A.N.- Here's probably the last one of the day. We hope everyone is having nice summer vacations, those of you who are out of school :D
Chapter 25: Nightmare Come Reality
The next morning Bob wakes up silently in the hospital bed. He feels sick and weak as he tries to push himself up a little. Grace still sleeps in her chair in the corner of the room. Bob silently looks around and at his IVs before noticing Grace. He wonders what she's doing there. Grace is quietly sleeping in the corner. Bob watches her as he feels really sick and tries to breath normally. Grace wakes some as she hears Bob and sits up some with a small yawn. He coughs some and tries to push himself up from the bed. "Where are you going?" Grace looks at him.
"Toilet..." He shivers and manages to get up.
"Eh… Need help getting there?" She asks.
Bob shakingly stands on his legs and shakes his head some. He sways and nearly falls over though. Grace manages to get to him before he falls and steadies him on her one good leg. Bob leans on her and tries to steady his heavy breathing. Grace hops and tries to help him to the bathroom. Bob leans on Grace as they go to the bathroom. She then makes sure he is steady and wonders if she needs to leave or not. He's already doing his thing though. Grace notices and then looks away with a blush and slightly wide eyes. 'Well, it's not like I've never seen a guy's parts before...' She thinks.
Bob finishes and holds himself up on the wall as he tries to move to the sink. She helps him to the sink. He washes his flippers and shivers. Grace softly holds him steady. Bob then softly hugs her and shivers feverishly in her flippers. She hugs him and thinks this may be one of the weirdest places she has been hugged by far. Bob hugs and breathes heavily and erratically. Grace tries to shuffle them out without falling over. Bob still hugs her, though it is now more leaning. Grace helps him back into the bed slowly. Bob looks at her and holds his chest again as it really hurts him. He silently looks at Grace, too. She covers him up. He starts coughing heavily and grasps his chest tighter.
Grace worriedly looks at him and calls for the nurse.
She waddles in moments later. "Yes?"
Bob's coughing much and coughs up some blood tinged mucus.
"His chest is hurting and I think he just coughed up blood, oh my kipper!" Grace gasps.
The nurse looks at Grace and then waddles over to Bob. "Calm down, miss." She says and helps to situate Bob a bit better and adjusts his medicines. "It is normal to cough up some mucus in pneumonia cases." She says and pages for the doctor.
"But it was redish! Mucus isn't red! Blood is red!" Grace says.
The nurse looks over at Grace. "Miss, calm down." She says. "It's all perfectly normal."
The doctor then waddles in and over to Bob.
Grace takes a deep breath and tries to calm herself.
The doctor helps Bob on oxygen and heavier painkillers before looking at Grace. "Was this his first time coughing up mucus?"
"I think so?" Grade nods a little.
The doctor nods. "Was he doing something before he got the coughing fit?" He asks.
"He just went to the bathroom..." Grace says.
The doctor nods. "Alright." He looks some over at Bob who's shivering on the bed. "Next time he needs to go you might want to call the nurse to catheter him." He says and waddles out.
The nurse changes the sheets where Bob has coughed up on.
Grace nods some and looks softly at Bob. He is on oxygen and shivers.
Grace's phone then beeps. She looks at her phone.
'Why are you not at your post? - Commander Eric.' The text reads.
Bob looks silently at his friend.
Grace looks at the clock. "Flipping kipper!" She exclaims and gets up. 'Sorry, I was at the hospital checking up on LG Bob, sir, I'm on my way.' she texts quickly and looks at Bob. "Sorry, I've got to go, but I'll try to come back by and check on you later." She says quickly before sliding out.
Bob silently looks at the door as he is now all alone and feels bad.
Grace slides quickly though it hurts her ribs much.
Eric waits at the door for her.
Grace slides in and is in pain.
Eric looks at her. "The scientists. Now."
"Again, sir?" She silently asks.
"What isn't clear about the word now, GLC Gray?" Eric says.
"Right away, sir..." She sighs and slides to the stairs. Her boss nods and waddles away. Grace looks around the stairs again before quickly sliding down the rail. She then hops as quickly as her sore self can go to the scientists.
One of them is already waiting for her there. "Ah, GLC Gray." He nods. "Let me show you to our latest invention."
Grace nods some as she pants a little. "Yeah…" She says and hops after him, while getting out her report.
The guy nods and waddles ahead of her. She tiredly hops after him and thinks that she really needs to take a painkiller. The guy shows her to a very big machine. "Look at our Portable Filtering Out Unnecessary Information Device, ma'am." He smiles proudly. "Or as we like to call him 'PFOUID.'" He grins widely.
"Portable? That, um, does not look so portable to me..." She mutters.
The penguin nods some. "Uh yeah, that's a glitch.'
"A glitch?" She repeats, but nods a little.
The scientist nods some. "We're scientists. Not miracle workers."
Grace nods some. "Of course..."
"Also, it just might be a tiny, mini, micro bitty unstable."
"Eh, and by that how stable is it?" Grace asks taking a hop back.
"Maybe 13 percent stable?" The scientist nods. She looks at him and takes a few more hops back.
The scientist shrugs some and pets the machine.
"How does it work?" She asks.
"We're actually not yet sure, ma'am…" The scientist shrugs.
