Revenge
Chapter 47
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, what do you think? You want to try to get up to a chair today, Officer?" asked the nurse cheerily as she came into the room.
"It's Maurice or Bosco," he told her as he put down the newspaper that one of the guys had dropped off to him. He'd been reading the story about Peterson, remembering bits and pieces of what had happened.
"Sure," he said, as the nurse stood waiting for an answer.
"Okay. Let's take it slow. Let me know if it hurts too much or you need to stop," she told him. She pulled back his covers and held out her arm for him to pull against as she helped him pull himself up straighter. It hurt, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. The nurse noticed a fine layer of sweat on his forehead at the effort.
"Okay? Or do you need to stop for a second?" she asked. "Remember, taking this slow is no big deal. It's only been a day," she reminded him.
"No. I'm okay. It'll feel good to get on my feet again," he said as she helped him move himself to the edge of the bed. The last time he remembered being upright was walking out of Haggerty's the night that Peterson attacked him. Now he sat at the edge of the bed, his feet and legs dangling. He felt a wave of dizziness and the nurse noticed his grip tighten slightly as he tried to steady himself.
"Okay. Let's just sit here for a moment okay?" she said as she sat down next to him. Bosco nodded his agreement, as the initial dizziness from sitting up began to pass.
"So, you've been through quite a bit," she said to him nonchalantly. He nodded. "You handling it okay? Cause we can have someone come in to talk to you, but only if you think you need to."
"I'm okay. Some whacko, that's all. He's not going to bother anyone anymore," he said as he began to feel better.
"Okay. Just letting you know the offer is out there if you change your mind," the nurse said, standing up again. "Ready to try to stand?" she asked, holding her arm out again.
"Why not," he said as he slid himself off the bed and held her arm for support. "So, how are you gonna hold me up if I fall?" he joked, as he stood up, taller than her.
"You'd be surprised at how strong I am. I had three brothers to keep up with. Believe me, I can hold my own," she said.
He finally straightened as far as he could, but not fully as the pain from the abdominal incision prevented it. He took in a deep breath, filling his lungs, and began to cough. This caused pain in both his shoulder wound and his side. The nurse reached over with her other hand and took his. "Here, when you start to cough or laugh, you should either take a pillow - or if you're not near one - use your hand and just gently push against the tummy wound to so you don't hurt yourself or rip any stitches," she instructed him as she placed his hand against it.
"My tummy wound?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at her.
"Sorry," she laughed. "I'm filling in from pediatrics. You're lucky I didn't call it an 'owie," she said, causing him to laugh again. He tried putting his hand as she showed him and it worked.
"Okay, so you want to go back to the bed, or do you feel up to sitting in that chair for a little bit?" the nurse asked, looking at him to try to gauge how he was feeling.
"Um, I'll try the chair for a little bit," he said and she helped him take a couple of steps to it.
"Okay, now do the same thing with your hand as you sit down. You'll find you have to do it less and less as you start to heal up and pretty soon, you'll be as good as new," she finished, standing up after he'd sat down fully. "Feel okay? You look kinda pale," she told him.
"Yeah. I'm okay. I can't believe how tired I am now," he said, surprised at his fatigue.
"Well, you've been through a lot. You're body needs time to recover. You'll be up and around like nothing happened in a few days. You okay here for a minute? I want to go check on the guy across the hall. He's being a real baby," she whispered.
"Sure. Go ahead. I'm good," he told her. She reached over and grabbed his newspaper off the bed and handed it to him. She tapped the paper after he took it. "Yankees are on a streak!" she told him with a smile before turning to leave the room.
As she reached the door, she turned to look at him to see if he was really okay and he said, "I bet you were a cheerleader in school, weren't you."
"Go Team Go!" she said before leaving. Bosco chuckled again and then began to look over the newspaper again.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
About ten minutes later, Rose came through the door and was shocked to see her son sitting in a chair. She noticed that he had the newspaper lying across his lap, but that his head was back against the chair back and he was sleeping. She moved into the room and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed, not wanting to wake him up. Obviously, they had him up, out of bed and he was worn out.
