Sicktember Day 11: Bed Rest
Word Count:
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating:
Characters: Denny Brosh
Warning:
Summary:
Notes: Some headcanons for this: Denny's mother died when he was seven. His father remarried when he was nine to a very lovely woman who loved Denny. When he was ten, his oldest sister was born. Other siblings followed. Approximately a year after the youngest brother was born, both his dad and his step mom were killed in an accident. Denny was about 24 when this happened, already graduated from the academy. He assumed responsibility for his siblings and is working hard to support them.

His siblings are as follows: Barbara (Barb) 15; Caitlyn, 12; The twins, Ainsley and Benjamin (Benji), 6; Fredrick (Freddy), 2

Bed Rest

"Family of Denny Brosh."

Barb Brosh shot up out of her seat, handing off Freddy to Caitlyn. She had been holding on to him, trying not to show how anxious she was to her younger brothers and sisters. She knew that Denny's job had risks, and logically she knew that him getting seriously injured or even killed was a possibility, but she had still never expected something like this.

"Keep an eye on the kids," she said to Caitlyn. She looked at Ainsley and Benji, the twins unusually serious. "Behave."

They nodded, and Barb looked up at Lieutenant Ross, who gave her an encouraging smile, and the two of them headed towards the doctor that had called for them.

"I-I'm Barbara Brosh, Barb, I'm his sister," she said.

The doctor looked at Lieutenant Ross for confirmation, and then offered his hand to Barb. "I'm Dr. Lee. Why don't you come with me and we'll discuss your brother's condition and treatment." He gestured for them to follow him.

Barb nodded, and she and the Lieutenant followed Dr. Lee. He took them to a small room, an office,and closed the door behind them. He gestured to the chairs and, nervously, Barb sat down. Lieutenant Ross sat in the one next to her, Dr. Lee coming around to sit behind the desk.

"First off, let me assure you that your brother is alive, and that, with the proper care, he should make a full recovery."

Barb gave him a relieved smile, but tucked away that "should" for later.

"Sergeant Brosh suffered an injury to his neck and spinal cord when he was thrown back by the explosion he experienced. It caused some swelling, and there are a few small fractures that aren't of much concern. We're going to keep him here for a week for observation and re-evaluate the plan after that. The current plan is to send him home on bedrest with regular appointments to see how he is healing."

"But he's okay? He'll be able to walk and move and talk normally, eventually?" Barb asked. She had her hands tightly laced together, trying to keep from wringing them in worry.

The doctor smiled at her. "Yes, he should be able to. We'll go over his care plan in more detail right before he goes home, to make sure you understand what's needed."

"Yes, yes of course," Barb said.

Lieutenant Ross smiled at her. "Don't worry. I'll come around to help. You won't be alone in this."

Barb nodded at her, too worried to return the smile. "Can we see him now?" she asked the doctor. "We—that is, our other brothers and sisters and I—we're all worried about Denny."

The doctor nodded. "Yes. I'll get a nurse to take you and go over the rules with you."

Barb and Lieutenant Ross walked back to the waiting room where the other kids were waiting, a nurse with them, explaining things as they walked. When they arrived, Barb reached out and took Freddy from Caitlyn and explained very seriously to them that they were going to get to see Denny, but that he was still hurt and the doctors said that he had to hold very still, so that mean that he might not be able to look down to see them.

None of the others objected.

They all trooped together to Denny's room, Lieutenant Ross with them. Denny looked awful, and Barb felt her heart pounding. Still, she remained as calm as she could. He was scraped and banged up, with stitches, and pale. Still, when he saw them, he mustered up a smile for them, trying his best to be as reassuring as possible even when the doctors weren't allowing him to move. They weren't allowed to stay long, and before Barb was ready, they were being escorted from the room. Lieutenant Ross went with them, giving them a drive home and asking if they would be alright. Barb reassured her that they would, and she sat about getting the kids ready for bed.

But in her head, the whole way from the hospital until she went to bed that night, the words "I'm responsible. I'm responsible. I'm responsible," echoed in her mind as she felt the weight of the responsibility of their siblings fall unexpectedly onto her shoulders.

A week later, Barb had her younger siblings sitting down in front of her. Denny was being brought home by Lieutenant Ross and Major Armstrong today, and they had all worked hard to clean up the house. Barb had Denny's care plan pinned to the fridge with magnets. But she still needed to make sure that they understood what was about to happen.

"Okay. I need you to listen. Today Denny is coming home. But he's not well yet. He's still going to need a lot rest. The doctor said that his back and neck are healing just fine, but that he still wants Denny on bed rest. That means that we have to be careful with him. So—no jumping on Big Bro. No jumping on his bed, or demanding his help with anything. Don't bother him and let him rest. Don't ask him to sit up and do things. If he needs help, then we're going to have to help him. We're going to have to take care of everything around here until he's better. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Big Sis," they echoed, and she sure hoped that they did.

It wasn't much later that Benji came racing down the hall. "They're here, they're here!" he said, and raced towards the front door. The others came rushing in as well.

"Watch out, Benji!" Barb snapped out. "Remember we need to be careful with Big Brother."

Benji slowed down and nodded, but he still headed towards the door. Barb followed closely behind him, and the others appeared as well, all of them anxious for Denny to arrive back home. When they were close, Barb opened the door, a smile on her face to greet her big brother.

Denny was being escorted up to the door, Lieutenant Ross supporting him as he walked. He looked up at the door, and smiled at all of them, although Barb could tell that he still looked tired and in pain.

