By Ginny
Thanks for the reviews.
Lucien woke up just about the time the sunwas starting to set over the Chicago skyline. He smiled when he realized he was covered in the old quilt he kept in his office. His mother had made it when he was young and he'd carried it around for years, from college, to medical school, to residency and throughout his surgical career. It was soft, worn and made up of completely mismatched, random squares of fabric. He used to keep it at home but when he realized he needed it more at work, he brought it in to his office. He used it when he curled up on the worn couch in his office to do paperwork, when he caught a few hours of sleep when he was on call and whenever he just needed a little comforting.
He put on his glasses and let his eyes adjust to the fading daylight. Glancing around, he was happy to see he wasn't alone. Abby was curled up in the chair, sound asleep. She had a standard issue white cotton hospital blanket thrown over her legs and a stack of paperwork on the floor next to her.
Abby opened her eyes with the distinct feeling that she was being watched. "Hey," she muttered as she quickly wiped her hand over her mouth and tossed the blanket aside. "Feeling better?" she asked as she pushed herself to her feet.
"A little, maybe. Just woke up, kind of hard to tell," Lucien answered, being completely honest. Abby turned on the light over his bed and carefully sat down next to him. "You're doing it wrong," he teased as Abby pressed her hand to his forehead. "You're supposed to kiss me," he teased.
"Not much cooler," Abby announced, effectively ignoring his teasing.
"Did you get any work done, or did you just nap?" he asked as he pointed towards her stack of files.
"I got some done," Abby said as she pulled the quilt up a little, straightening it unnecessarily.
"Thanks for grabbing this out of my office," Lucien said as he ran his hand over the worn plaid fabric.
"Looked like something you might want to have with you," Abby said with a small smile.
"My mom made it, a long time ago. She's been gone a few years now."
"You were close?"
"We were," Lucien said quietly as he picked at a loose thread on the quilt. "Maybe I should try to tackle some of that," he said as he motioned towards the box on his files sitting on the wide window sill.
"If you want to. Or you could just relax."
"I'll do a little work," Lucien decided with a sigh. Abby realized there wasn't any talking him out of it. She also figured maybe it would be a good distraction for him. She put the box on the chair and pulled the chair next to the bed so he could reach the files.
"I'm going to go get a cup of coffee, stretch my legs a little. Do you want anything?"
"You don't have to stay. I mean, I'm not trying to get rid of you or anything but if you have somewhere you need to be, I'll be fine," Lucien said in a tone that was almost convincing.
"You sure?" Lucien just nodded as he slipped his glasses on. "OK, then I'm going to get going. I'm on tomorrow; I'll try to stop by for lunch."
"Good. Bring me some real food."
"Sure. Give me a call later if you get bored."
"If I get bored?" Lucien smirked.
"Yeah, so I'll talk to you later," Abby said as she pulled on her coat. She sat down next to the bed, starting to feel a little awkward. She wasn't sure where the feeling was coming from and tried to press it back down.
"Well," Lucien started, obviously feeling just as awkward as he fidgeted with the edge of the quilt. "Don't take this the wrong way," he said quietly as he reached for Abby's hand, squeezing it gently. "I don't know how I would have made it through these past two days without you. And I just wanted you to know that. Thank you," he said. Abby squeezed his hand back before he pulled away awkwardly.
"You're welcome. And don't take this the wrong way either," Abby said with a smile as she leaned forward to press a kiss to his forehead.
"I won't," Lucien assured her as she stood up.
"By the way, I did it right that time. And you're still running a fever."
Lucien just chuckled and waved as Abby flashed a weary smile.
With a torrential rain storm, 2 nurses who called out sick, and a pile up on the freeway, the next day kept Abby busier than she'd been in a long time. It was well after 2 by the time she even got a chance to duck into the ladies' room. She finished up, splashed some water on her face and attempted to do something with her hair.
"Lunch date?" Frank asked as she went back out to the ADMIT desk to complete a chart before going up to see Lucien. Abby just stared at him for a second, not quite sure if he was being nice or not.
