Chapter 10
Rebound (Part II)
"I can't believe you're still here," Jamie grumbled as he sat clad only in his boxers and a hospital gown on the table in the exam room in Dr. Abrams' office at ten o'clock the following morning while Danny stubbornly occupied the corner chair as he paged through a magazine. "Ever hear of the privacy act, huh?" he continued with a frown as he glanced at the monitors he was now connected to by a variety of sensors. "Didn't you think it would make Eddie suspicious at all when you invited yourself over to stay on the couch for the night and then practically followed me into the bathroom when I went for a shower?" he sighed. "And that story you gave about the check engine light coming on in your car and not wanting to drive home in the dark was ridiculous," he added. "She saw through that right away… hell, even Kaylin knew you were fibbing about it. A two-year-old! No wonder you don't do any undercover stuff… you suck at it! I'm shocked Eddie took her tour this morning and didn't bang in to sit next to you and hold my other hand in here once she managed to pry the truth out!" he continued to gripe on a real roll now. "I'm gonna be hearing about this for weeks!"
"Can it, Harvard," his older brother advised as he patiently scanned through an article in People Magazine on the adventures of the latest pop boy band. "Your blood pressure's going up and the only reason she did that was because I promised to not let you out of my sight until you get the all clear from the doc… and you will tell him everything," he emphasized with a glance up as he turned the page, "or I will."
"Fine," Jamie conceded with a glower as Dr. Abrams entered after lightly knocking at the door.
"Well, what do we have here?" he smiled as he made his way into the room. "Looks like you've brought…"
"... an overbearing and irritating watchdog with me," Jamie finished with a roll of his eyes. "I'm sure you remember Danny from the hospital, don't you doc?" he questioned.
"Of course," Abrams replied as he reached over to shake his hand, recalling the tight guard the entire Reagan family had kept on the young man after the accident. "Nice to see you again. I take it you have some concerns about your brother?" he asked.
"I'm just here to make sure he tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," Danny acknowledged. "He, uh, had a little incident last night on the basketball court," he added and then waited quietly as Jamie was forced to explain the circumstances behind his brief fainting spell.
"Well that does raise some red flags," Abrams admitted as he studied Jamie's EKG intently for several minutes. "Prolonged hypothermia, which mimics ischaemia, may cause arrhythmias and heart failure, but this appears normal," he assured as Danny sighed in relief. "And we'll have the results of the blood work the nurse drew when you first arrived back from the lab shortly, but I think we'll go a step further than the normal stress test we had planned for you today," he offered as he typed quickly to make some notations into Jamie's digital record. "Looks like we have an opening in the cath lab… we can still get it done this morning since you've indicated that you fasted from midnight as advised," he assured.
"Terrific," his weary patient sighed, wanting nothing more than for this whole ordeal to be over with. "And how many more needles does that entail?" he queried with a frown directed towards his brother, quite tired of the poking and prodding he had endured for the whole of the last month since being brought in under full CPR efforts as Rick Fellows had refused to quit trying until Jamie was 'warm and dead' in his own words. Luckily warmth had been the key and his heart had restarted with little apparent damage as efforts had been successful to raise his body temperature.
"Oh, just a few small ones," Abrams acknowledged with a telling smirk as he finished and looked up from the screen. "With your permission I'd like to perform an Intracardiac Electrophysiology Study to look at how well your heart's electrical signals are working. It's used to check for abnormal heartbeats or heart rhythms and will give us a definitive look at the activity of the muscle to make sure there is absolutely no lingering or permanent damage that would prevent you from safely returning to the field at work."
"Intracardiac," Jamie repeated with wide eyes as his sharp mind immediately picked up on and emphasized that word while he shot another worried glance at his brother. "You're going to stick something inside my heart?" he asked as Danny's face likewise twisted up in concern with that revelation. Perhaps it would have been better to let what happened slide after all as he was now wondering how to explain this to his brother's already agitated fiancée if something went wrong.
"Yes, but the procedure is very safe," Abrams assured. "Tiny wire electrodes are placed in the heart to do this test. We will give you some medication to relax you, but you will remain awake. Several IVs, called sheaths, are placed into the groin or neck area. Once these IVs are in place, the electrodes can be passed through the sheaths into your body. We then use moving x-ray images to guide the catheter into the heart and place the electrodes in the right places. The electrodes pick up the heart's electrical signals and small shocks may be used to make the heart skip beats or produce an abnormal rhythm. This will help us determine if you are prone to any arrhythmias or where in the heart they are starting. We did have that nagging high cardiac marker while you were admitted directly after the incident and I would feel much more confident with signing off on your return to work if we rule this out," he added.
