Chapter Ten
Whoa, a longer delay than anticipated there! Deepest apologies! I have had severe system problems, had to actually go and buy a new PC, but now I am all sorted, and also have managed to get broadband, so hopefully I won't get disconnected every time I try to post a chapter of this story! I have now finished this story, but am going to continue to post it a chapter at a time. Anyway once again sorry, and thank you for all your reviews!
Chapter Ten
The three doctors sat down in the doctor's lounge, but the obviously agitated detective couldn't settle.
"So what's the news?" Steve asked abruptly, and Mark shot his son a warning look. Luckily Dr Scott understood the man's impatience.
"As you are aware we have been monitoring Dr Travis' condition very closely. Well it seems that there is another blood clot, not quite as severe as the initial trauma, but bad enough to cause concern" the young woman replied professionally. Mark rubbed his hands over his tired face, the younger doctor had been through enough, this could kill him.
"What do you suggest?" Amanda asked the other female doctor.
"Well obviously I am loath to try surgery, Jesse is far too weak for that at the moment. I was thinking more along the lines of strong anticoagulants" she told them, and Mark nodded thoughtfully.
"That sounds reasonable to me" he replied after a moment. "Does Jesse know?" he asked her, she shook her head.
"I haven't told him, but that doesn't mean he hasn't worked it out for himself, as you know he is a brilliant doctor" she told him, and Mark blushed with pride for his surrogate son.
"I think I'll go talk to him, just to make sure he knows what is going on" Mark told the group quietly, as he hastily left the room and wandered back to his youngest 'son'. Steve sat in silence lost in thought, he sighed, and his friend never seemed to completely clear each hurdle before encountering the next.
Mark silently let himself into Jesse's room, but he didn't need to worry, as the young doctor was awake anyway, and watching him through bright eyes.
"Hi Jesse, how are you feeling?" Mark asked his protégé.
"Not bad, what's up?" Jesse asked, instantly being able to read the older man's face. Mark shook his head, nothing ever got past Jesse Travis.
"You have got another blood clot I'm afraid Jess" Mark told him. Jesse closed his eyes for a moment, before speaking.
"Mark do you think I am a good doctor?" he spoke quietly, as if he couldn't trust his voice to go any louder. Mark's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"What sort of a question is that?" he asked the younger man, and Jesse looked away refusing to meet his friend's eyes. Mark's concern grew, when Jesse didn't reply. "Of course I think you are a good doctor, you are the best I have known. You are compassionate, patient and extremely caring. Now what has brought this on?" Mark saw a tear silently run down Jesse's face. "Jesse please talk to me, this has gone on for long enough"
"Did you read the file?" Jesse whispered after a while.
"What file?" Mark asked in confusion.
"Lucy's" the young man responded, yet it was barely audible. Mark closed his eyes, not liking where this was heading, yet he knew that it had to out in the open, if they were ever going to help Jesse to heal.
"Yes I read the file" Mark responded after a long pause.
"Then you understand" Jesse stated, making eye contact for the first time.
"Oh yes I understand" Mark replied. "I understand that that little girl spent her entire life with a man that couldn't give a damn about her. I understand, that when that little girl could take no more, and she died, that that poor specimen of human life needed someone to blame. I understand that he knew that what he had been doing was wrong, but that he had been unable to stop himself from doing it, so when she finally lost her fight, he picked on the nearest person to blame. And yes Jesse, I understand that that person happens to be you, but I also know that you are the best damn Doctor I have known for years, and whatever that man says, in my eyes you will never be anything less than that, a brilliant doctor and surgeon, the best friend I could ever hope for and my youngest son" Mark continued, his voice getting louder as his speech went on, when he finally paused for breath, he found Jesse staring back at him amazed, and with tears streaming down his face.
"And that goes for me too" said a familiar voice from the doorway. Mark looked up and met his son's eyes, his gratitude obvious. Steve worked forward until he was standing right next to the bed. "Jesse? We have just picked up Mr Marshall, he has been arrested." Jesse looked puzzled by what Steve was saying "For murder" the detective continued. Jesse squeezed his eyes shut, and freely rolled down his pale gaunt face.
"Oh Mark I should have stopped him sooner" he sobbed, as the older doctor pulled his young charge into his arms, for once not caring if the monitors got disconnected for he felt that they had just finally knocked down the barriers and got through Jesse's defences and reached the heart of what was bothering him. Mark gently laid Jesse back down on the bed, as he fell into an exhausted slumber. The two Sloans, took their positions on either side of his bed, and watched as he slept peacefully, and nightmare free.
Round two started a mere two hours later, neither man had expected their friend to wake up again quite so soon.
"Mark?" Jesse asked, hi memory a little hazy.
