Rumors spread like wildfire, and Rhett could not believe it.
"Link isn't wearing his wedding band!"
"Is Link divorced?!"
"OMG! Where is Link's wedding ring? Whats going on?"
The comment section was flooded with speculation and Rhett didn't know how to respond when Jen came to him. Rhett leaned back in his chair after running a frustrated hand through his hair. He didn't think the viewers would notice at all, let alone so quickly.
Behind the scenes Link and his wife Christy have been divorced for over a month, this was just the first time he had filmed an episode of Good Mythical Morning without his ring on. Rhett didn't want to think about when Link came to his door in the night, a hysterical mess.
"She wants a divorce, Rhett," Link had said though tears. "She's not happy and she wants a
divorce."
Link stayed with Rhett while the divorce was finalized. Shortly after, Link moved out, leaving the larger house for Christy and the kids. He moved into a smaller house in Rhett's neighborhood. Link got the kids almost every weekend, but they mostly came and went as they pleased. Rhett knew Link was happy, in a small way, that she didn't just up and move back to North Carolina.
Rhett was deeply disturbed by the thought of his best friend, his brother, so horribly destroyed by the divorce. Fear, loss, and sorrow consumed him, and Rhett had no clue how to fix any of it. There was a dip in video production for a while, as Rhett couldn't get Link to leave the house for weeks.
"Rhett," Jen said, bringing his out of his thoughts. "What are we gonna do?"
Shaking his head, Rhett replied. "I have no idea, Jen." He depended on his Social Media Manager to figure this out, but when she came to him, he was at a loss for words. Everyone on set now knew why Link wasn't 100%, although he did a good job everyday to pretend he was.
"We just have to hide it from him right now," Rhett decided, though he wasn't sure it was the best plan. "I don't really want him seeing this. Not yet."
Jen agreed with a nod of her head. "Yeah, I understand. I'll do my best!" She exclaimed with a small smile.
"You always do, Jen," Link's voice interrupted, startling both Jen and Rhett. "But, what are we talking 'bout in particular?"
"Oh, nothing." Jen said, snapping her MacBook closed. "Just some finishing touches on the season return letter we're gonna email out soon!"
Rhett exhaled, relieved. "Yeah, brother." Rhett stood to see Jen to the door. "The letter looks amazing, and its almost done. Thanks again, Jen." Rhett said the last part very sincerely.
Jen stood in the doorway of his and Link's shared office. She didn't reply, just gave Rhett a thumbs up, and took off down the hallway, probably to seek out Stevie.
"How you feeling today, man?" Rhett asked Link after he closed the door. "And, I mean, really. How are you holding up, Link?" Link's smile disintegrated in a instant.
"Its a bad day, brother." Link slid his glasses up on top of his head so he could dig the heels of his palms into his eyes. "I can't get her
out of my head today. I just keep hearing her say how unhappy she is on a loop." Link folded his arms on his desk and laid his head on them, facing Rhett. "What did I do wrong? I thought I gave her a good life, I provided. I-I honestly am so confused."
Rhett could see the tears that threatened to fall, and he couldn't bare seeing his best friend like this.
"You did, man" Rhett started, sitting in front of him. "You gave her everything she could have asked for. She's making the mistake of divorcing you! She's doesn't know how good she's got it." He saw Link gaze at his left hand, at the empty spot on his fourth finger.
Link didn't reply right away, and Rhett didn't push for conversation. He just wanted his friend to know he was always there for him.
Then Link coughed. A lot.
"Man, you've been coughing all week," Rhett noted, changing the topic. "You need to go see the doc."
"You're probably right." Link replied, pulling his glasses back on. "And I will if this keeps at it." Link stood, stretching. Rhett gave him a knowing look and Link smiled a bit.
"I'll go Friday, after shooting. Happy?"
"Over-joyed." Rhett replied.
"Now," Link said, throwing open the door to there office and smiling as much as he could muster, "Lets go turn me into a Cheeto!"