Grace looks at him. "So what exactly am I down here to write a report on besides a not-so-portable portable machine that is highly unstable and you guys aren't even sure how to work it yet?"
"Eh… That we've a finished prototype?"
"So, this ticking time bomb is a prototype?" She asks.
The scientist nods some and swats his flipper inconspicuously at the other scientist coming up. Grace looks at it and nods a little. The scientist nods. She makes some notes upon the invention. The scientist watches her. Grace finishes her notes and nods to him. "Anything else?"
The scientist shakes his head some.
"Alright." She nods and starts hopping painfully to the exit. She hops upstairs and then to Eric's office. He is working on all the work that was left from yesterday. Grace knocks on his door.
"Come in." Eric says.
Grace hops in. "Here's the report, sir." She says.
Eric gets it and looks at it and then nods. "Thank you. You can return to your work of today. Don't worry about LG Garrison's. I already finished that today."
"Really?" She looks surprised.
Eric looks at her. "Yes."
Grace nods some. "Okay…" She then salutes sorely and hops back out.
Eric nods and continues to work.
Grace hops back to her office and thankfully sits down in her chair. She takes a couple pain relievers for her sore ribs and begins on her work for today. She works on it as fast as she possibly can. Grace finishes her paperwork after a few hours and carries it to the secretary.
The secretary looks at her.
"This is my work for the day. Commander Eric said he has already finished LG Bob's." She says.
"Alright." She nods.
Grace nods and then slides out from the base towards Marian. She soon makes it panting and in pain to Marian's house and enters it. Marian hears the door. "Who's there?!"
"Nobody!" Grace chuckles as she hops in.
"Then go haunt another house! I'm busy!" Her friend laughs a little.
Grace smiles and hops into Marian's room. "Sorry, my haunting schedule is rather cramped and specific now."
Marian smiles at her and is above her sheets reading a book.
"How are you feeling?" Grace asks and sits down.
"I'm feeling fine." Marian smiles at her.
"That's great." Grace smiles at her.
Marian nods. "Tomorrow I'm going to come to make a round through the base and then from next week I'll be starting part time." She smiles a bit excitedly.
"Wonderful." She smiles at her.
Marian smiles happily and nods. "I have to wait longer before I can start training again, though."
Grace nods some. "I believe in that way we are in similar boats."
Marian nods with a small chuckle. "True."
Grace smiles at her and then shifts a bit in the chair.
"And how are you?" Marian smiles.
"Eh, fine-ish." Grace shrugs some.
Marian nods some. "Your ribs hurt?"
"They feel like they're on flipping fire." Grace says and shifts. "I've been having to slide around all day nearly to rush about for your boyfriend."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Marian says with a soft look.
Grace shrugs a little. "It's just pain…"
Marian nods a little. "So Bob's still out?"
"Yeah…" She nods some. "I was planning on going by again today after I finish my visit with you." She smiles at her. "I accidently fell asleep in the chair there last night and was a little late to the base…"
"Alright." Marian nods. "So he has to stay there? Do they know yet what's wrong with him? When is he back at work?"
"I have no clue...They hadn't had that information available to me last night, but when I'm there I'll text you if I find out anything."
Marian nods some.
"But, personally, I think he might have what you have but worse." Grace says with a frown. "He was coughing up bloody mucus this morning and his chest was really hurting him, along with still having a very high fever…"
"That's not so good, then." Marian nods some and looks at her worried friend.
Grace nods and then thinks of the awkward moment that morning with a small blush. "But...I've decided being in the so-called friend-zone ain't that bad." She giggles a little.
Marian looks curiously at her.
"I had to help him to the bathroom this morning. I was expecting to just help him in, then leave, and then help him back to bed. But no, he started going while I was standing there...I just had to glance…" She turns kind of red.
Marian starts to giggle now.
Grace looks at her, red. "He has a fairly nice one, I'd say, and I've seen plenty others over time to compare it to… Much nicer than Zach's had been." She laughs.
Marian laughs and holds her flippers a bit away from each other. "Like this?"
Grace laughs and shakes her head. "Little more."
"Ooooh." Marian laughs. "Not bad."
"Yup." Grace laughs.
Marian laughs too. "Too bad he's with that woman… He would have been cute with you." She then thinks out loud.
Grace nods a little and her laugh fizzes out some. "Yeah…" She then takes out her picture of him and her when they were chicks and shows it to Marian. "This was way back when I was about 3…"
"Cute." Marian smiles. "Is that Bob?"
"Yup…" She nods some. "His mother had been the commander that my parents worked under…"
Marian nods too.
"And he got tied to that chair because he flipping shot me in the butt. He had it coming." She chuckles a little. "My father was not amused at all...Mama was, though, as was Commander Garrison."
Marian chuckles some.
Grace nods some and gets out the toy bullet which is now on a keychain. "I still have that bullet, too..."
"Alright." Marian nods and looks at it.
Grace nods some and looks at it. "I really probably should give it back to him..." She then murmurs. She doesn't really want to part with her good luck charm that's she's had nearly her whole life, though.
Marian shrugs. "What's wrong with keeping it?"
"Well...It's a bullet that would work in a child's toy gun...He's the one who has a kid...There's not really a reason I need to keep it..."
