Disclaimer: I don't own Third Watch, or the characters thereof. This is just for fun.
Enjoy and please review!
Chapter Two
The desk sergeant called Lieutenant Swersky to the phone as soon as he learnt that it was Cruz who was calling.
It took all of Maritza's strength not to let her current situation and the weakness that she was feeling show in her voice as she spoke to the lieutenant, "Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't call in." She said the next part so slowly, trepidation in every word, "I am in the hospital."
"What the hell happened, Cruz?!" Swersky demanded, unaware of Maritza's predicament.
Maritza hardened her tone, "I've got a few weeks leave coming up, I need to take it now."
"Talk to me Maritza, what's going on? Why are you in hospital?"
"I don't know when I'll be coming back to work. Can you cover me, yes or no?"
"Are you injured?"
"Yes or no?"
"I'm sure I can shift some people around."
Maritza hung up the phone, she had gotten what she wanted, and staying on the line seemed to be of no benefit to her. That and Maritza felt like she was about to be sick; she had no time to make it to the bathroom as the nausea suddenly worsened, unable to stop it, Maritza threw up on the floor.
Once she finally got back in control of herself, Maritza pressed the nurse call button.
Carla came into the room less than a minute later, again with the trolley, she quickly appraised the situation before her, and then moved to help Maritza change into a clean gown, before helping her back into bed, she then took a plastic basin from the trolley, and handed it to Maritza, "Here you go Maritza, if you feel like you need to be sick again, try to aim for the basin."
Carla called for housekeeping to come in, once she had, she moved to check the IVs. "Your infusion's finished, Maritza. One down... I just need to run in another bag of saline, and then I'll give you your tablets. Oh, and your radiotherapy is scheduled for four fifteen this afternoon."
Back at the precinct, Swersky had been surprised to discover that Cruz had hung up on him, he went upstairs to the anti-crime unit, someone there had to know what was going on with their sergeant.
No one gave him any information, but what Swersky had to say did get the attention of one officer, Manny Santiago.
It took Officer Santiago less than an hour of calling around the city's hospitals to find where Maritza had been admitted, and he could not get there fast enough.
Maritza was resting listlessly, she was now finished with all but the saline infusion, and she was taking the time to hopefully get some sleep before they zapped her with radiation.
That rest however was interrupted when her partner burst into the room.
Maritza was exhausted, she couldn't even find the energy to sit up, she focused in on who had just entered the room, "Manny? What the hell are you doing here?"
"I could say the same. What's going on Maritza? What are you doing here?" Santiago said as he walked towards Maritza's bed.
"How'd you find me?"
"Swersky said you were in hospital, I called around til I found the right one. No offence serge, but you don't look so hot."
Maritza was pissed that he knew, but she also wanted to get some sleep, and she knew that Manny wasn't going to leave until he got the truth. "I tell you what's going on, and you leave, deal?"
"Whatever, deal."
Maritza sighed wearily, "I've got leukaemia, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. I started chemo this morning. It got to the point, I couldn't work anymore."
Part of Manny had known for awhile that there had been something very wrong with his sergeant, he'd seen that she had been unwell, even when she thought that she had hidden it, but receiving confirmation, that was something else entirely. He respected her wishes, and left soon after, but he would visit again the next day, and each day that followed, until one fateful day.
It was just four days after Cruz had been admitted to the hospital; Santiago had been reassigned to another partner in anti-crime.
Santiago and Maritza's stand in, Officer Phelps had been heading back to the precinct after being called out to a supposed gang fight, there had been nothing there.
They decided to stop to grab something to eat; they had barely stepped out of the small cafe, when the sound of gunfire suddenly exploded through the quiet streets.
Manny took two shots to the leg, another couple of hits that were stopped by his vest, his partner wasn't so lucky, Officer Phelps died on scene.
It was just the beginning.
