A/N:
My thanks to Mikiss.
TRIXIE CHAPTER 14
"You're welcome. Charlie needs to sit down or lie down. I'll see what can do." She nodded and left.
"Charlie!" Alan saw his son's face was pale and his left hand was swathed with bandages. He had changed his bloody shirt and was wearing a green scrub top.
"Sit, sit," said Alan as he led Charlie to a seat. "Hi, Charlie, how are you doing?" Megan asked in her quiet voice of concern as Charlie sat next to her.
"Still groggy, Don?" Charlie asked, not registering that his dad had just asked Sara to check.
"Charlie, I've just asked Sara to check. I don't know and they aren't telling," Alan said.
"Dad," Charlie started but then he didn't know what to say. He was really not in the mood to go into details. He knew that Megan would need to question him sooner or later. Make that later, he leaned against his dad and closed his eyes.
"Maybe Trixie should go back to her room?" Alan said for Trixie was still sleeping in Megan's arms.
Charlie jerked awake. "No! I mean, no let her stay with us. Don told me to take care and I don't really know what he meant, so it's better that Trixie stick with us. That man was grabbing her. If she had not been struggling to get free, I don't know, Dad, I don't know if the man came for her or…" Charlie looked at his dad and then at Megan, then Sara arrived.
Sara beckoned to Alan, not wanting to disturb Charlie or the sleeping girl.
Alan came to her; she said something to him and he nodded and went back to Charlie. "Sara said we can go to Don's new room and she will bring a small bed for Trixie. Don is in surgery now," Alan said tiredly.
"Now? Why only now?" Charlie asked, but no one answered him. Charlie's head was spinning and figures came to mind. If Don was bleeding like he was when he tried to stop the flow, by now if they didn't get Don the help he very much needed, Don would have been……..
"Charlie? Charlie? What's the matter? Charlie!" Alan was alarmed for Charlie had gone very still.
"Dad, Don…"
"Don is in surgery now, we'll have to wait, son. Come one let's go, Megan can't be holding Trixie all the time. The room is at the other end, Room 502."
Alan felt very old and tired when he helped Charlie up. He turned to Megan and offered to take back Trixie, but Megan held onto her and told Alan to help Charlie who was dead on his feet.
Colby and David came by and Megan quickly snagged David and got him to carry Trixie to the room. She motioned to Colby and signaled him to help Charlie.
Colby quickly went to Alan's side, took over from him, and held on to a wobbly Charlie. Together they followed David.
Megan went to Alan's side and snagged his arm with hers. Alan looked at her and knew her meaning, patted her arm, and quietly followed.
After 2 hours, Dr. Stewart came into the room. He looked around and saw Charlie sleeping on the sofa, Alan beside him, and Don's people sitting or standing around. Trixie was asleep on the smaller bed.
Alan saw him and quickly stood up. "Dr. Stewart?"
"Oh, dear this is terrible!"
"Oh, G…no!"
"No, no, don't misunderstand me. I meant all this happening to Charlie and Don…Come let's sit down here and Don's team can listen to what I'm saying. Charlie?"
"No, let him sleep. Don?"
"OK, I am going to explain everything; you can ask questions later. We delayed the surgery because we needed to replace his blood loss. We needed to stabilize him before removing the knife. It was a delicate operation as he had lost a significant amount of blood and the knife was buried almost to the hilt in his shoulder."
At this point Colby grimaced and Megan whispered, "Gosh, boss man, you don't do things by halves, do you?"
Dr. Stewart looked at her and said, "Don was lucky in a weird sense, even though the knife was deep in his shoulder, there was no major damage. We repaired the muscles and are dealing with the blood loss. Don's is receiving a blood transfusion and it will take another hour to complete. Then we will switch to IV fluids and we can use this for antibiotics and other medications if required. We are being proactive this time and Don will get covering antibiotics and prevent any new infection from setting in. If everything goes smoothly, he should be out of her very soon. Now, how soon will depend on how he is feeling. The muscle damage will of course take time to heal. He will be in recovery for another thirty minutes before we move him here. Well, I am glad to inform you that if there is no infection, he will make a full recovery. Just make sure he gets plenty of rest, nor argument, just rest."
"Thank you, Dr. Stewart," Alan said. This was a great relief for him. "No problem, rest he will get, even if we need to sit on him!"
"We'll help you, Alan!" Megan laughed.
"What about his shoulder? Will there be any side effects or will he need any physical therapy?" David asked, for he knew that shoulder injuries could be very painful from personal experience.
"Well, I did say full recovery in due time. Shoulder injuries are painful and can be troublesome as hand movements can be restricted. For Don, especially as it was the same shoulder he injured previously. This time he will need to wear a sling for at least 2 weeks to allow the shoulder to repair itself. It could take longer or shorter depending on him. While healing, he will need some minor therapy which he can do at home with one of you supervising. He won't need intensive therapy at that time. We'll see when the time comes; maybe it will heal itself."
Alan nodded and Dr. Stewart looked at Charlie resting on the sofa. "Charlie needs to go home and have his rest. Make sure he takes his medication; it will help with infection and pain. I stress again, any open injury is an invitation to infection. We might not have caught it the first time. Be careful in the first twenty-four hours. Look out for signs of stress in the patient and heat from the injured area."
"Yes, I will take care of Charlie and hopefully, the nurse will do that for Don"
"I have already placed a Special Instructions for nursing for the next twenty-four hours for Don in his chart. Don't worry, take care of Charlie. We'll take care of Don. He is popular with the nurses, even on his bad temper days!" Dr. Stewart laughed.
Alan shook his hand and thanked him.
He was halfway out the door when he turned and said, "Ms. Reeves?"
Megan looked up at the doctor, "Yes? Please, call me Megan."
"OK, Megan, I have some information for you. Could I speak with you, please?"
"Yes, excuse me, Alan, guys." Megan made a move and left with the doctor.
In a little while the door opened and Megan suck her head inside, "Colby, David, can you come out for a moment?"
The guys made their excuses to Alan and left.
"What' up?" David asked Megan who was standing with Dr. Stewart outside the door.
"Dr. Stewart has something important to tell us."
"Come on, let's sit here a bit."
They all sat in the corridor chairs. There was no one around for it was very late or rather very early in the morning of the next day.
Dr. Stewart began, "Well, OK, while we were waiting for Don to be ready for surgery, one of the nurses requested me to attend to one of our hospital attendants. It was quite urgent; he was semi-conscious and almost suffocated. He was found in the utility room suffering from a concussion. He nearly died of suffocation as rags were stuffed in his mouth and then taped shut. Luckily for him one of the nurses needed something from the utility room and found him unconscious under the shelves. He said he was attacked by a man coming out of the utility room who requested his help. He went into the room and that's all he remembered."
"Doc, where is he now? We would like to interview him and get a sketch of the face of the man who attacked him and the Eppes!"
"Now that's the queer thing, the attendant said he looked like the prisoner we're treating here, Logan. He knew because he delivered his food to him, too!"
"The other Logan!" Megan exclaimed.
TBC