"Maybe you just like it to remember him?"
Grace silently shrugs some.
Marian nods with a smile. Grace puts it and the picture away. "I doubt he even remembers that he took my ribbons then." She chuckles a little. Marian smiles at her. "I can drive with you to the hospital, if you like that..." She then offers.
"You sure you don't need to stay and rest?" Grace asks.
Marian shrugs. "I'm bored."
"Alright..." she then nods a little.
Marian nods and gets up. Grace also gets up and feels sore. Marian goes ahead of her. Grace hops after her a little slowly. Marian waddles to her car and opens it with a slight cough. Grace gets into the car. Marian gets in too and starts in a normal pace towards the hospital.
As Grace is working at the base, Bob silently lays there all alone, just staring a bit at the opposite wall. He is from oxygen now and lays on a towel where he has coughed up on. He feels sick and weak and kind of nauseated as he hopes that maybe his wife and son will come by. He coughs up some more bloody mucus on the towel on his bed. He wonders if his family will come visit him soon as he feels lonely and sick but he falls asleep soon.
After a little he wakes up feeling even worse and notices some movement in the room. He silently blinks open his eyes and coughs.
Edmond squeaks and comes over to him. "Yay, wakey!"
Bob coughs up some more blood tinged mucus and then notices his son. He smiles and reaches for him. Edmond climbs into the bed and snuggles to him. Bob hugs his son close and tries to keep him from getting in the towel with his coughed up blood and mucus.
"Better?" The chick asks.
Bob shakes his head some as he holds Edmond feverishly close to him.
"Awh..." Edmond kisses his cheek. "Now?"
"A little..." Bob says and breathes heavily. His son smiles and hugs. Bob coughs heavily some more as he tries to look around for his wife while hugging his son.
Edmond notices him looking around. "Mama went go potty."
"Alright…" Bob nods some with a hoarse voice.
Edmond nods and hugs him. He looks at the mucus and points at it. "What that?"
"Mucus..." His father says silently.
"What that?" Edmond asks curiously.
Bob coughs some. "It's like a snotty… From the lungs." He tries to explain it before getting into another coughing fit and coughing up some more blood tinged mucus.
"Eww." Edmond makes a small face as he watches Daddy cough the stuff up.
Bob finishes coughing and shivers with his erratic breathing. Edmond snuggles to him softly. Bob hugs him close. He wishes his son could stay with him.
Risette waddles back in.
Bob looks up at her. She looks back at him.
"He-" He starts, but ends up in a coughing fit instead and nearly squeezes Edmond. Edmond moves a little out of the way. He coughs much before managing to stop. He reaches with his flipper for hers. She rolls her eyes, but gives him her flipper. He hugs her flipper and his son. "I missed you both so much…" He silently coughs.
"Yeah, yeah, us too." His wife annoyedly rolls her eyes.
Bob smiles some and hugs his feverish body close to her flipper.
"Anyway… So, what went on at your boss's therapy thing?" She asks.
Bob shrugs some and coughs. "Nothing much… How her parents died and she needed to take care of her sister." He coughs.
"Come on, surely she has some weak point that was talked on?" Risette says. 'So she has a sister...I'll need to get that intel to Pierre, it might be useful...'
Bob coughs sickly and looks at her. "She's got… PTSD and depression… Anger issues." He coughs up some more mucus with a slightly more red color to it.
'I'll mention that, too, but that doesn't seem super useful...' She thinks and then shrugs some. "Okay." She says.
Bob coughs still.
"Is she allergic to anything?" Risette then asks, but makes it sound just like a curious and random question.
Bob coughs and looks at her. "I don't know..."
"Okay, I was just wondering." She shrugs some. "How about phobias?"
"I don't know..." He coughs and shivers feverishly as he starts to feel nauseated.
Risette nods with a shrug. 'He isn't good at this finding info for me without realizing it thing, is he?' She thinks annoyed.
Bob looks around as he feels nauseous. Edmond thinks daddy looks green and moves the trashcan over. "You want this here?" His father nods and throws up in it. This hurts his chest quite more. His son worriedly watches him and sniffs some. Bob finishes throwing up and has his flippers on his chest again. His son watches him with wide eyes. "Heart attack?" He asks with a gasp. Bob shakes his head some and gasps. Edmond hops and presses the button for the nurse worriedly. Bob gasps in pain and out of breath.
The nurse waddles a little later in. Edmond slides over to him and grabs his flipper. "Think Daddy having heart attack!" He says really worriedly. The nurse looks at Edmond and then waddles over to look over Bob. He hooks him up to more painkillers and gets the oxygen on. Bob looks still in pain. "Papa going die?!" Edmond sniffs really worriedly. The nurse softly kneels next to the chick. "No, your father is going to be just fine." He softly smiles at Edmond. "His lungs are just really hurting him right now, that's all."
"Can wungs be kissied and made better?" Edmond sniffs and looks at his father.
The nurse looks softly at him. "Only a little bit." He says. "But he mostly needs lots of sleep and medications."
"Okay…" The chick nods some. "What wungs?" He then asks and looks at the nurse.
"That's what you breath with." He smiles some.
