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x X x
By the time Nancy returned to the room, Catherine had parked herself in the chair and shuffled it as close as possible to the bed. She was sat perfectly still, with her elbows resting on the mattress, propping her head up. She was staring intently at Sara's face, although if the brunette could feel her presence then she wasn't letting on, as she continued to sleep through her treatment.
"She looks like she's in pain." The CSI commented, sensing her sister's arrival without needing to turn around.
"She probably is." Nancy agreed casually, taking a moment to check the IV before picking up Sara's notes.
"I didn't think it was meant to hurt?" Catherine asked with a scowl.
"It can vary from patient to patient," Nancy explained, perching on the end of the bed as she scribbled something on the observation record in barely-legible handwriting. "Some people describe pins and needles, or heaviness in their limbs. Others feel a burning sensation, as if the blood is boiling. It can be quite uncomfortable."
"How long will it last?"
"It can hang around for a few hours after the treatment has finished. After that, she'll probably start to develop flu-like symptoms for a few days."
Catherine sucked in a deep breath, exhaling it slowly as she mulled over this information.
"Twelve weeks." She declared randomly at last.
"Sorry?"
"You said this round of treatment would last twelve weeks."
"Yeah. Fortnightly sessions."
"And she's on medication at home as well?"
Realising that her sister was going to persist in asking questions until she had the full lowdown on the situation, Nancy sighed and returned the clipboard to the end of the bed, fixing Catherine with her full attention.
"Naproxin for mild pain, Codeine for more severe pain and Fentanyl for really bad pain. Aloxi for nausea and vomiting, Ioperamide for diarrhoea, Cimetidine as an anti-histamine."
"Side effects?" Cath pressed on. She hadn't moved, but there was a visible twitch as her jaw clenched while Nancy was listing the symptoms.
"She'll want to sleep, a lot." The nurse nodded towards the slumbering woman as proof of her point. "But that's a good thing. She'll need the rest. And she'll have no appetite, but she'll still need to eat because she's likely to lose weight. She'll be nauseous. She may experience fever and/or chills. Shortness of breath, rash, blisters, itching..."
"Yeah, alright." Cath finally held up a hand to stop her, sinking back in the chair and shaking her long hair out. "How on earth did she think she could cope with this alone?"
"I don't know." Nancy shrugged, offering a short, blunt laugh. "One of the major things that a lot of patients struggle with is the timings. Some meds have to be taken in the morning, some with food, some before bed. They find that they have to set alarms to wake themselves up so that they don't forget. For someone with your shift patterns, it'll be damn near impossible to keep track of."
"How do they manage to keep on top of it?" Cath blinked at her. While she had been sat staring at her dozing friend, contemplating how to help her through the next few months, that was something she hadn't even considered.
"Well, ideally, they'll have a partner, or parent, sibling – someone who can stay with them and help take care of that kind of thing. People like Sara who live alone can have carers attend if they want."
"Is that what she's doing?"
"No, she was offered the service but declined."
"So, what?" Catherine frowned indignantly, gesturing to the IV drip. "When she's finished here, you're just going to send her home to look after herself?"
Nancy proffered a sympathetic smile at her growing frustration. She understood it better than anyone – patients with Sara's kind of stubbornness were often the hardest to deal with, simply because of their refusal to admit how much help they needed.
"She's an adult, Catherine. We can't make her do anything she doesn't want to do."
Catherine narrowed her eyes, settling her gaze back on Sara's serene expression.
"Maybe you can't."
Nancy laughed at the comment, slapping her sibling lightly on the arm.
"Hey, I didn't bring you down here so you could bully her into submission."
"Then why am I here?" Cath asked, genuinely curious as to what her sister's game plan was.
"Because she was hell-bent on dealing with this by herself and it can't be done. Whether she likes it or not, she's going to need support from you guys."
"Don't worry," she breathed, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "She's going to get it. I just need to figure out how to explain that to her."
x X x
Catherine was still contemplating how to convince Sara to accept their help, when the girl finally began to stir.
It took a moment for her to get her bearings. As Nancy had predicted, she appeared to be struggling to move her arms and legs, as if they were weighted down with cement.
She slowly lifted her eyes, seeking out the figure beside the bed. It took a few seconds for the situation to register in her mind, when suddenly she started with surprise.
"Hey, steady." Catherine reached out to grip her shoulders, holding her still.
Sara glanced frantically around the room, before her gaze settled back on Catherine, who continued to eye her warily.
"What are you doing here?" She managed to ask at last.
Catherine didn't move, except to slowly raise one questioning eyebrow.
"Well, they don't let you visit the newborns anymore." She deadpanned.
