When Matt came to the next morning, they didn't immediately knock him out again. They needed to give him a full examine, without the interference of drugs. He remembered everything up until the explosion, even being thrown by the explosion, he hadn't suffered any brain damage. His pulse and blood pressure were what they expected, and his breathing was only slightly weak from smoke inhalation.
Matt's biggest problem at the moment was the excruciating pain of having parts of you skin missing, and someone else's dead flesh stapled to you instead. The staples still hurt like hell, but were nothing, nothing, nothing, compared to the raw, red flesh they had served to cover. It felt like his back was still burning, and the burn ointment on the second degree burns on his now bandaged legs didn't really help that much.
He gripped the sheets in his hands and gritted his teeth as the did the exam, praying it would be over quick so they could give him more drugs. Finally a nod the doctor had a nurse pushing the drugs into his IV, before they had him turn on his stomach to exam his back. It was really tedious, as the slowly cut the bandages and pulled them away, and still hurt like hell. He just wanted them to be done so they'd leave him alone, and let him suffer in peace.
Finally the doctor smiled, confirming that everything looked good, as they tend to say, and left the nurse to rewrap him. More tedium, more pain, more of Matt gritting his teeth and biting his tongue so he didn't start cursing at the nurse. After ten minutes of this, Matt was beginning to get very impatient, and was close to yelling at the nurse, when Emily walked in.
He relaxed slightly immediately upon seeing her. She had on street clothes, no more hospital garb; it seemed they'd cleared her to go home. She waited patiently for the nurse to finish before sitting in the chair beside his bed, and taking his hand as she had done the previous night.
"Did they stop giving you pain meds?" she asked, worry written on her face, at seeing the pained expression on his.
"They let the dose from last night wear off so they could examine me this morning. I'm fine, except for the missing skin." He said, the pain making him sound bitter.
"Have they given you anything since?"
"Yeah, about ten minutes ago. It's kicking in now, slower than I'd like. They said if they gave me anything stronger it would knock me out, I didn't really want that." He explained to her.
"Have they told you about your treatment?" She had no idea how much he knew.
"Yeah, I'm stuck here for a while." He said with a clear distaste for the idea.
"I know you hate hospitals, it won't be that long though." She tried to reassure him.
"I know, I know, a week and a half at best, two and a half at worst. The place just makes my skin crawl." He told her, vulnerability showing in his eyes.
"Well you'll have plenty of company. I'm off until Psych clears me, Cheryl's final order to me last night."
"You're a shrink can't you do that yourself?"
"Yeah, right, the Bureau would love that. But I think it's less for my well-being and more to keep me away while OPR investigates the explosion."
"Probably, they can't accuse us of any wrong doing if they can't find us." Matt tried to adjust himself on the bed, wincing frequently. God, was he in pain.
"Matt, why don't you let them knock you out again." Emily suggested worriedly, watching him struggle.
"No, I hate that feeling that I just missed a day, it's too creepy."
"You're in pain, it wouldn't be so bad to miss a day." She insisted.
"Then I couldn't spend it talking to you." He said, trying to sweet-talk her.
"Cute, but we'll have plenty of time to talk. The pain won't be so bad in a couple of days. Save it for then." Emily hated seeing him in so much pain, she'd much rather he slept through it.
"Come here." He told her, awkwardly gesturing toward himself. Emily moved closer to him, leaning toward him, until she was close enough for him reach. He pulled her close and planted a long, heavy kiss on her, which she eagerly returned. Matt didn't care that this put him at a weird angle and twisted his burned back, making the pain worse, it was well worth it. After a couple of minutes he couldn't take it anymore, and pulled away, resting back on the bed, breathing in and out against the throbbing in his back.
"We have to stop that before I try to go home with you." He told her, smiling so she wouldn't know how much that had hurt him.
"You started it." She told him grinning, seeing right through him, his eyes betraying the pain he was in. "Matt let me call a nurse to give you something stronger." She pleaded with him.
"Yeah, okay." He finally agreed. Emily pressed the call button before he could change his mind.
"What can I do for you Mr. Flannery?" A young nurse asked walking in.
