely isn’t relevant.”

***

Nina looked over at her phone as she made another cup of tea. There was nothing out of the ordinary that no one had texted her. They were having way too much fun at the slopes, and you couldn’t blame them for forgetting her for a moment, since there was no way that anyone, even her husband, could convince her to join sliding down mountains at dangerous speeds.

But hopefully, Gastón had taken pictures of the views, so he could show her since he had neglected to send her any today.

She sat down on the couch, enjoying the fireplace.

She opened her book and had just started reading a new chapter when she was startled by a sudden gush of cold air as the door opened.

“Ambar?”

Ambar suddenly burst through the door. Her face was red, and she looked kind of sweaty. She also looked like she was out of breath.

“None of you were supposed to be back for a couple of hours…” Nina glanced at her watch, “Actually, it is really early.”

“Yes, I know that” Ambar didn’t start taking her outdoor clothing off, instead she opened the closet and pulled another jacket out. Nina couldn’t fully see which one it was, but it didn’t look like one of Ambar’s or even Luna’s… but that couldn’t be right.

“Ambar, why are you here?” Nina got the sense that something was off. No one had ever come from the slopes before it was dark.

“Yeah, about that,” Ambar looked straight at Nina and took a deep breath. She had her “I mean business” face on, “Okay, this will be a lot and I will speak straight because this is important.”

“Why are you acting like you’re in the courtroom?”

“Because otherwise, I won’t get this out,” Ambar walked to Nina, still fully dressed in outdoor gear, even wearing the shoes. “And it’s crucial that I do. We don’t have much time.”

“You’re scaring me.” Nina noticed that the jacket Ambar was holding was one of hers, “What is going on?”

“Please sit down.”

“Why?”

“Just do it,” Ambar took her arm and practically yanked Nina onto the couch, “I told you, we don’t have time.”

“Time for what?”

“Look,” Ambar sat next to Nina, “There is no easy way to say this, but I have to rip the band aid off. Luna, Matteo and Gastón tried this bigger slope today—”

“Oh, Luna said that she wanted to try one of those,” Nina noted, but then she saw the look on Ambar’s face, “Wait… what happened?”

“I’m just gonna say this,” Ambar took another breath, “Gastón hit a patch of black ice, and got totally derailed off the path, and hit a tree.”

“What!?” Nina stared at Ambar. Her brain felt like it was going in slow motion. “He collided with a tree?”

Imagines started swirling in Nina’s mind. Collisions with trees were one of the biggest risk factors in the whole sport…

“Matteo went with him to the hospital.”

“He’s in the hospital!!??” Her brain started finally to catch up with what Ambar had just said.

“Luna said that he was in pretty rough shape.”

“I… We… We need to…” Nina felt like she had been suddenly paralyzed. Her thoughts made no sense. She couldn't form comprehend sentences. Her breathing started becoming shallow. Gastón was in the hospital…

“We need to go there now,” Ambar placed her hand on Nina’s arm, “So now, you need to get up, I have your coat right here, put the shoes on and get in the car.”

“Yeah… yes…” Nina carefully got onto her feet. It still felt like her body was shutting down.

“Hey, Gastón’s not dead,” Ambar handed Nina her coat, “Your husband is alive, focus on that.”

***

“Matteo!” Matteo bounced his knee up and down nervously as he heard the noise. He looked up from the chair he had been sitting on, and saw Luna and Simon enter the waiting area. Luna ran to hug him.

“Hey, whats going on?” Simon asked. “How’s Gastón?”

“I don’t know,” Matteo shook his head, “Last I saw they were doing imagining or something… I don’t know, but it sounded bad. He has not been awake at all, or I mean, like conscious. They’re not telling me anything and I can’t understand what they have been talking about.”

“Why aren’t they telling you?” Luna questioned.

“Because I’m not family,” Matteo sunk back into the chair, frustrated, “This is the first time someone has ever said that…”

He looked up suddenly, “Nina! She needs to be here. They’ll actually talk to her.”

“Ambar went to get her,” Simon explained, “She texted me that they are coming.”

“Yeah, of course,” Matteo nodded, “They asked me his social security code, but I didn’t know it. I hope she does, because I don’t want to call Isla and Marco about this… at least before we know what is going on. I can’t do that to them.”

