When he started, Maxwell wondered why he thought he would be interested in telling anyone about the disgusting acts that he and Susan had gotten into over the years.
Even when he learned Maze had helped Susan feed the habit he probably introduced her to over the years, he hadn't given a two fig about it.
Until he heard Maze talking casually about how he had 'helped' Susan clear up a mess that had to do with her man.
Maxwell was on the verge of lunging at the bastard when the nurse came in to inform him that the doctor would like to see him.
"Stay here," Maxwell said sternly to Maze.
"Yes, boss," the latter said with a jaunty salute that showed he had no idea of how much he had fucked up.
Maxwell met the doctor in consultation with another doctor as they stared down at some results.
Maxwell's heart thumped as he thought that the whole effort had been nothing but a waste after all.
"It didn't match?" He asked immediately after the nurse led him in.
"It is a match actually," the doctor answered.
"But?" Maxwell asked anxiously, as he supposed there was more to come.
"His blood has impurities in it"
"Disease?"
"No, sir. Metabolites and residues from recent d**g use. We can't give her this."
Maxwell's high hopes crashed.
This was even worse than if the blood had been incompatible.
To have it right on hand only for it to be useless because some bastard couldn't keep his hands off what he shouldn't take?
"Is there anything else we can do?"
The doctor shook his head as he said "He will need to stay off d***s for a long while before we will be able to use his blood for her."
"A long while?" Maxwell echoed. "That girl does not have a long while to wait! Does she?"
"No, sir," the man said contritely while still looking down at the film-like material that had connected and crisscross patterns on it.
"There must be something else we can do. Isn't there something else you can do?" He asked urgently.
The second doctor started slowly as she said "We can try purifying…"
"No, that is too risky. The stakes are high. The adverse effects might even be worse than expected."
"What stakes? What are you talking about?" Maxwell asked urgently.
Allysyn's doctor faced him and explained reluctantly "What Dr. Shawn is trying to say is that we can try to purify the blood so we can use it, but the problem with that is with the urgency of this case, we don't have machines or the procedures that could do rapid and total removal of residues. If we end up giving her blood with any residues left in it, there could be adverse effects that might be worse in the long term. We need to avoid that."
"But you can try. You could at least try, right?" Maxwell asked urgently.
Allysyn's doctor looked at Dr. Shawn before looking at Maxwell. "Yes, we could try. But we will need to be successful fast. If not, we might have to do the detoxification anyway. We have less than an hour already."
"Let's try," Maxwell said, then a thought came to his mind. "Can you speak to another doctor? Can you tell her whatever you need to speed the process up? If they have it, then they will get it here."
"Okay," Allysyn's doctor said with a stronger conviction on his face. "The medical director still needs to approve this, but okay"
Maxwell quickly called Andrea.
"Hi, I have not called back because we are still…"
"I need you to help these doctors, Andrea," Maxwell said urgently before giving the phone to the doctor.
They discussed it briefly and returned the phone to Maxwell.
"So?"
"We have it, sir. I am on my way right now."
With heartfelt gratitude, Maxwell said, "Thank you, Andrea."
"It is the least we can do, sir," Andrea answered before the call was disconnected.
The doctor had just got off a call too, and he turned to Maxwell.
"The MD gave the go-ahead, sir. We will get things ready now."
Maxwell nodded and called his men to bring Maze back.
Then he called the officer in charge of the still-open arson investigation.
*********
Maxwell was surprised to still meet Reyona awake when he got back to her room.
"I was waiting for you to get back", she responded in answer to his unspoken question.
"Your recovery is very important to me as well, you know," Maxwell said in a tired voice.
"I will recover better when I know that our girl is fully out of danger," Reyona said as she looked at him expectantly.
"It is a match," he said with a smile.
Tears filled her eyes in excitement as she said "Oh, thank God. Does that mean…?"
Maxwell shrugged as he said, "I have no idea but the fact that the blood matched says a lot, after all."
He kissed her on her forehead and said, "Sleep."
"You need to rest as well. I have the easy part, you know. I am the one lying here while you are going about to do all this."
Maxwell shook his head as he looked at her and emotions filled his eyes when he said "I am not the one who got tied up and…" he couldn't go on as he shook his head and ran his hand through his hair in agitation.
"I swear if anything had happened to you and…"
"Nothing happened to me," Reyona said urgently. "Nothing happened to me and the baby is fine too. Look at me." She said when he only swore beneath his breath and kept his head down. "We are fine. We are here with you, and we are not leaving. You are not getting rid of me that easily, you know." She said with a cheeky smile.
Maxwell smiled as her words reminded him of what Celia had said earlier.
He owed Celia.
He rubbed his eyes and got closer to her as he said "You know I love you, right?"
"I know," Reyona answered with a nod. Then she gingerly shifted, so there could be space behind her. "Come to bed. You are exhausted. Come hold me to sleep."
"I don't want to hurt you," he said.
"I don't bruise that easily, mister." She said.
He slowly got in bed behind her and soon enough, he was curved around her while being mindful of causing her pain.
After a while, he sighed and said "I am afraid I might sleep off."
"That is the goal," Reyona responded.
"Not yet," Maxwell said with a sigh. "Andrea is on her way here."
"Why?"
Maxwell told her.
"So, Allysyn's probable dad is also a user?"
"A user that has a resemblance to the man she thought was her dad," Maxwell said in contemplation.
"What do you mean?" Reyona asked curiously.
Maxwell took out his phone and showed her the clearest picture he had taken.
He felt her freeze almost immediately.
"What is it?" He asked urgently.
"He…he looked just like Thomas's late cousin."