A/N: Thanks for all the favorites, alerts and specially all the reviews.
Please if someone wants to beta read my story, let me know… English is not my native language and I would appreciate some help.
Chapter III:
"Come on, Neal, just a couple of bites," Elizabeth begged pushing the fork closer to the laying man's mouth.
Neal shook his head, "No… no… hungry," he pouted, his voice so weak it was almost a whisper.
"You haven't eaten since the day before yesterday and I am pretty sure you threw up everything you eat that day, eat something Neal." Peter used his traditional ordering- father voice.
Elle smiled caringly at the blue eye man, pushing the fork closer. Neal moved his head on the pillow trying to avoid it. "Smell…Nau…seous," he murmured, closing his eyes, a grimace in his face.
"Maybe we should call the nurse?" Elle looked at her husband.
"No… no nurse!" Neal's voice now came louder.
"Neal, you are nauseous and your fever has gone up, two of the things for what the doctor told us to call the nurses immediately," Peter was caring but firm, like every time he had to dissuade Neal from doing something stupid.
"I…m …ure …ICU… nurses have…mo…re… serious… ings….t'…worry about."
"Neal, you are in the ICU, that should give you a frame of reference on how serious your condition is!" Peter was getting exasperated.
"Tired… want… sleep," he ignored Peter, closing his eyes and positioning himself for a nap.
"Come on, Neal, eat something," Elle begged.
"No food… sleep," he mumbled and he was already asleep.
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"Cold" Neal whimpered in his dream shaking, a few hours later.
His fever was going up and they knew it was not a good sign. Mozzie took off his coat and covered him with it while June looked unsuccessfully for some extra blankets, calling for the nurse when she couldn't find any.
"His fever is up and he is freezing," she explained the nurse, "can you bring some extra blankets?"
The nurse removed the coat from on top of Neal and injected something into his I.V. "Hopefully this will help with the fever, but covering him won't do any good, it might even do some harm. I can bring some ice patches for you to apply to him if you want to."
"Wouldn't that make him even colder?" Mozzie stated the obvious.
The nurse shrugged, "right now, our main concern is to lower his fever," her tone was serious, looking at Neal with compassion in her eyes, "it is a lot higher than what we would hope it would be."
June nodded, "thank you, Dear."
Neal shook his head in his sleep, trying to avoid the icy contact in his forehead.
"No, no… cold," he begged.
"It is ok, Neal," June soothed him motherly, caressing his damped hair, "this will make you feel better," she tried to avoid showing the guilt she felt in her tone. She knew the icy cloths would help in the long run, but they didn't seem to make him feel better in that instant.
"J…ne?" he opened his eyes a little.
"I am here, my boy," she smiled at him maternally, caressing his cheek with one hand and keeping the cold cloth on Neal's forehead with the other.
"on't….eel …ood,"
"I know, Neal, just rest, we will all be here taking care of you."
"We are right here," Mozz said comfortingly, too.
Neal gave her a weak smile, without opening his eyes, searching for her hand blindly; he grabbed it and held it tight.
"...etr... mad?"
"No, Neal, why would Peter be mad?"
"cut work.. not a con… n't…eel…ood."
"He knows you don't feel good, don't worry about it, now rest," June's maternal instincts were kicking in full gear; in her heart, Neal was like her son.
"Cold… argag…home…brsts… Kate… mrmmrr…eter…ozz.." Neal mumbled incoherent words, sprinkled with some sense.
"Just rest, Neal," Mozzie insisted, "we are all here for you."
Neal went back to a delirious sleep. Not even an hour had passed before he woke up again.
June had been replaced for Peter. They would have all loved to be there all the time, but Mozzie, Elizabeth, Peter and June were taking turns between their normal lives and taking care of Neal.
"Water, please," he begged, "…rsty"
Peter hurried to pour a glass of water for his friend.
"Slowly," he said helping Neal up so he could drink.
Neal ignored him, drinking as if he had been lost in the desert for a month. "…more…"
Mozzie handed Peter a second glass and he gave it to Neal, who drank it as avidly as the first one, choking half way through it.
"Easy, easy," Peter ordered the convalescent boy.
Neal cracked his eyes a little and looked around him. "eter… ozzie," he said groggily.
"A faithful friend is the medicine of life." Mozzie quoted.
Neal just smiled, "a fortune cookie in my dying bed? How refined," his voice was hushed and weak, but coherent.
"Don't even joke with that, Neal!" Mozzie was outraged.
Neal just looked at them, "I am dying, I can feel it." Peter and Mozzie looked at him in shock, "it is ok," he said sadly, Peter rang for the nurse, "I want to see Kate… she owes me a lot of answers," he smiled jokingly at them.
"Oh Jesus… not Kate again," Peter couldn't help himself.
"I miss her," now Neal was serious.
"Knowing her, she will be hidding from you in hell and asking you to rob satan's trident." Peter joked.
Neal looked at him sadly, "I am dying and I do miss her, you…"
The nurse chose that moment to arrive, "what seems to be the problem?" she asked, truly sounding concerned.
" He is saying that he is dying, can you tell him he is not?" Mozzie tried to restrain the tears.
"Neal, why are you saying that?" the nurse ran to him, checking his vitals, "let me call the doctor," she said running out of the room.
Neal just closed his eyes.
"NEAL!" Mozzie panicked.
Neal opened his eyes slightly just to show them he wasn't dead and closed them again, "I am not dead yet, Mozz, these machines will start making a heck of a noise when I die."