“Do what to them?”

“Isla’s father died in a car crash, Marco lost both of his parents to cancer and Isla almost died due to a condition that even to this day is not really specified. They don’t have the best track record with people ending up in hospital.” Matteo sighed, “I don’t want to tell them until we know what’s the case. They’ll overcome with worry; they have lost so much already. I can’t let them think that they are losing Gastón as well. Plus, it's not really my decision… it’s Nina’s.”

At that moment the doors to the waiting room opened up.

“Matteo!” Frantic-looking Nina ran up to him, with Ambar behind her. Panic was evident behind her eyes. “What’s going on?! Is he okay?”

“I don’t know.” Matteo answered truthfully, “They won’t tell me, because I’m not the next of kin. That's you.”

“Who do I talk to?” Nina looked around, her voice still clearly vaiwering.

“I think the nurses' desk is right there,” Matteo got up from the chair, “they have talked English to me here, so you shouldn’t have a problem.”

“Okay…” Nina turned around. As she started walking toward the desk, everything about her body language basically screamed dread. You couldn’t blame her.

Matteo decided that the best thing to do was to follow her, because one, he wanted to hear what was happening to Gastón, and two, Nina didn’t look that steady on her feet.

“Excuse me!? I need to talk to somebody!” Nina said at once as she made it to the desk. She didn’t appear to struggle with getting English out, given her clear British accent, but her voice still wasn’t fully firm and higher pitched than usual.

“Miss—?” The nurse who was manning the station started saying.

“Mrs.—” Nina corrected them. “—Perida. My husband was brought here. Can someone tell me what is going on?”

“Perida?” The nurse seemed to be looking something up from the computer, “If you wait for a moment.”

She pressed her earpiece. “Hei! Mulla on kympin omaiset täällä. Joo, vaimo näyttää olevan. Nuori nainen, kyselee aviomiehensä perään, sama sukunimi. Joo, laitan tulemaan.” The nurse turned back to them, “Yes, I got it here. If you follow me, we’ll get a doctor to talk to you.”

“Thank you,” Nina breathed. She then looked at Matteo, “Come with me?”

“Yeah, of course.”

***

“Skiing accidents are often very serious.” To doctor continued her explanation, “Especially the collisions with trees. Your husband has multiple broken ribs plus severe head trauma.”

“What does that exactly mean?” Nina asked while fiddling with the rings on her left finger.

“What we’re optimistic about is the fact that there is no neck or spinal trauma. The problem lies in the fact he has not been able to stay conscious but is still breathing on his own. The MRIs and the CT have not been clear, which is not a good sign.”

“Wha… what does that mean?” That was the only thing she could say. Nina had been trying to convince herself that everyone had just overreacted. Gastón had just blacked out, had a broken leg or an arm and was fine… that had been the only thing keeping her from going into a full panic… which was slowly creeping in now.

“It means that we have been unable to determine the damage to his brain,” the doctor continued. “The plan at the moment is to keep him under strict monitoring for twelve hours to see if he wakes up on his own, because that would be the ideal situation… if he doesn’t we’ll need to move fast because brain bleeds will require operating as soon as possible.”

“A brain bleed?” Nina had to grab on Matteo’s arm for support, so she didn’t lose her balance.

“That is the most likely outcome.”

“Just tell me how bad this is,” Nina finally asked. She didn’t understand most of the medical jargon.

“At this case, it is really serious. We’ll gonna do our best. Since he is quite young, there is a slight possibility that he might wake up on his own.”

“So, they won't have a clear picture of everything until he wakes up,” Nina was sitting on a chair at the hospital’s waiting room. After talking to the doctor, she was trying to explain everything to the others… while she just wanted to fall apart. “They said that they can’t know the amount of brain damage or how it will affect him before, but anything from motor and cognitive functions can be affected to… to… amnesia.” Her voice finally started to break.

“Amnesia?” Luna who had been holding her hand questioned.

“Anything from couple of months to even years, many years,” Nina shook her head, “Apparently it is very common… if he even makes it. He could stop breathing any second, he would need to be intubated and put in the respirator… or be declared braindead…” She buried her head in her hands. She couldn’t keep it together any longer as the tears started streaming down her face, “I— I can’t… I can’t be a widow before I am thirty…I can’t be a widow at all. I can’t do this.”

