DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.
Chapter 3
Provenza walked back into the waiting area of the Emergency Room but didn't see Andy or Matthew sitting in the seats where he had left them before he answered his phone. "If you're looking for your friends the nurse took them in back," another person was sitting at the desk and informed him. "Oh, thank you," Provenza said and then had a seat.
"You can go back there too if you want," they told him. "Oh, uh, thank you," Provenza stood up and walked over to the door. "They're in exam room 3," they said and Provenza walked over to where number 3 was located.
He saw Andy sitting on a chair and Matthew sitting up on the bed in the exam room. "So, did you tell Patrice?" Andy asked him. "Well, yes and no," Provenza told him. "How is that?" Andy wondered how that could be. "She didn't ask where I was until she heard the ambulance pull into the bay, then she kind of knew we were at the Emergency Room," he told him.
Andy's head dropped as he looked at Matthew who was still holding the ice pack on his hand. "Sharon's going to kill me," Andy muttered. "No, she's not, but I was able to convince Patrice not to tell Sharon where we were," Provenza informed him. "Oh, and how did you do that?" Andy wondered.
"I told Patrice that you would call Sharon and inform her about what was going on," Provenza stammered before he told him. Andy groaned and then felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He took a deep breath before he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He saw Sharon's name across the screen.
"So much for having Patrice not telling Sharon," Andy mumbled as his phone kept vibrating. "Aren't you going to answer that?" Provenza asked Andy as he stared at his phone. He didn't answer. "Look, Flynn, I think she should know, you know the wrath of her will last longer than this stay at the ER will," Provenza tried to reason with him.
Andy shook his head and answered his phone. "Hey babe, how are you doing?" Andy asked, hoping Sharon wouldn't bite his head off. "Oh, I'm doing okay. We are taking a little break here before dinner and I just thought I would call you to see how my boys were doing," she told him, which to Andy, meant that Patrice didn't tell her yet, or, she could be bluffing. All these things were going through Andy's mind as he went to answer her.
"Well, Matthew and I went bowling today and Provenza joined us," he told her. "Oh, that must have been fun for Matthew," she said. "Oh, yeah, I think he had fun," Andy said as he glanced at Matthew sitting on the bed still holding the ice pack to his hand.
"What's all that commotion I hear in the background?" Sharon asked him as the ER started to get busy with people. "Um, well, okay, look, before I tell you what happened, just know that both Matthew and myself are fine," Andy started to tell her and Sharon started to worry.
"What do you mean by that? Andrew Flynn, what are you not telling me?" Sharon said in her worried voice. "Well, while we were bowling, Matthew got his fingers stuck in the bowling ball he was using, and I managed to release his fingers once he relaxed. But his thumb started to turn purple after it was out and just as a precaution, I took him to the Emergency Room at St. Leo's," Andy told her and braced himself for a rebuttal.
"Excuse me?" Sharon said, knowing what she heard but wanting to hear where Andy was again. "You're where exactly?" she asked again when she was met with silence. "At St. Leo's ER waiting for a Doctor to look at Matthew's hand," Andy informed her again. "Oh my god, is Matthew okay?" Sharon asked, worried.
"His hand is fine, babe. Don't worry, I got this under control," he assured Sharon. "My baby is in the ER, with you and Provenza, after getting his fingers stuck in a bowling ball?" she asked him, wanting to make sure she knew everything that happened.
"Yes, now please don't worry yourself, here you can talk to him and ask him yourself," Andy told her and handed the phone to Matthew.
"Hi Mommy!" Matthew said, smiling into the phone. "Hi my sweet baby, what happened to your hand?" Sharon asked him, nicely. "I was bowling with Dad and Uncle Louie and the finger holes in the bowling ball I was using, I guess they were too small and my fingers got stuck," Matthew informed her.
"Oh, my poor baby," Sharon said, wishing she was there with him. "Daddy was able to get my fingers out but my thumb turned purple and he wanted to make sure I didn't break it or anything like that, although that would be cool if I did, Mom," Matthew told her and Sharon shook her head.
"Okay, is Daddy taking care of you?" Sharon asked him, knowing that he was in capable hands with Andy even though at first, she was worried. "Yes, don't worry Mom," Matthew informed her and handed the phone back to Andy.
