As soon as Mike was whisked away, Harvey sat down in the waiting area. Mike had saved him. God, I hope the kid is alright. Grabbing his phone he pressed his #1 speed dial and waited.
"Harvey, what is going on? Why aren't you back at the office yet. You texted me like 20 minutes ago that you were leaving the courthouse. Oh my god, what happened? Are you ok, is Mike ok? It's Mike isn't it? What happened? – Which hospital are you at?"
How does she always know? Harvey thought, before answering, "There was an accident, Mike got hit by a car. We're at- Presbyterian."
"I'm on my way, Harvey."
Once in the hospital, it was a bit easier to breath- although the extra oxygen was probably helping too.
"Mike? I'm going to feel your chest now, alright?"
Mike nodded and he immediately felt hands on his right side first before they went to his left side- and about half way down it started to hurt.
"Ah." Mike groaned as he tried to push the opposing hands away.
"Alright, yeah- sorry. I need to feel them, to check if there's no internal damage." The person- doctor- said before turning to an assistant. "I want x-rays from his left side." Before turning back towards his patient.
"Now, Mike- I have to ask, where does your leg hurt?" The doctor asked.
"Everywhere." Mike replied simply.
"Can you be a bit more specific?" The doctor asked.
"Hip, thigh, knee, lower leg…"
"Alright, so everywhere, basically." The doctor chuckled. "Alright, Mike. I'm just going to cut away your pants, so I can see what I'm dealing with here, ok?"
"Yeah." Mike replied. He felt the scissors move-up his pant leg and before he knew it, it was cut away. Knowing what the doctor would find- Mike decided not to look.
The doctor's eyes widened at the variety of scars that littered across the young man's leg. There were several small ones, but also one large one that ran practically the entire length of his leg- they also seemed very old.
"Alright Mike, I'm not going to touch your leg until I know what's going on here, ok? I'm going to order a couple of X-rays for your leg and your side- and I'm going to order you a drip of painkillers to take the edge off." The doctor said, scribbling away at a work pad. "I'll be right back ok? Do you want your friend to come and give you some company afterwards? He's been asking for you, non-stop. Harvey?"
That got Mike's attention, he looked up surprised at the doctor and nodded, "Yeah, he can come in. Tell him, I'm fine though."
The doctor smiled at his patient, "Now Mike, I can tell him you're going to be alright, but I've never lied to people before and I'm not starting now."
The familiar clicking of heels is what caught Harvey's attention. "Harvey?!"
"Donna."
"Are you ok? Have you heard anything about Mike yet?" Donna asked as she sat down next to Harvey.
"I'm fine and no. I've been asking, but seeing as I'm not family they're not letting me in." Harvey replied. Sadly, that was a sad tone for Harvey; which infuriated Donna. "Oh they'll let you in, watch me." She said as she got up and went towards the desk.
"Excuse me. I'd like to see Mike Ross, please. He's been admitted about 20 minutes ago." Donna asked.
The nurse nodded, "Yes, madam. But unfortunately only relatives can enter the first aid area, and seeing as there…"
Donna held up her hand, "Exactly, there's no family. Mike Ross has no living relatives, but an eldering grandmother with dementia, who can't be here for him other than me and his partner. So I suggest you let us in right now or I'm going to file a complaint, that will go to court- you see Mike Ross's partner? Is Harvey Specter, ever heard of him? The best damn closer in Manhattan?"
The nurse stared at Donna, "I'll do my best madam, let me make a phone call with his doctor."
"No need." A male voice was suddenly heard from the hallway. Donna turned around and Harvey had stood up. "Harvey? I heard you were asking about Mike Ross?" He asked.
Harvey nodded, "Yes."
"Well you got through to us, even without your…"
"Donna." Donna filled in.
The doctor nodded, "Donna. We had to go through our preliminary check and Mike's been sent through X-rays. The doctors are checking them now, but Mike's agreed to let you through. I must warn you, he's bruised quite a bit and he's still on some supplementary oxygen, due to heavily- and probably broken- ribs. We'll get you the results and corresponding treatment plans in a few minutes. Mike's in the last cubical to the right."
"Thank you, doctor." Harvey replied as he and Donna made their way towards the last cubical.
They knocked on the door before entering. Mike seemed quite small in the hospital bed, there was a nasal cannula underneath his nose and he was now wearing a hospital gown, but no pants. His left leg was covered by the blanket, but his right leg was left exposed, and wrapped in something blue that was hooked to some tube. Mike looked up from his bed, besides the obvious he seemed awake and aware.