“Nina, they are telling you those things because they are legally obligated to do so,” Ambar started explaining, “They have to acknowledge every possible risk factor, but it doesn’t mean those will happen.”

“I know that, but I can only think of the worst,” Nina tried to take a breath, she couldn’t have a panic attack right now, “Just… You never really know what Till death do you part really means do you? Until you stare it in the eye—”

“Mrs. Perida?” A nurse suddenly walked up to them.

“Yes!?” Nina frantically looked up alarmed, “What’s happened?”

“Your husband is stable so we’re transferring him to a ward for observation,” The nurse explained.

“Can I see him?”

“Yes, if you come with us,” The nurse nodded, and Nina got up from the chair.

She followed the nurse down a hallway and into an elevator, down another hallway, around a corner, and to a hallway with a bunch of rooms.

“It’s this one,” She gestured to one of the doors.

“Thank you,” Nina took a deep breath again. She tried to keep herself from shaking, but it probably wasn’t very unusual that she was afraid.

The nurse had opened the door and was holding it open for her. Nina gathered herself and walked in.

“Minna, potilaan vaimo.” The nurse said something to the other nurse who was in the room.

Nina walked slowly deeper into the room. The hospital bed came into her field of vision inch by inch.

The view was astounding. Gastón was just lying there… it almost looked like he was sleeping. Nina walked closer. The sight was scarily simple, there wasn’t any blood or scars. The only thing indicating that he was hurt were the oxygen tubes going into his nose.

His eye was also black, and there was some bruising on his face and forehead. Nina noticed them as she brushed some of Gastón’s hair off his face.

It was finally setting in that this was all real. Not just some nightmare she would be able to wake up from and see the love of her life sleeping next to her, not unconscious in a hospital bed…without any knowledge if he was ever going to wake up.

A wave of insurmountable dread and fear filled her in that moment. Nina ignored the beeping heart monitor on the wall and grabbed Gastón's wrist. She had to feel for herself that he was alive.

Feeling the pulse and seeing his chest rise and go down, didn’t really do anything for her in terms of peace of mind. There was no magic cure that would make him wake up.

Nina tried to swallow her tears, but it was getting harder to do so…She had never been a strong person to begin with. Wondering and just waiting to see if her husband was going to live or die, that wasn’t something she had been prepared to go through. She couldn’t go through this. She grabbed the hand she was holding tighter.

“Esto no puede estar pasando. You can’t leave me. Newton is waiting for us to come home. You need to fight. Fight for me, for our future children, for our life. For your life…I can’t do this alone…”

“Doctors were pretty optimistic about his prognosis,” Nina jumped as nurse walked up and adjusted the IV that was hanging on a hook next to the bed, “Even if they have to operate, him only being 27 is a huge advantage.”

Nina nodded. She wasn’t sure how much of that was just said to reassure her. The nurses might not have understood what she had said, but her tear-stained face surely gave everything away. She looked back at Gastón’s hand… she realized suddenly that it was the left hand.

“Excuse me, uhm, his ring. Was it taken off during the examinations?” Or had it been lost on the slopes during the accident? That would be the last nail in this coffin. It was maybe a bit materialistic to wonder about that now, but the wedding ring was as important to Nina as it was to Gastón. Gastón’s ring had a custom engraving on Nina’s handwriting, just like hers had his. If it was lost, it almost felt like a prelude to losing him.

Plus, it was an Aguirre ring. Maria had tragically died a year after their wedding and almost all of her custom pieces were already viewed as priceless pieces of art. Their rings were no different, especially since they had been one of the last pieces made before Maria’s condition had worsened.

“Oh, yes,” the nurse who had brought Nina there, grabbed a zip lock bag from the table, and handed it to Nina. “It can come down to minutes so, it's just easier if he doesn’t have anything that we need to remove.”

Nina held the bag in her hands. The ring and the watch he had been wearing were there. She put the watch in her bag but fished the ring out and put it on her left index finger.

“There are a couple of things we need you to sign,” the other nurse came back handing Nina a tablet.

“Of course,” Nina looked at the tablet, “What is this?”

