Chapter 7
Jason Street lay rigid, a pool of rapidly expanding blood spread out from the wound in his head, covering the sterile tile floors in a crimson colored nightmare. Jason was aware but just barely, he could smell the iron tint of his blood on the air, but there was nothing he could do. If only he could get his hand to the EKG monitor, he used what little movement he had and brushed the device from his finger, the flat dull beep of a flatline rang out through his small room. Things started to beep and the last thing he remembered was the site of Megan running through the door
~Shadows swirled in and out of his field of vision, he was moving again but didn't know how. The tiles of the hospital ceiling zipping by at an incredible pace, somewhere, he wasn't sure exactly where he could hear someone calling his name,
"Jason! Stay with us !"
That was funny he thought, where was he going? Why did he need to stay with anyone, he was perfectly still in his bed.~
The nurses wheeled Jason quickly down the hall and into an open operating room. His fall from the bed was troubling. How had someone who had no motion been able to move enough to fall out of his bed? Not only that, but he had landed hard against the side of the bed, and a nasty gash ran down the back of his head, exposing pale white bone through the bloody scalp. They had to get him sewn up quickly.
Megan Jackson was the nurse in charge of getting him cleaned up. She felt terrible. She had meant to drop in and see him, but things had just gotten so busy. If only she had been able to stop in for a moment, this might have been prevented.
No sense in crying over something that she had no control over, get it together and help him out now. She'd be there to talk with him as soon as woke up this time around. Nurses streamed in and out of the room for the next hour or so. By the time the doctor finally decided to show his face, Jason was already cleaned up and resting peacefully. Megan who was among the first there, let the doctor have it.
"Where the hell have you been?" She demanded
"I'm sorry, but there were more pressing matters, and from the look of things, You probably didn't need me at all."
"We decided that it was too dangerous for any of the nurses to attempt sewing him up, what with the skull being exposed." She quipped glaring back at him defiantly.
"Be that as it may, this was still a basic job. Though he had a rather nasty fall and cut to go right along with it. It didn't affect him adversely in any way. I mean hell it's not like he could have done much damage anyway. The kid is a cripple." He said jokingly
Megan's eyes glazed over. A fury began to boil over in her, marching over to the doctor she reared back and slapped him hard across the face.
"You son of bitch! You are damn lucky that I don't report you! He is a patient and one of the hardest working we have. If I ever hear you speaking ill of him again like that…"
Stinging he rubbed his face, "Know your place nurse. You are easily replaceable. I am not"
He turned and marched out of the room, Megan burst into tears. She couldn't do that again. It wasn't smart letting her feelings for Jason get in the way of her job. But she just couldn't help it. His smile, his demeanor, the way he never had a mean word to say to anyone around him, she felt comfortable around him, and that was different for her. She wasn't used to letting people in like that. To tell the god honest truth, it scared her that she felt for him like she did. How would it look to her peers if they realized she was falling in love with a patient?
She looked on and smiled at Jason's sleeping form as they wheeled him from the room and down the busy hallway.
Jason awoke to a pounding head, and itchy gauze.
His head as he could feel was wrapped up pretty tightly. Guess they got him cleaned up pretty well. He had been scared there for a minute. But it seemed other than the cut, that there was going to be no real lasting damage. Nasty scar though, and that was never really a good thing to have on your head of all places. But he'd make do.
He looked around the room and noticed his mom asleep in a chair beside the bed, the latest Dean Koontz paperback draped across her lap. Well they actually made it here this time. Surprise Surprise.
"Mom" He croaked through dry cracked lips
She stirred ever so slightly and groaned as she shook off the light nap.
"How are you hunny?" Funny she actually sounded concerned. That was a new one.
"Other than a killer headache, and a whole lot of itchy gauze, I think I'll survive."
She looked at him and gave him a beautiful smile, that smile had won her homecoming queen. He laughed quietly to himself.
"I could get the nurse in here to help with that headache if you like?"
he thought for a moment,
"Ok, that might help me sleep a little bit."
She left the room and he was at peace once more. It bothered him that he couldn't stand to be around his mother or father much anymore. But what could you do? The parents that he thought he had known were gone. All that was left were these bitter, spiteful people, who jumped at any chance to blame someone for his accident or make every a little bit of money off of Jason.
