Chapter 4
A/N: We did a little revising of chapter 4. We find it flows much smoother this way. R&R and let us know what you think!
Nicole tossed and turned, even though every time she did her body protested in extreme pain. She took a deep breath and concentrated on her breathing. All she could think about was getting out of there so she could help Tony and Paulie take care of Peter. That was if she could manage to keep herself from getting blown up... again.
She started to wonder just how bad her wounds were. The doctor had not come in yet to tell her and Paulie and Tony did not give much detail on it. Just that it was bad. Than again, getting blown up four times in one day was not exactly that kind to the body.
"Ms. Soprano, I will be your nurse tonight. How are you feeling?" The R.N. asked coming into the private room.
"Great," Nicole lied. "When can I discharge myself?"
"I don't recommend that you do, Ms. Soprano."
Nicole sat up, and masked her pain the best that she could. "When can I? I don't want to be here longer than I have to. Now when the..." She stopped herself from swearing, "... when can I leave."
The R.N. sighed and took a quick look at Nicole's chart. "From what is written here, I would guess, in the morning. Though it is recommend that you stay for at least another 48 hours."
Finally. Maybe things were finally starting to go her way. She could only hope because one thing she did hate was having to stay confined to a hospital bed.
"Ms. Soprano, I strongly recommend that you follow your Doctor's orders, due to the extent of your injuries."
"Extent of my injuries? I don't really know what they are."
"You suffered a major concussion, caused by a fractured skull. Some broken ribs, and you had surgery for the internal bleeding."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had some pain but she didn't feel as bad as the list of injuries suggested.
"Umm.. okay. So what's the worse that could happen if I leave in the morning?"
The R.N. shook her head, "Hard to say, you could cause more damage to the skull fracture. You could reopen the internal bleeding."
"And?"
"You could die."
Nicole almost laughed out loud at that statement. If she hadn't died yet from everything she had gone through, chances were that leaving the hospital wouldn't kill her.
"Okay, well get me the papers and I will fill them out. I want out of here."
The R.N. shook her head again, "Ms. Soprano, I highly recommend that you don't."
"The papers."
A couple minutes later the R.N. walked in with the papers. "Once you have filled these out, I will send an L.P.N. to come and get them. Tomorrow morning you can leave."
There was no way Nicole was planning on waiting until tomorrow but she looked at the nurse and nodded. "Okay." Nicole filled out the paper work. She smirked and changed the date. Who will know right? Except the R.N.
Once she was done she pushed the nurse call button. The L.P.N came in and looked at the discharge papers. "Ms. Soprano, this says you're to be discharged right now. Are you sure? The R.N. said it would be in the morning."
Nicole sighed, "Yes, right now."
"All right. I will hand you, your clothes that were left for you and your personal belongings that you came in with." The L.P.N replied and went to the closet. Once she brought out Nicole's clothes she took out the I.V. and took off the EKG stickers.
Nicole waited until the L.P.N. had left and started to get dressed.
Paulie and Tony had been so kind to bring her, her clothes. She knew that she had to thank them.
Nicole was having some difficulty with her clothes because of the broken ribs she had sustained. Damn, why did her underwear have to be such a pain in the ass.
A half hour later she had managed to finish dressing. She sat on the bed out of breath and winced at the pain in her head and ribs. Maybe she should just stay in the hospital if she was having that much pain. No way, she was definitely out of there.
Nicole stood up from the bed and made her way to the door. She poked her head out into the hallway to make sure that, that nurse wasn't around anywhere.
When she didn't see her anywhere she started to make her way down the hall.
As she passed an opened door she heard a familiar voice. "I want out of here now! Get me my discharge papers!"
"Miss Stokes," the nurse said. "Dr. Stokes left implicit instructions that you are to stay in that bed."
Nicole stood by the door and listened to Lucy argue with the nurse. "Fucking bitch... I should take care of her right now." Nicole mumbled to herself.
"Listen, I'll have an orderly restrain you if I have to but you are staying in that bed." the nurse stated and made her way to the door.
Nicole had just slipped out of sight when she heard Lucy's reply. "Thanks for nothing, Nurse Ratchet."
Nicole smiled to herself, she had to hand it to Lucy, that was a good one.
The nurse ignored the remark and made her way back to the nurse's station.
Nicole peeked out from her hiding spot and watched the nurse round the counter and sit down. Once she was confident that the nurse wasn't paying attention, she slipped into Lucy's room.
Lucy turned her attention to the door when she heard the click. "Who's there?" she asked, as she saw no one in sight.
Just then Nicole stepped into view and stared at Lucy. She walked closer to the bed. "I was hoping you were dead." Nicole said.
"The feelings mutual." Lucy replied.
Nicole looked around and then smirked at Lucy. "You know this isn't over. I'll get my revenge on you and the rest of those fuckers."
Lucy narrowed her eyes and glared at Nicole. "Yeah, I believe you've tried on numerous occasions to accomplish that and it hasn't worked out so well, has it?" she replied smugly.