"And it's safe? You're sure?" Danny questioned again as he had felt his own chest flutter and the blood drain out of his face at the thought of shoving something through a vein into his little brother's heart and of course the mention of the groin IVs were enough to make any guy cringe. Jamie had just gone three shades closer to transparent himself.
"Very," Abrams repeated. "There are of course small risks associated with any procedure, but it is certainly safer here in the lab setting than having you trigger an arrhythmia while playing basketball or chasing a perp as I believe you call them? The whole thing will last just over an hour and a half and you will be able to go home soon afterwards since you have a driver present. There is a small amount of discomfort when the catheter is inserted but nothing dramatic, and you may feel your heart skipping beats or racing at times. If you decide against this test I'll have to order a you to wear a Holter monitor… a portable device for continuously monitoring various electrical activity of the cardiovascular system for at least the next two weeks which will keep you completely off duty until then."
"You're not giving me much choice here, doc," Jamie grimaced as he considered his options and brought his hands up to cover his face. "I need to get back to work," he frowned and pursed his lips. "Book it, Dano," he sighed as he peeked over at his brother with a piercing glare that left no doubt that there would be heavy payback on order for this one.
###
"Detective Reagan?" the nurse called from the doorway as Danny jumped to his feet after having finally conceded to the annoyed glances of the other people in the waiting room, forcing himself to sit down in a chair in an effort to quell the panicky pacing he had been compelled to perform for the past two hours while Jamie had been undergoing his procedure. "Dr. Abrams said to tell you everything went well," she smiled as he grabbed his coat and rushed over to her. "There were no problems or arrhythmias detected so your brother has been cleared," she further advised as she led him down the hallway to one of the recovery rooms.
"Oh thank goodness," Danny sighed in relief as he whipped out his phone to tell the rest of the family the good news, particularly one blond-haired future member who had frantically barraged him with texts and calls throughout the whole of her lunch break once she had been informed about what was taking place, and a father who had been prepared to drop his budget meeting with the mayor to rush down and pace the same floors his oldest son had after he'd heard.
"I'll be at the desk getting his paperwork in order," she offered while leading him into the room and pulling back the curtain. "Now Jamie did react a little stronger than anticipated to the sedative we gave him so you'll need to wait a little while until he wakes up from it. Normally it only makes people drowsy and a little silly, but it just clear knocked him flat out even though we thought we were being conservative with the dose given his history," she chuckled. "Made for an easy test on my end," she explained. "I'm normally the one talking the poor guys down from the ceiling once they see where one of those big needles is headed. You're welcome to wait in here with him," she added as she pulled a chair over to the bedside where his brother was still resting under an array of wires and an IV line. "We'll pull the last line out of his arm and the rest of the monitors off as soon as he's up and ready to get dressed. Once he comes out it should wear off pretty fast."
"Thank you," Danny breathed as he took a heavy seat and tried his best to relax now that everything was over and the kid was truly in the clear. There really had been no time to do so previously with all that had happened after the explosion... Jamie's hospitalization and the subsequent investigation into the Denison scandal with the ensuing arrests had monopolized everyone's time. On top of that the family had to deal with the uncertainty and stress that had swirled around Kaylin's adoption, and just two weeks ago had come the happy event of the big New Year's Eve proposal in California followed by the still-murky details surrounding Jamie and Eddie's trip up to Rochester. Now this, he sighed as he looked down once more at the peaceful sleeping form of his brother, and for the first time allowed the heavy tears to come in private that had threatened for weeks now as his emotions poured out and he flashed back once more to the last time he had seen Jamie so still.
"C'mon, don't give up, Reagan!" Rick Fellows was shouting as he and the medics tried to revive Jamie outside of that collapsed building while a whole contingent of NYPD officers surrounded their fallen brother in blue while looking on in dread. "He's not dead until he's warm and dead! We're taking him in now!" Rick had bellowed as he continued CPR and they loaded the gurney on the ambulance for the short drive to St. Victor's. A line of RMPs had escorted the vehicle and blocked every single intersection so they could make it there in just minutes. Frank had ushered Danny and Eddie back to his waiting SUV with help from his detail and the three had remained in stunned silence for the entire ride to the hospital.
At that point the horror of watching what was happening had been replaced by the absolute gut-wrenching silence of the waiting room walls as those close to Jamie had gathered to hear the sad news. Erin had rushed there straight from the family home in Bay Ridge where she had been keeping Henry company for the night during his extended babysitting duties. No one could bring themselves to speak to her at that point as she came in clutching Kaylin while helping her grandfather along. The sadness in everyone's eyes had been enough by then and words were not necessary.