Edmond touches his beak. "I thought bweath with beak?"
The nurse nods some. "The air goes from the beak to the lungs."
"But where wungs?" Edmond looks at himself.
The nurse softly shows him.
"But I no see wungs, what look like?" Edmond searches his feathers on his chest there. The nurse gets out a book he uses on the children area of the hospital where pictures are in and shows him those. Edmond looks at the picture. "Wungs inside?! But how kissy them then?" He gasps. "You can kiss your father's cheek." The nurse smiles at him. Edmond thinks on this and then nods some. "Okay…"
"So, are you less worried now?" The nurse smiles softly. The chick nods a little, slowly. The nurse smiles at him and then looks at Risette. "Have you yet been informed on the status of your husband, Mrs. Garrison?"
"Informed of what status?" Risette looks at him.
"On his illness, like the diagnosis, prognosis, what meds he's getting?"
She shakes her head. "No." She says and doesn't look like she really cares either.
"Eh… Would you like to have it, maybe?" The nurse asks a bit taken back.
Risette just shrugs some.
"Can I have at least a yes or no answer?" The nurse asks with a look.
"Sure." She says, but still doesn't sound like she cares any.
"Alright… We are nearly completely sure that your husband has pneumonia. We only need to do an X-ray to confirm our diagnosis, but he hasn't been up for one yet. We're treating him with oxygen, painkillers, antibiotics and extra fluids and nutrition since he doesn't eat and has a high fever." The nurse gets the file and looks at it.
"Alright." She says.
The nurse nods "We'll keep him here until..." The nurse then frowns some and looks at the file. "Mhm, that's odd."
"What's odd?" She looks at him.
"The doctor wants to keep him here until he is completely better." The nurse says. "Normally we send patients home after their fevers are at beneath a certain point and they don't need oxygen anymore. But your husband is specially listed to stay until full recovery. Which is weird."
Risette shrugs some. "I'm fine with that." She says.
The nurse looks at her weirdly and then shrugs. "Anyway, he's coughed up some blood-tinged mucus which is not that great of a sign, but the doctor still thinks he's going to make a quick recovery. He's not 100% sure without that X-ray, but let's just say he's our best doctor." The nurse rattles the things on the file a bit off.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She rolls her eyes. "Are you finished talking yet?"
The nurse looks at her and lowers the file. "Mrs..." He nearly gasps some. "You sound like you don't care at all about your husband..."
Risette just chuckles a little. "No, no, that's not it at all!" She says with an edge of sarcasm. "It's just I really need to get him to bed for his nap." She lies.
"Oh, alright." The nurse nods.
Risette nods and gets Edmond. "Come on, we can come back by tomorrow maybe." She says.
Bob still tries to hold on to Edmond's flipper. He moves his beak some as if he is trying to say something, but the oxygen mask prevents him from making a sound. Edmond sniffs and gives him a hug. "Bye-bye, Daddy. Feel much better!" He gives him a kiss on the cheek and climbs from the bed. Bob watches them go before starting to cry. Risette leads Edmond from the room. Bob cries until he has to cough up on his bloody mucus towel after they removed his oxygen again.
Grace looks at the hospital as she and Marian pull up at it. Marian looks at her friend and gets out. Grace gets slowly out. Marian waddles ahead of her. "You know which room?"
"Unless they have moved him." Grace nods and hops in that direction. Marian nods some. "Well, let's hope they haven't done that." She says and follows. Grace nods and 'quickly' hops that way. Marian opens the door for her and waddles in.
Bob looks up at the door from where he was crying a little. His chest feels like it is on fire and he has a big headache and feels very cold. Besides that, he feels sad that his wife and son wouldn't even stay longer.
Grace hops in with a soft look at Bob. He sniffs some and tries to wipe his eyes as his friend and her boss waddle in. "What's wrong?" Grace quietly asks.
"I'm all alone..." He says really silently.
Marian looks at her employee and then at his bloody mucus covered towel.
"I'm sorry..." Grace says softly and very gently pets his head a little. "I tried to come back asap."
Bob nods some and shivers. "And they won't tell me anything..."
Grace nods and pets him. "Well, you try to calm down and I'll try to get you some intel, alright?" She says softly.
Bob nods some and shivers.
Marian watches them. 'Dang, they are cute together.' She thinks.
Grace hops out and flags down a doctor. A doctor waddles up to her. "I need to know the complete thing about Mr. Garrison." She says. "Meds, diagnosis, recovery expectation. Everything." She says.
The doctor looks at her. "According to the nurse the information has already been given to the family, miss."
"Yes, to his abusive wife who doesn't give a flying-fish about him. According to him no one is telling him anything. I want to know what is going on about my friend." Grace snorts.
The doctor nods some. "This midday we will take him for an X-ray of his chest to radiology. " He starts. "We are sure he has a pneumonia case, but we need to check it's development. he's got a high fever at this moment still and won't eat. We're having him now on painkillers, antibiotics and extra fluids and nutrition and oxygen treatment if needed." He looks at the file some more.
"Alright, thank you, anything more?" She asks.