“Since you’re from overseas, it’s hard for us to obtain his medical records,” The nurse explained, “The hospital lawyers are on it, but your consent will make it easier as he can’t give his consent at the moment.”

“Okay,” Nina nodded and singed her name at the bottom of the form, “Uh, I have his ID.”

“Good, I can just scan it,” The nurse nodded, “The other form is just general information. Was it correct that his blood type is A positive?”

“Yes, it is,” Nina answered as she signed the other form. The only reason why she actually knew that was because Gastón had started donating blood at Oxford with Oliver and James. The blood drives had come there quite often. He was also a registered organ donor. It was something that had been agreed between him and his cousins to honor their grandfather, Joakim Vasquez, who had saved up to five lives after he had died, by organ donations.

That probably didn’t carry over to other countries though… That would mean that Nina would need to be the one to sign over his organs… No, no, no, she couldn’t even fathom the thought right now.

“This is the last one,” The nurse handed her another ipad, with another form, “It’s the consent form for the operation. If it needs to be performed, everything will be happening fast so it’s better to have preliminary consent.

Nina felt like she was operating on autopilot when she signed her name on the line again.

When the nurses had gone again, she buried her face in her hands. She couldn’t believe that she had just done that. She had just signed a document, giving her consent for them to perform brain surgery on Gastón, even if it was to save his life.

No matter how optimistic the doctors were. No matter if he was young. It was very possible that he was going to die.

This had not been what she had meant by a new era beginning in her life. She had no life without Gastón. He had been by her side through everything, the year they had been apart had been the worst in her life.

She couldn’t do this; she couldn’t be the one to tell these people to disconnect him from the respirator—even when he wasn’t even on it yet—and watch his heart stop. She couldn’t be the one to tell his parents that they had lost their only son, their only child.

Her hand went to touch the necklace Gastón had gotten her for Christmas as she tried to calm down. None of that had happened yet, that was the worst-case scenario.

He could still wake up… and even if he had a brain bleed, they could still do something about it.

She couldn’t fully fathom the outcome of that, though. Him not able to walk she could take, but amnesia… She wasn’t fully sure how she could keep on living if he didn’t know who she was.

She hated waiting like this, without knowing a single thing.

Beeb! Beeb!

***

After Nina had gone Ambar, Simon, Matteo and Luna sat silently.

“It probably does no good to any of us just to sit here,” Ambar broke the silence, “they won’t let visitors in, I presume. I feel like all the hippa laws are a bit stricter here, given the welfare country.”

“You’re probably right,” Simon stood up from his chair, “I think we all need some coffee. I think I saw Starbucks across the street.”

“Good idea!” Luna jumped up.

“Yeah, we should go back to change out of all this skiing gear,” Ambar nodded.

“You go,” Matteo looked up, “I’ll stay here.”

“Matteo,” Luna looked at him disapprovingly, “You should come with us. You need to get some air. It would be good for you.”

Luna grabbed Matteo’s hands and pulled him up.

“We won’t be far. Nina will tell us if something changes.”

“Okay.” Matteo sighed.

As they were making their way out, they passed another nurse's station. The people there were talking very loudly.

“Hohhoijaa, tulin juuri kymppi huomeesta. Kahvitauko kyllä jo kelpaisi”

“Kymppi? Mikä juttu se nyt olikaan? Oliko se se argentiinalainen?”

“Joo, se. Turistiporukka laskettelureissulla. Mun ymmärryksen mukaan tais olla kolme nuortaparia. Oli jotenkin laskenu puuta päin tai jotain. Vielä ei oo saatu hereille. Vaimo on aika järkyttyny.”

“No, olisin kyllä minäkin jos oma mies päätyisi tällä tavalla sairaalaan. Aivoverenvuodostahan lääkärit tossa puhu. Ei olisi yhtään ihme.”

“Kauheata tuo on. Vaikuttavat aika nuorilta myöskin. Kuinkakohan kauan ovat edes ehtineet olla naimisissa?”

“Sanoitteko Argentiina? Ehdin jo ihan ajatella, että ovat brittejä. Naisella oli ainaki täysin selvä brittiaksentti ja puhuu täydellistä englantia. Saipa oma kielipää vähän virkistystä.”

