Hit and Run
Chapter 14
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Sully and Ty were in the Precinct House booking a drunk driver that had just plowed into a corner full of pedestrians. The man was so drunk he didn't even know what he'd done. They had just returned from getting him looked over at Mercy before putting him in the lock-up and were sitting down to start the paperwork.
"Man, what a night," sighed Sully heavily as he sat down at the desk and pulled out a blank report form from the drawer.
"Yeah, that was somethin'. That guy is really messed up," said Ty, grabbing one of the blank forms himself.
"Not half as messed up as if those kids die and they find out about it in the jail," Sully told him.
"What d'you mean?" Davis asked, not knowing that the one thing almost every prisoner hated was a child molester or child killer.
"I mean, Davis, that if they find out in the joint that this guy killed a kid they'll make his life a living hell. A short living hell, but a living hell just the same. Not even the scum of the earth like people that hurt or kill kids," Sully explained to his young partner as he pulled his notebook out of his pocket and began putting information onto the report form.
Ty nodded, thinking to himself that he would never learn all the stuff that his partner knew. "Well, these reports ought to take up the rest of the shift," he grumbled.
"At least," answered Sully, knowing there was overtime in their immediate future.
The Lieutenant walked through on his way to meet with the Lieutenant of the next shift to brief him. "Hey guys, that sounded like quite a mess out there tonight," he said, stopping to talk for a moment.
"Lieu, you're lucky you were in the House," Sully said, smiling up at the Lieutenant. "Yeah, well.... Good job out there tonight. You too kid," the Lieutenant said, nodding to the two officers as he left for his meeting.
After a few moments, both officers had stopped writing and were each staring at a spot on the wall in front of them. "You know, when we pulled up there tonight all I could see was that mess from the other night," said Sully quietly.
"You mean the hit and run?" asked Ty. Sully just nodded and Ty quietly said, "Yeah, me too."
Both men went back to their reports.
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Alex, Doc, Carlos and Pauly Smith, who had been assigned the 55th until Kim was back to work, were all outside the doors to the ER at Mercy. They had all just finished cleaning up their rigs from the previous call. "Can you believe what a mess that was?" said Carlos, incredulously.
"Yeah, you guys sure get some nasty car accidents over here," joked Smith, not realizing that all the medics he was currently with were working the other day when the hit and run driver had run down the PD, FD and civilians.
Doc was looking at Alex who was in the back of Adam 55-3 cleaning up the floor in silence. She had seen enough trauma for three people over the last week. And she'd been in the thick of it every time. He stepped into the back of the ambulance with some replacement supplies and started putting them away.
Quietly, he said, "How are you doin', Alex?" She jumped slightly because she hadn't heard Doc get in - she was lost in her own thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, Doc. I didn't hear you get in. What did you say?" she asked him, going back to what she was doing.
"I asked how you're doing?" Doc repeated. "Oh, I'm okay - not a scratch again," she tried to joke, but Doc noticed the shaking of her hands. "You know, if you need some time off, I can try to arrange to get another fill-in over here for a few days. You've been through quite a bit these last few days," he offered.
"Nah, Doc. I'm okay. Really," she answered, trying to sound more upbeat than she felt. "I could just stand a break from these car accidents I guess," she joked.
"Yeah. You and me both," answered Doc. "But if you change your mind, let me know okay?" Alex nodded and finished cleaning up the floor of the rig. "Well, that's about it. You ready to call back in service?" she asked him as she reached for the radio. Doc nodded and Alex keyed the mike, "Central, show Adam 55-3 back in service from Mercy."
"Adam 55-3, 10-4," came the reply from Central.
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Jimmy was coming down the hallway with a very excited Joey in tow. This would be the first time that Joey would be allowed to see his Mom since her injuries. Jimmy had a long talk with Joey before bringing him over, explaining that Kim would have a lot of cuts and bruises. He told him about the cast that Kim would have and that she wouldn't be able to talk to him because of the wires on her jaw. "I don't care, Dad. I just want to see Mom for myself," he had responded bravely. Jimmy brought his mother along also, just in case it was too much for Joey to handle.
Kim could hear Joey's unmistakable footsteps coming down the hallway and she began to get even more nervous. She was afraid that her looks would scare him even though Jimmy, her Mom and Alex had assured her that she still looked like herself. All Kim saw when she looked in the mirror was the horrible swelling and bruises. And, of course, the scars stood out more to her because she knew exactly where they were. Kim's mother was helping her to put on some make-up and brushing out her hair. She was finally able to put on some nightclothes from home instead of the awful hospital gown and that helped her to look more like herself as well.
