Paybacks
Chapter 26
*******
NO MEDICAL BACKGROUND
*****
"Faith what's wrong?" asked a nervous Sully when he saw her.
"That nurse! What a bitch! Bosco had slid down some in the bed, and was really uncomfortable. He kept trying to move himself, but I was afraid he would hurt himself. So I got the nurse, and the idiot grabbed him under the arms to pull him up!" Faith was fuming, "She grabbed him right where he was shot! He was in so much pain she had to drug him. The only way she could fix her mistake was to pump him full of drugs to make him fall asleep! How the hell is he going to get any better with that nurse causing more damage!?"
"I knew I didn't like her."
"Yeah, well I'm going to have a little chat with her supervisor!" Faith stormed off, and walked right past Davis without saying a word.
He watched her as she went by. "What's up with her?" he asked indicating Faith with his thumb, and turning to watch as she got in the elevator at the end of the hall.
"Yokas is on the rampage. Bosco's nurse was trying to help him move up in the bed, and grabbed his gunshot wound. Guess the lady had to drug him because he was in so much pain. Now someone's going to get the wrath of Faith."
"Maybe we should go down to the chapel and pray for them," grinned Davis.
"No kidding. Remind me never to cross Faith."
Faith wasn't gone very long. "So who'd you bitch out?" asked Ty.
"No one. Supervisor won't be in until later."
It was 1:15 when everyone's "favorite" nurse came to inform them that Bosco had awakened from his drug-induced nap. Faith went to hold Bosco's hand, and was outraged by what she saw. "Why is he in restraints?!" she screamed at the nurse. Ty and Sully stood there in shock. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Why is my partner in restraints?!"
The nurse slowly strolled over. "Because when he woke up he was trying to pull out his ventilator tube, and he managed to pull out his IV. He was very combative. It's standard procedure to put people who act like that in restraints."
Bosco just lay there listening to them talk about him as if he wasn't there. He wished he could say something, but he knew trying to talk was out of the question. Last time he tried to say something was when the nurse slapped on the restraints. She hadn't been real happy with him.
"Did you even bother to try and figure out why he was trying to pull the tubes out? Ever think maybe he was afraid you might have to drug him again?!" Faith wasn't even trying to be nice.
"He can't talk! How exactly was I supposed to communicate with him?"
"Ever tried paper and pen? Geez, and supposedly you've been trained to work at a hospital."
While this exchange was taking place Sully went to the nurses' station, and came back with a notepad and a pencil which he handed to Faith.
"Bos? You up to writing? Wanna tell me what's wrong?" She put the pencil in his hand, and placed the notepad on the bed under his hand.
He was writing blindly because he wasn't able to position himself to see what he was doing. Bosco was very weak, and it took him a very long time to write. Not only because of being so weak, but because his mind was still cloudy from all the medications and the concussion. Finally he finished writing, and looked at Faith. She took the hint, and read what he had written. "Back hurts. Uncomfortable." Faith looked at the nurse who was now looking at Bosco.
"You just had surgery. They basically ripped your chest apart to fix your lung. Your back is going to hurt, and you're going to be uncomfortable!" She said rather unpleasantly before walking away.
Faith started after her, but Sully stopped her. "Whoa Faith. Don't go doing anything you're going to regret."
"Oh I won't regret it!" Once again she tried to push past Sully.
"Faith I'm serious."
"So am I!"
"Look, you can get her later. Right now you should just hang out here with your partner while his awake. We'll go see if her supervisor is in yet."
Faith tried to compose herself. "Yeah, OK." She went back to Bosco's side. His eyes were smiling. "What?"
"U," he wrote. She smiled.
"So is there something I can do to try and help you?"
Faith waited patiently as he wrote, and then read his reply. "Don't leave me alone with that bitch."
She chuckled, smiled at him, and put her hand on the top of his head. "I'm serious," he wrote.
"OK. I won't leave. Even if I have to drop her like a bad habit in order to stay."
