"Hello Mr. Flannery, are you all ready for your surgery today?" The ever-cheerful nurse asked a less than thrilled Matt.
"I'm ready to be out of this hospital," he told her, after which Emily swatted his arm.
Emily had spent the better part of the last four days in Matt's hospital room. He'd been either knocked out or awake but heavily drugged for most of it, the pain still very strong, but yesterday they'd lowered it considerably. This morning the doctors were preparing to perform the necessary full-thickness grafts, which meant taking all the layers of skin, plus a thin layer of muscle from the front of his thighs and abdomen, and attaching it with a few tiny sutures to his back. He'd be stuck in the hospital at least another week while he healed, and the doctors made sure the grafts took.
"Soon enough Mr. Flannery, for now I'm going to check your vitals one last time, and then send the team in to take you to the OR." She told him, already writing his current vitals on his chart.
Ten minutes later, she was gone and the surgical team was wheeling Matt toward the elevators, Emily close by, holding his hand. The surgery would take about three hours, and Matt would be under a general anesthetic. It was a toss up for which one of them was more nervous.
Emily was biting her lip and twisting her hands nervously as they sent her off to the waiting room. She new it would be a simple procedure that they'd done a hundred times, but that didn't stop the barrage of scenarios in her head. She saw Matt's vitals suddenly bottoming out, the anesthesia stopping his heart, him bleeding out or getting one of those atrocious hospital infections. She was so focused on trying to keep her self calm she'd didn't notice Cheryl was there until her voice made her jump.
"Did they start yet?" Cheryl asked not noticing Emily's state yet, then almost laughing when she saw her jump.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, about ten minutes ago." She said, still biting her lip, and her feet tapping the floor.
"Emily? Are you…alright?" Cheryl asked, slightly amused at how nervous Emily was acting. Psycho with guns has a dozen people hostage, she's fine; her boyfriend goes in for a simple surgery, she can't keep still.
"Yeah, fine, just worried."
"He'll be fine. He survived getting blown up, he can survive a skin graft." Cheryl tried to assure her.
Emily gave her a grateful, though unconvinced look, before grabbing a nearby magazine and flipping through faster than anyone could be expected to read. She wasn't reading the words, or even looking at the pictures; she was just trying desperately to keep her hands, if not mind, busy.
"Excuse me," a man spoke, startling both women, "I'm looking for Matt Flannery, they told me he was up here for surgery?"
"Uh, yeah, they just started...um who are you?" Emily asked the man awkwardly. He had dark brown hair, almost black, and deep, brown eyes, that seemed almost familiar to her.
The man looked at her curiously, looking almost amused for a moment before asking her, "Are you Emily?"
"Yeah, I am, but that doesn't answer my question." Emily didn't mean to be rude, but she really wasn't in the mood to play guessing games.
"Oh, sorry, Chris Flannery." He said holding out his hand, and smiling.
"Oh god, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize…I didn't think you were coming." She stammered, slightly red, how did she manage to screw up talking to him twice? Now that Emily knew who he was, the resemblance to Matt was undeniable, especially that smile.
"Yeah, I wasn't going to, but you're right, it's been too long." He explained sadly.
Cheryl looked at the pair curiously. He looked uncomfortable, though he was trying to hide it, and Emily actually looked embarrassed. She was actually surprised that Emily had tracked Matt's brother down, but she couldn't help but think that it was such a sweet thing to do.
"Oh," Emily said suddenly turning to Cheryl, "this is Cheryl Carrera, my and Matt's supervisor, and good friend."
They shook and Chris looked at her curiously, "Did you work with Matt five years ago, your name seems familiar."
"Yeah, I was his partner before I got promoted." She answered, after which a long uncomfortable silence followed, with all three standing staring randomly around. They all sat down after a few minutes to resume waiting, not knowing what to say to each other.
Emily began fidgeting again after a few moments; speed flipping through another magazine, biting her lip, glancing at the clock. Cheryl rolled her eyes, glancing around for a nurse she could flag down for some Valium. Chris was also watching Emily's nervous behavior, and suddenly laughed.
Emily and Cheryl turned to him with curious looks, and waited for him to explain himself.
"I was actually right, wasn't I?" He directed his question at Emily.
"I don't follow?" Now she was more confused, he was right about what?
"You are sleeping with Matt, aren't you?"
"We're involved, yeah." Emily knew it was more than just sex with Matt, regardless if they hadn't admitted it yet.
"Sorry, I the phone I just said it to piss you off, so you wouldn't call again. I didn't realize…wow, okay, um…this whole thing as been terribly awkward. Seeing as how it will already be awkward with my brother, can we start over, pretend we never met?" His voice was slightly pleading, but his eyes smiled, suggesting he found the whole thing amusing.
Emily shrugged, and offered her own smile, "sure, that would be good."
