They have to wait what feels like forever to receive an update on Spenser.
In the meantime, Brock gets taken off, against his will, to be admitted and given IV fluids. With the blood loss just a few days behind him, the heat and dehydration hit him hard. He makes the others promise to update him as soon as they know anything more about Clay.
For a while, there's silence, every man lost in his own thoughts. Then Sonny asks quietly, "What if we didn't get to him in time?"
Trent, looking bone-deep tired, lifts his head from where he'd been resting it on his folded hands. "His vitals were strong. Once they get his temperature down, get some fluids and antibiotics into him, I think he'll be okay."
"I'm not just talkin' about that," Sonny says. His voice is still shaky.
Jason, without looking up from the paperclip he's fiddling with, says, "Don't sell him short, Sonny. He's a tough kid. He'll bounce back."
Sonny stares. "Did y'all miss the part where he like to have jumped out of a goddamn helicopter?"
Trent stiffens, sitting up straight so fast that Sonny flinches a little. "Don't say it like that. Don't make it sound like … like he was trying to. He was startled, and he had a fever high enough to addle somebody who hadn't just survived eight days of torture." His voice is uncharacteristically sharp.
Sonny wilts, looking down at his hands. "Yeah. Yeah, sorry. You're right. I didn't mean to … I didn't mean it like that."
Clay wouldn't have done it on purpose. He knows that. Not after how hard the kid fought to stay alive, to make sure his brothers could find him and bring him home.
It's just that it scared the hell out of Sonny, because they got Spenser back, against all odds, and then they almost lost him anyway.
It's just that he can't stop thinking about those eight days, and what happened during them to leave Clay so hurt and so damn terrified of anyone touching him, and how they weren't there.
How long did it take him to figure out his team wasn't coming for him? That his only chance at survival was to get himself out?
Is he ever gonna be able to forgive them for that?
When the doctor finally comes out, they all bolt to their feet at the same time. Jason asks, "How is he?"
The doctor gives them a reassuring smile. "His temperature is already coming down. He's got pneumonia in his left lung, but he's stable enough that we should be able to treat that here."
"And?" Jason prompts.
"Dehydration. Three broken ribs, which probably contributed to the pneumonia. Sprained ankle that's started to heal. Stable nightstick fracture of the left ulna. Concussion. Broken fingers and toes. Lots of superficial injuries: bruises, cuts, burns."
Missing fingernails, Sonny thinks, and again wants to murder someone.
"Nothing … else?" Jason asks uncomfortably, his gaze skittering away to the wall behind the doctor's head.
The doctor looks confused for a second before working out what Hayes is awkwardly trying to ask. "Ah. No. No signs of sexual assault."
Sonny's knees go weak with relief, because, yeah, he wondered. Hard not to with how violently Clay reacted to being touched. The situation is bad enough already; at least it looks like there's one level of 'bad' they won't have to be dealing with.
Jason's gaze fixes on the doctor's face again. "Bottom line?"
He hesitates briefly. "Barring unforeseen complications, all his physical injuries should heal. He'll be out of commission for a while, though. Probably 10 weeks minimum."
Sonny looks at Ray, who looks at Jason, who looks at Trent. The doctor has pity on them and answers the question they're trying to figure out how to ask. "It's too early to make a judgment on his mental state. Yes, he was confused and combative, and we did have to sedate him, but he's also very ill right now. Give him time."
After promising that they can see Clay as soon as he gets settled into a room, the doctor leaves.
Sonny turns to Trent. "What kind of fracture did he say now?"
Trent clears his throat. "Nightstick fracture. It's, uh, a defensive injury." He demonstrates by raising his arm, shielding his head with it, letting them fill in the rest.
It's not like they didn't already know Clay got the shit beat out of him. His busted-up face was proof enough of that. Somehow the broken arm, and the way it got broken, makes Sonny want to yell and throw things anyway.
Trent goes to check up on Brock and give him the news. Jason and Sonny wait until a nurse comes to get them and take them to Spenser.
The kid looks somewhat better. They've cleaned him up, bandaged the worst of his cuts and burns, splinted his fingers, put a cast on his arm. His color is a little improved now that the fever is coming down, and the pain lines in his face have smoothed out thanks to the good meds. He's still busted all to hell, his battered face half hidden by an oxygen mask, but Sonny can look at him now and bring himself to believe that he'll heal. Physically, anyway.