He gave her his best lopsided grin around the ventilator tube. Faith pulled up the chair that was sitting in the corner, and sat down. But she realized that if she sat down she couldn't hold his hand because the restraints were in the way, so she stood up and removed them. "That's better."
He nodded
*****
The nurse never bothered to come back to check on Bosco or kick Faith out. She was just lucky that Bosco had fallen asleep on his own, and didn't need a pain pill yet. Otherwise Faith would have really flipped out on her for not doing her job.
At the three o'clock shift change another nurse came in. "Hi I'm Stephanie. I'll be Officer Boscorelli's nurse for the next eight hours."
"Hope you're better than the last one," griped Faith.
"Why? What happened with Bridget?"
Faith explained everything that had happened, and what was said. "Oh dear," said Stephanie. "She never should have treated him that way. How awful."
Bosco started to stir, and opened his eyes. He blinked a few times until everything came into focus. "Hey Bos. Your back still hurt?" He nodded. "This is Stephanie. Let's see if she can help you."
Remembering what happened earlier, and all the pain he quickly shook his head. "Bos she's a lot nicer than the last one."
Stephanie looked at Bosco. "I promise I'll be gentle. Can I help you?"
Bosco began to write on the paper that was still under his hand. "Please."
Stephanie walked behind him, and he braced himself for the pain that he assumed was coming. "Oh you're kidding me," came the nurse's voice from behind Bosco.
"What?"
"These are air mattresses, and this one doesn't have any air in it! No wonder your back hurts. You're basically laying on the frame. I can't believe she didn't notice that."
The nurse called maintenance, and they came to inflate Bosco's mattress. After that Bosco felt, and looked more comfortable.
*****
Faith was allowed to stay with Bosco in the ICU for longer periods of time for the majority of the day, but Stephanie and the next nurse to come in made her leave occasionally so Bosco could concentrate on resting.
Everyone felt that the extra time Faith was able to spend with Bosco was good for both of them. Faith was able to see the small but steady improvements in his condition, and her presence helped remind Bosco that the painful recovery was worth it.
*****
It had been two days since Bosco had been shot. Faith hadn't left the hospital, and Fred was being the perfect husband. He was bringing her everything she needed, and was very supportive.
Faith had gotten Bridget, the bitchy nurse, fired. Bosco had gotten a real kick out of that. He wished he could have been there when Faith had finally talked to her supervisor. But knowing his partner he was sure the lady had been shaking in her boots.
Sully had informed Faith that Bosco's mom wanted her to call. He also told Faith that she sounded drunk when he had talked to her, and she had said something about Faith being better for Bosco anyway. Faith had called Angela to update her on her son's condition, but kept getting the answering machine. So she kept leaving messages. After about the eighth attempt to contact her Sully finally asked Faith what the deal was with Mrs. Boscorelli. Faith had sighed. "Sully, Bos doesn't have a very good family life. Not too many people would understand. Let's just leave it at that."
*****
The morning of the third day the nurse came to get her. "Faith," all the nurses were now on a first name basis with her. "We just took him off the ventilator. You can come talk to him for a little while. We'll be moving him to a private room later today."
Faith hopped up, and rushed to see her partner. She couldn't wait to see him without that hideous tube coming out of his mouth.
"Hey Bosco!"
"Hi," came his very raspy, weak voice.
"Even though your mouth gets us in a load of trouble sometimes, it's really good to hear your voice."
"Bite…me." It still hurt when he breathed, so he had to take his time talking. He swallowed hard, and closed his eyes.
"You OK?"
"Yeah…just hurts…some."
"I bet. Hey they're going to move you to a private room today. Maybe you can get rid of some of these other machines too." He still had a chest tube in, and then of course a heart monitor along with a couple other tubes and wires she was unsure about.
"Faith?"
"Yeah Bos."
"How come I can't…move my left arm?" He looked a little panicked. It was the first time he had been thinking clearly enough to realize that he couldn't move it.
"Sorry, I can't believe no one told you. Well, you were shot right about here," she lifted her arm and pointed to the approximate spot on her own body. "So it caused some pretty severe damage to your muscles."