"Maybe I should go get someone to help put him back into the bed?" she thought to herself. Her attention was grabbed by her son's voice, mumbling something. She looked over and saw the frown on his face, but couldn't make out what he was saying. She could tell that he was upset though. She stood up and moved closer to him.
"Maurice?" she said gently to him in an attempt to wake him from his dream. He must have incorporated her voice into his dream because his frown deepened and his breathing rate increased.
She put a hand on his shoulder and called to him a little louder. This time, he woke with a start and reached out to grab onto whoever was touching him in an attempt to avoid being hurt any more.
He grabbed onto her with such force that she called out to him. "Maurice! Please, let go. It's me. It's Rose!" she said and Bosco finally focused on the person in front of him.
The nurse must have heard the outburst from across the hall and rushed into the room to see a scared look on the woman's face, with Bosco gripping her tightly, an angry look in his eyes.
Rose's shout must have brought him out of the dream, because the nurse saw him loosen his grip and relax a little.
"Ma! I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Bosco asked, hoping he hadn't hurt her. He was dreaming about being held by Peterson who was about to inflict more pain on him.
"Maurice, it's okay. I'm fine. Are you okay?" Rose asked, rubbing her arm where Bosco had grabbed onto it, still not noticing the nurse standing there.
"Yeah," he said, his breathing slowing down as he sat back against the chair, the pain from his straining suddenly setting in. The nurse saw the pained expression and came over to him.
"Okay, Bosco. How about we get you back into bed. Enough exercise for one day," she said, bending down and helping him to get out of the chair.
"Yeah, definitely," Bosco said, looking back to his mother. "You sure you're okay, Ma?" he asked, guilt in his voice.
"I'm fine, Maurice. I'm sorry I startled you," Rose said, stepping back when she realized that they didn't need her help moving him back to bed.
"I guess I fell asleep. I was having a dream, I guess," he said, slightly embarrassed.
"Okay," the nurse said as she got him settled back into bed. "It's about time for some pain medicine. You don't have to, but I think it'd be a good idea since you were moving around a little," she suggested, not letting on that she knew he was in pain. She always believed that a patient should have a say in his own treatment and usually tried to let the patient decide when they needed pain medication whenever possible. She would definitely try to persuade them to take if she thought they really needed it, but she usually liked to let them make the decision initially.
"Yeah. I am kind of sore," he said as he settled back against the pillows.
"Okay. I'll be right back with something," she told him, as she finished checking his IV and adjusting his covers. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Rose still rubbing her arm, where a bruise was starting to appear.
She left momentarily to get his medicine and returned. She discreetly handed Rose an ice pack for her arm and then administered the medicine. "This might make him a little sleepy," she told Rose.
"Okay. I won't stay long. Thanks," she said, referring to the ice pack.
"No problem. Call if you need me," she said to Bosco as she reached the door.
"I'm really sorry, Ma," he apologized again.
"It's okay, Maurice. I snuck up on you," she said, smiling. "So, you were out of bed already? How'd that feel?"
"Tiring, actually," he said. "I didn't go far. Just from here to that chair," he said.
"Well, that's a lot after surgery like that. Just don't rush yourself. Give yourself time to heal properly," she scolded, knowing her son all too well.
"I will," he said, rolling his eyes. "Oh, hey. I forgot to tell you. Take a look in that drawer right there," he said, indicating the top drawer of the nightstand.
Rose got up and moved over to the table, seeing the smile in her son's eyes. "Nothing's gonna jump out at me, is it?" she asked, leery about what she was going to find.
"Just open it, Ma," he told her.
"Maurice! What does this mean?" she asked, smiling at her son.
"Me and Faith. We got promoted to Detective," he said proudly. Rose leaned over and hugged him.
"I'm so proud of you, Maurice. That is just so great. So, what did Trisha say?" she asked, suddenly realizing that she wasn't there. She'd assumed when she came in that Trisha had just gone down to the coffee shop or something.
"She was happy. I told her on the phone last night," he said, looking at the clock on the wall and starting to worry.
