~~! The Stand !~~
Jen sighed standing by the window watching the snow quickly accumulating on the ground outside. Then, she flopped back down on a nearby chair, observing the help center. CJ was reclining on a sofa reading. He'd been sick for two weeks with the flu, but he appeared to be feeling better. He looked up feeling her stare at him.
"What?" he asked, looking around him at the nearly empty room. There were five people working the phones for the night, but they had only had a few callers.
"Is it always this slow around Valentine's Day?" Jen inquired. "I would have thought that there would be a lot of lonely and bitter souls out there."
"It'll pick up. It usually does." He waved a hand at her before burying his nose back in his book. He absently rubbed his stomach as a phone across the room rang.
"You've been doing that a lot today," Jen noted with concern filling her voice.
"Doing what?" he asked, placing a bookmark between the pages he was reading and tossing the book on a desk.
She gestured to where his hand rested on his abdomen. "Rubbing your stomach. Does it hurt?"
He contemplated what to say. His stomach had been bothering since the morning, but he hadn't paid much attention to it. Though, he'd obviously shown his discomfort more than he'd thought.
"It hurts a little. Probably ate something that didn't agree with me." He brushed it off and got up, moving over to his desk.
"You haven't eaten anything today," She noted.
"I haven't been hungry. Hell, I haven't been hungry for two weeks. Would you stop with the third degree already?" He stared at her for a moment, daring her to say something else.
She remained quiet, looking out the window again. "It's really coming down out there."
Abruptly the door opened, allowing a gust of icy wind to blow through the room. David hurried through the door, shutting it quickly. He grinned sheepishly when he turned around and saw everyone glaring at him.
"Sorry." He mumbled, removing his coat and toboggan. "So, what's going on?" David moved to stand beside where Jen was sitting.
She glared in CJ's direction and David immediately got the hint. "Trouble in paradise again?"
"Paradise?" she snorted. "Where did you get that idea?"
"I thought you two had a date tomorrow night. That implies paradise to me since I've never seen CJ date at all. Not one single date."
"It's not a date. It's more of a mutual-friends-going-to-dinner-together sort of thing."
"Just the two of you?" he asked skeptically, eyebrows raised.
"Well, yes, but ..."
"Sounds like a date to me." He interrupted, smiling broadly.
She rolled her eyes, jumping up when her phone rang.
David laughed, shaking his head and wandered over to his desk.
"I don't feel so good." CJ declared, an hour later, from where he lay on one of the sofas closest to his desk. Jen and David both put down their books down and walked over to him.
Jen put the back of her hand to his forehead and was relieved when his temperature seemed to be normal. "Does your stomach still hurt?" She asked and he nodded in response.
David noticed the paleness of CJ's pallor and knelt beside the couch quickly. "How long has your stomach been hurting?"
"Since this morning."
"Where does it hurt the most? The right side?"
"Yeah," CJ winced as David pressed down on his abdomen.
"What's wrong?" Jen asked from where she stood behind David, wringing her hands.
CJ cried out, curling up and clutching his stomach as David released the pressure he'd been applying.
David turned to look at Jen, his expression grim as he looked out the window behind her.
"What?" She nearly screamed.
"We need to get him to a hospital. Right now. Go start my car. It's right outside the door. The green Jeep Cherokee."
"What's wrong with him?" She asked as she pulled her jacket on and held out her hand for David's keys. He tossed them to her and turned back to look at CJ.
"I think he has appendicitis. But he's been sick, so it's just better if we get him to a hospital."
Jen's eyes widened and she raced for the door.
CJ looked up at David. "Could you please not talk about me like I'm not in the room?" he mocked.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on." David rolled his eyes and extended his hand to help CJ up.
CJ smacked it away, shaking his head. "I'm fine. There's a stomach bug going around. I'll be okay in a little while."
"Nope. Come on, get up. We're taking you to the hospital."
"I'm not going to the hospital." CJ stared up at David defiantly.
"Yes, you are." David grabbed his wrists and tried to haul the larger frame of CJ to his feet.
"No, I'm not. I'm not going there, David. Leave me alone." He jerked away from David, grimacing at the pain radiating through his abdomen.
Jen ran through the door, stopping when she saw that CJ was still laying on the couch and that neither of them had put their coats on yet. "What are we waiting for? The car's warming up. Let's go!"
David sighed and pointed at CJ. "He says he's not going."
"What?!" She shrieked, rushing over to the couch and glaring down at CJ with her hands on her hips. "Get your ass up and out to that car right now!"
"I'm fine, Jen."
"Like hell you are!"
David chuckled, drawing their attention to him. "What? You're funny."
"Will talk some sense into him?"
"I tried. He's not buying it."
