Empty Spaces Chapter 7
Piper's POV in the hospital
Thanks for all the reviews and the cupcakes are vanilla with strawberry frosting.
The darkness surrounding Piper Chapman was ebbing away slowly as her groggy mind struggled to break through to the surface. There was pain again she wasn't surprised about that, but it was muffled this time around. The edge dulled by the strong narcotics still coursing through her veins. Her senses were coming alive again the sounds and smells that she knew belonged to the hospital room around her starting to become clearer through the haze that was slowly lifting. She felt a rather distinct tightness and discomfort in her throat and chest that she couldn't help fighting against. A tall brunette woman was there in a flash trying to calm her. For just the flicker of a moment she thought it might be her Alex come to save her again from one of the disasterous messes she always seamed to created for herself, but knew just as quickly that it simply couldn't be true. This woman was wearing a set of blue scrubs and not the khaki uniform she had come to enjoy peeling off of her lovers body, and despite her height she was a bit thinner than Alex a bit too gaunt without those curves she loved so much. Not nearly as strong as the woman she used to like to think of as her own personal super hero, the one who had swooped in to save her from her dreary little future as some sucessful business man's wife. The doctor fought for eye contanct, trying to get through to the woman who was continuing to struggle underneath her.
"I need you to look at me, and hear what I'm saying. You are in a hospital and you've sustained some very serious injuries do to your altercation. You were having difficulty breathing on your own after you lost conciousness so we had to intubate you. You're awake now and your breathing has improved so we can remove it now, I just need you to calm down and stop fighting long enough to accomplish that, if you can't I'll have to put you under again to keep you from hurting yourself. Do you understand everything that I am saying too you?" All Piper could do was give a weak nod and try to control the panic she was feeling. "Alright," the doctor continued talking in as soothing a voice as she could as she went about disconnecting the tube." when I say now I'm going to pull out the tube and I'm gonna need a nice long exhale from you okay?" Another weak nod and a few tears were her response." Okay, now" the doctor removed the tube with a practiced fluid motion and Piper sputtered and coughed as her airway finally cleared. A nurse appeared at her side with a cup of water a moment later to sooth the ache in her throat, just as the blonde realized she couldn't actually grab it herself. Not only were both of her arms chained to the bed, both of her hands had been replaced by giant gauze boxing gloves.
"Don't worry I've got it, just take little sips at first." Piper smiled gratefully to the kind woman and did as she was told, savoring the way the cool water washed away the burn of the tubes. The doctor had continued moving around her checking the connections on the machines and tubes feeding into her from just about everywhere it seamed. When she was satisfied that everything was still connected where it ought to be and that nothing had been disturbed by the commotion of the blondes awakening she returned her attention to Piper herself and adressed her.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Wallace I am your surgeon. The cut on your wrist caught an artery so you lost quite a bit of blood which we were able replace with transfusions. In addition to that there were several broken bones in both of your hands and wrists that we had to go in surgically and set with pins. It's a bit early to tell but you may end up with some residual nerve damage in your hands as well from the shear amount of tissue damage. There are only a few stiches but your hands have been wrapped for immobility so you don't run the risk of injuring them any further, especially during these first few weeks of the healing process." Piper suddenly made eye contact with the doctor and she nearly flinched at the terror she saw there.
"I can't be like this for weeks, it's fucking prison. Red told me, the second the other inmates perceive you as weak you are. I need my hands, I can't protect myself like this."Piper couldn't stop the tears that came flooding out. She knew she'd won this round with Pennsatucky, but there would be others. Even if Dogget got sent off to max for attacking her with a weapon there would still be her bible thumpers to contend with. They'd all be after her now retaliation was how the game is played inside, and she had nobody to watch her back. It was one thing with her bunked down in the ghetto, but a reassignment to the suburbs might actually get her killed. She couldn't go running to Alex again, she had made it perfectly clear that there was no way she'd help Piper again after all that she'd put her through. She thought the most heartless thing she could ever do to someone was walking out on the love of her life when she had needed her the most. She was wrong, the worst was winning her trust back just to do it all over again.