She heard Jimmy call after Joey as he broke free from Jimmy's hand and ran the rest of the way to Kim's room. Joey rounded the corner and pulled up short, just staring at Kim. "Oh God," Kim thought. "He doesn't recognize me," she said to herself and her eyes started to tear up. She held out her arms to Joey and noticed that he too was crying. He ran over to her and jumped up on the bed causing her some discomfort but she didn't show it. She was just so glad to see her son again.
Joey threw his arms around Kim and held on tight. "Mom. I missed you so much. I was so scared," he said, burying his face in the curve between her shoulder and neck. She felt the tears on her shoulder. Kim managed to get the word Joey out of her mouth around the wiring and hugged him tighter. Jimmy stood in the doorway, tears in his eyes. Joey felt the same way that Jimmy had been feeling. He was so glad to be able to see and talk to his mother. No matter how much Jimmy had been talking to Joey to assure him that his mother was going to be okay, nothing worked quite as well as seeing for himself. Jimmy walked into the room and over to the two on the bed. He sat on the side of the bed and wrapped his arms around his son and ex-wife. He hadn't said anything to anyone - even Kim - but he wanted to take the ex- back off her name. All in good time. He knew he had to prove himself to her. They all talked for a little while, Kim writing messages to Joey on her board. After a short time, Kim and Joey had developed a sort of shorthand so that they could communicate faster. The three of them were all laughing and playing around and before anyone knew it, visiting hours were over and Jimmy had to take Joey home.
They reluctantly said their goodnights. Jimmy was going to be sleeping at the apartment with Joey tonight. This would be his first night away from her since the accident and he was nervous about it. But, they had both agreed that Joey needed to get back to some kind of normalcy. Besides, Jimmy was scheduled to be back to work tomorrow. The Captain had arranged as much time off for him as he could, but he was needed back at work. Kim had told Jimmy that he needed to get back to some normalcy too and that she would be fine.
The nurse again came in the room and gently shooed them out of the room. "Goodnight Mom," said Joey again as he turned back toward her one last time at the doorway. Kim waved at him and blew him a kiss. She knew he would be back to see her again tomorrow. Jimmy turned back toward her also, came across the room and gave her a kiss goodnight. Joey and Jimmy walked out of the room and together, with Mrs. Zambrano and Jimmy's Mom, they all headed out of the hospital.
Kim settled back and fell asleep almost immediately. She didn't realize how tired she was from her therapy and then the nervousness about seeing Joey again.
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Fred was gathering up the kids and their things in order to take them home. Since Faith was feeling so much better, he had left them with her after school and worked an extra shift at work. He had just come to pick them up and bring them home to bed. Faith had helped them with their homework and Faith's brother and sister-in-law had stopped in to visit and took the kids down to the cafeteria for some dinner while Faith went for her therapy session.
"So, was it too much for you today Faith?" asked Fred, with a worried look on his face. Even though they weren't married anymore, they still loved each other. "I can try to make other arrangements if it's too much. The most important thing is for you to get better," he said.
"Nah, they were fine Fred. You're doing a great job with them. I'm sorry I can't help you with them more right now, but once I get out of here I can take them at my place more often and overnight to give you a break," she said to him gratefully.
"So, did they get up to see Boscorelli?" he asked with a slight sneer on his face. "Emily and Charlie really were bugging me to visit them."
"Actually, Stan tried to take them up, but they said he wasn't there. He checked with the nurse and she told him something about him having a procedure done," she said worriedly. "I was going to ask you if you wouldn't mind going up and seeing if you could find out what was going on?" she said, afraid of what his reaction would be.
He took a deep breath and tried to keep his control. He knew that they were "an item" but he didn't like it. "Yeah, I'll take a run up there right now and stop down again before we leave," he agreed reluctantly.
"Thanks Fred. You can leave the kids here with me for a few minutes while you go if you want," she offered. "Yeah, okay. I'll be right back. Be ready to go when I get back kids," he said, heading out the door.
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Fred got off the elevator on the ICU floor and walked over to the nurse's station. "Can I help you?" asked the nurse. "Yeah, my wife wanted me to come up and check on her partner, Boscorelli," he grumbled. "She heard something about him having a procedure done and couldn't find out anything more," he finished.
The nurse looked on her patient roster and nodded. "Oh, here it is. He had some complications from his injuries and they had to take him back to the operating room. He's not back on the floor just yet, but he's in the recovery room so it shouldn't be much longer," she said, looking up at him and smiling.
"So, these complications. Are they serious? She's gonna ask me," he said.