Wonder what they’re saying?“ Luna wondered as they kept walking. Matteo just nodded, not really reacting. “You okay?” Luna asked as they walked outside to the crisp freezing air.

“Of course, I am not,” Matteo shook his head, “This should have never happened.”

“It’s not your fault,” Luna reached for his hand, “The black run slope was my idea.”

“It was no one’s fault,” Mateo shook his head again, “I just don’t know what to think.”

“The healthcare here is top-notch,” Ambar noted.

“That doesn’t still mean that things can’t go wrong. Everything they said is a real possibility.” Matteo sighed, “I just can’t even bear to imagine it… Gastón is the reason why I am even here right now. It was because of him I ever even managed to have a cordial relationship with Sofia. Saved me a whole lot of unnecessary misery. He doesn’t deserve this, nor does Nina.”

“Maybe it will just be like you,” Luna suggested, “Just focus on the positive.”

“I fell three meters,” Matteo noted, “It wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t a high acceleration collision. I wasn’t at risk of a brain bleed or being unconscious for hours. I only blacked out…”

Matteo hung his head again. All of this was bringing all the emotions he had been trying to avoid for the past 17 years. More people he loved couldn’t die. “I was 10 when Mom died. I said goodbye to her while she was lying in a hospital bed, barely able to talk. There was nothing to be done and we all knew it. It just… It can’t be happening again.”

“He’s not going to die,” Luna took Matteo’s hand, “Not if there is any good in the world left.”

“Are we sure there’s any good in the world to begin with?”

***

“GASTÓN!!!!!”

Everything went black…

…there were voices that intertwined with each other…

“Ei reagoi valoon!”

“Aloita tippa!”

“Will he make it?”

“Lucha por mí, por nuestros futuros hijos, por nuestra vida. Por tu vida... No puedo hacer esto sola��”

The blinding light was directed toward him.

He had to open his eyes.

As soon as Gastón opened his eyes he became hyper-aware of the pounding pain on his head and on his sides…

…he was lying down on a bed…in an unrecognizable room…

What was going on?

“Don’t try to get up.” A person he didn’t recognize, who was wearing a white coat said in English, but the phrase was then repeated in Spanish by a different voice. Someone else, who Gastón couldn’t see from the side, pushed him back down as he had been trying to look around the room better.

“Espera... qué... ¿Qué estamos pasando?”

“You’re in the Central Hospital of Lapland,” The person with a coat said again, and again it was repeated in Spanish. There was a translator present? Why? “You have been in an accident.”

An accident? That explained the pain he was in… “What?”

Nothing made any sense.

“You suffered a severe impact to the head and have been unconscious for several hours. Can you tell what year it is?” The doctor shone a bright light in both of his eyes.

“2027.”

“Do you know your full name?”

“Gastón Joakim Perida.” Gastón didn’t fully understand why he was being asked all these questions.

His whole body felt weird, like he had no strength left.

“You recognize this person?” The doctor pointed to his left. Gastón realized that his left hand was being squeezed had been squeezed quite tightly for a while now.

“Nina?” He turned his head to see her sitting next to the bed, wearing a worried but also relieved expression.

“And she is…?”

“My wife,” Gastón looked at the doctor again. Why was he being asked that? He looked at Nina again and noticed that she had some tears in her eyes.

What on earth was going on?

“Can you recall at all what happened?”

“Uhm,” Gastón tried to think, but all he remembered was getting off the ski lift, “No.”

The pounding pain in his head got worse and his vision started getting blurred. He needed to close his eyes.

“Viisi milligrammaa morfiinia.”

A nurse who had been standing on the side did something on the IV and the pain started to subside.

“I remember that we decided to try one of those black slopes,” he started speaking, “We hadn’t done it before. We got on the lift and got off at the top… then nothing…”

***

“Follow the light with your eyes,” Nina watched the doctor shine a flashlight on Gastón’s eyes.

The confusion had started to ward off and he was starting to comprehend what was going on, which was relieving, but she didn’t still like watching him being in pain.

“Move the eyes from side to side,” the doctor seemed to furrow his brow for a moment, before he asked Gastón to do that again.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t like some of the pupil movements,” The Doctor put the light away and pulled the tablet he had had up, “It could be nothing, but since the images we have had have not been clear, I’m gonna order a full neurological workup on you.”