Gang leader, Marcel Hollis believed that the only thing preventing street gangs from ruling New York City was organisation, and he had everything organised, even from his cell at Riker's Prison, he controlled a majority of the gangs in the fifty-fifth precinct.
An essential step in his plan was to take out the police precinct and as many officers as he could.
Meanwhile, Maritza lay trapped in her hospital bed, too weak to move, as she had her fourth day of treatment.
It was not until Manny, who was still recovering from the multiple gunshot wounds, was finally able to get upstairs to visit Maritza that she learnt what had happened.
To say that Maritza was surprised to see her partner enter her room, in a wheelchair with his right leg elevated and still bandaged, would be an understatement.
Maritza mustered the strength to sit up as she questioned, "What the hell happened to you?!"
Manny tried to lighten to situation, "I just couldn't stand all the attention you were getting."
Maritza was concerned, "What happened?"
Finally Santiago conceded, and told Maritza what had been happening in her absence, "We got ambushed, Phelps and me, Phelps was killed, I took a couple of shots to the leg, I've been hanging out downstairs for the past eight days."
There was a long silence as Cruz digested the news.
"That's not all serge, the precinct was attacked the same night. Everyone got out safe, but the building's gone. It gets worse serge, there's been fifteen shooting deaths in the precinct since the attack."
Maritza knew exactly who would be behind such an attack, "Marcel Hollis."
"He's still up in Riker's."
"Listen to me Manny, this is him, Marcel is behind this, I promise you that," Maritza paused, "I've got to see Swersky, call him for me?"
Manny nodded, "Of course, of course." He then changed the subject, "How're you doing anyway? I tried to get up here a couple of days ago, but the nurses wouldn't let me."
Lieutenant Swersky was busy, he had been working around the clock since the attack, but when Officer Santiago called, saying that he knew where Cruz was, and that she wanted to talk to him. He rushed to Angel of Mercy Hospital to speak with the sergeant.
Manny had given the lieutenant only the name of the hospital and a room number, and Swersky had been shocked when the receptionist directed him upstairs to the haematology/oncology unit, his shock turned to horror as he entered Maritza's hospital room, and saw the Latino police sergeant lying in that bed, but before he was even allowed to enter the room, the nurses had him don a mask, gown and gloves.
Maritza had finished her first chemotherapy cycle, and was now in a rest period; the treatment had left her unable to fight off infections, they were giving her daily injections of a protein to stimulate her bone marrow to produce more white blood cells, but the present reality was that even a cold could kill her. Maritza was still having daily radiation sessions; all in all Maritza was very ill, and she wanted to get the hell away from it all, but she couldn't, the only way on was through. She was pale, the nurses had her blankets pulled right up to under her chin, trying to ease her constant shivering, with each breath the oxygen mask over her face was fogged, and the small patch of shaved hair at the top of her head was all too visible.
Manny had gone back to his own room not long before, and though Maritza had planned to stay awake while she waited for the lieutenant, but she just didn't have the strength.
Lieutenant Swersky was almost afraid to disturb Maritza, he realised later that he had actually been afraid of the petite woman that he saw, afraid that she would break, that he would hurt her if he so much as touched her. "Sergeant Cruz... Maritza," Swersky called softly.
Maritza's eyelids began to flutter as she awoke, she slowly turned her head towards where the voice had come from, she saw her boss standing there. Using the bed's remote control, Maritza sat herself up, as she greeted her boss, her voice lacking its former strength, "Lieu."
"Oh Maritza, why didn't you tell me?"
"Weakness."
Swersky knew exactly what Maritza meant. "You're not weak, Maritza. Being unwell is not a weakness." At the same time he did not want to overtire her, so he decided to be brief, "What did you want to speak to me about?"
Maritza took some time, gathering her strength so she would be able to get her message out. Finally she told the lieutenant, "Marcel Hollis, he arranged the attack."
TBC...
As always suggestions and constructive critism are welcomed.
Thanks for reading! Please take a moment to drop me a review!