What it takes to say I love you Ch. 2
My medical knowledge comes from ER, and I haven't watched it in a while. Apologies, though I hope nothing is attrociously obtuse.
Despite the fact that it was only twenty-five past one on a Saturday morning, the casualties of the previous nights' festivities were slowly beginning to dribble through the doors of NY Presbyterian's Emergency room.
They'd been there just over an hour and it was noisy and busy, and Will felt that this was doing nothing to help Mackenzie clear her head. She had been put onto an IV drip to get some fluids into her, and a young, tired, and flustered looking doctor had just finished suturing up the cuts on her head and neck.
Will hadn't let go of her hand since the ambulance had arrived.
She had been diagnosed with a fairly severe concussion after her muggers had bashed her head off the wall. The paramedics had examined her abdomen, and apart from an old scar on her right side – which Will knew was a memoir from Pakistan – they had only found bruising there. Fairly nasty bruising, but bruising all the same. As yet they hadn't examined any lower except to diagnose one sprained, and another severely bruised ankle; and it was this that Will was nervous about.
He could just about handle her being beat up, as long as could keep her close and not let her go for a long time (and preferably have a few minutes along in a locked room with the bastards who had done this to her); but if they had done anything else to her…he didn't know if they'd recover from that.
Will was sitting on the edge of her bed, her arm entwined through his, and their hands joined together. Her head was resting sleepily on his shoulder, though she wasn't actually allowed to sleep for a few hours as a precaution from her concussion. He was staring at nothing in particular in front of him, but rather focussing on her breathing to soothe him and keep him calm. Her physical presence and the warmth of her small (and at the moment very fragile) body was all he needed to focus on.
Her head twisted slightly and he looked down at her. She was leaning back, her eyes opening slowly. He smiled, trying to look reassuring, and brushed some hair off her face.
"Hey. How're you feeling?"
Her face scrunched up and she shook her head slightly. His smile faded again. "Feeling sick?"
"No." she said in a small voice.
"How's the pain?"
"Not as bad as it was. Head's still sore though. Migraine?"
"It had a bad run in with a brick wall." He told her softly, running his thumb up and down the back of her hand.
"Oh. I don't remember that part."
He hesitated, not knowing if he should do this yet; he knew there was a cop on his way down to speak to her. "What do you remember Mac?"
She gulped, and then screwed her eyes up again as if she was trying to physically squeeze the fogginess out of her brain. "Water?" she croaked.
He passed her the cup of water that was sitting on top of the monitor next to him and she took a couple of small sips before handing it back to him. She laid her head back on his shoulder and he tucked it under his chin, continuing to stroke her hand and waiting for her to speak.
"We went to the bar, and Sloan bumped into a friend from college. We'd only been going to go for one drink but then Sloan wanted to stay so I said I'd leave. On my way out a guy with his friends at the smoking bit asked if I had a light…I didn't so I just said sorry, and walked away.
"Uh…he came after me, trying to chat me up, and I said I wasn't interested. I headed to the subway –"
"Through that damn alley." Will muttered under his breath. Mac squeezed his hand gently, squirming slightly.
"I know Will, okay. I didn't think they'd follow me!"
"That doesn't make it –" He heard her moan slightly again and sighed, "Mac, you got beat up, you need to stay still or you'll hurt yourself more." She mumbled something indistinguishable into his shoulder and burrowed into his neck once more.
"Come on, Mac, you were doing really well. What happened next?"
"They – it's a bit blurry. I heard someone behind me, and as I turned around someone pushed me and then it was just really sore. There's kind of flashes of voices and I could see their legs, but that's all really…it's a bit hazy."
"Would you recognise him again?" Mac shrugged slightly.
"I think I'd know the first guy, but I didn't really see the others."
She was sounding sleepy again and he knew he was pushing her, but he wanted to know that she'd be able to give the cops something to go on. He wanted these guys caught.