Danny had positioned himself alone on the far side of the room where he had a clear view of the double doors and hallway beyond that led back to the trauma area… that's where his brother was and where he would come from… the nice concerned-looking doctor with the gray hair, probably the chief of staff or some other such bigwig that had been called in specially from his penthouse or some nice fancy shindig to deliver those rehearsed words to the Police Commissioner himself, just like they had done for Joe… "We're very sorry, but despite our best efforts we couldn't come up with a better way to tell you that you can just go home now and put up another one of those dining room chairs, you won't be needing it again…"
Instead, the first one to come through those doors had been Addison Greene of all people, surely they wouldn't have sent her out for anything but to soften the blow. Seeing her did anything but that, and watching her try to comfort Eddie… it just brought back that night with Joe all over again when Angela had been there instead… what was it that his father always said about history repeating itself? "But when something special has passed away is never reproduced. It is as utterly gone out of the world as the song of a destroyed wild bird…" something like that anyway… another Joseph had come up with that one awhile back in the last century. He was probably gone too. Joe and Jamie… so alike in every way now.
Danny had just glanced at his watch for the tenth time when it happened just as he feared… those double doors had opened to reveal a harried-looking doctor in dark blue scrubs and a white coat who immediately sought out and approached Frank Reagan. Everyone present stood silently then, Henry and Erin with their arms wrapped around Eddie while Kaylin slept peacefully on the couch… the whole room waiting for the final blow to be delivered. Danny was still alone as Linda had been out at a friend's with the boys and it had been difficult to reach her at first although she was expected to arrive with a police escort at any moment. There would be no waiting for her to join him though. No one was more surprised when the physician smiled as he took the Commissioner's hand.
"We've got him back."
"What?" Frank had asked just to be certain he hadn't heard wrong as without fail, everyone else had gasped in disbelief.
"He's still critical, but his temperature and blood pressure are coming back up. His heart is beating on its own in a normal sinus rhythm now and he's breathing over the vent. It was the cold, sir," he revealed. "It gave us the time we needed."
Two hours later they were all escorted back to a private wing of the ICU to see Jamie for themselves with the knowledge that miraculously all the various scans run had come back showing no serious internal injuries. He was still connected to an arsenal of monitors and those hazel eyes remained stubbornly closed, but he was warm, alive, loved and expected to make a full recovery beyond the heavy painful bruising he'd received.
A night that Danny never wanted to remember became one he would never forget.
Eddie had settled herself at the bedside and refused to leave even when assured that it would be hours before he was expected to come around. Secure with the knowledge that his son was being watched and looked after, Frank Reagan's thoughts had turned to the ones responsible for putting him in that bed in the first place, although their intentions had been far worse.
Danny and Erin felt a tap on their shoulders. It was time to go take care of family business while Jamie slept. The three had hurried off... there were important things that needed to be done right away while Henry returned home with Kaylin and the boys.
It had taken Danny almost two full days to see those eyes open again… those eyes…
Those same precocious hazel eyes that were now sleepily regarding him above a drug-induced smirking face.
"What're you doin'... are you crying, Dan?" a halting voice asked. "Am I dead? Did they kill me?... 'cause you should have seen the size of that... that freakin' spear she had in her hands, man… I thought I was a goner for sure..."
"No genius, you're not dead," Danny affirmed as he laughed in relief and quickly tried to cover his emotions as he wiped his face dry from the tears that had fallen… at least the nurse had been right about the silly juice; hopefully that would give him an out since he hated being caught red-handed all emotional like this; he was a former Marine for God's sake. "And I'm not crying, my eyes are just watering from whatever that germ-killing smelly stuff was that they sprayed in here."
"S'good, but did somebody take your cookie?" came the next puzzling but deeply intrinsic personal inquiry that just begged for an explanation. Thankfully it was forthcoming because Danny would have never connected the dots on this one. "You know 'cause you made Kaylin sad last night when you ate her last special one from Grandpa at snack time," Jamie revealed in all seriousness. "She loves 'em… and she made a face just like that."
"Nope, pretty sure I still have all my cookies," his older sibling revealed as he decided to have some fun and play along… little brother was always good for a round of laughs when he was like this.