"Well, all I can tell you is that he had some residual internal bleeding that didn't show up right away and they had to repair that. But, he's supposed to be coming back here sometime tonight. If you give me his partner's room number I'll be sure to send word down to her when he returns," she offered pleasantly.
"Oh, yeah. Thanks. Her name's Faith Yokas. She's in Room 4115," he answered and watched as the nurse wrote the information down.
"Got it," she said. "Oh and let Mrs. Yokas know that he won't be going back to the same room as before. He'll be going back to the room across the hall," she finished.
"Thanks," said Fred as he turned to leave. He rode the elevator back down to the fourth floor and headed back to Faith's room. He told her the information that he was able to get, which only worried her more. "What kind of complications? Bleeding from where?" she asked him insistently.
"I don't know, Faith," he said in exasperation. "I told you that's all the information they would give me. I'm not family, remember?" he said angrily. "C'mon kids. It's late and you both need showers before bed tonight," he said. The kids said goodbye and they headed out of the hospital, leaving Faith to sit and worry in solitude.
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There seemed to be a slow period in the Emergency Room of Mercy Hospital. A none-to-frequent occurrence and the staff were taking advantage of it. The desk clerk was clearing out some old papers and straightening things up while the nursing staff was re-stocking supplies and organizing the curtained-off treatment rooms before the next onslaught.
One of the ER doctors was sitting at the desk reading over some charts. The desk clerk grabbed a stack of old papers and a few slipped off the pile and landed on top of the charts he was working on. "Sorry about that, Doctor," said the clerk as she gathered up some of the papers. One of the papers caught the attention of the doctor. "What's this thing?" he asked, picking up the paper and reading the information from it. "Oh, that's the information about that hit and run driver from last week. You know, the one that killed that cop and plowed into all those people," she continued. "They think he was injured in the crash and may seek medical treatment," she finished.
The doctor looked closely at the picture of the man on the flier. He couldn't place it, but the man looked familiar. "Well, this should be put up on the board, not stuffed under the desk," he said, handing the paper to the clerk to hang up. "Yes, Doctor," she replied as she stuck a tack through it on the board. The doctor looked at the flier again, wondering when and if he had seen the familiar-looking man.
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TBC... Sorry, kind of a slow chapter. I'll try to pick it up some more next time.
Chapter 14
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Sully and Ty were in the Precinct House booking a drunk driver that had just plowed into a corner full of pedestrians. The man was so drunk he didn't even know what he'd done. They had just returned from getting him looked over at Mercy before putting him in the lock-up and were sitting down to start the paperwork.
"Man, what a night," sighed Sully heavily as he sat down at the desk and pulled out a blank report form from the drawer.
"Yeah, that was somethin'. That guy is really messed up," said Ty, grabbing one of the blank forms himself.
"Not half as messed up as if those kids die and they find out about it in the jail," Sully told him.
"What d'you mean?" Davis asked, not knowing that the one thing almost every prisoner hated was a child molester or child killer.
"I mean, Davis, that if they find out in the joint that this guy killed a kid they'll make his life a living hell. A short living hell, but a living hell just the same. Not even the scum of the earth like people that hurt or kill kids," Sully explained to his young partner as he pulled his notebook out of his pocket and began putting information onto the report form.
Ty nodded, thinking to himself that he would never learn all the stuff that his partner knew. "Well, these reports ought to take up the rest of the shift," he grumbled.
"At least," answered Sully, knowing there was overtime in their immediate future.
The Lieutenant walked through on his way to meet with the Lieutenant of the next shift to brief him. "Hey guys, that sounded like quite a mess out there tonight," he said, stopping to talk for a moment.
"Lieu, you're lucky you were in the House," Sully said, smiling up at the Lieutenant. "Yeah, well.... Good job out there tonight. You too kid," the Lieutenant said, nodding to the two officers as he left for his meeting.
After a few moments, both officers had stopped writing and were each staring at a spot on the wall in front of them. "You know, when we pulled up there tonight all I could see was that mess from the other night," said Sully quietly.
"You mean the hit and run?" asked Ty. Sully just nodded and Ty quietly said, "Yeah, me too."
Both men went back to their reports.
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Alex, Doc, Carlos and Pauly Smith, who had been assigned the 55th until Kim was back to work, were all outside the doors to the ER at Mercy. They had all just finished cleaning up their rigs from the previous call. "Can you believe what a mess that was?" said Carlos, incredulously.
"Yeah, you guys sure get some nasty car accidents over here," joked Smith, not realizing that all the medics he was currently with were working the other day when the hit and run driver had run down the PD, FD and civilians.
