Several hours passed, and in the early afternoon, Kurt and Patterson traded places briefly, Kurt needing to use the restroom and find some food. All he could stomach was some light soup, and he brought a coffee back with him to hedge the tired.
Kurt's heart fell when he reentered the room to his wife rocking in bed, her elbows locked around her knees and her hands clutching her head. He scrambled to his wife's side, displacing Patterson to the foot of the bed. A nurse was already tending to her, and Patterson looked on in fear.
"There's…sun…through…the…trees…and…we…dance…while…it…shines…" Jane rocked, her words coming with small breaths in between.
She was delirious. "Jane, I'm right here," Kurt soothed.
They watched over the next several minutes as Jane's motions slowed and stopped, her sweaty form landing back on the bed. "I gave her something for the pain," the nurse explained. "Her fever spiked again."
We're running out of time, Kurt thought. He was watching his wife unravel before his eyes.
They sat through several more hours of hourly checks without any change to Jane's condition.
"The visiting hours are only until 10PM, and then they're going to kick us out of here," Patterson explained, trying to preempt the frustration Kurt would have when the nurse came to tell them the same thing.
"I'm really not comfortable with that," Kurt returned.
"I'll take the night shift outside the door, and you take the day shift," Rich offered, trying to show that she wouldn't be alone.
"C'mon, I'll take you home," Patterson encouraged.
Kurt begrudgingly got up from the chair, giving Rich a stern nod and pledging that he'd be back as soon as visiting hours opened in the morning.
When Patterson had retrieved Jane's things, she had also picked up a bit of the living room, the chairs uprighted, the couch put back together, the broken lamps propped up against the wall, and all of the broken glass swept away. Kurt grabbed them both beers and sunk into the couch, Patterson choosing to sit in the side chair.
"Thank you," he said, "did you find anything more on the cache earlier?"
"No, I think this one is just about tanked. There was enough info to get to the experiment we talked about, but at this point, our best bet is finding the next cache," she explained, trying not to sound too disappointed.
Patterson took a long sip of her beer and fiddled with the label. "Kurt, there's something else," she continued.
He nodded for her to go ahead. "Remi's on FBI surveillance, and it's only a matter of time before the CIA finds her on theirs as well. There are also a handful of witnesses who are all agents. We're going to need more than Rich standing outside her room."
"We're going to need a detail," he agreed, "problem is we still can't officially get one."
"You're going to be able to have Dr. Wilton and Dr. Spears validate her medical condition," Patterson thought about how they may be able to defend her legally.
"That will still get her removed from the team and potentially arrested. It's a hard sell that Remi and Jane aren't the same person. We need to think of other options."
That's because they are the same person. "Okay, but we don't have too much longer."
"As soon as we have Reade here, command center in this living room again," Kurt pointed around the room.
Patterson nodded and they sat in silence for a few moments before she changed the subject. "Thank you for cutting Rich some slack," Patterson shared, "I know he's annoying sometimes, but he's a good guy. He knows what he's doing, and he'll watch out for her."
"I know."
"You should tell him that," she nudged.
They drank their beers, their minds combing through possibilities of how they may be able to protect Jane.
"Ahhhh," why does my arm hurt? Remi pulled at her arm, dislodging the IV. "Ahhh," she moaned again from the IV dislodging from her skin, and then clutched her head "ahhhh."
Rich walked into her room, surveying the situation. Blood where she removed the IV from her arm. Clutching her head. "Jane, I know it hurts. I'm right here, I'm going to get you some help," Rich indicated, pushing the call button.
"It's Remi. Who are you?" she asked, confused.
"A friend."
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Why did this happen on my watch? What a clustercuss.
Kurt entered the next morning to soft restraints around Jane's wrists, keeping her arms to the bed. "What the hell happened?" Kurt growled.
"She pulled her IV in the middle of the night and then she was agitated and tried to remove it again. They're only there so she doesn't pull it again," Rich detailed, pointing at the restraints.
Kurt rubbed his hand across his face, the situation that had crushed his heart to even suggest now materialized. "She didn't recognize me," Rich explained, "and she's Remi again."
The nurse came in to check on her, and when she roused Remi, she was met with fire in return. "Don't touch me," Remi growled, pulling away, then struggling when the restraints tugged at her wrists.
Her eyes popped wide, and Kurt stepped in to try to stop her rising panic. "Remi, you're sick. We're trying…"
Remi's eyes found Kurt's, and she leveled, "Get away from me."
Kurt was frozen by the threat in her eyes, not knowing what to do. Rich called from the end of the bed, "Remi, it's Rich. I helped you last night, remember?"
Remi's eyes flew to Rich. "Rich?" she said in confusion, "What's happening?"
"Remi, you need to let the nurse help you. You're sick," he assuaged.
Her struggling stopped and Rich encouraged, "That's good, Remi. Just like that."
Dr. Welton strode into the room. "Visitors out. Now. I need the room."
Rich's presence was the only thing that had calmed Remi, and the nurse kept him in the room until she fell asleep. Once Remi was still again, Rich was able to return to the hallway. Patterson had waited for him there, assuming the post when they had been kicked out of the room.
"Rich, you need to sleep. I'll take over for a while," Patterson offered.
He didn't protest: the number of hours he had been awake was lost somewhere with the count of dots on the floor. "Did you bring the SUV back?" Rich asked, and Patterson nodded. "Can I sleep in the back of it for a bit? I'm not gonna be able to make it home right now, and I shouldn't be too far if she wakes up agitated again."
She handed over the keys. "Of course. Rich?" she said, him stopping mid-turn to leave, "You're doing an amazing job and being a great friend."
He dropped his head in a nod in uncharacteristic humility and headed for the parking garage.
Kurt had thought his wife being Remi was the worst. He was wrong, her waking fever dreams flashing back and forth between Remi and Jane, taunting him with the possibility that his wife was back only to disappear again, was by far the worst.
His feet pounded the hallway floor, then the concrete, desperately fighting the overwhelming urge to punch something. He had walked the top level of the parking garage three times, the first lap shouting and trying to clear his head, the second speaking at the air, and the third only a stray word popping here or there until he fell to a secluded corner of the concrete, shedding tears of exasperation.
"I need you to come back," Kurt spoke into his phone, his voice still gravelly.
Allie cleared the sleep from her eyes. "What is it?"
"Jane's in the hospital. Please - I need help," he pleaded.
"I'll be there as soon as I can."