...
"LA County 105 to Saint Joseph Medical Center."
"This is Saint Joseph. Go ahead, 105."
"We have a 39 year old male, syncope. He is stable. BP is 122 over 80, pulse is steady at 95 and hes sating at 99%. He is AMS at the moment with a temperature of 102, requesting non-emergency transport."
"105, whats your ETA?"
"ETA is in 5 minutes."
"Thank you, 105. We'll see you soon."
Nurse Mia Grey heaved a sigh as she stood in front of the dispatcher.
"They're going to 16, aren't they, Helena?" Mia said, tapping her pen on the tall counter.
"You thought you were getting out of here on time, Mia?" Helena said with a laugh. "We never leave on time down here." Helena's fingers moved like lightning to pre-admit the patient they were about to get.
"This is the last time I pick up shifts in the Emergency Room!" Mia announced jokingly. Another nurse passing by, John, put a hand on her shoulder.
"You lie, Mia." He said shoving I.V. flushes in his pants pockets. "We are way more fun than 4th floor, I'm sure." Mia laughed and rolled her eyes playfully.
Mia had nothing to do, everything was caught up in other rooms and she had just discharged her last patient. She checked her phone again to see if Kyle, her nightly replacement, had sent her anymore texts. He had already said he was gonna be a hour or two late.
Working over didn't bother Mia, she loved it. She had nothing to go home to anyways, besides her loyal cat Vic. Ever since the fiasco with her Ex-Fiance, Mia hasn't dated since. Mia shook her head as she heard the ambulance bay doors slide open.
"Hey Todd!" She recognized the paramedic. He worked for the county, so this must be her patient. "This my 39 year old male?" Mia asked with her chart already out.
"Hey Red!" He smiled, and replied "Yep! He's a little out of it right now, but his friend is with him." He gestured to the tall blonde behind his EMT partner.
"Take them to 16, Please," Mia called over Helena, who was on the CB radio again. "I'm right behind you!"
Mia caught the blonde by his elbow outside of the room.
"Hi, I'm Mia, and I'll be his nurse. Can you tell me what happened to him?" She asked flipping to a clean page in her notebook.
"Yeah," He said visibly a little shaken. "I mean, its a short story. We had just finished a shoot and he just collapsed. We thought it was heart attack, but our medic on set said it was probably exhaustion. But Link's had a bad cough for a week, he was gonna come in on Friday."
Mia nodded as she took everything down, "Okay, and whats your name? And your relation to the patient?"
"I'm Rhett McLaughlin, and he's my best friend and work partner." Mia nodded again and jotted more notes down. The paramedic and EMT came out now and waved at Mia.
"We hooked him up a bit, but we didn't get I.V. access on the bus." Todd said. "I'll finish report with the dispatcher and I'll come back."
Mia nodded and headed into room 16, with Rhett on her heels. She logged onto the computer and began charting like the wind, Rhett watched her work for a second, then back down at his friend who had a sheet of sweat on him. Mia looked up after a couple of minuted of charting, her eyes resting on the patient. She blinked a couple of times. He was handsome, very handsome, and now she was glad she got to stay a little longer. She walked up to his bedside and placed her had on his and shook lightly.
"Hey, sweetheart. Can you look at me?" Mia asked gently. His eyes cracked open and framed, hazy blue eyes stared at her. His breathing was heavy as he looked around the room a bit, but his attention snapped back to her when she spoke again.
"Hey, hun," Mia started again. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Link." He weakly replied. "Where-?"
"Link?" Mia replied for confirmation. Both 'Link' and his friend nodded their heads. "Link, you are in the emergency room at Saint Joseph's. You collapsed at work, do you remember?" Link shook his head and started to look a little panicked.
"Your friend Rhett is with you, Link." Mia motioned for him to walk about to the side of the bed she was on so Link could see him. "You're not alone." Mia removed her hand and Rhett took her place.
