Frank was subjected to many tests for the next couple of hours, and the team anxiously awaited the results as they sat in his room in the cardiac ICU, where Frank still slept off the sedative.
Frank awoke to the sound of voices, and when he opened his eyes he was greeted with four very happy, smiling faces.
"Hey," said Alex. "How do you feel?"
Frank blinked a few times, not completely awake. "Sore," he said.
"You really had a number done on you this time, boss," said Cody.
"Aside from your dislocated shoulder," said Monica. "You have some bruised ribs."
Frank sighed, irked to hear that. Saying nothing, he looked up at the heart monitor, which seemed to be beeping at a fast—but regular—rhythm.
"They put you through a bunch of tests," said Jake. "We haven't heard anything yet."
Frank sighed again, remaining quiet.
"They caught Lazarro," Jake told him.
Frank's eyebrows shot up. "They did?"
Everyone nodded. "They nabbed him on his roof," said Alex. "A cop shot at him and he fell off, but somehow didn't get hurt. Figures, huh?"
Frank nodded. "Did he injure any officers during his capture?"
Jake shook his head. "No. Morgan said he'll come to see you, by the way."
Frank nodded, wanting to hear more details of Lazarro's arrest. He shifted his position, trying to use his left arm to sit himself up a little.
"No Frank, don't move!" said Alex.
Frank stopped, looking at her oddly at the fearful sound to her voice.
"You don't want your heart to flip out again," Jake said, taking Frank's arm to prevent further movement. "The docs said to keep you still."
Frank sighed, feeling a twinge of fear in his stomach. He closed his eyes and focused on the pain in his shoulder instead of fear over his heart and it helped; his shoulder was killing him.
One of the team said something that Frank didn't catch, and he opened his eyes, but before he could say anything, his heart suddenly started doing flips in his chest.
Cody, closest to the door, bolted towards it to call for help, but a nurse flew in before he made it out into the hall.
A doctor ran in a minute later, and the two of them hovered over Frank, while the team stood nervously nearby.
The doctor injected something into the IV, and a minute or two later, Frank's heartbeat started to calm itself.
"Doc?!" said Alex, flustered.
The doctor and nurse turned towards them, and the team was relieved to see Frank's eyes still open.
"The tests showed us that the shock caused an atrial fibrillation to develop in your heart," the doc told Frank.
Frank tried not to react openly. My career—my life—is over!
The team was very upset. "Is it permanent?!" Monica exclaimed.
"Most likely not," said the doc.
Frank's eyebrows shot up, not expecting to hear that.
"The electrical shock caused a bunch of abnormal signals to occur in your heart," the doctor explained, "Hence the quivering in the upper chambers that occurs with atrial fibrillation."
"And that's not a permanent heart condition?" Jake asked.
The doctor shook his head. "It is in some people, but shouldn't be in his case. Once his heart recovers from the shock he received, the atrium should go back to creating it's normal beat signal."
Frank felt dizzy with relief.
"'Should'?" Alex said.
The doctor shrugged. "Of course I can't be 100% sure, but I can say I am confident that it will go back to normal."
Everyone smiled, looking at Frank.
"How long will it take?" Frank asked.
The doctor pursed his lips. "It should be back to normal within a few days."
Frank sighed, not liking the idea of being in the hospital for that long.
The doctor looked at Jake. "Are you the one who popped his shoulder back?"
Jake shook his head. "That was courtesy of the police chief."
The doctor smiled, with a nod. "Tell him he did a good job."
Jake nodded. "I will."
"I'll be back to check on you," the doc told Frank, walking towards the door.
Frank nodded halfheartedly, having heard that phrase so many times, he'd grown to hate it.
"Giving the docs trouble yet?" they heard.
Frank looked up as Chief Morgan came in.
"We got him, Frank! How you doin'? Okay?"
Frank nodded. "I've had worse."
"What did that doc say?" Morgan asked.
"Frank's heart should be fine in a few days!" said Alex, relieved. "It's only freaking out because the shock messed up his heart's signals."
"Thank God!" Morgan said. "You sure get hurt a lot, Frank. What'd they say about your shoulder?"
Jake answered before Frank had a chance. "The doc said to tell you that you did a good job popping it back."
Morgan's eyebrows flew up. "Really? That's a relief! I may not have looked nervous, but I was. Glad I didn't make it worse or something."
Frank smiled. "It's nice to know that you weren't sure what you were doing."
Everyone chuckled.
"Is that any way to say 'thank you'?" Morgan joked.
"Those words weren't on my mind at the time," said Frank, remembering the horrible pain.
Morgan made a face. "If there was a painless way of doing it, I would've tried!"
Frank smiled. "I know. Thanks."
Morgan smiled back. "Anytime! I think I'll watch 'Trauma team' tonight, and see what else I can learn…"
No, everyone, this is not the end! BWAHAHAHAHA! lolol ;)