Nicole could feel the anger building up inside her and she moved right next to the bed. She placed her hand on Lucy's bandaged leg and looked her square in the eyes. "Listen, here you bitch! You may be alive right now, but you won't be for very much longer." With that, she applied pressure to Lucy's wounded leg.
Lucy let out a scream. "Aaaahhhhh! Let go of my fucking leg you fucking bitch!"
Nicole applied more pressure. "This is just a fraction of what you're in for. Remember that."
Lucy screamed again as the L.P.N., that had given Nicole her discharge papers, and two well built security guards entered the room. "What is going on in here?" the L.P.N. asked.
"Get her away from me." Lucy cried out in pain.
The two security guards pulled Nicole away from the bed.
"She's been discharged." The L.P.N. told the security guards. "Escort her out of the building and make sure she leaves." She then left the room to page the doctor to have a look at Lucy's leg.
As the security guards were taking Nicole out of the room she looked back at Lucy, still groaning in pain. "This isn't over. I will get you."
"Come on, let's go." the slighter of the two guards said.
The larger of the two guards stopped at the nurse's station to call a cab for Nicole and then proceeded to join his partner in escorting her down to the lobby.
Nicole was pissed. Lucy had to scream, didn't she? Of course she did. Anyone would if they were in excrutiating pain. Of course to Nicole it was extremely satisfying to hear. She was grinning as the elevator doors opened to reveal the lobby of the hospital.
The cab was waiting outside the hospital entrance as the guards escorted her outside. The smaller guard opened the door as the larger guard placed her into the back seat.
"I don't want to see you back here, do you understand?" he asked.
Nicole looked away from him and smirked and then turned to face him. "Yeah, I got it."
He shut the door and the cab pulled away from the curb.
"Where too ma'am?" The taxi driver asked.
"Palms Hotel." Nicole replied.
As the taxi made it's way through the traffic, Nicole looked out the window. She was thinking about how Tony and Paulie were going to react to her discharging herself out of the hospital. She has a suspicion that they were not going to be pleased with her. Part of her hated having them upset with her. They were the most important people in her life. However, she burried that, since she knew that she had to deal with the issue at hand. Tony and Paulie's honor.
She turned to the taxi driver when they reached a red light, "Where's the best place to get a pack of smokes and a coffee?"
The taxi driver turned and looked at her, "Just around the corner is a corner store, you can get your smokes there. The best coffee place that is open at this hour is a couple blocks from here."
"Okay take me to them." Nicole said. She needed a smoke, bad. They helped her think, and calm down. Not that she was not calm, already, just from being out of the hospital. The run in with Lucy however, did have some impact on her. She just had to plan on how to get back at Lucy, for all she had done.
Lucy in Nicole's mind was evil, and a pain in the ass. She had to be dealt with. There was no one on the face of the earth that has ever gotten away with that to the Soprano crew. Let alone to her loved ones.
The taxi driver pulled up to the corner store. She got out and told the taxi driver to wait for her. She ran in and got two packs of smokes and a bottle of water.
After that the taxi driver took her to the coffee shop and she ran in and grabbed a coffee for herself as well as Paulie and Tony.
Once the taxi pulled up to the Palms Hotel, Nicole got out than paid the taxi driver plus gave him a big tip.
She made her way into the hotel, than up to the room. She pulled out the door card and than walked into the room. To her surprise, Tony and Paulie weren't there.
"What the fuck? Where the hell are they?" she asked the empty room.
Sighing she set the tray of coffee down on the table and than took her shoes off. She debated calling Tony's cell to find out where they were. Her first guess was the bar.
"Fuck!" She didn't know what to do. Really she just wanted to take a shower and go to bed. But the fact that she didn't know where Tony and Paulie were pissed her off.
She put her shoes back on and made her way down to the bar.
Paulie and Tony were sitting down at the counter in the bar. Paulie took a drink of his whiskey. "What are we going to do once Nic's out of the hospital?"
"Go back to Jersey." Tony said putting out of his cigar.
Nicole over heard it as she sat down. "Jersey? T., you cant be serious." She said as she pulled out her smokes.
"Nic! What the fuck are you doing out of the hospital?" Paulie asked, worry apparent in his voice.
Paulie always worried about her. It was one thing that was as natural as breathing to him.
"Long story." Nicole answered.
Tony looked at her. She could tell that he was pissed off. "Nicole, what are you doing out of the hospital?" His voice was calm.
"I discharged myself." Nicole answered, as the bar tender walked over.
"What can I get you ma'am?" He asked Nicole.
Nicole looked him over and liked what she saw. He was definitely cute. She would never do anything about of course, but there was no harm in looking. "Whiskey and Coke." she answered, than turned to Paulie and Tony. "I couldn't stand it anymore. I'll be fine. However, I ran into Lucy while I was on my way out. Looks like she'll be in there a couple fucking days. I figured that we could hang around here until she is out and than get her and Peter."