"Hey, buddy." Rhett started softly. "They are gonna take care of you, okay? You can rest, Link, I wont leave."
Mia smiled at the encounter. "Can you tell me his full name and date of birth?" She asked after a minute. Rhett told her and handed her Link's I.D. when she asked for it. She typed a bit more, then excused herself.
"I'm going to go get the rest of the report, and I'll come back in a minute to start an I.V., he's gonna need some fluids for sure. Lab will be in here soon to draw some blood so we can run some tests."
Link nodded weakly. Rhett turned to thank her, but she just smiled again and made her way out of the small room.
...
Everything was hazy to Link. He remembered Rhett saying something to him back at Mythical headquarters, but it was fuzzy. The next thing he remembered was waking to a deep, male voice in a ambulance, asking if he could hear him, but he blacked out again. Lastly he heard a sweet voice call to him, asking to open his eyes. Briefly, he thought of Christy, but this voice was different. Higher. She spoke so softly to him, but he responded by opening his eyes a bit. A red halo encircled her pale face. Very obviously a nurse. the large 'RN' on her badge gave it away. 'Mia.' Her badge read.
He felt her soft hand on his as she spoke softly. The words were muffled, but he understood. Link was in an emergency room and Rhett was here. Rhett was here. His eyes fluttered closed again. He was over-whelmed with pain in his head and chest and he felt like he was on fire. He swallowed thickly as he tried to catch his breath. Mia spoke again and he looked to her. She would come back, she said, and all Link could do was nod. After she left, a slew of techs came in after her. Link had a chest x-ray done, some blood work, and throat and nasal swabs done. He just wanted to rest. Rhett assured him through this hour process that he wouldn't leave, that he was okay. And that thought alone comforted Link.
He was about to drift off again, when Mia walked in.
...
After Mia finished her admission on Link, about 45 minutes later, she made her way back to the room to see Rhett outside on his phone.
"-Yeah, and hold on, the nurse is back. I'll ask and call you back." Rhett quickly hung up. Mia waved her hand to have Rhett follow her into the room.
"So, the results are in." Mia made her way to Link and sat down in front of him at eye level. Rhett sat on the other side of him. "You have a nasty upper-respiratory infection and the flu. You also have some fluid in your lungs, which is causing chest pain." Mia explained.
Link tried to focus on her, but he just didn't have the energy. Mia smiled sadly at him, then turned to Rhett.
"Long story, short: hes being admitted to the hospital." She said, "He'll probably be in here for a week, give or take." Rhett nodded.
"I knew he should have came sooner." Rhett said. He pulled his phone and started texting, probably letting others know of his friend condition.
"I'm gonna get an I.V. going with some antibiotics and some fluid. That should help a lot, and you should see some huge improvement in the morning." Mia said softly, so not to startle Link.
"You do your thing," Rhett said, "I'm gonna let his w-.. Family know how he's doing." And with that, Rhett walked back outside the room.
The lock sliding into place echoed in the quiet room and jolted Link out of his light slumber. The first thing he saw was Mia again, hanging bags on the I.V. pole. He moved a little to get her attention, and she noticed turning fully towards him.
"Hey, sweetheart." Mia said again, so kindly. "You're gonna stay with us a while in the hospital. You're pretty sick." She crouched down to be eye-level with him, and smiled. "We're gonna take such good care of you, okay?" She patted his hand again.
Link had never been hospitalized like this before, and to say the least he was scared. He flipped his hand over and held Mia's tightly. She seemed to understand, because she brought her other hand up to rest over his.
"It's gonna be okay, Link. I promise." Her tone had him flooded with relief. "I'm gonna start some I.V.'s now, okay?" He nodded in response and released her hand. She stood up, gathered her supplies and began the process.
From the small window, Rhett watched the exchange. And he honestly couldn't remember the last time he met a nurse that was so compassionate. Someone who was just so... Kind.