"Hi Jess, we're both still here" the older man replied, and then Jesse noticed Steve on his other side. He smiled slightly in recognition, it was nowhere near his usual grin, but Steve appreciated the effort.
"Hi bud, you feeling any better?" Steve asked his best friend.
"Tired and achy. My head hurts, but I guess Dr Scott has started the meds right?" he asked.
"Yeah, about 90 minutes ago. Should hopefully do the trick" Mark replied nodding, at least Jesse seemed more alert, and calmer this time.
"Mark I wanna go home" he told his friend, desperately.
"Jess, you know you are far too sick to even think about it" Mark replied sternly.
"Please Mark, please get me discharge" Jesse pleaded, he didn't even understand why, but he really wanted to leave.
"Jess, you are gonna be here for at least a month, before they will even look at discharging you, and even then there's no way I am letting you go back to your apartment on your own, you will be staying at the beach house with us" Mark told the young doctor, Jesse rolled his eyes, and instantly regretted it.
"Mark you don't understand. My Mom is coming to stay, please she can't find out about this, I am enough of a disappointment to her, please Mark" Jesse literally begged the other man. His mother had written to him over two months ago to tell him of her visit, and he had deliberately switched his shifts at the hospital about so that she wouldn't be looking over his shoulder whilst he worked, it would be even worse if she were to see him as a patient and find out how he came to be one. A light of understanding finally lit in Mark's mind, Jess had always had a somewhat turbulent relationship with his parents, now Jesse would have had some warning of his mother's pending visit, which Marks would be willing to bet his savings on a correlation of that and Jesse's mood heading downhill. Steve also seemed to come to the same realisation.
"Jesse why don't you want your Mom to visit you when you're sick?" Steve asked. Willing his friend to open up to him. Jesse shut his eyes, as if trying to decide how much to share, finally his resolve seemed to crumble, and all the love, hate and despair seemed to boil over the surface.
"My mom never really wanted me. She wanted her career and a kid just got in the way. Whenever I was sick or hurt myself or whatever, she used to call me a pain and send me away, great from a doctor huh? Anyway when my dad left she got even worse. She just didn't want to know, whenever the other kids fell over or whatever, their mom's used to take care of them, you know clean up their knees and put a band aid on, and then a treat to make them feel better. Well my mom, she used to tell me to be more careful, and give me the band aid to put on myself. When I left home, I think she was relieved, she finally didn't have to worry about me any more" Jesse told his friends, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. Mark and Steve exchanged a glance, each willing their friend to continue, they had never managed to get their friend to be so open about his upbringing before, and knew that it explained a lot about the complex puzzle that made up Jesse Travis. Both were interrupted from their reverie, by Jesse continuing. "Anyway from the day I left for college, I have never told her if I have been sick, or hurt or anything" he told them, and the two observers both shook their heads, it was a sad state of affairs when a young man couldn't tell his mother when he was sick for fear of being rejected.
"Did you tell her about Utah?" Steve asked after a while, when he was sure that Jesse was finished.
"Hell no, she'd have had me disowned and committed" Jesse responded. "So now tell what do you think she'd make of it if she came here, and found me waiting for her like this, and to top it all off to find out that the reason I am here, is because I failed a young girl" he told them. Mark sighed deeply.
"Jesse, you did not fail Lucy Marshall, she was beaten and shot by her father, a man that she should have been able to trust and feel safe with. You did everything that you could" he told hi young charge firmly.
"How do you know Mark? You weren't even there?" Jesse argued back, already losing his strength, it was the longest he had held a conversation for since he had come out of the coma, and his energy was quickly fading.
"Because I have read the file, she was lucky to have lasted as long as she did. You tried everything that you possibly could. Sometimes things are just meant to be, fate steps in. It was her time to go, she is probably in a far better place" Mark replied, willing his friend to lay his ghosts to rest. Jesse sighed, and Mark sensed a losing battle, so he decided to go for a low blow "Or don't you think I am a good enough doctor to be able to judge when someone has made the right decisions?2 he asked Jesse, and Steve looked up in shock, before registering what his father was doing. Jesse locked his gaze with Mark.
"Of course you are a good doctor Mark, but you weren't there, so you can't know if the right choices were made" Jesse replied.
"Maybe I wasn't there, but I do know you Jesse, and I do know what a talented doctor you are, and there is no way that you didn't try everything that you could to save that little girl's life" mark replied.
"Jesse cast your mind back to when I was shot, remember how no body thought that I would survive, well you took care of me, you saved me Jesse, I don't think I would be here today if it wasn't for you" Steve cut in, not prepared to let go of his friend, even as Jesse tried to pull away. Jesse grinned slightly, in acknowledgement of his friend's words.
"Thanks guys" Jesse told his friend's "But what about my mom?" he asked desperation again clear in his voice.
"Leave your mom to us Jess" mark replied with a grin.
And that's it for now!!!!!