"No." Tony answered.
Nicole was frustrated. She loved Tony but sometimes she got so sick and tired of him telling her when things were finished. "T. They are right here. Fuck, I'll do it myself."
Paulie looked at her. "Nic, sweetheart, no. You shouldn't even be out of the hospital. You got hurt bad."
"C'mon! You both want these pricks like I do. I'm just fine!"
Tony slammed his glass down on the bar top. "We are going back to Jersey and that's fucking final!"
Nicole hated when Tony got in these moods because usually there was no getting him out of them and changing his mind.
Paulie took another sip of his drink and looked at Nicole. "I think T.'s right, Nic. We should go home."
Nicole shook her head, getting more and more frustrated. She couldn't believe Paulie was agreeing with Tony. "Yeah, well if you want to go back to fucking Jersey, you go. But I'm finishing this."
Tony glared at her. "Don't fucking start with your bullshit Nicole. We're fucking going back to Jersey and that includes you. End of fucking discussion!" he said firmly and slammed his empty glass down on the bar.
Nicole sighed. Why the hell did this always happen to her! Every time she gets a break, something had to stand in her way. It just wasn't right. She took a deep breath and sighed.
"Okay, but as soon as I can I am going to come back here and finish her and Peter off. It's bullshit that we have to go back. I am supposed to be the worst wounded here and I feel fine." Although she didn't really believe that herself because the truth of the matter was, was that she felt like shit.
Tony threw some money on the bar and stood up. "I'm gonna go upstairs, pack and make our reservations. We'll be leaving as soon as possible." With that he walked out of the bar.
Nicole sighed and looked at Paulie. "Do you really wanna leave here with so much unfinished business?" she asked.
Paulie looked at her for a moment and then answered. "If it's the only way to ensure your safe and that you heal up properly, then yes I wanna go home."
Paulie was always concerning himself with Nicole's safety and well being. As sweet as that was sometimes, it could drive her up the fucking wall.
Nicole shook her head. "Yeah, well we better go. We need to pack." she said and starting making her way out of the bar.
Paulie watched her, he knew that she didn't want to leave without dealing with Lucy and Peter. He sighed, gulped down the last of his drink and followed behind her.
She caught up with Tony at the elevator. "T. Can I talk to you? Alone?" She hoped that this would go over somewhat good. Maybe she could get him to think that leaving here would be a bad idea. Because if they left than they would never know where Lucy and Peter were going to be.
"What about? It better fucking not be about staying here." Tony said as the elevator doors opened.
Nicole was fortunate enough that when they got on they were the only ones. She knew this was her one chance. It was now or never.
"T. It is. I just want to point out one thing. If we leave now, we'll never know where Lucy and Peter are going to be. If we stay, we know they are going to stick around. At least with her being in the fucking hospital."
Nicole could see that Tony was getting mad.
Tony hated it when Nicole questioned his decisions and she knew that. But she was the only one that really could and survive.
Tony was standing on the opposite side of the elevator. His eyes were narrowed and he was glaring at Nicole. She could see the redness creeping up his face and knew he was getting ready to explode.
"Why the fuck can't you ever let anything go?" he asked angrily. "Why do you gotta keep pushing and fucking pushing, huh, why?"
Nicole leaned against the mirrored wall of the elevator and looked at her cousin. "You just don't get it do you?"
"Apparently not. Why don't you fucking enlighten me and help me to fucking understand."
Nicole sighed. "It's just after all they've fucking done, I can't believe you're gonna fucking leave here and let them get away with it."
Tony stepped closer to Nicole and shook his head. "Let it go. We have to fucking move past this shit and get back to business. I can't spend the rest of my fucking life chasing after these assholes."
"Tony..." Nicole started to say and notice his eye twitching.
"NO! Fuck! Nic, just fucking stop with this bullshit!" he yelled. Then he turned around and saw her reflection in the mirrored wall. Suddenly he lifted his hand and smashed it into the mirror. "Fuck!"
Nicole didn't even flinch. She was used to his temper. She was just glad that it was her reflection he hit and not really her.
At that moment the elevator opened and revealed their floor. "Come on, T. I'll call the in house doctor and have him look at that. You may need stitches." she said, noticing the blood and the bits of glass that were embedded in his fist.
They made it to the room and Nicole called the doctor as Tony put his hand into an ice bucket. "Shit!" he hissed, as the cold water stung his wounds.
Nicole walked over to him and shook her head. "That wasn't very smart T. You should learn to control your temper better."
"Around you, I think that's damn near fucking impossible."
Nicole smirked, when she heard the door to the room open. She turned and saw Paulie enter the room. Tony poured himself a scotch and downed the amber liquid in one gulp.
Paulie made his way over to the bar and looked at Tony and Nicole. "What happened in the elevator?" Paulie asked.
"Long story." Nicole replied and sighed.
Paulie shook his head. "Why is it wherever you two go, something ends up destroyed?"
TBC...