Doc was looking at Alex who was in the back of Adam 55-3 cleaning up the floor in silence. She had seen enough trauma for three people over the last week. And she'd been in the thick of it every time. He stepped into the back of the ambulance with some replacement supplies and started putting them away.
Quietly, he said, "How are you doin', Alex?" She jumped slightly because she hadn't heard Doc get in - she was lost in her own thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, Doc. I didn't hear you get in. What did you say?" she asked him, going back to what she was doing.
"I asked how you're doing?" Doc repeated. "Oh, I'm okay - not a scratch again," she tried to joke, but Doc noticed the shaking of her hands. "You know, if you need some time off, I can try to arrange to get another fill-in over here for a few days. You've been through quite a bit these last few days," he offered.
"Nah, Doc. I'm okay. Really," she answered, trying to sound more upbeat than she felt. "I could just stand a break from these car accidents I guess," she joked.
"Yeah. You and me both," answered Doc. "But if you change your mind, let me know okay?" Alex nodded and finished cleaning up the floor of the rig. "Well, that's about it. You ready to call back in service?" she asked him as she reached for the radio. Doc nodded and Alex keyed the mike, "Central, show Adam 55-3 back in service from Mercy."
"Adam 55-3, 10-4," came the reply from Central.
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Jimmy was coming down the hallway with a very excited Joey in tow. This would be the first time that Joey would be allowed to see his Mom since her injuries. Jimmy had a long talk with Joey before bringing him over, explaining that Kim would have a lot of cuts and bruises. He told him about the cast that Kim would have and that she wouldn't be able to talk to him because of the wires on her jaw. "I don't care, Dad. I just want to see Mom for myself," he had responded bravely. Jimmy brought his mother along also, just in case it was too much for Joey to handle.
Kim could hear Joey's unmistakable footsteps coming down the hallway and she began to get even more nervous. She was afraid that her looks would scare him even though Jimmy, her Mom and Alex had assured her that she still looked like herself. All Kim saw when she looked in the mirror was the horrible swelling and bruises. And, of course, the scars stood out more to her because she knew exactly where they were. Kim's mother was helping her to put on some make-up and brushing out her hair. She was finally able to put on some nightclothes from home instead of the awful hospital gown and that helped her to look more like herself as well.
She heard Jimmy call after Joey as he broke free from Jimmy's hand and ran the rest of the way to Kim's room. Joey rounded the corner and pulled up short, just staring at Kim. "Oh God," Kim thought. "He doesn't recognize me," she said to herself and her eyes started to tear up. She held out her arms to Joey and noticed that he too was crying. He ran over to her and jumped up on the bed causing her some discomfort but she didn't show it. She was just so glad to see her son again.
Joey threw his arms around Kim and held on tight. "Mom. I missed you so much. I was so scared," he said, burying his face in the curve between her shoulder and neck. She felt the tears on her shoulder. Kim managed to get the word Joey out of her mouth around the wiring and hugged him tighter. Jimmy stood in the doorway, tears in his eyes. Joey felt the same way that Jimmy had been feeling. He was so glad to be able to see and talk to his mother. No matter how much Jimmy had been talking to Joey to assure him that his mother was going to be okay, nothing worked quite as well as seeing for himself. Jimmy walked into the room and over to the two on the bed. He sat on the side of the bed and wrapped his arms around his son and ex-wife. He hadn't said anything to anyone - even Kim - but he wanted to take the ex- back off her name. All in good time. He knew he had to prove himself to her. They all talked for a little while, Kim writing messages to Joey on her board. After a short time, Kim and Joey had developed a sort of shorthand so that they could communicate faster. The three of them were all laughing and playing around and before anyone knew it, visiting hours were over and Jimmy had to take Joey home.
They reluctantly said their goodnights. Jimmy was going to be sleeping at the apartment with Joey tonight. This would be his first night away from her since the accident and he was nervous about it. But, they had both agreed that Joey needed to get back to some kind of normalcy. Besides, Jimmy was scheduled to be back to work tomorrow. The Captain had arranged as much time off for him as he could, but he was needed back at work. Kim had told Jimmy that he needed to get back to some normalcy too and that she would be fine.
The nurse again came in the room and gently shooed them out of the room. "Goodnight Mom," said Joey again as he turned back toward her one last time at the doorway. Kim waved at him and blew him a kiss. She knew he would be back to see her again tomorrow. Jimmy turned back toward her also, came across the room and gave her a kiss goodnight. Joey and Jimmy walked out of the room and together, with Mrs. Zambrano and Jimmy's Mom, they all headed out of the hospital.