Whoa, a longer delay than anticipated there! Deepest apologies! I have had severe system problems, had to actually go and buy a new PC, but now I am all sorted, and also have managed to get broadband, so hopefully I won't get disconnected every time I try to post a chapter of this story! I have now finished this story, but am going to continue to post it a chapter at a time. Anyway once again sorry, and thank you for all your reviews!
Chapter Ten
The three doctors sat down in the doctor's lounge, but the obviously agitated detective couldn't settle.
"So what's the news?" Steve asked abruptly, and Mark shot his son a warning look. Luckily Dr Scott understood the man's impatience.
"As you are aware we have been monitoring Dr Travis' condition very closely. Well it seems that there is another blood clot, not quite as severe as the initial trauma, but bad enough to cause concern" the young woman replied professionally. Mark rubbed his hands over his tired face, the younger doctor had been through enough, this could kill him.
"What do you suggest?" Amanda asked the other female doctor.
"Well obviously I am loath to try surgery, Jesse is far too weak for that at the moment. I was thinking more along the lines of strong anticoagulants" she told them, and Mark nodded thoughtfully.
"That sounds reasonable to me" he replied after a moment. "Does Jesse know?" he asked her, she shook her head.
"I haven't told him, but that doesn't mean he hasn't worked it out for himself, as you know he is a brilliant doctor" she told him, and Mark blushed with pride for his surrogate son.
"I think I'll go talk to him, just to make sure he knows what is going on" Mark told the group quietly, as he hastily left the room and wandered back to his youngest 'son'. Steve sat in silence lost in thought, he sighed, and his friend never seemed to completely clear each hurdle before encountering the next.
Mark silently let himself into Jesse's room, but he didn't need to worry, as the young doctor was awake anyway, and watching him through bright eyes.
"Hi Jesse, how are you feeling?" Mark asked his protégé.
"Not bad, what's up?" Jesse asked, instantly being able to read the older man's face. Mark shook his head, nothing ever got past Jesse Travis.
"You have got another blood clot I'm afraid Jess" Mark told him. Jesse closed his eyes for a moment, before speaking.
"Mark do you think I am a good doctor?" he spoke quietly, as if he couldn't trust his voice to go any louder. Mark's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"What sort of a question is that?" he asked the younger man, and Jesse looked away refusing to meet his friend's eyes. Mark's concern grew, when Jesse didn't reply. "Of course I think you are a good doctor, you are the best I have known. You are compassionate, patient and extremely caring. Now what has brought this on?" Mark saw a tear silently run down Jesse's face. "Jesse please talk to me, this has gone on for long enough"
"Did you read the file?" Jesse whispered after a while.
"What file?" Mark asked in confusion.
"Lucy's" the young man responded, yet it was barely audible. Mark closed his eyes, not liking where this was heading, yet he knew that it had to out in the open, if they were ever going to help Jesse to heal.
"Yes I read the file" Mark responded after a long pause.
"Then you understand" Jesse stated, making eye contact for the first time.
"Oh yes I understand" Mark replied. "I understand that that little girl spent her entire life with a man that couldn't give a damn about her. I understand, that when that little girl could take no more, and she died, that that poor specimen of human life needed someone to blame. I understand that he knew that what he had been doing was wrong, but that he had been unable to stop himself from doing it, so when she finally lost her fight, he picked on the nearest person to blame. And yes Jesse, I understand that that person happens to be you, but I also know that you are the best damn Doctor I have known for years, and whatever that man says, in my eyes you will never be anything less than that, a brilliant doctor and surgeon, the best friend I could ever hope for and my youngest son" Mark continued, his voice getting louder as his speech went on, when he finally paused for breath, he found Jesse staring back at him amazed, and with tears streaming down his face.
"And that goes for me too" said a familiar voice from the doorway. Mark looked up and met his son's eyes, his gratitude obvious. Steve worked forward until he was standing right next to the bed. "Jesse? We have just picked up Mr Marshall, he has been arrested." Jesse looked puzzled by what Steve was saying "For murder" the detective continued. Jesse squeezed his eyes shut, and freely rolled down his pale gaunt face.
"Oh Mark I should have stopped him sooner" he sobbed, as the older doctor pulled his young charge into his arms, for once not caring if the monitors got disconnected for he felt that they had just finally knocked down the barriers and got through Jesse's defences and reached the heart of what was bothering him. Mark gently laid Jesse back down on the bed, as he fell into an exhausted slumber. The two Sloans, took their positions on either side of his bed, and watched as he slept peacefully, and nightmare free.
Round two started a mere two hours later, neither man had expected their friend to wake up again quite so soon.
"Mark?" Jesse asked, hi memory a little hazy.
"Hi Jess, we're both still here" the older man replied, and then Jesse noticed Steve on his other side. He smiled slightly in recognition, it was nowhere near his usual grin, but Steve appreciated the effort.
