Kelly thought that Christopher would wake her up when dinner was ready, but
when she woke up the room was dark with the exception of the flickering TV,
and she noticed that a blanket had been placed over her body. Confused,
she looked down at her watch and then pushed the hair off of her face with
her fingers as she marveled at the fact that it was already 10 o'clock.
"Good morning. I was going to wake you for dinner, but then I saw how peaceful you looked and decided to let you sleep." Christopher commented when he noticed that she was awake.
"Thanks."
"If you're hungry, I can warm something up for you?"
"I'm ok. I actually think I'm just going to go to bed." Kelly said as she felt her eye lids grow heavy again.
"Ok. Good night." Christopher said as she quickly kissed him before heading up the stairs. Once up there, Kelly put on the first pajamas that she could find before crawling underneath of the covers, and letting her body sink back into the pillows. Despite the sporadic naps that she kept taking, Kelly was still exhausted, yet she planned on waking up at 6:30 so that she could be back at the hospital by 8.
The next morning, however, came quicker then Kelly had anticipated, as she was jolted awake by the alarm blaring in her ear. Despite the fact that her mind felt like it was working in slow motion, Kelly turned the alarm off before forcing herself to get out of bed and then to take a quick shower. As she let the water run down her body, she tried to force the steam to pry her eye lids open, and give her enough energy to be able to handle the drive back to the hospital. It wasn't until her second cup of coffee, however, that she was finally able to get her act together, and put together a small over night bag, just in case she wanted to stay at Jack and Sabrina's house instead of driving home. She then walked out the door with Christopher before kissing him good bye and getting back into her car.
When she arrived at Sabrina's room, she walked through the door and was glad to see Sabrina sitting up in the bed, her left arm on top of a pillow as the doctor examined her vitals. Jack was sitting on the bed next to her, as he talked to the doctor, undoubtedly asking him every question that he could think of. Not wanting to intrude, Kelly decided to stand in the hallway until the doctor left, and since neither of them had noticed her come in, sneaking back out wasn't a problem.
In the hallway, Kelly looked around as she was reminded why she had always hated hospitals. The entire atmosphere was cold and depressing, as the bright white walls seemed to jump out at her. Since there was no place to sit down, Kelly leaned against the wall as she watched the people past her, some of them being nurses, others beings doctors, but most of them being other patients getting their daily exercise.
Not long after she had arrived, however, she spotted Kris walking down the hallway, obviously looking for Sabrina's room. After Kelly called out her name, Kris turned towards her and walked over, obviously glad to be seeing a familiar face.
"Hey. I couldn't remember what room you said she was in, so I was hoping that I would be able to see into the rooms."
"Don't worry about it. She's with the doctor right now so I figured I would stand out here and wait."
"O." Kris replied before silence fell between them. Kelly was convinced that it was something about hospitals that made the words evaporate out of a person's mouth. Usually, after not seeing each other for a while, Kris and Kelly could talk for hours, except now they could only come up with a few phrases. "So how is she...really?"
"Ok I guess. I haven't talked to her today yet, so I really don't know. The doctor said she should be fine though."
"That's good." Kris said before they just stood there together, their backs against the wall as they waited for the doctor to leave. Although it seemed like forever, the door opened not long later as the doctor marked something off on Sabrina's chart before placing it back into the bin and walking away. As soon as he was out of the room, Kris and Kelly walked in and were immediately greeted by both Sabrina and Jack. As Kris hugged Sabrina hello, Kelly stood by the bed as she noticed that Sabrina was looking better that day then she had the three days before. Not only was her voice stronger, but she appeared to have more energy as well. It was almost enough to calm Kelly's nerves, to convince her that Sabrina really was ok, but she wanted to hear the words come from Sabrina's mouth.
"Hey! You didn't have to come all of the way out here." Sabrina told Kris.
"Isn't that's what friends are for? Besides, I wanted to see for myself that you were ok."
"I'm getting there. I'm defiantly better today then I've been for the past couple of days. Kelly can testify to that."
"What are you talking about? I wasn't worried as I sat in that uncomfortable hospital chair for three days in a row."
