Just a little Fruity
These good fellows don't belong to me but I promise when I'd done to pick um up, dust um off and with a kiss on the cheek return them safely home.
"Appearances often are deceiving." Aesop.
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Chapter 5
The drive to the ER was quiet and Roy decided to keep his own mouth shut for now. Johnny had closed his eyes and seemed to be sleeping. Roy could see that his breathing was shallow and a little fast but he was at least breathing. He pulled directly up to the ER doors and parked. Moving around to the passenger side of the car he opened up the door noticing that Johnny hadn't stirred yet.
"Johnny?" He easily shook his shoulder until he got a response from him. "Can you stand up?"
Johnny opened his eyes and seemed more oriented than before. Roy braced himself for any sudden outbursts that might head his way but he was too tired to resist Roy helping him out of the car. Pulling one arm over his shoulders, Roy placed his other arm around his friend's waist to hold him up. Johnny tried to help hold his weight up and get through the ER doors.
Dr. Kelly Brackett was the lucky one to pull the night shift for the ER this night and stood at the desk talking with Dixie when they heard a noise at the end of the hallway. The department had been fairly busy but with most patients now discharged they were all taking a little breather.
"Johnny!" Dixie exclaimed as she saw Roy practically dragging him down the hall. What little help he had been providing was now gone and Roy was bearing all his weight just trying to get him to a room.
Kel moved to the other side and took Johnny's other arm to help get him through the door and onto the exam table. "Roy, what happened?"
"He called my house tonight, seemed all confused. I went over to his place to check on him and he went from groggy and confused to punching me in the face."
Dixie took his chin in her hand to inspect it, "Looks like he got you pretty good too."
"Well I was caught off guard a little bit," he grinned, then winced at the rapidly swelling jaw and lip.
"I'm sorry Roy. I don't know why I did that." Johnny said as he leaned back onto the bed.
Brackett moved to his side and looked into Johnny's eyes. That was something that he would soon regret as Johnny came up in one fluid motion and with both hands shoved the doctor full force, "Get your hands off of me!" He yelled.
Kel stumbled backwards losing his balance as he hit the little silver instrument stand knocking it backwards then proceeded to land right on his butt. Dixie saw Roy go after Johnny to hold him down so she headed to Kel to help him up. The look in Johnny's eyes was wild and darting as Roy grabbed his arms and tried to hold him down.
"Johnny!" he barked trying to get his attention but Johnny continued to fight him.
"Dix, get me some Diazepam now," Kel ordered as he grabbed a hold of Johnny's legs to restrain him.
Johnny shot his head around to Roy but when he saw Roy's face he suddenly quit fighting and looked at him like a scared kid. "Roy?"
"It's okay Johnny, just lay back down okay?" Roy's voice was calm and controlled and Johnny responded to it. He lay down and closed his eyes again.
"Let's get him on a monitor," Kel said then looked again to Roy. "What was that all about?"
"I don't know doc. All this started with the headaches this week. He told me tonight how much his head was hurting again."
"Okay," Kel said. "Dix put in a call to Joe. Order him a CT scan of the brain, Chem 7 panel and CBC. Roy, do you think you can get an IV in him?"
Roy nodded. He gathered the supplies from the closet in the room and without incident placed the catheter into his vein, securing it with tape. The procedure went smoothly as Johnny was now asleep again. After getting the IV started Roy drew the lab work for Dixie as she hung the fluids.
"Kel, X-ray is ready for him," she said.
"Okay, let's get him down there. I'll go ahead and sedate him for the procedure and then we have to wait and see what it shows." Kel said. He had never seen this kind of behavior from Johnny and was anxious to see what was causing it.
"Dix, I'm gonna call Joanne to pick up the kids so I can stay here," Roy said.
Dixie nodded, "Don't forget Kanda, she'll want to know."
Roy had already thought of that. Heading to the doctors lounge he watched them wheel Johnny's stretcher out the doors to the CT scanner.
A couple of hours later Joe came into the doctor's lounge with Kel to find Roy and Kanda talking on the couch together. They both stood up as the doctors came in.
Joe shook his head, "I don't know Roy. His labs are okay and his CT is normal. Right now he's sleeping and his vitals have stabilized."
Roy felt like yelling at someone, "So what's going on? This isn't like Johnny at all, you know that."
Joe tried to reassure him, "We're doing everything we can Roy. I understand your frustration. I'm admitting him and for tonight he'll sleep off the sedation. Let's see how he feels in the morning and go from there."
The doctors left the room leaving Kanda and Roy alone. She moved to the window and just stared out of it. He moved closer to her wanting to comfort her but he didn't know what to say. "Kanda?"
She took a deep breath and turned around, "I'm okay Roy. I'll stay with him tonight. I know you have the kids today and need to get back to them."
"I called Joanne earlier to pick them up, their okay. I'll stay with you," he said softly.
They sat with him but Johnny was pretty much oblivious since he slept all night. The nurses came in periodically to check his vital signs but the steady beeping of the heart monitor was basically the only sound through the darkened room. Roy put Kanda in the fold out chair and despite her protesting at not being tired she fell asleep quickly in the quiet. He knew she was working long hours between the ranch and finishing up her clinical hours to complete her fellowship to be pediatric surgeon. It had been a long hard road for her but she was close to completing her dream to be a doctor.
