Chapter 6: Holiday

"Hey," Gordon greeted Joe sympathetically, "I got a few things for you from your apartment," he sat a holdall down on the chair next to Joe's hospital bed that he recognised as his own. "You don't have many casual clothes, do you?" He frowned.

"What are they saying? Any results yet?" Donna inquired. She joined her husband on the visit because she could. It's not as if she had many things to do during the day.

"They don't think it's serious. I just need to stay in till I'm rehydrated and maybe a bit for observation later," Joe allowed some insight. Thankfully, hospitals had this confidentiality policy where non-family members would not be informed about his condition, so if he wanted, he could tell them anything, even if the doctors would figure out the truth, which at the present time, they haven't so far. What the results could tell was that he was dehydrated with an electrolyte imbalance and that his stomach lining and mucous was eroded and inflamed with a cause unknown. It helped that enough time had passed for illegal substances not to show up in his urine, that he told them he couldn't eat and was vomiting, not untrue by any means, but he kept the reason for himself, and most importantly it helped that his medical files indicated that even as a young adult he used to have flare ups of inflammation in some areas of his intestines, most likely retained from the time he used to have abdominal surgery on a regular basis after his fall. So probably, if they let him out soon enough without extensive investigations, he could play on that. Not as if he didn't put his stomach under extreme strain over the last few days that gave him some scope for manoeuvre. "It's possible they'll let me out tomorrow."

"Well, don't rush it," Gordon advised, "you'll probably have to raise Debbie's earnings if you do, poor thing was so freaked out having to catch you," he teased.

"And Gordon was worried too," Donna revealed, more serious. "Do they know what it is?" She insisted on the question.

"It could be a simple stomach upset." Joe denoted, still noncommittally.

Gordon raised his eyebrows at that, "it didn't look simple to me."

"Or it could be a flare up of an old problem," he introduced the concept to lead them to believe he might be off work long term, "it will settle after my medication is adjusted, it always does. I just didn't take any for years, I didn't think I needed to," he shrugged.

"How long does that usually take to settle?" Just as he thought then? Something to do with Joe's past, Gordon theorised.

"I don't know.." Joe sighed, "I'm really sorry Gordon, I didn't mean to leave you with all the marketing and management of the launch. I will get back in as soon as possible," he promised.

"Yea, well, as I said, if you rush it, it might turn counterproductive." Gordon held, but he sounded a lot less certain than before. He was very excited about the Giant, but maybe not the prospects of doing all the nitty-gritty footwork for its introduction to the market. "Let me know if there's anything we can do to help," he offered, looking after his own interests that way, mostly. "You do look better a lot better than earlier today when we brought you in though. And that's after just a few hours in hospital," he heartened himself mostly, "I told you that you should've come earlier!"

"They gave me something for the cramps and the nausea. It makes a difference," Joe conceded.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," Donna put a hand on his encouragingly and squeezed it a little, "we've got to go pick up the girls," she apologised, "but I will come in tomorrow while Gordon's at work," the currently jobless woman promised.

Tbc