The doctor nods. "We need to monitor him for the blood-tinged mucus he's been coughing up, which most of the time isn't a great sign accompanied by such a fever, but we're sure he'll recover quickly. He's going to have to stay here until he's made a full recovery according to his doctor of the other shift because..." The doctor looks at the file. "Oh, because of his wife not being up to treat him at home." The doctor scans the file some more.
Grace nods and listens as she is worried about him, even more so from hearing that the bloody mucus is a bad sign.
The doctor closes the file then at looks at her softly.
"Okay, thank you..." Grace says worriedly.
The doctor nods some. "Any questions?"
Grace shakes her head. "Not that i know of..."
"Alright." The doctor nods and then goes back to his round.
Grace hops back into Bob's room and sits down.
Bob is coughing and has his chest in his flippers.
Marian sits down and looks at him. Grace softly looks at him and tips up the painkillers a bit. Bob looks at her and shivers. "And?" He manages to cough.
"You have pneumonia and they are planning on taking you to an x-ray sometime today." She says. "Also, you will be staying until you're completely recovered."
Bob nods some and wonders if there's more.
"They've got you on extra fluids, painkillers, nutrition, eh, antibiotics? And oxygen as needed." She says. "And the blood tinged mucus and high fever aren't good thing, but they still think you'll make a quick recovery according to him..."
He nods and coughs.
Marian looks at them softly.
Grace nods some and looks at him worriedly. She shifts a bit sorely in the seat.
Bob tries to push himself up a little. "How are you?" He asks Marian silently.
"I'm fine." Marian smiles some softly at him.
Bob nods some and coughs before looking at Grace. "Need more painkillers?"
"Eh...I think I still have some at home..." She shrugs.
Bob nods and starts to cough much more again.
Marian looks at Bob and then at Grace, looking a bit worriedly. Grace looks at him very worriedly and gets the oxygen on him softly. Marian watches worriedly.
Bob silently looks at Grace's worried expression and then reaches for her flipper. Grace softly lets him have her flipper. He squeezes it some. She softly squeezes his back but is still worried. Bob sees her worried look but can't say anything because of the oxygen. He then just hugs her flipper to his warm, clammy, hurting chest. Grace smiles a teeny bit, but tries to seem less worried. He shivering hugs the flipper to his hot chest still. It feels soft and cold to him. She softly strokes his hot and clammy chest and feels really jealous of Risette for a moment. He smiles some and watches her for a bit.
"No making out!" Marian then chirps in.
Grace glances at Marian. "I think that'd be hard to do seeing as how he has on oxygen and is married to someone else." She says and still pets his chest.
"Just making sure." Marian shrugs.
Bob silently hugs onto her flipper. Grace softly rubs his chest. He smiles a little and is so glad to be no longer alone. She smiles and pets his chest. She thinks Risette is so lucky to have a man such like him and thinks that Risette just is completely treating him wrongly and doesn't deserve him...Not that she thinks she would deserve him either. He hugs the flipper.
Marian starts to cough some.
Grace looks at Marian. "Maybe it is about time you go back home...You don't need to recatch pneumonia..." She says softly.
Marian nods some. "Are you coming?"
"I think I'll stay a little longer..." Grace says as she softly pets him.
"Alright..." Marian nods. "Don't tell Eric I've been—" She turns around and then sees Eric right in front of her.
"Busted..." Grace murmurs and looks at them. Bob looks at them too.
Marian looks at her boyfriend. "Eh… Hey, honey..." She says.
Eric is frowning and does not look happy. "What in the name of kipper are you doing here out of bed?"
Marian shrugs some. "Checking up on friends..." She says.
"But you're not supposed to be." He nearly growls.
Marian growls a little and coughs. "But the doctor said I was allowed out of the bed for short amounts of time!"
"But you're not supposed to be driving! And I doubt that cripple is the one who drove you here." He growls.
Grace narrows her eyes from there at Eric. Bob silently shivers and hugs her flipper.
"I am perfectly fine with my car! It's a good car, and I'm a good driver!" Marian coughs a bit more.
"But you are sick and supposed to be in bed!" He says and gives Grace a look, "And I'm about to revoke your visiting rights if you're going to be having her bring you to this germ infested place, Gray. She needs home to rest." He growls.
Bob looks at them.
Marian coughs.
"She is the one who wanted to come. I had no part in it." Grace says. "And technically, you have no right to do anything of the sort. You're her boyfriend. That's it." She says with a look.
Eric growls a little towards Grace with narrowed eyes. "GLCs should not talk back to their superiors, Gray, unless you'd like a demotion."
Marian coughs still, but manages to stop. "Stop fighting, you two!" She coughs.
Bob tries to get off his oxygen. "I'm sorry, sir." He says silently. "I'd ask her to come..."
Grace looks at Bob and shakes her head. "No...And I'm sorry, sir." She sighs some.
Eric kind of glares at Bob with a snort towards Grace and gets Marian's flipper. "We're going. Now."
Marian tries to get her flipper back. "We're not." She coughs.
"We are." He says and looks at her. "You're getting worse."
Marian shakes her head. "Not before you apologized to Grace and Bob for your behavior."
"Apologize?" Eric snorts. "They need no apologies."
Marian looks stressed and coughs. "Now."
Eric looks at her. "Fine, my apologies, Garrison and Gray." He says. "Now you are going home, Marian."