"I want stronger drugs. This morning they offered me something to knock me out, I told them no, I want it now." He explained.
"Alright then, let me just take a look at your chart." She picked up the think file, and flipped through it, before speaking again, "I can give you something to put you out for the better part of the day, is that okay with you?"
Matt looked at Emily before answering, "Yeah, that sounds good."
Ten minutes later Matt was out cold, and Emily released his hand, glancing at him one last time before she left. Outside on the hospital grounds Emily found a bench and took her cell phone out, dialing information.
"You've reached information, city please?" A woman asked abruptly.
"Los Angeles."
"Listing name."
"Los Angeles Police Department."
"Hold one moment." She said, and two seconds later and automated message came on, "The number you requested in 555-6161, if you need to hear the number-" Emily hung up before the recording finished quickly dialing the number she was given.
"LAPD how can I help you?" A bored man answered.
"Can I please have the number for your Human Resources Department?"
"Yeah, it's 555-6172, you want me to connect you?" He asked.
"Yes, please." She immediately heard and click and a ringtone.
"LAPD Human Resources." This voice belonged to a very nasally woman.
"Hi, I'm looking for one of your employees, his name is Christopher Flannery."
"I'm sorry ma'am, but we can't hand that information out to just anybody, our personnel are entitled to their privacy." She explained.
"I'm with the FBI, Special Agent Emily Lehman, I work with Matt Flannery, Christopher's brother. Matt's been hurt and I just wanted to let Chris know." Emily offered, hoping the woman would feel sorry and just give her what she needed.
There was a long pause. "What's his name?"
"Christopher Flannery." Emily replied, spelling Flannery for the woman.
"Alright I have a Lieutenant Christopher J. Flannery, is that him?"
"Yes, yes, that's him, do you know what precinct he works out of?"
"He's in narcotics, you want the phone number?"
"Yes, please."
"555-6143, and he is extension 213."
"Thank you so much." Emily said sincerely.
"Sure," the woman replied with disinterest, before hanging up.
Emily plugged the phone number into her phone, watching it appear on her display, but not immediately hitting send. She sat nervously for several minutes wondering what she was supposed to say to him, wondering if he'd care. Matt had never said much about his family, he made it clear he didn't like talking about them, so she didn't press. Rubbing her thumb across the buttons, as if it would alleviate her jitters, she counted to ten before blindly hitting send.
"Narcotics, Flannery." A friendly voice answered.
"Lieutenant Flannery, my name is Emily Lehman, I'm with the FBI. Uh, actually, more importantly, I work with your brother." She paused allowing the information to sink in.
"I haven't spoken to Matt in years." Chris Flannery stated bluntly.
"Uh, I know that. Matt was caught in the explosion at the theatre yesterday. He was burned pretty badly. He's at Mount Hope." Emily just rattled off the information, not knowing what else to say.
"Is he, uh, is he going to be alright?" He showed an awkward sort of concern.
"Yeah, they've been keeping him knocked out most of the time, he's in a lot of pain, but after the skin grafts are done, he'll be fine."
"That's good to hear…Matt's still in the CNU?"
"Yeah, he is…uh, are you going to stop by the hospital?" This was certainly one of the most painfully uncomfortable conversations she'd ever had.
"I don't know. Listen Agent Lehman, Matt and I haven't spoken in years, we aren't actually on good terms…"
"You're brother was almost blown to bits yesterday, doesn't that make you feel a little silly for not talking for so long?" She realized she probably wasn't winning any points with him, but five years was too long.
"I appreciate what you're trying to do, you obviously care a lot about Matt, but you don't know what happened between us. And, no offense, but just because you're screwing my brother, doesn't mean that it's any of your business." He said harshly before hanging up.
Emily sat staring at her silent phone. Wow, did she ever mess that up.
Sighing Emily got up and decided to go back to Matt's room. He might be sleeping, but she had nothing better to do, and she wanted to be near him. Though she'd never admit it to anyone, she was still shaken from the previous night.
I'm so glad people are still reading this story! Thanks for reading and reviewing!