Chapter Five
Day One – Evening
The bruising was extensive.
Rick's eyes grew huge as he took in the massive reddish-purple patch spread over Thomas' left shoulder and across his shoulder blade and upper arm and he winced in empathic pain. Now he felt terrible for laughing at his friend earlier although, to be fair, he had no idea it was this serious. Thomas, as usual, had made light of his fall and injury, and he'd rolled with it. Rick gave himself a mental head slap. He'd forgotten his promise to himself to not just take Thomas' word for it when it came to injuries. If anything, this experience would serve to remind him to never make that same mistake again.
"How bad is it?" he asked once Dr Malcolm Pearson finished his examination of Thomas' shoulder. The private investigator was seated on the edge of the examination bed, shirtless, and had been staring at his dangling feet for the past few minutes. At his question, Thomas looked up, and Rick could see that his eyes were dark with pain. Despite the doctor's gentle touch, the younger man had been unable to completely stifle the occasional hiss or control the sharp intake of breath each time the doctor touched or handled a particularly painful area.
Taking a step back from his patient, Dr Pearson said evenly, "Good news – it's not dislocated, but you do have a moderately bad sprain. Your scans showed some damage to your ligaments, but some proper rest…" He paused to level Thomas a pointed look and only continued after the injured man gave him a sheepish nod, "…and an ice pack on it for about 10 to 20 minutes at a time every two hours should help. Do that a few times a day, for the next three days or so, or at least, until the swelling goes down."
Thomas acknowledged the instructions with another nod as he dressed. He moved to get off the bed when the doctor laid a gentle hand on his chest.
"Hold on, I'm not finished yet," Dr Pearson said, grey eyes twinkling behind his glasses and a hint of amusement in his tone. He knew from personal experience how hard it was to keep the PI in the hospital and was thankful he did not have to admit the man this time. He waited until Magnum had settled back on the bed before continuing, "You'll need to wear a sling to immobilise the arm until the pain goes away. I'll reassess the need for it on your next checkup. If all goes well, you should be able to return to your normal activities in a week or two." He glanced at the chart in his hand and then said, "It also looks like you're running a temperature, so I'm prescribing you some medication to reduce the inflammation and pain, which should help bring down your fever." After a brief pause, he smiled. "Okay, now we're done."
Rick chuckled, thankful that the experienced doctor was on call – he'd previously treated Thomas and was well aware of his unique medical history. Plus, Dr Pearson had had moderate success in getting the former Navy SEAL to follow medical advice.
Careful as to not jostle his arm, Thomas got off the bed and grinned at the physician. "Thanks, Doc."
~O~O~O~
Juliet's breath caught in her throat as she took in the dishevelled appearance of her business partner and his current partner in crime. She'd sent them off from La Mariana in perfect health, at least in Rick's case, and they'd returned hours later looking like they'd just been though twelve rounds with a boxer… and lost, terribly – one with badly mussed hair, a rumpled shirt, and a sling on one arm, while the other had light brown hair sticking up at all ends and a shirt smudged with dirt and what she was sure was blood.
She'd felt a measure of relief when Rick had called earlier to update her on their next stop after picking up the Ferrari – she'd originally planned on badgering Magnum into seeing a doctor for his shoulder once he got back but it looked like Rick had done all the heavy lifting for her. Now, watching as they walked towards where she and TC were seated, Juliet wondered if she should have pressed for additional details during the brief call.
Before she could say anything, TC spoke up in astonishment, "Damn, guys... what happened? You two okay? I thought Higgy said you went to the hospital for your shoulder, TM. Please don't tell me that you fought with the security there or worse, the doctors…"
Magnum shook his head, smiling, while Rick choked back a laugh.
"We're both fine, big guy," he said, running a hand through his hair. "It has been an unusual day."
"Let me guess," Higgins sighed, eyeing the injured man. "You ran into some trouble with the car..."
"Not exactly," Magnum answered, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "Don't worry, the Ferrari's fine – there's not a scratch on it."
"Apparently so… since you took all the damage yourself," she replied straight-faced, making TC guffaw and drawing a laugh from her partner.
