This is a continuation in the crossover universe I started in "Once upon a Time in Spanish California". It will help if you read that one first ;)
Also you should have watched all episodes of Forever before reading either because spoilers.
"Good morning, Dr. Farber, how are we doing today?"
The physician checked the read outs from the various monitors next to the patient's bed. It was still always astounding to him how many different machines and monitors and infusions were clustered around intensive care beds. Electronic nurses watching over his patients around the clock, chiming alarms at the slightest provocation.
"Blood pressure looks slightly elevated, was Nurse Jones on night duty again?"
He winked at the man lying motionless in bed.
"She's a sight for sore eyes, is she not? Heart rate is looking good, ventilator working perfectly, a nurse will be around shortly to help you with your morning toilet and to shift you around a bit, wouldn't want you to get any sores."
And what astounded him even more was how there were machines for nearly all bodily functions. It nearly seemed like every organ could be replicated, lungs, heart, kidney, stomach and intestines, there were machines for all of it. The only thing no machine in the world could replace was the human brain.
He smiled into the patient's eyes and patted him on the arm. The doctor's face only showed true sympathy and frustration at being unable to do anything to really help this man. There was no cure for locked-in syndrome. "I shall check on you again later, shall I?"
He made a few notes on the clip board attached to the patient's bed then walked towards the door. Reaching over towards the little box next to it he pumped a bit of disinfectant onto his hand and thoroughly coated both hands in it as he bumped the door open with elbow and shoulder.
Arriving at the nurses' station he gave the four nurses there a smile. "Good morning, ladies and gentleman, are we ready for another exciting day of intensive care work then?"
The head nurse gave him a long-suffering look over the top of her reading glasses.
"Has somebody put too much sugar into their coffee again, doctor? I swear, in all my years, I've never met any doctor who was this happy at 7 am, and after half a week of night shifts too."
Bernard, the only male nurse on the team, scoffed.
"You should be thankful that he's happy. Wasn't one week of working with Dr. Franklin enough for you? I swear, if I'd had to worked with him even one more day I wouldn't have been responsible for my actions."
And after a cheeky grin and a sidelong glance at their student nurse, who was very deliberately not looking at the doctor too much he added: "Also doesn't hurt that Doc Bob's much more handsome than grumpy old Franklin."
"That is highly inappropriate, Bernard," exclaimed the head nurse with a shocked expression.
"No, no, it's alright nurse Simmons, I am quite aware that I am much too handsome for this profession, it's my curse."
The doctor put his hand to his heart and tried to strike a dramatic and long-suffering pose while doing his best not to burst out laughing.
It earned him a smile from nurse Simmons despite herself and made the student nurse blush with a startlingly bright shade of red.
"Oh, off with you, don't encourage them! Don't you have patient files to update or something?"
Mission 'Cheering up the team' accomplished Doc Bob saluted cheekily and vanished into his office to tackle his next enemy: Paperwork, the eternal Sisyphean task of any doctor.
"Ah, Doctor Morgan, have you been visiting your friend? It is so great of you to come by now and then, poor Dr. Farber doesn't seem to have any other visitors."
Henry turned around at the cheerful voice and offered his hand for a shake.
"Good afternoon, Doctor Heller. I trust everything is going well with our patient?"
They shook hands and his fellow physician invited Henry into his office. It had become their routine whenever they met on one of Henry's visits. Most of the intensive care doctors would keep him up to date but Dr. Heller always tried to make time for a bit of chit chat.
"Can I offer you anything? Coffee? Tea? Though I fear the tea isn't really all that great here. Also, how many times have I told you to call me Bob? Us expatriates must stick together, don't we?"
Henry declined the offer of coffee or tea and seated himself in the visitor chair opposite the other man. They had both been delighted to find a fellow Englishman in New York with whom to moan about the terrible state the colonies were in.
"You tell me to call you Bob yet you go on calling me Doctor Morgan. Do make up your mind."
Bob chuckled while sorting through the pile of patient files on his desk.
"Yes, very true, Henry, now...where did I put it? I swear I only just...Aha! There it is, the silly thing was hiding!"
He pulled out one file from the bottom of the pile and only long practice at this task made sure that he managed it without spilling the rest of the untidy and tilting heap all over the floor.
Bob opened the file in the middle of the desk and pointed to the relevant graphs and figures.
"We run blood tests on our patients every day, as you know, and for a few days Dr. Farber has shown a bit of an elevation in his leukocytes, then as of today CRP caught up with things and is slightly elevated as well. He's not got a fever so far but his blood pressure it a bit too high sometimes. I think I'll have to give him some prophylactic antibiotics to see if we can't stop this infection he seems to be developing before it actually becomes a problem."
Henry nodded along with the explanation, his face showing slight creases of worry between his eyebrows and on his forehead.
"Yes, it does seem like he's developing an infection. Might is be his lungs? I am sure the nurses here are very competent at their job and I don't want to imply that they aren't but do they regularly suction his air ways? Change the tracheotomy tube often enough?"
Bob merely pointed to the relevant notes the nurses had made after completing each of those tasks in the file.
"I'll have some aspirate sent to microbiology for cultures and for testing for antibiotic resistances, just as a precaution. I don't think there is anything to worry about but since he's your patient as well as mine I thought you should know about every change."
Henry nodded again, trying to stifle the rising panic at the idea of Adam dying any time soon.
Not yet, please, not yet. I don't have a contingency plan in place yet. I need more time. He can't be free yet. He'll want revenge. He'll come after me as soon as he can…he'll come after Abe and Jo. I have to find a way to stop him. But how?
"Are you alright, Henry? You've gone a bit pale."
The worried voice brought Henry out of his frantic thoughts.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. It's just...well, I know of course that he is very vulnerable to infections right now, but I didn't think I'd have to deal with this so soon."
He gave the man on the other side of the table a tired smile.
Bob nodded understandingly. He was used to dealing with friends and family who suddenly realised that their loved ones might actually die. Being a physician himself did clearly not make Henry immune to this self-deception. Though Henry was sure those people usually feared the death of the patient for completely different reasons than he did.
"It's not a serious issue right now. The antibiotics might yet take care of it before it gets too much of a nuisance. But you need to remember that he's been on a ventilator for a little more than a year and that he's never been completely stable in all of that time. There is a reason why he's still in intensive care."
Henry took a few deliberate breaths to calm himself down fully. He still had a little time, he reminded himself, Adam wasn't dying just yet.
"Yes, I know. And you and the others here have been doing a fantastic job in keeping him alive and reasonably comfortable. Thank you. And now I fear I must take my leave."
With a slightly forced smile Henry got up to leave and the other doctor escorted him to the door.
"We've got your number, we'll let you know should anything change."
"Thank you, Doctor…Bob. I really appreciate it."
Do let me know if you're interested in me continuing this :)