Honestly, much as this sucks, it's something close to a miracle that they got him back with all his important bits. Not crippled or maimed; nothing shattered so bad it won't mend.
Between the pain meds and the sheer exhaustion, Spenser is out cold for a good 18 hours. Once they're done being debriefed, the other members of Bravo Team, minus Brock who is still on an IV, switch off staying with Clay. Sonny takes a shift in the wee hours of the morning, and he can't resist very gently patting Clay's good arm, just to see how he'll react.
Spenser doesn't wake up, but his body tenses and his arm shifts away minutely. Sonny pulls back and doesn't try again.
It breaks his heart a little. He doesn't know how to help.
Naturally, Clay announces he's awake by damn near breaking a nurse's wrist.
When it happens, Jason is inside the room, and Sonny is out in the hallway talking to Trent about how Brock is doing. There's a sudden explosion of yelling. By the time Sonny makes it inside, Jason has pinned Spenser's shoulders to the bed and the nurse has retreated, arm held to her chest.
"Clay, stop it," Hayes orders sharply. "Stand down."
Spenser stops struggling, manages to focus on Jason. His gaze flicks around the room and settles on the nurse, and he winces, staring at her with sad hound-dog eyes.
"Shit," he mumbles, barely audible behind the mask. "Sorry."
With the situation under control, the nurse moves back to the bedside, giving him a sunny smile. "Don't be. I should know better than to startle a sleeping frogman. How you feeling?"
Still looking guiltily at her wrist, he tries to answer, but instead starts into a round of coughing that has him gasping behind the mask and clutching at his chest, tears leaking from the corners of his tightly shut eyes.
Sonny winces. Broken ribs hurt like absolute hell at the best of times, so he can't imagine what this must feel like. "Can't you do something for the coughing?" He asks the nurse plaintively.
She makes a sympathetic face, but shakes her head. "He needs to cough it up, so a suppressant isn't a good idea. I can give him something more for the pain, though."
She injects something into Clay's IV that does seem to help, but leaves him groggy and out of it. Before she leaves the room, Trent quickly checks her wrist, concluding that it's just bruised. Spenser having one arm in a cast, and half his fingers splinted, probably saved her from being hurt a lot worse.
After a couple more incidents that make it clear that Spenser attempting to straight-up murder people who startle him is not a problem that's going away anytime soon, the medical staff bring up the possibility of putting him in soft restraints.
"You know, I don't reckon y'all ought to do that," Sonny tells them politely.
Jason explains that he just doesn't really love the idea of them strapping down his guy who just spent eight hellish days in captivity, and promises that Clay's team will stick around to defuse things and make sure no nurses end up dead. Hayes wins the argument, which feels like a hollow victory in the face of Clay's continued disorientation.
Trent keeps reminding them that Spenser is still sick, that things will be better once the kid is clearer-headed, but he kinda sounds like he's trying to convince himself too.
After a couple days, the same doctor who gave them the initial report on Clay shows up to talk to the team again. He updates them first on Spenser's physical health, saying that the pneumonia is hanging on but seems to be gradually improving. He pauses, then adds, "As I'm sure you've all noticed, he's exhibiting some pretty intense hypervigilance right now. That might ease up with time as his health improves and his brain comes to understand that he's safe now, but it also might not."
Jason exhales. "PTSD?"
"Can't be diagnosed this soon, but given what he's been through, it's a possibility. I'd suggest having him see a therapist once he's healthy and coherent enough." When Jason starts to open his mouth, the doctor raises his hand. "I know, I know, you team guys aren't big on therapy, but I'm not just talking about touchy-feely conversations here. There are treatments that can help the brain work through trauma and store the memories properly so they don't keep popping up where they don't belong. Just think about it, okay?"
After a tense moment, Jason grudgingly nods.
Sonny is usually leery of the idea of therapy, but at this point he's willing to try just about anything that might help. Hell, he's half a mind to call up Kairos and see if he'll burn some incense or arrange crystals or some shit like that.
He just wants Clay to get better. Back to being more like himself, not this hollow-eyed ghost who ricochets between violent panic and confused contrition.
That's not too much to hope for, is it?