"Mac…did they do anything else to you?" He asked quietly. He was staring very hard at the railing on the other side of the bed. He didn't know whether he wanted to know her answer. After a couple of seconds she went very still; she'd clearly been processing what he'd said.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean…" His voice became strangled, and choked again, and he knew he was supposed to be being strong for her right now, but he was honestly finding it difficult. He just wanted to get her out of here, and snuggle up with her in his arms so that he knew she'd be safe. "Mac, when I found you your shirt was open and your tights were ripped. Did they do anything else?"
Mac ducked her head out from under him, and looked at Will, her expression stunned and worry beginning to appear on her face as she realised she couldn't answer.
"I don't remember much." She said hollowly. "I don't think so…"
Will cursed himself for making her worry – that was the last thing she needed right now. He should have kept it to himself and just let the doctor's handle it when they felt she was ready. He did the only thing he could think of and tucked her head back into the crook of his neck, pulling her even closer, and this time he found that she properly curled into him.
"Okay. Well – does it hurt?" An excruciating moment's pause.
"No." Will closed his eyes in relief. He knew they'd still do an exam, but he was pretty sure that if the men had done anything worse than beat her, she'd be able to feel it. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, as he became aware that there were new tears falling onto his neck. He figured that shock was probably having a fairly strong effect on her right now, too.
"Hey, Mackenzie, it's okay. You're safe now. No one's going to hurt you, I promise…they'd have to get through me."
He heard and felt it as she managed a choked laugh. He felt her arm drape itself across his chest and her fingers bunch in his shirt at his shoulder. He tightened his hold on her as much as he dared without hurting her injuries, and kissed her hair again.
There was a rustling of the screens around Mac's bed and a female doctor appeared this time. She was in her mid-fifties and looked like a very kind, motherly figure. Which was just as well, because Will could guess what she was here to do.
"Hi there Mackenzie, my name is Sophia. I'm the Supervising doctor here in the ER. I understand that you were assaulted earlier this evening?"
Will looked down to see that Mac was looking incredibly frail from where she was resting against him. She nodded, slightly and he tightened his grip on her hand reassuringly. She squeezed it back and leaned into him more, but looked a little more certain of herself. Sophia smiled at the two of them and moved forwards a little, pulling the screen behind her.
"Are you her husband sir?" There was a pang of something Will couldn't quite place as she said that, and Mac went oddly still.
"Uh, no. I'm not. But I'm the closest thing he has to family this side of the Atlantic." He said it firmly and hoped that Mac appreciated it.
"Okay. Well, given the circumstances of the attack, we'd usually do a – I'm sorry, it's a terrible term – but, we'd usually do a rape test." Mac flinched slightly at the words. "You were drunk, and the state of your clothes and you're other injuries just make us want to be sure, okay? Do you have any pain in that area?"
Mackenzie shook her head timidly. "Okay, well, that's a really good sign. It's not a very pleasant exam I'm afraid, but it shouldn't take too long."
"You have to go." Mac murmured to Will. Will looked down at her. He didn't want to leave her, but at the same time he didn't want to see this, and knew she didn't want him to see it either; so after a moment he nodded.
"Do you know when she'll be able to leave?" He asked Sophia.
"If everything comes back clear from this, then she can leave once she's had some more fluids and pain meds. After that it's rest for at least four or preferably five days. She can't go to sleep for another little while though. You have someone to stay with?"
"Yes." Will answered immediately, and for the first time in what felt like hours, a timid smile crossed Mackenzie's face.
"Then she'll be clear in about an hour, maybe 90 minutes tops."
"Okay." Will turned back to Mac. "I'm going to call Lonny and get him to take us back to mine. That sound okay?"
Mac nodded back at him. He hated it when she was quiet – it was so un-Mackenzie-ish, and it unnerved him more than anything else.
"I won't be far away." He said softly, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead, before he left the cubicle with a last look at her as he drew the curtain behind him.