"At home? She wasn't here last night or this morning?" Rose asked, surprised by that.
"Yeah, she was here last night. Faith told her to go home and get some rest and she stayed with me until late last night. Faith said she almost passed out, so I wanted her to get some real rest. She should be here any time now," he said, looking at the clock again.
"Almost passed out?" Rose said, concerned.
"Yeah, she told Faith that she was just tired and hadn't really had anything to eat. I talked to her this morning. She sounded a lot better. She's bringing me coffee," he finished, stifling a yawn.
"Well, then I'll let you get some rest before she gets here. Do you need anything?" she asked, gathering her jacket and purse.
"No. I'm probably gonna to be getting out of here tomorrow anyway," he told her.
"Really?" she asked, surprised. "Are you going to Trisha's?"
"That's the plan right now," he told her. "Thanks from coming and I'm sorry if I hurt you," he said again.
"No problem. I'll give you a call later from work. Mikey'll probably stop in to see you later on. Call me if you need anything," she said, giving him a kiss.
"I will Ma. Thanks," he told her as she walked out of the door.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Trisha walked into the front door of the hospital with Bosco's coffee. She wasn't sure she was going to make it to the building, the nauseated feeling in her stomach becoming worse to the point that she thought she'd throw-up right there on the floor. Luckily, there was a ladies room right there and she hurried in, dropping the coffee on the floor.
After about 15 minutes, the nausea started to pass. She wasn't able to throw up anything because she hadn't really had anything to eat. She never remembered feeling this terrible before and thought that maybe she should make an appointment with her doctor, then dismissing it as just from stress. She splashed some cold water on her face and patted it dry with a paper towel She grabbed a couple of handfuls of the towels to wipe up the spilled coffee.
"Great. So much for Maurice's coffee," she said angrily to herself as she looked in the mirror at how tired she looked. She'd have to stop in the coffee shop and see if they had any flavored coffee she could offer him instead. She walked out of the ladies room, just missing Rose as she exited the building.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TBC...
Chapter 47
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So, what do you think? You want to try to get up to a chair today, Officer?" asked the nurse cheerily as she came into the room.
"It's Maurice or Bosco," he told her as he put down the newspaper that one of the guys had dropped off to him. He'd been reading the story about Peterson, remembering bits and pieces of what had happened.
"Sure," he said, as the nurse stood waiting for an answer.
"Okay. Let's take it slow. Let me know if it hurts too much or you need to stop," she told him. She pulled back his covers and held out her arm for him to pull against as she helped him pull himself up straighter. It hurt, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. The nurse noticed a fine layer of sweat on his forehead at the effort.
"Okay? Or do you need to stop for a second?" she asked. "Remember, taking this slow is no big deal. It's only been a day," she reminded him.
"No. I'm okay. It'll feel good to get on my feet again," he said as she helped him move himself to the edge of the bed. The last time he remembered being upright was walking out of Haggerty's the night that Peterson attacked him. Now he sat at the edge of the bed, his feet and legs dangling. He felt a wave of dizziness and the nurse noticed his grip tighten slightly as he tried to steady himself.
"Okay. Let's just sit here for a moment okay?" she said as she sat down next to him. Bosco nodded his agreement, as the initial dizziness from sitting up began to pass.
"So, you've been through quite a bit," she said to him nonchalantly. He nodded. "You handling it okay? Cause we can have someone come in to talk to you, but only if you think you need to."
"I'm okay. Some whacko, that's all. He's not going to bother anyone anymore," he said as he began to feel better.
"Okay. Just letting you know the offer is out there if you change your mind," the nurse said, standing up again. "Ready to try to stand?" she asked, holding her arm out again.
"Why not," he said as he slid himself off the bed and held her arm for support. "So, how are you gonna hold me up if I fall?" he joked, as he stood up, taller than her.
"You'd be surprised at how strong I am. I had three brothers to keep up with. Believe me, I can hold my own," she said.