"Speaking about that, do you mind if I go home and take a shower, since Kris and Kelly are here now?" Jack asked. He seemed more relaxed to Kelly then he had been, but she could only imagine how desperate he was to get out of those clothes.
"Yeah, go ahead. I'll be fine." Sabrina reassured him before he kissed her cheek, said his good byes and left the room. As he was leaving, Kelly reclaimed the seat that she had sat in for those three days, while Kris claimed Jack's chair.
"So how are you feeling, really?" Kelly asked.
"Better. It's all kind of strange to me still, but I'm getting there...so Kris...where you working now?" Sabrina asked, trying to take the attention away from herself.
"Same place. Honestly, though, I'm about ready to follow in both of your footprints and just retire." Kris commented. Sabrina and Kelly had retired within a year of each other, both for the reason that they were getting older, and less able to keep up with the newer, younger detectives. Occasionally, however, they would both help out with some police cases, since one of the guys that they had graduated from the Police Academy with was now one of the captains, but even that was more like a hobby then a job. A majority of the time Sabrina and Kelly were just looking for something to fill the time, although Kelly didn't foresee boredom being a problem in either of their lives for a while.
"What would you do if you did retire?" Kelly decided to ask.
"I don't know. I've just gotten really bored of everything. It's not exciting anymore, I feel like I'm catching the same criminal every case that comes my way."
"Let someone else do the detective work then and act as the supervisor." Sabrina suggested.
"I thought about that...I don't know though. You two have been retired for a couple of years now, what do you think?"
"Well, keep in mind that we still do police work, just on a part time basis. So I guess you could say retirement didn't work out for us." Kelly said. She too had become bored of seemingly catching the same person over and over again, yet the boredom that went with retirement had proved to be ten times worse.
"I'm glad that I retired when I did, but I couldn't just be retired. I need something there that I know I have to do...something that keeps me thinking." Sabrina added.
"Even after the stroke?" Kris asked.
"I think so. I really haven't decided if all of this is going to change anything or not. If I'm able though, I would like to continue helping out on police cases."
For a brief moment, Kelly had forgotten the reason why the three of them were there, why Sabrina's left arm was propped up onto a pillow, and hadn't moved the entire time. When Kris mentioned the stroke, however, Kelly was quickly reminded, and when Sabrina questioned her own abilities, Kelly knew that Sabrina had realized that she had a lot of work ahead of her.
Sabrina remained in the hospital for a week after that, although Kris had left after staying for three days, and Kelly had gone home around the same time. When all of the medical concerns had been dealt with, Sabrina's doctor wanted to transport her to the rehabilitation hospital across the street, however, Sabrina had grown tired of being stuck in the hospital, and was very animate about not going. In the end, the doctor had convinced her to spend a week there, if anything just so that she could get practice getting around. Despite the fact that her left side was practically dead to her, the therapists had her practicing with a walker, mostly so that her joints wouldn't stiffen up, and so that her muscles wouldn't get used to not being used. Kelly had kept in touch with both Jack and Sabrina and had decided to go and visit her again the day after she had arrived at the rehabilitation hospital.
Everything about the hospital, at least in Kelly's eyes, was brighter and more cheerful then the regular hospital had been. The walls were all painted with bright colors other then white and the chairs in the small waiting area were made of a mint green cloth, and looked to be brand new. Even Sabrina's room was less dismal, as the bed had a floral comforter on it, and the sheets were a light pink instead of the starchy white. When Kelly arrived, Sabrina had just gotten back from a therapy session, and was struggling to get back into bed with a nurse's help. Kelly had waited in the back of the room until Sabrina was settled and then she approached the bed.
"Hey. You seemed to be doing pretty well just then."
"Hardly. I don't know how they expect me to use that walker. I can barely move my arm, nevertheless grip something." Sabrina replied, obviously cranky and frustrated.
"I thought Jack said you were doing better with your arm?"
"You want to see what better is?" Sabrina asked before concentrating as she slowly made a loose fist with her left hand. "That's what they consider better around here."
