Infectious Chapter 10

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"K!" Katrin whispered loudly as she found her friend. The two were on break at the same time and were in the corner of the cafeteria.

"Hey. How's your day—" Katia was cut off.

"I told the Cohens. You know, Ryan's family," Katrin said quickly.

"You did what? Katrin, we're in enough trouble. You've gone and got them involved?" Katia scolded.

"I had to! What else were we supposed to do, huh? Tell me. We are in way over our heads, and I admit, everything about this situation is my fault, and I need to get us out of it…" Katrin trailed.

"How much did you say? How do you discretely tell someone that we're pretty much being blackmailed into selling someone out for a hit and run. We have everything to lose here, Katrin," Katia put her hands on her hips in frustration.

"Well the dad's a lawyer and I was hoping that maybe he…no. I don't know. K, we shouldn't have even gotten the visas so quickly. I mean, it had to catch up to us sooner or later, not matter how much trouble we're in! You don't win if you break the law. It was coming anyways," Katrin replied reluctantly.

Katia was silent for a few minutes. "What did he say?"

"He said not to answer Victor's call, and to let him know as soon as my phone rings. And you aren't to answer Victor either," Katrin relayed.

Katia nodded. "If we're not together, your second call better be to me."

"Of course," Katrin replied.

"It will be all over soon," Katia encouraged.

Katrin nodded silently. "Then it's back to Berlin, you know…"

"We'll see," Katia replied.

"I'm so sorry."

Ryan's tests were completed, the strain of bacteria was identified, and his medications were changed appropriately. His fever was still beginning to climb however which had the doctors slightly concerned. The medications should be working soon, they assured the Cohens.

Sandy was the first one to see Ryan after the biopsy. The teen looked so young and helpless and the exact opposite of what he always tried to express. He was sleeping as Sandy quietly entered the room. Ryan's arm had a new, long white cast which of course extended all the way close to his shoulder and was bent in the same position as it was pre-biopsy.

Sandy looked at all the IV's surrounding Ryan. The doctors had mentioned that Ryan would wear a PICC line after he was released from the hospital. Ryan would not like that. Long sleeve shirt to cover the line or t-shirt to fit over the cast? Poor kid.

Kirsten and Sandy switched places after the latter finished his short visit. As Kirsten entered the room, tears sprung in her eyes again as she looked at her sick son, lying so uncomfortably in the hospital bed. She gently rubbed her thumb on Ryan's good hand, careful of the IV's and she talked to him, quietly vowing that everything would work itself out.

Before he left for the night, Seth finally was allowed to have a few minutes with Ryan. Seth's first thoughts were the same as his parents', that Ryan looked so small and defenseless laying there. The thick cast was across his chest in a sling and it slowly rose and fell with Ryan's breathing.

"Hey, buddy," was all Seth could say as he sat in the chair next to his brother. "Uh, so you're back here, huh? How do you get an infection in your bone? Seriously, man. I looked up osteo whatever on Wikipedia. Dude. Good thing they caught it in time. I swear if anything goes wrong again with your arm, I will personally cut it off for you. Save you the pain."

Ryan responded by sleeping. Seth sighed.

"You know…you could always get like a fake arm," Seth continued, talking more to himself than to Ryan now. "You could make it really cool, like have a claw at the end or something. I will design it for you. Now worries there, bro." Seth looked down at his brother. "No worries."

Sure enough, Katrin's phone rang within a few hours. Victor showed up on the caller ID, and the nurse was tempted to answer. Sandy's warning was in her head all day, and she had nervously played with the business card in her pocket to the point where she hoped she could still read the number. Should she send it right to voicemail? That would be too obvious. She could always say she didn't have the phone on her…

Like she promised, Katrin called Sandy as soon as she could.

"Hello?" Sandy answered.

"Hi, Sandy? Uh, it's Katrin…from HOAG…we talked about Ryan today," Katrin really hadn't planned what she'd say. "Um, Victor just called and—"

"You didn't answer," Sandy cut her off, more directed as a statement than a question.

"No! No, I didn't. I just let it ring. You said to call…" Katrin trailed off, wishing she never started the mess.

"Yes, I said that. I'm glad you called," Sandy quickly re-assured the girl.

"He's calling again!" Katrin suddenly interrupted as she saw the call waiting on her cell phone.

"Ok, answer it this time then, but pretend like nothing is wrong. Call me right back," Sandy ran a hand down his face. He hadn't counted on that.

"Hello?" Katrin answered a little tentatively.

"Katrin? What did I tell you about answering your phone?" Victor's scorn was unmistakable.

"I couldn't get to it in time, I'm sorry. I'm just finishing my shift and I couldn't answer it in front of the patients…" Katrin lied.

"Just listen. You are going to meet Eddie like planned. He will be over my house tomorrow afternoon at 2. We have some…business deals to work out. You will come over at 3 exactly. You say you don't work on Sundays, and you don't want to disappoint me, right? If Eddie fucked up like you say he did, then I need to hear it from him and I don't think Immigration needs to hear of any mishaps, do you? I'd hate to see a pretty girl like you leave. You've tempted me too long, Katrin. I expect you at 3. Don't bring your skanky friend. Understand?" Victor finally finished.

"Yes," was all Katrin could respond. Tears sprang in her eyes as the call ended. She immediately called Sandy to finish their conversation.

"Don't you worry. I'll help you take care of it," Sandy comforted. He took pride when he thought at least he was doing something to help Ryan.

A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long to post and is so short! More soon!