It was white. Everything was white. And it smelled like cleaning detergent. Lemon pledge? Clorox? Dammit, ADHD brain, not the time! Gotta find her. Need to find her. Where the fuck am I?
Faces zoomed past Percy. He couldn't quite make them out, but he could tell that they were yelling things. They were running. He was…moving? Where in Hades was he? A…hospital? Why? Oh, Gods, the car crash! Wait, where's Annabeth?
"An'besh" He muttered as best he could, through his clenched teeth. They had place a neck brace on him, clamping his jaw down.
"Sir," Began a blurry woman in a whit coat. "You've been in an accident. Your friend was taken in another ambulance. You have a severe dislocation of your shoulder, and your wrist is broken in several places. We need to take you into surgery to repair your arm."
"An'besh."
"Sir, the police will get your statement after surgery, right now, we need to give you a local anesthetic to prepare you for surgery."
"An'besh!" He called, softly this time. Then, everything went black, and the throbbing in his head went away, the pain in his shoulder was gone, and, most importantly, that image of Annabeth, her head resting on the window, just before the crash, was wiped out.
/
"Sir! You can't go in there!"
"Try me!" He yelled, rolling the wheels of his wheelchair with one hand. It was two days after the crash. Two excruciating days. They didn't let him leave, they made him stay in bed; they wouldn't tell him how Annabeth was doing. And this meant he didn't have to follow by their rules. So, instead, since he wasn't allowed to be up and walking, he 'borrowed' a wheelchair from his roommate, stole the room number from the front desk, and attempted to outrun the liege of nurses with one hand. Needless to say, it didn't work.
"Mr. Jackson, you must remain in bed! I'll be taking you back to your room!"
"Nurse Costello, I mean this in all respect, but, if you do not allow me to see how Annabeth is doing, I will be forced to run you through with a broadsword." He said; a 'try me' smile stretched taught over his face. The stunned nurse took a step back, releasing his hands from the handlebars of the chair.
Percy wheeled himself forward, spinning into the doorway of the room on the left. Inside, Annabeth lay in a bed, her head bandaged up; her leg in a heavy cast.
"Mr. Jackson," Nurse Costello began, appearing behind him, "If you insist on visiting her, you must at least wear the proper garments to avoid infecting her."
Percy obliged, allowing the nurse to cover him in a sterile gown and strap a mask over his face. He wheeled himself completely into the room, followed by the nurse.
Percy approached the bed, taking Annabeth's hand into his own, rubbing the cold flesh. Her body was badly cut all over. Underneath her eyes, large, gray bags lay. A wide, plastic tube stuck out of her mouth, pumping oxygen into her body.
Nurse Costello cleared his throat. "Patient: Annabeth Chase, car crash victim, presented with severe femoral fracture, cranial hemorrhaging, lacerations covering upper torso. Surgery was done to fix the cranial hemorrhage, and the broken femur has been set. Ms. Chase's lacerations have been sewn up and bandaged, according to severity." He read off of the gray chart.
"What does all that mean?" Percy asked, his voice cracking.
"Well, it means that Ms. Chase has a broken leg, a lot of cuts, and a bleed in her brain. Now, the doctors have operated to fix the bleed, but there is no telling whether or not there was any brain damage. There was a bit of swelling in surgery, so we've been giving her some drugs to help her sleep and keep it down. We're beginning to wean her off of them today, so we'll be able to see if she wakes up or not."
"What do you mean?"
"If she doesn't wake up immediately, them she'll be in a coma. I want to advise you to neither get your hopes up nor begin preparing for the worst. You just need to be patient and see what happens."
Percy nodded, blinking tears out of his eyes. He stroked Annabeth's hand, running his fingers lightly over the stitches. He carefully ran his open palm over her exposed arm, tracing the scars, old and new alike, with trembling fingers.
"Mr. Jackson, the doctors will be coming by to do rounds shortly, you and I could get in a lot of trouble for this. Please, if you'll just return to your room, I can sneak you in later."
"Will you take care of her?" Percy demanded suddenly.