Kim settled back and fell asleep almost immediately. She didn't realize how tired she was from her therapy and then the nervousness about seeing Joey again.
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Fred was gathering up the kids and their things in order to take them home. Since Faith was feeling so much better, he had left them with her after school and worked an extra shift at work. He had just come to pick them up and bring them home to bed. Faith had helped them with their homework and Faith's brother and sister-in-law had stopped in to visit and took the kids down to the cafeteria for some dinner while Faith went for her therapy session.
"So, was it too much for you today Faith?" asked Fred, with a worried look on his face. Even though they weren't married anymore, they still loved each other. "I can try to make other arrangements if it's too much. The most important thing is for you to get better," he said.
"Nah, they were fine Fred. You're doing a great job with them. I'm sorry I can't help you with them more right now, but once I get out of here I can take them at my place more often and overnight to give you a break," she said to him gratefully.
"So, did they get up to see Boscorelli?" he asked with a slight sneer on his face. "Emily and Charlie really were bugging me to visit them."
"Actually, Stan tried to take them up, but they said he wasn't there. He checked with the nurse and she told him something about him having a procedure done," she said worriedly. "I was going to ask you if you wouldn't mind going up and seeing if you could find out what was going on?" she said, afraid of what his reaction would be.
He took a deep breath and tried to keep his control. He knew that they were "an item" but he didn't like it. "Yeah, I'll take a run up there right now and stop down again before we leave," he agreed reluctantly.
"Thanks Fred. You can leave the kids here with me for a few minutes while you go if you want," she offered. "Yeah, okay. I'll be right back. Be ready to go when I get back kids," he said, heading out the door.
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Fred got off the elevator on the ICU floor and walked over to the nurse's station. "Can I help you?" asked the nurse. "Yeah, my wife wanted me to come up and check on her partner, Boscorelli," he grumbled. "She heard something about him having a procedure done and couldn't find out anything more," he finished.
The nurse looked on her patient roster and nodded. "Oh, here it is. He had some complications from his injuries and they had to take him back to the operating room. He's not back on the floor just yet, but he's in the recovery room so it shouldn't be much longer," she said, looking up at him and smiling.
"So, these complications. Are they serious? She's gonna ask me," he said.
"Well, all I can tell you is that he had some residual internal bleeding that didn't show up right away and they had to repair that. But, he's supposed to be coming back here sometime tonight. If you give me his partner's room number I'll be sure to send word down to her when he returns," she offered pleasantly.
"Oh, yeah. Thanks. Her name's Faith Yokas. She's in Room 4115," he answered and watched as the nurse wrote the information down.
"Got it," she said. "Oh and let Mrs. Yokas know that he won't be going back to the same room as before. He'll be going back to the room across the hall," she finished.
"Thanks," said Fred as he turned to leave. He rode the elevator back down to the fourth floor and headed back to Faith's room. He told her the information that he was able to get, which only worried her more. "What kind of complications? Bleeding from where?" she asked him insistently.
"I don't know, Faith," he said in exasperation. "I told you that's all the information they would give me. I'm not family, remember?" he said angrily. "C'mon kids. It's late and you both need showers before bed tonight," he said. The kids said goodbye and they headed out of the hospital, leaving Faith to sit and worry in solitude.
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There seemed to be a slow period in the Emergency Room of Mercy Hospital. A none-to-frequent occurrence and the staff were taking advantage of it. The desk clerk was clearing out some old papers and straightening things up while the nursing staff was re-stocking supplies and organizing the curtained-off treatment rooms before the next onslaught.
One of the ER doctors was sitting at the desk reading over some charts. The desk clerk grabbed a stack of old papers and a few slipped off the pile and landed on top of the charts he was working on. "Sorry about that, Doctor," said the clerk as she gathered up some of the papers. One of the papers caught the attention of the doctor. "What's this thing?" he asked, picking up the paper and reading the information from it. "Oh, that's the information about that hit and run driver from last week. You know, the one that killed that cop and plowed into all those people," she continued. "They think he was injured in the crash and may seek medical treatment," she finished.
The doctor looked closely at the picture of the man on the flier. He couldn't place it, but the man looked familiar. "Well, this should be put up on the board, not stuffed under the desk," he said, handing the paper to the clerk to hang up. "Yes, Doctor," she replied as she stuck a tack through it on the board. The doctor looked at the flier again, wondering when and if he had seen the familiar-looking man.
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TBC... Sorry, kind of a slow chapter. I'll try to pick it up some more next time.