"Sharon?" Andy said into the phone. "Is he fine?" Sharon asked him. "Yes, I don't think it's broken but that's why I took him here, just to make sure. Look the doctor is here now so I'm going to let you go. I'll let you know what happened after we are done here, okay?" he told her. "Yes, okay," she said. "Please take care of him, I love you," Sharon said. "I love you too," Andy told her and they both hung up their phones.
"Hello Matthew, I'm Doctor Douglas, I'm the kids' orthopedic doctor here. I heard you got your fingers stuck in a bowling ball this afternoon?" the doctor said as he walked inside the exam room. "Yes," was the only thing Matthew said.
"Okay, and who's the dad?" the doctor asked as he looked at Provenza and Andy. "I am, Andy Flynn," Andy raised his hand and the doctor nodded to him. "Nice to meet you," the doctor said and then focused on Matthew.
"Okay Matthew, let's remove that ice pack and see what we got," the doctor said as he sat on a stool and moved it closer to the bed so he could look at Matthew's hand a little better. Matthew's thumb was all bruised in purple colors.
"Okay," Doctor Douglas said as he took a look at Matthew's thumb, moving it slightly. "Does it hurt you?" he asked him and Matthew nodded. "On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being a tiny pain to 10 being the most pain you've ever had, what would you say it is?" the doctor asked, using kid dramatics to help ease Matthew's anxiety.
"Um, a 5?" Matthew answered as he glanced at Andy. "Okay, so tell me how did you get your fingers stuck?" the doctor asked him. "Well, I guess the ball I had chosen, the holes for where your fingers go in, they were a little small, but I didn't think anything of it until they got stuck inside," Matthew explained to the doctor.
"Hmm, okay. Let's go get an x-ray of your fingers and hand, that way it will tell me what's going on inside to see if anything may be broken. Looks like the ice helped keep the swelling down," the doctor stood up and nodded to Andy.
"Mr. Flynn, you can come with us of course, and you're?" the doctor said and asked Provenza. "I'm the kid's uncle, sort of. Don't worry doc, I can stay here, no problem," Provenza said as he looked around the ER.
Andy stood up from his seat. "Here, watch our stuff!" he told Provenza and Provenza waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah," he said and sat down on the chair as Andy left with Matthew to follow the doctor down the hall.
Matthew and Andy entered the x-ray room. Matthew was mesmerized by the size of the machine and kept looking at it as he walked inside. "Hey Matthew, my name is Robin and I'm going to be taking pictures of your hand for the doctor today," a technician came up to greet Matthew.
"Hi," Matthew mumbled as he sat down on the chair the technician had brought over. "Okay, what I need you to do is while you are sitting there, I need you to lean on this table, place your hand on top of this box like this," Robin said and showed him what she needed Matthew to do.
Matthew nodded and did what she told him to do, laying his hand on top of the box while she adjusted the camera overhead, shining the light on top of Matthew's hand. "Okay, perfect," she said and grabbed a lead apron behind her and brought it over to Matthew.
"I'm just going to slip this over your shoulders and have it lay across you like this," she told him as she placed the lead apron over him. Andy watched him as she was helping him get settled. Matthew looked over at him and Andy gave him a thumbs up for encouragement.
"Alright, and dad I'm going to need you to step over here with me behind this wall while I take some pictures," she told Andy and he followed her around the corner. Matthew kept staring at the light and the box that his hand was on top of.
"Okay Matthew, I'm going to take some pictures and then I'm going to come back and move your hand a different way," she told him and pressed a button on the control panel. Matthew heard several clicks and the technician came back into the room.
"Alright, you are doing so good, maybe your dad could spring for some ice cream after this is done," she suggested to Matthew as she moved his hand to another position. Matthew turned around to look at Andy. "Can we Dad?" he asked, momentarily forgetting about the throbbing pain in his hand. "Uh sure, we can stop somewhere on the way home," Andy told him, giving him a reassuring smile as the technician came back around the corner.
"Matthew, you're going to hear the same clicks in a couple of seconds, just getting everything lined up, okay," Robin told Matthew as he sat there, still as can be. He heard the clicks and Robin came back into the room.
"Alright, you are all set. You did very good and I got some nice pictures of your hand and thumb," Robin told him along with Andy as he came back into the room. "You can return to the exam room, the doctor needs to look over this and he will be with you shortly," Robin explained.