"Hello? Right here." CJ waved his hand at them, smirking.
"CJ, if a doctor doesn't look at you soon, and it is your appendix, and it bursts; this," David gestured to the fetal position CJ was currently in, "will be a walk in the park."
CJ sighed while Jen threw her hands up in the air, muttering about what an idiot he was. "If I don't go to the hospital ..."
"When you go to the hospital." David interrupted.
CJ frowned, "If I don't go to the hospital ..."
"Your appendix will burst and you'll die. Can we go now?" David grabbed his and CJ's coats off the rack and returned to the couch.
"I hate doctors," CJ grumbled, taking David and Jen's hands and letting them pull him painfully to his feet.
After Jen helped CJ with his coat and David pulled his own jacket on, the three of them shuffled out the door and into the cold. Jen held open the back door of the SUV while David helped CJ into the car. He immediately laid down and curled up on the seat. David and Jen hurriedly got into the front seat and David pulled away from the curb. The streets were covered in snow and were slick to drive on. To make matters worse, the snow seemed to falling harder now, obscuring David's view through the windshield.
CJ moaned from the backseat, and Jen turned back to look at him. "Jen, there's some pillows and blankets in the back. Put the pillows under his knees to elevate his legs. It'll help with the pain." She nodded and climbed over the seat, careful not to jostle CJ.
"I've been meaning to ask you how you know all of this," She commented to David, pulling two pillows out of the back of the Jeep.
"I had appendicitis a couple of years ago. I exhibited most of the symptoms that CJ is."
"Oh," she said, busying herself with making CJ more comfortable. She threw a blanket over him and straightened it before looking at him. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm ok," CJ lied, cringing a little as he tried to get comfortable.
"Sure you are, Tough Guy. How do you really feel?"
"In pain, ok," CJ growled. "Lots of it, happy?"
Jen shared a look with David via the rearview mirror. "Are you feeling nauseous or anything?" David asked.
"No, not really," said CJ quietly. "Except, everything's kinda grey."
"CJ, you've gotta stay awake." David called from the front seat.
"Hey, look at me." Jen commanded. "Stay with me here. I'd freak out if you passed out on me."
"Nah, you'll be fine," he slurred, his eyes looking at the swirling ceiling.
"Hey!" She shook his shoulder. "Look at me, CJ!"
"Huh? What?" CJ said startled, turning to see a rather scared Jen.
"Talk to me. Tell me something," she said, reaching out to grasp his hand. She squeezed gently, smiling when he returned her grip.
"Like what?" he mumbled, blinking his eyes and shaking his head to clear it.
"It doesn't matter. Just talk to me." She saw David nodding his head out of the corner of her eye. She was doing okay. She could handle this. No problem.
"I wish my parents were here," he said quietly out of nowhere.
Jen's eyes widened slightly. That wasn't what she expected to hear. "Tell me about them."
"They're great people, but lousy parents."
"Not around much?" She asked, remembering that fact that her own parents were not reliable now or ever.
"Nope. He was always too busy with his various corporate court cases. And she was too busy trying to hide her affair from him."
"I know what that feels like." She said, before she realized that she was even thinking it.
"And I was dumped from one boarding school to the next," he added, nonchalantly, "until I turned twelve when Grandmother came and got me."
"Is that how you ended up here in Boston?"
"Yeah, she'd lived here her entire life. When she died, I bought her house with my inheritance. My parents wanted to sell it."
"Do you still see them? Your parents I mean."
"Nope. Although Dad's accountant slash best-friend calls me now and then."
"To make sure you haven't blown the inheritance?"
"No. He doesn't care about that. He only wants to know when I'll join in on the family business."
"I'm assuming that you tell him no a lot."
"Yup. Not that I don't want to help him. But just not right now."
"So you want to work with your father later on?"
"Not really."
She brushed his hair off his forehead, checking his temperature with the simple gesture.
"Then what do you want to do?"
"I don't know yet. I know that I want to help people. And even though this sounds really shallow, money does help. Besides, I promised grandmother I wouldn't let the family business go."
"What exactly is the family business?"
"Anderson and Associates."
"A law firm?"
"Uh huh," CJ nodded, averting his eyes from hers to stare at the back of David's seat.
"How's the pain?" She asked, sensing that he didn't really want to talk about this anymore.
"What pain?" he asked, obviously feeling a little delirious.
"We're almost to the hospital," David announced.
"Did I ever tell you how I ended up here?" Jen asked, drawing CJ's attention back to her.
"No."
"My absentee parents came home early once in my entire life and caught me having sex on their bed."
"Ouch."
"So they shipped me off to Capeside to live with Grams, and the rest is melodramatic high school history."
"Ah. That's not so bad. At least you had your Grams."