"Don't say that Neal," now it was Peter's turn.
"Don't leave me alone, please," Neal's voice was calm and brave, not wanting to show his fear, "I don't want to die alone."
Both men were about to answer but the doctor interrupted them, two nurses following him, "what is all this talk about dying, Neal? You are not dying, why are you saying that?"
"Dr. Albraight, thank god you are here." Peter said relieved.
"Can you leave me alone with Neal for a second?" Neal opened his eyes and was about to object, "Neal everything is going to be ok, they are going to be right outside the door and I won't let you die on my watch, ok?"
Neal nodded and the other two left the room.
"So now that your friends are not here, what seems to be the problem, Neal?"
"I don't feel good, doc. There is something really wrong," he said, his voice getting weaker.
The doctor, aided by the nurses, started examining him, looking at the monitors, taking his blood pressure. Neal's eyes were closed, which was fortunate because he missed the concerned look of the doctor and nurses when he answer he didn't feel like urinating. The bag were the urine should had been was almost empty and looked dark with blood.
"Dizzy…. real dizzy," Neal interrupted them, and started gagging covering his mouth, a nurse handed him a recipient for him to throw up. Neal panicked noticing the blood coming out of his mouth.
"Neal, it looks like you have some internal bleeding, that is why you are feeling so sick," the doctor said calmly and Neal wondered how much practice he needed to speak calmly in these situations. He didn't have that practice and felt himself hyperventilating, "I am going to sedate you now, we will take you to the O.R and fix it, you will be ok soon, ok?"
Neal nodded with his eyes closed, trying to compose himself as felt the prick of the neddle in his arm, his body started relaxing almost immediately.
"It's ok, sweety, calm down," he heard the muffled sound of one of the nurse whispering to him, "I will explain your friends what is going on and they will all be here when you wake up."
Neal nodded one more time before passing out completely.
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"We were able to contain the internal bleeding and his blood pressure is back to normal," the doctor explained Elizabeth, Mozzie, June and Peter as soon as Neal was out of surgery and back in his room, "he should be waking up soon and feeling better. We are still really concerned about his kidneys, his lungs seem to be healing fine, but his kidneys are still not working. You might want to start looking for compatible donors and researching about dialysis. Nowadays people are able to live decades on dialysis, he is young and healthy, but a transplant is always better. Dialysis takes not only 4 hours, three times a week but also it takes a physical and emotional toll on everybody. He is going to feel weak, sick, he is probably not going to be able to work."
"When are we going to know for sure if his kidneys are not responding to the medication?" Elizabeth asked concerned.
"I'll give it twenty four more hours, but don't raise your hopes up, it doesn't look good," doctor Albright said apologetically, "a nurse will come shortly with some material for you to read."
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Peter violently threw the magazine about transplants that he had been reading.
"It is ok, sweetie, everything is going to be ok," Elle walked to him trying to calm him down.
"He is a convict, he can not even be put in the list for a transplant and dialysis not only seems awful, but if he can't work, he is back in prison. I won't be able to do anything about it."
"In a world of increasing inequality, the legitimacy of institutions that give precedence to the rights of "the Haves" over the rights of "the Have Nots" is inevitably called into serious question." Mozzie quoted.
"Beautiful" Peter said sarcastically, "but I do not think Neal can be put into "the have nots" category and he hasn't been in that category for a while. The problem is not the institutions, the problem is the bad decisions he made in his life."
"It's ok, living donor transplants are even more effective, we can all get tested to see if anyone is a match," Elizabeth was practical.
'The chances would be a lot higher if we could find a relative," Peter added, "Does anyone have any idea if Neal has any relatives?" Peter's eyes turned mostly to Mozzie.
"Sorry, suit, I know as much about Neal's family as you do, he doesn't talk about that. I have tried a few times, but he refuses to do so."
June and Elle also shook their heads in negative.
"Well, let's get tested then," Elle shrugged, "hopefully we won't need it."
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"So my kidneys are not working, uh?" nobody had noticed Neal had woken up, they all looked at him surprised with quizzical expressions, "either that or all of you suddenly developed an interesting reading hobby, " he said pointing at the cover of the fliers and magazines they were reading.
He seemed to be slightly better, at least we was talking, soft and weakly, but coherently and in full sentences.
"How are you feeling, honey?" Elle run to him and lovingly caressed his hair.
"I would feel better if you'd tell me that my kidneys are functioning the way they should," Neal moved his eyes to look at her, without moving the rest of his body.
"We don't know yet, they will know in the next twenty four hours if the antibiotics are working."
"What does Dr. Albraight say?"
Nobody really answered. Neal closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to repress all the fear and emotions coming to him.
"Pass me one of those magazines," he asked Mozzie opening his eyes again.
"Neal…." Peter started, but he really didn't know what else to say.
"Peter, if someone should be informed about what should be expected, that should be me, " Neal looked at them pleadingly, some of his fear showing. Yet, after two minutes of reading, he closed his eyes and put the magazine down, "Can't read," he said frustrated.
"You have a fever of 103, Neal, it's ok," June explained him caringly. Neal loving smile was the saddest she had seen in a long time.
"The first alternative is dialysis…" Mozzie sat beside him and started patiently explaining Neal all he knew and answering his questions. Neal closed his eyes and listened attentively to his friend, trying to remain calmed and lighten everybody's mood.
A/N: Please make me happy and review. Also, for the impatient ones, they will start looking for Neal's family in the next chapter.