"Hey, it's a start." Kelly tried to encourage her. Jack had warned her that Sabrina might be a little snippy and cranky, but Kelly had never imagined that she would be this bad, especially since the last time that she had seen her, she was practically acting like herself.
"It's a long ways off from getting around without a walker though. What are you doing here anyway?" Sabrina asked, almost as if she were surprised that Kelly would be visiting her.
"What do you mean? Last time I checked I was visiting my friend." Kelly snapped back at Sabrina, before she was able to stop herself. She knew that being in the hospital for a while could work at someone's personality, but she had never dreamed that Sabrina could be that snippy, especially to her.
"Well you're wasting your time. I'm not getting any better, and I'm not getting any worse so there's nothing to see."
"That wasn't the reason why I came. I came to provide you with some company, to give you someone to talk to. I know how lonely being in the hospital can seem."
"I'd rather be alone." Sabrina commented, leaving Kelly with nothing to say in response. The Sabrina talking to her then was not the Sabrina that Kelly knew, and she wondered how long it would be before that Sabrina came back. Despite the awkward silence that had fell between them, however, Kelly stayed in the room with Sabrina for several hours, mostly until Sabrina had fallen asleep. At that point, Kelly got up and walked out of the room, with full intentions of going back home. As she was walking back out to the parking lot, however, she ran into Jack who was carrying a large bouquet of flowers to add to Sabrina's ever growing collection. After the two of them hugged hello, Jack asked her where she was going, and Kelly decided to inform him of the mood that his wife was in. As Kelly described Sabrina's snippy remarks however, and overall bad attitude, Jack listened as if nothing that Kelly was saying surprised him. The truth was, Sabrina had been acting like that for about a week, and the doctor could only explain it by saying that splintering herself away from those who cared about her was her way of dealing with her near death experience. Therefore, whether or not the old Sabrina came back would be up to her.
For the entire car ride home, all Kelly could think about was how Sabrina had acted, and how that could be how she acted for the rest of her life. The cynical Sabrina that was sitting in that hospital bed, doubting her own abilities to get better, wasn't even a reflection of Kelly's best friend, and Kelly couldn't help but to wonder how long their friendship would last if she didn't change.
"Good morning. I was going to wake you for dinner, but then I saw how peaceful you looked and decided to let you sleep." Christopher commented when he noticed that she was awake.
"Thanks."
"If you're hungry, I can warm something up for you?"
"I'm ok. I actually think I'm just going to go to bed." Kelly said as she felt her eye lids grow heavy again.
"Ok. Good night." Christopher said as she quickly kissed him before heading up the stairs. Once up there, Kelly put on the first pajamas that she could find before crawling underneath of the covers, and letting her body sink back into the pillows. Despite the sporadic naps that she kept taking, Kelly was still exhausted, yet she planned on waking up at 6:30 so that she could be back at the hospital by 8.
The next morning, however, came quicker then Kelly had anticipated, as she was jolted awake by the alarm blaring in her ear. Despite the fact that her mind felt like it was working in slow motion, Kelly turned the alarm off before forcing herself to get out of bed and then to take a quick shower. As she let the water run down her body, she tried to force the steam to pry her eye lids open, and give her enough energy to be able to handle the drive back to the hospital. It wasn't until her second cup of coffee, however, that she was finally able to get her act together, and put together a small over night bag, just in case she wanted to stay at Jack and Sabrina's house instead of driving home. She then walked out the door with Christopher before kissing him good bye and getting back into her car.
When she arrived at Sabrina's room, she walked through the door and was glad to see Sabrina sitting up in the bed, her left arm on top of a pillow as the doctor examined her vitals. Jack was sitting on the bed next to her, as he talked to the doctor, undoubtedly asking him every question that he could think of. Not wanting to intrude, Kelly decided to stand in the hallway until the doctor left, and since neither of them had noticed her come in, sneaking back out wasn't a problem.
In the hallway, Kelly looked around as she was reminded why she had always hated hospitals. The entire atmosphere was cold and depressing, as the bright white walls seemed to jump out at her. Since there was no place to sit down, Kelly leaned against the wall as she watched the people past her, some of them being nurses, others beings doctors, but most of them being other patients getting their daily exercise.