He finally straightened as far as he could, but not fully as the pain from the abdominal incision prevented it. He took in a deep breath, filling his lungs, and began to cough. This caused pain in both his shoulder wound and his side. The nurse reached over with her other hand and took his. "Here, when you start to cough or laugh, you should either take a pillow - or if you're not near one - use your hand and just gently push against the tummy wound to so you don't hurt yourself or rip any stitches," she instructed him as she placed his hand against it.
"My tummy wound?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at her.
"Sorry," she laughed. "I'm filling in from pediatrics. You're lucky I didn't call it an 'owie," she said, causing him to laugh again. He tried putting his hand as she showed him and it worked.
"Okay, so you want to go back to the bed, or do you feel up to sitting in that chair for a little bit?" the nurse asked, looking at him to try to gauge how he was feeling.
"Um, I'll try the chair for a little bit," he said and she helped him take a couple of steps to it.
"Okay, now do the same thing with your hand as you sit down. You'll find you have to do it less and less as you start to heal up and pretty soon, you'll be as good as new," she finished, standing up after he'd sat down fully. "Feel okay? You look kinda pale," she told him.
"Yeah. I'm okay. I can't believe how tired I am now," he said, surprised at his fatigue.
"Well, you've been through a lot. You're body needs time to recover. You'll be up and around like nothing happened in a few days. You okay here for a minute? I want to go check on the guy across the hall. He's being a real baby," she whispered.
"Sure. Go ahead. I'm good," he told her. She reached over and grabbed his newspaper off the bed and handed it to him. She tapped the paper after he took it. "Yankees are on a streak!" she told him with a smile before turning to leave the room.
As she reached the door, she turned to look at him to see if he was really okay and he said, "I bet you were a cheerleader in school, weren't you."
"Go Team Go!" she said before leaving. Bosco chuckled again and then began to look over the newspaper again.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
About ten minutes later, Rose came through the door and was shocked to see her son sitting in a chair. She noticed that he had the newspaper lying across his lap, but that his head was back against the chair back and he was sleeping. She moved into the room and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed, not wanting to wake him up. Obviously, they had him up, out of bed and he was worn out.
"Maybe I should go get someone to help put him back into the bed?" she thought to herself. Her attention was grabbed by her son's voice, mumbling something. She looked over and saw the frown on his face, but couldn't make out what he was saying. She could tell that he was upset though. She stood up and moved closer to him.
"Maurice?" she said gently to him in an attempt to wake him from his dream. He must have incorporated her voice into his dream because his frown deepened and his breathing rate increased.
She put a hand on his shoulder and called to him a little louder. This time, he woke with a start and reached out to grab onto whoever was touching him in an attempt to avoid being hurt any more.
He grabbed onto her with such force that she called out to him. "Maurice! Please, let go. It's me. It's Rose!" she said and Bosco finally focused on the person in front of him.
The nurse must have heard the outburst from across the hall and rushed into the room to see a scared look on the woman's face, with Bosco gripping her tightly, an angry look in his eyes.
Rose's shout must have brought him out of the dream, because the nurse saw him loosen his grip and relax a little.
"Ma! I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Bosco asked, hoping he hadn't hurt her. He was dreaming about being held by Peterson who was about to inflict more pain on him.
"Maurice, it's okay. I'm fine. Are you okay?" Rose asked, rubbing her arm where Bosco had grabbed onto it, still not noticing the nurse standing there.
"Yeah," he said, his breathing slowing down as he sat back against the chair, the pain from his straining suddenly setting in. The nurse saw the pained expression and came over to him.
"Okay, Bosco. How about we get you back into bed. Enough exercise for one day," she said, bending down and helping him to get out of the chair.
"Yeah, definitely," Bosco said, looking back to his mother. "You sure you're okay, Ma?" he asked, guilt in his voice.
"I'm fine, Maurice. I'm sorry I startled you," Rose said, stepping back when she realized that they didn't need her help moving him back to bed.
"I guess I fell asleep. I was having a dream, I guess," he said, slightly embarrassed.
