All three men paced restlessly back and forth, waiting on an update on their beloved friend. It had not yet occured to anyone to go to ask for towels and to go to the restroom to attempt to wipe some of Joe's blood from their hands and arms, Murr even had some on his face.
"It's been thirty minutes guys, when are they going to come let us know something?"
Murr continued to pace, wringing his blood soaked fingers together.
"Just relax Murr, he's going to be okay. He was still concious when we got here, he's going to be okay. They are probably trying to decide what to do with his leg and foot.".
Sal and Q had finally set down and Sal nodded nervously from the corner chair he had chosen.
He had taken note of the blood covering his skin and clothing at this point, wiping his hands together nervously.
"He's right Murr. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can find some wash clothes or towels of some sort. We are all soaked in blood and it's making me sick. It's hard to believe all of this came of Joe. Oh my God, he could have bled to death before we got him here."
Sal intended to get up and ask the lady behind the desk for towels, but instead he set and looked down at his friend's blood on his hands.
Brian noticed this and walked to the receptionist himself.
"Ma'm, do you havve something we can use to wipe our hands with. I don't think soap and water will do the job"
She smiled sadly, taking in the amount of blood covering the three men.
"I'll be right back".
Minutes later, she was back with a handful of wash cloths.
"Thank You".
Q did his best to smile, but couldn't quiet pull it off. He was too tired, too nervous. Too afraid.
Murr, still pacing, stopped when Brian handed him a wash cloth, and smiled his thanks.
"Thanks pal, I'm going to run to the restroom and try to clean up a little. You guys want to stay here and then I'll relieve one of you. That way if they call us back or something one of you can stay here to let me know."
"Sure, Murr, go ahead. I think Sal is about to have a melt down anyhow, I'll see if I can talk to him."
Murr nodded, glancing at his friend, put his hand on Q's shoulder and walked the short distance to the restroom.
Sal still set, rubbing at one bloodied, sticky hand with the other. The skin turning red at the harsh maneuver.
Q put a hand on Sal's .
"Stop that, bud. Calm down. He's going to be okay. I promise you, I've seen these kinds of breaks before, it will be a long recovery, a lot of pain, he may even have to learn to walk again, but he'll be okay. We got him here in time. Now cut that out before you rub a hole in your hand."
Sal smiled nervously up at his long time friend, and took the wash cloth being offered to him.
"Thanks man, I can't help it. I don't want this blood on me. And even though I know he'll be okay, I still am going to worry until I see him myself. You know me!".
Quinn nodded and chuckled.
"Murr is in the restroom cleaning up, when he gets back you can go. We are all worried, I'm too nervous and worked up to think straight, man."
Before the sentence was completely out of Q's mouth, a young Dr walked into the waiting room.
"Joe Gatto family?"
Sal was on his feet immediately.
"Dr Wilson"
His smile was warm as he shook both men's hands.
"How is he?"
Sal could not wait to ask the question, he had to know.
"He's stable. He has a lost a very substantial amount of blood, which we are replacing as we speak. He has two serious breaks, both of which will require extensive surgery. Infection is a real risk, but we will fight that off with strong antibiotics. I need someone to sign papers for me, is anyone here able to do that? We want to go ahead and do emergency surgery on the largest break, the bone is protruding largely through the skin making that break standing the largest chance of infection."
Both Sal and Q nodded their heads, Murr also nodded. He had walked up to the conversation mid point.
"Any of us can, it doesn't matter. His family is not here, but we are all signed off to sign medical papers for him."
"Okay, good. He's going to be okay. It's going to be a long, painful road ahead for him. But, you saved his life. He was in immenint danger of bleeding to death when he arrived."
All three men sighed in relief as Sal shakily signed the surgery release papers.
"Thank You, is he allergic to any medications"
"No sir"
He shook all three hands again, telling them which waiting room to move to and promising someone would be out with updates throughout the surgery.
All three men collapsed into the ER chairs, relief washed over them.
After a few minutes they made their way to the new waiting area.