OK, missed the Halloween deadline. And election day is always crazy for me. But I have not forsaken you!
Recap: Ranger wakes up, and tries to tell Stephanie to leave him since he's broken. Stephanie wins the bet she made with Lester on how long it would take for him to do that.
12 hours later
Stephanie
Ranger faded in and out. Susan said that was a good thing, his body was using all its energy to heal. She'd come in every hour and inspect his leg, looking for signs of internal bleeding. At 4AM I realized how long she had been there.
"How long is your shift. If you were here since the rally…"
She shook her head. "Officially it ended hours ago. I'm here for Bobby. I told him I would see this through."
Security had been lifted once the President had left the building, but ICU still had limits on who could enter. So Bobby had stayed with Ram at Temple University Hospital, and the others had stayed away until he could have more visitors. With both Lester and I refusing to leave Ranger's side, they couldn't have come in anyway.
I slept, a little. As much as I could leaning over the foot of Ranger's bed while sitting in the hospital chair. I wanted to much to climb into bed with him, but there were still a lot of wires and tubes connected to him, and I didn't want to risk jostling him at all. There was a couch that turned into a bed, Lester tried to give it to me, but I refused to move the 10 feet away that would take me from Ranger, and eventually he decided letting a flat surface go to waste was silly. Tank stayed sentinel outside the room until he was replaced by Hector. Then he went to the ICU waiting room in case there was any news.
At noon they came to take Ranger for his MRI. "It will take an hour or so. That way we can see how well the artery has healed." I nodded as Susan left the room, with an orderly pushing the bed away.
The room that had seemed so cramped a moment before suddenly felt stark and empty without the big hospital bed. I stood there for a moment, feeling lost. Lester came over to me. "Sleep on the bed, Beautiful. You can't do anything for him while he's being tested."
I nodded wearily. Just keeping myself upright was a struggle. I laid down on the couch/bed hybrid and closed my eyes. I was asleep before I could say 'Goodnight'.
—-
I woke what felt like 10 minutes later. Ranger was being wheeled back into the room. I scrambled to my feet. "What's the news?" Then I looked at the clock. It hadn't been 10 minutes, but it hadn't been much longer. About 15. I looked at Susan, who looked positively pissed.
Susan
I haven't done a 24 hour shift since I was a resident. Let me tell you, they suck. They suck more when things keep going wrong.
I saw on Stephanie's face the moment she realized we were back too soon. I was angry, but tried to hold it in. She looked like she was about to drop.
"We did a few X-rays before the MRI so we could get a quick overview of how he was doing. And it's a damn good thing we did."
"Why's that?" Stephanie asked.
Because he has enough shrapnel in him to start a scrap business. I thought to myself. But I asked Lester "How many times had he been shot, or been near an explosion?"
"Um, I don't know. A dozen maybe?" he said, as if I'd asked something minor and forgettable, how many times he'd had a cavity. Cavities are fine, the filling isn't magnetic. But all that shrapnel…
"Ranger seems to still have bits of metal in several places in his body." At least 5, assuming none were hiding under a bone. "It's not safe to give him an MRI, in case any of the metal bits are magnetic."
If they were, they'd be ripped out. It would be like being shot with buckshot from inside the body. Some of them were logged in the bone, which is probably why they weren't removed in the first place.
Stephanie looked even paler. "Could they have come out when he was being checked for surgery?"
I shook my head. "He was X-rayed on the way in, then went straight into the OR. We didn't have time for an MRI then." Good thing too.
I sighed. "So, we can't MRI him but we can check other things. His skin looks good, and he's reacting to stimuli."
"Stimuli?" she said, "What kind of stimuli?"
"She keeps poking my toes with her pen." Ranger said groggily.
"Oh, you're awake!" Stephanie rushed over to him. "Why didn't you tell them about the shrapnel still in your body?"
"What that? It's just a little…" and he fell asleep again.
"He probably doesn't have memories of it at the moment. He's still very medicated." I explained. "But, even without the MRI, his vitals are looking good enough that as long as he stays stable, I'm willing to transfer him out of ICU and into post-surgical recovery tonight. Then other people can visit." I lowered my voice. "In the meantime, you have GOT to get some sleep. This is going to be emotionally draining, no matter how it goes with his leg. For you to be strong for him, you have to take care of yourself. You can't pour from an empty cup."
Stephanie nodded. And then headed back to the chair beside the bed. You can suggest a person take care of themselves, but ultimately it's up to them. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to put visitors in comas, even for their own good.
Stephanie
Despite Susan's advice to sleep, I couldn't bring myself to go back to the couch. So I sat back down in my chair and slumped by Ranger's torso. He lifted his hand and stroked my hair, soothing me into a fitful doze.
—-
A few hours later an orderly came into the room. "Good news, Mr. Manoso. You get to move down to Post-op. They are prepping the paperwork now.
Lester
The post-op room was larger than the one in the ICU. It was meant to be a double, though we were the only people in it. It's a good thing too, because as soon as word got around that Ranger could have visitors, every employee of Rangeman came to see him. The room was filled to the brim with black-clad walls of muscle. I doubt there was a better guarded place in the city at that moment.
Then a voice rang out. A voice that made my blood run cold. Shit, how could I forget to tell...
Stephanie
I was by Ranger's bed, trying to stay out of the way of all the Merry Men filling the room. Then the sea of black parted like Moses was entering, to reveal a small Hispanic woman. Ranger's mother.
I could use some help. Anyone remember in which book Stephanie visits the Manosos? I want to re-read that section before writing the next interaction.