The team was beside themselves with worry, as they all paced intermittently, in the waiting room.
"Over three hours," Jake mumbled. "You'd think they'd tell us something, in all that time!"
"I can't believe this," said Alex, running her hands through her hair. "Why did we have to listen to him? We should've made him get checked!"
"Oh my gosh!" Cody suddenly exclaimed.
Everyone looked at him.
"I just realized," he said. "It's a good thing he didn't let you take him home, Alex!"
Everyone turned pale at the realization.
"Nah," said Alex. "With a head injury, I would've stayed with him." She suddenly frowned. "Cody, how did you realize something really was wrong with him?"
Cody told them of Frank's behavior, and they all sighed, shaken that an injury could alter someone's personality so much.
Finally Jake started to stalk over to the nurse's station. "I'm gonna ask what's going on…"
"Ask me," they heard.
Turning around, they saw a doctor standing there, removing his surgical mask. It was one of the doctors from the ER.
"How is he?" Jake asked worriedly, as he and the others ran over.
The doctor sighed, sending a chill down everyone's spines. "He needed emergency surgery. He had a subdural hematoma, but we managed to catch it in the nick of time."
Everyone's looks of horror changed to sighs of relief. All except for Jake.
"But…?" he said.
"But the hematoma had bled for a long time," the doctor told them. "His BP bottomed out at 55/20 before we got the bleeding under control. You said the injury happened five hours prior to your arrival here?" At their nods, he continued. "A subdural hematoma happens when a blood vessel or vein breaks, causing bleeding between the brain and skull. Prolonged bleeding can literally crush the brain…"
Everyone gasped or made sounds of shock. Cody looked slightly green.
"Are you saying he has brain damage?!" Alex cried.
The doctor held up a hand. "I'm not finished. Besides the hematoma, he has a skull fracture. We had to put a metal plate in his head."
Everyone gaped at him, struck speechless.
"The fracture saved his life," said the doc.
"How?!" Alex asked, sounding almost hysterical.
"The hematoma had an exit, rather then filling up inside his skull and crushing his brain. Since a lot of the blood was able to go out through the fracture, it didn't cause as much damage to his brain as it should've."
"So you're saying that if he didn't have the skull fracture, he'd be dead right now?" Jake asked.
The doctor nodded. "Unquestionably."
No one said anything, speechless.
"As for the amount of brain damage he does or does not have, we have to wait until he wakes up to see." The doctor shrugged.
"Doc," said Jake, moving closer to him. "In your opinion, is severe damage likely?"
The doctor seemed to choose his words carefully before he replied. "He was bleeding internally for five hours; directly onto his brain. Even though some of the blood found an outlet, I would think that there could be some form of damage. There is no way to tell exactly what, until he awakes."
Alex immediately plopped down onto the couch as if her legs wouldn't hold her. Monica plopped down next to her, and Jake and Cody could do nothing but stare at each other, in utter shock.
"When can we see him?" Jake asked, knowing that he'd be in recovery for a while first.
"A couple hours," the doctor said, which got groans from the team. "Why don't you all get some food in the cafeteria?" When no one looked interested in the idea, he said, "Has his family been notified?"
Everyone looked at Cody, knowing he'd be the only person able to find out how to do that.
********************
Two hours later, the team was finally allowed to see Frank, who they'd put in intensive care. They all just stared at him silently, as Frank lay there motionless with a bandage around his head and an IV in each arm; one containing medication, and another containing blood, to replace what he'd lost thanks to the hematoma. He was nearly as pale as the sheets.
"When will he wake up?" Monica finally asked.
The doctor shrugged. "Coma is common after this type of surgery. It could last anywhere from several hours, to a few days."
"Coma?" Alex echoed. "He's in a coma?"
The doctor nodded.
No one said anything, shock making them wordless.
"Anything else we need to know?" Cody asked. "So we can deal with all our shock right now?"
The doctor gave him a stern look, not appreciating the sarcasm, and Cody promptly shut up. "When he wakes, it would be prudent to exercise caution in your reactions. Mr. Donovan will most likely be incoherent and confused. He did have brain surgery."
Everyone nodded at that, sighing.
"Poor guy," Cody said.
********************
It was five long days before Frank came out of his coma. The team had requested and received a temporary respite from new cases from the DOJ, and spent as much time as they could at the hospital, waiting for him to wake up. When he finally did, they were so depressed and worried out of their minds by then, that they almost missed it.
Alex was staring at Frank's face, her chin on the bed's rail. She'd been there for so long, that it was like she was looking through Frank, not at him anymore. Her subconscious mind noticed his eyelids flutter, but her brain didn't register it till a minute later.
"Frank?" she sat up straight.
He didn't move.
"What?" said Monica, on the other side of the bed, looking half asleep.
"I..I think his eyes moved."
Jake and Cody dove out of their chairs and came closer, while Alex hit the call button on the wall.
Within seconds two nurses came in, as well as a doctor who happened to be in the ICU.
"I think he's waking up!" said Alex, excitedly.
The doctor came closer, whipped his penlight out of his pocket, and shined the light in Frank's eyes. "Pupils are reactive," he said. He looked at the heart monitor to see that Frank's heart rate was up from the last check.
"Well?" said Cody.
"He may be waking," said the doc. "Mr. Donovan," he said, gently. "Mr. Donovan, open your eyes."
They all watched Frank, to see no movement from him.
"Frank!" said Alex, "Please, wake up!"
Monica put a hand on her arm, to silence her.
"No," the doctor told Monica. "As long as you do it calmly, call him. Maybe he'll recognize your voices."
They obeyed the doctor, repeating Frank's name and telling him to open his eyes. After what seemed like an eternity, Frank's eyes finally opened, slightly.
"Thank God!" Alex and Monica both said, echoing each other.
Frank's eyes kept blinking, opening a little more.
"Frank," said Jake. "It's us."
"Yeah," said Cody. "You know, the people who drive you crazy."
Everyone chuckled softy at that, watching as the doctor examined him.
"Mr. Donovan? Can you tell me your name?"
Cody wondered what kind of a question that was, when they'd been saying his name over and over.
Frank just blinked back at him, making no attempt to speak.
"You're in the hospital, Mr. Donovan," the doctor continued. "You suffered a severe head injury, and needed surgery. Can you tell me your first name?"
Frank still said nothing, not even looking at the doctor.
"Say something, Frank!" Alex cried.
Frank's eyes closed, and remained that way.
"Asleep," said the doctor.
"Was all that disorientation, or does it look like brain damage?" Jake asked, nervously.
The doctor sighed, making everyone's blood pressure spike. "He would definitely be disorientated, but it would've been a good sign if he'd acknowledged our existence."
Despondent, no one said anything, sure that the doctor's words indicated brain damage. They all just looked at each other, each of them wondering, What are we going to do?