Title: "Lub-dub My Heart"
Author: Solstice1394
Prompt Fill for Ultracape and the prompt was: "TRIGGERY FOR MEDICAL PROBLEMS - OT3 Neal was born with a heart murmur which never gave him problems and so he saw himself as indestructible. However with the stress of recent events, i.e. season three, he's experiencing chest pains, breathlessness, fatigue, palpitations and has fainted for a moment without anyone knowing, he thinks." Circa 2011 not on the current season.
Summary: Neal has ventricular septal defect that his lovers find out about.
AN So I know it's late like 3 years late but I was going over prompts to be inspired and I stumbled across this. I wanted to fill it here is my attempt I hope you like it. Another thing if you read my work that has to do with medical things, then you might know my paramedic/doctor OC she is a little alter ego my hypochondriac mind came up with. If you can pick her out (tell me) it's a challenge within the story if you like. If you don't then don't worry about it. Now Edited hooray!
memories
WC
"Mrs. Bennett I believe he will grow out of his heart condition. Remember to look out for it just to be sure we don't know much about David's condition yet," the older doctor told Neal's mom.
Neal had believed what his mother had told him that he had been fine after the check-up. When he ran from the truth when he was 18 all the way to New York the heart defect had disappeared from his mind like his life before Mozzie.
WC
Neal woke that morning remembering being in the Marshall program and being 6 or 7 with a heart problem. He shook off the old remembrances, thinking nothing of it. He barely remembered the rest of it anyway he just wanted to get on with his morning.
"Morning June," Neal greeted his landlady as he tied a robe around his waist and sat down for breakfast.
"Good morning Neal, I heard you got in late last night I'm surprised you're up this early," June smiled trying to get at the truth.
"Well Peter wants me out of the house and at the bureau at 8, have to do what the boss man says," Neal sipped at his coffee not really eating he laughed on the inside thinking about Peter as his boss.
"Well wasn't Peter who kept you out late last night," June sipped at her own coffee hiding her smile behind the mug.
"Yeah just a good night with everyone," Neal suppressed a smile he knew that June knew about Peter and El spending the night every once in a while in his bed as he did theirs.
"So did you bring that book I recommended to Elizabeth or did you forget it on the counter in the wrapping," June asked as she smiled around her spoon like a cat finally catching the mouse. June wanted to remind Neal that the book was a gift for Elizabeth's birthday in 3 days.
"Yes I did I also bought that wine for Peter's big surprise dinner and now the meat is marinating." Neal sipped the last of his coffee and excused himself from the table to get ready for the morning.
Neal was heading into work he had a busy day of mortgage fraud and Jones and Diana slipping files into his pile of paperwork. He still felt tired but he thought that was normal after the night's escapades with a very happy to see him El and a very willing partner in his partner.
Neal stepped onto the 21st floor and saw Peter smiling for the first time in weeks maybe he had found an interesting case. Neal's heart leapt at the prospect of being stress free for a few hours of time working hard on a brain teaser of a case.
"Guess what," Peter smacked Neal on the shoulder with a blue folder.
"What," Neal played along knowing Peter would get to the point if he waited a second.
"We might have a fun case about jewels." Peter beamed and Neal smiled really wide for a moment and then felt his heart skip a beat either it was really doing that or his head was playing tricks.
"Good because El and I were placing bets on how long that frown would last."
Neal laughed and disappeared behind his desk after having felt a little dizzy.
"You and El stop making bets because you're corrupting my wife," Peter scolded before winking at Neal he knew El enough that no one would make her do anything she didn't want to do.
"Okay but only because you hold my heart you big lug," Neal whispered to Peter's back as he walked away to his office, promising to brief the team in a few.
WC
Here he was at 34 in love on one part of his life and the other full of stress from a job he loved but hated at the same time. He hated the FBI for it's strict and tight leash, but he loved it for the fact that the rules tended to bend with his kind of fun.
"Neal you ready to go, it's lunch time and I drew the short straw so you're helping me carry today," Jones slapped his hands together as he grabbed his coat for a cold day.
"Yeah just no more weird orders from Jake right?" Neal joked about the probie who was a little weird in his taste he seemed secretly pregnant.
