40. Greg

The four of us finish getting ready, drop Annie off at school and head straight to the hospital. It's a flurry of motion as nurses help us get ready to see Penny's son, Clark. Gowns are draped over our clothes, and our hands are washed enough times to be red and raw.

But still, when I finally saw the tiny baby boy inside the NICU bubble, lying still beneath the blue lights, my heart dropped into the pit of my unsettled stomach.

I'm not the only one either. I see Sam struggling to contain her emotions and keep my hand in hers as long as possible. Clark is beautiful despite his surroundings, even I can see that. The little boy has an obvious yellow hue, and his eyes look sunken, even when they are closed. But Clark looks so much like a tiny version of Sam and Penny. Chubby cheeks, high on his face, and a little button nose. As Penny picks up her son, she smiles and tilts him toward Sam. "Clark, this is Auntie Sam. She's here to help you."

I hear a sniffle beside me and grip her fingers tighter before letting go. Sam takes the small baby into her arms and whispers to him as soft tears fall down her cheeks.

Now, normally, I'm not an emotional guy. I can watch Old Yeller and laugh.

Okay, not laugh, I'm not a serial killer, but I can handle it with barely a tear. But right now, my throat feels like someone shoved a combination of cement and dry flour inside my mouth. Forcefully, I try to swallow down the grief building. No way can I lose it in front of Sam. I need to play the role of strong, silent support here.

But seeing a suffering baby in the arms of the woman I love isn't an easy task. "He's beautiful," I manage to croak out, sounding like a sappy fool. But the words hit their mark, and Sam grins.

"He really is," Sam says. She leans closer and presses a kiss to the boy's forehead. "You hear that Superman? You're beautiful and strong. If Uncle Greg admits it, you know it's true."

I nod and swipe a stray tear away. Just allergies or something. "Oh he's definitely strong. Look at those arms. He'll be paddling thirty foot waves any day now." Chuckles sound around me, including a few from the watching nurses. I don't know if they're aware of Sam's accusations, but they are certainly keeping a close eye on us all.

After a few minutes of cooing more words at the tiny baby, Sam hands the boy back to Penny. They are only allowed to keep him for ten minutes before the nurse insists he needs to go back under the UV lights. The beeping of machines and bright fluorescents around me make me long for open air, to get out of the hospital and dive straight into the ocean. But there was just no possible way I could leave Sam to deal with everything alone. Though it might sound narcissistic, I am certain she was able to contain her own sadness much better with me around.

Penny sets him down, whispering sweet things as she does. It is hard to believe that this poor woman has been holding her son only a few minutes at a time for months. The agony on her face, so apparent in the bags under her eyes and the tears brimming, it's hard to watch. Still, I didn't falter, didn't allow any emotion to seep out.

As we leave the NICU, another nurse comes by and leads us into a small room.

Sam starts to fill out the mounds of paperwork that come with being a donor, but near the bottom, she hesitates. I sneak a look at the question she's stuck on. The words' unprotected sex' stick out.

When it registers why she's stopped, I laugh. "Well, write yes, obviously."

"It doesn't seem like their business," she says with a frown.

I lean closer. "They need to make sure you're healthy. How ridiculous would it be to give a liver and an STD?"

Her face blushes, and she mumbled something. With one brow raised, my face tells her I didn't catch what she said, so she repeats, her face growing as red as a beet. "You were the first person I've been with at all in the last two years and you said you were clean."

My jaw drops, mouth gaping. "Two years?" I say, much louder than I mean to. She nods, circles the option, and signs the bottom. "Were you living in a monastery?" I joke.

She slaps me playfully. "I didn't exactly make it a habit to sleep around."

"That's an understatement." Still chuckling, I kiss the top of her head. "Well, I'm glad you decided to trust me."

"I was drunk," she says, but her tone is affectionate.

The nurse ruins our flirting session by plopping down at the table with a blood draw kit, and Sam quickly averts her gaze as soon as the needle comes out.

Seeing her afraid is strange. I've seen this chick tackle ten-foot waves with a smile. "Oh, don't tell me you're afraid of a little poke?"

She smiles shyly but doesn't answer. The nurse makes quick work of getting the samples she needs and leaves the room. "What now?" Sam asked Penny.

"It'll be a few hours before we know. Can we go get some food while we wait?" Penny was asking me.

Between the busy morning and the hospital, I had yet to explain that I wasn't an agent anymore. But I do know the protocol. "They marked her appointment as taking most of the day. So yeah, as long as we don't go too far from the hospital, it's probably fine. I'd text your lawyer to let him know though. Just in case."

At those words, Penny pulls out her phone and does just that. However, I guess it's not a big deal as her lawyer is also her husband.

After leaving the front doors and making our way back to the parking garage, Tilly appears, leaning against the Tesla and staring at her phone.