"Thank you," Andy said as he placed his hand on Matthew's shoulder as they walked out of the x-ray room and into the hallway to take them back to the exam room they were in. "What's in that room?" Matthew asked pointing to another room as they walked down the hall. Andy didn't have to glance up and look. "That's the cat-scan room," he told Matthew as they continued walking down the hall.
"What's a cat-scan?" Matthew asked. "Oh, well it's like a bigger x-ray that the doctors use to help see what's going on in your body," Andy explained to him as they rounded the corner and entered the exam room area.
"Have you ever had one?" Matthew asked as they entered the room. "Uh, yes I have," Andy answered and saw Provenza sleeping on his chair. Andy motioned for Matthew to be quiet. "I can hear you," Provenza quipped, opening his eyes and looking at the two of them.
"How was your x-ray?" Provenza asked, not moving from his seat so Andy had to stand. "Fine," Matthew answered. "What were you asking your dad here about when you stepped in?" Provenza asked him. "We passed the cat-scan room and he wanted to know if I ever had one before," Andy explained as Matthew climbed back up onto the bed.
"Oh, your dad has had a bunch of those, especially of his heart," Provenza muttered. "Why would you need an x-ray of your heart?" Matthew asked as he looked at Andy. "So that the doctor can see what your heart is doing, that's all, nothing to be concerned about," Andy reassured Matthew and then glared back at Provenza.
The doctor came back into the exam room. "Okay Matthew, I have some good news. I do not see any fractures or broken bones in your hand or fingers so no cast is needed," the doctor explained as he pulled up Matthew's x-rays on the computer screen in the room.
"That's great news Doctor," Andy chimed in as he looked at the x-ray. "So, that bruising is just from your thumb being stuck in the bowling ball. What I think happened was the force in which you placed your thumb in the ball caused a suction to occur to your skin, breaking tiny blood vessels underneath your skin," the doctor explained and saw the look on Matthew's face.
"Don't worry, it is all normal and will heal on its own in about a week or two, alright?" the doctor said and looked at Andy. "Any questions?" he asked him. Andy couldn't think of any off the top of his head but he was sure Sharon would be asking a million questions if she was here right now.
"Uh, what should he take for pain?" Andy asked. "Children's Tylenol or Children's Motrin would do the trick, every 4-6 hours," the doctor told him. "You can ice your thumb if you want to also, that could help as well," he added.
"Does he need it wrapped or anything like that?" Andy asked but the doctor shook his head no. "He doesn't need support for it, none of the growth plates in the hand or fingers were injured," the doctor told Andy. "Okay," Andy said and looked at Matthew.
"You'll have a good story to tell your friends when you return to school," the doctor told Matthew and Matthew smiled. "Anything else, gentlemen?" the doctor asked them. "What about physical activity like gym class?" Andy asked, thinking those were all the questions Sharon would want to know about.
"No restrictions, except I wouldn't pick a bowling ball with small holes anymore, okay?" the doctor joked. "And if you want, you could follow up with his pediatrician in a couple of days if the pain isn't going away or if it starts to swell," he added and Andy nodded.
"Alright Matthew it was nice to meet you, stay out of trouble okay?" the doctor waved at Matthew and left the room. Andy held the discharge papers in his hand and Provenza handed Matthew his jacket. "Okay, let's go home," Provenza said to them as they walked out of the ER.
"First we are going to stop for some ice cream!" Matthew told Provenza as he walked ahead of them to the car. "Ice cream, really Flynn?" Provenza looked at Andy as they walked. "What? The kid wants ice cream, what's wrong with ice cream?" Andy asked as he unlocked the car.
"There's nothing wrong with it. You don't eat ice cream!" he reminded Andy. "I know, but I'll find something else to eat there," Andy said and made sure Matthew was in the back seat before closing his door and starting the car.
Provenza slammed his door as he got inside the car. "Look, I'll drop you off at our house, you can get your car and go home if you want to pout about getting ice cream," Andy told him. "You don't want to eat ice cream Uncle Louie?" Matthew asked from the back seat.
"Oh, it's not that Matthew, ugh, no I'll go with you to eat ice cream," Provenza told him. "Yeah!" Matthew cheered as Andy started to drive. "Come on Provenza, today is supposed to be fun," Andy chimed in as Provenza looked out the window.
TBC