"Yeah he's out sick today, so are most of the probies I think it's the mortgage fraud flu," Jones laughed as he pressed the button to call the elevator.
"Oh so it must be the end of the month," Neal laughed with Jones on the way down knowing that all the mortgage cases for some reason grew at the end of the month like all the files were alive.
"I think they're alive in the file cabinets sometimes you can hear them talking," Jones looked like Mozzie when he was on one of his rants about a new conspiracy.
"You been hanging out with Mozzie or have you just been enjoying some more whiskey," Neal asked a little cautiously before he laughed with Jones exiting the elevator.
When Neal and Jones returned arms fulll of lunch orders surprisingly they're arms became very light within in a few minutes. Neal was a little relieved Jones goof humor had helped keep his mind off the feeling that something was wrong today.
Neal walked to Peter's office and deposited the lunch getting a friendly or maybe playful spank on his ass as he was shooed out of the office while Peter talked on the phone. Anyone who looked up would have thought that Peter was annoyed with Neal and not at all playing with his lover.
Neal went down the hall distributing the other 3 orders for the probies and secretaries in the lower conference room. He smiled when he entered answered a question or two and then left as he felt suddenly just drained.
He couldn't explain the feeling; he was Neal Caffrey conman extraordinaire why had he been feeling so tired lately. This would happen sometimes he would just get dizzy or feel as if he was wading through thigh high syrup. He was down the hall leaning against the wall he slowly dropped to the floor after getting dizzy. He barely got himself together enough that he could stand up on shaking legs. He smiled at Jones but Jones didn't really smile back.
"You okay Neal you look a little ashen," Jones touched Neal's forehead before Neal could move his head out of the way, though a second later that was a terrible mistake as the room started to spin again.
"I'm fine just you know a little dizzy," Neal admitted to appease his friend if he didn't give in a little he would have to go to the doctor and that was something he didn't need he was fine just stressed.
"Then maybe we should go eat our lunch," Jones shrugged it off but filed it away to bring up later to Peter, Jones would have wished he brought it up sooner rather than later.
WC
2 weeks later and Neal was still tired, but right now he was sleeping. Neal was sleeping and Peter was on his chest El's hand stuck in Neal's hair his mouth open. Neal was wheezing his lovers thought it was odd that he was breathing so hard from after sex over 2 hours ago and they knew that Neal wasn't sick.
Peter woke up first he was directly under the source of that wheezing he looked at Neal really looked and saw that Neal had less color and that his lips where wide as if trying to steal more air. Peter got off of Neal and then pressed his ears to Neal's chest listening to Neal's lungs nothing was wrong. Neal's lungs were clear it didn't sound like he was sick or like asthma and yet Neal was wheezing it puzzled Peter.
El woke up next she had felt the shift of Neal and Peter all their limbs being tangled helped her wake up. She looked at the ceiling and then at Peter she wondered what in the world her husband was doing at 1 in the morning.
"What are you doing, hon," El whispered after getting herself to wake up enough to make a questioning face.
"Listening," Peter answered 'shh'ing' El so he could.
"I see that, why are you listening at 1 in the morning," El asked again it was too early or late depending on how you looked at it, to even broach the subject of listening to Neal when he wasn't talking.
"Shh just listen," Peter waved his hand though the point was moot when Neal started to wake up.
"Okay I know that I'm interesting and irresistible but since when am I listening worthy considering you never listen to me when I am awake." Neal rubbed his face and pulled El's hand from his hair he kissed it and gave it back to her with a smile before he went back to sleep.
Peter puzzled over one more thing as something else clicked into place on the list of odd things Neal was unusually tired all the time lately. Neal had also let his swimming membership at the Y lapse just a month ago. The unusual thing about that was Neal hadn't been showing tracking data there he thought it might explain the sudden weight gain. The way Neal's ankles where swollen and his face looked like it was holding water compared to his usual skinny features.