Marian looks at him. "Why are you here anyway?"
"You weren't at home when I went to check on you." He says. "And seeing as how I doubted Gray went home, I thought she would have drug you here."
Marian nods some and coughs. She looks tired and stressed. Her boyfriend nods and proceeds to try to drag her out. Marian tries to stay in the room. "And you're not allowed to threaten my employees with demotions, too." She coughs.
Bob starts to cough too, but he coughs up some bloody mucus again.
Grace looks worriedly at Bob.
"She's a terrible GLC anyway, I'm surprised you haven't demoted or fired her yet." He says as he now just picks her up.
"Don't say that in front of her!" Marian coughs.
"Well, it's true!" He says as he carries her out of the room.
Grace hears them and just kind of watches them go silently. 'I knew it...' She thinks.
Bob's still coughing up.
"But it's not nice! She's learning!" Marian coughs before a nurse waddles into Bob's room and shuts the door.
Grade silently sits there and pets Bob's chest worriedly, but also sad that she is not doing her job good enough. Bob coughs now more blood than mucus. The nurse waddles over. Grace looks at him really worriedly. "He's not supposed to be coughing that, right?" She silently asks. The nurse shakes his head. "No… I'll call the doctor." He says and waddles out.
Bob coughs still and looks at Grace. Grace looks at him very worriedly and a bit panicked. Bob silently hugs onto Grace as most of the coughing has stopped.
The doctor waddles in after a little.
Grace worriedly hugs him.
The doctor looks at them and then gets Bob from Grace to look him over. Grace looks really worried. The doctor checks Bob over and then starts to roll his bed out. Grace watches a bit panicked. The doctor takes Bob away from the room. Grace worriedly sits there and wonders if she needs to follow.
Bob is taken to the radiology first and a nurse waddles to his room and looks at Grace. Grace is worriedly sitting there, pulling on a feather on her flipper and staring at the wall. "Miss?" The nurse says. Grace looks up worriedly at him.
"We're taking your friend now for the X-ray, then he might get a Bronchoscopy to monitor the bleeding better and depending on the results he will be brought back to this room, or the ICU." The nurse says softly.
Grace nods some quietly. "Is he...Going to be okay?" She asks.
"Yes." The nurse nods. "He's not in any of the 'danger groups' so to call it."
"Okay..." She nods some worriedly.
"Though… If he needs oxygen treatment, he might be brought into a small drug induced coma..." The nurse says.
"F-For how long?" Grace asks.
"A day, maybe two." The nurse says and looks at her softly. Grace nods some silently and worriedly.
"Are you the patient's sister or something?" The nurse then asks with a curious look.
"No..." She shakes her head. "Just an old friend and his boss..."
"Oh." The nurse says. "You just seem more concerned about him than his family is…"
Grace nods a little. "Well, his wife is abusive, so it isn't surprising..." She says silently. "And...I kind of love him, though I'm not really supposed to—Though we are not afairing if you're about to go there!" She shakes her head.
The nurse nods a bit as his peeper goes. Grace looks at him. The nurse softly looks at Grace. "I have to help getting Mr. Garrison to the ICU." He says with a soft look. "The doctor should come by to inform you better in a little while."
"Okay..." She nods a little. The nurse then waddles out.
'Eric doesn't let me go tomorrow to the base. :(' Marian texts Grace.
Grace looks at her phone. 'I'm sorry :(' She replies and sighs silently.
'And don't worry about what Eric said. I think you're the best GLC I could have wished for.'
Grace now starts crying a little from this about Bob and being brought up again about her abilities as GLC. 'But, I'm obviously not the best one for the base.' She texts and wipes at her eyes.
'You're fine. :)' Marian texts. 'Are you home now?'
'No.' Grace texts and wipes her eyes with a sniff.
'Oh. Why not?' Marian asks.
'Bob started coughing up pretty much just blood, they took him for the x-ray, now he has to be did something about ICU and is going to be put into a drug induced coma.' Grace texts and sniffs.
'That sounds bad...' Marian texts back. 'Do we need to come and get you?'
'No, it's fine. Right now I'm waiting for some doctor to come get me about something, I think.' Grace wipes her eyes.
'Alright… Good luck.' Marian texts.
'Thanks, you, too.' Grace texts.
The doctor waddles in and looks around.
Grace looks up at the doctor and thinks she might feel a bit lightheaded. She puts it off as just her being tired and stressed.
The doctor looks softly at her. "You can see Mr. Garrison before we put him to sleep, miss." He says.
"Okay..." Grace nods and gets up pretty quickly. She then faints. The doctor frowns and beeps in a nurse. He then gets her into a bed and takes her vitals. Grace lays there fainted. The doctor then wakes her up. Grace comes to and looks around a little dizzily. The doctor nods and then looks at the nurse. "Give her a nutrition IV." He kind of orders. The nurse nods and gives her one as the doctor waddles out. Grace silently wonders what happened. The nurse softly looks at her. "Can I call someone to take you home, miss?" He asks.
"But, I thought I was going to see Bob before he was put under..." Grace says.
"I'm sorry, miss." The nurse says. "The doctor is already putting him under now. I think you better call someone to take you home and make sure you get something to eat and then a nice night of sleep."