"Okay, before we get into what happened, give me a few minutes to change out of these clothes and get us some dinner. I don't know about you two but Thomas and I are starving!" Rick stated emphatically as he headed towards his office.
"You're always starving," TC declared, shaking his head. He grinned when Rick paused to ponder his statement before throwing his hands up in the air in agreement. "Wait up, let me give you a hand with the food, brother." Sliding out of the booth, TC stopped before the PI, who looked like he was about to fall asleep on his feet, judging from the slightly glazed expression in his eyes. He gave Thomas a gentle push towards the booth. "Please go sit down, TM, before you fall down."
Acknowledging the concern with a raised hand, Thomas sank into the recently vacated side of the booth with an audible sigh. A wave of pure exhaustion bore down on him and he fought off the temptation to lie down on the seat. His shoulder was still throbbing but at least his headache had lessened somewhat, thanks to the prescribed medication. Shooting Juliet a tired smile, he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He could tell that she was worried, if the sudden change in her expression was any indication, but he needed to rest for just a minute…
He must have dozed off because the next thing he knew, Rick and TC were back, and there was plenty of food piled up on their usual table.
"Hey, you still with us?" Rick asked as he added bottles of beer and water to the fare on the table.
Suppressing a yawn, Thomas cleared his throat, "All good."
Rick's brows furrowed slightly at his answer, his skepticism obvious. However, much to Thomas' relief, other than to exchange a quick glance with TC, he refrained from commenting further. Instead, Rick continued to bustle around the table, making sure that there was enough food and drinks for everyone. A soft snicker caught the PI's attention and he looked towards his right to meet TC's eyes. The big man grinned back at him and Thomas, recognising the look, had to bite his cheek to keep from laughing out loud. Rick in full mother hen mode was always fun to watch.
"Okay, you'd better shift over. I don't think you'll be very comfortable squished into a booth with all of us while wearing that sling," Rick said, and Thomas turned his attention back to the bar owner just in time to see him dragging out a chair. At Thomas' nod, Rick moved over to the other side and pulled out another chair with some flourish. "Jules…?"
"Why, thank you," she replied with a laugh.
Once everyone was seated, Rick rubbed his hands and grinned widely at his friends around the table. "All right, let's dig in!"
~O~O~O~
Midway through the meal, Thomas and Rick took turns updating their friends on what happened.
TC gave both men an incredulous stare when they'd finished speaking and then eyeballed the PI. "You tackled the guy? With that shoulder…? Seriously?"
Thomas leaned back in his seat, feeling full and sleepy, and huffed out a laugh. "It wasn't hurting as much then."
"Carrying the little girl around after everything that happened probably didn't help," Rick pointed out.
"Well, I can't blame her for not wanting to let go," Juliet remarked quietly. "Seeing a loved one get shot would be traumatising for anyone, let alone a four-year-old." She moved the plate of fries nearer to the two men and waited until they'd taken a few before asking, "Any idea what happened to her?"
Rick lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "I poked around while we were waiting for Tommy's turn but all I got was that her mother had picked her up from the hospital."
"You could try asking Katsumoto for her address," Juliet mused. "Maybe then you could look in on them – see how they're coping with everything."
"Good idea," Thomas nodded.
"What about the dad? How's he doing?" TC asked as he reached over for another piece of chicken.
"Last I heard, he was critical but stable," Rick answered. "He lost quite a lot of blood."
TC shook his head. "That sucks, man."
"Yeah." For a moment, Rick was lost in thought. He mentally shook it off and then looked around the table. Almost all the plates were empty and everyone looked like they'd had enough to eat. Even Thomas, with his movements slightly hampered by the sling and who looked like death warmed over, had polished off a reasonable amount of food. Taking in the PI's relaxed posture and heavy-eyed look, Rick knew he'd better get a move on with the final course before the younger man fell asleep at the table.
Standing up, he asked with a grin, "So, who's up for dessert?"
.
A/N: Finally, end of Day One! Thank you all, especially to Lhaven, Sagitarscorpion1, Drjscully, bree1387, Gabb Magra, and Marlab for your continued support for this story.