"Excuse me? Are you accusing me of not taking care of patients?"
"No, sorry, I just mean, she can't just be another patient to you. She has to be special. Promise me you'll do anything to help her."
"Mr. Jackson, with all due respect, when you've been in the nursing field as long as I have, you cannot take cases personally. Now, don't report me for saying this, but things happen, and you need to be prepared and emotionally ready for when they do. I take all my patients very seriously and I'll do everything necessary that is within my power to help this patient." The nurse lectured, standing up straight.
"I see." Percy muttered, wheeling himself away from the bed. Then, he thought better of it and wheeled forward again, planting a light kiss on Annabeth's cheek.
He rolled himself to the door with his one hand, nodding at the nurse before exiting. The nurse quietly walked after him, turning off the lights in the room and stripping the gown and mask off of him. Once back in his room, a few doors down, Percy struggled to get up from the wheelchair, his leg still sore.
"Mr. Jackson, please, I advise you not to 'borrow' Mr. Connally's wheelchair again. You're not supposed to be up and about yet. You've got to let your arm heal."
"Yeah, whatever."
"Percy." He said, admonishingly. Percy's eyes looked up, confused, until they met golden eyes. A god. Which one, though? Percy looked over to his roommate, who, thankfully was asleep, knocked out by the meds.
"Who are you?" He asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Who else, buddy?" The golden eyes challenged.
"Apollo. Should've known." Percy shook his head.
"Took you long enough."
"Well, I would've expected the God of Healing to be a doctor. Come on, a male nurse?"
"Say what you will, but the nurses are the ones who do the real healing. Plus, they get to interact with patients more. Buddy, nurses are the backbone of medicine."
"Geeze, Sorry to hit a sensitive spot." Percy muttered. "Why are you here?"
"Oh, come on, my two favorite demigods, outside of my own kids, are in a car crash and I'm not supposed to visit? Ouch, man, that really hurts!"
"No, sorry, Apollo. It's…it's appreciated. It's just that things aren't looking good right now, and I…I just don't know what to do."
"Look, there's no telling who the Fates will grab, even I don't know that. You gotta stay hopeful, and just do everything in your power to help her." Apollo said, a wistful half smile on his face. "Oh, man, I'm being called back. Zeus is in another one of his moods. Crap." He stood from the edge of the bed.
"Oh, almost forgot, here's some nectar and ambrosia, sorry it's a little crumpled, it's left over from last night's party at the Parthenon, man, you shoulda been there, it was great! There were these twins—"
"Apollo!"
"Sorry, sorry! So, nectar. Ambrosia. Oh, and some of those special vitamins. So, if you can, sneak in a give 'em to her, they'll help. She's fading, though, and you really don't want Hades to get his hands on her. Still has a bit of a grudge against you, so there's no telling what he'll do. Okay, I really gotta go, the big man's not happy." He said quickly, turning very bright, until he pretty much was the sun, and Percy shielded his eyes, looking away. When he turned back, Apollo was gone, a Ziploc baggy of ambrosia, a thermos of nectar, and a travel size bottle of vitamins left in his place, a neat little pile on the edge of the bed.
Percy reached forward, taking them in his hands and placing them carefully under his pillow, in case the nurses found them and wanted to confiscate them. Suddenly, another nurse ran in, looking around suspiciously.
"I saw a bright light, were you just lighting something on fire? Sir, fire is not permitted in the hospital!"
"No, no ma'am. That was just…uh…the TV,"
"The TV is off." She answered her eyes narrowing.
"I know, I, uh, decided to turn it off, since it was so bright. Didn't wanna wake Mr. Connally, over there." He answered, smiling weakly and gesturing to the sleeping old man.
"Well, then, it's time for you to sleep, sir." The nurse gave him a tight 'oh, you think you're so good' smile, and walked away briskly. Backbone of medicine, my ass.
Percy lay on his back, allowing his arm to lay across his chest, and put his head back on the pillow. He smiled, feeling the items under his pillow. Reaching his good hand back, he rubbed his fingers over them, plotting their use, minute by minute.
Always.