Chapter 105

July 23rd, 2024

Rory was just pressing her hair between two layers of a beige cotton towel, drying it, having showered after coming out of the pool. Somehow, it hadn't felt right calling her dad just like that, with pool-soaked hair and in her bathing suit. She needed a more confident exterior for that. Hence she was determined to get dressed.

She wasn't sure what she was going to say exactly, she knew that much that she wasn't aiming to hold back a lot. Even if that meant calling him a coward. It was pretty sure her relationship with her dad was never going to be the same…. it probably already wasn't. The initial damage was done, this was just about getting the answers, putting the face and voice to the words she'd already read.

Rory was just slipping into a simple sleeveless jersey dress, and decided to let her by-now combed hair air dry, as her phone beeped.

The content of the message she received made her let out a deep sigh, a mixture of slight disappointment, even a hint of annoyment. But it did make her slip on her canvas sneakers and gather up her things nonetheless. That was what big sisters did, wasn't it? Even if it was a two hour drive.

In the meanwhile a nurse in purple scrubs was setting G up with an IV drip at Hospital Seyne. Her initial work had just been taken a few minutes ago and G was reluctantly hugging a small yellow bucket into which she was retching every few minutes, not that there was anything left in her stomach. It had taken about an hour for Finn to realize what was going on with her wasn't just a normal hangover, her shakiness and continuous vomiting just seemed off, along with with her paleness, hence he hadn't hesitated much to call an ambulance to check her over.

Dany had slipped off soon enough, once Finn had woken him and without theatrics, even seeming genuinely worried about G for a second there. And under the circumstances none of the three had mentioned their little adventure, having more urgent matters at hand. Finn himself was suspecting alcohol poisoning, though he wasn't sure how that could be since she'd been lucid and coherent before they dozed off. During sex she had definitely not been some limp and lifeless, overly drunk girl, who was barely staying awake, like on might imagine someone with alcohol poisioning. Finn would've never done that to her had that been the case. But what did he know? He was no doctor.

Finn stood by G's bed, stroking her hospital-gowned back, having by now improvised a hair tie for her hair out of a rubber band he'd found at the hotel drawer.

"God, why does this not end?" G's raspy voice groaned. She was lucid, thank god, but just feeling horrible.

"You'll be alright," Finn soothed her, feeling relieved in a small place like that they'd actually gotten to the emergency room very quickly. "Rory's on her way too," he added, glancing to his phone.

"Oh no…," G moaned, not wanting to see her sister. She really didn't want to admit to her a night of that heavy partying, especially not the details. Having Rory come was almost like having the parental figure show up, it didn't even matter that she was already 21 - it felt the same.

"She would've killed me if I hadn't told her," Finn replied, looking over her with convern.

"Now I just might," G mumbled and coughed into the bucket some more. She wanted to joke that the killing would have to wait till she was better, but she was overtaken by another wave of nausea.

Naturally, being by the side of a throwing up girlfriend was no fun, but Finn certainly wasn't going to deseret her on the basis that there was something gross going on with her. She'd stuck by his side just the same.

"So Ms. Georgia Hayden?" a red-haired tall male doctor inquired, as he stepped into her room. "I'm Dr. Waller," he added.

"That's right," the two replied almost in unison.

"I hear you've had a rough night of partying? Does this happen a lot?" he inquired, and neither could really hear a hint of French accent in his tone, which was frankly refreshing, G already having worried that she might not feel up to speaking French at the moment if the doctor didn't speak proper English like it could sometimes happen in smaller hospitals.

"Not a lot," G replied, attempting to take a sip of water Finn was offering her.

"How often would you say?" he continued, there being perhaps a hint of accusatory in his tone, but overall he really did seem to be one of those slightly arrogant doctors - too smart for their own good, and sick of treating partying college kids. But G wasn't really blaming him, she was embarrassed enough to have ended up here with something like this.

