This is an ongoing story. It might be a good idea to read the first two chapters before reading this one.
*****
Tom's already heavy head swam with new thoughts and the air seemed to escape his lungs and refuse to return. In ten years since his mother left his father he had heard him referred to as "that man" and "the asshole." So the fact that she referred to him as "your father" meant this was serious.
"Where?" Danny's voice broke through Tom's fog.
"Here, in Boston," his mother answered.
"He's here? How long has he..." Danny again.
"He never left. Look there's no time to discuss it now, they need us. You. And your sisters. At the hospital so they can run tests. For compatibility. He will need blood. And might need other things." She was vague but frantic.
The hospital waiting area was quieter than Tom expected. And empty aside from his siblings, his mother and himself. He sat in a chair next to Danny, close enough to feel his heat but not close enough to raise suspicions. The nurse had already called Allison in. As they waited for the next one to be called Tom's mind wandered to the night before. Danny's lips on his, his light moans as Tom stroked him. Tom shook off the thought. Not the time or place to revisit that.
He wondered what all this meant. He tried to list off the things he would ask the nurse once they called on him. By the time Danny had returned and Tom made his way into the examining room he had forgotten everything he wanted to say. There was something off about Danny's face when they brought him back to the waiting area. Something that made Tom hurt inside.
"I am going to be taking some blood, just a pin prick, and swabbing your mouth for DNA. We are looking for compatibility for organ donation and blood transfusions," the nurse explained and handed Tom a clipboard with papers on it. "This is a consent form. It essentially says that you have agreed to these tests. If you are a match there will be other forms for that."
Consent form. Tom didn't even consider that there might be a choice in all this. Maybe he didn't want to be tested. He looked it over. Words jumbled together as he tried to read it. Organ compatibility. Agreement to be tested. Not a consent to donate. Legal words. He signed it. His head already hurt, this was making things worse.
A prick on his finger. A cotton swab swipe in his mouth, and the nurse was gone. "Wait here, the doctor will be in with your results in a few minutes."
Alone in a quiet sterile white room. Tom's thoughts threatened to wander back to the night before, but he once again stopped them in their tracks. Everything seemed to be moving quickly here, which meant there was an urgency. His father was probably dying. Did he care? Somewhere deep inside him he wondered how cruel it would be to admit anger and abandonment made him less concerned about him in this moment. In this moment he was wondering about Danny. What had they told him? As he was contemplating the possibilities Tom realized why the look scared him so much. It was the same distant look Danny had when he was fifteen and suddenly part of a strange family, lost and alone.
Tom's thoughts were interrupted by a new face. "Hello, Mister Patterson, I'm doctor Sullivan. I am taking care of your father."
Tom tried to smile at her. She returned the strained gesture.
"Well," she said looking over a sheet of paper in front of her. "We have your results and you are a very close match, as close to perfect as we can ever hope to get, the chances of successful donation are extremely high."
This did not surprise Tom in the least. He was not medically inclined but he was pretty sure that sharing DNA with his father would make him a good match for whatever it was he needed. Still he asked the question anyway. "What does that mean?"
"I am going to be honest with you. Your father's injuries are substantial. He will need a kidney transplant, sooner rather than later. So if you were to choose to, you could donate your kidney to him without much complication," Doctor Sullivan answered.
"Can I think about it?" Tom heard himself say. "I mean, do I have time to decide what to do?" That did not sound much better.
"Yes, of course." Doctor Sullivan did not seem to be concerned with the response. "He is stable at the moment and we are trying to keep him comfortable. I can give you a day or two to talk about this with your family and make a decision. I would not expect you to decide now. There are no guarantees with any procedure; even routine operations come with complications. The transplant process does present risk for both the recipient and the donor, these are very rare but something you should consider before making your decision. We can give you information regarding the operation that should answer any questions you might have in the meantime."
Tom felt like a zombie as he followed Doctor Sullivan back to the waiting area. His mother stood up and greeted him with a warm hug as he walked through the door and back into the quiet room still only occupied by his family.
"Mrs. Patterson, I am Doctor Sullivan." She introduced herself. "Your ex-husband is stable but, will need extensive surgery in the coming days. The impact damaged many of his organs. But his kidneys were the most severe. He will need a transplant. Tom is a match. He is the only match."
Tom felt Danny stiffen next to him at those last words.
"Tom has asked for some time to think about this, it is a big decision. We have a little bit of time. But I encourage you to get back to me as soon as possible," Doctor Sullivan nodded to Tom and left the family standing in the waiting area.
All eyes were on him. All except one pair. The only one that mattered. Tom looked from his mother to his sisters and took a deep breath. "I am not saying I will not give him my kidney. I am not saying I want him to die. But that man was never my father. He was not there for the first thirteen years of my life, any more than he has been the last ten. So you will have to forgive me for not jumping onto an operating table and offering up my organs."
