Jeffrey looked up at the clock. The bright red numbers seemed to jump out at him. He'd only been asleep for a few hours? Funny, it had seemed like a lot longer than that. Unless… Over a whole day had passed… Had he really been lacking that much sleep? He stumbled out of bed and picked up his cell phone, looking at the display. He had slept well over a day.

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"Sandy…" Ed said, walking into the room. "How are you feeling today?"

Sandy winked at Ed and smiled. "Just fine, doc, and you?"

Uh oh. He knew he shouldn't've taken that day off. "You're not in any pain?" he asked.

"Nope…" Sandy said. "I feel good…"

Ed looked over Sandy's chart and quickly noticed the discrepancy. Damn that Rick. Ed mumbled something to himself incoherently, vowing to have a talk with his son about proper patient care.

"Somethin' wrong, doc?" Sandy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No…" Ed said. "Just surprised to see you recovering so fast, that's all…"

"You say it like it's a bad thing…" Sandy said.

"Well…" Ed said. "I didn't mean for it to come out that way…"

"So can I go home today, then?" Sandy asked.

"No…" Ed answered.

"But I feel fine…" Sandy said.

"You've still got at least another day after this one…" Ed said. "And probably one more after that…"

"I'm starved…" Sandy said.

"I'll get you something to eat…"

"Real food?" Sandy asked, hopefully. "Or more of that… hospital junk?"

"Well…" Ed replied. "You are in the hospital…"

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Jeffrey was concerned when he found no message from his boss on his voice mail. He dialed his number and waited for an answer, but all he got was his machine. He hung up without leaving a message, and headed for the door. He needed to get back to the hospital. He could call the AD again later.

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"Hey lover…" Sandy smiled when he saw Jeffrey walk through the door.

Jeffrey was taken aback by Sandy's mood. "Hey to you too…" he replied. "I see you're feeling better today…"

"Much better…" Sandy grinned. "Now tell the doctor to let me go home…"

"Didn't he say you'd have to be here at least a few more days?"

"Yeah… But I don't know how much longer I can stay in this damn bed…"

Jeffrey sat down in the chair next to Sandy's bed, looking at the tray on the nightstand beside it. "You're still not eating?" he asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Sandy said. "I'm starved…"

"Then eat your food…"

"I want… A hamburger…" Sandy said. "But they wouldn't bring me one…"

"Well…" Jeffrey said. "Will they let me bring you one?"

"I dunno…" Sandy said. "The doc is a very strict man…"

The doc? What the fuck? "Sandy, are you sure you're OK?"

"I told you… I'm better than OK…"

"I'm gonna… Umm… Go see about getting you that food…"

Sandy smiled at Jeffery. "Well, hurry back lover…" he said.

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"What the hell did you put him on now?" Jeffrey asked, walking up behind Ed.

"I'm sorry…" Ed said. "I took yesterday off and came in late today… One of the other doctors gave him a bit more drugs then he was supposed to be getting…"

"A bit?" Jeffrey asked.

"It should be worn off enough by tomorrow…"

"He wants to know if he can eat outside food…"

"Sure…" Ed said. "That should be fine…"

"All right…" Jeffrey said. "And this… Bit more drugs… There's not gonna be any adverse effects, is there?"

"There shouldn't be any…" Ed said. "Since it was just a little over the one day…"

"And if you'd taken an extended leave, and he'd been given this dosage day after day after day…"

"Then there could've been some withdrawal symptoms when he went off of it…" Ed said. "But I caught it in time…"

"What idiot screwed that up?" Jeffrey asked.

"It doesn't matter…" Ed said, before turning and walking away from Jeffrey as fast as his legs would carry him.

Jeffery shook his head and left for Company.

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