Chapter 7 : Off machines
Chris had a lump in her throat. What was he about to say? She was stressed. Was Molly wrong when she told her earlier Jim could be unplug from the machines that helped him to breath very soon.
"Glad to see you, Miss Alonso. Could we talk for a minute? Won't be long, I promise."
"Ok." Chris nodded. She was not able to tell more. She was eaten up by anxiety.
"I don't know of you are aware of this but Mr. Street named you his legal representative in case he was not able to make decisions on his own. Which is clearly the case here."
"I.. Um.. I… Um… Didn't know this…"
"Don't worry… Jim is fine at the moment… Just you to sign some documents to authorize me to unplug the machines as he's able to breathe on his own. Would you agree to do it tonight so M. Street will be freed from the machine tomorrow morning?"
"Yeah… Of course, if you think this is the right move to do."
"It is, Miss Alonso. Mr. Street is recovering well, just need to wake up but you know sometimes it can take a few moment before he wakes up. Medicine is really advanced now but human body still remains a mystery. Hopefully he won't be long, but it's up to Mr. Street to come back among us."
She sighed deeply. She hoped Street had heard the doctor, that he will be awake soon so they can argue again.
"If you want to follow me, the papers are at the nurses's station."
She followed Dr. Paulsen, letting first her fingers brushed Jim's arm. She listened to Dr Paulsen explaining to her the different steps he will follow to remove Jim from the machines.
"Would be great if you could be here when I do it."
"My shift starts at 10AM tomorrow…"
"Can be here at 7, is it ok for you?"
"Be there."
She signed the last papers and came back to Jim's room. She sat on the chair and quickly felt asleep. She was exhausted.
[…]
She was waking up by Tabitha at 6:30AM. "Time to wake up, Chris. Doc is there in 30 minutes. Today is a great day. Here is a little coffee for you."
She slowly emerged from sleeping. She ribbed her eyes, stretched and went to the tiny bathroom to clean up and put her clothes on. She folded her pajamas and went to the locker room to hide it in one of the locker. She was still tired but she needed to be here for Jim. She waved at the nurses and came back to the bedroom. She drank her cup of coffee and ate the piece of pastries Tabitha had saved for her. She finished just in time. Dr. Paulsen pushed the door as she was swallowing the last mouthful.
"Did you sleep well, Miss Alonso? Ready for the great moment?"
Chris nodded. "Let's go." Tabitha joined them. They placed on either side of the bed and started to unplug Street, letting him some ties to get used to breath on his own again. Chris was stressed, she fidgeted her hands, not knowing what to do with.
"It's Ok. It's gonna be Ok." Tabitha told her.
Chris nodded at her, smiling despite the fear growing in Chris's whole body at the moment. They continued to follow the procedure. In less than thirty minutes, Jim was breathing his own.
"Perfect, first step of Mr. Street's recovery. Everything went well, his vitals are good. Tabitha, here, will check on him all day."
"And I'll send you regular updates!"
"Enjoy some moments with your friend without the sound of the machines before going to work. Have a good day, Miss Alonso."
Dr. Paulsen went out of the room while Tabitha tidied all the machines. In less than ten minutes, she had replaced the noisy devices with small screens indicating Jim's vitals. She left the room, winking at Chris before closing the door.
"I'm sure he'll come back to you soon."
Chris enjoyed the next two hour to talk to Jim. She was not very talkative but she did the efforts to explain to him all that had happened this morning.
"Now it's up to you to wake up and explain to us what you have been through… To me… It's been a while since we last talked. I'm kind of missing our conversations… Even if sometimes you have the gift to annoy me like hell."
She stood up from this chair she knew by heart. Every of its nook and cranny. Every fold. And she took Jim's hand.
"Please don't fail me. I promise I'll make myself forgive."
She remained like this till she had no other choice than to go to work. "Be back tonight with new work stories. I'm sure you're already impatient. See you tonight."
She hardly let go of his hand, wished the nurses a good day and walked to her car. She drove to SWAT HQ and parked her car in the yard. A new day had come and she couldn't wait to kick criminals asses.
[…]
Molly arrived at the hospital in the afternoon. She didn't have to be in court this afternoon so she decided to come and work next to Jim. She greeted the medical staff and rushed to Jim's room. She dropped her files on the little table and turned to Jim.
"Hey Jim, this is me and… Oh my God, where are the machines? Are you breathing on your own? When did this happen? The doctor told me you were about to be unplugged but…"
She got out of the bedroom and walked to the nurses's station, looking for someone. "Sorry, I'm looking for ? Is he here?"
"I'm sorry he's in the OR, but may I help you?" Andy proposed gently.
"That would be so kind of you. I'm Jim Street's girlfriend, I've just been in his room and the machines are gone. Not that I'm not happy about it. But I'm wondering who allowed this… I thought papers needed to be signed…"
"Let me call my boss. She could help you with this."
Andy disappeared in one of the room and came back with Tabitha a few minutes later.
"Molly, this is Tabitha, the nurse in charge, she could answer your questions."
Molly thanked Andy before she left. "So Andy told me you have questions about Mr. Street."
"Yes, thanks for taking the time. I just came here and saw Jim is no longer connected to machines. I mean, I'm very glad about this but I'm wondering how it is possible as the doctor told about papers to sign yesterday when he told me about it."
"Mr. Street was freed from the machines early this morning. Miss Alonso is her legal responsible and she gave her consent to Dr. Paulsen last night."
