Chapter 9 - The Ultimate ChoiceWhen Ethan burst back into Room 412, he expected to find Hannah checking Lily’s charts.
Instead, the room was empty of medical staff. Only Julian stood by the window, looking out into the stormy Chicago night with a heavy, troubled expression.
Ethan scanned the room. "Where is Hannah?"
Julian turned around slowly. He didn't look angry; he looked defeated.
"She went down to the pharmacy to sign off on the emergency genetic treatment authorization," Julian said quietly. He walked over to the table and picked up an unsealed medical envelope. "She didn't want to show you this until the lab results were finalized, Ethan. But I think you need to see it now."
Ethan snatched the paper from Julian’s hand.
His eyes scanned the medical jargon, stopping dead at the final conclusion paragraph.
Patient: Lily Caldwell. Condition: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (Early Stage). Treatment Recommendation: Emergency double-lung cellular regeneration therapy. Donor Match Profile: Immediate biological parent or compatible sibling. Genetic sibling match: 0%. Maternal match: 99.8% (Dr. Hannah Mercer).
Ethan stared at the paper, the world tilting completely off its axis.
Hannah wasn't just Lily’s doctor. She wasn't just his lost love.
She was the only person on earth whose lungs could save his daughter's life.
"She already volunteered," Julian said softly, his voice cutting through the ringing in Ethan’s ears. "Before you even arrived at the hospital, when she saw Lily's preliminary scans, Hannah ran the matching profiling. She knew she was a match."
Ethan looked up, his voice barely a breath. "She's going to donate part of her own lung to save my daughter?"
"She's going to risk her own life," Julian corrected, stepping closer. "Because her condition is already progressing, Ethan. If she undergoes a partial lung resection, her own life expectancy drops dramatically. She is trading her future for your daughter's."
Julian looked Ethan dead in the eye, the bitterness of a discarded lover finally surfacing in his voice. "She's doing it because she loves you, Ethan. Even after twelve years of hate, even after everything you put her through... when she saw your child suffocating, she chose you."
Ethan felt a tear slip from his eye—the first time he had truly wept in over a decade.
"Where is she?" Ethan choked out.
May you like
"She went to the surgical prep ward on the third floor," Julian said. "She's signing the final consent forms right now."
Ethan didn't wait another second. He turned and ran toward the door.