He nodded as he absorbed the information. "Will it heal?…Will I be able…to move it?"
Faith squeezed his hand, and tried to smile. "They aren't sure Bos."
He closed his eyes, and leaned back into the pillow. "Damn," he swore softly.
"It'll be OK Bos."
"You don't know that…I won't be…a cop anymore."
"Bosco you gotta take this one step at a time. Don't think about that right now. You're alive, and that's the important thing."
He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. "I'm getting tired."
"OK. You rest, I'll see you later."
*****
The detectives were in the waiting room when Faith got back. "Yokas. We finally got the tape," Don held it up. "Can you come down to the station? Maybe you can ID the guy in the video."
"I don't want to leave him."
"Come on Faith. This is important. We'll have somebody drive you right back when we're done."
She thought about it for a minute. "Yeah, all right. Just let me go tell the nurse where I'm going."
*****
When they got to the station they went into the roll call room to watch the surveillance video. Faith was nervous. This would either nail the guy, or tell them absolutely nothing. She saw that Sully and Davis were standing outside the room. "Those two are here kinda early. Wonder why," she thought to herself.
Hank put the video in. It was already cued to the proper spot. Faith watched anxiously as she saw a man breaking into Fred's truck. His back was to the camera. "Turn around. Turn around." Faith kept saying to herself. Finally the man turned around.
"That son of a bitch!" Faith jumped out of her chair, and rushed into the hall. "Sully I need a ride. Davis grab another car and follow us!"
"What's going on?" asked a startled Davis.
"You ID him?" asked Sully.
"Hurry the hell up!" Sully and Davis ran to catch up with Faith.
"Yokas! Yokas get back here!" yelled Don. "Where the hell do you think you're going?! YOKAS!"
Just a note: that no air in the mattress thing actually happened to my dad after he had heart surgery (well, all except the restraint thing, and the chick getting fired…though my mom tried to have her canned!) And she actually made the crack about his chest being ripped open…. great bedside manner. But a nurse named Stephanie came to my dad's aid. Thanks to Stephanie where ever she is!!!
Chapter 26
*******
NO MEDICAL BACKGROUND
*****
"Faith what's wrong?" asked a nervous Sully when he saw her.
"That nurse! What a bitch! Bosco had slid down some in the bed, and was really uncomfortable. He kept trying to move himself, but I was afraid he would hurt himself. So I got the nurse, and the idiot grabbed him under the arms to pull him up!" Faith was fuming, "She grabbed him right where he was shot! He was in so much pain she had to drug him. The only way she could fix her mistake was to pump him full of drugs to make him fall asleep! How the hell is he going to get any better with that nurse causing more damage!?"
"I knew I didn't like her."
"Yeah, well I'm going to have a little chat with her supervisor!" Faith stormed off, and walked right past Davis without saying a word.
He watched her as she went by. "What's up with her?" he asked indicating Faith with his thumb, and turning to watch as she got in the elevator at the end of the hall.
"Yokas is on the rampage. Bosco's nurse was trying to help him move up in the bed, and grabbed his gunshot wound. Guess the lady had to drug him because he was in so much pain. Now someone's going to get the wrath of Faith."
"Maybe we should go down to the chapel and pray for them," grinned Davis.
"No kidding. Remind me never to cross Faith."
Faith wasn't gone very long. "So who'd you bitch out?" asked Ty.
"No one. Supervisor won't be in until later."
It was 1:15 when everyone's "favorite" nurse came to inform them that Bosco had awakened from his drug-induced nap. Faith went to hold Bosco's hand, and was outraged by what she saw. "Why is he in restraints?!" she screamed at the nurse. Ty and Sully stood there in shock. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Why is my partner in restraints?!"
The nurse slowly strolled over. "Because when he woke up he was trying to pull out his ventilator tube, and he managed to pull out his IV. He was very combative. It's standard procedure to put people who act like that in restraints."
Bosco just lay there listening to them talk about him as if he wasn't there. He wished he could say something, but he knew trying to talk was out of the question. Last time he tried to say something was when the nurse slapped on the restraints. She hadn't been real happy with him.
