Chapter 10
John was awakened by a crash! Actually, it was his body crashing to the floor; he had just adjusted his position slightly, to get comfortable, and, well the real problem was, he wasn't even remotely in bed far enough to keep from falling, he was just resting his head on the edge of the mattress, the rest of him, at the time he fell, was more out of than in the chair at the side or the bed.
His wife, Elise, who was in the ICU hospital bed he was sleeping against, was also awaken by the crash, although due to the drugs in her system it took her much longer to respond.
Fortunately for John, Roy and Cap were on hand to pick him up off the floor. They were there by special invitation from Dr Early. Dr Early was hopeful that John's two friends would be able to more or less sleep walk the exhausted man to a nearby gurney and place him in a quiet linen closet to sleep for a while.
At the moment, it was all Roy could do to keep from laughing out loud at the sight of his partner's twisted body sprawled out on the floor.
Still hooked up to more monitors and tubes than was reasonable to move, Elise managed to slowly roll her head to look at John, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," John spoke quickly, but when he tried to get up, there was a definite moan of pain.
"All right ya twit, let's get you out of the way so that the Doctor can do his job." Hank reached down with a smile and took hold of one of John's shoulders while Roy took hold of his other arm.
"AAAA," John complained and quickly pulled his arm away from Roy's grasp. One quick look and Roy could see that it was rapidly swelling and could only shake his head at his partner.
One of the nurses tossed Roy a pillow from the gurney they were planning to use for John, and then turned to get a wheel chair. Roy padded John's right wrist with the pillow then guided his left hand to hold the pillow in place as he took hold of his shoulder and helped the captain pull John to his feet.
"Come on pall," Hank spoke with humor in his voice as he pushed John down into the wheelchair that was being provided for him. "Let's go see what you did to yourself when you fell out of bed."
Roy slipped his feet onto the foot rests as Hank pulled the wheelchair away from the room, while John turned his head as far as he could to keep eye contact with his Elise.
"I'll be right back just as soon as they finish with shift change." John called as he was wheeled away.
Dr. Morton didn't miss a chance to give his most irritating patient, a laugh at his injuries. A rather severely sprain wrist. After an hour of ice therapy, John's impatience convinced the doctor to put a brace on his wrist and forearm and then a sling around John's neck to hold the wrist in a slightly elevated position as well as supply a pocket to hold an ice pack on the wrist for as long as they could persuade him to keep it on.
After failing to convince John to sit in the wheelchair, Roy walked at his side while Hank followed along with the wheelchair just in case they could get John to come to his senses.
Once they reached the Intensive Care Ward John found Dr. Early waiting for him.
"What is it doc?" John asked with panicked eyes, not liking the look on the doctor's face.
The first thing Dr. Early did was place a hand on John's shoulder and push him down into the wheelchair that was right behind him. Dr. Early then sat in a chair next to him, so as to be on the same level as his patient's worried husband.
"We've evaluated Elise's motor functions and she's exhibiting some weakness on her left side." Dr. Early began.
John took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "We knew that was a possibility." John nodded his head in a calm matter. "Can you tell yet if it's permanent or will it get better with therapy?"
Dr. Early smiled at the positive attitude of the respected paramedic before him. "It is too early in the game to know much at all for sure. There could still be some improvement as the swelling continues to go down and the injury continues to heal, also we are still keeping her somewhat sedated. We are still picking up some seizure activities in her brain waves. Mild but present.
"She had a slight seizure just after you left and we're going to want to see to it that she gets some serious rest for a few more days. And you need to get some sleep to. I'm going to let you go visit with her for a while and let her know that you're all right. Then I want you to let her rest alone and get some serious rest yourself."
Dr. Early was speaking sternly with John but knew even as he did, that John was not really listening to him.
"You're not going to put her back in a coma are you?" John questioned looking at Dr. Early very intently.
"NO, nothing that severe at this point, but we are going to keep her pretty quiet for a few more days. And, we want you to be working toward that goal also."
John looked at the doctor and let out a deep breath, unable to think of anything to say or any questions to ask, he simply nod his head to the doctor he trusted to give his wife the best care that could be given.
"Now she's worried about you after you're fall," Dr. Early continued, "let her see that you're alright and then both of you need to get some sleep."
Dr. Early stood up and started to lead the way as Hank began to push the wheelchair after him.