"Hi," he extended a hand, "I'm Chris, thank you for calling me about Matt. I haven't spoken to him in a while, but he's still my brother."
"Emily, and thank you for coming. He won't say much about your history together, but I know it will mean a lot to him that you're here." Emily shook his hand, and dispensed her own pleasant introduction. This was better; this wasn't awkward. Excellent.
Cheryl shook her head in amusement at them. Maybe now Emily would have a distraction, and wouldn't be acting like she was on speed. She joined them as they discussed stories about Matt before he stopped talking to his brother, and the time since Emily knew him. Cheryl supplied the in between time, including the infamous dog story.
An hour of this went by, before a surgeon in blue scrubs came out, pulling off his hat as he walked. Emily was the first to notice, and she immediately jumped out of her seat, almost instantly returning to her nervous mannerisms.
"Mr. Flannery's surgery went very smoothly. We finished the grafts, and the nurses will move him after they finish applying bandages." The doctor smiled at them, confidently.
To say they were relieved would be an understatement. Cheryl relaxed her fisted hands, Chris's body went slightly limp as the tension left it, and Emily stopped biting her lip, and moving her hands.
"We won't know for sure that the grafts were successful until a few days, when we can see if they took, but I'm confident Mr. Flannery will be out of here within a week."
"When can we see him?" Emily wasted no time.
"You can go and wait in his room now, the nurses should return with him shortly." The doctor smiled once more before leaving.
Emily and Cheryl went to leave for Matt's room, but Chris stopped Emily before she walked out of the waiting room.
"Uh, I don't think I'm ready to see him yet. I think it's best if we're both completely lucid for that," he joked, trying to prove seeing his brother again wasn't as big of a deal as it was.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'll just…uh, I'll come by in a few days." With that Chris Flannery slunk out of the waiting room.
Emily sighed in annoyance, and shook her head, what would it take for them to reconcile?
"You don't think he'll come back?" Cheryl asked.
"Honestly? I don't know, but I'm leaning towards no."
Two Days Later
Chris Flannery stepped nervously into the hospital that held his brother, determined to see him after five years of pretending the other didn't exist. They hadn't parted on good terms, and as angry as he may still feel toward his brother, his partner, girlfriend, whatever she was, was right. Five years was too long a time. Matt might still hate him, but he'd have to make his brother understand their fight from his perspective. He didn't realize until Emily called him, but Chris wanted his big brother back.
He took his time picking his way through the halls, and finding the elevators to take him up to Matt's floor. Once the lift let him out, he walked slowly down the hall, mentally preparing himself for this meeting. As he approached the door to Matt's room, he slowed considerably, practically stopping. Then he did stop at the door, and remained out of sight, as he watched two figures smiling at each other.
Matt was sitting up in the bed, resting a little off center to give Emily room to sit on the side facing him. One of her arms leaned over him, bracing her in her slightly odd position. Her other hand was joined with his on the side she was sitting on; her back was facing the door. They were laughing over something, enjoying being together even under the circumstances. Chris was about to walk in when Matt's face suddenly turned serious.
He brought his hand up to Emily's face, and let it rest on her cheek a minute as he spoke a few words that Chris couldn't hear. Emily took his hand in hers, and brought it back toward her face, placing a kiss on it. Neither moved for a minute, Chris assumed Emily was speaking, and then Matt brought both his arms up, laying his hands on either side of her. With complete disregard to his injuries, her pulled her against himself.
Chris stood watching the couple, realization turning to surprise in a matter of seconds. He realized why Emily seemed slightly peeved by his reference of her sleeping with his brother, the second time he said it. It was very clear that the couple before him had much more than sexual encounters between them. Chris wondered if his brother was in love. But, he was startled from his thoughts when Emily raised her voice, leaning up now, and appearing upset. He decided to enter then.
"Matt, you're still in pain. In fact you should be on your side or stomach." Emily scolded him..
"I'm tired of laying down Em, and I'm tired of sleeping alone." He replied as fiercely.
"You need to heel, if you're ever going to get out of that bed. Leaning on your back isn't going to help that, and me laying with you will just add pressure, and hurt you more."
"I just want to get out of here already. I hate hospitals." His voice was lower now, a resigned sigh.
"I know you do, just remember, only four or five more days." She squeezed his hand, and he offered her a grateful, though skeptical look.
"You always did practically jump out of your skin in a hospital, Matt." Chris finally eased himself into the room, and allowed his voice to make his presence known.
"Chris?" Matt was shocked and confused at the same time. What was his brother doing here, and how did Chris even know he was here?
Just a note, in case anybody is expecting this one to end soon, I gave this one it's title because it's meant to focus more on everything that happens after the fiasco, not as much on the fiasco itself. I know I took my sweet time getting there., but it was fun. Anyway, more to come and thanks for reading and reviewing!