Not long after she had arrived, however, she spotted Kris walking down the hallway, obviously looking for Sabrina's room. After Kelly called out her name, Kris turned towards her and walked over, obviously glad to be seeing a familiar face.
"Hey. I couldn't remember what room you said she was in, so I was hoping that I would be able to see into the rooms."
"Don't worry about it. She's with the doctor right now so I figured I would stand out here and wait."
"O." Kris replied before silence fell between them. Kelly was convinced that it was something about hospitals that made the words evaporate out of a person's mouth. Usually, after not seeing each other for a while, Kris and Kelly could talk for hours, except now they could only come up with a few phrases. "So how is she...really?"
"Ok I guess. I haven't talked to her today yet, so I really don't know. The doctor said she should be fine though."
"That's good." Kris said before they just stood there together, their backs against the wall as they waited for the doctor to leave. Although it seemed like forever, the door opened not long later as the doctor marked something off on Sabrina's chart before placing it back into the bin and walking away. As soon as he was out of the room, Kris and Kelly walked in and were immediately greeted by both Sabrina and Jack. As Kris hugged Sabrina hello, Kelly stood by the bed as she noticed that Sabrina was looking better that day then she had the three days before. Not only was her voice stronger, but she appeared to have more energy as well. It was almost enough to calm Kelly's nerves, to convince her that Sabrina really was ok, but she wanted to hear the words come from Sabrina's mouth.
"Hey! You didn't have to come all of the way out here." Sabrina told Kris.
"Isn't that's what friends are for? Besides, I wanted to see for myself that you were ok."
"I'm getting there. I'm defiantly better today then I've been for the past couple of days. Kelly can testify to that."
"What are you talking about? I wasn't worried as I sat in that uncomfortable hospital chair for three days in a row."
"Speaking about that, do you mind if I go home and take a shower, since Kris and Kelly are here now?" Jack asked. He seemed more relaxed to Kelly then he had been, but she could only imagine how desperate he was to get out of those clothes.
"Yeah, go ahead. I'll be fine." Sabrina reassured him before he kissed her cheek, said his good byes and left the room. As he was leaving, Kelly reclaimed the seat that she had sat in for those three days, while Kris claimed Jack's chair.
"So how are you feeling, really?" Kelly asked.
"Better. It's all kind of strange to me still, but I'm getting there...so Kris...where you working now?" Sabrina asked, trying to take the attention away from herself.
"Same place. Honestly, though, I'm about ready to follow in both of your footprints and just retire." Kris commented. Sabrina and Kelly had retired within a year of each other, both for the reason that they were getting older, and less able to keep up with the newer, younger detectives. Occasionally, however, they would both help out with some police cases, since one of the guys that they had graduated from the Police Academy with was now one of the captains, but even that was more like a hobby then a job. A majority of the time Sabrina and Kelly were just looking for something to fill the time, although Kelly didn't foresee boredom being a problem in either of their lives for a while.
"What would you do if you did retire?" Kelly decided to ask.
"I don't know. I've just gotten really bored of everything. It's not exciting anymore, I feel like I'm catching the same criminal every case that comes my way."
"Let someone else do the detective work then and act as the supervisor." Sabrina suggested.
"I thought about that...I don't know though. You two have been retired for a couple of years now, what do you think?"
"Well, keep in mind that we still do police work, just on a part time basis. So I guess you could say retirement didn't work out for us." Kelly said. She too had become bored of seemingly catching the same person over and over again, yet the boredom that went with retirement had proved to be ten times worse.
"I'm glad that I retired when I did, but I couldn't just be retired. I need something there that I know I have to do...something that keeps me thinking." Sabrina added.
"Even after the stroke?" Kris asked.
"I think so. I really haven't decided if all of this is going to change anything or not. If I'm able though, I would like to continue helping out on police cases."