"Oh..." Grace silently says and then nods and hands him her phone. "Eh, Marian Scott, please."
The nurse nods and calls that number.
Marian takes her phone shortly after. "Commander Marian speaking."
"This is nurse Jock from the hospital. Could you come by and pick up Miss. Gray?" The nurse says.
"Eh sure..." Marian says with a weird look.
The nurse nods. "She fainted from what we believe a lack of nutrition, so if you can make sure that she eats something tonight, miss."
"Of course." Marian nods. "She can stay in my guest room without a problem." She coughs some and then looks around for Eric. Eric is finishing some papers in the chair near the bed.
"Great." The nurse nods.
Marian nods and hangs up the phone. She tries to smother her coughs and to sneak out of the bed.
"Where do you think you're going?" Her boyfriend asks, not even looking up.
"To the hospital." She coughs.
"Why?" Eric asks.
"To get Gracey. She fainted."
"Can't she just go home by taxi?" He snorts some.
"No." Marian snorts back and coughs. "And either you are going to drive me there, or I'm going myself now." She says.
"Fine." He sighs and gets up.
Marian nods and waddles ahead. Eric follows her to her car and helps her in. Marian gets in. Eric then gets in and drives them to the hospital. Marian coughs.
Meanwhile, the doctor waddles back to Bob who's now situated on the ICU. "We're going to put you under now, sir." He says softly and nods to the anesthetic penguin. He starts to bring Bob under. Bob looks around one more time and then looks sadly down as nobody is there.
Grace meanwhile to that lays silently and sadly in the bed. She had really wanted to see Bob before he was put under for some reason. Now she feels really disappointed and even mad at herself for fainting and missing that opportunity. She then glances around before getting from the IV and painfully sliding the way she guesses his room is.
The doctor just finishes hooking Bob up and then works on his file some before waddling out and seeing Grace. Grace stands up near the room and then silently swears to herself as she guesses she is really too late to see him before he is completely under. The doctor looks at her. "I'm sorry, miss. You're not allowed in."
"Okay..." She silently nods and looks a bit at the floor.
"Is someone coming to pick you up, miss?"
"I think so..." She nods and sighs with a sad and disappointed look at the door.
"Then maybe you should go back to the room." The doctor says. "Get some rest and food and tomorrow you can visit at the visitor hours of the ICU."
Marian has just waddled to Bob's old room.
Grace nods silently and hops back towards Bob's old room.
Marian waits there. Grace hops and sees her. "I didn't get to see Bob before they put him down..." She silently says.
Marian smiles softly at her. "Oh… Well, you can always see him tomorrow." She smiles softly at her. "Let's go to my home now and get you something decent to eat..." Grace just silently nods a little. Marian nods and softly leads her to the car and Eric. Grace silently hops after her friend and now wonders how much her eyeliner has run from earlier. Marian helps Grace into the car and gets in too with a cough. "You can stay in the guest room tonight, Grace." She smiles.
Grace looks at her. "But I don't want to be a bother, you could just drop me off at home..."
"Yeah, why can't we do that?" Eric chimes in.
"Because I got called by the doctor and he said to." Marian growls. "And she is staying, period."
Eric sighs and doesn't look pleased. Grace silently sits in the back and thinks her ribs hurt.
Marian smiles some victoriously and then sees her house. "Do you put the car in the garage, honey?" She asks.
"Sure." He nods and drives it in. Marian kisses his cheek and then gets out and helps Grace out. Grace gets out of the car. "Maybe I should have asked Bob for more painkillers..." She mumbles to herself. Marian helps her softly inside her house and to the kitchen. Grace hops to the kitchen quietly.
Eric waddles in from the car.
Marian starts making a large plate of food for her friend. Her friend sits down and thinks she isn't really all that hungry. Marian smiles and sets it in front of her. She looks at the plate and thinks that it is really a lot to eat. Marian smiles at her and coughs a little. Grace starts on it.
Eric has finished getting the guest room ready and waddles to the kitchen with a displeased look and the paperwork he had been trying to finish.
Marian looks at him. "Don't frown that much, honey. It ruins your pretty face." She says with a smallish cough.
"Yeah, yeah..." He sighs some and looks at his work.
Grace silently eats on her plate.
Marian smiles and sits down and tries to fish one of Eric's pieces of papers. "Is this from your base or mine?"
"Mine." He says.
"Let me help!" She says and tries to pull a bit on the paper.
"No." He says and gets the paper more in his stack.
"But I want to!" His girlfriend coughs.
"You're sick." he says simply and works on the sheets.
Grace wonders if she has eaten enough yet, after only about a fourth.
Marian looks at Grace now. "Eat more!"
"Okay..." Grace kind of sighs and tries to eat more.
Marian nods and watches Grace with a smallish shiver. Grace finishes half and wonders if she is done. Her friend shivers on the chair next to her. Grace decides to try to eat a little more. Marian shivers a bit and coughs at the table.
"Why don't you go back to bed?" Eric asks her. "I can stay and make sure she eats the whole thing."
Marian shakes her head. "I like to stay."
"But you look like you're feeling worse again, Marian." He says.
"But I want to stay!" She nearly whines with a cough.
