A/N: Now I know where it's going, and it looks (I hope) less like a "How To Deal With The Disabled" handbook and more like an actual story, I finally feel comfortable enough to repost. I hope it's worth the wait.
Why is everything moving? Why are there spiders? Why is everything moving? Am I on an RV? Or is it a boat? Or a truck? What is it? Have I been? I have! I have been kidnapped. Somebody help my sons, they need me to cook for them. Everything is rocking like the rolling stones, tones. They carry no moss. Moss is bad. I hope this truck doesn't have any. I don't want to get sick. But I will get sick if they don't stop this moving. I wonder where I am? I have in my wallet. Where is my wallet, did I leave it at the precinct? No, I was at church. Why can't I move? There are spiders on the wall. I need to squash them before Erin gets here. Thank goodness Erin isn't here, she doesn't like spiders. She does like Morocco. Though I never could figure out why. Morocco is too far away. I'd miss my family if I went there. I don't want to go to Morocco, please don't make me go to Morocco!
"Daniel! Daniel Reagan! Stop! You need to stop trying to move. You don't want to pull out the ventilator. We don't want to have to sedate you on top of all the other medications we've had to pump into you."
Sedate. They've sedated me. But that's wrong. I didn't give them permission to do that! Where's Erin? Erin? I need to sue. They're kidnapping me. Erin! Erin! I can't get away from the zebras and bisons. They're going to trample me. I'm going to be fatter then a pancake. I'm already fatter than a pancake. I mean flatter. Get away from me, we're not in a zoo. This isn't a zoo. I know it isn't because a zoo zoos Isuzu not it's not an Isuzu they make a different sound. Zoos always have sea lions. Where are the sea lions?
"He's asking for someone named Erin. Somebody ask his family and get them in here. No of course not all of them; just one or two - whichever ones are most likely to get him to settle down. Get this Erin person if you can. I don't know what to do if you can't find them! Probably his wife or father would be the best, but I don't really care. Any of them will do. I just have to get him to settle down, these alarms are going crazy!"
I'm not crazy you stupid old biddy. You're the one who's crazy if you think you're going to get away with this! Ooh look! There are the wigs that we need to wear with our Halloween costumes. Linda will be so thrilled. We've been looking for them for ages. There is a pink one that dad can wear, and a green that Jamie can wear. It's nice and curly like an afro. That'll look good with his tree costume. Oh, look! It's waving around in the wind! So cute! It's already practicing for the part. At least if I fart in here, when they finally open the door. Wow, the door is really heavy. It looks like something out of a medieval castle. Maybe that's why I can't move. I'm in a suit of armor. Let me out! Let me out! Ow! That's cold and wet. I am going to drown. I hope not. Toucan bills don't look good on humans, but then neither do goat heads or horses asses. Though lots of humans are asses.
"We need a family member in here within the next two minutes or I am going to have to sedate him. His blood pressure is going through the roof and his ICP is nearing dangerous levels. This is getting critical, somebody get them in here now!"
ICP? I don't have an ICP? I have an echidna. They're the best computers, with their inbuilt defense system. I just wish the precinct would get some of them. It would stop it breaking down so much, maybe apples would help too. The cracks on the wall - they're getting bigger, they're pulling me in! I don't want to go. I don't want to end up in Morocco! I don't want to leave my family!
"Who let those children in here? They're not over fifteen, so they're not allowed in here. I don't care whose kids they are. Get them out of here, now!"
You leave my sons alone, if they want to see me they're allowed to! They can save me. They're allowed to. They're good at saving, they've got really big bank accounts. Lots of money, just ask them. They'll pay whatever you want, then we can leave. Just like the trees in spring and summer. Get it? Get it? Leave, leaves? Jamie's going to get it wrong. He's going to leave in November. No, Jamie please don't leave! What was that crash? Why is Sean crying? What have you done to my son? Why is there blood running down the wall? Where are my boys? Sean? Jack? Get back here! That's an order! Hamburgers and fries and a Doctor Pepper, please. Hi Mom. I'm so glad you're here. Nobody's listening to me. I told them to leave my sons alone. Can you tell them? They'll listen to you. Everyone listens to you, even Dad. It's good to see you. Is Joe here, too? I'll have to tell Jamie, Jamie really misses him, you know?
"Danny? Danny? Can you hear me? It's Jamie, your brother. You collapsed, remember? You're safe now. You're in the emergency room. They're going to find out what's wrong. But you need to settle down. If you don't you'll have to be sedated. I know you don't like needles bro, and I'd hate for them to have to do that to you. That's it, don't fight the machines. Just breathe. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. I hear you were asking for Erin. That's one for the history books, Danny Reagan actually asking for his little sister. She's going to be here soon. In the meantime, Linda is coming. Nicky's gone to get her. Pop took her and the boys down to the cafeteria for something to eat. She'll be here real soon. We love you, Danny. We're all here, all our family is here. All we need is for you to join us again. Wake up and join us. Please."