Another thing to add to the list was Neal's cough, which chose that moment to show itself. It puzzled Peter to no end that Neal wasn't sick and yet he coughed and had been coughing for the last week and a half. At first they thought it was a cold but now Peter suspected it was something else. Neal coughed another time this time it was long and drawn out, that settled it in Peter's mind Neal was going to go to a doctor. The cough pronounced itself again as if suggesting 'better make that tomorrow agent.'
WC
"I'm fine Peter you should really stop worrying for me I am just fine in fact I'm great," Neal smiled brightly picturing his happiness because he was happy.
"You are going to Dr. Summers today I'm driving you end of argument. I do this because I care and I'm just worried about you," Peter stopped as Neal coughed for a second behind his napkin. "And that is worrying me as well as you being tired and your sudden weight gain."
"I'm not fat," Neal rasped indignantly as he recovered from his coughing he was noticing that his hands were slightly blue around his finger tips.
"Stop that I'm not going to get into that with you instead, I'm going to drive you to the appointment at the end of the work day that Dr. Summers has generously agreed to meet you." Peter was getting frustrated because Neal was trying to dodge his attempts at taking care of him.
"Fine," Neal sighed resigned to his fate before he coughed not realizing that his body needed air at the moment not his attitude.
"I'm worried okay," Peter stated as he rubbed Neal's back up and down before Neal could catch his breath. Peter saw the sweat and knew that it was not hot in the restaurant in fact it was cold. Neal had that same pale face and when Neal looked back up at him Neal had blue lips.
Peter's heart skyrocketed he couldn't help it he was a worrier when it came to Neal and El. With good reason Neal and El had both been his bedrock and right now he was so uncertain at the moment the ground wasn't shaking.
"Screw it I'm taking you now your lips are blue how hard is it for you to breathe," Peter asked concern lacing the harsh tone.
"Not that hard," Neal gasped after getting the look from Peter he faltered and told the truth, "okay actually hard it's a little hard."
"That's better," Peter passed Neal some water and paid for lunch then helped Neal to the Taurus so he could get to the hospital to see Dr. Summers. He dialed her number from the Taurus and Neal blanched at the attention.
"Hey Petey bo-beenie how is that job treating you still stressed," Dr. Summers answered. She was between shifts at the moment eating an apple and finishing her notes.
"Hey Sarah do you mind if you see Neal now because I think something is wrong, his lips turned blue a second ago on top of all those other things I mentioned I'm worried." Peter asked though he knew he could be forceful it was best just to ask when it came to Dr. Summers.
"I will be waiting with bells on why don't you meet me at my office, it must be your lucky day because I just ended my clinic hours and am now getting to my office and giving you my hour for notes." Dr. Summers smiled on her end of the phone but knew what she was doing as she strode into her office and requested a nurse from internal medicine to show up for help.
"Okay we should be there within the next minute I'm near you now," Peter stated as he turned on to the street of St. Ann's Hospital.
"Oh goody I didn't even have to ask for delivery for you to come to me, see you in a sec Peetey bo beanie." Dr. Summers laughed before hanging up she enjoyed the Burkes as patients so she was hoping to see this Neal as a good patient too. She was no fool though she knew that being sick was never the best way to meet a new patient she had heard the coughing over the phone.
"Dr. Summers I was doing the magic trick for just you," Peter signed off as he got out of the car and helped Neal out.
"You did magic I have to see that," Neal suppressed a cough as he met a very strange Doctor on the 4th floor.
WC
"So Neal Caffrey I hear from a certain patient that you know two of my patients," she caught Neal's eye as she spoke the next word, "intimately."
Dr. Summer's placed an oxygen mask on Neal's face seeing some color return to his lips.
"How do you know that," Neal asked as he felt the nurse tightening the blood pressure cuff.
"No one is supposed to lie to their doctor Neal. So anything that you want to tell me maybe something along the lines of your symptoms and why you're skyrocketing my favorite couples blood pressure." Dr. Summers chirped then added, "And your own high blood pressure?"
"When I was a kid I had a heart murmur like most but other than that I'm pretty sure that I just caught a cold and Peter is worrying himself to death as usual we're all pretty stressed right now." Neal told Dr. Summers he like her she joked with Peter and that meant she was good like Elizabeth.