When Sara continued to blink at her in muted shock, she sighed.
"Why do you think I'm here, Sara?"
A pink blush crept up Sara's cheeks and she shuffled carefully until she was sitting up properly on the bed, her back against the plastic headboard. Dissatisfied with the sudden distance between them, Catherine rose from the chair and moved to perch on the mattress, never breaking contact with her friend's arm.
"How did you know I was here?" Sara mumbled, tugging the blanket up and letting it pool in her lap.
"My sister works here."
"She told you? I didn't think she was allowed to do that."
"She didn't tell me." Catherine amended quickly, recalling Nancy's request to protect her job. "I came down here to drop something off for her ... and imagine my surprise when I found you in here."
Sara fidgeted, toying with the IV in her arm, barely glancing up at her colleague from beneath her lashes.
"Are you mad at me?"
"Yes." The response came sharp, without hesitation. "Sara, why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want you to know." Sara answered in a tone that suggested it was obvious.
"But why?" Catherine pushed. "I mean, you weren't seriously planning on going through this on your own, were you?"
The look on Sara's face suggested that she absolutely was, but she thought better of answering out loud, sensing that it was a rhetorical question anyway.
Catherine exhaled heavily, shaking her head in exasperation.
"Sara ... I thought you and I were friends. Didn't you think I'd want to know about this?"
"Catherine, this doesn't concern you." Sara looked up, attempting to exude more force than she actually had the energy for. Predictably, Cath did not react well to the comment.
"Like hell it doesn't." She retorted. "You don't get to decide that."
"Actually, I do!" Sara snapped back, readjusting her position against the thin pillows and wincing at some undisclosed pain. "I didn't ask you to come down here, Catherine, because I didn't want you here."
"Hey," Nancy entered the room with some trepidation. "She's up. How are we feeling?"
Sara shot Catherine a scowl, before turning to the nurse. She had the same sharp cheekbones and piercing blue eyes as her sister, but her hair was lighter and shaped into a neat bob barely grazing her shoulders. Now that she looked closer, she couldn't believe that she had missed the resemblance before. Of course this woman was related to Catherine Willows.
"Fine, I guess." She muttered.
Nancy took Catherine's arm and hauled her off the bed, allowing her to check Sara's vitals. As she wrapped the blood pressure cuff around the girl's slender arm, a frown settled on her face.
"Your BP's a little high, you feeling alright?"
"Just great." Sara snapped sarcastically, looking at Cath again, who was hovering over Nancy's shoulder, keeping one close eye on the proceedings. Nancy followed her line of sight, quirking an eyebrow.
"No arguing with my patient." She warned sternly.
"We're not arguing." Cath shot back. "I'm just trying to make her understand that she is not the only person this affects."
"I don't want it to affect you. That's why I didn't want you involved." Sara pointed out, wincing again.
"Catherine, I think you should go." Nancy said bluntly, her attention now entirely fixed on her patient.
"Excuse me?" Cath recoiled, visibly affronted by the suggestion.
"Outside, right now."
x X x
The other staff members on shift had spotted her, but were wisely giving her a wide berth as she paced angrily outside the room, repeatedly clawing a hand through her hair.
When Nancy stepped outside the room, ensuring to close the door behind her, Catherine almost jumped on her.
"Well?" She asked with a sense of urgency. "Is she alright?"
"She'll be fine." Nancy took hold of both her arms, guiding her away from the room. "She just needs to rest."
"So, I can go back in..."
"No." Nancy cut her off. "Actually, I need you to leave."
Catherine stopped dead in her attempt to move back towards her colleague.
"What?" She blinked. "I thought you called me down here so I could be there for her? So I could help her with this?"
"If she wanted your help – which clearly she doesn't." Nancy explained gently. "Your presence here is causing her distress and my priority has to be to her welfare. I'm sorry."
"So what the hell am I supposed to do?" Catherine demanded, her voice cracking with unspent anger and frustrated tears. "Just go home, pretend I don't know any of this?"
"Just give her some space, Catherine." Nancy instructed calmly, draping an arm around her shoulder and attempting to guide her towards the exit. "Let me talk to her again once she's calmed down. This is all still a big shock for her, she may need a bit more time before she's ready to accept any help."
Catherine roughly shrugged her off, trying to inch her way back down the hall.
"I can't just walk away." She insisted. "I can't..."
Nancy offered an understanding smile, but her eyes remained hard and clinical and this time when she took her sibling's arm, she exerted just enough strength to make her point crystal clear.
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice." She explained gently. "Right now, Sara is calling the shots, and she doesn't want you here."