"Okay," the nurse said as she got him settled back into bed. "It's about time for some pain medicine. You don't have to, but I think it'd be a good idea since you were moving around a little," she suggested, not letting on that she knew he was in pain. She always believed that a patient should have a say in his own treatment and usually tried to let the patient decide when they needed pain medication whenever possible. She would definitely try to persuade them to take if she thought they really needed it, but she usually liked to let them make the decision initially.
"Yeah. I am kind of sore," he said as he settled back against the pillows.
"Okay. I'll be right back with something," she told him, as she finished checking his IV and adjusting his covers. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Rose still rubbing her arm, where a bruise was starting to appear.
She left momentarily to get his medicine and returned. She discreetly handed Rose an ice pack for her arm and then administered the medicine. "This might make him a little sleepy," she told Rose.
"Okay. I won't stay long. Thanks," she said, referring to the ice pack.
"No problem. Call if you need me," she said to Bosco as she reached the door.
"I'm really sorry, Ma," he apologized again.
"It's okay, Maurice. I snuck up on you," she said, smiling. "So, you were out of bed already? How'd that feel?"
"Tiring, actually," he said. "I didn't go far. Just from here to that chair," he said.
"Well, that's a lot after surgery like that. Just don't rush yourself. Give yourself time to heal properly," she scolded, knowing her son all too well.
"I will," he said, rolling his eyes. "Oh, hey. I forgot to tell you. Take a look in that drawer right there," he said, indicating the top drawer of the nightstand.
Rose got up and moved over to the table, seeing the smile in her son's eyes. "Nothing's gonna jump out at me, is it?" she asked, leery about what she was going to find.
"Just open it, Ma," he told her.
"Maurice! What does this mean?" she asked, smiling at her son.
"Me and Faith. We got promoted to Detective," he said proudly. Rose leaned over and hugged him.
"I'm so proud of you, Maurice. That is just so great. So, what did Trisha say?" she asked, suddenly realizing that she wasn't there. She'd assumed when she came in that Trisha had just gone down to the coffee shop or something.
"She was happy. I told her on the phone last night," he said, looking at the clock on the wall and starting to worry.
"At home? She wasn't here last night or this morning?" Rose asked, surprised by that.
"Yeah, she was here last night. Faith told her to go home and get some rest and she stayed with me until late last night. Faith said she almost passed out, so I wanted her to get some real rest. She should be here any time now," he said, looking at the clock again.
"Almost passed out?" Rose said, concerned.
"Yeah, she told Faith that she was just tired and hadn't really had anything to eat. I talked to her this morning. She sounded a lot better. She's bringing me coffee," he finished, stifling a yawn.
"Well, then I'll let you get some rest before she gets here. Do you need anything?" she asked, gathering her jacket and purse.
"No. I'm probably gonna to be getting out of here tomorrow anyway," he told her.
"Really?" she asked, surprised. "Are you going to Trisha's?"
"That's the plan right now," he told her. "Thanks from coming and I'm sorry if I hurt you," he said again.
"No problem. I'll give you a call later from work. Mikey'll probably stop in to see you later on. Call me if you need anything," she said, giving him a kiss.
"I will Ma. Thanks," he told her as she walked out of the door.
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
Trisha walked into the front door of the hospital with Bosco's coffee. She wasn't sure she was going to make it to the building, the nauseated feeling in her stomach becoming worse to the point that she thought she'd throw-up right there on the floor. Luckily, there was a ladies room right there and she hurried in, dropping the coffee on the floor.
After about 15 minutes, the nausea started to pass. She wasn't able to throw up anything because she hadn't really had anything to eat. She never remembered feeling this terrible before and thought that maybe she should make an appointment with her doctor, then dismissing it as just from stress. She splashed some cold water on her face and patted it dry with a paper towel She grabbed a couple of handfuls of the towels to wipe up the spilled coffee.
"Great. So much for Maurice's coffee," she said angrily to herself as she looked in the mirror at how tired she looked. She'd have to stop in the coffee shop and see if they had any flavored coffee she could offer him instead. She walked out of the ladies room, just missing Rose as she exited the building.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TBC...