"Did you even bother to try and figure out why he was trying to pull the tubes out? Ever think maybe he was afraid you might have to drug him again?!" Faith wasn't even trying to be nice.
"He can't talk! How exactly was I supposed to communicate with him?"
"Ever tried paper and pen? Geez, and supposedly you've been trained to work at a hospital."
While this exchange was taking place Sully went to the nurses' station, and came back with a notepad and a pencil which he handed to Faith.
"Bos? You up to writing? Wanna tell me what's wrong?" She put the pencil in his hand, and placed the notepad on the bed under his hand.
He was writing blindly because he wasn't able to position himself to see what he was doing. Bosco was very weak, and it took him a very long time to write. Not only because of being so weak, but because his mind was still cloudy from all the medications and the concussion. Finally he finished writing, and looked at Faith. She took the hint, and read what he had written. "Back hurts. Uncomfortable." Faith looked at the nurse who was now looking at Bosco.
"You just had surgery. They basically ripped your chest apart to fix your lung. Your back is going to hurt, and you're going to be uncomfortable!" She said rather unpleasantly before walking away.
Faith started after her, but Sully stopped her. "Whoa Faith. Don't go doing anything you're going to regret."
"Oh I won't regret it!" Once again she tried to push past Sully.
"Faith I'm serious."
"So am I!"
"Look, you can get her later. Right now you should just hang out here with your partner while his awake. We'll go see if her supervisor is in yet."
Faith tried to compose herself. "Yeah, OK." She went back to Bosco's side. His eyes were smiling. "What?"
"U," he wrote. She smiled.
"So is there something I can do to try and help you?"
Faith waited patiently as he wrote, and then read his reply. "Don't leave me alone with that bitch."
She chuckled, smiled at him, and put her hand on the top of his head. "I'm serious," he wrote.
"OK. I won't leave. Even if I have to drop her like a bad habit in order to stay."
He gave her his best lopsided grin around the ventilator tube. Faith pulled up the chair that was sitting in the corner, and sat down. But she realized that if she sat down she couldn't hold his hand because the restraints were in the way, so she stood up and removed them. "That's better."
He nodded
*****
The nurse never bothered to come back to check on Bosco or kick Faith out. She was just lucky that Bosco had fallen asleep on his own, and didn't need a pain pill yet. Otherwise Faith would have really flipped out on her for not doing her job.
At the three o'clock shift change another nurse came in. "Hi I'm Stephanie. I'll be Officer Boscorelli's nurse for the next eight hours."
"Hope you're better than the last one," griped Faith.
"Why? What happened with Bridget?"
Faith explained everything that had happened, and what was said. "Oh dear," said Stephanie. "She never should have treated him that way. How awful."
Bosco started to stir, and opened his eyes. He blinked a few times until everything came into focus. "Hey Bos. Your back still hurt?" He nodded. "This is Stephanie. Let's see if she can help you."
Remembering what happened earlier, and all the pain he quickly shook his head. "Bos she's a lot nicer than the last one."
Stephanie looked at Bosco. "I promise I'll be gentle. Can I help you?"
Bosco began to write on the paper that was still under his hand. "Please."
Stephanie walked behind him, and he braced himself for the pain that he assumed was coming. "Oh you're kidding me," came the nurse's voice from behind Bosco.
"What?"
"These are air mattresses, and this one doesn't have any air in it! No wonder your back hurts. You're basically laying on the frame. I can't believe she didn't notice that."
The nurse called maintenance, and they came to inflate Bosco's mattress. After that Bosco felt, and looked more comfortable.
*****
Faith was allowed to stay with Bosco in the ICU for longer periods of time for the majority of the day, but Stephanie and the next nurse to come in made her leave occasionally so Bosco could concentrate on resting.
Everyone felt that the extra time Faith was able to spend with Bosco was good for both of them. Faith was able to see the small but steady improvements in his condition, and her presence helped remind Bosco that the painful recovery was worth it.