Roy used the second chair in the room and watched the TV even though the sound was down so low he really couldn't hear it. Unable to sleep he keep a constant check on Johnny and Kanda both and when he did get sleepy he walked up and down the hall to wake up.
Sipping on coffee he heard Johnny stirring at one point and walked over to him.
"Roy?"
"Hey there partner, how ya feeling?"
"Tired. Rampart?" He mumbled.
"Yep. Go back to sleep," Roy told him, patting him on the shoulder. Johnny did just that.
The next thing Roy knew it was Kanda that was waking him up, "Roy?"
He wiped the sleep from his eyes feeling a little guilty for falling down on the job, "Sorry, didn't mean to fall asleep." He glanced over to Johnny, "He still out?"
"Yea," she whispered. "I'm on duty in a couple of hours so I'm going to his place and get a quick shower. I'll check on you two later on okay?"
He nodded, "Thanks Kanda."
The sun wasn't up yet and he soon drifted back to sleep. Dixie woke him up the next time and he stood up stretching as he looked over to Johnny. He was surprised to find him awake.
"And I'm the one admitted for being tired?" Johnny said with a crooked smile.
Roy was glad to hear the old Johnny again, "That's what happens when you keep me up all night."
"I hate to ask but what am I doing here?" Johnny said with a look of confusion.
Roy leaned against his bed, "You don't remember anything about last night?"
Johnny only nodded, "I just remember feeling terrible when Karen and I got home from hiking, thought I was coming down with the flu or something. What did I do to wind up here?"
"Well I brought you in with a bad headache and some unruly behavior," Roy said as he rubbed his chin.
"Please don't tell me I did that," Johnny said with a worried look on his face as he looked at the evolving bruise and swollen lip on his friend.
"Don't worry about it. I held my own but you did a pretty good job of taking down Brackett."
Johnny sat up in the bed, "What?!"
Roy just laughed, "He's alright but you might want to offer an apology when he comes in this morning."
Johnny nodded then yawned again. Settling back down again it only took a few minutes and he was asleep again.
Johnny managed to sleep through the next couple of days for the most part with Roy and Kanda taking turns checking on him between their jobs. Each day he seemed to improve although what happened was a mystery to everyone at this point. After 4 days in the hospital Johnny was up and about, feeling more like himself with no further headaches or evidence of bizarre behavior.
"Johnny please do it, for me?" Kanda begged him.
"Aww sis, I hate to sit around and have you take care of me anymore. You're too busy to babysit me," Johnny protested the plan that Kanda and Roy had apparently spent time coming up with.
"It's just for one day, before you go back on shift. Besides I can use the help."
"I'll come out later Johnny and bring the kids, they're anxious to see you," Roy said trying to convince him to go. They were both concerned about him going home alone right now.
"Okay, okay I give in. You win sis, I'll go home with ya but just for today. I want one day at my place before going back to work."
His next thoughts were of Karen and wondering where she was. He knew that she probably didn't even realize he was in the hospital since she didn't know any of his friends yet. As he picked up the phone to call her again his door opened.
"Johnny?" Karen said as she slowly came in the room.
Roy and Kanda watched a huge smile come across his face, "Karen!" He was so excited to see her that even they had to smile. She came in and went straight for his bed.
"I just found out from the landlady that you were in the hospital. I was so worried about you being gone so many days. What happened?" She glanced over to the woman sitting in the chair and the blue eyed man standing close behind her. It was obvious that she was his sister as the family resemblance was uncanny. She had seen photos of this fireman friend from Johnny's job.
"I'm okay now, don't worry. Getting discharged today. " He gestured over to the others, "Karen, this my sister Kanda and my partner at work Roy."
She walked towards Kanda and extended her hand, giving a warm handshake to her. "It's really nice to meet you. Johnny talks about you all the time." Next she addressed the friend. She had seen his picture at Johnny's apartment and he talked about his partner a lot.
He reached out and shook her hand, "Nice to finally meet you Karen. I was starting to give him a hard time, accusing you of being a figment of his imagination."
Karen laughed, "He doesn't need any help in that department at all." The going back closer to Johnny she sat on the edge of his bed. "Don't worry I'll take care of you when you get out of here."
Johnny looked to his sister knowing he just promised to go home with her but what he really wanted was to be at his own place with Karen.
Kanda saw the raging debate in Johnny's eyes. She was trying to quickly assess Karen but that was something she wasn't good at. She had to get to know someone to be able to read them that quickly, to develop that gut feeling as such. It was easy to see how much Johnny liked her with that bright smile that he certainly didn't grace them with when they came in.
She looked at Karen, "Johnny's coming to my ranch for today but you are very welcome to come see him. We would love for you to join us for dinner tonight if you could."
Karen hid her displeasure at the invitation and managed to smile, "Well I don't want to interrupt plans that have already been made."
Johnny shot a look of 'ticked off brother' to her then brought the smile back up for Karen. "I'm sorry Karen but I promised them I would go there tonight. I'll be back tomorrow."
She patted his arm, "It's okay Johnny, don't worry. I understand." She looked to the others, "well I'm on my way to work so I have to run." She leaned in and gave him a nice little kiss. "Call me tonight," she whispered in his ear. Before he could protest her not coming to the ranch for dinner she shushed him softly and headed out the door.
Roy turned to Kanda, "I'm going to get the kids from school then we'll be out to the house."
She smiled softly, "See you there."