By mutual agreement, Chris was the first to spend time with Ezra in ICU. When he got his first look at him, he wasn't sure if it was safe to touch him – or even get too close. Ezra was lying so still with a sheet pulled up to his waist. His face was ashen, blending in with the white pillow case he lay on. Dark circles under his eyes gave them a sunken look. Bandages swathed his chest covering the surgical incisions and the gun shot wound. There was a myriad of tubes and wires leading to and from his body. Chris's eyes bounced from one to another knowing – or guessing what each was for.
There was a tube coming out of the left side of Ezra's chest to a box-like contraption on the floor. A tube from that led to a connection on the wall. It was making a bubbling, gurgling sound. It must be the drain Carmichael had told him about. A collection bag with yellow fluid hung toward the foot of the bed. A narrow tube snaked from it to beneath the covers. Chris grimaced slightly at the thought of where the tube went. IV's fed into both of Ezra's arms delivering both blood and clear fluids to him. Clipped to his left index finger was a pulse oximeter and there were sensors stuck to his chest. Next to the bed was a vital signs monitor with a variety of numbers and cardiac tracings on it. Chris understood what some of them were, but wasn't sure what was normal for Ezra's current condition.
The tube that drew Chris's full attention was the one coming out of his friend's mouth leading to the ventilator. As it breathed for Ezra, the machine made a rhythmic whooshing sound that accompanied the soft beeping from the vitals monitor.
Chris slowly approached the bed. He leaned on the bedrail for a moment just looking down at his friend. "Ah, Ezra," he breathed out. His hand hovered over his friend's forehead, but he was hesitant to touch him lest he interfere with all the monitoring equipment.
"It's ok. You can touch him," a nurse said as she came in the cubicle behind Chris. "I know it looks like a lot."
Chris dropped his hand lightly on Ezra's forehead, brushing back the lank hair that fell there. "He's not in pain, is he?"
The nurse moved around to the other side of the bed checking the readouts on the monitoring equipment and the drip of the IV's. "He's being kept sedated, and his pain's being managed," she assured Chris. "We're keeping him as comfortable as possible."
Chris reached for his friend's hand and gave it a squeeze. "We're here for you. Doc's only going to let one of us in here at a time, but we're all here. You keep fighting." He looked over to the nurse. "He can hear me, right?"
"We can't really say with a hundred percent certainty, but it's most likely he can." She twitched the blanket over Ezra then reached across to briefly rest her hand on Chris's. "Keep talking to him. I really do think it helps...and touch him. Let him know you're here. I know Dr. Carmichael is making an exception for you and his other friends to sit with him. I'm glad he is. I really do think the presence of loved ones helps."
"Yeah," Chris said with a nod. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. My name's Maureen. Just let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks. I will." Chris waited until Maureen left to look around for a place to sit. The ICU cubicle was small but there was a chair pushed into the corner. He pulled it over to the side of the bed and sat. He picked up Ezra's hand again, giving it another squeeze. "I'm only going to be here for a few more minutes. The other guys are waiting outside to come and see you. After that, one of us will stay with you for a few hours at a time." He let out a small huff of laughter. "You'll probably start chasing us away once you're awake and feeling more yourself. We're gonna be here with you every step of the way until then." He waited a beat as if he expected Ezra to answer him, but there was only silence broken by the beeping and whooshing of all the medical paraphernalia.
After a few more minutes, he gave Ezra's hand another little squeeze. "I'm gonna go now, but one of the others will be right in." He slowly got up from the chair, gave one last look at the man lying in the bed, then resolutely left the ICU cubicle. As he passed the nurse's station, he nodded at Maureen then continued out of ICU and to the nearby waiting room. When he walked into it, five heads swiveled in his direction at once. Only the members of Team Seven had moved to the ICU waiting room from the surgical floor. Chris could see the questions in the eyes of all his friends.
"He's...uh...he's hooked up to a lot of stuff. The nurse said he's not in pain." He shrugged a little. "He looks like he's sleeping. Nathan, why don't you go on back there next," he suggested knowing how much almost losing Ezra had affected the medic.
"Sure," Nathan said as he got up. He looked around at the others. "Unless one of you wants to go first." Quickly, the others all encouraged Nathan to go.
Over the next hour and half, each man went back to sit with Ezra for fifteen or twenty minutes getting the opportunity to see him and reassure themselves that he was still alive and fighting.
JD was the last to go. "We need to figure out a schedule," he said once he'd returned fifteen minutes later.
"Been working on that." Chris showed him a sheet of paper where he'd written down a rough schedule. "I figure if each of us spends four hours with him a day, there'll be someone here with him constantly." He handed the paper over to Vin and gestured for him to pass it around. "If what I've figured out there isn't good, we can rework it."
Each man looked at the paper and offered suggestions. After a few tweaks, they had a schedule figure out. It was now six in the evening. Josiah would take the first shift and Vin would be back at ten to relieve him.
"I'll grab you a sandwich or something from the cafeteria," Buck volunteered as Josiah was leaving the waiting room. "I'll leave it at the nurse's station for you."
Josiah nodded his thanks, then asked the question they hadn't thought of until then. "What about when Maude gets here. She's his next of kin. She might decide she wants to stay with him instead."
"We'll figure that out when she gets here," Chris said. "Besides, Ezra drew up some paperwork a couple of months back. He appointed me as his medical proxy and gave me his durable power of attorney... said he didn't trust Maude to make decisions in his best interest...especially if they were hard ones." He saw the expected surprise on the faces of the others.
Vin let out a low whistle. "I got a feeling she ain't going to like that too much."
"Probably not, but it's all nice and legal. Ezra's lawyer took care of it and Travis signed as a witness. She'd have to take it to court."
"And if she does?" Josiah asked.
Chris scrubbed a hand back through his hair. This was not a discussion he wanted to have. When he'd agreed to Ezra's request, he never thought anything would actually come of it or he'd have to make any decisions. "I guess I fight her. Ezra had a reason to ask me to do this. I'm going to go with his wishes."
"Let's pray it doesn't come to that," Josiah said before leaving the waiting room to sit with Ezra.
"Yeah. Let's hope," Chris agreed. He looked around at the other four. "Ok, we've got a schedule. Let's clear out of here. No sense in getting underfoot and having Carmichael change his mind." Wisely, none of the others disagreed and, together, the five left hospital although their thoughts were still in the room with Ezra.