Sophie returned to her room to grab some makeup. Surprised
to see Dr. Wagner standing in her room with his back to the
door, she noticed him scrolling through the nurse’s computer.
She cleared her throat to let him know she was there. He spun
around and quickly closed the laptop.
“Hi, Dr. Wagner.”
“Sophie, hello. You surprised me. I was just reviewing your
records and getting ready to discharge you.”
“Great.”
Sophie’s nurse walked in, flipping through the stack of papers
she had in her hands. “Sophie, Dr. Wagner is discharging you.”
When she looked up from her papers, she saw Dr. Wagner at her
computer. “Oh, hi, Dr. Wagner. I saw your order from earlier, and
I was just getting ready to discharge her now.” She turned back
to Sophie. “Congratulations, you’re free to leave,” she said as she
cut her hospital ID band from her wrist. “I’m leaving the second
band on. You’ll need it to get in and out of the NICU, so keep it
on until Danny goes home.”
“Thanks. Yeah, I’m not going very far. Anyone looking for
me will find me in the NICU.”
Picking up the laptop, the nurse asked, “Is there anything
else you need, Dr. Wagner?”
“No.” He pulled the front of his lab coat closed and excused
himself.
Sophie listened to the nurse’s discharge instructions and signed
40
JULIE HATCH
the paperwork, thanking the nurse for her care. She changed out
of her hospital johnny into the jeans and sweater that Adam had
brought earlier, then headed down the hall to the NICU. She
went into Pod C and unloaded her toothpaste and toothbrush,
hairbrush, lipstick, and phone charger into the drawer of the small
table next to Danny’s incubator. She’d bring some more clothes
from home tomorrow. She planned to be here for as long as Danny
was in the NICU.
She peered in at him, kissed her finger, and touched it to his
lips. Then she closed the portholes and left to go downstairs and
wait for Kate