"So she was there last night?"
Tabitha realized she might have said too much. "Oh yes, she came after Dr. Paulsen called her to sign the papers. SWAT direction informed us in the evening that Miss Alonso was the legal designed representant for Mr. Street. So we called her and she offered to come after work. And she eventually stayed a little to talk to him about the process."
"So she talked to Jim?"
"Yes, she spent a little while with him to explain what the doctor had told her. And then she got back home. Will probably come back tonight. She often comes after work."
Molly nodded, moaning slightly. Tabitha could feel she was a little pissed. It was probably complicated to handle that Jim hadn't changed the contact details about his legal representant. From what she had understood talking from time to time with Chris, Molly and Jim were together for more than a year. Enough time to change this kind of information. To be honest, when they first saw them come into the ICU after Jim was operated, they had all thought Molly was his sister and Chris his girlfriend. She watched Molly came back to the room and got back to work.
[…]
The whole team came after work. Molly was still there. Tabitha was surprised when she saw Chris with all her teammates. She waved at her discreetly. Chris told the team she needed to see some things with the nurses before visiting Jim.
"Hey Tabitha. Is everything ok with Street?"
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry he's fine. Just for you to know. Talked to Molly this afternoon. She was concerned because Jim was not connected to the machines anymore and wondered why. I told her you were his legal representant. But I felt like she was not really happy about it. And I may have almost slipped about you being here at nights. But I fixed this one telling you were often coming here after work."
Chris was shaken by Tabitha's words. Last thing she was expecting but when she thought of it, it was logical. It was weird she was Jim's legal guardian when Molly was his girlfriend. She will talk about it with Jim when he was awake.
She joined the rest of the team in the waiting room when they were all. Molly was still in the room and they didn't want to bother her. "Maybe you should go first, Chris… I mean you're the one closer to Molly among us…" Luca tried to find a solution to the situation.
Right now, Chris would rather pass her turn and go and hide in a corner, away from civilization. But she raised her head and promised her colleagues and friends to do her best so they could see Jim soon. She stood up from the chair she was seated in and walked till the ICU. When she arrived in Jim's room, she stopped for a minute in front of the door to gather all the strength she needed to confront Molly. She took one last deep breath and knocked at the door.
"Hey Molly. How are you?" Chris dreamed she just answered something random, grabbed her stuff and went away. But she also knew it was not Molly's style. She loved to talk, to have explanations.
"Hi Chris. Learned you authorized Dr. Paulsen to remove Jim from the machines. That's …Great."
Chris noticed the pause she did between the last two words. She was annoyed by the situation. But at least she went straight to the point. She respected this.
"Dr. Paulsen called me last evening. When I came here he explained to me I was Street's legal representant. SWAT told him about this earlier. I didn't even know I was. I guess he chose me years ago and forgot to change the name… You know you think things like this always happen to others…"
She knew she was trying to justify Jim's move, to justify her position. It should not have been like this because Jim should not have been here. It should have been her instead and everything would have been easier.
"Not mad at you, Chris. It's just that it hurts I'm not his trustworthy person… But glad it's you… You two have this deep connection." She lowered her head as she told the last sentence. "Anyway, have a nice evening, Chris. Time to go home for me, have to get up very early tomorrow in the morning."
She gathered her stuff and got out of the room. "Bye Chris."
Chris was disturbed by this interaction. It just felt weird. Not to think too much about it, she went to see the boys to tell them, they were free to go and see Jim. Molly had to go home because she was working on a big case. Hondo and Deac went first, then Tan and Luca. She remained in the waiting room. She will go after them. She took time to scroll her phone, she had so many unread messages to answer.
"Hey!" She raised her head. Hondo was right here, in front of her.
"Hey boss."
"You look tired, Chris. You should rest in a real bed, you know."
"What are you talking about? I…"
"Not to me, Chris. I know you're staying here… Often… Maybe most of the nights… I mean it's adorable from you to be so dedicated to Jim. But maybe you should take some time for you. To get rest, you look exhausted."
She felt the tears coming to her eyes. She did her best to retain them.
"I need to be here… He's here because of me, Hondo. You don't get it…"
"Chris, he's here because of his job. As we could all be. Now take your stuff and go home, this is an order. I want you at 100% on the ground tomorrow. Don't even think about discussing it." He ended his sentence while she lay her big dark eyes on him.
"Just let me say good night to Jim…"
"Won't go anywhere."
She rushed to Jim's room and met Luca and Tan on her way. She smiled at them and went to hide in Jim's room.
"Couldn't be there with you tonight… Hondo ordered me to go back home. Not really want this... I promise I'll be back tomorrow early. Just time to sleep some hours in my bed. Sorry…"
Her voice broke. She brushed his hand with her fingers, just for him to know he was not alone. She left the room. She felt bad but she really needed to sleep, Hondo was right. She told the nurses she will be back in the early morning. She needed some real rest in a bed.
"See you tomorrow, then, Chris."
"Thanks Andy."
And she ran out of the ICU with a guilty feeling. Hondo escorted her to her car and she drove home. She felt asleep in her large bed before she could remember anything else. She was so tired. She was waking up hours later. Her phone was ringing. She raised her head from the pillow and answered.
"Chris you need to come right away!" It was Andy and the tone of her voice was really not good. "It's Jim. He's in cardiac arrest."
She jumped from her bed like crazy, grabbed her jeans and tee-shirt on the stool, put them in a hurry and ran to her car. Time was running out.