It was sad, and it broke Jason's heart. But he knew deep down that there was nothing he could do about it. It just better to resign himself to getting better and moving far away, so the he could distance himself from them all together, and hopefully change their perception of him in the process. From a meal ticket, to an actual person, he didn't see it happening. But one could hope, and he had nothing else to live for.
His mom came back through the door, dragging behind her was Megan. Jason's smile at seeing her could have lit up the room had the bright fluorescent bulbs not already done the job for him.
"N..N..Nurse Jackson… It's good to see you again," He stammered… god he sounded like an idiot… but this woman had an effect on him that he just couldn't describe.
She came over to the edge of the bed and placed her hand over his, He almost melted… God she was so beautiful.
"How is my favorite patient doing? Looks like we might have to start strapping you into your bed… What were you dreaming about anyway?" She laughed and stroked his arm.
He blanched and stuttered again, "Well…W….W… Well it's hard to describe and I don't remember much of it… But I don't really want to talk about it right now…" He trailed off and looked away
Almost as if she knew what it was immediately she changed the subject,
"Is the bandaging bothering you? We could remove some if you like. Just wanted to make sure and avoid infection for the first couple of hours."
He thought for a moment,
"No, no It's completely ok. Not bothering me at all."
His mother looked on, she seemed pissed. Her son was paying more attention to this whore nurse than the woman that gave birth to him and it pissed her off.
"Jason I thought you said it was bothering you?"
"No mom. The headache is the only thing. It's pretty killer"
Megan laughed, "Well with the way you split your head open like that, a massive headache is to be expected. But I can help you with that."
She reached deep down into her coat and pulled out a clear bottle. Sedative. Ahh. It would be nice to sleep for awhile Jason thought. Maybe his mom would be gone when he woke up.
"Mom if you don't mind could you leave Nurse Jackson and I alone for a minute?"
She didn't want to he could tell.
"Sure hun." She walked out of the room angrily, pulling the door to behind her.
He didn't know where to start.
"Megan…."
She cut him off.
"Jason… I don't know what you are thinking. But this just can't happen ok? It would be seriously unprofessional of me. I really need this job, and something like this could get me fired"
He stared, dumbfounded. Wow, she had thought this through a lot more than he had. Had to come up with a diversion and quick or else he might lose her.
"Megan that's not why I asked her to leave."
"It wasn't?"
He began again, "No. I simply just wanted to thank you for sticking with me for so long. Being there for me when it felt like this place was a prison, you have been my rock for these past two months, and I feel really close to you. But I know that anything more than what we have might endanger your job…."
He sighed heavily, " and that is the last thing that I would want to do to you."
She smiled at him again, "Thank you for understanding Jason. I just feel differently around you and it scares me. I've never felt like this around anyone before. Not even the bastard that fathered my little girl."
"You have a daughter?"
"Yes. You didn't know?"
"Had absolutely no idea, but that makes no difference either way. You are still the same person. Daughter or not."
He had obviously made her day.
"Jason you don't how much that means to me. Most men find out about her and then turn around and run the other way. That doesn't bother you at all?"
"Nope, and why should it? I mean it's not like we are together or anything." He winced as the words left his mouth. He didn't mean it like that. Stupid.
She was taken aback, and seemed to be a little hurt. Though she covered it really well.
"You are right Mr. Street. Is there anything else that you require?"
He searched for the right words to say,
"Look Megan… I'm sorry. I did not mean it to come out like that. It's just that your daughter isn't really a problem right now… ok?"
"Maybe down the road, we might finally get to meet up. But she is the furthest thing from my mind right now. I just want to think about you and me, and possibly there being a future when I get out of here."
" First of all. You seem to be putting all your eggs in one basket Jason. How the hell do you even know if we'll end up together? There is no way of knowing if a slight crush is going to blossom into something else entirely. So you just get over yourself ok? Realize that I am your caregiver and only that right now."
Her words stung. She was right. He had believed that it was more than it was, and been burned for it. She had a crush and that was all… He was stupid to have thought any differently. He cursed himself silently and turned back towards her,
"I understand. No that is all I need for now thank you."
She turned and left the room. Walking down the hallway she managed to slip into a empty closet. She went in quickly closing and locking the door behind her. She put her back up against the door and slowly slid to the floor. Quietly so as to not give away her presence, she began to cry and buried her face in her hands.