"Maybe once a week, this week a couple of times, but it's the first time I've been sick. Hungover... since I don't know… a year ago or something," G replied, and swallowed gag reflex, which was soon followed by another and retched into the bucket some more.

"Did you take anything other than alcohol?" Dr. Waller asked.

"No.. just vodka…," G began, but then added, "Well unless of course kissing someone who might have been on something counts?"

Finn looked at her in confusion. What did she know that he didn't? He'd only really left the two alone for a few minutes, maximum, as far as he recalled. Besides, he'd kissed Dany too and he hadn't felt anything being off. Finn was deep in thought he missed the questioning glance at Finn, the doctor assuming he'd been the one on something.

"If it was right away, then it might. Any idea what it might have been?" Dr. Waller continued, assuming Finn just wasn't going to admit to it.

"A pill of some sort, MDMA maybe? But it wasn't right after, there was no exchange of the pill," G speculated, having seen that done sometimes in movies.

"Any former experience with drugs like that?" he asked.

"I had a bad trip once with cannabis, I haven't touched anything since," G explained, raising up her hands demonstratively.

G was beginning to feel a little better, the hydration drip with some anti-nausea medicine they'd given her was clearly beginning to work. But she still felt cold and weak, definitely not up for walking any time soon.

"Have you been experiencing any of the following symptoms prior to today: frequent urination, high thirst or hunger, extreme fatigue, blurry vision, slow healing bruises or cuts, weight loss, tingling pain in hands or legs?" Dr. Waller listed.

"Umm… no. What are those a list of? Diabetes or something?" G replied, feeling confused. She'd taken human anatomy and health courses in college, she knew these things.

"Your blood sugar was low - 73 mg/dL, hence the shakiness, is my guess. But you also had an elevated CRP level, around 30, which could also be the cause of this, but we need to run a few more tests before we can determine what to treat. An inflammation can make the effects of alcohol worse, even without the potential effects of the pill," he added, sounding a little sceptical as to whether she'd actually taken it too, and making a note to run a tox screen just in case.

G felt very confused, and too sick to really properly think.

"I just need you to answer a few more questions," Dr. Warren spoke, continuing to check whether she wanted to do this with Finn present or not. But she really couldn't think of anything she would have to hide. He asked about tendency of headaches, her diet, all possible types of aches, tingling and fever, even if there was an unusual about of stress in her life to which she could reply that since yesterday she could answer with an affirmative on that.

"Your last period was when?" Dr. Waller asked.

"Where's my phone…," G pondered, really not thinking much of it usually. That's what apps were for. She was the generation that had grown up with apps thinking of stuff like that.

Her phone was in her purse, Finn having carefully packed it.

Finn handed her phone to her and G swiped right a few times finding the Clue app. "Well apparently I am a little late, to be honest," she replied, showing them her app, which indeed indicated her period being 5 days late. She really hadn't been paying much attention to these things, having had so many other things on her mind.

"You're usually fairly regular?" the doctor asked.

"A couple of days here and there..," G replied, glancing carefully at Finn, hoping his mind wasn't galloping in the worrying direction. "But I'm on the shot, I had my last one like four months ago," she added, realizing that she hadn't really told that to Finn before. In this part there had been a lot of trust from his part, but then again - they'd been doing this without protection only for a week and half. And really - had it been 2 days past she really wouldn't have worried herself, she was so used to being careful it only really hit her now that these days she hadn't been all that careful, except for last night - they hadn't been that drunk.

"Alright, we'll run the blood for hGG just in case as well, though my guess for now is that it's more likely something to do with the infection," Dr. Waller added, and excused himself.

G felt weak again, but thankfully her stomach seemed to have settled, and she put her head back down on the pillow, feeling too tired to think too much. But she did worry - she worried Finn would panic, even if the doctor had said it probably wasn't that. She knew how this was something that wasn't ever in his plans, and she didn't aim to put it there. It wasn't in her plans either, but it had the potential to disrupt their dynamic, even perhaps more so than the events of the night before.