"S'awesome," came the muddled reply as Jamie's mouth was still twisting around his words. "If you need some, you can look in my backseat 'cause Eddie said Kaylin tossed all of hers out there. It was s'awful, Dan," he concluded. "Never be the same…"
"On your trip upstate, you mean?" Danny's eyes sharpened as he sensed he had an unfair advantage here, but was not ashamed to take it. The kid had asked for it after all with that forced secrecy regarding the big engagement reveal to Eddie's mother during last Sunday's dinner and he knew there had to be more to the story. "How'd that ever go? Was Eddie's mother nice?" he pried innocently with evil intent as he saw the opening and decided to exploit it before instantly sobering and regretting that action when he heard the truth as all the fun and games suddenly screeched to a halt.
"S'awful," Jamie repeated, still hooked on that word although things appeared to be rapidly clearing up like the nurse had promised as his eyes were becoming more focused. "S'cary woman… Eva Janko is… hates us, our family… cops," he admitted as the words started to come easier and his tone grew serious before he brought a hand up to his forehead to pinch the bridge of his nose as if his head was splitting and closed his eyes once more for a few more minutes. When he continued his voice was stronger and Danny had no doubt that the drugs had finally worn off in their entirety, but his brother decided to stay on topic anyway in an effort to get it off his chest as it had been weighing on him heavily for more than a week. "She made Eddie cry, Dan… it breaks my heart more than anything else. I just can't stand that. I don't know what to do but I've gotta fix it somehow. I thought if I could bring her here before the wedding… if she could meet all of us, it would get better, but maybe I did the wrong thing," he added as he opened his eyes back up and stared at the ceiling. "That's why I didn't want to talk about it in front of the family… we're so close and it makes Eddie sad that she doesn't have that with her own."
"Gotcha," Danny frowned. "Sorry for bringing that up, I was only trying too…"
"No, I know," Jamie interrupted with a small smile as he looked over. "Thanks. I wish Mom was here though," he added dejectedly. "She'd know what to do. I needed to tell that to someone and Dad would go all Wayne Dyer on me, you know... How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours," he quoted in his best deep-voiced impression of his father. "That's not going to help Eddie right now."
"You can talk to me anytime, Harvard… something like this... I know I goof around a lot but I'm always here for you and you know that," his older brother sighed as he sat back in the chair and considered what he had just been told. Marriage was hard enough… even harder than he had imagined lately, but to start out without the blessing on one side would definitely make it tougher on everyone. "You'll get through to Eddie's mom... if anyone can I know you will," he assured before trying to lighten the mood. "Pretty sad though when the old man can hit us with those damn mind-numbing citations of his when he's not even in the room. Guess he's got more influence on us than I like to admit. We'll probably wind up just like him one day sitting back in a three-piece suit in a big-boy office smelling like that bay rum aftershave… well you might anyway," he smirked. "Not for me. C'mon, speaking of clothes; you think you're up for getting your pants on? I may not be able to fix big problems like he can, but I do know people and I have a good idea of what will make a couple of them pretty happy today."
Daniel Reagan might not have been a great philosopher or on a fast track for a big corner office, but he was certainly right about knowing what would delight a particular pair of fair-haired ladies that afternoon. As Eddie's keys turned in the lock and she made her way into the apartment after a stress-filled day at work where she had worried non-stop despite all the assurances, her heart was filled with joy and relief at the sight of Jamie peacefully sleeping off the residual effects from his procedure on the couch with Kaylin napping face down on top of him; her tummy full of her favorite oatmeal cookies from Wilder's Bakery… the ones that her uncle had insisted on stopping to replace on the way home from picking her up early from daycare so she could be with her new daddy. Danny, in the meantime sat protectively guarding the pair from his perch on a nearby chair.
"Everything's really good?" Eddie breathed as her eyes begged for an answer from him. "It's over?"
"Yup, they're all yours… he's not going anywhere," Danny replied with a smile and a quick hug as he got up to take his leave after a long day and give his brother's newfound family a little of that aforementioned privacy.
"Thank you for taking care of him," she added with a sigh of relief.
"Anytime, Eddie," he replied. "We're family now, don't forget that," he advised. "I'll be there whenever you need me."
"I won't forget… thanks Danny," she murmured as he walked out the door a little saddened that at this point in time it was becoming increasingly difficult to say the same thing to his own wife.
So unless I've missed something or someone else makes a request, I think we've covered all the bases for anything outstanding from the first story "Water Under the Bridge". I must get back to writing the next installment "It's all in the name…" which will pick up early in the morning of that fateful day in May when Eva Janko is due to wing her way back into the Reagan family lives from her haunt in Rochester and any number of relationships will find themselves strained and irreparably changed after the events that follow. Danny and Eddie may just find themselves leaning on one another again in more ways than anyone could imagine.