* To Moon Lake Fan, in regards to the time frame of the past few chapters, I think things have been going back and forth from afternoon to morning. The Andersons seem to be operating further into the day (4 to 5 maybe), while everyone else is still in late morning to early afternoon (11 to 2?) - bj88
Melissa and Martin Stovall sat outside Dr. Tachibana’s office, patiently waiting. They saw him coming down a hallway, with an attractive redhead by his side. Mera Curry was still wearing her green shorts and blouse under her lab coat. It was quite the image.
“This is my colleague, Dr. Mera Curry.” Tachibana introduced his companion first. Mera extended a hand to both parents. They were both like something straight out of a movie. Melissa with her long golden hair, Martin with his well toned upper body. And both had sharp blue eyes. It only furthered Mera’s desire to one day become a were.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both, despite the circumstances.” Mera said after shaking hands.
“Likewise.”
“Shall we?” Tachibana held the door to his office open. The four went into the moderately sized room. There were panels for displaying x-rays, but that was the only indication this was room was in a hospital. Everything else was fairly standard office furniture.
“Please,” Tachibana indicated the two chairs in front of his desk, “now, Dr. Curry and I have had some time to discuss your daughter’s case. While we can’t say anything for certain until we run some more tests, we believe we’ve isolated what caused Julie’s mental disturbance.”
He explained Julie’s predicament as simply as he could without confusing the Stovalls with medical jargon. Dr. Curry put up two of the MRI images as a visual aid, pointing out the areas they knew were affected by the aneurysm. And then to the areas of Julie’s brain they wanted to run further tests on.
The Stovalls nodded and tried to look like they understood what the two doctors were saying. But much of it went over their heads. The only thing they could hear was Tachibana and his colleague saying what they’d been saying since the beginning.
“Bottom line, she still needs surgery.” Martin said grimly. He had hoped that any new information would mean they wouldn’t have to cut into his daughter’s head.
“Yes, aneurysms in the brain always require surgery to correct.” Tachibana confirmed. He didn’t like the idea of subjecting a fourteen year old girl to such a serious procedure anymore than her parents did. But if left untreated, Julie would be in far worse physical condition.
“I’ll be performing the surgery tomorrow in Seattle, assisted by Dr. Tachibana and a few other were-friendly technicians.” Mera said.
“Does it have to be so soon?” Melissa asked.
“Unfortunately yes. Most aneurysm are treated within the first 72 hours. Julie was brought in Friday night which means the clock is running out.” Tachibana said.
“Do you have any idea why Julie’s natural healing abilities haven’t solved any of the physical damage?” Martin asked.
“My best guess is that due to the pressure in her brain, the tissue around the affected areas is in a constant state of damage and repair. While that tissue is being regenerated, the healing process doesn’t get past the surrounding areas to the root of the problem.”
The Stovalls remained silent for a long time, processing what they’d just been told. Martin asked what they were going to tell Julie.
“As much of the truth as we can. Not the more intimate parts about this Eric, that would likely cause her more distress. But the parts about her suffering an emotional breakdown, and what happened in her brain, we will explain as best we can.” Mera said, not knowing that earlier most of Julie’s romantic feelings toward Eric had been severed, and her connection restored. Not even Julie knew.
Tachibana and Mera gave the Stovalls the chance to talk to each other in private. They slipped out of the office, and down the hall to where Julie’s room was. They stood outside, peering in through the window.
And to their surprise, saw a young man with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes talking with Julie. The two looked very happy to be in each other’s company. And whether or not Julie and Arthur realized, each had one hand interlocked with the other’s.