"But you're unwell!" Eric frowns.
Grace meanwhile has managed to eat everything from the plate and wonders if she shouldn't just take a taxi home.
Marian coughs. "But it isn't like I'll drop dead on the spot!" She coughs. "I need to show Gracey the house!"
"I think she knows the house with how often she comes by." He says and rolls his eyes a bit.
Grace silently takes her plate to the sink.
"But I need to help her get sheets and stuff!" Marian coughs.
Eric sighs some. "Fine."
Grace is now washing her dishes while her friend and Eric are talking.
Marian smiles and kisses his cheek. Eric kisses hers back.
Grace now silently dries and puts the dishes away.
Marian waddles to her friend. Grace looks at her quietly. Marian smiles at her and shivers. "Let's go get your sheets." She smiles.
"You're sure? I could just get a taxi and go home..." Grace says, thinking of the arguing between Marian and Eric that she feels like she is causing.
Marian nods with a smile. "No, you can stay."
"Okay..." Grace nods a little.
Marian smiles and goes ahead. Grace hops after her. Marian then hands her the sheets. "You can put them on yourself."
"Alright..." Grace nods some and thinks this is not going to be an easy feat with her hurting broken ribs and her casted broken leg.
Marian smiles some and coughs.
Grace begins her awkward and kind of painful struggle with dressing the bed.
Marian then comes over and helps. Grace still tries to do the bed. Marian helps and coughs. Grace finishes and does the pillow. Marian coughs and shivers as she tries to help. The bed is finished. Marian coughs some more. "G'night, Marian..."
"Sleep well, Grace." Marian nods and waddles out. She goes to her bedroom and falls easily asleep.
Grace nods and crawls into the bed. She gets out her log. "Dear log...The doctor thinks Edmond should be put into foster care for his protection...Also, I saw a bit more of Bob this morning that I was expecting...Still..." She shakes her head a bit. "Anyway, Bob was put into a drug induced coma tonight because of his pneumonia...I was going to try to see him before he was out down...But I fainted and missed my opportunity...I feel so bad about it..." She sighs. "And Eric says I'm a horrible GLC, Marian says to ignore him...But I think she is just biased and doesn't want to see that I am so bad at my job...I agree with him. I should have been demoted or fired a while back...The base deserves much better than I..." she sighs with a sniff and turns the log off. She then tries to go to sleep.
Immediately in her sleep, waddles a doctor up to her. "Miss…" He starts.
"Yes?" She replies and looks up at the doctor.
"I'm terribly sorry..." He says.
"What do you mean?" Grace asks and looks at him worriedly and confused.
"Your husband, Mrs. Garrison, just died..." He says softly. "They gave him too much sleep medicine. His heart stopped."
"Wh-What?" She stutters and looks at him with tear filled eyes.
"He's dead." The doctor says.
"N-No! He c-can't be!" She starts crying.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. He'll be cremated this noon." He says.
Grace cries. "But what about our chicks?! How will they be without their father? How could you have let this happen to my Bobby?!" She sobs.
"I'm sorry, Mrs." He says. "Mistakes are commonly made by penguins."
Grace just sobs there with her head in her flippers. Two chicks, a small boy and girl are looking at her. "Mama? Where daddy?"
"D-Daddy went to a deep, deep sleep..." She cries and looks at the chicks. "He isn't ever going to wake up..."
The girl chick gasps. "Daddy die?"
The boy just looks a bit confused.
Grace nods and cries. "Daddy died..."
The girl chick starts now crying loudly too. Grace closely hugs both chicks to her as she cries.
Then a phone starts ringing.
Grace wakes from the dream, crying, with a jolt. She tries to compose herself for a second before answering the phone. "GLC Grace Gray." She sniffs.
"Miss." A doctor says. "You need to come to the hospital immediately."
"Eh, okay...Is everything alright?" She asks confused and wipes her eyes with a tissue.
"I'm afraid not, miss."
Grace blinks some and nods. "I'll be over right away..." She says and hangs up. She grabs her log as she gets up. "I just had a nightmare. Apparently Bob and and I were married and had the cutest little boy and girl chicks, that wasn't the bad part...The bad part was he had apparently just died from being put to sleep too much and his heart stopping. I just got a call from the doctor at the hospital. He said I needed to come immediately and that everything isn't okay. I'm so worried." She says and turns the log back off as she hops to the door. She quickly scrawls a note to Marian and slides out from the house. She soon slides worriedly up to the hospital and waddles inside. The doctor waddles immediately up to her.
"What's wrong?" Grace asks.
The doctor looks softly at her. "I'm very sorry… Something went wrong with the oxygen machine of your friend..."
Grace looks at him confused. "What do you mean?"
"Miss… Because of the malfunction of his machines… He choked to death… I'm so very sorry."
"Wha-What?" Grace stutters and looks at him shocked and now with watery eyes.
"These things happen… If you could inform his family miss..." The doctor says.
Grace nods a little and takes a deep and shakey breath. "C-could I see him?" She sniffs.
The doctor shakes his head a little. "Not right away, miss. They are now taking him to the mortuary, you can see him in a few hours."
"O-okay..." She sniffs silently.
The doctor nods and waddles away. Grace sits down in a chair and starts crying.