Chapter 14

Don and Archie stood silently, a respectful distance from the bed.

Dr. Fitzgerald leaned over the rail, a stethoscope to Charlie's chest.

Even without it, Don could hear the slight wheeze.

Even without it, he could see the monitors. The increased - everything. Everything climbing. Again.

The doctor straightened, smiled at his patient. "Ready to try for 15 this morning?"

"No."

The doctor laughed. "Ah. Honesty. Makes my job so much easier. All right. 10. Really."

Charlie nodded slightly, and Dr. Fitzgerald winked at him. "I'll send in the nurse. She's a brunette. Has a better sense of time."

As he turned to leave he looked significantly at Don and Archie.

"Chuck." Don looked at Charlie. "I'm going to go find Dad. I'm afraid he fell asleep in the cafeteria before he got his coffee."

Charlie just nodded again and closed his eyes. "Right," he said tiredly. "Go ahead and go with him, 'Meda. I know you both want to talk to the doctor."

Don and Archie looked guiltily at each other, but didn't wait for Charlie to change his mind. They followed Dr. Fitzgerald into the hall.

"I was hoping to move him from the ICU today," he began, scribbling in the chart, "but I'm concerned about his left lung. The one we had to repair."

"His temp is almost 103, again."

"Yes. Mrs. Eppes, frankly, we could be seeing the first signs of post-operative pneumonia."

Don ran a hand through his hair. "But you're getting him up again anyway?"

"This is precisely why. I'll have him up at least four times, today. I'm also writing new orders so that while he is in bed, he's always at a minimum of a 30-degree angle, and I'm changing his antibiotics again. Respiratory therapy will start visits three times a day. We have to encourage the clearing of his lung. The nurse will show you how to hold a pilllow over his abdomen whenever he coughs, to help with pain. With any luck, we can keep this down to a secondary infection."

Don looked at him. "Luck. Charlie's not great in the luck department, the last few years."

The doctor smiled, a little grimly. "So I see from his medical history. Which reminds me ... he's also complaining of hip pain on his right side. Because of his previous spinal cord injury, it's difficult for him to be in one position for a prolonged time. So I'll increase his range-of-motion orders, and speak with PT."

"What about me?" Archie asked suddenly, slugging Don in the arm.

"Hey! What was that about?"

"You said Charlie hasn't had much luck in the past couple of years. What about me?"

He grinned into her determined face. "I don't know. What about you?"

"You are SO going to see, Donald Eppes. I am the best thing that's happened to this family in years, and I will not let go of any part of it. Not without a fight." She halfway turned back toward Charlie's room and gave him one last look. "So are you with me?"

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Damn, woman. Stupid infection doesn't stand a chance, does it?"

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Up four times. Three RT sessions. Three PT sessions. Several addtional ROM sessions by the nurse. Alan, Don and Archimedes watching every breath.

Charlie was exhausted.

He sent them all to dinner and lay back gratefully, fell immediately asleep.

A loud noise from the corridor woke him after only a few minutes. The chairs around the bed were empty. No one was back yet. He sighed.

This getting shot stuff was not on his list of things to do again.

He looked up the monitors, mostly because everyone else kept doing it, and could see that he was back down to 101. He was tired of being hot. He hoped it kept going down.

He heard another noise and turned his head. Don was lurking in the shadows.

"When did you get back?"

"Did I wake you?" Don came a little closer to the bed. "Sorry. I only went as far as the hall. I asked Archie to bring me a sandwich and some coffee - when I came back in, you were asleep already. I was tired of sitting."

Charlie looked at him. Don looked as tired as he felt. He wished there was something he could say to reassure him. Unbidden, he had a brief flash of memory.

"Hey." A huge smile spread across his face. Don couldn't help but smile back.

"What?"

"I haven't told you yet. But...But I know something. When I woke up, I knew something." Charlie wasn't quite sure how to explain it, and could tell he didn't have long to try before he fell asleep again. He raised his wounded arm in frustration, quickly lowered it to the pillow again. "Ow."

Don came a little closer to the bed and frowned. "Take it easy, Charlie. What is it?"

Charlie tried to open his eyes wider, and looked into Don's. "I don't really know how... but I remember ..." He smiled again. "She's all-right, Donnie. Mom. She's happy. I woke up, and I knew that."

Don swallowed. He had heard that Charlie had flatlined at least once in the days he and Archie were at the spa. "Did you see her?"

Charlie frowned, but not in unhappiness. He was trying to remember. "No. I don't think so. I'm sure I would remember that, right?"

Don just nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"I ... I saw someone. I talked to someone. I know I was never alone, but I can't remember ..." Charlie yawned, then smiled again. "Except about Mom. I just know it. Like I know my name." He yawned again, closed his eyes. "She's okay, now."

Don watched him fall asleep again.

He wondered how Charlie knew.

He didn't really understand it.

But he believed it.

He found himself smiling, as he stood over his brother's bed.