"Hey, guys!" he said, as cheerfully as he could manage.

"Welcome home, Big Brother!" Caitlyn said as she balanced Freddy on her hip.

"It's good to be home," he said, giving them a small smile.

"Come on, let's get you to your bed," Lieutenant Ross said.

"We got things as cleaned up as we could," Barb said. "And we moved a bed downstairs for you."

"Yeah?" he said. "You all worked so hard. Thank you."

"It's, um, it's this way!" Caitlyn said, stepping back to show them the small area they had put a bed in. It was little more than a closet, but they had managed to put some of his clothes in there and it was closer to the bathroom and the kitchen.

"Where shall I put these?"

Barb looked up and saw a humongous man, one she had met once before at the hospital, Major Armstrong. She ignored the open mouthed look of surprise that Benji had for their brother's commanding officer.

"This way," she said, gesturing. "Most of his stuff is still in his room. This set up is just temporary."

"Of course," Major Armstrong said.

"Ainsley," Barb said. "Will you show Major Armstrong where Denny's room is, so he can put the suitcase in there?"

Ainsley had come to stand beside Benji, but she nodded, and took Benji's hand in hers. "Uh-huh," she said and tugged Benji along. Major Armstrong followed them, and Barb went back to where Denny was getting settled into the bed.

"Remember what the doctor said," Lieutenant Ross was saying.

"I know," he replied. "Only get up when necessary, and even then limit movements."

"Right." Barb could see Lieutenant Ross smile at him. "I want my partner back at work soon."

"As soon as I'm able, Lieutenant," Denny promised.

It wasn't long afterwards that Major Armstrong and Leituenant Ross left, after unloading more things like groceries and homegoods for them. Barb breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully now that Denny was home, the worst was behind them and Denny could heal up and things could go back to normal.

However, she quickly discovered that, that was not the case.

They were, unfortunately, all too used to relying on Denny. And Denny was far too used to doing things. Over the next week she had to fuss at her brothers and sisters for asking Denny to do to much, for forgetting to help Denny, or for being too rough with Denny. She also had remind Denny that he didn't have to get up to do things, that fixing a sippy cup was not a "necessary reason" to be up, and that getting the laundry on the way back from the bathroom did not count as rest. Barb took on all of the responsibilities of keeping the house and taking care of the others. She wanted to stay home during the day, but Denny insisted that she go to school.

"You're so smart, Barbie," he said to her from the bed. "You don't need to waste your time baby sitting me. You need to be in school."

She had aquiesed, at least until she had come back one day and found him in the kitchen floor in pain. She had panicked, called Lieutenant Ross, who had come over. They had gotten him looked at, determined that he was not healing as quickly as they had hoped. When he confessed to not resting as much as he needed to (and Barb told on him) Lieutenant Ross fussed at him.

From then on, Barb worked twice as hard. She took time off from school, although she requested the work so she could keep up with her studies. She forced Denny to stay in bed, watched him like a hawk when he had to be up, got onto the kids for bothering him. Lieutenant Ross dropped by a lot, lending her a hand, and Major Armstrong often sent food to them.

For the next two weeks, Denny was kept on bedrest, and Barb attended to him. The others adjusted well, Ainsley and Benji often coming to sit with Denny—gently—in the evenings, telling him stories about school. Freddy would often nap with Denny, and Caitlyn would talk to him nonstop while she was helping to cook or clean.

Barb found herself growing closer to Denny as well. She hadn't realized how much of a burden he had carried when their parents had died. Taking care of all of them, trying to provide for them, it was tough. She felt like she was always going and never had time to rest.

"You need to rest as well," Denny said to her one night.

"There's still so much to do," she said, pausing to lean on the broom and look around the house.

"Come here," Denny said, and held his arm out to her.

Barb wavered for a moment, and then made her way over, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

"It's okay to rest," he said. "You're working so hard. I'm so proud of you."

"How do you do it?" she asked him. "How do you do it all, Denny? You take care of us, you go to work—but you're always smiling, always happy. How do you do it all Denny?"

He curled his arm around her, pulling her closer. Barb gave in, and did as she had when she was little and she had thought that the monsters under bed were after her—she curled up next to him, being careful not to jostle him. His arm tightened around her.

"…I just did what I had to. What I have to. Sometimes life's just like that, and you learn to prioritize what's important. Taking care of all of you, providing for all of you, spending time with all of you, that was more important to me then trying to go to the next rank or get further schooling, or worrying that the house is always picked up."

"…I was so scared," Barb said. "I was so scared then, but you kept us all together. But when you got hurt, I…I…" she felt herself tearing up, and she buried her face in his shoulder. "Please, Denny, be careful! Please take care of yourself! I don't know what we'd do without you!"

"Hey, hey, Barbie, it's okay. I'm still here. And believe me, that was way more than I'm usually involved in. And I promise—I'll do my best to heal up well. I'm not going to just leave you behind, alright? None of you."

Barb nodded, taking comfort in her brother's words. She knew that he couldn't promise to not to die or to stay out of danger, but he could promise to do the best that he could.

"Rest, Barb," Denny said. "You need it. Tomorrow's a new day."

She was exhausted, and she felt safe in her big brother's arms. Almost without realizing it Barb fell asleep, her brother's words bringing her hope.

Tomorrow was a new day. And Denny would be alright. Barb could make it through this. And once Denny was back on his feet and things were back to normal, Barb would definitely appreciate everything that Denny did for them more than she had before.