Author's note: Sorry again for the wait. I've been fighting with a migraine all week and haven't been able to do much of anything much less write. Hopefully will be back in the saddle next week.

Part 14

Cal opened his eyes slowly, feeling more awake than he'd felt…well, there seemed like there'd been a time when he hadn't been really awake at all but he couldn't recall it at the moment. No matter, not when Gillian's beautiful face hovered right over his. For a moment he marveled at her beauty, the perfectly blue eyes, wonderfully shaped lips, the dusting of freckles across cheekbones. The smile he loved so much. He wanted to kiss those smiling lips but his head resisted his efforts at raising it. He wanted to tell her how wonderful he thought she was, how thankful he was that she was in his life, but found nothing but air coming from his mouth. Well, that's annoying. Before his frustration grew, he realized she wanted him to do something for her.

"Breathe, Cal. Slow, deep breaths. I know you can do it," she urged. "Slow and deep."

Okay, that didn't seem too difficult. Anything to please Gillian. He drew in air, as deep as he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pain in his chest as he got to full inhalation. He let the breath out as slowly as he could.

"That's it. Good job, Cal. Keep it up and we'll get you off this damned machine."

With the incentive not only of please Gillian but getting the tube out of his throat, he tried to match his breathing to hers. In, two, three, four. Out, two three, four. He didn't recall that breathing had been this difficult before. Most of the time, you didn't really think about breathing, did you? You just did it. Why did he have to work so hard at it now?

"Relax," Gill coaxed. "Just breathe, deep and slow. You were in a car accident, remember? You've got to work at getting better."

Car accident? No, he didn't remember that at all. He'd been in the office…and then…then he had a few very hazy memories of Gill talking to him, holding his hand and not much else. But Gill said he had to get better, so he had no other choice than to try his hardest. So breathing was the order of the day. In, two, three, four. Out, two three four.

A deep male voice came from over his shoulder, "Volume's over a thousand and his sats are holding up. Doing good."

Cal thought for a moment to see who this new voice belonged to, but he didn't want to lose eye contact with Gillian. He liked pleasing her, liked happy Gillian. She'd been sad Gillian when she'd been with that wanker Alec. Especially after she'd lost Sophie. Call had hurt with her, but he hadn't known what to do to help, to make her happy again. Not that he'd never made her sad Gillian himself. He couldn't quite remember why now, but he knew he'd gotten scared and had hurt Gillian. Oh, yeah, breathe. For some reason, him simply breathing in and out made her smile now. In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four.

"You're doing great, Cal. Just keep it up, okay."

Okay, breathing. He tried to relax, to focus on Gill's face and nothing else, but the pain built in his chest and belly. In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. He could feel the rhythm want to change, want to get shallower, faster. He resisted. In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. He tried to ignore the pain, he'd disregarded pain before, he could do it again. But it was getting harder with each breath. He looked to Gillian with mute appeal.

"Cal, where does it hurt?" Gillian interpreted his expression. Her hand gently caressed the center of his chest. "Here?"

He nodded slightly. Yes, it does hurt there, but that's not the worst.

Her hand slid lower to his belly. "Here?"

He moved his head as hard as he could. Yes, there. Something inside his belly burned. In fact, he was starting to feel very warm all over. Breath, two, three, four.

"He's starting to breathe too fast," the male voice came again. "And his blood pressure is going up again. I'm going to turn the ventilator back on again and turn up his sedation."

Cal reached up his hand, anxious that he'd failed Gillian again.

"It's okay. You did good, Cal." Gillian reassured him. "It's hard work, I know. Next time, you'll do even better."

Relieved, he let himself float off into the dark again.

"He did pretty good for his first time," Steve reassured Gillian. "Almost two hours. His volume and rate were good right up until the last few minutes."

"He's got pain in his abdomen," she considered. "Shouldn't the pain meds be taking care of that?"

Steve frowned thoughtfully. "I would have thought so, but he does have a couple fewer organs in there than he's used to." He grabbed the stethoscope off the IV pole. "Doesn't sound like there's much going on in there, but he hasn't had anything in his stomach for nearly a week. Does he feel warm to you? I'm gonna take his temperature."

Yes, he definitely felt too warm to Gillian. His blood pressure was gradually ticking down, with the sedation turned on again. Something was not right, something more than his known injuries.

"101.2. You've earned yourself some Tylenol, young man," he informed Cal's sleeping face. He turned to Gillian. "And you get to witness the fever protocol for the first time."

"What does that comprise?"

Walking over to his computer, Steve quickly clicked and typed. "Blood cultures, throat culture, urine culture. Cultures of anywhere an infection might be forming. Of course, in his condition, a fever might not be indicative of an infection. Might just be a reaction to all the trauma. But better to run through the protocol and find nothing than wait. He's very vulnerable to infections right now."

With a sigh, Gillian slumped in her chair. One more thing to worry about, she thought as she absently traced the tattoo on Cal's inner forearm. If he did have an infection, perhaps that is what is causing the pain and they'll kill two birds with one stone. Dear god, doesn't he have enough wrong with him, without throwing something new into the mix?