"Yes, I have a lunch date," Abby said as he tossed the chart in the rack and tucked her pen in her pocket.
"Go easy on him, he's still recovering," Frank yelled as Abby headed for the cafeteria.
"I hope that's better than a soggy tuna sandwich and cold soup," Lucien said as Abby entered his room 10 minutes later. He was sitting in the chair next to the bed, facing the window with his untouched lunch on the tray table next to him. He looked much better than he had the night before. The IV pole was gone, although he still had the port in his hand.
"Hey Abby, how's your day, thanks for taking time out of you busy day to visit me," she snorted as she handed him the sytrofoam container with his lunch.
"Sorry," he said with a smile as he took his lunch. "Hi, how are you? How's your day? What did you bring me?"
"Chicken fingers and fries, there wasn't much of a lunch selection left."
"Sounds great," he said as he slid his finger between the lid and the bottom to pop it open.
"You look a lot better," Abby commented as she pulled up the other chair, turning it to prop her feet up on the edge of the window sill. "Fever gone?"
Lucien nodded with a mouth full of chicken. "Yeah, wanna check?" he teased after swallowing.
"Not particularly," Abby deadpanned. She reached for a few of his fries as they settled into a comfortable silence while Lucien ate and Abby enjoyed some peace and quiet. "Any idea when they're letting you out of here?" Abby eventually asked.
"I tried to convince the surgeon I'd be ready to go tomorrow."
"And after he stopped laughing, what did he say?" Abby smirked.
"At least another 48 hours. Would like to see me, you know, walk unassisted before I leave."
"Good idea. Have you tried walking yet?"
"I shuffled over here," he said as he motioned towards the chair he was sitting in.
"Great, you managed to cover the distance of about 6 feet. And unless your house is the size of this room, you should probably stick around here for a while."
"Cute. But seriously, I want OUT OF HERE," he said, a little louder than he probably should have.
"Calm down," Abby warned with a roll of her eyes. "How about we try a walk down the hall and back before I head back down to the ER."
"Yeah, I think I'm ready to try. Let me just shuffle to the bathroom and do something with my hair," he teased as he slowly pushed himself to standing.
"I suggest a hat if you have one," Abby teased right back as he slowly made his way across the room.
"Hey, Abby, there's a pair of pants and a clean shirt in the drawer, can you hand them to me?"
"Sure." Abby got the clothes and stuck her hand in the bathroom to give them to Lucien. "Ready?" she asked when he came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. Dressed in plaid flannel pants, t-shirt and slippers, he looked pretty good, all things considered.
"No tubes or anything hanging?" he asked as he turned to one side and then the other.
"Nope, you're good. You want this on?" she asked as she held up the sweatshirt she'd brought from his office the day before.
"Yeah," Lucien said as he handed Abby his glasses and took the navy blue sweatshirt from her. He pulled it on over his head and smoothed down his hair while Abby threw away the remains of his lunch.
Abby offered him her arm and the two of them took off down the hall. Taking it slower than he would have liked, Lucien managed to walk down to the lounge. It wasn't a fast pace but he was happy to have made it without having to stop for a rest. Unfortunately, Abby was paged back to the ER before he'd regained enough energy for the return trip to his room. He assured Abby he would be fine; he'd just rest for a few more minutes and then slowly head back.
With Frank occupied by a phone call, Abby was able to return to work without undergoing any further teasing.
By the next afternoon Lucien was going stir crazy. He pulled the "I'm a doctor here and I can do anything I want" card and took off for the ER in a wheelchair. He wanted to share with Abby the good news of his returning nerve function and to thank her for her "gift". He didn't stay long, the ER was pretty busy but it was nice to get off the floor for a little while.
Abby got stuck late and didn't get a chance to make it to Lucien's room before she left for home. Lucien was disappointed but the truth was, by the time he'd eaten dinner and taken a lap around the floor on his own two feet, he was ready to crash. But as exhausted as he was, he had a hard time settling down enough to fall asleep and ended up taking Ambien after talking to Abby on the phone for a few minutes.
Two days later the nurses were begging Lucien's surgeon to release him as he was driving them nuts.
TBC