Jen rolled her eyes, "Yeah, Grams and all her religious beliefs. We clashed a lot in the beginning."
CJ chuckled, then winced. "But everything looks good now."
"Yeah, we've come a long ways. But I still don't speak with my parents."
"We're here," David said, quickly unbuckling his seatbelt and jumping out of the car.
He opened the back door, while Jen helped CJ sit up. He winced, biting his lip to keep from crying out.
"Just take it slow." David advised, taking CJ's arm as he slid out of the car.
CJ could do nothing but mutely agree with him.
Jen climbed out and slid under CJ's other arm, helping support him.
"Don't forget to breathe." She said, realizing that he was holding his breath as they slowly made their way toward the Emergency Room doors.
CJ didn't say anything but only nodded at Jen. 'I'm not feeling so hot,' he thought as the images before him swirled and faded.
Jen and David nearly fell to the ground as CJ sagged between them. They struggled to lower him gently to the ground.
"Go get a doctor!" David pointed towards the ER doors a few feet ahead as he started to drag CJ toward them to get him out of the cold and snow.
Doctors and nurses surrounded them as soon as they got through the door, taking CJ from him and placing him carefully on a stretcher. They wheeled him into an exam room and left David and Jen to find seats in the waiting room.
Ten minutes later, CJ moaned, moving his head from side to side as he gradually returned to consciousness. The nurse was immediately by his side, pushing his hand away from his abdomen where it had automatically gone as the pain registered in his foggy mind.
"Hi," she smiled as his eyes slowly opened. "How are you feeling?"
CJ groaned, looking around the room. "Where's Jen and David?"
"Your friends?" She asked, waiting for his nod to continue. "They're in the waiting room."
"Could I see them?"
"One at a time for a few minutes. We're going to be moving you back to surgery soon."
"Surgery?" His eyes grew wide and he swallowed nervously.
"Your appendix is inflamed. It has to be removed before it bursts."
He closed his eyes and mentally counted to ten to calm his nerves.
"Don't worry too much about it. It's a routine procedure. They'll make three small cuts in your abdomen and send a tube with a little camera on the end down to your appendix and some clippers to remove it. You'll barely have a scar."
He grimaced, clearly still not happy with the situation, "How long before you take me back there?"
"About thirty minutes. The operating rooms are all full right now. We're monitoring you and you're doing fine."
"Can you find Jen Lindley and bring her back here?" He asked.
"Sure." She patted his arm and moved through the swinging double doors and out of his sight.
A minute later, he raised his head off the gurney when he heard the doors swing open. Smiling slightly at Jen, he beckoned her forward with his hand.
"I heard you were asking for me." She eyed the IV's that were running into his arm before taking a seat on the stool beside his bed.
"Yeah," he said. "I wanted to know whether you were okay or not. I know I'm kinda heavy."
"Well, I think you fell more on David than me, so I'm fine." She laughed.
CJ chuckled lightly. "That's good to know."
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm ok," he lied, flexing his IV-impaled hand a little bit.
"Are they giving you anything for the pain?" She asked, recognizing his lie.
"Not really."
"Then, stop lying and tell me you fell like crap."
CJ chuckled again. "But if I said that, I wouldn't be a guy, now would I?" he joked.
"Sometimes it takes a real man to admit that he's in pain." She shot back.
"Whatever you say."
"Are you nervous?" She asked, noticing that his hands were pulling at the threads of the blanket covering him.
"What makes you say that?"
"You're unraveling your blanket." She reached out and gently took hold of his hand.
"So? It doesn't mean anything," he said evasively.
"You also said that you didn't like doctors before."
"Uh huh... so?"
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. If you're not going to be honest with me, I'll go home."
"Ok, ok," CJ sighed. "Sorry. I'm just... not used to explaining myself."
"It's okay." She said softly.
"Let's just say that I don't have fond memories of doctors or hospitals," CJ said.
"Want to tell me about it?"
The nurse from earlier entered the room, moving over to the bed and taking CJ's other wrist to check his pulse. "I'm sorry, young lady, but we're getting ready to move him up now." The nurse turned her attention to CJ. "An operating room has opened up."
"That's, ummm, nice." He replied, shifting uncomfortably. The movement shot pain through his abdomen and he grimaced, trying not to cry out.
Jen squeezed his hand. "I'll be here when you get out."
"Thanks." He said, returning the squeeze. She slid her hand out of his and walked to the door, turning back to smile reassuringly at him before disappearing back to the waiting room.
~~! To Be Continued !~~
Author's Note: aa would like to thank Infie, Dani, and Maia for taking a sneak peek very early on in this story and encouraging me not to give up. And also, jt, for offering to share her experience with appendicitis and sticking around for the rest of the story and then some.