Fear, hope and uncertainty rode in the elevator with the Malloys. A tonsillectomy, an appendectomy; those they could handle, but this was the hospital trip that had haunted their dreams since the day Peter told them he was entering the police academy. They had raised him to take over the family farm, not risk his life every day. Farmers rarely outlive their children. Thomas took his wife's arm, offering support as they reached the third floor. Walters and Fraser led the way into the ICU.
Uniformed and off-duty officers lined the hallway to Pete's room; offering silent support to his parents. They had heard of "The Blue Wall", but had hoped to never see one assembled for their son. It gave them an odd sense of comfort seeing the caring and worry they saw in the officers eyes; they weren't the only ones praying for Peter's survival. Did the officers know the effect their presence had on the couple? Two uniformed officers appeared to be guarding the room at the end of the hall. Thomas and Katherine hesitated, steeling themselves for their first sight of their son. An older officer, accompanied by another man and three women, exited the room. Sergeant MacDonald introduced himself and the others to Pete's parents, who greeted them warmly.
"Peter's told us about all of you; how you're made him a part of your families." Thomas Malloy glanced back at the still assembled line of officers. "It means a lot to us that he has so many people who care about him."
"Pete's pretty popular around the station; even with those he intimidates." Both men shared a short chuckle, knowing the ability Pete had to impose his presence when it was required.
"We learned some of that during the ride in. I'll admit to having some questions, but now I think we need to see Peter." At the Malloys' request, Mac accompanied them into Pete's room.
Oftentimes, reality is found to be tame when compared with the imagination. Any hope of that possibility vanished the moment the Malloys' stepped into their son's room. Katherine gasped, clutching hard to her husband's arm. Peter was pale and lying, unmoving, on the lone bed in the room. There were two IV lines attached to his right arm; one providing a saline solution and the antibiotic, the other was attached to a machine pumping yet another blood transfusion into his veins. He was covered from the waist down by a sheet and by bandages above the waist. His left arm and shoulder were covered from the elbow up to his neck. Gauze bandages wrapped around his chest, pinning his bent arm to his body. A rectangular bandage protected his left side; covering the entrance and exit wounds made by one of the bullets. A larger bandage started at the bottom of his rib cage covering his entire stomach before disappearing beneath the sheet. The bandage wrapped around his right thigh was covered by the sheet.
"Dear Lord, he's going to die, isn't he?" Katherine reached a tentative hand out to her unconscious son, not knowing where it was safe to touch Peter without hurting him. She settled for touching his right shoulder.
"He's alive. Hold onto that." Thomas Malloy's arm was still wrapped around his wife's waist, supporting her.
"Where is his medal? Why isn't he wearing it? Sergeant?" Katherine turned towards Mac and demanded an answer to her question. "Where is his St. Michael medal?"
"Um….well…I'm not sure he was wearing one." In all the time that Mac had known Pete, he had never seen him wearing a religious medal. To Mac, the whole idea of Pete wearing any kind of medal was akin to a horse wearing a tutu.
"I'm sure they had to take it off him during the operation. We'll find it." Thomas knew his son well enough to assume the medal was gathering dust in a drawer, but he would never tell his wife that. Religion was more important to her than it was to both male members of the family. Besides, that tiny issue was the one thing she might have some control over.
"You can ask Jim. Surely, he knows where it is." Yes, technically, Mac was throwing Jim under the bus and he knew Reed wouldn't appreciate it, but he wasn't in the room.
"Officer Reed! Officer Reed!" Thomas' warning to his wife about shouting was lost when Jim opened the door; obviously none of them had gone far. "Do you know what they did with his medal? He needs it on him."
"His medal?" Jim knew as well as Mac that Pete didn't wear a religious medal; yet, he remembered seeing him having one some place. Jean had even asked him about it because it was so out of character for Pete to carry a talisman. Then he remembered. "It's probably at my house with his jacket. Pete carries it on his keychain."