*****
It had been two days since Bosco had been shot. Faith hadn't left the hospital, and Fred was being the perfect husband. He was bringing her everything she needed, and was very supportive.
Faith had gotten Bridget, the bitchy nurse, fired. Bosco had gotten a real kick out of that. He wished he could have been there when Faith had finally talked to her supervisor. But knowing his partner he was sure the lady had been shaking in her boots.
Sully had informed Faith that Bosco's mom wanted her to call. He also told Faith that she sounded drunk when he had talked to her, and she had said something about Faith being better for Bosco anyway. Faith had called Angela to update her on her son's condition, but kept getting the answering machine. So she kept leaving messages. After about the eighth attempt to contact her Sully finally asked Faith what the deal was with Mrs. Boscorelli. Faith had sighed. "Sully, Bos doesn't have a very good family life. Not too many people would understand. Let's just leave it at that."
*****
The morning of the third day the nurse came to get her. "Faith," all the nurses were now on a first name basis with her. "We just took him off the ventilator. You can come talk to him for a little while. We'll be moving him to a private room later today."
Faith hopped up, and rushed to see her partner. She couldn't wait to see him without that hideous tube coming out of his mouth.
"Hey Bosco!"
"Hi," came his very raspy, weak voice.
"Even though your mouth gets us in a load of trouble sometimes, it's really good to hear your voice."
"Bite…me." It still hurt when he breathed, so he had to take his time talking. He swallowed hard, and closed his eyes.
"You OK?"
"Yeah…just hurts…some."
"I bet. Hey they're going to move you to a private room today. Maybe you can get rid of some of these other machines too." He still had a chest tube in, and then of course a heart monitor along with a couple other tubes and wires she was unsure about.
"Faith?"
"Yeah Bos."
"How come I can't…move my left arm?" He looked a little panicked. It was the first time he had been thinking clearly enough to realize that he couldn't move it.
"Sorry, I can't believe no one told you. Well, you were shot right about here," she lifted her arm and pointed to the approximate spot on her own body. "So it caused some pretty severe damage to your muscles."
He nodded as he absorbed the information. "Will it heal?…Will I be able…to move it?"
Faith squeezed his hand, and tried to smile. "They aren't sure Bos."
He closed his eyes, and leaned back into the pillow. "Damn," he swore softly.
"It'll be OK Bos."
"You don't know that…I won't be…a cop anymore."
"Bosco you gotta take this one step at a time. Don't think about that right now. You're alive, and that's the important thing."
He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. "I'm getting tired."
"OK. You rest, I'll see you later."
*****
The detectives were in the waiting room when Faith got back. "Yokas. We finally got the tape," Don held it up. "Can you come down to the station? Maybe you can ID the guy in the video."
"I don't want to leave him."
"Come on Faith. This is important. We'll have somebody drive you right back when we're done."
She thought about it for a minute. "Yeah, all right. Just let me go tell the nurse where I'm going."
*****
When they got to the station they went into the roll call room to watch the surveillance video. Faith was nervous. This would either nail the guy, or tell them absolutely nothing. She saw that Sully and Davis were standing outside the room. "Those two are here kinda early. Wonder why," she thought to herself.
Hank put the video in. It was already cued to the proper spot. Faith watched anxiously as she saw a man breaking into Fred's truck. His back was to the camera. "Turn around. Turn around." Faith kept saying to herself. Finally the man turned around.
"That son of a bitch!" Faith jumped out of her chair, and rushed into the hall. "Sully I need a ride. Davis grab another car and follow us!"
"What's going on?" asked a startled Davis.
"You ID him?" asked Sully.
"Hurry the hell up!" Sully and Davis ran to catch up with Faith.
"Yokas! Yokas get back here!" yelled Don. "Where the hell do you think you're going?! YOKAS!"
Just a note: that no air in the mattress thing actually happened to my dad after he had heart surgery (well, all except the restraint thing, and the chick getting fired…though my mom tried to have her canned!) And she actually made the crack about his chest being ripped open…. great bedside manner. But a nurse named Stephanie came to my dad's aid. Thanks to Stephanie where ever she is!!!