"I see do you mind if you hold this for me as I listen to your ticker blue eyes," Dr. Summers flirted with Neal as she noticed that Neal was leaning against the back wall for more support on the exam table.
Dr. Summers clipped an oxygen rate monitor onto Neal's index finger taking note of the cyanosis there and slight blue tint of the rest of Neal's lips. She rubbed her stethoscope before sticking it under Neal's not so crisp dress shirt. She listened there was the lub but the dub it was off there was the heart murmur that most children grew out of but there it was again just a little too loud.
"Mr. Caffrey did you say you had a heart murmur as a child," Dr. Summers received a nod for her question she asked another. "Did the doctor that treated you at a young age say if it was harmless and that you might grow out of it," another nod.
Dr. Summers took in the oxygen reading and nodded to the nurse to take note of the 90 oxygen level and handed over the chart.
"Hey Blue eyes how about we deal with the breathing problem I don't like it when I can't breathe trust me I have asthma." She smiled and turned up the oxygen she didn't want to intubate just yet. His oxygen rose to 94 by the time she was writing the rest of the information she had gathered from listening to Neal's heart.
"Better?" Dr. Summers asked her almost dozing patient she was convinced the sound of the whooshing was a 4 to her trained ear. She would be putting a call to Dr. Faux, a cardiologist who had mentored her while she was an intern, as soon as she got the referral paper.
"Much though I really think you're overreacting now too," Neal persisted as if he was invincible "I was 8 maybe 6 when I had a small VSD it would close on its own I just have a cold."
"Neal Caffrey do you really believe that?" Dr. Summers asked she got some words in the affirmative and that is when she told him he was not invincible. "Neal, your heart is making sounds of VSD again but I think it's louder than when you we're younger. I think that stress and maybe other factors have aggravated your heart. And now I think, and this is with years of experience as a cardiologist before I became a general practitioner that you were misdiagnosed. When you were little you had a small VDS now you have a ventricular septal defect that is medium maybe large. Not small in your heart for that I'm sure."
"I see," Neal said and then he got really quiet so Dr. Summers left to get Peter while the nurse stayed with Neal.
WC
"Peter I have to tell you this information as Neal's medical proxy because you need to know in an emergency but as his lover you need to comfort him." Dr. Summers stated bluntly as she was not a pussy foot.
"What are you telling me?"
"Neal has VSD a ventricular septal defect I'm pretty sure it's in his pulmonary artery. I need to run more test but I'm going to get my mentor to look at him okay," Dr. Summers promised her friend as she walked back with him to the exam room for Peter to see Neal.
WC
"This isn't exactly what I was expecting when I felt tired and got a cough from nowhere the lack of oxygen does explain the being dizzy though," Neal rasped obviously just getting down from a coughing drag.
Peter noticed the nasal canula under Neal's nose and felt the room buckle a little now seeing his lover like that. He thought that Neal hadn't been okay and he was right. At that moment as Neal cried on his shoulder he hated being right.
"You're okay," Peter repeated into Neal's hair because he really wasn't that good with crying.
"Bu 'm n't kay," Neal mumbled into Peter's shirt and he looked into chocolate brown eyes as he repeated, "But I'm not okay."
Neal gestured to his face where his lips had turned blue, his pale complexion, the nasal cannula, the oxygen monitor on his finger and the low number for oxygen blood ratio knowing that the level should be in the high 90s to a 100 not at 96 now. He then buried his face in Peter's collar because quite frankly he didn't want to be 7 again and have a heart problem with false promise of everything being okay.
"Okay but Dr. Summers says that she is calling a friend right now who will make sure that we know more," Peter tried to reassure Neal as he continued to bury himself into Peter's shoulder and chest. Peter heard Neal breathing he heard the wheezing again and he looked down to see an asleep Neal.
Peter sent a text to El which then turned into a series of calls explaining the situation to El and Hughes all the while Neal slept. El was in his mind as she closed up shop across town and said she was going to run over as soon as she could.
A Doctor in a red dress came into the exam room after a short knock it stopped Peter's rambling thoughts .