"Hi guys." Mike greeted them, slightly hoarse.
"Oh puppy- you scared us." Donna said as she immediately went over to him and kissed him on the temple.
"I'm fine." Mike replied annoyingly which only received him a look from Donna.
"How are you really feeling, kid?" Harvey asked as he neared the bed as well.
"Well, I'm on some good drugs- legal ones this time- so yeah, I'm fine." Mike chuckled.
Harvey rolled his eyes, "Very funny." He said as he glanced at whatever was going on with Mike's leg.
"It's not your fault." Mike said.
"I know it's not, it's yours- you switched places with me." Harvey replied coolly.
Mike glared at him, "You're welcome by the way." He muttered. "But seriously though, I'm fine."
"You're not." A different voice suddenly said, as they all turned towards the doctor who'd come in. "But you will be."
"What's up, doc?" Mike asked, feeling funny. Shit, those were good drugs. Earning himself a glare from Harvey, a slightly amused one, followed by a roll of the eyes as Harvey turned to listen to the doctor.
"Fortunately, nothing bad. But you're just a bit unlucky- seeing as it was your right leg that got caught- which aggravated your injury."
"What injury?" Harvey asked confused as he stared at the doctor.
The doctor turned towards Mike, "They don't know?"
"No, but they would've found out sooner or later… so just continue." Mike replied simply.
The doctor nodded and grabbed the x-rays and presented them on the light box on the wall. What was on them shocked both Harvey and Donna. There were four x-rays that seemed to look like an exoskeleton from The Terminator.
"As you can see. Mike has a lot of metal supporting, if not replacing his actual bones in his right leg. He's had a broken pelvis, femur, tibia and fibula that required external fixation at first and then internal fixation as it was unable to heal enough on its own. But those fixations are probably what's helped you today. There are no fractures found in your entire leg or hip, it's just really deep bone bruising and maybe some muscle or ligament damage, but we can't identify that until the swelling and bruising has gone down." The doctor explained, he shut off the light boxes and turned towards Mike. "That's why we're cooling his leg right now, to avoid any more swelling. Regrettably, the cold compress hurts Mike more than it would other people, that's why we're keeping him here for a couple more hours to help with the pain via Intravenous medication. In 90 minutes or so we can take the cryo cast off. Unfortunately, we do have to immobilize your leg for the following two to three weeks- regardless of the outcome from next week's follow-up, and have you practicing weight on it as we go. I'll get back to you in a couple of hours and have you released by then, ok?"
Mike nodded a bit sullen, "Yeah, ok."
The doctor nodded and turned to Harvey and Donna. "Perhaps you could provide the young man with some clothes, so that he can leave with some dignity. Unfortunately, we had to cut away his clothing and have them destroyed." and with that he left the room. Immediately Donna and Harvey turned towards Mike, their eyes full with worry and perhaps shock?
"Is that.." Harvey asked, as he pointed towards the now black x-rays on the wall. "The reason you limp every now and then?"
Mike glanced up at Harvey in surprise. "You noticed that?"
"Of course, we did." Harvey replied, oblivious to the fact that Mike was uncomfortable with the fact that he had a so-called weakness.
Donna rolled her eyes, "It wasn't that noticeable, but I'm Donna." She added, knowing that would ease the puppy's train of thought.
Mike let go of a breath he didn't really realize he'd been holding. "Yes, it is the reason I limp… I also limp for the same- and almost only reason - as to why they are holding me here longer. Cold weather really hurts, the metal and titanium in my leg grows warm as my body tries to gain a decent temperature- and it'll expand against the bones and surrounding tissue."
Harvey stared at Mike, "That's why you knew it was going to snow." He said softly within his epiphany.
Mike nodded and breathed out softly as he settled a bit more against the cushions- exhaustion hitting him all of a sudden.
"Get some rest, Mike. Donna will get you your clothes from your apartment – and you'll be out of here before you know it."
That's it, hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to give any comment! :D
To give you an indication on what the X-rays showed, here are a couple of photos I found via google.
Tibia: wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/X_ray_internal_fixation_leg_ /220px-X_ray_internal_fixation_leg_
Ankle/ fibula:
/content/image/1-s2.
Femur:
/8XCZWNG
Pelvis:
/images/VnsE7M