"I can walk," John placed his feet firmly on the floor. "How am I supposed to convince her I'm all right if you're pushing me around in a wheelchair for Pete's sake?" John pushed himself out of the chair with his good arm and then turned to look at his professional superior, "It's just a sprain wrist, I don't need a wheelchair."
Since Rachael was already visiting with her sister, Hank remained outside to hang onto the wheelchair for later use, weather John wanted it or not. Roy stayed at John's side. He was there to make sure John came out again in a timely manner.
Elise found his eyes as soon as he walked into the room, then her eyes move to the sling suspending his arm. "Is it broken?"
"NO, it's just a sprain," John spoke through the biggest crooked smile he had, Elise was talking to him and her voice was a bit slurred but John was sure it was just because of all the sedatives they were giving her. "I'll be as good as new in no time."
As Rachael moved out of the way, and John moved in and sat on the edge of the bed at Elise's side. Elise managed to push the button to raise the head of the bed slightly but had to reach across with her right hand to have enough power to do so. John noticed that but he also noticed that she was adapting already.
Lovingly John bent down, giving Elise a quick kiss on the lips before sitting straight and smiling at her. "Have I told you today how much I love you, and how beautiful you are?"
John took hold of Elise's hand with his left hand and toyed with her fingers as she worked to get both of her hands around his. Her head was bandaged, and her face swollen, but her smile was all his and her love for him was beaming from her eyes.
John just returned her smile, not being able to think of anything to say at the moment, he gave her fingers a gentle squeeze as she toyed with his hand, when she found his wedding ring she twisted it on his finger, then she looked at what her hands had found before looking up at John with a puzzled expression that quickly turned to one of panic.
"What's wrong, Elise," John responded to the panicked look on her face.
"I waited too long," Elise responded as the nurse moved in to double check the monitors that were now showing an extremely elevated heart rate and sounding off several alarms. "I waited too long," Elise repeated totally confusing John.
"It's too late for us, John you shouldn't be here. I don't want to mess up your life. Go John, just leave me don't let me ruin your happiness."
Elsie started to seize as Rachael moved in to try and comfort her and Roy moved in to take his partner by his shoulders and pull him away from the bed so that the medical staff could move in with the needed medications to stop the seizure.
Wrapping his arm around John's chest, Roy pulled him back to where Hank stood with the wheelchair. It took both of them pulling him and then pushing down before John sat in the wheelchair and with two firm hands on his shoulders he stayed there, but not willingly.
It was only a few moments before Dr. Early was seen walking down the hall rubbing his hand with one finger as he walked.
"Doc, what happened in there?" John was quick to ask, trying to get out of his chair but unable to against the strong hands holding him down. "I don't understand."
"Well I'm not entirely sure myself, as to what had your wife so upset, but we do have the seizure under control and she should sleep now for several hours." Dr. Early informed John, "All of her readings are back to normal and she should be just fine. Once she wakes up again we'll see if we can sort all of this out, but in the mean time you need to get some sleep."
Dr. Early motioned for Hank to follow him and while Roy supplied the restraint to keep John in the chair, Hank drove it to the linen closet where Joe Early had arraigned for John to get some sleep.
"But doc I can't sleep," John protested as Hank and Roy lifted him from the chair and onto the gurney that was wedged between the shelves. "They won't call me if she needs me."
Once John was sitting on the edge of the gurney Dr. Early stepped up and placed both hands on John's shoulders. "She's going to sleep now for several hours John, Her sister is with her, the one who helped her escape in the first place." Dr. Early moved to lay John down on the pillow that had been placed there for him. "I promise you I will come and get you personally when she wakes up and we'll work on getting to the bottom of what upset her."
As the doctor talked to John, Roy worked to remove the sling from around his neck and place his arm on another pillow with the ice pack on top of his wrist, while Hank pulled his feet up on the gurney and slipped his shoes off.
"The pain medication that Dr. Morton gave you should be starting to kick in about now," Dr. Early spoke calmly and as hypnotically as possible. "Sleep, sleep, I promise I'll come get you myself as soon as Elise is awake again."
Hank and Roy worked together to drape a blanket over John and tucked it in around his shoulders, then Hank rubbed his feet through the blanket while Roy rubbed his back and slowly but finally John's eyes fluttered closed.