I'm right here, bro. I suppose you can't see me because of all the noise. Talking of, stop singing, Joe. You sound like a police siren in falsetto. You don't need to do that to show Jamie you're here, you hear? I'll tell him. Yes, I will. Ye- yes. Joseph, I will you need to shut up before I slug you and get in trouble. Mom is right there, you moron. Do you think I am that dumb? What's that, Mom? Okay, Mom. I'll be quiet. Quiet as a church mouse. Yes, and still, too. Stiller than a statues.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Linda and her boys, along with the boys' cousin, Nicky, and great grandfather, Henry, had returned to the waiting room where Linda's father-in-law Frank was waiting for news on his son. Linda and Frank were just about to leave for Danny's bedside when a doctor arrived to talk to the family.
"Mrs Reagan?"
Linda stood up. "Yes?"
"My name is Doctor Basul Ungeretti. If you will come with me I will inform you of your husband's condition. You can bring a support person with you if you wish."
Linda looked around at her family. "No, thats fine," she said. "We can talk right here."
Doctor Ungeretti looked at the two boys skeptically. "I really think it is better…"
"I don't," Linda interrupted him. "What is my husband's status?"
Doctor Ungeretti got a slightly frightened look in his eyes. "Mrs Reagan. With all due respect, there is a reason we don't allow children under fifteen years of age to visit patients in the ICU."
"You are talking about my sons. My guess is that you don't have a policy or a rule that bans them from being here, in the waiting room, with our family?" Linda clarified.
"No, we don't," he confirmed.
Linda continued as if he'd never spoken. "So, since I'm not going to ask them to leave nor am I going to leave myself, I suggest you start talking. How is Danny?" Frank and Henry came forward to flank Linda as her voice rose.
"How about we all sit down?" Frank suggested, leading Linda to a chair. He nodded to the doctor who took the not-so-subtle hint and dragged a chair to where he could sit and pretend he was just talking to Linda even though he was now surrounded by people.
"As you have already been informed your husband has an infection that we are treating that with intravenous drugs. The infection that we identified is not particularly fast acting. But it is a dangerous one. For him to have been so far along that he collapsed from it, he must have contracted it sometime ago."
"Some time ago? How long?" Everyone turned as Erin entered the waiting room, followed closely by Jamie. They both pulled up chairs and joined the circle. "How much time?" Erin repeated. "Are we talking days? Weeks? Months? Years?"
The doctor shrugged and started reading the notes in his hands as he muttered, "I don't really know."
"But you must have some idea," Erin argued. "If you know what antibiotics to give him you must have an idea what infection it is, and if you know what sort of infection it is you must have an idea of its incubation period."
"It's not my are area of expertise." Doctor Ungeretti snapped shut the file he was holding. "I will send you someone who is better able to answer your questions in that area. But there is one more thing I have to tell you before I leave. Your husband"
"Stop calling him my husband!" Linda yelled. After she had taken a few quiet deep breaths to calm down, she said more softly, "His name is Danny."
"Your husband also suffered a retinal vein occlusion. We are also treating that with intravenous drug therapy. We won't know the extent of the damage until his fever comes down and he wakes up without any delirium."
"He's asleep now," Jamie reported.
"If he doesn't show some significant signs of improvement within the next forty eight hours or so and the eye injury deteriorates we might have to perform an orbital evisceration." The doctor carried on speaking as if Jamie hadn't even spoken, then stood up and left, seeming to take all of the air in the room with him.
Jack looked around at his family. He could see that nobody was wanting to break the silence. This was bad. Really bad. "What is an orbital evisceration?" His hands together, his thumbs circled each other and his voice wavered.
Linda moved to sit on the sofa between him and his younger brother and gathered them up in her arms, rubbing their shaking bodies to calm them. "It means that if your dad doesn't get a hurry up on starting to get better within the next couple of days they might have to remove his eye in surgery."
"But then he won't be able to be a cop!" Sean protested. "What's he going to do instead?"
Erin got up and stretched her arms to the ceiling. "That's a discussion for another day." She pulled her nephews up so she could give them a huge hug. "Right now, how about the three of us go for a walk?" Erin glared at Jamie as they left the room.
"I'll go with them. Mom can fill me in later." Nicky grabbed her phone and purse and ran out of the room.
When the quartet were safely out of earshot, Linda prepared to go to see Danny, but Henry stopped her.
"Let's hear what Jamie has to say first," he advised. "Forewarned is forearmed and all that jazz, and I think he has some ammunition for us. Jamie?"
"Yes. What was that glare about?" Frank asked, wondering if he would have to intervene in a sibling fight, as well as looking after his daughter-in-law and grandsons, as well as worrying about his older son.
Jamie blushed. "When I met her on the way back I was rather upset. We talked about what happened in the room with Danny, but I told her I didn't want to tell you guys." He bit his lip as he did his best to relax. Extra tension wasn't going to help anyone here. "I was just going to say that he went to sleep and leave it at that. Erin forcefully disagreed with me."
"And so she should! Why wouldn't you tell us?" Henry also glared at his youngest grandson. "What happened, Jamison?"
Embarrassed into obedience, Jamie told them everything that he had seen in the room with Danny. Linda added her expertise when he was talking about the machines. Jamie lost eye contact with everybody when he relayed how Danny was thrashing around and didn't seem to be hearing anything that was being said to him. They all laughed at the appearance of the two mystery children.
After Linda finally left to be with her husband, the remaining adults looked at each other in trepidation. What were they, as Danny's family, going to do if Sean's prediction came true? They would survive, sure. But what would that survival look like?
A/N2: Posts will hopefully be 7-10 days apart.
