#sp004

These days if Bentley never saw another doctors office again in her life, she would be perfect fine with it but of course she would have to come accustomed to the long waits listening to doctors passing her by in the hallway as they talk about patents and what they would do in certain situations. She’d have to get used to the white walls and ugly tan colored tiles on the floor that have probably seen one too many emergencies and families brake within them, but hope that she wasn’t one of those to be added to them. It was getting harder to hope that she wouldn’t be the longer she was kept waiting on why the doctor wanted to see her and what news he had about her son and his condition. Bentley sat in her seat outside in the hallway of the hospital Cope has been getting visited at and waited for any sign of his doctor around, but she couldn’t find him. As she felt the nerves start piling up, she reached into her purse to find a fidget toy from Cope or just something to help calm her down in the slightest bit. Finding nothing quiet she could play with, she took out her chap stick and started popping the cap on and off a little to keep herself at bay, but it wasn’t long until she heard her name being called from down the hallway she sat in.

“Ah, Ms. Faire. There you are.” Dr. Montan said as he gave a slight wave and held some files under his other arm. Seeing him walking closer to her, Bentley tossed the chap stick into her purse and stood up from the seat she was in. Showing a smile as she started walking to meet him half way in the hallway, the brunette tried to keep her nerves away the best that she could but she was starting to think that they wouldn’t ease up until she managed to get out of this place. As the two of them met in the middle of the hallway, they shook hands and exchanged their greetings and began the small talk about how she’s been and how Cope has been doing since his last visit to see him. All seemed well until the question of the hour was asked.

“So, why did you call me in? Are they’re developments into Cope’s reasoning behind this or did you guys find something for him?” Bentley asked quietly. Dr. Montan gave a small nod, but didn’t really say anything to the worried brunette except that they should talk more in his office that was down the hall from where she was sitting and waiting for him before. Of course, the answer to her question wasn’t one that she wanted; it only made her more anxious as she tried thinking of the worst possible things that could be happening right now, but yet at the same time she tried to plan for them so that she wouldn’t be so caught of guard like she was when Cope had his first seizures. Though she could plan all she wanted and make arrangements in her mind of how things would go if a certain thing were to happen, Bentley could no way prepare herself for what she was about to find out. After passing by a few more doorways and another hallway, Bentley followed Dr. Montan into his office and took a seat that he gestured to before he had closed the door behind the two of them. Bentley placed her bag down on the floor and crossed her legs, remembering that just a week ago she was in here receiving the news that Cope was being diagnosed with epilepsy and what the action plan was surrounding him so they can get him back into school and back into a routine, not only for the medicine he was going to be on but also to help them get back to where they once were. As the doctor tried making small talk once again as he got settled, Bentley tried following along with it but it was to no avail.

“Alright, so let’s look at my notes for Cope.” he said to himself aloud as he turned around in his chair to get the files off of his back desk of his that was filled with binders, books and other patient files. Turning back around to face Bentley, he placed a small stack of papers filed into different folders in front of him. Upon opening them up, he read over the highlighted sections on his copies and glanced at the notes he made silently to himself. The silence filled the room awfully quick and left a bad taste in Bentley’s mouth as she sat on the edge of her seat, trying to see if she could read anything off of the paper he was looking at. After what seemed to be like minutes, Dr. Montan nodded when he got to the part he needed to see and glanced up at Bentley who was giving him a questioning look.

“Ms. Faire, we would have called you in sooner but the health records from both sides of Cope’s family was harder to get than expected. First off, before we get into anything, I wanted to say sorry for your loss on Cope’s father. I didn’t know he passed until we got the records in from Lima.” Bentley waved him off with a smile but nodded her head as if she was saying thank you for the condolences. Clearing his throat, he let out a small sigh as if he was trying to figure out how to word what he wanted to say. “When we asked you if you knew of anyone in the family that had a disorder such as the one Cope has been diagnosed with, why did you tell us no? I’m just curious.” Bentley raised an eyebrow at the question and tried not to come off like she was about to give a dirty look at the sound of him almost accusing her of lying to them. She knew of no one who had epilepsy or and form of a disorder in her family or even Caleb’s so why would be bring this up?

“Because I know of no one who had epilepsy in either families. No one has said anything about it, even when I called to say that something was wrong with Cope.” Dr. Montan nodded to her answer and look down at the page in front of him feeling like he was about to deliver the first bad news of the day. “Bentley, I’m only asking because his father had it and it’s not really common for it to get passed down from generation to generation, but the risks went up since Caleb had it and was getting treated for it” He paused for a moment to allow Bentley to take in what she was hearing from him. ”I believe Cope manged to get to disorder from his father and was triggered somehow when he had his first ones. As to what triggered him it could range from just about anything, but this is answer as to what caused them, is the best one we can conclude on.”

Sitting there in shock it was like Bentley got punched in the face once again, but this time it wasn’t sadness that was coming it was annoyance. How could Caleb keep that from her. This was about his health, not something stupid moment that he was embarrassed about. if he would have just told her, they could have figured things out faster and get down to the bottom line and not waste all this time and money on tests. if he would have told her, Bentley could have gotten the sleep she needed and not spent night after night awake wondering what was wrong with Cope and what was causing it. It was just another selfish moment Caleb hand and even five years later of him being dead and gone he was still having them. Though the anger Bentley was feeling wouldn’t be lasting long, she left out a huff and pursed her lips together as Dr. Montan could sense her annoyance.

“I take it he never told you?” “No, he never told me a single thing about this, not even once. His parents never even said a single thing and they were up here when Cope had his first one. I don’t understand why this is being such a big kept secret from me.” Bentley said, the annoyance was still hanging on in her voice as her mind kept racing with the thoughts of everything that could have been prepped and avoided. In Bentley’s mind there was nothing worse than being unprepared for something and granted seizures can pop up at any time, she could have still prepped herself for this and could have had him checked out or had a close eye kept on him before. Looking at the Doctor in front of her, Bentley could sense there was something else he needed to tell her, but she was scared as to what else could come after being shocked with that news. After taking a breath, Bentley closed her eyes and quietly asked, “What else is there..?”

Dr. Montan knew that it was best for him to not hand over files and paper work to someone, but in this moment he couldn’t help himself but to hand over the one packet that was in the stack of Caleb’s files he had acquired. It was too heartbreaking for him to say the words to the women in front of him, especially when she had no idea about his medical history. Taking the packet from his hands, Bentley’s stomach started tying itself together in knots as she was worried about what she was going to see on the paper he was handing over to her. Looking down at the sheet in her hands, Bentley skimmed over the letter on the top page as she saw the summary of Caleb’s final report on the injuries he obtained during the accident and what the cause was. As she read on, her heart sank as low as it could while breaths were getting stuck in her throat making it so she couldn’t breathe. Her eyes were glued to the paper and with each word she crumbled further and further down. 

“You’re telling me that this is what caused his death? That a seizure caused him to crash that car?” Bentley asked as her voice cracked and her jaw trembled. “This has to be some sort of a sick joke because this can’t be right.” Dr. Montan nodded his head, unable to say anything as he listened to the heartbreaking voice Bentley had. Bentley broke her eye contact from him to look back at the paper as she wondered why anyone would cover this up to her and why his family would hide this after they knew what she was going through. A freak accident such as this is one thing, but to let Bentley believe that Caleb was speeding and died pissed off at her from their fight before he left for work was something else-- a something else that weighed on her shoulders for years, a something else that caused Bentley to shy away from anything dealing with wanting to get close to someone or making them mad because she feared if they walked out she would be attending their funeral next.