Once John was asleep Dr. Early left the closet, Roy silently signaled his captain before following the doctor out.
"Doc, John is going to be furious when he wakes up." Roy started to scold the doctor. "Dr Morton told him that he was just giving him some aspirin to help with the swelling, nothing that was going to knock him out."
"If Mike Morton said he was giving him aspirin, he probably did," Joe Early responded with a grin, "I was just using the power of suggestion to get a good friend of mine to get some much needed rest. I don't think John has gotten any sleep for the last four days, other than the few cat naps he's taken at the side of Elise's bed. The suggestion along with the exhaustion was all he needed to get him to sleep. However," Dr. Early turned back to Roy as he was walking away, "If he needs anything more, I'm willing to give it."
Roy turned back to the closet to see Hank standing there peeking through the partially open door, the smile on his face was all Roy needed to know that his captain had heard everything.
-0-
Both John and Elise slept for six hours. Hank and Roy took turns sitting at his side to make sure he wasn't disturbed, they were spelled off a few times by both Uncle Milton and Brandon.
It was the smell of popcorn that Roy was nibbling on at his side that started to bring John to life again, but he didn't really wake up until Dr. Early walked in and placed a hand on his shoulder with a gentle shake.
John rolled his head with a bit of a start and looked up at Dr. Early with newly awake eyes. "Is Elise alright?"
"As far as I know yes," Dr. Early answered calmly; he wanted to ask if John slept well but he had already checked in on him several times during the last few hours and knew he was sleeping like a log. "They just paged me to tell me she's awake. I'm on my way to see her now; I think it would be best if you give me a few minutes to see if we can determine why she got so upset earlier before you come in."
John didn't like the sound of what the doctor was saying, but he thought back on his wife telling him, that he should go, and reluctantly gave the doctor an affirmative nod of his head before swinging his feet off to the side of the gurney he was laying on.
Hank had followed the doctor into the closet and once he left he quickly started to help John get his shoes back on.
John pushed Roy away as he was trying to reapply the sling on his arm and reached down to pull one of his shoes on while his captain finished with the first one. Once John was on his feet he only took a second to finish waking up and then he was sprinting out the door catching up with Dr. Early before he made it to the room.
Following Dr. Early's advice, to give him a moment, John waited outside and stood by the screen showing what was going on inside the room. Rachael, Joanie, and Vanessa were in the room with Elise and Elise was visibly still very upset.
"I waited too long," Elise was telling her sisters as they tried to keep her calm. "I should have found out about him before I came out here. I can't do this to him." Elise was repeating and not giving her sisters a chance to calm her. But then even they claimed she never listened to them.
Dr. Early walked into the room and in a calm manner pulled up a chair and sat down, talking softly, he succeeded in doing what the sister's failed to do. Elise calmed down at least a little.
"Now Elise I want you to calm down." Dr. Early spoke softly, "There is nothing that I can see that we can't fix once we figure out what the problem is. Now if you'll just lay back and relax a little, that's right, take a deep breath and relax." Dr. Early coaxed as John watched at the nurse's station and let out a slight sigh himself, now that his wife was calming down.
"Okay Elise, let's stay very calm, now I want you to tell me what's got you so upset."
John stayed at the nurse's station watching as Elise calmed but tears began to streak her face, "I waited too long, I should have come to California a long time ago. I should have come years ago." Elise babbled and Dr. Early just reached up and gently touched her arm. "Now he's moved on and I'm just messing up his whole life."
"When you say He are you talking about John Gage?" Dr. Early asked confirmingly.
Elise nod her head in a way that obviously caused her some pain and she needed a minute to let things settle.
"Okay, that's right, take it easy and just relax." Dr. Early continued to coach Elise in working through her troubled thoughts. "Now why do you feel that you are messing up John's life, because I can assure you that John care's for you very deeply and would do anything humanly possible for you."
"I love him too," Elise cried, "But I waited too long to come out here," she sobbed and took a moment to catch her breath, "I felt his wedding ring, he's married, I'm just messing up his life being here right now."
Three sisters moved to Elise's side all talking at one, "Elise it's alright he loves you. It's you- John loves you more than life it's self he could never be with anyone else."
"Doctor can you get his wife to come see me, would she talk to me? I'll do anything to make this right for him, Please Doctor."