"I'm sure my wife would appreciate it if you brought the medal with you the next time you visit Peter." With that settled, Katheine went into full 'mother' mode. She began by pulling up the sheet, insisting that her son was cold. Next came the blanket followed by fussing with the pillow. When she started to comb his hair, Thomas took her aside. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket; using it to wipe her tears away. "Let him be Dear. They're taking good care of him." While she cried on his shoulder, Mac and Jim left them alone.
xxxxx
Jim was always hungry. It was Pete's principle excuse for any weight he put on. Mac was in the middle of telling Cushman and Keating that they would be in the cafeteria, if needed, when a nurse came looking for him. "Sergeant, we have a problem. There are two women demanding to be allowed in to visit Officer Malloy. I explained that other than the officers and family, no one was to be allowed in. That's when the older one said she was his mother and the other claimed to be his fiancé. I don't know what to do."
MacDonald rolled his eyes; the 'mother' could only be Mrs. O'Brian. Jim took a step back and raised his hands, palms facing Mac. "Don't look at me. Mrs. O'Brian is your problem." Sally's response was quite the opposite of Jim's.
"His fiancé? If that's Judy, I'll wring her neck. Fiancé, how dare she?" Jean's half-hearted attempt to stop Sally's rush towards Judy failed to have any effect on the outraged nurse; she then reached out to stop Mary from interfering. "I told Judy not to come up here. She deserves whatever Sally gives her."
"That one's yours." Mac pointed at Judy, leaving Sally to deal with the "fiancé" claim. He would have more than enough trouble dealing with Mrs. O'Brian.
"Now listen here Sergeant. Don't you dare try and stop me from going in to Pete's room." She stood toe to toe with Mac, waving a finger at him. "He needs someone to take care of him. I don't expect you will pray for him."
"Mrs. O'Brian, believe it or not, but I haven't stopped praying for Pete since this happened." He was extremely offended by her comment; he might not wear his faith on his sleeve, but he did believe in God. "The fact is that you are not needed in there. His parents are with him."
"They need me then." The elderly woman attempted to make an end run around Mac, but he was quicker than she expected him to be. "It will help them to talk to someone who loves Pete."
"You are not the only one that loves Pete." Mac pointed towards the elevator. "You need to leave. If you try to go in that room, I will have you arrested." Normally, Mac couldn't make that threat, but Pete was still in protective custody.
Mrs. O'Brian spun around, whacking Mac with her pocketbook and took a seat in the hallway; maybe he could keep her from going in, but she was determined to speak to Pete's parents when they came out.
"May I speak to you for a moment?" Sally, who never bothered to change out of her uniform, spoke so sweetly to Judy. "Over here, in the corner, out of the way of the rest of the staff."
"I would really like to get to see Pete. He would want me with him." No one had told Judy that Pete had been seeing Sally. Truth was that she had very little contact with the Reeds in the last few months. Keeping to herself made her miss Pete more and more, especially when David talked about basketball games with him.
"Pete hasn't needed you in a long time." Sally had the ability common in all good supervisors to yell without raising her voice. "Why are you showing up now? Do you think he's going to take you back because of this?"
"How dare you talk to me like that? What I am to Pete is none of your concern. He loves me." Judy was betting that Jean and Jim wouldn't have told this nurse about her history with Pete.
"Really? When he left my apartment this morning… I didn't see him kissing you goodbye." Sally went for the jugular; why pussyfoot around? "It wasn't you he said 'I love you' to last night."
"If you really know him, then you know that we were engaged to be married. A dalliance with you won't matter now that I'm here." Judy spoke forcefully, but inside she was trembling. Could it be possible that Pete had fallen in love with this nurse? Sally smiled when Judy's jaw dropped as she made the jump between 'this morning' and 'last night'.
"You were stupid enough to drive him away." It was time to send her away for good. "He realized that he would never have married you anyway. You had one thing going for you, David. His love for your son was why he stayed as long as he did." Sally took Judy's arm, propelling her towards the elevators. "Leave him alone."
Sally watched the elevator door close, waiting until the lights showed that it had reached the first floor before she joined Mac. He was standing guard on the door while Mrs. O'Brian was knitting a sweater. She did think the old lady's knitting style was a little unorthodox; the way she seemed to keep pointing the needles at Mac.