"All good?" she asks. Everyone responded with nods.

"We're gonna get some food while we wait," Penny explains.

"Perfect, I'm starving. Someone ate all the muffins." The tone in her voice tells me she is still upset, but I am starting to think it wasn't Sam or Clark. She had refused to come into the hospital because of a call. And if I wasn't mistaken, there was a bit of moisture in the corner of her eyes. Figuring it was best left for Sam to ask about, I push the thought away.

I've learned a lot about Tilly in the last few weeks. Her history with her family is rough, and being back in the States is hard. But it's not clear how much Sam knows. Maybe I will be checking in with her later after all.

Each of us climbed into the car. Though it's my fourth time riding in it, I still get a little thrill. Being broke has never bothered me before, but damn it all if I don't want a spaceship of a car now. "Burgers?" Penny asks once we are all buckled. No one disagrees, and she sets directions into the car's GPS.

We're all sitting in silence at the restaurant. We place our orders like robots and settle into the nearest booth. The seats are worn-out red and there are kitschy decorations on every inch of the yellowing walls, but the entire place is filled with the heavenly aroma of fried food. The tension in the air is suffocating. It's like we're at a wake, and the thought makes me nauseous.

Clark isn't going to… fuck, I can't even think of it. Thankfully, the burgers arrive, and I hand out the baskets of greasy goodness with a loud throat clear. "Alright. Way I see it, we can continue moping until news comes, or we can talk about something completely unrelated to Sam, Clark, or Penny."

The women all explode at me at the same time, their voices rising in pitch in a way that makes me hold up my hands in surrender. "Okay, I'll start then. Penny, do you surf?"

A small smirk appears at the corner of her mouth. "Not in a long time. No this is the family bum," she says, gesturing to Sam.

Tilly shakes her head, her eyes wide like it is some sort of crime. "That's crazy! And with the beach right there? We'll take you out. Come down to Costa Rica for a weekend and me and Sam will show you a good time."

Penny furrows her brows and looks right at Sam, an accusation written on her face. "You're going back to Costa Rica when this is over?"

Swallowing a bite of her food, Sam looked first to one woman, then the other, and then finally, to me. "I have no idea," she admits.

"Of course, she is! It's her home, with me at Ron's Surf Shack," Tilly says. The way she's talking, it's almost like she's already begging.

Sam stares at the table, and I can see how conflicted she is. Her body is shrinking back like she's trying to disappear into the crinkly red vinyl of her seat.

Maybe it's the fact that she hadn't given the idea much thought. As far as I know, she's already accepted the fact that she is going to jail. "For the last eight years, yes. But here…" She looked up at Tilly. "I lived here my whole life before that. There are bad memories, but-- I did miss my family."

The look of hurt in Tilly's eyes broke my heart. Sam saw it, too, and reached over to grab her friend's hand. "I will always consider you family. I wouldn't be able to do any of this without all of you. That's why I'm so torn. If I stay, I know I'll go crazy without you, Til."

That seemed to ease some of the pain behind Tilly's eyes, and Sam adjusted in her seat, reclaiming her own hand. "And I dunno, surfing in a wetsuit is weird. It's like wearing a giant condom."

The group bursts into laughter just as Penny's phone starts ringing. Suddenly, everyone's mood turns serious. My heart starts racing at supersonic speed. There's only one call that Penny is waiting for. That we are all expecting, really.

Checking the caller ID, she looks up, her face white. "It's the doctor."

Without having to be told, she answered. "Hello? Yes, it is." The voice on the other line spoke for a few seconds, and Penny's hand flew to her mouth. "Really? Thank you! We'll be there right away."

She hangs up and takes a giant bite of her burger, ignoring their stares. "Well?" Tilly asks.

A glint in her eyes, Penny swirls a French fry in ketchup before popping it in her mouth. "Oh, that was the doctor. Sam is a match, and we need to go get her psychologically evaluated before they start prepping her for surgery." All at once, each of us exhale a long breath. Once the relief sets in, Sam started laughing.

I sling an arm around Sam. My fucking hero. Facing a life sentence in prison to save her nephew.

We have a patented silent conversation when our eyes meet. ‘You're amazing.'

She rolls her eyes. ‘I'm really not. Just doing my job as an aunt.' But I can see how much my look means to her. My beautiful girlfriend is blushing. "I see where Sam gets her sense of humor," I say to Penny.

"Oh, don't blame that on me. I'm funny. Elaine—sorry, Sam, is nuts. Ask her about the time she put a snake in my room." All eyes turned to Sam, but she only shook her head.

"That was…a misunderstanding—" Tilly and I are both asking her questions all at the same time, but Sam holds up a hand. "AND it's a story for another time. We should get back to the hospital."

I pat her knee. There was no way I would forget to pry the details out of her later, but for the time being, I would let it go.

We have a baby to save.