"Hello my name is Dr. Faux as in fake not enemy trust me I am not your enemy Mr. Burke I presume the young man sleeping on your chest is Neal." Dr. Faux clipped her sentence, she was older around Hughe's age.
"You would presume right, am I right to assume that you're not a fake though," Peter asked as he tried not to wake Neal.
"You would assume correctly," Dr. Faux smiled and then handed Peter a piece of paper. "This is a referral from Dr. Summers stating that Neal is having a consult with me as a cardiologist specializing in valves do you understand as Neal's medical proxy?"
"Yes I understand though he might not he is sleeping," Peter spoke a little harshly to Neal for keeping him in the dark of the fact that Neal actually had a heart murmur as a child. It was only curved because most children do from harmless to harmful it seemed that Neal had all the luck including bad when it came to medical problems.
"Then I guess we better wake him," Dr. Faux stated simply as she reached over Peter and shook Neal's shoulder to wake him and gave a quick introduction similar to the one she gave Peter.
"Nice to meet you," Neal murmured with his bloodshot eyes as he tried to stay awake for the new doctor this one who would give him answers.
"Now I have questions and I'm sure you do to so you go ahead and ask your questions but first I would like to hear that whooshing my colleague is talking about." Dr. Faux pleasantly smiled at Neal much like Ellen used to smile at him he instantly liked her for that smile.
"Okay but I don't think my heart does any other tricks," Neal offered as he let the cold metal hear the lub-dub of his heart.
"Yeah but each heart is unique and you strike me as unique so tell me what are your symptoms Neal," Dr. Faux asked her new patient.
"I'm tired a lot, can't breathe sometimes like now I can't really breathe that well, I get dizzy sometimes, my heart feels like it's running a marathon sometimes, and Peter says I have weight gain 'suddenly'," Neal air quoted the last bit for Dr. Faux then promptly let his hand drop to his lap as he was tired just from that. This was so not normal it was like he was getting worse by the minute or maybe it was just his imagination.
"I see," Dr. Faux noted. "Tell me when did your symptoms begin and have they gotten worse over time, I see that you mentioned a previous diagnosis when you were younger but I assume that the symptoms have been brought back recently."
"About 3 weeks ago the stress in my life shot up and I think they could be getting worse," Neal tensed as Peter tensed next to him he got a reassuring squeeze from Peter.
"Have you ever fainted?" Dr Faux asked receiving a negative she moved on continuously asking question until she got to the bottom of the list. "So do you have any questions for me?"
"Just one," Neal cleared his throat as he thought about what Dr. Summers had told him ran through his head. "How large is the defect?"
"I couldn't say just yet without running some tests but based on your stress level, not coughing up blood and the fact that your oxygen level is not where it's supposed to be I think that it could be medium. I know that it's not small based on the sound. I also know that you're scared and if you're not you will be."
"I have a question," Peter asked finally pulling himself out of the trance he had been in when Dr. Faux and Neal had answered questions. "What is the long-term outlook for this VSD?"
"It is unclear at the moment but most likely once we know more I think we will be looking at medication or most likely surgery to correct the hole in Neal's heart I would like to start testing right away. I'm going to admit Neal with his oxygen levels staying at 96 during this whole conversation is not something I like I also would like to hear more about this heart you have as much as the rest of you so I can better answer your question."
"I see well then where is the paperwork he likes to do things in triplicate," Neal pointed to Peter with a small smile on his face. As his mind spun with thoughts of surgery, medication, testing he remembered his mom drinking and the fact that she made her heart worse. He cursed himself on the inside knowing that he drank though he was not an alcoholic like his mother. He was not a saint.
"I do not like to do things in triplicate it doubles and that's only because I have to keep copies for my records and the bureau records." Peter volleyed back to Neal.
Neal, who simply looked tired and he was overwhelmed with the thought that the hole in his heart was literal. He had felt a hole in his heart when his father died, when his Kate died, when Ellen left this world, and it felt like the hole had been filling a little with El and Peter.
"I'm going to get that paperwork started a nurse will help you check-in in a second. Why don't you and Peter stay here. I will be back soon," Dr. Faux told the couple in front of her before she disappeared down the hall in search of a nurse who could help get Neal to the cardiology floor.