“What does that mean?”

“You have a severe concussion, so I just to make sure there isn’t any underlying damage to the parietal lobe.” The doctor stood up, “Just a routine precaution. Right now, you need to get rest.”

After the doctor had gone, Nina breathed a shaky sigh of relief and grabbed Gastón’s hand again, caressing his knuckles with her thump. “I thought I lost you.”

“What happened?” Gastón grimaced after putting his head back down on the pillow. His voice was still quite hoarse. “Was there an avalanche or something?”

“No,” Nina shook her head, “I don’t know exactly. Luna and Matteo—”

“Wait, if I was in an accident, what happened to them?” Gastón’s face started growing alarmed and he started pushing himself up, “Are they okay?”

“Don’t try to get up,” Nina pushed gently on Gastón’s shoulder as he tried to move. “They’re fine. It was only you. Matteo was the one who came with you here. I didn’t have time to ask him for details…You’re never skiing again.” She finished sternly. She would not allow him to put himself at risk like this again. He could have ended up much worse off.

“I think I can oblige,” Gastón grimaced again, “I feel like I have been run over by a train. I just don’t understand…”

“Don’t try to think too hard right now,” Nina brushed his hair back, “It’s a lot at the moment, so obviously things aren’t making sense.”

“I don’t remember what happened,” Gastón sighed again, “That’s freaking me out.”

“You don’t remember at all?” Small alarm bells were ringing in Nina’s head, but she shut them down by reminding herself that the doctors had not been concerned by it.

“No. We got of the lift, put the skis on, and then I woke up here.”

“I’m just happy you’re talking to me right now.” Nina leaned over him, careful not to put any weight on him, and softly kissed him before leaning her head next to his on the pillow. “I love you.”

She got up as they started hearing footsteps approaching down the hallway. “They probably coming to check your drip.”

“My god!” It wasn’t a nurse, it was Matteo who suddenly appeared at the door, “You’re alive!”

“Maybe,” Gastón responded as Matteo rushed to his bedside. “Don’t exactly feel like it.”

“The fact that you feel pain is a sign that you’re alive,” Matteo shook his head, “I’m taking it.”

“You scared us,” Luna, who was next to Matteo said, “I thought you were dead.”

“The visiting hours will be over soon, so we have to make this quick,” Ambar came through the door, “Great to see you awake. What’s the verdict?”

“Concussion that’s extremely severe,” Nina started. She thought it was best if she explained since Gastón should preserve his energy. “That’s what they’re operating under since he’s awake. They did order a neurologist exam, so not quite out of the woods yet.”

Beeb! Beeb!

The monitor had started beeping very loudly and the nurses hurried into the room.

“Venrenpaine on alhainen ja pulssi koholla.”

“Kutsu lääkäri tänne.”

“What is going on?”

“We’re a little bit worried about the blood pressure so we paged the doctor. Nothing to be alarmed by.”

… … …

“Time of death, 17:16”

“We’re so sorry…”

… … …

“NO!!!!”

Nina shot up on the bed in the dark room.

Wait… It had been a dream.

She felt tears fall from her eyes and she was shaking all through out. Her hand automatically went to feel the other side of the bed, only to find it empty and cold.

Of course, he wasn’t here… He was in the hospital, kilometers away from her.

But he was alive. When the beeping had started and they had worried about blood pressure, he had woken up after a while.

Nina went to feel the ring on her left ring finger. Taking the engagement ring off at night had been a struggle, but in the end, she had managed to do it. But she always slept with her wedding ring, she almost never took it off.

The room temperature was absolutely freezing. She took a couple of shaky breaths as she pulled the blanket tighter around her, like that would actually help.

Only one thing helped her when she woke up after a nightmare, but she couldn’t have that right now.

***

Matteo rolled over on the bed. He really should not have expected to be able to get much sleep.

Yep, this wasn’t going to work. He got up as silently as he could, so he didn’t wake up Luna.

As he walked into the kitchen in the dark to have a glass of water, he started hearing furious paced typing. Only one person typed that fast.

“Nina?” He walked into the living room to see her hunched on the sofa, light from the computer illuminating her face. “What are you doing awake?”

That was a stupid question.