For a brief moment, Kelly had forgotten the reason why the three of them were there, why Sabrina's left arm was propped up onto a pillow, and hadn't moved the entire time. When Kris mentioned the stroke, however, Kelly was quickly reminded, and when Sabrina questioned her own abilities, Kelly knew that Sabrina had realized that she had a lot of work ahead of her.
Sabrina remained in the hospital for a week after that, although Kris had left after staying for three days, and Kelly had gone home around the same time. When all of the medical concerns had been dealt with, Sabrina's doctor wanted to transport her to the rehabilitation hospital across the street, however, Sabrina had grown tired of being stuck in the hospital, and was very animate about not going. In the end, the doctor had convinced her to spend a week there, if anything just so that she could get practice getting around. Despite the fact that her left side was practically dead to her, the therapists had her practicing with a walker, mostly so that her joints wouldn't stiffen up, and so that her muscles wouldn't get used to not being used. Kelly had kept in touch with both Jack and Sabrina and had decided to go and visit her again the day after she had arrived at the rehabilitation hospital.
Everything about the hospital, at least in Kelly's eyes, was brighter and more cheerful then the regular hospital had been. The walls were all painted with bright colors other then white and the chairs in the small waiting area were made of a mint green cloth, and looked to be brand new. Even Sabrina's room was less dismal, as the bed had a floral comforter on it, and the sheets were a light pink instead of the starchy white. When Kelly arrived, Sabrina had just gotten back from a therapy session, and was struggling to get back into bed with a nurse's help. Kelly had waited in the back of the room until Sabrina was settled and then she approached the bed.
"Hey. You seemed to be doing pretty well just then."
"Hardly. I don't know how they expect me to use that walker. I can barely move my arm, nevertheless grip something." Sabrina replied, obviously cranky and frustrated.
"I thought Jack said you were doing better with your arm?"
"You want to see what better is?" Sabrina asked before concentrating as she slowly made a loose fist with her left hand. "That's what they consider better around here."
"Hey, it's a start." Kelly tried to encourage her. Jack had warned her that Sabrina might be a little snippy and cranky, but Kelly had never imagined that she would be this bad, especially since the last time that she had seen her, she was practically acting like herself.
"It's a long ways off from getting around without a walker though. What are you doing here anyway?" Sabrina asked, almost as if she were surprised that Kelly would be visiting her.
"What do you mean? Last time I checked I was visiting my friend." Kelly snapped back at Sabrina, before she was able to stop herself. She knew that being in the hospital for a while could work at someone's personality, but she had never dreamed that Sabrina could be that snippy, especially to her.
"Well you're wasting your time. I'm not getting any better, and I'm not getting any worse so there's nothing to see."
"That wasn't the reason why I came. I came to provide you with some company, to give you someone to talk to. I know how lonely being in the hospital can seem."
"I'd rather be alone." Sabrina commented, leaving Kelly with nothing to say in response. The Sabrina talking to her then was not the Sabrina that Kelly knew, and she wondered how long it would be before that Sabrina came back. Despite the awkward silence that had fell between them, however, Kelly stayed in the room with Sabrina for several hours, mostly until Sabrina had fallen asleep. At that point, Kelly got up and walked out of the room, with full intentions of going back home. As she was walking back out to the parking lot, however, she ran into Jack who was carrying a large bouquet of flowers to add to Sabrina's ever growing collection. After the two of them hugged hello, Jack asked her where she was going, and Kelly decided to inform him of the mood that his wife was in. As Kelly described Sabrina's snippy remarks however, and overall bad attitude, Jack listened as if nothing that Kelly was saying surprised him. The truth was, Sabrina had been acting like that for about a week, and the doctor could only explain it by saying that splintering herself away from those who cared about her was her way of dealing with her near death experience. Therefore, whether or not the old Sabrina came back would be up to her.
For the entire car ride home, all Kelly could think about was how Sabrina had acted, and how that could be how she acted for the rest of her life. The cynical Sabrina that was sitting in that hospital bed, doubting her own abilities to get better, wasn't even a reflection of Kelly's best friend, and Kelly couldn't help but to wonder how long their friendship would last if she didn't change.