Thank you for the reviews and responses to the last chapter. In answer to one, I wanted to make this situation somehow more realistic with respect to what we are all seeing in the world by having one of our favorite characters deal with COVOD-19. Could everyone have gotten through this scare without getting it? Yes, but I wanted to explore the downside to this, as well. I hope you all enjoy this new chapter. Gregg
Disclaimer: I don't own, or profit from, these characters or franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Day Four, cont.
It was 8 in the evening and Booth was not happy. Bones, in an abundance of caution, had had him transported to the hospital. Now he was in ICU, hooked up to various IV's, on oxygen due to a low O2 count which was not too low, but they thought it was a wise precaution in case it got any worse, and the real hardship was when he had to be catheterized. Now that had been the straw that broke the camel's back! Junior was feeling like hamburger at the moment, so he just knew that sex was a distant memory for the foreseeable future, never mind the fact that there wouldn't be any sex anyway as long as he was in the hospital. The good news was that they had put some anti-nausea medicine in his IV as well as some anti-diarrheal which allowed him to feel halfway human again.
"Director Booth?" a nurse said as she entered his room, fully gowned with full PPE in place.
"Yeah?" he asked, a little lethargically. While he was feeling a bit better, he was still wiped out and his joints still ached.
"Your wife has requested that we bring in this laptop and establish a ZOOM connection for you," the nurse told him as she brought over the tray table and set up the laptop.
Booth saw that it was the high-end laptop that Bones had gotten him recently that he still had yet to use, and which he knew that she had pre-programmed for anything he could possibly need. How she got permission to have his personal laptop brought in, he had no idea, but he wasn't about to complain. He nodded at the nurse as she booted up the laptop and entered the necessary information to open the ZOOM connection. Looking at his image on the screen he grimaced. He looked like death warmed over, and the oxygen tube and nasal canula didn't help at all. He did smile, though, when Bones and the kids popped up on the screen.
"Hi, Bones," he said, not wanting to complain in front of the kids. He'd wait until they were excused to allow for some Mommy and Daddy time for his grievances to be aired.
"Booth," she said, a knowing look on her face. She knew full well that he was miserable and unhappy. "I will be receiving updates on your condition every hour. Currently you are doing somewhat better than when you were taken to the hospital, but there is some concern about your low O2 sat levels. They were at 89 when you arrived and are only now at 92 at 4 liters of oxygen. While this is not to say that you may have a serious compromise of your lungs, it is a good thing that you are at the hospital."
Updates every hour? Booth knew what that meant. There would be no chance he could convince the doctors or nurses to deviate from the more extreme courses of action. Bones was now in full command, and he still had never figured out how to circumvent her when she was in this mode.
"Are you sure that Christine didn't lace my Prime Rib?" he asked immediately. "I really want to go home! They catheterized me! While I was awake and witness to the horrific procedure!"
"I am sure you will survive, Booth," Bones assured him.
"Bones, it was a total violation of my person!" Booth protested.
"You have been given doses of diuretics, Booth, in order to ease the pressure on your lungs and heart in case your condition worsens," Bones informed him. "You are in no condition to walk to a bathroom, and you have expressed difficulty in the past in relaxing enough to effectively void your bladder using a urinal."
Booth sighed in frustration. His kids had now heard that the Old Man couldn't use a plastic urinal to save his life. Lovely! He may just hand out some punishment to Hodgins anyway, regardless of whether he was responsible for this mess or not. The very fact that his daughter knew how to make a turbo-laxative was enough to earn a visit from an angry victim! Or someone who was almost a victim!
"Can I just say good night to the kids and then speak with you in private?" he asked, knowing that he was defeated already on the while catheterization front.
A few minutes later, after a few horribly embarrassing questions from Christine about his urinary and bladder health, he finally had Bones to himself. He looked at the screen and saw her looking at him intently, that furrow on her brow quirked and indicating that she was examining him for anything that was even a slight twitch outside of normal. It showed him just how worried she was about him, so he settled down a little. If Bones was genuinely worried, then this must be serious. But he had some business to discuss.
"Can I beat the crap out of Hacker when I get out of here and we're all cleared of this COVID-19 BS?" he demanded.
"No," she said instantly. Knowing Booth, such an incident would end with Booth in jail facing charged ranging from deadly assault to murder. She could not allow that to happen.
"But, Bones!" he whined. "That waste of skin single handedly almost took out the FBI and the Lab. He needs some serious punishment!" He didn't add in that Junior deserved some justice, too, after the assault he had endured with the whole catheter business. Granted, Hacker was definitely going to be facing some serious ass chewings from Cullen and the rest, and possibly demoted and sent to the worst duty station imaginable, which Booth would be rooting for in the front row cheering section, but the idiot also deserved some serious pain, too!
"Andrew will be suitably dealt with," Bones assured him.
Booth looked like he was sucking on a lemon. "Bones," he spluttered. "Do not, under any circumstances, call that waste of skin by his first name. Even hearing his last name is bad enough! I'm trying to keep my stomach in good working order."
Bones chuckled. If Booth was able to banter and bicker like this over Hacker, then he was indeed feeling a bit better. She was still very concerned that the test will show he did indeed have COVID-19, and if so they would deal with it, but she would latch on to any glimmer of good tidings that she could.
"I need to put the kids to bed," Bones told him. "I will be online in the morning. Do as you're told by the staff, or I will know about it."
Booth slumped. That told him that she was genuinely running the show and that she had already let the hospital staff in on the game plan from the word go. Yep! Booth was officially a prisoner. Joy! NOT!
"Alright," he sighed. "Love you."
"I love you, too, Booth," Bones told him, saying the words that she had so long avoided saying. The years since she had finally recognized what being in love with Booth was really like had been amazing. Now she wanted to make sure that they had many more years to keep those feelings alive and well. She shut down the connection and went to spend a few minutes with Christine and Hank.
Booth laid back and tried to relax and get some sleep. He swore to himself that of he had the chance, then he would make Hacker pay for all of this. He didn't blame Hacker for the disease itself, but the man was deliberately stupid and now people were suffering for it. He decided to call Cullen in the morning and make some recommendations regarding where Hacker would be working once the waste of skin got out of the hospital. If the sleaze got out of the hospital, that is. Booth had heard that he had had to be re-ventilated that afternoon. He sent a silent prayer to the Man Upstairs that he himself wouldn't wind up ventilated.
A/N: I decided to make this chapter about Booth in the hospital but maintaining his connection to his family. I hope you enjoy this one. The next chapter will deal with Hodgins and Angela. I hope everyone is safe and well. Gregg