“This is the only way I can get my thoughts in order,” Nina quickly looked at him.

“Okay,” Matteo nodded and sat next to her on the couch and took a peek of words written on the computer screen. “Dark.”

“I write what I feel.” Nina shook her head. “I don’t sleep well alone. Very clear showing that I’m used to way too good. Been too happy and now I’m punished for it.”

“No one should be punished for that,” Matteo placed his hand on Nina’s shoulder, “and you are not. Gastón could have been much worse.”

“But he’s not okay, either.” Nina looked down, “I’m just scared that if I close my eyes my phone will ring, and they will tell me that he has crashed and there was nothing they could have done, and I wasn’t even able to say goodbye. I should have stayed at the hospital, but they didn’t let me.”

“He’s gonna get better.”

“What if he won’t? I know that I’m just being paranoid, but he seems to be doing a little too well. They didn’t actually think he was gonna wake up. What if there is something they overlooked something or what if he gets worse, like the amnesia is delayed or something? I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know. I’m scared that tomorrow he won’t recognize me.”

“He would need to lose a lot of years for that to happen,” Matteo noted. He did completely understand why Nina was so worried about all of that, and it was totally justified of her.

“Ten is enough,” Nina looked down again in the dark, “You try explaining to him why the person he has talked to twice is his wife.”

“You know he has had feelings for you ever since that photography class,” Matteo noted trying to lighten the moment, “He would probably be delighted.”

“Maybe,” Nina laughed slightly, “But, I’m still scared.”

“I know how you feel,” Matteo grabbed her hand, “I have been through this, when Mom died. I cannot even fathom if Gastón went too but he isn’t doing that. We need to keep the faith up that it’ll be okay.”

“Yeah,” Nina nodded and brushed her eyes, “I shouldn’t keep you up. I’ll try to leave as early as I can in the morning. They said that they can give me a little leeway in the visiting times.”

***

“Hey.” Nina walked into Gastón’s hospital room at eight o’clock in the morning. She maybe should have gotten a little more sleep, but she just couldn’t.

“Hey.” Gastón turned to look at her and Nina relaxed a little bit as the recognition shone in his eyes. She knew it was a stupid thing to be worried about, but that was just how she was. She didn’t want to start bombarding the doctors with stupid questions either, so she kind of was just left alone in her head and that was never good. She had thought that she might need to talk to April. She could answer all the stupid questions Nina had, but she knew the couldn’t just get Gastón’s family involved in this until he wanted them to know.

“I didn’t wake you right?” Nina asked as she sat down in the chair beside his bed.

“No. Apparently, with a fresh concussion, you don’t exactly sleep well.”

“How are you feeling?” Nina grabbed his hand and kissed it, “Are you in pain?”

“I’m not not in pain,” Gastón grimaced. “Okay, I’m in pain.”

“Has someone come to check on you yet?”

“Someone has, not sure who,” Gastón answered, “It was not the neurologist… It’s too early for that… Why are you here at this time?”

“I couldn’t sleep.” Nina answered truthfully. Gastón could always catch her with a lie. “I just wanted to be here.”

“Well, I’m not going anywhere,” Gastón closed his eyes for a moment, “Seems like I’m gonna be stuck here for long time. I hate the fact that everyone is speaking to me through a translator, AI, or a living one. I can communicate with them in English.”

“That’s energy that you shouldn’t be using right now.” Nina brushed his hair out of his forehead to inspect the bruising which hadn’t started to fade quite yet. He was also still on oxygen. She didn’t like how pale he looked. He had never looked like that before, not even when he had gone through a more serious case of a virus in 2021, which had made him miss almost three weeks of classes at Oxford.

“Why couldn’t you sleep?” Gastón asked her suddenly.

“It’s not important,” Nina shook her head.

“You know that’s not gonna work with me.”

“Okay, I was having a bunch of nightmares,” Nina admitted, “about you. About yesterday…because they were telling me all kinds of things about what was happening when you were unconscious.”

“Like what?”

“They told me that you most likely had a brain bleed.” Nina squeezed Gastón’s hand tighter “I signed papers to let them perform brain surgery on you.”

“Well, I’m really glad that I didn’t need that.” Gastón laughed slightly.