"Hi bud, you feeling any better?" Steve asked his best friend.
"Tired and achy. My head hurts, but I guess Dr Scott has started the meds right?" he asked.
"Yeah, about 90 minutes ago. Should hopefully do the trick" Mark replied nodding, at least Jesse seemed more alert, and calmer this time.
"Mark I wanna go home" he told his friend, desperately.
"Jess, you know you are far too sick to even think about it" Mark replied sternly.
"Please Mark, please get me discharge" Jesse pleaded, he didn't even understand why, but he really wanted to leave.
"Jess, you are gonna be here for at least a month, before they will even look at discharging you, and even then there's no way I am letting you go back to your apartment on your own, you will be staying at the beach house with us" Mark told the young doctor, Jesse rolled his eyes, and instantly regretted it.
"Mark you don't understand. My Mom is coming to stay, please she can't find out about this, I am enough of a disappointment to her, please Mark" Jesse literally begged the other man. His mother had written to him over two months ago to tell him of her visit, and he had deliberately switched his shifts at the hospital about so that she wouldn't be looking over his shoulder whilst he worked, it would be even worse if she were to see him as a patient and find out how he came to be one. A light of understanding finally lit in Mark's mind, Jess had always had a somewhat turbulent relationship with his parents, now Jesse would have had some warning of his mother's pending visit, which Marks would be willing to bet his savings on a correlation of that and Jesse's mood heading downhill. Steve also seemed to come to the same realisation.
"Jesse why don't you want your Mom to visit you when you're sick?" Steve asked. Willing his friend to open up to him. Jesse shut his eyes, as if trying to decide how much to share, finally his resolve seemed to crumble, and all the love, hate and despair seemed to boil over the surface.
"My mom never really wanted me. She wanted her career and a kid just got in the way. Whenever I was sick or hurt myself or whatever, she used to call me a pain and send me away, great from a doctor huh? Anyway when my dad left she got even worse. She just didn't want to know, whenever the other kids fell over or whatever, their mom's used to take care of them, you know clean up their knees and put a band aid on, and then a treat to make them feel better. Well my mom, she used to tell me to be more careful, and give me the band aid to put on myself. When I left home, I think she was relieved, she finally didn't have to worry about me any more" Jesse told his friends, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. Mark and Steve exchanged a glance, each willing their friend to continue, they had never managed to get their friend to be so open about his upbringing before, and knew that it explained a lot about the complex puzzle that made up Jesse Travis. Both were interrupted from their reverie, by Jesse continuing. "Anyway from the day I left for college, I have never told her if I have been sick, or hurt or anything" he told them, and the two observers both shook their heads, it was a sad state of affairs when a young man couldn't tell his mother when he was sick for fear of being rejected.
"Did you tell her about Utah?" Steve asked after a while, when he was sure that Jesse was finished.
"Hell no, she'd have had me disowned and committed" Jesse responded. "So now tell what do you think she'd make of it if she came here, and found me waiting for her like this, and to top it all off to find out that the reason I am here, is because I failed a young girl" he told them. Mark sighed deeply.
"Jesse, you did not fail Lucy Marshall, she was beaten and shot by her father, a man that she should have been able to trust and feel safe with. You did everything that you could" he told hi young charge firmly.
"How do you know Mark? You weren't even there?" Jesse argued back, already losing his strength, it was the longest he had held a conversation for since he had come out of the coma, and his energy was quickly fading.
"Because I have read the file, she was lucky to have lasted as long as she did. You tried everything that you possibly could. Sometimes things are just meant to be, fate steps in. It was her time to go, she is probably in a far better place" Mark replied, willing his friend to lay his ghosts to rest. Jesse sighed, and Mark sensed a losing battle, so he decided to go for a low blow "Or don't you think I am a good enough doctor to be able to judge when someone has made the right decisions?2 he asked Jesse, and Steve looked up in shock, before registering what his father was doing. Jesse locked his gaze with Mark.
"Of course you are a good doctor Mark, but you weren't there, so you can't know if the right choices were made" Jesse replied.
"Maybe I wasn't there, but I do know you Jesse, and I do know what a talented doctor you are, and there is no way that you didn't try everything that you could to save that little girl's life" mark replied.
"Jesse cast your mind back to when I was shot, remember how no body thought that I would survive, well you took care of me, you saved me Jesse, I don't think I would be here today if it wasn't for you" Steve cut in, not prepared to let go of his friend, even as Jesse tried to pull away. Jesse grinned slightly, in acknowledgement of his friend's words.
"Thanks guys" Jesse told his friend's "But what about my mom?" he asked desperation again clear in his voice.
"Leave your mom to us Jess" mark replied with a grin.
And that's it for now!!!!!