“But it’s okay now,” Nina continued, as she watched Gastón swift in discomfort. She hated to see him like this. He was on strong drugs, but there was only so much those could do. “Is there anything you need? I can text Matteo to bring stuff over.”

“I’m not sure if there is,” Gastón closed his eyes again, “I mean all I can do is lie here. If I look straight ahead for too long, I get super dizzy. I won’t be able to even read.”

“Well, I can read to you,” Nina ran her hand on his arm.

“You know I prefer it.”

“Hola.” A woman who looked like a doctor walked into the room with couple of nurses. Nina stared at her for a moment, as it had taken a moment her to realize that the doctor was speaking Spanish. “Soy la neuróloga Iiris Jokinen. I know what you’re probably wondering, I’m the only one who knows Spanish in the whole building.”

“Can I ask, why this is necessary?” Gastón asked as the neurologist shone the light into his eyes, “I mean what kind of brain damage can I have?”

“You suffered a severe impact to your head and were unconscious for a significant amount of time.” The neurologist explained, “We’re just being throughout. The doctor who checked you out yesterday noted that, because of the unclear scans, we need to confirm that there isn’t any underlying damage to the parietal lobe that could cause dyscalculic, dysphasic, dyslexic, apraxic or agnostic symptoms.”

“But…” Nina hadn’t really understood what that had meant, but, from the change of his expression, it seemed like Gastón had. “...don’t those mean like my ability to do math and shape and size comprehension?”

“Dyscalculia does result in difficulty learning or comprehending arithmetic—”

“But that can’t happen,” Gastón’s face started growing alarmed. Nina started to understand what he was talking about, and she placed her hand on his shoulder, “I have masters in science and technology, from Oxford. I work at an environmental construction company as one of the assistant engineers on the executive team there. I—”

“I understand the concern, but let's not get ahead of ourselves,” The neurologist continued, “But I have to tell you that there is a possibility. Right now, I’m gonna order another head CT and MRI and then we’ll do a couple of other primary mathematical comprehension tests, and we’ll go from there. There are also a couple of treatments that have been developed in recent years so recuperation is possible, and you have your young age going for you. There is no guarantee that you would reach your original ability, but close is possible. I’m going to page my attending to take a look after the tests are done.”

“This can’t be happening…” Gastón buried his head to his hands after the neurologist left the room for a moment.

“Hey, look at me,” Nina turned his face to look at her.

“If I have brain damage and can’t…” He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “I can’t do my job…”

“It hasn’t come to that yet, and you have options. Remember what you said about teaching a week ago?” Nina squeezed his hand again. Gastón wasn’t fully meeting her eye, “You do remember that, right?”

“Yes, I do,” Nina let out a relieved breath as Gastón responded, “I can’t teach something I can’t do.”

“They said that there are treatments… even if it does happen, it’s not the end.”

“But I can’t just stop working. I can’t do that to you. I should—”

“Don’t say you need to provide for me,” Nina looked at him disapprovingly for a moment, “You have never needed to do that. You have just happened to have an extremely well-paying job. You are capable of doing that and so much more, no matter the circumstance. We already have more than we need. We’ll figure it out, together. It is In sickness and in health for a reason and you were the one who once said that you don’t need to start saving for retirement.”

“It was supposed to be a joke… at the time.” Gastón ran his hand on his forehead.

“I know you’re scared,” Nina pulled both of his hands into hers to put his ring back on his finger, she had been holding on it since yesterday, “I’m too, I mean, I hate to see you like this. But I’m sorry if I don’t seem to be that worried about this, I’m worried because you’re worried, but I’m just glad you’re alive. Whatever happens, we’re gonna get through it together. I’ll stand by you through whatever is coming right now. I can’t live without you, I already tried that once.”

“I love you.”

{}

Okay, so I wasn't intending to end this hee, but it was getting super long, so were getting an extra part. Also, I wanna ask if anyone would be interested in me writing a alternative one-shot about Gastón losing his memory for momentarily? I think it would be kind of fun, if he lost those 10 years be back in S1 of SL. Please let me know.

#Soy Luna #soy luna fanfiction #gastina #lutteo #simbar #pelfi #kind of in the background #Christmas #DCLA Holidays #Finland #I have my silly faves visit my country

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